The Lord has a sense of humor, really. Turns out a plant that is now illegal holds the key to solving the oil crisis in the Gulf.
From what Willie Nelson calls A Peaceful Solution, nature's hemp plant, we have a full arsenal of tools in this weed's various grades of THC to fight this crisis in fields as vast as medical, industrial, environmental, economic and agricultural.
The potential consequences from this environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico and beyond are way too precise to ignore.
Hemp is a no brainer in dealing with this oil crisis. Since the problem is too many toxins in the environment, the solution is to stop the inflow and clean up the mess. The hemp plant has a multitude of applications to the problem of the oil industry messing up the Gulf of Mexico and the lives of her citizens. Consider hemp as the illegal solution. The good news is a simple Executive Order signed by the president ending hemp prohibition. As citizens we declare the need for this century's Hemp For Victory program, using the original as the program's nucleus.
How? Here's a few ways for openers?
Hemp medicine, which assists with respiratory and digestive problems helps deal with the toxic chemicals people are being exposed to like benzene and methane.
Hemp is a wind pollinated plant that has a short growing season. Hemp foods can help replace the whole in the food supply caused by not eating fish from the Gulf or possibly the east coast by the time hurricane season finishes.
Hemp's environment benefits are deep as its up to 6' root system aerates soil and converts many toxins into wood. Hemp should be planted in all toxic areas to help clean the soil.
Hemp building materials are strong, i.e. hemp plastic is 10 times stronger than steel according to Henry Ford. A company that specializes is HempPlastic.com , a material that should be considered for use to plug up the underwater volcanoes.
Industrial hemp can help build homes in the event we have to relocate large populations on unused federal land because of coastal cities rendered uninhabitable. An exciting hemp tool is concrete made from hemp. A good site for more information and purchase is Hempcrete.com
We have 4 blog entries by the USA Hemp Museum, www.hempmuseum.org of initial ideas on how hemp can be applied to this oil spill (volcano). The museum's founder and curator, Richard M. Davis. Davis is a leader of the groundswell of support for a new HEMP FOR VICTORY program based on the successful World War II program.
Below are a short series of research from the Museum, with much more to follow. Please add your thoughts as we re-institute the Hemp For Victory program.
Benzene, methane and other toxic chemicals are in the air and water in the Gulf. Hemp medicine can help, yet, we still need to be moving large populations away from that toxic area.
HEMP FOR VICTORY is a powerful set of books containing museum exhibits that explain how to use hemp to solve many modern problems. The series is by Richard M. Davis, the founder and curator of the USA Hemp Museum, www.hempmuseum.org , a private museum with a virtual wing. Davis is a hempster from the 60’s and a sought after hempologist whose collection contains thousands of hemp and hemp related exhibits.
The environment, medicine and the economy are the first three areas the series addresses. In these books readers learn that hemp is a biomass champion, scrubbing the air of excess CO2 as it grows; is effective 5,000 year old medicine; and can stimulate the economy with its more than 50,000 products. Click on the title to see a free .pdf of the book. The paperbacks are available at amazon.com, linked through the Volume numbers below.
Volume I explains how hemp can help us solve our environmental crisis on many levels. Hemp is a biomass champion that removes excess CO2 as it grows. Hemp is also a clean burning energy source. Preview Ebook: HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION;
In the webeo above Richard M. Davis, founder and curator of the USA Hemp Museum, www.hempmuseum.org discusses how to use hemp to address both global warming and our health care crisis in his books HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION and HEMP FOR VICTORY: THE WONDER HERB.
Hemp has a long track record in its many grades, from pure industrial to medical to recreational and religious, of helping us solve our problems. Davis helps folks sort the truth from the lies.
Davis discusses in his first two books in his powerful new HEMP FOR VICTORY series which uses museum exhibits plus narrative, to explain how to use hemp to solve many of our problems like environment (hemp pulls the excess CO2 from the air), economy (hemp is the number one cash crop that motivates folks to exchange dollars for hemp products), health care (effective 5,000 year old hemp medicine can reduce the number of sick people) and other social issues. Free ebook copies of both books are available at www.hempmuseum.org
Music is by the Afro Jazz artist Najite, which webeo co-producer Sherwood Akuna is carrying the bass line, Nate Morgan on keys, Omo Ogun on lead drum, and other Los Angeles Afro Jazz artists. The music and books are for sale at www.amazon.com
Tell President Obama to end hemp prohibition so we can use this wonderful plant to save ourselves.
Just in time for the 2009 Global Marijuana March, HEMP FOR VICTORY: THE WONDER HERB is available for a limited time as a free ebook at the museum’s site. The result of decades of research by the USA Hemp Museum's founder and curator Richard M. Davis, this work makes a comprehensive and compelling case that proves hemp’s effectiveness as medicine and a great source of delicious nutrition. The book is the answer to the call for more research on medical hemp. Medical marijuana has been proven effective as medicine as it's been in use for more than 5,000 years. This book offers some of the many chapters and verses on the subject.
From images of hemp under a microscope (page 58) to the big picture view in his struggle to grow and use hemp freely in “Why I am Suing The State” (page 180), this book is a one stop answer to the question ‘is hemp an effective medicine and nutritious food source?’ Davis proves in this book that the answer is a resounding YES HEMP HEALS.
Among the many exhibits in the book that make the case are:
· Harvard’s Dr. Lester Grinspoon’s testimony before the Crime Subcommittee of Judiciary Committee to the US House of Representatives in 1997 (page 60) and Dr. Grinspoon’s paper Marijuana As Wonder Drug (page 17). · Dr. Tod H. Mikuriya, MD’s list of hemp’s documented 250 medical uses (page 53). · Physicians Desk Reference For Herbal Medicine Cannabis Sativa (page 238) on hemp as medicine and what they know it’s good for. · Hemp patient, author and publisher Peter McWilliams “Medical Marijuana & Me.” (page 82) and Why Was Peter McWilliams Murdered? By Paul Krassner (page 87). The book is dedicated to McWilliams. · J. Nayer Hardin’s research regarding hemp as a medical tool for World Trade Center illness (page 94) · Many books for further research on medical hemp’s effectiveness. (page 218)
Richard M. Davis is the USA Hemp Museum’s founder, curator and resident hempologist. He’s known in California for his growing skills and his love of and dedication to restoring the hemp plant to its rightful role in nature. He is authoring a series of books based on his respected website www.hempmuseum.org/ dedicated to the successful WWII program HEMP FOR VICTORY. The series is built as a blueprint for how we can use hemp to help us solve our problems now.
Davis holds a Masters Degree in Biology from California State University at Los Angeles and attended the School of Public Health at UCLA for four years under a US Public Health Service Fellowship. He was named High Times Freedom Fighter in February, 1995. He is still fighting for nature to be legal again.
Davis’ website, http://www.hempmuseum.org/ contains images, papers, webeos (web videos) and other items and information. Links to hard copies of his first two books in the series are:
"When the White House put out a call for town hall questions, it might not have been expecting this.
The more than 92,000 people who responded either have Cheech and Chong senses of humor or there is a deep concern in America — undetected by the media — about the decriminalization of marijuana, its possible use for medicinal purposes and its potential as a new source of tax revenue.
Given the opportunity to say what’s really on their minds without going through the filter of the mainstream media, people “buzzed up” a series of questions that seemed to suggest broad interest in legalizing marijuana and taxing it."
President Barack Obama is not president for what he thinks. He said he was going to change government. He said science would drive the process. Yet, we are still slaves to Medicine/Prison/Insurance, Inc. The horror. The necessary change is to restore the will of the people and end hemp prohibition.
We've made nature illegal and wonder why we have a problem with the environment.
We've made hemp medicine illegal and wonder why our health care system is strained.
We've made the peace pipe illegal and wonder why we have a problem with violence.
Time to rethink hemp Mr. President. Time to stop acting ignorant on the subject and come on by the USA Hemp Museum. Hemp heals.
The webeo below is on a movement in California that is based on using hemp to help solve the state's economic crisis. Even if the president wants to pretend not to know hemp can help fix the economy, there is wisdom in California.
February 25, 2009
CNN - LOU DOBBS: Pot tax "legalizing marijuana"
Common sense says that when the problem is a lack of tax revenue the solution is to increase tax revenue. Hemp legalization would do that quickly because hemp is a low cost easily renewable resource material that can make 50,000 products.
End Hemp Prohibition. Tax recreational hemp at 20%.
Here's a 7 part movie, RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story as broadcast on Youtube. This work is about the awesome healing power of hemp and the struggle to make this powerful, effective medicine available once again to the world.
Thank you Rick Simpson and all medical marijuana patients, caregivers and growers who are standing down the evil and greed in modern medicine, the leading cause of death in America, and provide effective medicine to those of us in need of healing.
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 1 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 2 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 3 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 4 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 5 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 6 of 7)
RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 7 of 7)
"Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs. It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana’s chemical makeup.
The current research, by Giovanni Appendino of the University of the Eastern Piedmont and colleagues and published in The Journal of Natural Products, looked at the antibacterial activity of the five most common cannabinoids. All were effective against several common multiresistant bacterial strains, although, perhaps understandably, the researchers suggested that the nonpsychotropic cannabinoids might prove more promising for eventual use.
The researchers say they do not know how the cannabinoids work or whether they would be effective, as systemic antibiotics would require much more research and trials. But the compounds may prove useful sooner as a topical agent against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, to prevent the microbes from colonizing on the skin."
The Drug Library reports on the subject of hemp as an antibacterial agent:
Our study of the Mideuropean flora with regard to its contents of substances producing antibacterial effects comprehends 3,000 species from which the Indian hemp --- Cannabis indica --- grown in Czechoslovakia has been selected for elaborate investigation. A preliminary method of isolation accomplished by paper chromatography with the disclosure of an effective zone in the biological way has been described.
The most advantageous methods of extraction were determined, and the bactericide effect of the hemp substances experimentally proved in vitro on Gram-positive microorganisms: Staphylococcus pyogenes autreus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus --- resistant to penicillin, Streptococcus beta haemolyticus, Streptococcus viridans, Pneumococcus Cornyebacterium diphteriae, and Bacillus anthracis.
Gram-negative microorganisms of the typhus-coli group remain resistent, as well as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus vulgaris. An excellent antibacterial effect on Mycobacterium in vitro even in a dilution 1: 150,000 could be ascertained.
A parallel between the bactericide effect of isolated, amorphous, and crystal substances, and a comparison of the sensibility of the two applied bacterial methods, both the modified Oxford method and the tests in a liquid medium was made in detail. The limit of efficacy in the maximal dilution of biologically active substance (1: 100,000) and the velocity of their effect in various dilutions were determined. The influence of inactivating factors has been studied in detail. Blood, plasma, and serum partly inactivate them and reduce their antibacterial effect.
As a conclusion, a comparison of the efficacy of these active substance[s] with penicillin and streptomycin at various pH was worked out, and a summary of hemp preparations manufactured for the purpose of clinical application in stomatology, oto-rhino-laryngology, dermatology and phthisiology has been given."
Giovanni Appendino,*†‡ Simon Gibbons,*⊥ Anna Giana,†‡ Alberto Pagani,†‡ Gianpaolo Grassi,§ Michael Stavri,⊥ Eileen Smith,⊥ and M. Mukhlesur Rahman⊥ Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Alimentari, Farmaceutiche e Farmacologiche, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Via Bovio 6, 28100 Novara, Italy, Consorzio per lo Studio dei Metaboliti Secondari (CSMS), Viale S. Ignazio 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy, Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WC1N 1AX, U.K., and CRA-CIN Centro di Ricerca per le Colture Industriali, Sede distaccata di Rovigo, Via Amendola 82, 45100 Rovigo, Italy
Given the availability of C. sativa strains producing high concentrations of nonpsychotropic cannabinoids, this plant represents an interesting source of antibacterial agents to address the problem of multidrug resistance in MRSA and other pathogenic bacteria. This issue has enormous clinical implications, since MRSA is spreading throughout the world and, in the United States, currently accounts for more deaths each year than AIDS.24 Although the use of cannabinoids as systemic antibacterial agents awaits rigorous clinical trials and an assessment of the extent of their inactivation by serum,25 their topical application to reduce skin colonization by MRSA seems promising, since MRSA resistant to mupirocin, the standard antibiotic for this indication, are being detected at a threatening rate.26 Furthermore, since the cannabinoid anti-infective chemotype seems remarkably tolerant to modifications in the prenyl moiety, semipurified mixtures of cannabinoids could also be used as cheap and biodegradable antibacterial agents for cosmetics and toiletries, providing an alternative to the substantially much less potent synthetic preservatives, many of which are currently questioned for their suboptimal safety and environmental profile.27 "
If you have anything to share on the subject, please post below. For more information on hemp and how hemp can help us, please visit the USA Hemp Museum, a private museum with a virtual wing. The museum's founder and curator, Richard M. Davis, is releasing his new book HEMP FOR VICTORY: WONDER HERB in the Fall '08. This work, like his first book HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION, is about how to use hemp as a tool to solve our problems including global warming, health empowerment, etc.
Thank you Rep. Barney Frank for this bill, H. R. 5842.Here's hoping the 110th Congress can do what the 107th (H,R.1344 & H.R. 2592), 108th (H.R. 2233) and the 109th (H.R. 2087), among other restoring the Will of the People bills like the Industrial Hemp Farming Acts of 2005 and 2007, could not do.
House Resolution 5842 is this year's medical marijuana bill that is once again lost in committee, like all the ones before it. Though in danger of facing the same fate as:
With your help and support, we can get this through, a major step in solving our health care crisis.
"This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process where the bill is considered in committee and may undergo significant changes in markup sessions. The bill has been referred to the following committees according to http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5842:
Dr. Bill Courtney - {Note: The link is an email address from a transcript of an interview of Dr. Courtney published in THE NEW SETTLER, issue 142, summer 2007 of an interview by former 5th District Supervisor Norman de Vall on KZYX/Z 'The Politics Behind the Local News', part of National Public Radio. }
Richard M. Davis, founder and curator of the USA Hemp Museum , a private museum with a virtual wing, is releasing the second book in his series HEMP FOR VICTORY called WONDER HERB this summer. This book is a breathtaking look from doctors, lawyers, patients and politicians on the subject of how to use medical hemp and why.
It's going to take a day or two to calm down having read on the CaNORML blog that the US government holds a patent on medical hemp.
We confirmed it at the patent office, that the United States Government, who has imprisoned and caused the untimely deaths of many over the issue of marijuana/hemp, holds a patent on medical hemp. They made it illegal for us to study and use one of the most effective medicines on the planet while they took their time getting a patent on it.
Yep, the Department of Health and Human Services hold the patent 6630507, Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants, a medical hemp patent.
Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated toNMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoidsuseful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidationassociated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory andautoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particularapplication as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurologicaldamage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in thetreatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease,Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, suchas cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoidtoxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high dosesuseful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosedclass of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula(I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the groupconsisting of H, CH3, and COCH3.##STR1##
US Patent References2304669, 4876276, (3S-4S)-7-hydroxy-Ɗ6 -tetrahydrocannabinols Issued on: 10/24/1989 Inventor: Mechoulam, et al.5227537, Method for the production of 6,12-dihydro-6-hydroxy-cannabidiol and the use thereof for the production of trans-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol Issued on: 07/13/1993 Inventor: Stoss, et al.5284867, NMDA-blocking pharmaceutical compositions Issued on: 02/08/1994 Inventor: Kloog, et al.5434295, Neuroprotective pharmaceutical compositions of 4-phenylpinene derivatives and certain novel 4-phenylpinene compounds Issued on: 07/18/1995 Inventor: Mechoulam, et al.5462946, Nitroxides as protectors against oxidative stress Issued on: 10/31/1995 Inventor: Mitchell, et al.5512270, Method of inhibiting oxidants using alkylaryl polyether alcohol polymers Issued on: 04/30/1996 Inventor: Ghio, et al.5521215, NMDA-blocking pharmaceuticals Issued on: 05/28/1996 Inventor: Mechoulam, et al.5538993, Certain tetrahydrocannabinol-7-oic acid derivatives Issued on: 07/23/1996 Inventor: Mechoulam, et al.5635530, (3S,4S)-delta-6-tetrahydrocannabinol-7-oic acids and derivatives thereof, processors for their preparation and pharmaceutical compositions containing them Issued on: 06/03/1997 Inventor: Mechoulam, et al.5696109, Synthetic catalytic free radical scavengers useful as antioxidants for prevention and therapy of disease Issued on: 12/09/1997 Inventor: Malfroy-Camine, et al.6410588Use of cannabinoids as anti-inflammatory agents Issued on: 06/25/2002 Inventor: Feldmann, et al. International classA61K 31/35 (20060101)
Other References
Windholz et al., The Merck Index, Tenth Edition (1983) p. 241, abstract No. 1723. Mechoulam et al., "A Total Synthesis of d1-Ɗ1 -Tetrahydrocannabinol, the Active Constituent of Hashish1," Journal of the American Chemical Society, 87:14:3273-3275 (1965) Mechoulam et al., "Chemical Basis of Hashish Activity," Science, 18:611-612 (1970) Ottersen et al., "The Crystal and Molecular Structure of Cannabidiol," Acta Chem. Scand. B 31, 9:807-812 (1977) Cunha et al., "Chronic Administration of Cannabidiol to Healthy Volunteers and Epileptic Patients1," Pharmacology, 21:175-185 (1980) Consroe et al., "Acute and Chronic Antiepileptic Drug Effects in Audiogenic Seizure-Susceptible Rats," Experimental Neurology, Academic Press Inc., 70:626-637 (1980) Turkanis et al., "Electrophysiologic Properties of the Cannabinoids," J. Clin. Pharmacol., 21:449S-463S (1981) Carlini et al., "Hypnotic and Antielpileptic Effects of Cannabidiol," J. Clin. Pharmacol., 21:417S-427S (1981) Karler et al., "The Cannabinoids as Potential Antiepileptics," J. Clin. Pharmacol., 21:437S-448S (1981) Consroe et al., "Antiepileptic Potential of Cannabidiol Analgos," J. Clin. Pharmacol., 21:428S-436S (1981) Colasanti et al., "Ocular Hypotension, Ocular Toxicity,a nd Neurotoxicity in Response to Marihuana Extract and Cannabidiol," Gen Pharm., Pergamon Press Ltd., 15(6):479-484 (1984) Colasanti et al., "Intraocular Pressure, Ocular Toxicity and Neurotoxicity after Administration of Cannabinol or Cannabigerol," Exp. Eye Res., Academic Press Inc., 39:251-259 (1984) Volfe et al., "Cannabinoids Block Release of Serotonin from Platelets Induced by Plasma frm Migraine Patients," Int. J. Clin. Pharm. Res., Bioscience Ediprint Inc., 4:243-246 (1985) Agurell et al., "Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism of Ɗ1 -Tetrahydrocannabinol and Other Cannabinoids with Emphasis on Man*," Pharmacological Reviews, 38(1):21-43 (1986) Karler et al., "Different Cannabinoids Exhibit Different Pharmacological and Toxicological Properties,"NIDA Res. Monogr., 79:96-107 (1987) Samara et al., "Pharmacokinetics of Cannabidiol in Dogs," Drug Metabolism and Disposition, 16(3):469-472 (1988) Choi, "Glutamate Neurotoxicity and Diseases of the Nervous System," Neuron, Cell Press, 1:623-634 (1988) Eshhar et al., "Neuroprotective and Antioxidant Activities of HU-211, A Novel NMDA Receptor Antagonist," European Journal of Pharmacology, 283:19-29 (1995) Skaper et al., "The ALIAmide Palmitoylethanolamide and Cannabinoids, but not Anandamide, are Protective in a Delayed Postglutamate Paradigm of Excitotoxic Death in Cerebellar Granule Neurons," Neurobiology, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 93:3984-3989 (1996) Alonso et al., "Simple Synthesis of 5-Substituted Resorcinols: A Revisited Family of Interesting Bioactive Molecules," J. Org. Chem., American Chemical Society, 62(2):417-421 (1997) Combes et al. "A Simple Synthesis of the Natural 2,5-Dialkylresorcinol Free Radical Scavenger Antioxidant: Resorstation," Synthetic Communications, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 27(21):3769-3778 (1997) Shohami et al., "Oxidative Stress in Closed-Head Injury: Brain Antioxidant Capacity as an Indicator of Functional Outcome," Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 17(10):1007-1019 (1997) Zurier et al., "Dimethylheptyl-THC-11 OIC Acid," Arthritis & Rheumatism, 41(1):163-170 (1998) Hampson et al., "Dual Effects of Anandamide on NMDA Receptor-Mediated Responses and Neurotransmission," Journal of Neurochemistry, Lippincott-Raven Publishers, 70(2):671-676 (1998) Hampson et al., "Cannabidiol and (-)Ɗ9 -tetrahydrocannabiono are Neuroprotective Antioxidants," Medical Sciences, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 8268-8273 (1998)
This is the second of a series of posts on presidential candidates and their positions on hemp found on webeo (web video).
Here's a few pieces we found on Congressman Dr. Ron Paul concerning hemp. Dr. Paul was the sponsor of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007.
Dr. Paul should visit the USA Hemp Museum, and learn from the Museum's curator Richard M. Davis how hemp is the real change required to save our nation and the world. They can talk about how hemp is listed in the PDR Herbal edition as a herb that shrinks tumors and stops asthma attacks. This information should be in the speaking of all pro hemp candidates on a daily basis.
Richard's written one of those "Read this like your life depends on it, it does!" books called HEMP FOR VICTORY: A GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTION which explains how to use hemp to solve the problem of global warming.
Here's a few of the webeos concerning Ron Paul and hemp.
Ron Paul interviewed on NORML (part 1 of 2)
Ron Paul interviewed on NORML (part 2 of 2)
Ron Paul on Medical Marijuana and Drug War
Ron Paul Blasts the War on Drugs
Ron Paul & Hemp for American Farmers
Ron Paul Talks About Hemp At Independence Mall In Philly
Hemp, the most powerful solution to our enviornmental, economic, medical and social problems we have. It's insane that hemp's illegal.
There is a new marijuana initiative circulating in the state which would put on the ballot for voter's approval the California Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative 2008. Right now I want to talk about the title and summary that is prepared by Attorney General Jerry Brown. This summary is what is read by those signing onto the initiative on the street:
INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS
The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purposes and points of the proposed measure:
MARIJUANA. REPEAL OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES. RELEASE FROM JAIL. STATUTE.
Decriminalizes possession, cultivation, transportation, distribution, and use of marijuana or hemp. Provides persons convicted or serving time for non-violent offenses involving marijuana be immediately released from prison, jail, parole, or probation, and be eligible to have their convictions erased. Provides no permit, license, or tax be required for non-commercial cultivation, transportation, distribution, or consumption of marijuana. Allows doctors to prescribe or recommend marijuana to patients, regardless of age. Prohibits testing fro marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Bars state from aiding enforcement of certain federal marijuana laws. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings in the several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local government, which would no longer incur the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. A potential increase of a few million dollars annually in the cost of the state's Drug Medi-Cal substance abuse treatment program. (Initiative 07-0064.)
I went through this before in 1994 with the hemp initiative then. This summary totally misrepresents the initiative. In 1994 we sued the AG to have the age limit put back in the summary. The words of the summary are limited when something is added, something must be deleted, etc. What is important to the AG went into the title and summary, not what is important to the people.
The people's title is CA CANNABIS HEMP & HEALTH INITIATIVE 2008. The AG's is MARIJUANA. REPEAL OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL PENALTIES. RELEASE FROM JAIL. STATUTE.
I recommend an immediate suit be filed against the AG for misrepresenting the chief purposes and points of the proposed initiative. In 1994, Chris Conrad and myself filed suit in Sacramento, to change the wording. The summary was changed, but it cost the signature drive two weeks to reprint the new summary and initiative. Still what was I learned in 1994 was that volunteers didn't collect enough signatures and paid collection pro's get the job done fast. Just off the top of my stoned head I would like to propose a more friendly title and summary:
CANNABIS HEMP AND MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION STATUTE OF 2008. Decriminalizes use of marijuana and hemp. Ends marijuana prohibition. Legal Cannabis hemp products for paper, medicine, fuel, food, textiles, recreation, and thousands more uses have a potential of tens of billions of dollars for the California economy. Legal hemp can help with Global Warming. Releases non-violent marijuana offenders from incarceration and erases convictions. Bars state from aiding enforcement of certain federal marijuana laws. Prohibits testing for marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Allows reasonable state license and taxing standards. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Savings in the several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments in incarceration and supervision costs. Act is pursuant to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Use of Cannabis hemp products for religious or spiritual purposes is made an inalienable right. "All provisions of this Act shall be liberally construed for the accomplishment of these purposes: to respect human rights, to promote tolerance, and to end cannabis hemp prohibition."
I don't doubt that a better summary could be drawn. The CCHHI offers California a way to take the lead in hemp research in the U.S. There is a saying, "as California goes, so goes the nation." We need the U.S. to grow hemp for global warming. This shows the country and the world that we can end the prohibition and free the plant resource. This initiative does the job. No halfway measures here. Legal Cannabis hemp for California. Can North Dakota or Hawaii be far behind?
