VIPblog2007

VERY IMPORTANT POTHEADS Debunking Myths About Marijuana

The Very Important Blog

August 17, 2007 - WORLD'S FIRST NARCOTICS OFFICER FAVORED HASHISH LEGALIZATION
Arguably the first senior police officer to combat cannabis, Sir Thomas Russell was of the opinion that Egyptians used cannabis to strengthen them against malaria and intestinal parasites, allowing them to continue working despite their illnesses. He advocated focusing law enforcement efforts on cocaine, heroin and morphine and proposed legalizing hashish for economic reasons.

From Cannabis: A History by Martin Booth (Picador, 2004) pp. 145-146:

"Thomas Wentworth Russell was born in November 1879 and, after graduating from the University of Cambridge in 1902, joined the Egyptian Civil Service, later becoming the founder of the famous Camel Corps. In 1917, he was appointed commandant of the Cairo Police, with the title pasha, a Turkish rank given to senior military commanders. Twelve years later [1929], he was made head of the Egyptian Central Narcotics Intelligence Bureau, and ordered to fight the drug trade wherever he found it. This he did, with efficiency and devotion, and he was knighted for it: yet it must be noted he considered opiates, especially heroin, to be the most dangerous drugs he encountered and he was if not apathetic towards cannabis then at least understanding of its place in Arab culture. . . .

"In his autobiography, Egyptian Service 1902-1946 (John Murray, London, 1946) Russell said he believed the drug was used because of the malaria, as well as bilharzias (or schistosomiasis [aka blood fluke]) and ancylostomsiasis (intestinal hookworm), from which a majority of peasants, particularly male, suffered as a result of contact with slow-moving water in irrigation canals. He considered that cannabis gave them the strength they needed to continue to work whilst suffering these debilitating diseases and, when the price of hashish rose due to effective policing, he noticed how they turned to drinking strong tea and mixing henbane leaves with their tobacco.

"After the Great War, Russell Pasha thought it was best to concentrate on what he called white drugsÑcocaine, heroin and morphine that appeared commonly as white powder or blocksÑand ignore the black drugs, hashish and raw opium. He even mooted legalizing hashish, producing it under government monopoly; this, he said, would not only control the drug but also swell the exchequer and address the balance-of-payments deficit being caused by the smuggling of hashish from overseas. The authorities disagreed and Russell was ordered to tighten his grip on the smugglers."

Thomas's 1954 obituary from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime

Wikipedia on the Imperial Camel Corps

August 13, 2007 -WEEDS WETURNS, GOES GANGSTER
Martin Donovan co-starred with Mary-Louise Parker in 2002's "Pipe Dreams," where he plays a plumber who masquerades as a movie director to get girls, using Parker's scripts as bait. On Showtime's "Weeds" he plays the equally hapless DEA agent after the cool chick (Parker again), and may have met his end on the last season's cliff hanger. Tune in on August 13 to see how it will all sort out and see new cast member Mary-Kate Olsen (sans Ashley). "Weeds" has been nominated for five Emmys: Outstanding Lead Actress (Parker) and Supporting Actress (Elizabeth Perkins), Single-camera picture editing (for two different episodes) and casting.

But don't look for a pro-legalization stance from the show. An August 5 LAist Interview with Jenji Kohan, creator of "Weeds" has Kohan calling this season "gangster."

"I wanted to do an outlaw show. Pot was 'in the air' with all the clubs opening in LA after the passage of Prop. 215. It was the perfect vehicle because while it's illegal, no one takes it that seriously. It's the funny drug. Plus there's a pot smoker in every family - it crosses all social, religious, economic, political, racial lines."

"Contrary to popular belief, I am so not a stoner," Kohan told LAist. "While I have smoked pot in my lifetime, it's truly not my drug. I'm too much of a control freak. If anything, my vice is food." Asked, "What will you tell your kids about drugs?" the answer was, "I'm not in favor of drug use, and stupidity is punishable."

Meanwhile, the DEA had been cracking down on LA clubs and Craig X, who appeared on a Weeds episode, has been found guilty of marijuana crimes for operating a church in LA where the weed was used sacramentally. Too bad the stupidity of the drug war isn't punishable.

CORRECTION
I formerly wrote it was Stuart Luce who played the medical pot doc on HBO's Entourage. Correction: it was Bob Balaban, not Luce (both actors appeared as Steinblooms in "A Mighty Wind"). Balaban is actually Hollywood royalty. Among many other roles, he appeared in "Midnight Cowboy," Woody Allen's trippy "Alice," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (about which he published a diary), and several episodes of "Seinfeld" (wherein he played the head of NBC). He was a producer on 2001's Oscar-nominated "Gosford Park" (directed by VIP Robert Altman).

According to imdb.com, Balaban is the son of Elmer Balaban (1909-2001), one of seven Balaban brothers who once dominated the theater business in Chicago and much of the Midwest. Bob's Uncle Barney was chairman of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964, and was one of the movie magnates who attended the Waldorf Conference in 1946, in which the blacklist against communists was implemented. Sounds like Bob understands how ugly a witch hunt can get and is for tolerance.

Kevin Dillon, who plays the patient wanting the pot, has been nominated for an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy. Entourage is up for seven Emmys: Outstanding Comedy series, plus Casting, Directing, Sound Mixing, Supporting Actor (Jeremy Piven and Dillon), and Guest Actor (Martin Landau). The awards will be presented in September.

GERALDO ON GETTING BUSTED
During an August 5 broadcast that began with a story about the Minnesota bridge collapse, Fox's Geraldo at Large featured a segment with Barry Cooper, a former Texas narcotics officer who produced a DVD with tips on how to avoid drug arrests titled, "Never Get Busted Again." Through rabid arguments, the segment got out the message that the 30-year drug war is a failure. A former narcotics officer, Cooper expressed his belief that ending the drug war would end the murder of police officers over drugs. The final thought he expressed was: legalize and tax drugs, and build bridges.

"I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement's efforts to place American citizens in jail for nonviolent drug offenses," Cooper says on his website. He has begun filming a second DVD, called "Never Get Raided" and is also is planning a documentary in which he would ply 50 partygoers with beer and marijuana and film what happens next. The aim, he said, is to prove that partygoers who get high are less dangerous than those who get drunk.

HEMPOLINE A COOL FUEL
The same night (August 5), Science Channel's Cool Fuel Road Trip had Aussie Shaun Murphy and his dog Sparky travelling through the southern US fueled by hempoline (Episode #8 at http://www.coolfuelroadtrip.com/). "Henry Ford built a car of hemp and ran it on hemp fuel," Shawn correctly stated, and his crew helped mix the 80% hemp oil, 20% ethanol mixture that got their RV on the road from Montgomery, Alabama to Jackson, Mississippi. A miscalculation on the amount of lye to be added (it's 3.5 g/l, not 35 grams) caused them to waste five gallons of precious hemp oil (which, it was noted, had to be imported since hemp is not legal to grow in the US). So the gang charged up a motorbike instead to make it across the Mississippi river. Hemp yields 300 gallons of oil per acre, the Cool Fuelers told us, a higher oil yield than other seeds. And the ethanol in hempoline seemed to clean out the fuel filter in their RV, which got better mileage on hemp than on other fuels.

CLARKSON REBELS/SMOKES POT (COINCIDENCE?)
Blender magazine's (blender.com) August profile of American Idol Kelly Clarkson presented America's sweetheart as a bit of a rebel, though it didn't mention her recent admission of pot smoking in Amsterdam (see below). The piece by Craig Marks documents the Grammy winner's rift with 74-year-old BMG Chairman/CEO Clive Davis and her split with manager Jeff Kwatinetz over her new album, "My December," and its tour. Clarkson's 2004 recording, Breakaway, earned about $100 million for BMG, selling 12 million copies worldwide and producing four #1 hit singles in an online era where CD sales are hitting the skids. But her new self-written material is darker than the "Since You Been Gone" style of singles that put her on the chart. in a sidebar, Blender compares her struggles with the music industry establishment to those of Mozart v. Colloredo, VIP Diego Rivera v. John D. Rockefeller, and Terry Gilliam v. Sid Sheinberg of MCA/Universal (over the movie Brazil). "I can't stand it when people put out the same record over and over again," Clarkson told Blender. "Life is too short to be a pushover." A Texan Christian, her new album will be influenced by the Rolling Stones's "Dead Flowers" era.

HOT AUGUST DAZE
According to my MAPS calendar, (www.maps.org) August has a couple of important dates in psychedelic history. The first is August 28, when in 1964 the Beatles first smoked pot (proffered by Bob Dylan).

And on August 29, 1956, Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson took LSD (then legal) under the supervision of a doctor, and with Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard standing by. Heard's notes read: "At 1:00 PM Bill reported a feeling of peace. . . .At 3:15 PM he said he felt an enormous enlargement of everything around him. . . . At 3:40 he said he thought people shouldn't take themselves so damn seriously." Susan Cheever writes in My Name is Bill, "Bill loved LSD. He urged everyone he knew to try it, including [his wife] Lois, his secretary, Nell Wing, his friend Dr. Jack Norris, the Reverend Sam Shoemaker, and Father Ed Dowling. He even thought his mother might benefit." Although he had by this time stepped down as leader of Alcoholics Anonymous, Wilson still got grief from AA over embracing LSD. By the end of 1959, he had stopped taking LSD and no longer encouraged others to try it.

Bill Wilson became an alcoholic during the days of alcohol prohibiton; in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed, he "just shifted from speakeasies to bars," according to Cheever. (So much for law enforcement solutions to drug problems.)

Wilson was treated at the Charles B. Towns Hospital at 293 Central Park West in NYC where the Towns-Lambert treatment for alcoholics "consisted of belladonna (deadly nightshade), combined with ingredients like dried bark of prickly ash and henbane, followed by castor oil (Cheever). In his autobiography Pass It On, Wilson's description of the experience sounds psychedelic: "Suddenly, my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description." A military man and staunch conservative Republican from an established New England family, Wilson "never stopped searching for chemical cures for alcoholism."

A study conducted 40 years after alcoholics were given a single dose of LSD showed "dramatic" results, according to data released late last year. Erika Dyck, professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Alberta, said: "The LSD somehow gave these people experiences that psychologically took them outside of themselves and allowed them to see their own unhealthy behaviour more objectively, and then determine to change it.... I was surprised at ... how powerful they said the experience was for them - some even felt the experience saved their lives." The research was carried out in Saskatchewan where Humphry Osmond and his fellow British psychiatrist John Smythies. In one study, two-thirds of the alcoholics stopped drinking for at least 18 months after receiving one dose of LSD, compared to 25 per cent who stopped after group therapy and 12 per cent after individual therapy.

And in another August anniversary, on the evening of August 31, 1948, actor Robert Mitchum was arrested for marijuana in Los Angeles. Read about VIP Mitchum.

CAN'T KEEP DOWNEY DOWN
Robert Downey Jr. was widely praised in a Biography channel profile that aired recently. One critic acknowledged that Downey's filmmaker father turned him on to marijuana at the age of 8, and that this didn't make him such a good parent. But he nevertheless credited Downey Sr. with instilling a sense of adventure in his son, a quality that is sorely lacking in today's "play it safe" actors. According to the documentary, Downey Jr. had to forfeit much of his salary to insurance payments in several films he made after his well publicized troubles with hard drugs, notably "Two Girls and a Guy," a wonderful showcase for Downey's talents, and "The Wonder Boys," a role it was acknowledged no one else could have played. All marveled at his repeated comebacks against all odds, and his new-found success in his professional and personal lives. He will soon star in a major market superhero film. See: Downey Case Illuminates Drug War Injustice, Hypocrisy

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
Cannabis: A History by Martin Booth
Booth's comprehensive history of cannabis, from ancient times all the way to the modern hemp and medical marijuana movements, is illuminated with examples of prominent cannabis consumers throughout history, with an emphasis on American and British musicians and writers.

Drug Wars: The Political Economy of Narcotics by Curtis Marez
Marez, a USC professor, offers fascinating perspectives of the use of media to brand marijuana as evil and foreign, far beyond what has been previously reported, as well as astute political observations and a rare Latin American perspective.

July 22, 2007- HILLARY BACKS MMAR PROVIDERS; McCAIN FLOPS
As America's second largest cancer charity, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, came out strongly for protection of medical marijuana patients, Democratic frontrunner and VIP Hillary Clinton called for an end to federal raids in states where medical use of marijuana is legal, while John McCain backtracked on an earlier promise to end the raids.Source.

During a Manchester campaign stop on July 13, Len Epstein, a volunteer for Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana (GSMM), told Sen. Clinton, "Twelve states allow medical marijuana, but the Bush administration continues to raid patients," to which she responded, "Yes, I know. It's terrible." Epstein then asked, "Would you stop the federal raids?" Sen. Clinton responded firmly, "Yes, I will."

The following day in Claremont, Sen. McCain held a town hall meeting at which he was asked about his stance on medical marijuana. When asked in April about ending the medical marijuana raids, McCain had responded, "I will let states decide that issue." But this time, when GSMM campaign manager Stuart Cooper asked Sen. McCain if he still supported ending the raids, he went into headlong retreat. "Not yet," he said. "I don't think marijuana is healthy, I don't think that it is good for people, and there is a large body of medical opinion that says there is plenty of other medications that are more effective and better and less damaging to one's health to use to relieve pain. So I will continue to look at it on your behalf and many other young people who feel very strongly about it, but right now my answer to you is no."

Meanwhile, Rudolph Guiliani, who was a lobbyist for Oxycontin, has reiterated his position against medical marijuana. And Oxycontin's pushers, Purdue pharma, got probation and community service sentences on July 20 for "mislabeling" the drug, which (unlike cannabis) has caused deaths from overdose. Even Time magazine wonders: dispite the $634 million fine, did they get off easy?

See background at Presidential Hopefuls on Pot.

FORMER SURGEONS GENERAL CITE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE
A July 11 article in the International Herald Tribune states Dr. Richard Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general, told a congressional panel that top Bush administration officials would not allow him to speak or issue reports on the subjects of stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education or prison, mental or global health issues. Top officials tried to "water down" a landmark report on secondhand smoke and delayed it for years, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke can cause immediate harm. Administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization's longtime ties to a "prominent family" that he declined to name. When asked after the hearing whether that "prominent family" was the Kennedys, Carmona responded, "You said it. I didn't."

Carmona, 57, served as surgeon general for one four-year term from 2002 to 2006 but was not asked to serve a second. Before being nominated to the post, he was in the Army Special Forces, earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam and was a trauma surgeon and leader of the special weapons and tactics team of Pima County, Arizona. Carmona testified under oath at a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chaired by Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California. The topic was strengthening the office of the surgeon general. Dr. C. Everett Koop, who held the post during the Reagan administration, and Dr. David Satcher, who served during the Clinton administration and the first year of the administration of George W. Bush, also testified. Each complained about political interference and the declining status of the office.

Satcher said the Clinton administration discouraged him from issuing a report showing that needle-exchange programs were effective in reducing disease, but he released it nevertheless. Koop said he discussed the growing AIDS crisis despite being discouraged from doing so by top officials in the Reagan administration. All three men urged major changes in how the surgeon general is chosen and how the office is financed. It's funny that Clinton's Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders didn't testify. At a 1995 drug policy conference in Los Angeles, Elders told the press that all her information about drug policy was removed from her office when she was on a trip while Surgeon General. Elders was forced out of office because of her stance on sex education and drugs. She supported Proposition 215, the 1996 California medical marijuana initiative.

Carmona said he was ordered to mention President George W. Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings. A recent Congressional investigation found that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) used taxpayer money to boost support for Republican candidates in 2006. U.S. Drug Czar John Walters and his deputies traveled to almost 20 events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months prior to the election. The taxpayer-financed trips were orchestrated by President Bush's political advisors and often combined with the announcement of federal grants or actions that made the Republican candidates look good in their districts. Karl Rove commended ONDCP officials for "going above and beyond the call of duty" in making "surrogate appearances" in "the god awful places we sent them." At the same time, President Bush was increasing funding for Walters' favorite programs, the anti-marijuana ad campaign and the student drug testing program. Read more.

MERRY OLD ENGLAND
Nine members of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's cabinet admitted this week that they had smoked marijuana, following the admission of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, the cabinet minister in charge of police and domestic security. Smith said in a television interview that she had tried marijuana while an undergraduate at Oxford University in the early 1980s. She said she had smoked it "just a few times", had "not particularly" enjoyed it and now realised it was "wrong". The display of openness overshadowed the announcement of new anti-crime measures by Miss Smith (Daily Telegraph, London).

Several senior Tory and Labour politicians, including the former Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, had previously admitted smoking cannabis. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, when asked if he smoked it, said: "Occasionally in my youth." Andy Burnham, the Treasury chief secretary, admitted trying it "once or twice at university", while Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary and a devout Catholic, smoked it in her youth but realised it was "foolish and gave up". A spokesman for John Hutton, the Business and Enterprise Secretary, said he smoked cannabis at university over 30 years ago. "He regrets doing it now." Mr Brown has already issued a categorical denial and there were further denials yesterday from Jack Straw (Justice), Ed Balls (Children), Peter Hain (Work and Pensions) and David Miliband (Foreign Secretary). Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, remarked that he "did the sex and rock and roll but not the drugs" during his youth. Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader, told GMTV, "I did, when I was at university, smoke cannabis once or twice."

The prime minister, who promised his government would be guided by his moral compass, was said to be "relaxed" about the confessions. On July 18, Mr Brown announced that she would head a review of drugs strategy, including whether to reverse the earlier decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug.

See a tremendous editorial in the Sunday Herald titled It's Time our Non-Inhaling Politicians Stopped Treating Use Like Dopes.

ENTOURAGE JOINS THE CLUB
How ironic that just as the DEA has threatened to bring forfeiture proceedings against the landlords of all LA Cannabis Coops that Johnny Drama should join one on HBO's Entourage (episode #47). After only the cool "Californria Homegrown" trucker hat, Drama (played by Kevin Dillon) has a remarkable conversation with an understanding and and astute doctor, played by Stuart Luce, who diagnoses his panic disorder. Unfortunately, his manner of smoking the herb only exacerbates his problem (or perhaps it allows him to address it). Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Showtime is airing the excellent documentary "In Pot We Trust," giving a full picture of the medical marijuana debate in Michael Moore fashion, and using it to promote the return of "Weeds" on August 13.

POPPER POPPED; WALKS
Blues Traveler harmonicat John Popper has been granted a conditional discharge of his pot case in Washington state. Popper, a Grammy winner, was riding in his Mercedes SUV being driven by Brian Gourgeois, 34, when it was pulled over by Washington state troopers in March for going 111 mph. The troopers said they smelled marijuana and used a dog to search the vehicle, finding s small amount of marijuana and a pipe. Officers seized the SUV and booked Popper and Gourgeois at Adams County Jail on misdemeanor charges of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia. Gourgeois was also charged with reckless driving.

Inside the vehicle were four rifles, nine handguns and a switchblade knife. Troopers also found a Taser and night vision goggles. Popper faced an additional weapons charge for a knife and brass knuckles stowed in the glove compartment; however, prosecutors dropped that count when he agreed to turn them in to authorities. Troopers also said the vehicle had flashing emergency headlights, a siren and a public address system. In a news release, Popper "indicated to troopers that he had installed these items in his vehicle because (in the event of a natural disaster) he didn't want to be left behind." At the time of the arrest, Popper's manager George Couri said said all the weapons in the vehicle are registered and were transported in a locked cabinet. Couri said Popper is an avid gun collector who often stops at shooting ranges when traveling, and that's why officers found weapons in his vehicle.

Per the terms of Popper's deal with the prosecutor the misdemeanor will be expunged from his record if he manages to stay out of trouble for a year. Adams County Deputy Prosecutor Ted Sams said that Popper was not given any special treatment and received a typical sentence, which also includes eight hours of classroom drug counseling. Popper, 40, won't be required to submit to random drug testing. I feel so much safer now.

THAT'S CONVENIENT
Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Dallas discovered nearly 300 of marijuana plants growing in a wooded area 200 yards from the DEA office in Dallas on July 12. Agents say they have no idea who planted and carefully tended to the elaborate farm.

CANADIAN JUDGE NEGATES POT PROHIBITION
On July 13, Toronto Judge Howard Borenstein dismissed charges against a 29-year-old man charged with possession of 3.5 grams of marijuana on grounds the law against it is unconstitutional. The man has no medical issues and doesn't want a medical exemption to smoke marijuana. In 2001, Health Canada implemented the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, which allow access to marijuana to people who are suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses. In court, the man argued that the federal government only made it policy to provide marijuana to those who need it, but never made it an actual law. Because of that, he argued, all possession laws, whether medicinal or not, should be quashed. The judge agreed and dismissed the charges. "The government told the public not to worry about access to marijuana," said Borenstein. "They have a policy but not law.É In my view that is unconstitutional." He said he would wait two weeks before making the ruling official. Prosecutors plan to appeal the decision. Similarily this week, Liberal Senator Larry Campbell called for the decriminalization of marijuana, arguing that the Canadian government should tax it. Source.

AN AMERICAN IDOL IN AMSTERDAM
American Idol Kelly Clarkson (25) told USA Weekend magazine she ate a marijuana cookie in Amsterdam. "It is legal there, and it is not legal here," she (somewhat erroneously) said. "I don't ever do anything illegal here," Clarkson added. "I have never smoked anything in my life. I've never tried any drugs. I wouldn't do anything that would cause holes in your brain or your nasal cavity. Call me Texan, but I don't think of marijuana like that." Texan?

VERNONIA PRINCIPAL TREATED JUST LIKE STUDENTS?
A Vernonia, Oregon elementary school principal charged with marijuana possession will face undisclosed disciplinary action but can keep his job, district superintendent Kenneth Cox said. According to the sheriff's report, Aaron Miller (41) was leaning against his bike in a park on the night of July 6 when Deputy Chance Moore approached him. Moore wrote that Miller smelled of marijuana and was asked if he'd been smoking pot. Miller became visibly upset and said, "I could be in a lot of trouble for this, but yes I have been smoking marijuana." The deputy checked Miller's pockets where he found a small stash of the drug and a pipe.

A school board representative said, "Mr. Miller will be dealt with in a fashion similar to, but more severe than, that which we deal with students." Vernonia School District has been in the forefront of efforts of anti-drug efforts and started mandatory drug testing of its athletes in 1989. Two years later, a seventh-grader refused to take a drug test and was kept off the middle school football team. His parents sued in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the district rule in 1995 (Vernonia School District v. Acton)

"IRON RIVER OF GUNS" FLOWS FROM U.S. TO MEXICO
According to a July 13 Reuters story by Tim Gaynor, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) estimates that gunrunners haul thousands of weapons a week over the border to Mexico, and they say demand is voracious. "Just as you see the flow of drugs that comes north, there is an iron river of guns that flows south into Mexico to supply criminal organizations on the border," said Tom Mangan, senior special agent with ATF in Phoenix. "They are in the market for machine guns, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles ... It's like they are outfitting an army," he added. Also in demand are the drug lords' favorite: heavily decorated Colt .38 Super pistols.

Detectives say the traffickers often make several trips a day over the border with a trunk full of weapons, selling them in Mexico for a markup of 300 to 400 percent. Specialist cartel armorers then set to work retrofitting the semi-automatic rifles to turn them in to machine guns, some using a high degree of workmanship Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina has slammed slack U.S. gun laws as "absurd." Mexico announced in May that it was setting up an intelligence network with U.S. law enforcement agencies to try to stamp out the trade. But with an estimated 200 million guns in private hands in the United States, ATF agents are under no illusion that it will be easy.

CHINA EXECUTES TOP DRUG REGULATOR
In a move to demonstrate its seriousness about the safety of its products, China executed its former top food and drug regulator on July 10 for taking bribes from pharmaceutical companies to approve untested medicine, The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the country's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Zheng was the first ministerial-level official put to death since 2000 and the fourth since China opened its doors to the outside world nearly 30 years ago. Late last year he was charged with accepting $850,000 in bribes to grant approval for hundreds of medicines.State media said his agency had approved 137 drugs that had not submitted proper applications, and that six of those turned out to be entirely fake, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths in China.

On the same day that Mr. Zheng was executed, representatives of the country's leading food and drug regulatory bodies held a joint news conference to emphasize their determination to crack down on fake and counterfeit food and medicine and outlined measures they had taken to guarantee clean food and water supplies for athletes and spectators at next summer's the Olympic games in Beijing.

Fears abroad over Chinese-made products were aroused last year by the deaths of dozens of people in Panama who took cough syrup that contained diethylene glycol, an ingredient in brake fluid, that was imported from China. Counterfeit Colgate toothpaste containing traces of the same liquid was found on store shelves in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. No deaths have been reported from the counterfeit toothpaste and the United States and several other countries have banned Chinese-made toothpaste that contains diethylene glycol. Chinese-made pet food tainted with the chemical melamine, a fire retardant, caused the deaths of cats and dogs in the United States this year. In North America, authorities this year have blocked or recalled toxic seafood, juice made with unsafe color additives and toys coated with lead paint imported from China.

STEROIDS A SUBJECT OF "TALK OF THE NATION" INTERVIEW
On July 17, Dave Zirin, author of Welcome to the Terrordome was the guest of NPR's Talk of the Nation. The program looked at the collision of sports and politics, greed, militarism and the gouging of communities, as well as steroid use by athletes.

LIFE IN THE ANTHILL
During a discussion of ants and their human-like characteristics on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report (7/18), expert Mark Moffett mentioned ants eating fungus, to which Colbert asked, "Are they tripping on these mushrooms?" "They seem happy with their diet," Moffett replied. "There is an overlap between man and ant then," Colbert commented.

Also ant colonies are almost entirely female, so maybe when we're reincarnated as insects females will get their fair chance for a psychedelic experience. David Denby critiques the comedy of the sexes in modern films in the New Yorker (7/23), asking "How did we get from Frank Capra's 'It Happened One Night' (1934) to Judd Apatow?s 'Knocked Up? (2007)." Denby characterizes today's films, starting (mainly) with Steven Frears's 'High Fidelity' (2000) as the 'slacker-striver' romance, where the males are the slackers and the females the strivers. Lamenting that the society that produced Katharine Hepburn and Carole Lombard movies has vanished, Denby writes, "I'd be quite happy if I never saw another bong-gurgling slacker or male pack again."

In films like "Fever Pitch," "Big Daddy," "School of Rock," "The Break Up," and "Wedding Crashers," the men (played by Vince Vaughn, Adam Sandler, John Cusack, Jimmy Fallon, Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black) are infantile but charming, Denby writes, and the women (Drew Barrymore, Sarah Silverman, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Sarah Jessica Parker) are ambitious and uptight. In days of old, Buster Keaton, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon and Elliot Gould may have played "idle young swells" but they were challenged to exert themselves "to heroic effort to win the girl." They were paired with women who matched them with wit and character. But in today's adolescent-male-dominated world, the men are witty and soulful, and the women are beautiful breadwinners without an original thought in their heads.

He makes a good point, and he only has to endure this situation on film. In "Knocked Up" as in the final season of "The Sopranos," the men's trip to Vegas includes 'shrooms? but not their women, who are left home building the ant hill.

FLYING THE FRIENDLIER SKIES
Hemp-friendly Richard Bransom will be in the US next week to premiere his new Virgin Air hub in San Francisco. Stocked with new 8320 airbuses with leather Riccaro seats, mood lighting, chat rooms and touch-screen food ordering. Competitive fares are at www.virginamerica.com

VIP QUIZ: FINISH THE BILL MAHER JOKE AND WIN A BIG PRIZE!
The comic gods and goddesses were definitely smiling on Saturday (7/21), when Bill Maher returned to the HBO airwaves with his new stand-up show "The Decider." Appearing at the Berklee Center in Boston, Maher did the best routine on the word "fuck" since Lenny Bruce, put Michael Jackson in perspective with bullyism, and called our unexceptional president a clown on the world stage. It's now official: our comedians are more politically astute than our elected officials.

Win a Tommy Chong Bong Song CD by supplying the most correct answers to the following questions:

FREEBIE: On the date of the presidential colonoscopy, Bill said he's been waiting for our president to set a timetable for (what?).
ANSWER: To pull his head out of his ass.

Fill in the blanks in Bill's jokes:

1. Any country that lets me run at the mouth like this in public (what?)

2. Republicans talk about Ronald Reagan like gay guys talk about (who?)

3. (Blanks) are the most reliable product since the toaster.

4. Politicians are not good at governing. They're good at (what?)

5. Our anti-immigrant wall should be a 2100 mile (what?) still have only one (what?)

6. Republicans think sex is bad because (why?).

7. If God looked around the whole country and made George Bush president how good is (what?)

8. You know a prescription drug is serious if it has the letters (blank) or (blank) in the name.

9. If there's one thing Al Gore knows its (blanking blank).

10. Bill predicted for the 2008 election , "Brown is the new (what?)"

11. In Ann Coulter's world, a faggot is apparently somebody who "blanks" and "blanks" people.

12. What Flintstone-inspired museum exhibit did Bill lampoon?

13. People with the most ridiculous ideas are those (what?)

14. Republicans think sex is bad because (why?)

15. Unlike some prescription drugs, marijuana has been exhaustively tested, just by (who?)

BONUS QUESTION: Unfortunately, this was not a joke.
FCC regulators were treated to (how many?) vacation trips by broadcasters. Send your entries to quiz@veryimportantpotheads.com. Deadline: August 24, the day Maher's Real Time returns to HBO.

HOPE ON HOP
And lest you think marijuana jokes are something new, on July 20 Sirius Radio Classics station aired a 1944 Bob Hope broadcast from an air force base in Yuma, AZ. After some jokes about sneaking over the border for tequila, Hope appeared in a cowboy skit with the Andrews Sisters. When asked how his legs got bowed, "Dragalong" Hope replied, "I smoked one of them Mexican cigarettes. And I had a bad landing." In a later skit, Hope tried to interest a chum into visiting a Gypsy fortune teller (played by Zsa Zsa Gabor). "Then we can eat the tea leaves," he said.

July 13, 2007 - DRUGS AND BEER ADVERTISE HEAVILY IN 2006
The Advertising Age magazine Top Advertisers of 2006 issue is out, and pharmaceuticals and beer are high on the list. The number one advertiser again last year was Proctor and Gamble, spending a whopping $4.9 billion, an increase of 6.8%. Drug maker Glaxo Smith-Kline moved up to the #7 slot, spending $2.4 billion, an increase of 8.6%. Pfizer (#31), Wyeth (#33), Merck(#38) and Schering Plough (#42) all spent around a billion, increasing their expenditures by 10-30%, with Merck nearly doubling their ad dollars. Bristol-Myers Squibb (#59), Lilly (#69) and Bayer (#70) upped their spending by 18-22%, coming in at $553-$691 million. Anheiser-Busch was 53rd on the list, spending $813 million, a decrease of 11.5%, and lost a little of its 33% market share of the 214.2 million barrels of beer glugged by Americans last year.

Of the top 200 advertised brands, Lunesta came in at #45, with its maker Sepracor spending nearly $300 million, an increase of 38.4%; Ambien's maker Sanofi-Aventis spent $207 million, a 60% increase. Ads for Plavix (#126) and Lipitor (#132) cost around $150 million last year, up 36-52%. At the bottom of the list were Viagara (#192), Amblify (#193) and Boniva (#195), all costing their makers around $100 million. The Office of National Drug Control Policy came in at #166, spending $116.5 million, a decrease of 16.8%.

The "US Revenue per Advertising Dollar" chart revealed that Pfizer's US revenue was nearly $26 billion and Johnson and Johnson's nearly $30 billion last year. Those two spent 4.3% and 7.7% of their revenues on advertising, respectively, compared to Wal-Mart which, with revenues of $271 billion, spent a mere 0.4% on advertising. Anheiser-Busch's revenues were $14.6 billion, and it spent 5.6% of that on advertising. Total advertising dollars spent in all measured media in 2006 was $285 billion.

COLEMAN CHALLENGED TO COME OUT
A letter to Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman from a former college friend asks why he supports brutal drug laws when he was an avid pot smoker as a young man. The letter, from Florida attorney Norm Kent, states, "in our dorm rooms at Hofstra University, you, me, Billy, your future brother-in-law, Ivan, Jonathan, Peter, Janet, Nancy and a wealth of other students smoked dope....We grew up to become lawyers. Our other friends, as you go down the list, are doctors, professors, parents, political consultants and professionals. No one ever got cancer from smoking pot or diabetes from using a joint."

The letter continues, "How about standing up and saying: 'I, Norm Coleman, smoked pot in 1969.'...Can't Norm Coleman come out of the closet in 2007 and say "These arrests are wrong, that there is a better way, and we need to find it. You might find more integrity and honor in that then adopting the sad and sorry policy of our Office of National Drug Control Policy. You might find the person you were."

MARIJUANA SMOKER LIVES 120 YEARS
According to a December 04, 2006 article in The Sun, Fulla Nayak Ð believed to be the world's oldest woman Ð puffs "ganja" cigars and drinks strong palm wine in her cow-dung hut in India. She is 120 years old and lives with her 92-year-old daughter and grandson, 72, by the Indian Ocean. (Thanks for JackHerer.com for this story.) See photos.

July 7, 2007 - VIP of the Month: Al Gore (II)
As VIP Al Gore was promoting his July 7 global "Live Earth" concert, his 24-year-old son, Al Gore III, was busted a second time for pot (the first was December 2003, when he was stopped for driving without headlights and sent to a substance abuse treatment program). This time, the young Gore was driving at 100 mph in his Prius, which when stopped, reportedly smelled of pot and contained several unprescribed pharmaceuticals (Valium, Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall). Perhaps it was just an enviro publicity stunt, to demonstrate that a Prius can travel at 100 mph (who knew?)

Thumb suckers (a.k.a. editorial writers) from around the country were quick to jump on the news, including Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group whose personal drug of choice, she writes, is "a heavenly elixir made from crushed grapes." Purely as a policy matter, Parker wrote, "If marijuana were legalized, regulated and taxed at the rates applied to alcohol and tobacco, revenues would reach about $6.2 billion annually, according to an open letter signed by 500 economists who urged President Bush and other public officials to debate marijuana prohibition. Among those economists were three Nobel Prize winners, including the late Milton Friedman of Stanford's Hoover Institution. Friedman and others were acting in response to a 2005 report on the budgetary implications of marijuana prohibition by Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard. By Miron's estimate, regulating marijuana would save about $7.7 billion annually in government prohibition enforcement -- $2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels." She suggested a "fresh, freewheeling debate free of politics and bureaucratic self-interest is overdue. Maybe Al Gore could moderate."

Independence Day for Scooter Libby
Canny and compassionate SF Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders notes the irony of Scooter Libby's pardon while hundreds, if not thousands, of worthy clemency petitions await the president's decision.

June 30 - MOUNTAIN STAGE GETS HIGH
This week's Mountain Stage broadcast on NPR features Todd Snider, who got a rousing round of applause for his song, Conservative Christian, Right-wing Republican, Straight white American males (who Snider sings are haters of "Tree-hugging, peace-loving, pot-smoking, porn-watching, lazy-ass hippies like me.") Afterwards, Mountain Stage host Larry Groce disclaimed that songs sung on the show do not necessarily reflect the views of the show or NPR (PAUSE)..."or maybe they do." More laughter.

It's nice to see Snider get some recognition for his delightfully honest tunes, like his song "Allright Guy" with lyrics,

Now maybe I'm dirty,
And maybe I smoke a little dope.
It ain't like I'm going on TV
And tearing up pictures of the Pope.

(Something done by Sinead O'Connor, who once said she thought dealing marijuana was one of the most legitimate jobs a person could have.)

"UNUSUALLY FRISKY" DEER LEAD TO MARIJUANA PLANTS
Italy: Forest rangers uncovered a marijuana farm on a mountaintop near Trento after residents commented on how the deer were 'unusually frisky' and leaping about uncharacteristically. The rangers themselves had observed that the deer were out in the daytime which is unusual for the species. Further investigation yielded some pots and the remains of marijuana plants. Police arrested two people in their twenties over the plantation, a factory worker and a university student. The charges may be dropped, however, as the deer consumed most of the evidence.

MARIJUANA OK TO EAT, NOT SMOKE IN INDONESIA
The Associated Press reports that cooks in parts of Indonesia, a nation that executes drug traffickers, say they use tiny amounts of crushed marijuana leaves or seeds as a spice in certain dishes. Speaking to reporters on June 26, Vice President Yusuf Kalla said, "It is all right to use it as a food seasoning, but it should not be fully legalized." Kalla was quoted in The Jakarta Post. Indonesian police officers have never previously cracked down on the use of marijuana in the kitchen or said the practice was a particular problem, the article states. Kalla and the police chief both reiterated their support for the death penalty for drug traffickers, noting that neighboring Malaysia and Singapore also execute offenders.

HOOKAH CANUCKS
Michael Moore's new movie "Sicko" makes such a strong case for the superiority of Canadian health insurance that it ends with a reference to the website Hook-a-Canuck, where Americans can find Canadians to marry for their health plans. Now a poll from Angus Reid reports that 55 of Canadians believe marijuana should be legalized, while less than 10 per cent agree with authorizing the consumption of five other illegal drugs. Read more.

GRAVEL-ING FOR VOTES
Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who is primarily known for his efforts in ending the draft following the Vietnam War and for having put into the public record the Pentagon Papers in 1971, is running for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008. Cliff Schaffer of the Schaffer Library of Drug Policy reports that Gravel has been speaking out against the drug war in his presidential campaign and has requested that as many people as possible sign up on his web site indicating that they would like to see him on their state ballot. If you want to make some noise in your state, sign up and pass it along.

Responding to a caller on a CSPAN program asking about marijuana and the drug war, Gravel reportedly stated "That one is real simple, I would legalize marijuana. You should be able to buy that at a liquor store." Since leaving office, he founded and headed The Democracy Foundation, which promotes direct democracy. He lead a Hiram Johnson-style effort to get a United States Constitutional amendment to allow voter-initiated federal legislation similar to state ballot initiatives.

From Gravel's website (emphasis mine):
PRISON/DRUG REFORM
The United States incarcerates more people and at a higher rate than any other peacetime nation in the world. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics the number of US residents behind bars has now reached more than 2.3 million. We are losing an entire generation of young men and women to our prisons.

Our nation's ineffective and wasteful "war on drugs" plays a major role in this. We must place a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and prevention. We must de-criminalize minor drug offenses and increase the availability and visibility of substance abuse treatment and prevention in our communities as well as in jails and prisons.

We must increase the use of special drug courts in which addicted offenders are given the opportunity to complete court supervised substance abuse treatment instead of being sentenced to prison. We must eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing laws. We must increase the use of alternative penalties for nonviolent drug offenders. Drug defendants convicted of nonviolent offenses should not be given mandatory prison sentences. We should emphasize the criminalization of the importers, manufacturers, and major distributors, rather than just the street venders. Prisons in this country should be a legitimate criminal sanction -- but it should be an extension of a fair, just and wise society.

JUSTICE STEVENS' "BONG HITS" DISSENT POINTS TO PROHIBITION
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Justice John Paul Stevens, the third-oldest person ever to sit on the Supreme Court, turned 87 on April 20.... On Monday, Stevens dissented in the case of the Alaska teenager who was suspended for displaying a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at a school event. While a majority of the court said the Constitution does not protect pro-drug student speech, Stevens took the historic view.

Harking back to Prohibition, which began three months before Stevens's birth and ended a month before he turned 13 in 1933, Stevens compared the current marijuana ban to the abandoned alcohol ban and urged a respectful hearing for those who suggest "however inarticulately" that the ban is "futile" and that marijuana should be legalized, taxed and regulated instead of prohibited:

"[T]he current dominant opinion supporting the war on drugs in general, and our anti-marijuana laws in particular, is reminiscent of the opinion that supported the nationwide ban on alcohol consumption when I was a student. While alcoholic beverages are now regarded as ordinary articles of commerce, their use was then condemned with the same moral fervor that now supports the war on drugs."

Stevens knows something about Prohibition -- he was born and raised in Chicago, where Al Capone and other organized-crime figures controlled hundreds of speakeasies. And he knows something about the moral fervor of Prohibition's supporters, because one of them was his mother, Elizabeth Stevens, who used to say, "Lips that taste wine will never touch mine." His father, Ernest Stevens, was a hotelier who carefully obeyed the alcohol ban in his establishments but who predicted in 1932 court testimony that his business would benefit from the end of Prohibition, because diners would abandon the speak-easies for legal restaurants like the ones in his hotels.

"[J]ust as Prohibition in the 1920's and early 1930's was secretly questioned by thousands of otherwise law-abiding patrons of bootleggers and speakeasies," Stevens wrote, "today the actions of literally millions of otherwise law-abiding users of marijuana, and of the majority of voters in each of the several States that tolerate medicinal uses of the product, lead me to wonder whether the fear of disapproval by those in the majority is silencing opponents of the war on drugs."

JUNE 25 - INDOOR GROWS: THE NEW DEADLY MEANACE
Jim Ellis of the Associated Press reports, "Marijuana grow houses are becoming so prevalent in Florida that local law enforcement are calling on the state to create an intelligence repository to combat the problem." More than 400,000 plants were seized from grow houses in the U.S. last year - up from about 270,000 the year before, the DEA said. That is less than 10 percent of the marijuana plant seizures in the U.S. but still a growing problem that has law enforcement burdened with overtime and storage issues.

"The days of mom and pop growing a couple pots of grass in their house is gone," claimed Mark R. Trouville, chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office. Florida has the second highest number of indoor marijuana growers behind California, Trouville said. In 2006, officials in 41 of Florida's 67 counties uncovered indoor growers, he said. Last year, authorities in the Port St. Lucie area broke up a ring of more than 50 grow houses involving thousands of marijuana plants, linked to a scheme in which New Jersey financiers allegedly offered people "relocation packages" featuring 100 percent financing for homes. Trouville wildly stated that marijuana grown hydroponically indoors is as much as 200 percent more potent that if the drug were grown outdoors. "This ain't your grandfather's or your father's marijuana," Trouville claimed. "This will hurt you. This will addict you. This will kill you." Huh? (See next story.)

PURPLE BRAIN, PURPLE BRAIN
"More than 70 years in the making, the long-awaited sequel to the notorious 1936 film, Reefer Madness has arrived. It's called The Purple Brain, and just like its unintentionally campy predecessor, its purpose is to frighten Americans about marijuana," say NORML's Paul Armentano and DPA's Marsha Rosenbaum in an article on Alternet. The plot is as follows: Sure, the pot you and your 40-something peers once enjoyed may have been innocuous, but that's only because it bears no resemblance to the super-potent weed of today -- strains with such foreboding names as "Train wreck," "AK-47," and "The Purple." To top off this frightening message, unsubstantiated claims of "brain damage" resulting from the use of this super-pot are new buzzwords in today's Prevention circles.

Unlike alcohol -- or even aspirin, -- today's marijuana still poses no risk of fatal overdose, regardless of the strength of its primary psychoactive ingredient, THC. Moreover, cannabis consumers readily distinguish between low and high potency marijuana and moderate their use accordingly, the authors state. Recently scientists at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research reported that they could find "no ... evidence of cerebral atrophy or loss of white matter integrity" attributable to cannabis use in the brains of frequent adolescent marijuana users (compared to non-using controls) after performing MRI scans and other advanced imaging technology. Separate studies assessing the cognitive skills of long-term marijuana smokers have also reported no demonstrable deficits.

MORE SCARE STORIES
Armed with a new report that links early marijuana use with gang activity, experimentation with other drugs and alcohol, stealing and fighting at school, drug "czar" John Walters of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has kicked off another season of the highly criticized National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.

"It is incredibly ironic to see ONDCP simultaneously advancing the idea that marijuana causes laziness, which it has been doing for years, and then turn around and try to tell us that marijuana causes violence," said Scott Morgan, blogger for DRCNet. "It is also pretty shoddy to suggest a link between marijuana and gang membership. To whatever extent marijuana users are likely to join gangs, these relationships are facilitated by drug prohibition, which creates the black market in which these gangs thrive." In fact, the data linking marijuana use to gang membership is quite limited. ONDCP relied on one 2001 study of Seattle students to arrive at the conclusion that the two are linked.

The report's release may have more to do with ONDCP worries about budget cuts for programs proven not to be effective, like the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, than with actual cause and effect relationships between youth drug use and anti-social behavior, suggested Tom Angell, government relations director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP). Even there, ONDCP had limited success. Aside from reports in several Philadelphia media outlets, where drug czar Walters held a press conference to announce the report, a lone Associated Press story was picked up by 65 media outlets, most of them TV news stations in small to medium markets. Only a handful of print media ran the story, and that includes one outlet in marijuana-phobic Australia and one in Great Britain. But that won't stop ONDCP from producing more sensational but misleading reports, said NORML's Alan St. Pierre. "We can set our calendars and know that about a week before school starts in the fall, we'll get the next big scare effort from ONDCP," he predicted. Read more

DON'T TAKE CANDY CIGARETTES FROM STRANGERS
"The risk of becoming a smoker is associated with using candy cigarettes," concludes Dr. Jonathan Klein, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester. Klein and his fellow researchers found that 12 percent of people who said they had never eaten a candy cigarette as a kid were current or former smokers today. In contrast, 22 percent of those who said they had eaten candy cigarettes either smoked often today or were former smokers. Just 14 percent said they had never smoked. In addition, the more often a child had consumed candy cigarettes, the more likely he or she was to become a smoker, Klein said.

"It strikes me as insane that we would manufacture candy that would teach kids how to use a product that will kill half of them," said Danny McGoldrick, research director for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "It is completely irresponsible to be selling products that teach kids how to use what is ultimately a deadly product." McGoldrick sees the sweets as the first step along a path that leads to smoking for real. "With tobacco companies introducing flavored cigarette products, it looks like the first step in a progression from learning and thinking that it's cool to smoke cigarettes to moving up to the real thing and being addicted for a lifetime," McGoldrick said. Parents shouldn't let children have these products, McGoldrick said. "And retailers shouldn't be selling these things," he added.

FORMER NARC MARKETS "NEVER GET BUSTED" DVDs
AP reports that former Texas narcotics officer Barry Cooper claims he has sold 10,000 DVDs on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. "The formerly strait-laced lawman has become a shaggy-haired militant for the legalization of weed," the article states. Six months ago, Cooper released "Never Get Busted Again," in which the former star of West Texas' Permian Basin Drug Task Force gives tips on hiding marijuana (dashboards are rife with nooks and crannies) and throwing off drug-sniffing dogs (coat your tires in fox urine).

"I'm not helping them to break the law. It's clear the law is already being broken," said Cooper, 38, who left law enforcement a decade ago. "I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement's efforts to place American citizens in jail for nonviolent drug offenses." Defense attorneys have called Cooper as a witness to testify about unlawful tactics he says police use to make drug cases. For instance, he testified about how drug-sniffing dogs can be made to "false alert," which gives officers legal grounds to search a car or a home. Cooper said he had used that ploy himself. He claims that as a law officer, he took part in 800 drug busts and seized more than 50 vehicles and $500,000 in cash and assets. "He was among the best we had," said Tom Finley, who was Cooper's supervisor on the drug task force. "I don't understand why he would turn like this."

Cooper has begun filming a second DVD, called "Never Get Raided." He said he also is planning a documentary in which he would ply 50 partygoers with beer and marijuana and film what happens next. The aim, he said, is to prove that partygoers who get high are less dangerous than those who get drunk.

POOR LITTLE OLD CONNECTICUT
Connecticut's governor vetoed a medical marijuana bill last week, but Rhode Island's legislature voted to make theirs permanent, with a 58-11 House vote on June 21 that followed a 29-4 Senate vote to override the day before. Rhode Island's original medical marijuana law - also passed over a veto by Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) - had a one-year sunset clause, and was due to expire June 30.

"Thanks to this law, I have safe and legal access to my medicine, and I'm relieved that it's going to be permanent," said Bobby Ebert of Warwick, who uses medical marijuana to treat symptoms of AIDS. "Our legislature has stood with the scientific and medical community to ensure that I and hundreds of other seriously ill Rhode Islanders don't have to live in fear," said Rhonda O'Donnell, R.N., a multiple sclerosis patient who was the first to sign up for Rhode Island's program. "But the job won't be finished until every patient in every state who needs medical marijuana has complete protection. It's time for every state legislature and the U.S. Congress to change cruel and unscientific laws that criminalize the sick."

And perhaps because New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Bill Richardson signed a medical marijuana bill into law, New Mexico police say a man who was caught with 67 marijuana plants in the trunk of his car on June 22 told them he thought the plants were legal in the state. The Otero County Narcotics Enforcement Unit said Charles Barnes told police he wanted to see how well the marijuana plants would grow in the area around Cloudcroft, N.M., the Almagordo (N.M.) Daily News reported Friday. "Dude, I totally thought weed was legalized in New Mexico," police quoted Barnes as saying. The police confiscated the contraband and Barnes was issued a non-traffic citation for possession of marijuana.

DON'T CRY FOR THEE, ARGENTINA
More people regularly smoke marijuana in Argentina than in any other Latin America, according to a recent poll sponsored by the Organization of American States (OAS) and carried by the Argentine daily La Nacion. The Argentine daily reported Sunday that six percent of Argentina's population are habitual marijuana smokers, compared to 5.3 percent of Chile's population, which ranked second.

Last week Argentina authorities decided to take a second look at drug criminalization laws passed in 1989 and to no longer pursue drug consumers. Argentine Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said drug trafficking groups have grown sharply, while police forces have concentrated on "pursuing innocent people." Fernandez in recent weeks met with regional security forces and diplomats in 17 countries, telling them that Argentina is now looking for a more "pragmatic" way to fight the growing narco-trafficking trade.

DECORATED MARINE CHARGED WITH GROWING MARIJUANA
CBS news in Arapahoe County, Colorado reported that Kevin Dickes, 38, a former Marine who was badly wounded by an enemy grenade while serving in Kuwait, was arrested in April when Aurora SWAT teams entered his home after a neighbor complained he was growing marijuana. Dickes said he smokes marijuana to ease his pain and has a state-approved medical marijuana license to grow it. "They took me down," Dickes said. "They didn't give me a chance to speak. They had guns to my face. I never had that happen before in my life, even in Kuwait."

"I use it for pain," Dickes said. "It helps me tremendously. The narcotics get me sick, nausea, you throw up." Police confiscated at least 60 plants from Dickes' home. The state medical marijuana law sets a guideline of six, but Dickes' lawyer points out the law says, "You can have as many plants as you medically need." Dickes is charged with marijuana cultivation which is a class-four felony that carries a possible six-year prison sentence. There are 1,500 to 2,000 people in Colorado licensed to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

According to Stars and Stripes (June 26), Officials at Yongsan Garrison, one of four Army bases in South Korea, say they see between five and eight soldiers busted (and sent to rehab) for drug use in an average year. But with more than three months left in fiscal 2007, which ends Sept. 30, they've already seen 16 soldiers test positive for drug use. Of those, eight tested positive for marijuana. In the 32 positive drug tests throughout South Korea this fiscal year, 11 involved prescription drugs. The article was accompanied by a sidebar titled "OxyContin can be very good -- or very bad."

FIREFIGHTERS UP IN SMOKE
According to firefightingnews.com, Texas firefighters who spent half an hour fighting a blaze in which 2,000 pounds of marijuana went up in smoke breathed so much of it that they would have failed a drug test, Fire Chief Shawn Snider said. It took more than 35 firefighters, 1,000 gallons of water and five gallons of chemical suppressant to extinguish the warehouse blaze on June 20. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were investigating the origin of the fire fodder. Local officials were investigating whether arson was the cause.

MISSING MARIJUANA
A video of two Seattle police officers' January arrest of an alleged drug dealer failed to square with their police report, according to a Post-Intelligencer story. A citizen auditor of the Jan. 2 arrest of George Patterson said officers Greg Neubert and Michael Tietjen confiscated a small amount of marijuana from a second man who witnessed the bust, but didn't report the marijuana and it's never turned up.

And a former United States Border Patrol agent was sentenced on June 20 to 90 months in prison for stealing marijuana from the scene of a traffic stop in 2005. Michael Carlos Gonzalez, 34, of Vail, Ariz., loaded one of 30 bundles of marijuana from the back of a stopped pickup truck into his Border Patrol truck while other officers pursued the driver. Gonzalez was wearing his service weapon at the time, which led to a firearms charge. The stolen marijuana was never recovered, but the other 29 bales had an average weight of 10 kilograms. Gonzalez will also face 36 months of supervised release and pay a $30,000 fine.

AND THE BEAT GOES ON
Bonnaroo, the Tennessee Music and Arts festival held in mid June that hosted a reunion of The Police, saw Maynard James Keenan, leader of Tool, reportedly saying from the stage, "I assume you're on the marijuana and the LSD. You're all under arrest."

JUNE 16 - VIP NAMED PEOPLE's BACHELOR OF THE YEAR
VIP Matthew McConaughey (right) came out on top of the annual "Hottest Bachelors" issue of People magazine, out on Friday. McConaughey was arrested for pot possession in 1999 after police responded to a noise complaint at his home in Austin, TX and found him nude and playing the bongos, with a bong at his side. He appeared as an older guy chasing high school girls in "Dazed and Confused" (1993) and his best role was in "Contact" (1997), based on the book by VIP Carl Sagan. He was formerly named People's 2005 Sexiest Man Alive. No arguments here.

Other currently "sexy and sizzling" bachelors, according to People, include Adrian Grenier, who plays the pot-puffing movie star Vincent Chase on HBO's "Entourage"; and Justin Timberlake, who recently admitted to US Weekly he's inhaled (along with his ex, Cameron Diaz; see below). Timberlake raked in $1,108,989 in gross box office receipts last week, again topping Pollstar's weekly top concert list. Also in the top twenty was another known VIP, Norah Jones, who brought in $145,192.

VIP MONTEL WILLIAMS MAKES THE CASE FOR MEDICAL POT
Alternet Editor's Note: Connecticut may become the 13th state in the country to permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes. After legislation was passed in the state legislature this month, it is now up to Gov. M. Jodi Rell. See a letter of support from VIP Montel Williams.

FDA CONCERNED ABOUT CANNABIS ANTAGONIST'S EFFECTS
Paul Armentano, senior policy analyst for NORML who's broken many stories (such as the drug czar paying media outlets to include anti-drug story lines), has been sounding the alarm about the dangers of the pending cannabinoid antagonist drug rimonabant (aka Acomplia or Zimulti). Now an independent U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee determined yesterday that the controversial "anti-pot" pill is unsafe for human consumption in the United States. Sanofi-Aventis' would-be diet aid -- which has been linked to suicidal thoughts, depression and even multiple sclerosis -- counteracts the effects of marijuana and similar naturally occurring chemicals in the body (so-called endocannabinoids), causing users to lose their appetites and, according to the warnings of experts, a host of other unwanted and dangerous side effects. (Pot: good. Anti-Pot: bad. Any questions?)

SHOWTIME TO AIR MMAR DOC
"In Pot We Trust," a feature documentary from Showtime Independent Films about medical marijuana and will premiere on Showtime on July 9th, 2007 at 8:30pm. Other showtimes are: Sunday July 15th 3:45pm; Wednesday July 18th 12:00am; Saturday July 21st 11:15am; Thursday July 26th 12:00am and Tuesday July 31st 12:30pm.

See: Tommy Chong Interviewed About the Paris Hilton's Jail Sentence
and because we've trashed John Ashcroft on this blog and in the Tommy Chong Bong Song for prosecuting Chong, here is a new Johnny Stash tune for Johnny A.

PARDON MY "PARDON MY PLANET"
King Features Syndicate, a Unit of The Hearst Corporation that brings us Betty Boop and Popeye, writes the following about its cartoon "Pardon My Planet": "Eschewing the silly and safe, [Vic Lee's] Pardon My Planet is a cartoon for today's educated readers. By finding humor in all that makes us uncomfortable, Lee provides a sense of resolve about the fickleness of life and lets us all laugh at the goof-ball foibles of real people, laying bare the annoyances and eccentricities of the human race. Pardon My Planet appears in more than 130 newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Toronto Star, Chicago Sun-Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Newsday, Detroit Free-Press, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Perth Western Australianer to name a few. If there is intelligent life in the universe, may it forgive us our shortcomings and celebrate our spirit." On June 15, the panel depicted two DEA agents holding a gun to the head of a jogger, saying "You can run but you can't hide from the long arm of the law. We could smell the endorphins a block away, Einstein." The title: "Widening the New: The Runner's High."

RIP FRANK WERBER
"If anyone ever lived up to the image of the swinging 1960s hipster, Frank Nicholas Werber was the man," wrote Peter Fimrite,SF Chronicle Staff Writer on June 9. The original manager of the Kingston Trio and a successful restaurant and business owner, Werber favored "sports cars, miniskirted young ladies, a penthouse office in San Francisco, sailboat cruises in Mexico and pot. Lots of pot. Narcotics agents said six sea bags full of marijuana were delivered to his swanky home overlooking Richardson Bay in 1968, leading to his arrest, two sensational trials and a six-month jail sentence in Marin County." A federal court jury eventually found him not guilty after a widely publicized trial and he was then tried by Marin County authorities for possession and cultivation of marijuana. Werber was defended by Terence Hallinan, who would later become San Francisco's district attorney. Werber loved to recount how Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers testified that he had known the defendant for years and "before he started smoking pot, he was a real -- hole."

Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1929, Werber spent time in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust, immigrated to the US and joined the navy, and held many jobs before he established Sausalito's famous Trident Restaurant in the 1960s. It began as a jazz spot and later became "a psychedelic health food restaurant" where a table was set aside for Janis Joplin and a young Robin Williams worked as a busboy. When Native Americans occupied Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971, the pier outside the now-defunct Trident was used to ferry supplies to island dwellers. In 1974, the Rolling Stones held a private party that was "a mind-altering experience" at the Trident thrown by Werber's good friend Bill Graham (whose parents were Holocaust victims).

Werber had a financial interest in the hit show "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and was active in numerous sports, including sailing and scuba diving. He admitted smoking pot, but said he never trafficked in it. He argued that he was set up by dealers who were trying to save their own skin. Werber retired at age 43 to an old adobe lodge on 160 acres of wilderness in New Mexico once used by Teddy Roosevelt on his hunting expeditions. He died there of heart failure on May 19. A memorial is being planned for him in the fall.

JUNE 1 - VIP OF THE MONTH: HILLARY CLINTON

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS ON POT

MAY 29 - A MEMORABLE "TIME"
VIP Bill Maher was once again in fine form on the HBO "Real Time" season finale on Memorial Day weekend. The monologue included a joke about VIP Larry Hagman being the only thing as high as it was in the 70s, plus commentary about John McCain saying "[Barak] Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."

In answer to a story about Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) crying once more on the House floor, guest PJ O'Rourke commented, "Republicans should never skip their meds" and Ben Affleck declined, he said, to comment on someone else's bad acting moment. The ultimately electable Affleck made several astute observations, including the advantages of declaring a vague War on Terror instead of outlining definable goals like catching Bin Laden. "And the War on Drugs, how's that going?" he asked rhetorically, but PJ took the bait with what seemed, in the fray, to be an admission of partakement. Next a segment on George Bush's bumperstickers included the winners, "Ask Me About My Illegal Wiretapping" and "My other war is on drugs."

The show included a stellar interview with Michael Moore about his new film examining the health care industry, "Sicko," which has been praised by Fox News as "brilliant and uplifting" (yes, you read that right). But it was Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) who wowed the crowd, fresh from his debate with Republican presidential hopefuls where he said, "They aren't attacking us because we're rich and free, they're attacking us because we're over there" in response to a challenge from Rudy Guiliani. Paul, a long time drug war opponent who introduced a bill to legalize hemp farming in the US, has presented Guliani with a reading list, including the 9/11 report and said he expects an apology. Citing blowback from the 1953 CIA involvement in Iran to funding Osama Bin Laden and supporting Saddam Hussein, Paul advocated a non-intervention foreign policy with the defense of civil liberties at home. He said, "Peace is a powerful message" and noted that "The peace candidate always wins" in presidential elections. When Affleck predicted fellow Massachusettsian Mitt Romney would get the Republican nomination, the crowd shouted for Paul instead, prompting O'Rourke to suggest audience screening.

In typical nonpartisan style, Bill then berated Jimmy Carter for backing down, as dems do, for calling Shrub the worst president ever and proved his point by comparing George with his flubbing fellows from Richard Nixon to Warren G. Harding, using research from (he joked?) a Wikipedia search. See it

Bill will be at the "The Joint" at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas June 15 & 16 and back on HBO August 24.

MAY 26 - ONE DRUG PUSHER SUES ANOTHER
Kenneth Affolter, 40, who is serving five years in prison for making marijuana-infused candies and soft drinks, is being sued by the The Hershey Co. for giving his products names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese's and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey's Jolly Rancher, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Hershey's suit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in San Jose, accuses Affolter of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. The company is seeking $100,000 in damages. Papers were served on Affolter on Tuesday while he was in a county jail awaiting transfer to state prison. Affolter's lawyer, David M. Michael, said he was negotiating with Hershey.

In 1996, researchers found anandamide, the body's natural cannabinoid, as well as three different cannabinoid compounds in chocolate.

According to Wolfgang Schivelbusch's book Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants, as coffee spread in the Protestant countries of England, Holland, and France, chocolate became the preferred drink of Catholic countries Spain and Italy. The Mexican import, containing the stimulant theobromine, served as an accepted nutritional substitute during periods of religious fasting until its oil was removed in 1820 by the Dutchman Van Houten, who invented cocoa.

The marriage of Hapsburg princess Anna of Austria to Louis XIII in 1615 brought chocolate to France, since Anna had been raised in Madrid and brought her chocolate with her. "It became the drink of the European aristocracy, as much a status symbol as the French language, the snuffbox, and the fan," Schivelbusch writes. After the inventions of cocoa and milk chocolate, its use rose in northern and central Europe, primarily for children. "The former status drink of the ancien regime had sunk to the world of women and children," writes Schivelbusch.

Because Germany had to import its coffee, "Coffee was declared an un-German drink, not merely because the flow of money out of Germany would make the country poorer, but also because the drink itself had supplanted Germany's hallowed national beverage, beer. A classically reactionary argument." The Brits shifted to tea, which the East India Company brought from China, forcing the Chinese to take Indian-produced opium in exchange. Coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar took on the economic and cultural importance that exotic "Oriental" spices had in the Middle Ages, and the introduction of distilled liquor coincided with rural landgrabbing in England and the flight to the cities. As Frank Herbert says in Dune, "He who controls the spice rules the world."

GEORGE MICHAEL ON A BETTER WORLD
George Michael, who earlier this month pleaded guilty to driving while unfit, said during a television interview on May 20 the incident "involves prescribed drugs and it involves a dependency on them, and the tendency to chase one drug with another because of side effects." He will be sentenced at Brent Magistrates Court in northwest London on May 30.

Michael also said, "I think my generation were taught that it was OK, especially as a musician, to speak your mind and we are living in a time when it's not OK. People are trying, in an effort to return to family values, to pretend that some of the things that happened between 1960 and 1985 didn't happen, and one of those things was basically the introduction into the culture of marijuana. . . . We could sit here with any number of policemen and doctors and they would all tell you if everybody who had a dependence on alcohol changed their mind and had a dependence on weed, the world would be a much easier place to live in."

Michael, who appeared on ITV1's South Bank Show last year smoking a joint, added, "I have started thinking for the first time in my life that actually I shouldn't be living here [in the UK]. I think the honest truth is there are places I could live and still be able to visit home, where I would not have to worry about this constant surveillance." Ah, but you gotta have faith.

ATLANTA CLEANS UP ITS ACT
Atlanta Police Chief Richard J. Pennington announced on May 22 he would overhaul the city's narcotics unit after a 92-year-old woman was killed in a botched drug raid last November. Prosecutors said in court documents that officers often lied to obtain search warrants and fabricated evidence of drug purchases, as they did when they burst into the home of Kathryn Johnston and killed her in a hail of gunfire. Two officers pled guilty last month to voluntary manslaughter and federal civil rights violations; a third officer is awaiting trial. All eight narcotics officers will be replaced by 14 new investigators and 3 sergeants, and Pennington hopes to up the number to 30 by the end of the year.

BLOOMBERG HYBRIDIZES NYC TAXIS
VIP, NYC mayor and possible presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has put forth a five-year plan to convert New York's 13,000 yellow cabs to hybrid vehicles. In the last two years, the city has added about 375 hybrid vehicles to the yellow cab fleet, and under the mayor's plan, that number would triple by October 2008 and would grow by about 20 percent yearly. While the plan does not specifically call for hybrids, it requires all new taxis to get at least 25 MPG in 2008, rising to 30 MPG in 2009. Bloomberg said the move will have little impact on cab companies, who are by law required to replace their vehicles every three to five years. His plan escalates a 10-year plan so that it can be accomplished before he leaves office in 2009.

SPIRITUAL HIGHS AND LEGAL BLOWS
Jacob Sullum, the author of Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use (Tarcher/Penguin), provides a good overview of religious freedom issues in the June 2007 issue of Reason magazine. See: SPIRITUAL HIGHS AND LEGAL BLOWS: The power and peril of religious exemptions from drug prohibition. and its sidebar, Looking for God in All the Wrong Places?

MAY 20 - STONED ON THE SOPRANOS
In the final days of the HBO series The Sopranos, mob chief Tony finally catches up to his sister Janice, who took off to California leaving Tony in charge and resentful in New Jersey. When an aquaintance of a heroin-using nephew Tony has just put out of his misery offers him a joint in Las Vegas, he replies, "I always wanted to try that shit, but I always had all the responsibilities." Not only does he smoke pot, he takes peyote and yells "I get it!!" from a mountaintop and impresses his therapist with the observation that our mothers are like bus drivers and we spend our lives trying to get back on the bus. Now he'll either mend his ways or die (or both).

Meanwhile, Tony's son Anthony (played by actor Robert Iler, who at the age of 16 was arrested in NYC for smoking marijuana and robbery), is so depressed he's attempting suicide. In a counseling session, he recalls that his mother called him an "animal" for smoking pot at his confirmation party. "Did you ever think I was self-medicating?" he asks, at which his philandering, drug-using father scoffs.

HIGH NUMBER OF AZ MOMS ADMIT POT USE
A number of mothers in the Phoenix area admit they use marijuana to wind down after a long day, television station KPHO reported on May 19. Shay Pausa surveyed hundreds of mothers through her Web site, Chikii.com. She targeted women in affluent suburban areas."These were middle to upper-middle class women, professional women, mommies. We had some that were members of the PTA and one school teacher even reported," Pausa said.

They're women like Jan, who's 30 and has one child."I like it just to relax, if I'm very stressed out and I just need some time, just to relax. It's good for that," Jan said. Sue is 37 and has two kids. "But I've also used it for headaches. I've used it when I've been sick with the stomach flu, when I've been really nauseous and, I mean, I need to function. So it's in my medicine cabinet," Sue said. Of the hundreds of mothers Pausa surveyed, 52 percent said they smoke pot at least 10 times a year. Twenty-seven percent said they smoke it one to seven times a week. Some of the women even said they would someday tell their kids about their secret. So where do the women get marijuana? Some said they drop hints among friends until they find a supply, others said they grow it themselves.

JOINT IN THE BOX - OR - POT MAKES YOU GAY?
San Diego anti-drug advocates are protesting an ad for Jack in The Box that appears to represent a stoned teen driver ordering 30 tacos. In a statement, Jack in the Box responded that: "Our commercials are intended to present information about our products in a fun and entertaining way...Unfortunately, some individuals perceive the ad in a negative light, but that certainly was never our intention." According to 2005 California Healthy Kids Survey, more teens smoke marijuana than cigarettes in San Diego County. Of course, the unhealthiest thing would be eating 30 tacos.

Meanwhile, a new public service spot on MTV Canada is "dismaying some homos and delighting others," reported Toronto gay newspaper Xtra. In the ad from Saatchi & Saatchi, two young men sitting in the front seat of a car pass a bong to their friend in the back, then enter into an extended, steamy Brokeback-style kiss. The bleary-eyed buddy in the back seat figuratively rubs his eyes and asks: "Aren't you guys brothers?" The tag line: "If you're high, just make sure you don't drive." But kissing your brother is OK.

NEWS OF THE OLD
An article in the National Review by Deroy Murdock said NYC cops nabbed Barbara Jackson, a 71-year-old Bronx great grandmother and colorectal cancer survivor for scoring some pot in her neighborhood. "My taste buds are gone, but the marijuana helps me get the food down," she told the New York Daily News. "The marijuana has kept me alive. I wouldn't be here if I didn't smoke." Undercover officers arrested her March 13 and took her to the 46th Precinct where they fingerprinted her, and jailed her for five hours. Prosecutors dropped charges after a media furor.

Meanwhile, Canada's CTV.ca reports that a small but growing number of Canadian seniors are puffing pot. Mavis Becker, a Vancouverite who's about to turn 65, says she has a lot of stress caring for her 93-year-old father who suffers from dementia. When she gets wound up, Mavis rolls herself a joint. "I do have a habit of getting on the hyper side. And I find if I go out on my balcony and smoke a doobie, I feel way more relaxed and I don't get too excited about it," she says, adding, "I hope my grandchildren will be willing to roll a doobie for me if my arthritis gets too bad."

Researchers say they are seeing more pot smokers in nursing homes. One nursing home resident, who spoke to CTV News and asked not to be identified, says he has used cocaine and marijuana and says many other seniors he knows do too. "Marijuana, it calms you down. It makes you eat good and sleep good," he says.

Some seniors use drugs legally, prescribed as a medicine. But a recent national survey reported about one per cent of seniors report using marijuana recreationally. Many suspect the number is larger.

Some of these adults are discovering drugs for the first time in their older years, turning them to help them with physical aches and pains that come with age, or as a way to escape loneliness or emotional pain. "They are self-medicating in a safe way, and they are not coming to our attention because they are using it successfully," says outreach worker Marilyn White-Campbell.

According to the Canadian Addiction Survey, 12.8 per cent of Canadians aged 64-74 have used marijuana in their lifetime. But among those aged 44-54 -- the seniors of the future -- a much larger percentage of 50.1 per cent have used drugs.

THAT GUY'S NUTS -- GRAB 'EM
IACM via BBSNews 2007-05-13 -- British scientists analysed symptoms of 757 subjects, who developed schizophrenia, of whom 182 (24 per cent) had used cannabis in the year prior to first presentation to a psychiatrist due to the disease. There were no significant differences in the symptoms between cannabis users and non-users that have been observed in some small studies. In addition, cannabis users who developed schizophrenia had no greater family history of schizophrenia. The authors concluded that this "argues against a distinct schizophrenia-like psychosis caused by cannabis." (Source: Boydell J, et al. Schizophr Res 2007 Apr 24; [Electronic publication ahead of print])

A separate study by German researchers compared cognitive performance of 39 schizophrenic patients (19 cannabis-users and 20 non-users) and 39 healthy controls (18 cannabis-users, 21 non-users). On the whole, schizophrenic patients performed worse than healthy control subjects. Regular cannabis use prior to the first psychotic episode improved cognition in some tests. On the other hand, cannabis use deteriorated test performance in healthy controls, especially in cases when regular consumption started before the age of 17. (Source: Jockers-Scherubl MC, et al. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2007 Mar 16; [Electronic publication ahead of print])

DEARBORN COP/BROWNIE BAKER RESIGNS BUT WON'T FACE CHARGES
A Dearborn police officer resigned on May 14 after admitting he took marijuana from criminal suspects and baked it into brownies. City Councilman Doug Thomas has vowed to investigate the police department's decision not to prosecute former Corporal Edward Sanchez after he told police investigators he took the marijuana out of his police vehicle, put it in the brownie mix and ate the brownies.

On April 21, 2006, Sanchez placed a phone call to 911 and told an emergency dispatcher that he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana. "I think we're dying," he said. "We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do."

His wife, 26-year old Stacy Sanchez, voluntarily told police investigators that on another occasion, she removed cocaine from her husband's police cruiser that was part of the department's drug dog training program. She then went on a reported three-week coke binge. Stacy Sanchez has not been charged criminally either.

RICKY, I CAN SPLAIN
Former NFL rushing champion Ricky Williams tested positive again for marijuana last month, which will delay his return to the league until at least September, a person familiar with the case said on May 11. Williams sought to end a one-year drug suspension when he asked to rejoin the Miami Dolphins, but following the positive drug test, clinicians in the NFL's substance abuse program advised commissioner Roger Goodell to delay reinstatement, the person close to the case said. The NFL suspended Williams in April 2006 after he violated the league's drug policy for the fourth time. He resigned from the NFL in 2004, saying marijuana was 10 times better than Paxil, for which he once stumped, to treat his Social Anxiety Disorder. But the Dolphins threatened to sue him for breach of contract. Paxil's maker GlaxoSmithKline was sued by then-AG and now NY governor Eliot Spitzer for failing to publicize studies of Paxil use in children.

APRIL 30 - MOSS MOVES TO POT-FRIENDLY NEW ENGLAND
Wide receiver Randy Moss was traded on Sunday from the Oakland Raiders to the New England Patriots in an NFL draft where player behavior was a major issue. According to the Press Democrat, Moss, who will reportedly be playing under a "zero tolerance" policy for any controversial episode, was "thrilled to team up with coach Bill Belichick, but brushed aside questions about his marijuana use." Despite his reputation, Moss has had only one relatively minor run-in with the law since he entered the NFL in 1998. The Patriots are a preseason favorite to win their fourth Super Bowl in seven years.

Moss will be moving from pot-friendly Oakland, CA to the second most pot-using region of the US, according to a study released in 2005 by the US government, where Boston lead the nation with 12.2% pot smokers and New England finished as "high" as the West.

Elsewhere, Denver, whose voters passed a propostion to legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in November 2005, drafted Jarvis Moss and Marcus Thomas of Florida, both of whom were suspended for a game for marijuana use.

APRIL 26 - GANJA-YA
A petty pot bust disqualified "American Idol" contestant Akron Watson (see below), but it turns out the mother and sister of Sanjaya, the ex-contestant with little else but his hair to recommend him, were busted for growing pot in 2005. The National Enquirer reported on April 25 that Sanjaya's mother, Jillian Blith, was arrested by the Pierce County, Washington Sheriff's Department in February 2005 after they found 310 marijuana plants in the Malakar family garage being watched by sister Shyamali, then 17, who had a bag of weed and "smoking devices." Shyamali reportedly led police to another growing site nearby where they arrested Blith and her husband, Charles Quist (Sanjaya's stepdad). Blith pleaded guilty to one felony count of unlawful manufacturing of a controlled substance, and served a 30-day sentence.

TUMORS RE-STUDIED
Traditional Chinese and Southeast Asian herbalists recommended hemp concoctions for treating cancer. Tibetan medicine includes cannabis in mixtures used to treat lung diseases and tumors. Medieval herbalists recommended "hempe" against "nodes and wennes and other hard tumors." In the 1970s, lungs of mice were injected with cancer cells and cannabinoids; the size of tumors dropped 25-82% depending on dose and duration of treatment. Other studies have found similar results. A new study from Harvard University researchers found that THC "seems to have a suppressive effect on certain lines of cancer cells" by curbing epidermal growth factor (EPF). See more.

FOOLISH DRUG AGENCY
As Congress votes to require the FDA to somehow regulate medical marijuana, the New York Times reports that the FDA is examining why Eli Lilly & Company failed to submit a February 2000 study which found that patients taking Zyprexa in clinical trials were three and a half times as likely to develop high blood sugar as those who did not take the drug. A few months later, Lilly provided data to the FDA that showed almost no difference in blood sugar between patients who took Zyprexa and those who did not. Zyprexa remains Lilly's top-selling drug, with $4 billion in worldwide annual sales. But prescriptions in the United States have fallen nearly 50 percent since 2003 am