Traffic and other crime continue to be the only reasons ganja consumers are being arrested

I continue to ask: Exactly what, other than a very tiny number of patients getting to pretend that they are protected (at the cost of further criminalizing everyone else) is to be gained through the passage of SB 94?

For the record, I have sent letters to all of Delaware’s politicians outlining why SB 94 is unconstitutional – a violation of equal protection as required by both the United States Constitution as well as Delaware’s constitution. I also pointed out that the real experts in ganja law reform, from Dr. Lester Grinspoon, as well as long time ganja law reform activists such as myself, say that the best – only way to protect all patients is to re-legalize ganja, not through ill-conceived “medical” marijuana laws.

I also pointed out that only a few Delawareans are presently being arrested, asked where the proof is that not arresting people would be so devastating (since we are already not arresting ganja consumers), and demanded that they do NOT support SB 94, but instead seek to re-legalize ganja.

A North Carolina man was arrested after police found a loaded gun and marijuana in his car when he was stopped for speeding near the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

Traffic or other crime still the only reasons for ganja arrests

Senate Bill 94 is an unconstitutional act

While there are some who believe that Senate Bill 94 – or any “medical” marijuana law, no matter how half-baked – would be a compassionate act, I do not believe that such laws, the horrific Senate bill 94 specifically, will ever serve that purported purpose. In fact, these medicalization laws always result in more persecution of ganja consumers.

I’ve covered many of the reasons elsewhere in this blog, from the destruction of protections afforded all patients for the dubious protections offered to only a very small number of patients who are rich enough to afford regular doctor examinations and the daunting regulations requiring a “locked facility accessible only to the patient” to the sellout of religious and recreational ganja consumers through increased criminalization under SB 94. So, let me talk about the legal hell of Senate Bill 94. I appologize in advance for being a little hazy on many points, but this article refers to legal research being conducted to mount a constitutional lawsuit should SB 94 move forward. We don't want to reveal all of our cards just yet.

Despite attempts to make the bill into law, the attempt is nothing but spinning wheels. In creating the state’s clone of the federal Controlled Substances Act, the legislature came up with the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (UCSA). Placed under Title 16 of the Delaware Codes laws regulating Health and Safety, The Act, Chapter 47 of Title 16, defines Delaware’s laws regarding all controlled substances, in this case the Delaware Code specifically defines the laws about ganja, and the exact process under which the law itself can be changed.

Of course, there are very few circumstances in the law that are simple or straightforward, and Controlled Substances laws are particularly convoluted. I am not a lawyer. So, I encourage anyone who can provide a better interpretation to contact me so that we can openly analyze these laws.

Under Delaware’s UCSA, one of the very first thing the law defines in Title 16, chapter 47, subchapter II, is that the Secretary (of State, Homeland Security, Safety, or someone specifically designated by the Secretary are the ones who maintain and administer (the direct application and management of the Delaware UCSA). One of the primary administrative duties defined under section 4711, is that the Secretary can only reschedule any drug covered by the Act if it has been removed from or rescheduled within the FEDERAL UCSA.

The further duties of the Secretary as defined under section 4713 require that the Secretary must place and keep any drug in the schedule of controlled substances of chapter 47 that is not recognized by the federal government as having any medical use. The Obama administration’s justice department position of restrained prosecution of controlled substance violations simply does NOT fit the requirement.

I assume that the legislature has the power to simply create another chapter under the Delaware Code (as Senate Bill 94 will try to do) that creates an exception that provides for the Secretary to remove or reschedule ganja under Chapter 47. The exception that SB 94 will create is a conflict against equal protection under the law for all of those patients not specifically listed under SB 94. SB 94 will create a constitutional problem for the patients now protected by the affirmative defense, as well as for all other ganja consumers.

In other words, by creating an exception for rescheduling in the first place, the legislature will be saying that ganja may no longer be maintained as a schedule I substance. As SB 94 fails to provide any further definition of which schedule ganja should be placed under, as soon as SB 94 passes into law it will mean that ganja is no longer covered under Delaware’s UCSA. Only the secretary (or Delaware’s Superior Court) can make a meaningful rescheduling of ganja under these circumstances.

Ganja could no longer be maintained as a schedule I drug, as that would create a legal fiction and conflict. In other words, lawsuits will be filed in Delaware’s Superior Court that the legal conflict creates a constitutional violation of the equal protection under the law requirement.

Furthermore, under further requirements of Chapter 47, a substance can only be placed in Schedule II if “The abuse of the substance may lead to severe psychic or physical dependence.” Such a standard has never been defined for ganja, and will probably lead to a protracted court battle.

The same thing applies to Chapter 47’s definition of Schedule III; “Abuse of the substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.” Again, no such condition has been definitively researched. In fact, all available research shows that no such effect exists for ganja. Again, we will be left in a legal limbo while years of court wrangling unfolds.

One of the effects of all of this will be that SB 94 will have completely dismantled the affirmative defense, and while all of the court battles are underway, even patients SB 94 pretends to protect will be completely vulnerable. No one will be protected. At all.

Worst yet, as the government struggles to maintain a stranglehold over ganja prohibition, conditions for real ganja prohibition law reform will get worse and worse, as it has in every state that has these poorly conceived “medical” marijuana laws. The progress it took to get the arrest rate in Delaware down from over 8,000 people a year to only a few more than 200 a year will all be undone by the passage of SB 94.
Already, the legislators are using SB 94 to try to create an exception where ganja can not be maintained in the schedule of drugs, while at the same time saying that the exception only applies to the tiny sampling of patients listed in SB 94. This creates an unconstitutional condition where a significant number of Delawareans will be denied equal protection under the law. What SB 94 proposes to do is unconstitutional.

In the final analysis, ganja does not need medicalization to protect pharmaceutical companies or to bolster prohibition for religious, medical and even industrial uses. Instead of the three steps forward in reducing all persecution of any ganja consumer as we presently have, particularly for the pretend protections held out to a tiny minority of patients, replaced with the ten steps backwards with medicalization  ganja law under SB 94, ganja law reformers need to refocus and come together with the singular goal of meaningful re-legalization to reinvigorate the rights of all ganja consumers.

Price of snow removal breaks state's budget - Ganja Prohibition breaks my heart

I have a pretty good idea where the state can come up with about $10.5 million. That’s a conservative estimate of how much Delaware throws away persecuting ganja consumers every year.
Am I the only one puzzled by the state breaking the bank over a simple snow removal project, while at the same time the state is tossing human dignity, respect for the law, and tens of millions of dollars away on arresting a tiny fraction of Delaware’s ganja consumers?

Imagine, for a second, applying the rationale of ganja prohibition mentality to the snow removal budget. Let’s have the state clean up only one hundredth of one percent of the snow, while spending over $10 million. The difference is that ganja consumers are persecuted for making a personal choice that affects no one but themselves, while this last snowfall brought a huge chunk of the East Coast to a slushy halt, affecting businesses, schools, and the government itself. The difference is, the snow is dangerous, while ganja consumers are not.  Another difference is that another huge wave of ganja consumers will be here again next week, next month, next year.

The reality is that while the state can effectively provide snow removal service, there will never be enough money in the budget to arrest enough ganja consumers for the laws to be meaningful, let alone effective. The prohibitionist war on ganja consumers is already lost. All they’ve become at this point is an albatross hanging from society’s neck, destroying more lives that it purports to save while creating irrational costs to society and the individuals caught up in the abattoir of the so-called justice system.

The state has $3.2 million in its snow removal account. But it costs between $3.5 million and $4 million for every 8 inches of snow that falls, Delaware Department of Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks said.

"So if we go over, we have to find the money and do less of something else," Wicks said.

Price of snow removal breaks state's budget | delawareonline.com | The News Journal

Ganja IS Free!

 

Every day holds the promise of new birth.

 

A theme on which I have written in the past is one I would like to revisit today. Many people may have thought of this themselves, and may not know - they have found the truth and should share this truth with friends and loved ones to defeat the hate and lies.

 

Others who know, but are afraid to speak out in fear of retaliation.

I say: United We Stand.

 

Some don't know. I ask those to read on. Read each part carefully, consider what is said even more carefully.

 

I hope everyone who reads this continues to spread the truths.

 

Without getting all polit-icky about ganja, let's ask ourselves a burning question: Why is ganja not legal?

 

Here in Delaware ganja almost is legal. Only a fraction of Delaware's ganja consumers, somewhere around a hundredth of one percent, see a cop any given year. Written mathematically, that would be one person arrested every year for every one thousand Delawareans who consume ganja in that same year.

 

Prohibitionists have already lost their little moralistic war based. The state can simply never arrest enough Delaware ganja consumers to have any impact. They can not afford the costs to society, and they can not afford the cost in taxes.

 

The sheer number of consumers means people who want to consume ganja are going to get away with that.

 

A side effect of that many ganja consumers in Delaware should be empirical proof of whether claims about ganja consumers and the effects of consuming ganja have any credence.

 

With 250,000 regular ganja consumers in Delaware (according to the FBI UCR statistics), if men were growing breasts (an old myth propagated by the federal government to demonize ganja consumers) one would expect to see people who one knows consume ganja to start growing breasts where the had none previously.

 

With that many ganja consumers, one would expect to see such consumers who can't drive because their reactions are off.  Such accidents would be easily documentable, except it seems that despite increased ganja consumption (coupled with significantly decreased ganja arrests in Delaware) there are actually fewer accidents than in the past (per capita).

 

Medical groups from the top down all call for some form of ending prohibition.

 

Many readers may be aware of the pain and muscle problems of a sprained back. Well, the prolapsed disks in my spine are a severely sprained back that has not healed in any significant way in about 13 years, in spite of several attempts at getting treatment to relieve the problems.

 

I know ganja gives me relief. And the side effects are minimal. Instead of covering all pain, it is primarily that moment to moment pain from which I obtain meaningful relief. But, the ability of my body to report new pain is not heavily influenced. I can still tell if I should not be lifting that box or sweeping the sidewalk or even running the vacuum.

 

I know, marijuana IS medicine.

 

Nonetheless, I think it would be unconscionable and unethical of me to demand just a little more safety at the cost of increasing Delaware's arrest rate for any other group. After all, patients just are not being arrested for using ganja in Delaware.

 

So, what is missing? A conscious recognition of the facts by Delaware's legislature? Well, sort of. Many politicians have already acknowledged that the laws are not only overpriced, they are ineffectual. The only way cops arrest ganja consumers are when they are charged with ganja crime incident to some other crime, or incident to a traffic stop.

 

So, what do we do about this mess we're in?

 

I know. And, I will share, free. That's the whole purpose, to free ganja consumers from the present state of persecution.

 

The present scheme prevents responsible consumers from growing their own. And, prohibition prevents a competitive, regulated marketplace while encouraging the price gouging of the black market.

 

So, what's the secret, you ask? The secret is you. You have the power to change things and get ganja re-legalized. Stop buying into the fear-mongering of the politicians. Even the cops are not buying the nonsense any more.

 

You have to talk about re-legalization. And not that wimpy medical marijuana subterfuge silliness. Once upon a time, I would have said that medical laws were a foot in the door. Well, that door has been wedged open for many years. At one time or another over the past few decades, thirty three states have had medical marijuana laws at one time or another. At the moment thirteen states have some form of medical marijuana law. Delaware has a pretty powerful medical necessity defense that has protected patients for the last twenty years.

 

People are basically not being arrested, and no one is getting hurt. Why pass an unnecessary "medical" marijuana law? Why not simply legitimize the present defacto legalization Delaware already enjoys?

 

YOU have to speak up to the politicians. If you believe in protecting the patients, don't get behind a law like SB 94 that will actually make things worse for most patients. The only way all patients will be protected is if ganja is re-legalized.

 

Call your politicians and tell the, Senate Bill 94 would be a step backwards. The only real progress would be to officially recognize that ganja should not be illegal. If you can't find your politician, visit the blog and look for the links to other sites that will find you politician for you. Phone them, write to them, visit them.

 

That's where the Delaware Cannabis Society will help. With many years of training, and long experience in the media and with the government, we know the ins and outs of personal lobbying.

 

If you want to form a group in your area, we will help you set it up - all of our training and assistance is provided absolutely free. We also provide materials for special events, free. That's right, we do not charge you to join us, or buy our advertisement materials, like NORML or many other so-called law reform organization$. And, our resources are your resources, free when we can get 'em.

 

Clearly, without YOU no ganja law reform group could make ANY progress. It has been Delawareans who helped reduce our ganja arrest rate so low.

 

So, if you want to know what the issues are so you can speak clearly and concisely when you phone your politician, if you would like help learning and applying personal lobbying, if you would like to get together and visit our politicians and talk to them about re-legalizing ganja, if you want help creating a local event or if you would like to take part in the many classes and events produced by the Delaware Cannabis Society, just contact us.

 

That is how we will get ganja re-legalized.

 

Now that the serious stuff is over, its time to light up a nice pipeful.

 

Visit the blog regularly http://hempmansays.blogspot.com.

Call us - (302) 439-0313.

        Visit the blog and even your long distance phone call could be free.

Is it really America’s responsibility to arrest adults for their private choices?

This article below is misleading, only because the author has been mislead. There have always been lurid, over the top claims made about potential “reefer madness” effects from the use of ganja. But the claims don’t match reality.

Despite almost eighty years of claims such as the claim in the 1930’s that black men were using marijuana to make white women sexually available, to ‘60’s claims that men would grow breast, to modern claims of death and insanity, there is no empirical evidence to support a single one of the horror story claims about the supposed dangers of ganja consumption.

The governments’ own studies, from the Nixon era Schafer Report, the LaGuardia Report, and more modern studies such as that by the NIDA in the mid ‘70’s and the more recent study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science, have all debunked sensationalized claims about a gateway effect. In fact, every single independent study commissioned by the government says that the real gateway is prohibition itself.

In reality, only the misinformed or malicious still make any of these sorts of lurid, inaccurate claims about ganja’s supposed dangers. Thinking people know better.

By enabling a black market in which ganja is commonly sold by dealers who also profit heavily from heavier drugs like cocaine, meth and heroine, the laws are responsible for exposing people to these other drugs.

Coupled with a fading trust in government sources due to the lies and exaggerations they tell about ganja, it is the government that is responsible for  an environment where children no longer believe possibly more accurate concerns about the health effects of harder drugs.

Just as important to note, arresting adults for using ganja has had no effect on perceived dangers of the ultimate deadly drug, alcohol, or children’s disapproval of ganja use.

While it may well be responsible to discourage children from any drug use (including too quickly prescribed dangerous pharmaceuticals such as attention deficit and over-prescribed psychiatric medications), there is no connection between arresting adults for ganja consumption and children’s perceptions.

 

It is Americans' responsibility to help curb teens' drug abuse

Marijuana, considered by some as a "gateway" drug to more dangerous addictive substances, and binge drinking get a favorable assessment by teens.

•Among eighth- and 10th-graders, the perception of "great risk" associated with marijuana use declined; perceived harmfulness of marijuana deteriorated among eighth-graders; and peer disapproval of marijuana use has declined.

It is Americans' responsibility to help curb teens' drug abuse | delawareonline.com | The News Journal