Rick Simpson has been providing people with instructions on how to make Hemp Oil medicines for about 8 years. The results, Rick claims, have been nothing short of amazing. The research, backed by hundreds of other studies done worldwide, have proven that properly made hemp medicine provides relief and cures many diseases, even cancer. Simpson has provided hemp oil to hundreds of people with various medical conditions and the results speak for themselves. Throughout man’s history hemp has always been known as a powerful medicinal plant across the world. We’ll discuss Rick’s story and the use of hemp oil as medicine. He’ll explain how it works and talk about the reasons why the pharmaceutical establishment refuses to acknowledge the powerful effects and benefits of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Are Media Outlets Missing What President Obama Really Said About Marijuana?
Barbara Walters interview with President Obama aired last Friday and marijuana legalization was one of the topics covered. Reactions have varied from the hopeful to the pessimistic since a preview of the interview and a partial transcript were released. Now that the interview has been aired, where do the marijuana legalization measures in Colorado and Washington stand with the federal government? Different people took different things away from the interview. Just as I have blogged previously, I don’t think that President Obama said anything very substantial and feel that is is upon us, the civil libertarian and cannabis law reform communities, to lead on this issue, because the President simply isn’t.
Andrew Sullivan was encouraged by President Obama’s statements to Barbara Walters, while Matt Yglesias thought that his comments were “meaningless.” The folks at Reason were skeptical that the President’s statements really indicated any new policy as he didn’t signal a change towards targeting marijuana providers and Alex Seitz-Wald, writing for Salon, stated that “history suggests reformers should be wary.”
A lot of people I spoke with over the past couple of days, seemed to be very influenced by headlines like, “Marijuana Not High Obama Priority,” “Obama lets the states decide on marijuana” and “Obama: Feds shouldn’t target recreational pot users in Colorado, Washington,” as these headlines all imply that the Obama Justice Department will allow states to implement their own marijuana laws. Unfortunately, the Presidents comments did not signal that his administration will adhere to the will of the voters in Washington and Colorado, he simply stated that going after recreational users will not be a priority of the federal government, but that has never been a priority of the federal government, so I tend to agree with Matt Yglesias that his statements regarding recreational consumers were pretty meaningless. I agree with The Denver Post’sheadline, “Obama’s stance on marijuana still not clear.”
The only aspects about his comments that weren’t really meaningless fluff were his statements about how it is time to have a conversation about legalization and that is is upon Congress to pass laws and the Executive Branch to enforce laws. These statements make it clear to me that President Obama is completely unwilling to be a true leader marijuana law reform. We, anyone concerned about drug laws, states’ rights or civil liberties, must lead on this issue. If we force Congress to act, then the President will follow us and finally listen to the will of the people and allow states to operate as laboratories of democracy as Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandies once called for. Fortunately for us, Senator Patrick Leahy, who has stated his intention of holding hearings on the issue, Rand Paul and several House members have provided us an opening to take the lead.
One one hand, I sympathize with President Obama’s predicament and understand his willingness to lead on drug law reform issues. He has so many issues on his plate, including the fiscal cliff negotiations, health care, immigration policy, foreign policy and gun control, that marijuana legalization cannot be his top priority. His Justice Department is staffed with prosecutors who have spent their careers prosecuting people for marijuana, they aren’t going to be hopping on the legalization bandwagon any time soon. Vice-President Joe Biden has been a Drug War warrior his entire political career as well, so he probably isn’t advising the President to allow states to implement their own cannabis laws. Finally, President Obama’s historical significance as the first African American to occupy the White House likely weighs upon him and he is likely sensitive as being seen as “pro-pot” or “soft on drugs.”
On the other hand, I don’t understand President Obama’s reluctance to be more of a leader on this issue. Marijuana legalization is favored by a majority of voters in many polls and a very strong majority of voterswant the federal government to allow states to implement their own cannabis laws. Both of the legalization states sent their electoral votes to President Obama and most of his core constituencies including young people and liberals, overwhelmingly support ending cannabis prohibition. Also, prior to running for the presidency, Barack Obama is on record supporting marijuana decriminalization and examining the failed Drug War. Now that he doesn’t have to worry about re-election, there isn’t a better time for President Obama to have our nation thoroughly evaluate the Drug War, particularly the War on Marijuana. And finally, the President has been provided political cover by Republican Senator Rand Paul and the influential conservative magazine, the National Review. If Obama were given to much grief about allowing states to implement their own marijuana laws, he could always pin the idea on the conservative junior senator from Kentucky and on the conservative disciples of William F. Buckley, Jr. (the founder of the National Review.)
Regardless of how the Obama Administration ultimately responds to Colorado and Washington or whether we help usher a bill through Congress that allows states to implement their own cannabis laws without a threat of federal interference, or not, marijuana legalization is not going away. President Obama and Congress cannot stop more states from ending cannabis prohibition in 2014, 2016 and beyond. The federal government simply doesn’t have the resources to stop our movement. As more and more people understand that ending cannabis prohibition will allow law enforcement resources to be better prioritized to combat serious and violent crime, while generating revenue and creating jobs, the polls will continue to move in our favor. As the polls continue to move in our favor, so will elected officials all across the country, and just as Alcohol Prohibition went the way of the dodo bird, so will cannabis prohibition.
Please address hate mail to adam@adamvstheman.com
Donate Bitcoin: 1BWeuWdgjrP8PFAwBwgwU9BUqJNewScouy
Invest here to support ADAM VS THE MAN! http://adamvstheman.com/invest
Employees put a sign forbidding people to smoke cannabis. (AFP Photo / Marcel Antonisse)
Amsterdam is to become the first city in the Netherlands where students will be formally banned from smoking marijuana at school. The city’s mayor introduced the law after receiving complaints from teachers that students showed up to class stoned.
Under the current ‘policy of tolerance’ towards drugs, marijuana is considered a soft drug and though it is technically illegal, there is no active prosecution against the individual using it. Police cannot prosecute people for possession of small amounts, with up to five grams being deemed acceptable for personal use.
Some schools have already had prohibited smoking but done so as individual institutions, rather than city ordained legislation.
“This year we have introduced a ban on smoking. We have since become a smoke-free school,” Jolanda Hogewind, head of the Calvijn met Junior College, was quoted by Dutch national newspaper, Volkskrant, as saying. “If a student still smokes on the schoolyard, we warn once. In a second time we send a letter, and if the student persists in his behavior, we invite parents to a meeting,” said the director.
When the law is put in force, schools will be able to involve the police if teenagers are caught smoking on school premises.
However, some supporters of the initiative, like Hogewind, say that schools must be free to maintain their own rules.
All previous attempts to ban marijuana from schools have not succeeded, as the Council of State insisted that it was technically impossible to ban something which is illegal. But recent changes in drug law make this possible. The city will now be able to declare starting January 1 “no toking zones” – areas like schools and playgrounds where weed-smoking will be forbidden.
The law may also affect tourists as some 44 of the city’s 220 cannabis cafes – Amsterdam’s popular attraction among guests of the city – will have to close because they are less than 250 metres from a school.
Earlier there have been calls to introduce a national “weed pass” that would have blocked tourists from buying marijuana. But the initiative was widely opposed by Amsterdam.
Last month, the city major Van der Laan allowed coffee shops to stay open for tourists.
The capital will still have more coffee shops than The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht put together, local Parool newspaper reported.
The government is also planning to raise the age at which teenagers can buy cigarettes to 18.
Colorado and Washington pot smokers are lighting up in celebration after having achieved a stunning decriminalization victory at the ballot box.
Inhale while you can, my brothers and sisters, because Obama is already plotting how to re-criminalize your swag and nullify states’ rights.
Marijuana decriminalization, you see, was a states’ rights victory that more or less flipped Washington D.C. the finger.
From Obama’s point of view, this simply cannot be allowed to stand because it would set a precedent of the tyrannical federal government “allowing” states to decide their own laws, separate from federal law.
While the U.S. Constitution clearly encourages precisely such a structure, the U.S. federal government that exists today operates like a power-hungry gang of thugs who seek to crush anyone and anything that threatens to stand against it.
There does not even exist the facade of respecting the limitations of federal government described in the Constitution.
Mark my words: Obama, who is himself an admitted pot smoker, is coming after YOUR right to smoke pot.
It will start with polite-sounding lawsuits. The federal government will claim total control of all individual activity under the “commerce clause” of the U.S. Constitution and pressure a few key federal judges to overturn state decriminalization laws.
If, for some reason, that fails, the DEA — which operates much like a pack of hungry wolves barely restrained on a short leash — will be given the green light to start conduct armed federal raids in Washington and Colorado.
The point of the raids? To send the message that the feds are still in charge, regardless of what the voters say.
A lesson in power
All the pot smoking voters in Washington and Colorado are about to receive a valuable lesson in power. They think they have won a permanent victory for liberty, even if they don’t describe it in those words.
In reality, all they have done is antagonize federal forces of evil which are already planning a powerful counter-assault that will remind the slaves of America (the voters) who is really in charge.
And why? Because if marijuana decriminalization is not crushed by the political forces in Washington D.C., then its very existence might encourage other states to decriminalize things like industrial hemp farming, holistic medicine or even raw milk.
For God’s sake, states might behave under the misimpression that they control their own destiny!
. Each of these fives things would require states to assert their Tenth Amendment rights to nullify the power of the federal government within the state’s own borders. This is precisely what Colorado and Washington have done with marijuana decriminalization laws. They may not call it a “Tenth Amendment” initiative, but that’s exactly what it is.
Make no mistake that the federal government will use any means necessary to reverse this: Lawsuits, armed raids, false flag attacks, propaganda campaigns and so on. The federal government in America today is run by truly maniacal power-hungry criminals.
Ron Paul calls Washington bureaucrats “psychopathic tyrants.” There is absolutely nothing they won’t do to enforce their fabricated authority over the states and the People.
If it means marching into Colorado with federal troops and shoving rifles in the faces of small-time pot growers, that’s exactly what they will do. For those of you in Colorado and Washington right now, do not suffer under the delusion that you are now free to smoke pot with impunity.
You have merely achieved a reversible ballot victory that was only allowed to take place because the vote fraudsters were too busy stealing other elections (Prop 37!) to effectively defeat your marijuana decriminalization ballot measures.
It is good that you did achieve that victory, of course, because now the real lessons in liberty will be realized. At this point, Obama has no choice but to show his vindictive double standard where it’s okay for the President to campaign on the “coolness” of having smoked pot and inhaled, but his own voters who do the same thing will be arrested at gunpoint and incarcerated in federal prisons.
And if you’re black like Obama, by the way, your prison sentence will be double or triple that of white offenders.
That’s real tyranny, and that’s the real Obama. Those of you voted for Obama and are enjoying your temporarily-legalized pot in Colorado or Washington are about to learn a very costly lesson in federal tyranny.
Within a year, your states will be under assault by the feds, and your freedoms will be even further stripped away by the very President who campaigned on the idea that the government would listen and respond to the needs of the voters.
Obama lied. The federal government doesn’t want liberty in America; it wants CONTROL.
DEA agents are right now salivating at the thought of identifying, targeting and raiding small-time pot gardens in Colorado.
Those who flaunt their growing, harvesting or smoking will be the first who are targeted. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
To learn more about state nullification of federal tyranny, visit: www.NullifyNow.com
And then there were two. On Monday, December 10, 2012, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an executive order certifying last month’s Amendment 64 victory and legalizing the use, possession, and limited cultivation of marijuana by adults 21 and over.
Colorado now joins Washington as states where voters approved marijuana legalization last month and where the will of the voters has now become law. In both states, it is only the possession (and cultivation in Colorado) parts of the new laws that are now in effect. Officials in Denver and Olympia have a matter of some months to craft and enact regulatory schemes for commercial marijuana cultivation and distribution — provided the federal government does not seek to block them from doing so.
While the federal government may seek to block implementation of regulations, it cannot make the two states recriminalize marijuana possession. And the states have no obligation to enforce federal marijuana laws.
In both states, however, it remains illegal to sell marijuana or cultivate it commercially pending the enactment of regulatory schemes. Still, pot possession is now legal in Washington and Colorado.
“Voters were loud and clear on Election Day,” Hickenlooper wrote. “We will begin working immediately with the General Assembly and state agencies to implement Amendment 64.”
In addition to the executive order certifying the election results, Hickenlooper also signed an executive order establishing a 24-person task force charged with coming up with a way to implement Amendment 64’s taxation and regulation provisions. The task force consists of government officials and other stakeholders, including representatives of medical marijuana patients producers and non-medical consumers, and will make recommendations to the legislature on how to establish a commercial marijuana market.
“All stakeholders share an interest in creating efficient and effective regulations that provide for the responsible development of the new marijuana laws,” the executive order said. “As such, there is a need to create a task force through which we can coordinate and create a regulatory structure that promotes the health and safety of the people of Colorado.”
Issues that will be addressed include: the need to amend current state and local laws regarding the possession, sale, distribution or transfer of marijuana and marijuana products to conform them to Amendment 64’s decriminalization provisions; the need for new regulations for such things as security requirements for marijuana establishments and for labeling requirements; education regarding long-term health effects of marijuana use and harmful effects of marijuana use by those under the age of 18; and the impact of Amendment 64 on employers and employees and the Colorado economy.
The task force will also work to reconcile Colorado and federal laws such that the new laws and regulations do not subject Colorado state and local governments and state and local government employees to prosecution by the federal government.
“Task force members are charged with finding practical and pragmatic solutions to the challenges of implementing Amendment 64 while at all times respecting the diverse perspectives that each member will bring to the work of the task force,” the executive order emphasized. “The task force shall respect the will of the voters of Colorado and shall not engage in a debate of the merits of marijuana legalization or Amendment 64.”
Marijuana legalization supporters cheered the issuance of the executive orders.
“This is a truly historic day. From this day forward, adults in Colorado will no longer be punished for the simple use and possession of marijuana. We applaud Gov. Hickenlooper for issuing this declaration in a timely fashion, so that adult possession arrests end across the state immediately,” said Mason Tvert, one of the two official proponents for Amendment 64 and newly appointed communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project.
“We look forward to working with the governor’s office and many other stakeholders on the implementation of Amendment 64,” Tvert continued. “We are certain that this will be a successful endeavor, and Colorado will become a model for other states to follow.”
Not everyone was as thrilled as Tvert. Both US Attorney for Colorado John Walsh and Colorado State Patrol James Wolfinbarger issued statements Monday warning respectively that marijuana is still illegal under federal law and that driving while impaired by marijuana is still a crime.
“The Department of Justice is reviewing the legalization initiatives recently passed in Colorado and Washington state,” Walsh said in his statement. “The Department’s responsibility to enforce the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged. Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress. In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance. Regardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on December 10th in Colorado, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law. Members of the public are also advised to remember that it remains against federal law to bring any amount of marijuana onto federal property, including all federal buildings, national parks and forests, military installations, and courthouses.”
“The Colorado State Patrol would like to remind motorists that if you chose to consume marijuana and make the decision to drive that you are taking a huge risk,” Wolfinbarger said. “Drivers must realize that if you are stopped by law enforcement officials and it is determined that your ability to operate a motor vehicle has been affected to the slightest degree by drugs or alcohol or both, you may be arrested and subjected to prosecution under Colorado’s DUI/DUID laws. It is imperative that everyone takes responsibility for public safety when driving on Colorado’s highways.”
While the implementation of regulations for marijuana commerce in Colorado and Washington is by no means assured, the legalization of pot possession in the two states is a done deal. And with it, a huge hole has been blown through the wall of marijuana prohibition. Since the election last month, public opinion polls have shown increasing support — and in three out of four cases, majority support — for marijuana legalization, as well as little patience for federal interference in states that have legalized.
Marijuana prohibition may not be dead yet, but voters in Colorado and Washington have delivered a mortal blow. The clock is ticking.
Are Media Outlets Missing What President Obama Really Said About Marijuana?
By Mike Adams
PN 