Cannabis Hemp News

Ottawa -- They inhaled -- and exhaled. Several front-runners in the New Democratic Party leadership race admitted in a nationally televised debate last night to smoking pot at some point in their lives. The question was raised in connection with the candidates' position on decriminalizing marijuana. Jack Layton, a well-known Toronto city councillor, joked that he never exhaled, a reference to the effects of second-hand smoke. "Six or seven million Canadians have tried marijuana. Are they criminals? I don't think so," Mr. Layton said. "What we do need to do is take a sensible approach." Mr. Layton said the federal government, which is planning to decriminalize marij…

Source: New York Times Ratcheting up the debate over sport utility vehicles, new television commercials suggest that people who buy the vehicles are supporting terrorists. The commercials are so provocative that some television stations are refusing to run them. Patterned after the commercials that try to discourage drug use by suggesting that profits from illegal drugs go to terrorists, the new commercials say that money for gas needed for S.U.V.'s goes to terrorists. "This is George," a girl's voice says of an oblivious man at a gas station. "This is the gas that George bought for his S.U.V." The screen then shows a map of the Middle East. "These are the countr…

Jaffa — The country is going to pot. No one seems to mind. It makes us feel like we live in a normal 21st-century nation instead of some backward place where two peoples, neither of whom eats pork, kill each other over a piece of scrubby land. We're having elections at the end of this month. You've probably heard more about them than you ever wanted to know. Same here. The TV and newspapers talk about nothing else, except the sunny prospects for war with Iraq. The election issues are clear: peace or war; prosperity or economic collapse; clean government or rampant corruption; legalized or illegal grass. Now, Israelis are pretty smart people . . . except when they v…

Source: AlterNet "House Republicans Thursday unveiled a package of bills to combat drug abuse and vowed to make America virtually drug-free by 2002."- Reuters, May 1998 Welcome to America, 2002, Land of the Virtually Drug-Free where President George Bush insists that casual drug users are financing terrorism, while his niece is caught with crack cocaine in drug rehab. Where one person is arrested approximately every 44 seconds on a marijuana charge. Where 77% of Texas drug convictions are found to involve less than one gram of a drug. U.S. fighter pilots in Afghanistan are given amphetamines to stay awake on bombing runs, leading some to question the drugs contrib…

Source: Oakland Tribune Lawyers for marijuana authority Ed Rosenthal of Oakland argued Monday the federal government has singled him out for persecution and prosecution, a prelude to asking that the drug charges against him be dropped. They'll be back before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco on Wednesday, and the judge has said he'll rule that day on whether to dismiss the case. Rosenthal, 58, a widely known marijuana activist and author, was among those arrested last February when Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided his home office and other Oakland sites, as well as the Harm Reduction Center medical marijuana club in San Francisco an…

TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP INTERVIEW WITH PRU MACSWEEN, RADIO 2UE Subjects: Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative; detention centres; cricket; New Year. E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………… MACSWEEN: I have the Prime Minister on the line. Good afternoon, Prime Minister. PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon, Pru. Nice to talk to you. MACSWEEN: You too. We're seeing you everywhere, aren't you supposed to be on holidays? PRIME MINISTER: No, I go on holidays tonight. MACSWEEN: Oh, I bet you're counting the hours. PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I'll still be around. I'm not going away, but Mr Anderson will be taking over as Acting Prime…

Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record Waterloo Region -- It's been a long time since Kitchener-Waterloo MP Andrew Telegdi smoked a joint. But that doesn't mean he has anything against people who do choose to use marijuana. Telegdi supports the movement to decriminalize the use of moderate amounts of marijuana. He would like to see it made an infraction punishable with fines or community service rather than an offence met with harsher punishments and a criminal record. So many Canadians are using pot, he says, it's silly to consider all of them criminals. Plus, he believes police resources are wasted on trying to bust marijuana users when there are more serious crimes…

Frequent cannabis use increases the risk of developing depression and schizophrenia in later life, according to three new studies published today. Authors of the studies, from Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, all conclude that the authorities should introduce strategies to reduce cannabis use - particularly amongst minors. In one study of 1,601 students from 44 secondary schools in Australia, frequent cannabis use appeared to result in a rise in later depression and anxiety in girls. Daily use among the girls, who were studied from the ages of 14-15 for seven years, was associated with a more than fivefold increase in the odds of later depression and anxiety. We…

The Guardian France is planning to tighten restrictions on the smoking of cannabis in an attempt to curb its steadily rising popularity. Campaigners claim that millions of people are regularly defying existing laws as more plantations of cannabis are discovered, particularly in the south of the country. At normal levels of consumption, up to three million French people will have smoked the drug on Christmas day. France's hardline interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, has been consulting cabinet members and government officials on raising the maximum penalties for cannabis use, from the present level of a year in prison or a £5,000 fine. This month the governme…

The Guardian Jesus was almost certainly a cannabis user and an early proponent of the medicinal properties of the drug, according to a study of scriptural texts published this month. The study suggests that Jesus and his disciples used the drug to carry out miraculous healings. The anointing oil used by Jesus and his disciples contained an ingredient called kaneh-bosem which has since been identified as cannabis extract, according to an article by Chris Bennett in the drugs magazine, High Times, entitled Was Jesus a Stoner? The incense used by Jesus in ceremonies also contained a cannabis extract, suggests Mr Bennett, who quotes scholars to back his claims. "There …

The Great Unwashed. The incidents below are similar to the rather abbreviated life of a cruiser built by Vickers at Barrow. After their Lordships signed the contract, the Company went flat out for nearly three years, from go to whoa, to deliver the ship with all systems operational on the scheduled date. Initial trials were commenced with a number of Company personnel on board. Within 24 hours she was on the bottom. Why bother? HAVING A BAD DAY? READ ON... There was a case in one hospital's Intensive Care ward where patients always died in the same bed, on Sunday morning, at about 11 a.m., regardless of their medical condition.This puzzled the doctors and some e…

The Columbia City Council on Monday will hear a proposal that aims to retool the city's law- enforcement stance toward small amounts of marijuana. The proposal would make the possession of less than 35 grams of marijuana a ticketable offense only, not punishable by imprisonment. Such cases would only be referred to the municipal prosecuting attorney and would not be prosecuted by a state prosecutor. The proposed ordinance would also ensure that patients for whom marijuana has been recommended by a physician suffer no punishment for obtaining, possessing or using marijuana or marijuana paraphernalia. The ordinance would be voted on at the council's Jan. 20 meeting, …

Source: Edmonton Sun Pot shops where smokers could buy and toke marijuana might be set up in major Canadian cities within six months, says a cannabis advocate in Vancouver. "We're trying to open a marijuana-selling operation in the city, and the reason for that is that there's so many people from out of town who come to Vancouver and there isn't a respectable retail outlet to send an out-of-towner to," said Marc Emery, president of the Marijuana Party of B.C. "We end up having to send them to the sleazy part of the downtown east side to buy from all the crack, heroin and pot dealers, and people who sell anything illegal. It's always a discouraging experience to se…

UK: Let Them Smoke Dope URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1154.a11.html Newshawk: JimmyG Webpage: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/page.cfm?...ll&siteid=86024 Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jun 2002 Source: Sunday Mail (UK) Contact: mailbox@sundaymail.co.uk Copyright: 2002 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd. Website: http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2260 Author: Derek Alexander LET THEM SMOKE DOPE Scots Police Forces Stop Arresting Cannabis Users POLICE officers have been told not to arrest anyone caught with cannabis for personal use, the Sunday Mail can reveal. All eight Scottish forces adopted the secret policy because they were…

Sault Ste. Marie’s senior drug prosecutor is awaiting word on what happens now with marijuana possession charges after a potential landmark decision Thursday in a southern Ontario courtroom. Wayne Chorney said he is expecting instructions from the federal department of justice within a day or two. “I suspect they will tell us to stay charges in the interim or adjourn them for the next month or so,’’ the federal Crown said. An Ontario Court judge in Windsor threw out a marijuana charge against a teenaged boy Thursday after his lawyer argued there is effectively no law in Canada prohibiting possession of 30 grams of pot or less. Chorney estimates there are probably 7…