As Routine As Naming A Bill

Thomas Tony Vance

The Kentucky House Health and Welfare Committee held an informational hearing on the Gatewood Galbraith Medical Marijuana Memorial Act on Wednesday the 21st of August 2013. Supporters gathered at the capitol and testimony was introduced by Senator Perry Clark and many patients testified as to their use of medical marijuana and how they benefit from that use.
Significantly, Mr. Irvin Rosenfeld, one of four surviving patients left from the Compassionate Care Program which provided investigational medicine for critical patients was there to testify. Mr. Rosenfeld receives a tin of 300 marijuana cigarettes from the Federal marijuana farm at the University of Mississippi every 25 days to treat his multiple congenital cartilaginous exostoses which causes bone spurs to grow into his joints, a very painful condition that would have resulted in his death at a young age were it not for his use of medical marijuana.
Senator Katie Stine made a motion to adjourn because the Senators had to be in session, however the Chair rejected that motion and kept the hearing open to allow the patients who had come to testify to do so. Representative Robert Benvenuti made a point that if marijuana is good to treat anxiety it has a high potential for abuse and said he wants more research before he makes up his mind. Opponents claim there is no scientific evidence of marijuana’s safety, however this ignores the many studies and anecdotal evidence that says otherwise.
As far back as 1988, in the matter of Docket 86-22 Marijuana Rescheduling Petition, Administrative Law Judge Francis Young of the Drug Enforcement Administration ruled in part VII Accepted Safety For Use Under Medical Supervision, “Marijuana in it’s natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
One must also consider that statistics from the 20 States that do have medical marijuana laws show a decrease in teen marijuana use and in Colorado and Washington, 2 states having recreational marijuana, overall marijuana use is down. In order for these states to have these laws the laws must have passed a number of Public Safety, Health and Welfare, and Judicial committee hearings. Vetting the idea of medical marijuana laws has pretty well been done and it’s hard to imagine what we would find bad about marijuana that 20 other states didn’t find.
Actually the passing of State medical marijuana laws at this point, should be a routine and unremarkable bit of legislation as uncontroversial as naming a State highway after a respected Legislator, or naming a bill after a respected Gubernatorial Candidate such as Mr. Gatewood Galbraith.

Policing For Profit

Policing For Profit
Posted on May 12, 2013by msgtvance


There is an interesting angle to the horror story of the 3 women who were kidnapped and held captive for ten years and who recently escaped their captors in Cleveland, Ohio. In that case neighbors called the police several times in 2011 and 2012 about goings on at the house the women were held at. One neighbor reported seeing a woman crawling around the back yard in a leash! In that instance the police were called but they did not enter the house. Neighbors claim they witnessed things that led them to believe all was not right in that house. They claim they called the police on numerous occasions. The police, for their part, deny receiving those calls.

Maybe the neighbors should have reported smelling marijuana coming from the house, or better yet a chemical smell, ‘like maybe their making some kinda drugs over there!’ Two calls like that and the police would have been there with the swat team breaking down the doors within forty eight hours!

In an opinion piece that appeared on the AlterNet web site by Kristen Gwynne titled ‘Why Cops Bust Down Doors Of Medical Pot Growers, But Ignore Men Who Keep Naked Girls On Leashes’ dated May 8, 2013 a pretty good case is presented as to why this is so. The article can be accessed here—

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/why-cops-bust-down-doors-medical-pot-growers-ignore-men-who-keep-naked-girls-leashes

A former LAPD Captain of Detectives makes the case–

‘Retired law enforcement veteran Stephen Downing, former captain of detectives in the LAPD, says he has not seen proof that the police officers failed to adequately respond to information in this case; indeed, police cannot possibly crack every case and investigate every angle all the time. At the same time, we must recognize that police are incentivized to go after certain crimes — like drug crimes — and not, other, far more heinous crimes, like rape.

In the first place, federal cash giveaways make police departments’ reactions to drug cases much more swift and severe.

“The statistical demands of the drug war and the grants that come from the federal government — all they do is incentivize our local police to chase drugs and chase seizures so they can supplement their budgets,” Downing said. “We call that ‘policing for profit.’”

Furthermore, allowing military training of local police has “turned our police into drug warriors,” instead of “police officers and peace officers.”

“Every police department, every sheriff’s department, and the federal government have personnel that are dedicated 100 percent of the time to drug enforcement,” said Downing, “and the result of that is to use police resources for that purpose.”

Perhaps the strongest example of how drug war policing can distract resources from more pressing problems is the use of department laboratories. In Ohio, police agencies across the state have sent more than 2,300 untested rape kits to a state crime lab for testing. Some of them are decades old, and could contain vital clues regarding suspects in rapes. But they’ve been backed up in police departments across the country.

“What they don’t talk about is why do they have that backlog in the first place?” said Downing. “The answer is that drugs take a priority because they often involve people in custody, and they’re going to be in court, so when they show up in court, they’re going to have those tests. Thousands and thousands of tests run through our police labs for drugs when most of the time it’s a personal use decision. Most of the time it’s a recreational use of drugs rather than an abuse of drugs, but our criminal justice system is completely involved in dealing with drug crime rather than dealing with crime that truly affects public safety, like property and crimes against persons.”

Praising the man who helped Amanda Berry escape, Stephen Downing also says police need to become more involved with their communities.

“The community is involved in solving these cases and the willingness of people is helpful,” he said. “If the police would recognize more the true value of their community — that the people are the police and the police are the people — rather than chasing drugs and asset seizures and policing for profit modalities, all our communities would be better off and more aware.’

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

ALEC and why should we care...

In the 40 plus years of the war on cannabis one question jumps out at you, especially those who have studied the subject extensively, and that is why? Why is this plant still illegal and not only that it's very existence is called into question. As the years go by and more and more information is coming out it's evident that something or someone is holding back legislation.

Ever hear of an organization called ALEC? I start doing some investigating. It seems this organization has a hand in just about every bill on Capital hill.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) boasts ;During the 1999-2000 legislative cycle, ALEC legislators introduced more than 3100 pieces of legislation based on our models, and more than 450 of these were enacted. . . . In the legislative Sessions of 2000, there were more than 2150 introductions promoting ALEC Policy.
So why haven't we ever heard of this group?

Because corporate America doesn't want us to know. Close scrutiny reveals that ALEC is little more than a screen for hundreds of big corporations and trade associations to advance their legislative agendas in state capitals from coast to coast.

http://www.alecwatch.org/

Now my research took me here:

2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana. As Republic Report’s Matt Stoller noted last year, Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh sentencing requirements for drug crimes.

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/907001/the_top_five_special_interest_groups_lobbying_to_keep_marijuana_illegal/

So then I do some checking around to see who actually is behind this hidden organization and who is at the top of the list but none other than the Koch brother:

The Koch Brothers, big tobacco, insurance companies, and the drug industry: all behind the shadowy corporate front group known as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). On the surface, ALEC is mostly comprised of thousands of state legislators, each paying a nominal fee to attend ALEC retreats and receive model legislation. In reality, corporations pay ALEC a king’s ransom to access legislators to distribute radical legislation that puts corporate interests over American workers and consumers.

 http://www.justice.org/cps/rde/xchg/justice/hs.xsl/15044.htm


But wait a minute David Koch comes out and says,

“I have friends who smoke pot... It's ridiculous to treat them as criminals.”

http://www.marijuanamajority.com/?id=89


So lets talk about this. On the one hand this man is the lead contributor to a group called ALEC who is working with for profit prisons to keep them profitable and on the other hand saying we need to change the laws that do just that? I would really like to to know whats going on and I will be investigating further you can be sure.

Next up, the Cancer Industry:

Rebutting A Failed Policy

Posted on March 4, 2013by msgtvance


A letter I wrote to the members of the General Assembly regarding SB11 the medical marijuana bill, and legalizing marijuana in Kentucky garnered a reply from Kentucky House Speaker Mr. Greg Stumbo. In his reply he said we should keep our current policy because marijuana today is more potent and because adding marijuana as another legal recreational drug will add social damage to that suffered by our citizens already from alcohol and tobacco. Below is my reply:

Sir,

Thank you for your kind reply to my last letter to you regarding marijuana. I’ve been writing you all in the Assembly for about 6 years now to try to educate the Assembly members about marijuana and to convince you all that the end of marijuana prohibition will be extremely good for Kentucky in all three uses, medical, recreational and industrial.

You cited the potency of the marijuana grown today and the idea of introducing another recreational substance to our citizens which might cause more social damage than we already experience with alcohol and tobacco as your reasons for not supporting ending prohibition here in Kentucky.

Please allow me to address your concerns. As to potency, most marijuana users in other states where medical or now recreational marijuana use is allowed report just using less or more depending on the potency or situation. Wouldn’t the potency be regulated by the State if potency were a problem?

Marijuana like alcohol has industrial, medical and recreational uses. This is where the comparability ends. The terrible outcomes of alcohol use are not present when marijuana is used. Violence, abuse, traffic deaths, all these things the prohibitionists say will happen if we were to allow the citizens the freedom to use marijuana without penalty do not happen. I can say this with confidence because the proof is right before our very eyes.

Consider medical marijuana. Both California and Colorado have had medical marijuana laws in place for well over a decade. If the prohibitionists are to be believed, and both alcohol and marijuana are available to the citizens then all the harms from alcohol should be doubled. There should be double the violence, double the traffic accidents etc. etc. What has happened in these states? Nothing, nada. No increase in the supposed harms that we should be seeing. Medical marijuana was so bad for Colorado that last November they Voted by a wide margin to legalize marijuana for recreational uses. Are they stupid do ya think?

Yes marijuana is usually smoked like tobacco but like tobacco now days there are many ways of ingesting medical marijuana without smoking it. Electronic cigarettes come to mind where one inhales a mist of nicotine and no burning of tobacco is involved. The largest study ever done designed to link marijuana to lung cancer was done by a Dr. Donald Tashkin involving 2500 patients. It was originally supported by the Government however the result showed that regular marijuana users get head neck and lung cancers at the same rate as people who have never smoked anything at all. Dr. Tashkin said in his conclusion that marijuana seemed to act as a cancer preventer. (This is why there is so much hope about marijuana and cancer. This research should be being done here in Kentucky) The Government withdrew it’s support because by law, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the Government can only support research on marijuana that shows harm. The Drug Czar is forbidden to say anything positive about any drug listed as Schedule1. This is why everything the Government says about marijuana is circumspect.

You can find the facts about this subject by going to either NORML.org or MPP.org and click on library. Both sites have everything factually available on the subject both the good and the bad.

I called out to the Colorado office of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws to ask what Colorado Legislator there you could call to ask them directly how ten years of medical marijuana have helped or hurt their state. A nice woman named Rachel Gillette told me that you should talk to Congressman Jared Polis. No one knows about how marijuana has affected Colorado more than him. She also laughingly mentioned that one result since legalization is that marijuana use is down, not up. I called Congressman Polis’s Washington office and said I was going to suggest that you call him and they said they would be happy to take your call. The number is 1-202-225-2161. I thought if you could talk to another legislator you would get a different perspective than mine.

Congressman Polis D Colorado and Congressman Earl Blumenauer D Oregon have filed the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013. It would among other things transfer marijuana to the ATF and create a new Department of Alcohol Tobacco Cannabis and Firearms. You can access a copy of the bill at this link—

http://polis.house.gov/uploadedfiles/the_path_forward.pdf

Thank you again for writing. I hope I haven’t bored you but I am passionate about ending this mistake we call prohibition, a policy failure of huge proportions. If you have any questions about this issue please don’t hesitate to ask, I am at your service. Remember every year we wait to end medical and recreational marijuana prohibition we, by the laws of statistics, condemn 9090 of our fellow citizens to arrest and possible jail time solely because we weren’t ‘ready’ or ‘the time is not right’.

Please urge your fellow members of the Assembly to have compassion and at least pass SB11 so our sick and disabled citizens do not have to risk life and freedom for another year for using a medicine the citizens in 18 states can legally use.

Msgt Thomas Vance USAF Ret.

Into The Twenty First Century

Posted on February 16, 2013 by msgtvance


The following listed research is considered valid and meet the scientific standards to be considered empirical evidence.

1. Mark A. Ware, MD, MSc, et al., stated the following in their Aug. 30, 2010 study titled “Smoked Cannabis for Chronic Neuropathic Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal:

“Adults with post-traumatic or postsurgical neuropathic pain were randomly assigned to receive cannabis at four potencies (0%, 2.5%, 6% and 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol) over four 14-day periods in a crossover trial. Participants inhaled a single 25-mg dose through a pipe three times daily for the first five days in each cycle, followed by a nine-day washout period. Daily average pain intensity was measured using an 11-point numeric rating scale.

Conclusion

A single inhalation of 25 mg of 9.4% tetrahydrocannabinol herbal cannabis three times daily for five days reduced the intensity of pain, improved sleep and was well tolerated.”

2. Ronald J. Ellis, MD, PhD, Professor In Residence in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of California at San Diego, et al., stated the following in their Aug. 2008 study titled “Smoked Medicinal Cannabis for Neuropathic Pain in HIV: A Randomized, Crossover Clinical Trial,” published in Neuropsychopharmacology:

“In a double-blind, randomized, clinical trial of the short-term adjunctive treatment of neuropathic pain in HIV-associated distal sensory polyneuropathy, participants received either smoked cannabis or placebo cannabis cigarettes…

Among completers, pain relief was significantly greater with cannabis than placebo. The proportion of subjects achieving at least 30% pain relief was again significantly greater with cannabis (46%) compared to placebo (18%). It was concluded that smoked cannabis was generally well-tolerated and effective when added to concomitant analgesic therapy in patients with medically refractory pain due to HIV-associated neuropathy.”

3. David J. Rog, PhD, from the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of Liverpool, et al., wrote in a Sep. 2005 article titled “Randomized, Controlled Trial of Cannabis-Based Medicine in Central Pain in Multiple Sclerosis” in the journal Neurology:

“BACKGROUND: Central pain in multiple sclerosis (MS) is common and often refractory to treatment…

CONCLUSIONS: Cannabis-based medicine is effective in reducing pain and sleep disturbance in patients with multiple sclerosis related central neuropathic pain and is mostly well tolerated.”

4. The Oct. 13, 2005 article “

Cannabinoids Promote Embryonic and Adult Hippocampus Neurogenesis and Produce Anxiolytic- and Antidepressant-like Effects” (1.5 MB) by Xia Zhang et al. from the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Investigation stated:

“We show that 1 month after chronic HU210 [high-potency cannabinoid] treatment, rats display increased newborn neurons [brain cell growth] in the hippocampal dentate gyrus [a portion of the brain] and significantly reduced measures of anxiety- and depression-like behavior.

Thus, cannabinoids appear to be the only illicit drug whose capacity to produce increased hippocampal newborn neurons is positively correlated with its anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects.”

5. A research study, published in the Sep. 2004 issue of the journal Neuropharmacology reported:

“Gliomas, in particular glioblastoma multiforme or grade IV astrocytoma, are the most frequent class of malignant primary brain tumours and one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. Current therapeutic strategies for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme are usually ineffective or just palliative.

During the last few years, several studies have shown that cannabinoids — the active components of the plant Cannabis sativa and their derivatives — slow the growth of different types of tumours, including gliomas, in laboratory animals.

Cannabinoids induce apoptosis of glioma cells in culture via sustained ceramide accumulation, extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation and Akt inhibition. In addition, cannabinoid treatment inhibits angiogenesis of gliomas in vivo….

Remarkably, cannabinoids kill glioma cells selectively and can protect non-transformed glial cells from death. These and other findings reviewed here might set the basis for a potential use of cannabinoids in the management of gliomas.”

6. Researchers with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, Complutense University, Spain, in a study of the use of cannabis-based ointment on skin tumors, published Jan. 2003 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) stated:

“Local administration induced a considerable growth inhibition of malignant tumors generated by inoculation of epidermal tumor cells into nude mice. Cannabinoid-treated tumors showed an increased number of apoptotic cells…

These results support a new therapeutic approach [cannabis-based ointment] for the treatment of skin tumors.”



*The above listed research is but the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of studies showing marijuana’s ability to relieve pain and help in the treatment of many diseases including cancer. None of the above however meets the standards necessary to be considered valid by our Government because the Government either did not support the research or provided the marijuana for the research, and the Government will only support research on marijuana that is designed to show harm, not good.

Oh the lengths our Government will go to keep marijuana from competing with wood pulp, cotton and nylon! Do you think Mr. Hearst of the Hearst Newspaper Corporation is still worried about marijuana paper competing with the wood pulp he uses for his newspapers?

The people who gave us this destructive war on marijuana users are dead and gone! Could we please bring marijuana policy into the light of science and reason? Could we please bring marijuana policy into the 21st century?

An Open Letter to Kentucky Ag Comm.

Commissioner Comer

I represent a small grassroots organization of veterans called Kentucky Veterans for Medical Marijuana we do have a web address www.kentuckyveternsformedicalmarijuana.net which will redirect you to our facebook page. We support the legalization, for medical purposes, the cannabis plant.

I have been a cannabis activist since running Gatewood Galbraith’s 1991 Primary campaign, here in Louisville. I applaud your efforts to the extent that they advance the debate for legalization of cannabis. The hemp bill (HB50) unfortunately does nothing to advance our cause. Gatewood understood that it was the total plant that was in Kentucky’s best interest to legalize. Many knew the medicinal advantage of cannabis even back then. Unfortunately the political atmosphere, at that time, was such that it was unwise to speak up about anything regarding legalization. That is why I admired Gatewood, he stood up and that’s primarily why I agreed to run his campaign.

As I have said, since that time I have done extensive research, which you can view at my facebook page. I have found that the more I researched the more question needed to be answered. Everything I found pointed to our making a huge mistake in regards to cannabis prohibition. This is borne out by one glaring statistic that despite years of prohibition, billions of dollars spent, thousands of lives ruined lost or imprisoned, we are no better off today than when President Nixon first declared this war. Nothing has changed.

It is my hope that this letter will open a dialog that I may discuss your efforts at righting the wrong that was done Kentucky farmers when the crop they had known as hemp, was renamed marijuana and taken from them in the name of corporate greed. I hope to work with your office to get you support to not only allow our farmers to compete on a global market in cordage hemp but give our research facilities the same advantages that other countries enjoy, such as Israel, where they are making remarkable discoveries in cancer research using cannabis. We deserve to have that advantage here.

We are breaking new ground this is true but it’s something I believe will be the best for Kentucky in the long run. Last but not least I am a grandfather. I look at where we are going if we don’t change what we are doing. I want a better world for my grandchildren and I believe what I am supporting is a far better future than what I see in store for them if nothing changes.

I know that cannabis makes a great shirt. I still have one hanging in my closet from the 1991 campaign. I also know that cannabis saves lives and I would hope that you will join me in helping save those lives. If you support the troops you will help Senator Clark and I pass SB11.

Sincerely

Ronald Moore

Kentucky Veterans for Medical Marijuana

Assembly Reconvenes to Consider Hemp and Medical Marijuana Bills

Thomas Tony Vance

Assembly Reconvenes to Consider Hemp and Medical Marijuana Bills
The 2013 Assembly will reconvene on Monday February 4. Two of the bills they are considering are the Medical Marijuana Bill and the Hemp bill.
There are 18 states and the District of Columbia that currently have medical marijuana laws in place. Joining them with legislation pending are13 more, Kentucky of course, Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Vermont. As anyone can see the rush is on. Our farmers are chomping at the bit to get started.
This brings to mind two questions. What do we know about this legislation that the 18 States that have approved it might have missed, that says we shouldn’t approve the medical marijuana and hemp bills?
What exactly is keeping our legislators from allowing our citizens to grab their share of a market estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars?
As far as full legalization goes, Washington State and Colorado have this. Seeking to join them with pending legislation are Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Most of the states with medical bills and all with full legalization include some type of industrial hemp legislation.
I think it’s time for our legislators to be politically brave and forward thinking and go for full legalization. The Federal Government does not have the last word on this according to the Controlled Substances Act. If it did, it would have acted by now. Kentucky has the reputation for growing the best marijuana in the country and we should embrace our history. It’s as though the California gold rush is just beginning and we are already at Sutters Mill but we will not allow ourselves to pan for gold while everybody else is!
If you support allowing Kentucky’s citizens to enjoy the benefits of medical and industrial marijuana then beginning Monday and all thru the session till it ends in March call the Legislative hotline at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for all the legislators to support and pass Sb11 the Medical Marijuana bill and HB50 the Hemp/Industrial Marijuana bill. The people there are very nice and will help you with your message. You can call continually as often as you want. Your fellow citizens realize the importance of these bills passing, not only to help our sick and disabled citizens but also to help Kentucky’s economic recovery. Now is the time to act. Our State is in need of our help! Let us move ourselves forward into the 21st Century on this issue.

Doing What Works

Thomas Tony Vance

A ruling was made in the case of the Petition to Reschedule Marijuana from Schedule I, dangerous and having no medical value to Schedule II or lower to more properly reflect marijuana’s actual danger and it’s use as medicine. The Drug Enforcement Administration denied the petition, claiming the huge number of studies showing marijuana’s efficacy and safety in medical use did not meet the DEA’s standards for acceptable clinical studies. The Court did not rule on marijuana’s use as medicine or it’s scheduling. It only ruled on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s authority to decide what studies count and what studies fail to meet DEA standards. In effect the court ruled that the DEA is free to deny the validity of the studies being used to justify the rescheduling petition and thereby deny the petition.
The Marijuana Tax Stamp Act was the insterment used to make marijuana illegal in 1937. This law said that to possess marijuana you must first get a special tax stamp. To get the stamp you had to have the marijuana in your possession but, if you possess the marijuana before you get the stamp, you have already broken the law. Besides the government wasn’t printing stamps anyway cause they knew they wouldn’t be needed. This dirty little law was declared unconstitutional in 1969 and was very quickly replaced with the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, as onerous and unconstitutional a law as the 1937 Tax Stamp Act ever was!
In the just ruled on petition case, we see the old Tax Stamp Act. The DEA denied the petition based on the studies being presented not meeting DEA standards. In order for a study or research to be accepted by the DEA the Government must support the research and provide the marijuana for the research. No marijuana, no acceptable study. Perfect! The scheduling of marijuana can never be questioned or challenged. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? “What? No tax stamp! You’re under arrest! As with the Tax Stamp Act, the Government has never in all the years since 1970, provided the marijuana for any research.
This evil reincarnation of the old Tax Stamp Act actually points out the total injustice which is the basis of our whole policy on drugs and drug abuse. In the name of continuing this policy of total prohibition we have been willing to sacrifice the very values we purportedly claim to be the soul of what is to be an American. Truth, fairness, freedom and doing the right thing no matter what happens have all been sacrificed on the altar of this failed policy. Prohibition has not been successful during even one year of it’s 99 year existence.
Our leaders should scrap the policy of prohibition, pull our dignity and values back out of the gutter where we threw them when Prohibition began and replace the 1970 Controlled Substances Act with a 21st Century policy based on science, logic, and the fact that as President Nixon’s own Commission On Drug Abuse said long ago and were ignored, drug abuse is a medical problem not a criminal one. Harm reduction works, prohibition does not. We know what works, what are we waiting for?

Welcome to the Future, It’s Happening Now!

by: Tony Vance


After having given the opening speech of the 2013 Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy said the most interesting thing during the question and answer period in response to a question regarding a film about the failure of the War on Drugs titled ’Taboo’. The question asked was, “Do you foresee a day when we’re gonna step back from the ledge of the War on Drugs, and if so, what specific legislative measures, and how do you see the process? The Senator’s reply was, ”I think we have, we have spent tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars on this so called War on Drugs. Well, we’ve lost!”

On the local front, in this morning’s 20 January 2013 Kentucky Enquirer, under the headline, ‘Effort Focuses on Heroin’ is a story about 50 Northern Kentucky city and county officials who met Saturday January 19, 2013 to discuss the area’s growing heroin problem. The meeting brought forth two conclusions. That the problem is worse than originally thought, and that pressure must be brought on State and Federal Legislators to do something. They complained about the lack of funding for mental health services, lack of addiction services and the lack of a coordinated effort to change our current policies. Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmonson was quoted as saying, “We’ve lost the War on Drugs. What we have been doing hasn’t worked. It will never work. Something different needs to be done.”

I wonder if any of these people know what has happened in Portugal? Portugal ended prohibition eleven years ago and replaced it with a policy of harm reduction. The result has been a 50% drop in all the markers by which we measure the damage from drug abuse.

Also on the local front, the resolution that the Veterans of Foreign Wars support Veteran access to medical marijuana thru the auspices of the Veterans Administration and that the Federal Government act post haste to make this happen has passed the 9th District of the Department of Kentucky of the Veterans Of Foreign Wars. The resolution should be on the agenda of the Spring Conference in March. If you are a member in good standing of the Department of Kentucky of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and you support this resolution, contact your Post Commander for details on attending the Conference. If you can’t attend the whole conference at least try to attend the Council Administration Meeting on Friday evening of the Conference. Show up and support the resolution!

http://thomyv.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/59/

In Good Conscience

by: Tony Vance

The Gatewood Galbraith Medical Marijuana Memorial Act has been designated as Senate Bill 11 for the 2013 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. Bills are usually numbered in order of importance so this designation we hope, bodes well for the fate of the bill. The opening day of the 2013 session found the Legislative Message Center jammed with calls from supporters all over the State asking for it’s passage. Calling has remained heavy and supporters are expected to be calling through out the session. Many groups supporting bill and marijuana law reform in general, think the Assembly should go all the way and pass legislation legalizing marijuana for recreational use as well as for medical and industrial uses.

What would the full legalization of marijuana look like in Kentucky. That’s not hard to decipher. It would look like the regulation of any other commodity. There will be regulations about who can use it, how they can use it and how to keep it away from minors. There will be rules governing the cultivation for farmers, and about sales for wholesalers and retailers. Most of all there will be a huge amount of economic activity. There will be licensing fees for wholesalers and retailers, possibly for cultivation. Industrial and recreational marijuana will be taxed, probably at each point of sale plus the existing sales tax. Medical marijuana will most certainly require oversight in cultivation and handling to ensure it meets whatever standards the State should decide. There is no doubt that as the industry expands, large corporate and business interests will begin to appear. Also it will be our research facilities and colleges who will be studying and expanding the uses for this plant instead of those of another state.

All of this activity will both cost money and make money and that economic activity will eventually be in the tens of millions of dollars. It is hard to estimate the number of jobs that will be created by all this but if a simple store or pharmacy employs 20 people, and for example there are more than 20 pharmacies in Campbell County alone, that’s 400 people employed!

Our legislators cannot in good conscience look at the facts and science of marijuana in all it’s uses and benefits and allow themselves to believe any longer the pronouncements of the Federal Government and the Drug Czar regarding anything they say about marijuana.

The end of marijuana prohibition means the unleashing of an industry estimated to be in the billions of dollars across the country. It is the responsibility and duty of our legislators to see that Kentucky captures as large a portion of that market as we can. For our legislators to do any less is, in military terms, dereliction of duty.

If you support legalizing marijuana in Kentucky, call the legislative hot line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for all senators and legislators to support and pass Senate Bill 11, the Gatewood Galbraith medical marijuana Act this session. The people there are very nice and will help you with your call.




http://thomyv.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/54/

The Drug War Is Ending, Send The Prisoners Home

Posted on January 6, 2013

by msgtvance


I saw a news piece on television over the holidays that was posing the question, What happens when the War in Afghanistan, the War On Terror is over? For example, the legislation allowing for the killing and imprisoning of ‘enemy combatants’ will expire. The next question is how to go about repatriating prisoners and closing the prison when there exists legislation that specifically forbids using tax dollars to repatriate prisoners or close the prison.
Along the same line it seems our longest war, the War On Drugs, 98 years, is coming to a close also. A large number of states 18 as of the 2012 elections, have legalized marijuana use for medical purposes and two states, Washington and Colorado, have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Mandatory minimum sentencing is being recognized for the misery it causes as the crack / cocaine disparity is also being ended. Portugal, by changing it’s policy from one of prohibition to one of harm reduction eleven years ago has seen all the markers by which we measure the damage from drug use and abuse reduced by half.
Washington and Colorado having ended marijuana prohibition in their states, set the example by releasing and dropping the charges of hundreds of marijuana cases. Lest you think no one gets arrested for marijuana these days, think about this. Even with medical marijuana laws in 18 states we still manage to arrest more than 750,000 citizens a year for it. Hopefully the end of marijuana prohibition will find the other states following the example of Washington and Colorado.
Here in Kentucky we have the perfect opportunity to begin the end of prohibition as policy by ending the prohibition of marijuana in all its uses, medical, industrial and recreational. The Hemp bill and the Gatewood Galbraith Memorial Medical Marijuana bill both seek to legalize marijuana for medical and industrial uses. Our legislators could show great leadership and foresight and just legalize marijuana across the board as Washington and Colorado have done.
The chance to bring Kentucky into the 21st century on the marijuana issue will also generate hundreds of millions in economic activity and millions in tax and licensing revenue to the state. The Governor and the assembly are always talking about expanding commerce and increasing revenue and it is beyond comprehension why we aren’t tapping this lucrative market for our state. Thousands of our citizens need marijuana as medicine and thousands of our farmers need it as an alternative crop. The millions in revenue and economic activity generated by ending marijuana prohibition is too important to our state and it’s financial well being to allow it to be sacrificed on the alter of the failed federal policy of prohibition.

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