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!

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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.




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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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