End the War on Freedom

Mattew Elrod has created a web site promoting Dr. Ethan A. Nadelmann for Obama's drug czar. He invites you to sign a petition. I did. From the About Dr. Nadelmann page:

I thought up an addition to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's This is Your Brain on Drugs commercial.

Holding up an egg: "This is your brain."
Pointing at a frying pan: "This is drugs."
Frying the egg in the frying pan: "This is your brain on drugs."

With the narrator from above looking out the door of a house: "This is your country."
Viewing an attack helicopter: "This is the war on drugs."
Showing a missile fired from the attack helicopter into the house, and the house exploding in flames: "This is your country, fighting the war on drugs."

"Any questions?"

Paul Armentano at LewRockwell.com - Dr. Wai Man Liu has discovered that an ingredient of marijuana "slows tumour growth and prevents the reproduction of cancer cells", but he thinks that "smoking ganja" would cause "more harm than good." Bull. [lew]

Margaret Wente at The Globe and Mail - fourth in a series of articles deriding harm reduction, and proposing treatment-or-jail programs for drug addicts. The four articles are:

• Sick of watching people die
• We still await the scientific proof of harm reduction's success
• Europe's approach to drugs is more enlightened ... it's tougher
• Sick of Watching People Die

I sent the following letter to the editor, and posted it as a comment to the final article: [drugsense]

Jacob Sullum at Reason - a Texas jury recently acquitted Tim Stevens for possessing marijuana which he used to relieve the cyclical vomiting syndrome associated with HIV infection. His expert witness convinced the jury that enforcing the "law" was worse than allowing Mr. Stevens to have his medicine, so they nullified. Bravo! [tmm]

Bob Ewing at The Cleveland Plain Dealer - asset forfeiture isn't in the news much these days. But it's still big business for the crooks who run local, state, and federal government theft rings. They stole Meredith and Luther Ricks' life savings, $400,000, when they found the cannabis Mr. Ricks' used to ease his painful arthritis, hip replacement and shingles, while investigating his self-defense shooting of a home intruder. That ain't right. Every cop and prosecutor involved should go to prison for a long time, and never again be allowed to darken the doors of any public office. Asset forfeiture is theft, plain and simple. But then, so is taxation.

GeekWithA.45 says that Chantix worked for him to stop smoking when nothing else had a chance. I quit because my lungs started complaining, and then my heart started telling me it might up and quit if I kept it up. But I never smoked much, seven Sobrani Black Russians a day in my last druggie year of 1982. [geekwitha.45]

Mark Stevenson at Associated Press - there's a new strain of Cannabis hemp being cultivated in Mexico. It's herbicide resistant, and perennial. Hemp has always been annual before, meaning you need to grow it from seeds. Now it will grow back from the roots if you cut it off at ground level. Yay! May hemp cover the earth. [clairefiles]

AdRants - images of grocery shelf advertisements from NORML placed next to brownies, eyedrops, and Cheetos. Talk about ad placement! Hehe. Click here for the images. [clairefiles]

Claire Wolfe is encouraged with the power of the truth being broadcast by the online cannabis community. "Freedom has won," says she. [claire]

I, too, got a link request from rollitup.org. I visited there, and didn't see much in the way of posting activity, but apparently you have to register to see lots of it.

From rollitup's member page. What D.A.R.E. should be teaching our kids, if education were really their goal:

Johnny smoked a rock of crack
And almost had a heart attack!
Billy smoked a bunch of pot.
A little hungry is all he got.

Remember kids...
Pot is safer than crack

Marie McCullough at The Philadelphia Enquirer - coffee, in moderation, may actually be beneficial to your health. It contains antioxidants, and may help diabetes, Cirrhosis and liver cancer, Suicide and Parkinson's disease.

Jessie McQuillan at The Missoula Independent - David Sil, who operated a store known as "The Vault" in Missoula, Montana, for nearly a decade until the fedgoons shut him down in May of 2005, was convicted Tuesday on federal charges of selling drug paraphernalia. The maximum sentence is three years in prison and a $250,000 fine! For selling politically incorrect pipes. There is Claire Files discussion on FIJA handouts before the trial. [clairefiles]

Chumba at phishbook - photos of an extensive grow operation under a house in Tennessee. Kule. [root]

Bruce Eisner - long. I only skimmed a little of it. [grabbe]