SentLTE-Digest Sunday, December 6 2009 Volume 09 : Number 075
001 LTE: 'Crushing the high hopes for medical pot'
From: John Chase <>
002 LTE: Canada: Column: Institutionalized Hypocrisy
From: John Chase <>
003 LTE: George Will's column: 'Rocky Mountain Medical High'
From: John Chase <>
004 LTE: Re: 'End prohibition of marijuana'
From: Kirk Muse <>
005 LTE: Re: 'Demonizing of marijuana winding down'
From: Kirk Muse <>
006 LTE: Re: 'Tucson hosts talks on medical marijuana'
From: Kirk Muse <>
007 LTE: Re: 'Medical marijuana gets hearing in PA house'
From: Kirk Muse <>
008 LTE: Re: 'Time to legalize and tax marijuana' (12-5-09)
From: Kirk Muse <>
009 LTE: Re: 'Support for Medical Marijuana– and O =?windows-1252?Q?utright
From: Kirk Muse <>
010 LTE: George Will's Column: 'Medical Marijuana Blurs Legal Lines'
From: John Chase <>
011 LTE: George Will's column: 'Medicine Offering A Real Rocky Mountain Hig
From: John Chase <>
012 LTE: George Will's column, 'Column: Rocky Mountain High'
From: John Chase <>
013 LTE: Re: 'Former police officer speaks out against drug war'
From: Kirk Muse <>
014 LTE: US OR: Legal Haze
From: Allan Erickson <>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 LTE: 'Crushing the high hopes for medical pot'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 06:24:13 -0800
Sent to the Advertiser http://www.theadvertiser.com/
Re: George Will's column "Crushing the high hopes for medical pot"
Yes, and it's self-inflicted.
Early proponents of medical pot wanted sick people to have pot, but knew
it was a popular recreational drug. So they wrote proposals to assure
that only sick people get it. But it can't be done.
The sticking point is who defines "sick". Is it to be the person, the
doctor, the policeman, the prosecutor, the judge, the jury or the
legislature? In practice it's going to be all-of-the-above. Chaos.
We should simplify. Give pot the legal basis of beer, except lose the
ads. Then law enforcement would regain the respect lost trying to
enforce the unenforceable, FDA could do research, and patients could
make informed decisions on whether to smoke. Best of all, kids couldn't
fake illness to get pot, and adults wouldn't need to.
John Chase
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 002 LTE: Canada: Column: Institutionalized Hypocrisy
From: John Chase <>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 06:46:57 -0800
George Will's column "Institutionalized Hypocrisy"
Colorado's AG says medical pot law institutionalizes hyprocrisy. Yes, it
continues a U.S. tradition that began decades ago.
President Nixon's Chief of Staff, H.R.Haldeman, wrote in his 1969 diary
"...[President Nixon] emphasized that you have to face the fact that the
whole problem is really the Blacks. The key is to devise a system that
recognized this while not appearing to."
It continued when the DEA said marijuana is illegal because it has not
been found to have medical value, even while blocking any such research.
It will continue as long as legislators write laws making marijuana a
crime unless it's not, and then expect police to decide which. This will
end only when we put marijuana on the same legal plane as beer, but this
time let's lose the TV ads.
John Chase
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 003 LTE: George Will's column: 'Rocky Mountain Medical High'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 06:53:56 -0800
Letter to Calgary Herald
George Will's column: "Rocky Mountain Medical High"
My grandparents' generation saw medicinal alcohol use skyrocket during
National Prohibition in the 1920s. Since it lasted only 13 years, they
remembered that life with legal alcohol was safer than life with
prohibition. We can't remember life with legal pot because it has been
72 years since "marihuana" was effectively outlawed in the U.S. But we
can read history.
Reading back to 1920 shows many other parallels between National
Prohibition and today's War on Drugs. Reading back further, to 1500,
shows the spine-chilling parallels between the Spanish Inquisition and
today's War on Drugs.
We need a paradigm shift to clear the air. Put pot on the same legal
plane as beer (but lost the TV ads.) Then kids won't be able to get
script for faked illnesses and adults won't need to. FDA can do the
unbiased research previously blocked by DEA, so patients can make
informed choices.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 004 LTE: Re: 'End prohibition of marijuana'
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 11:33:28 -0800
To the Editor of The Knoxville News-Sentinel:
Thanks for publishing Joey Comer's outstanding letter: "End
prohibition of marijuana" (12-2-09). I'd like to add that it makes no
sense, economic or moral, to jail or imprison marijuana users
or sellers. Our jails and prisons should be reserved for those
who harm others against their will--not marijuana users, sellers
or growers.
We don't jail or imprison those who produce, sell or use tobacco
products, even though tobacco is a highly addictive and very
deadly product.
We don't have criminals growing tobacco in clandestine locations.
We don't have tobacco producers or sellers attempting to settle
their disputes with each other with gun battles in the streets.
If we were to criminalize tobacco, the situation would soon change.
We learned our lesson about criminalizing the drug alcohol in only
13 years. Why can't we learn the same lesson about other drugs?
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
PS: Feel free to edit.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 005 LTE: Re: 'Demonizing of marijuana winding down'
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 13:29:09 -0800
To the Editor of The Colorado Springs Independent:
Thanks for publishing Jim Hightower's outstanding column: "Demonizing
of marijuana winding down" (12-3-09).
During our era of alcohol prohibition (1920 to 1933) the vast majority
of people living then could recall the period prior to alcohol
prohibition. Therefore, they decided to put an end to the
counterproductive policy.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people living today were not alive
when there was no such thing as marijuana prohibition. Therefore, we are
vulnerable to the warning of dire consequences from those who support
our counterproductive war on people who use marijuana.
Most of those issuing the warning of dire consequences have a vested
financial interest the continuation of the status quo.
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 006 LTE: Re: 'Tucson hosts talks on medical marijuana'
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 11:43:08 -0800
To the Editor of The Arizona Daily Wildcan:
I'm writing about: "Tucson hosts talks on medical marijuana"
(12-4-09).
I'd like to add that one of the medications prescribed by my personal
physician for my arthritis pain and inflammation, has the rare potential
side effect of death. In other words, if I take this medication as
prescribed, I can die as a result.
On the other hand, marijuana has never been documented to kill a single
person in the 5,000 year history of its use.
For me, marijuana is the more effective medication. Right now, if
adult citizens opt for the safer and more effective medication,
they are subject to arrest and being sent to jail with violent criminals.
Is something wrong with this situation? I think so.
Shouldn't adult citizens have the fundamental right to decide for
themselves what natural herbs to use or not use?
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 007 LTE: Re: 'Medical marijuana gets hearing in PA house'
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 05:40:00 -0800
To the Editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer:
I'm writing about: "Medical marijuana gets hearing in PA house"
(12-3-09).
One of the medications prescribed by my personal
physician for my arthritis pain and inflammation, has the rare potential
side effect of death. In other words, if I take this medication as
prescribed, I can die as a result.
On the other hand, marijuana has never been documented to kill a single
person in the 5,000 year history of its use.
For me, marijuana is the more effective medication. Right now, if
adult citizens opt for the safer and more effective medication,
they are subject to arrest and being sent to jail with violent criminals.
Is something wrong with this situation? I think so.
Shouldn't adult citizens have the freedom to choose what goes into their
own bodies in the privacy of their own homes?
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 008 LTE: Re: 'Time to legalize and tax marijuana' (12-5-09)
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 07:46:25 -0800
To the Editor of The Tennessean:
Thanks for publishing Don McMunn's thoughtful letter: "Time to
legalize and tax marijuana. I'd like to add that it makes no
sense, economic or moral, to jail or imprison marijuana users
or sellers. Our jails and prisons should be reserved for those
who harm others against their will--not marijuana users or sellers.
We don't jail or imprison those who produce, sell or use tobacco
products, even though tobacco is a highly addictive and very
deadly product.
We don't have criminals growing tobacco in clandestine locations.
We don't have tobacco producers or sellers attempting to settle
their disputes with each other with gun battles in the streets.
If we were to criminalize tobacco, the situation would soon change.
We learned our lesson about criminalizing the drug alcohol in only
13 years. Why can't we learn the same lesson about other drugs?
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
PS: Feel free to edit.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 009 LTE: Re: 'Support for Medical Marijuana– and O =?windows-1252?Q?utright Legalization – on the Increase'?
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 11:44:10 -0800
To the Editor of The Flathead Beacon:
I'm writing about: "Support for Medical Marijuana– and Outright
Legalization – on the Increase" (12-5-09).
According to a recent Rasmussen poll 44 percent of adults believe that
pot is just as, or more dangerous, than alcohol.(http://tinyurl.com/lqmqqz)
Until this false belief can be changed, marijuana will probably remain
a criminalized substance. The fact is marijuana is an extremely safe
product. (No reported deaths in the 5,000 year history of its use.)
People consume marijuana for the same reasons people consume
alcohol. Why not offer adults the much safer alternative to alcohol?
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 010 LTE: George Will's Column: 'Medical Marijuana Blurs Legal Lines'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 15:48:37 -0800
Re: George Will's Column: "Medical Marijuana Blurs Legal Lines"
Editors -
Mr. Will's rant unintentionally makes the case that prohibition is not
an effective way to regulate a popular drug. But we already knew this.
During National Prohibition(1920-1933), millions of Americans wanted to
drink. They resorted to the same kind of hypocrisy that would have
angered Mr. Will. Medicinal alcohol use, for instance, spiked in the
1920s. By 1930 it was 50% as great as the total smuggled into the U.S.**
He proposes nothing to end the hypocrisy except prohibition, by default.
I propose legalization. Then patients could have the only medicine that
works for them, kids couldn't fake illness to get script to get medical
pot, and adults could smoke without fear of arrest.
** Tables 26 and 27 of Warburton's 1932 book "The Economic Results of
Prohibition"
John Chase
727 787 3085
1620 E Dorchester Dr
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 011 LTE: George Will's column: 'Medicine Offering A Real Rocky Mountain High'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 17:18:21 -0800
Re: George Will's column: "Medicine Offering A Real Rocky Mountain High"
The lesson from the 1920s was that prohibition can't work when a large
minority of Americans disagree with the policy. It is true today too.
While both sides talk past each other, many certifiably sick people are
held hostage, and the damage grows. We are reliving the 1920s: full
prisons, official corruption, disrespect for the law, lost tax revenue,
and no end in sight.
We could end this by putting pot on a legal par with beer. Then patients
could get relief, kids would find pot harder to get, and adults could
smoke without fear of arrest. But lose the ads.
John Chase
727 787 3085
1620 E Dorchester Dr
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 012 LTE: George Will's column, 'Column: Rocky Mountain High'
From: John Chase <>
Date: Sat, 5 Dec 2009 22:28:44 -0800
Editors, Daily Camera -
Re: George Will's column, "Rocky Mountain High"
Editors, Daily Camera -
Re: George Will's column, "Rocky Mountain High"
Mr Will's rant about Coloradoans who flout its medical marijuana law
today reminded me of prohibitionists' rants about Americans who
continued to drink after 1920, when National Prohibition (of alcohol)
began.
In 1920, Americans began to suffer a curious epidemic of illnesses that
all required alcohol. "Medicinal alcohol" hypocrisy was as offensive to
prohibitionists then as "medical marijuana" hypocrisy is today. It was
so offensive that federal legislation required that industrial alcohol
be denatured by adding wood alcohol, acetone or benzene, and NOT
labeling the containers as poison.
Before we descend to that level, we can end the hypocrisy by doing what
my grandparents' generation did in 1933. Legalize, except this time lose
the ads, and use more of the resulting tax revenue to offer treatment to
those who ask.
John Chase
727 787 3085
1620 E Dorchester Dr
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 013 LTE: Re: 'Former police officer speaks out against drug war'
From: Kirk Muse <>
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 05:46:33 -0800
To the Editor of The Maneater:
I'm writing about: "Former police officer speaks out against drug war"
(12-1-09).
Imagine if the United States was once again the "Land of the Free"
instead of the most incarcerated nation in the history of human
civilization.
Imagine if the American people could feel safe and secure in their
own homes and on the streets of our cities and towns throughout America.
Imagine if we had no "drug-related crime." Imagine if our
overall crime rate was a small fraction of our current crime rate.
We once had such a situation here in the United States. Prior to the
passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, the term "drug-related
crime" didn't exist.
And drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today,
didn't exist either.
Back then, all types of recreational drugs were legally sold to anybody
with no questions asked, for pennies per dose in grocery stores and
pharmacies.
Did we have a lot more drug addicts then compared to now? No.
We had about the same percentage of our population addicted to
drugs according to U. S. federal judge John L. Kane of Colorado.
For the sake of our children, can we re-legalize our now illegal
drugs and sell them licensed business establishments? This would
put the drug dealers and drug lords out of business overnight.
Kirk Muse
1741 S. Clearview Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85209
(480) 396-3399
Thank you for considering this letter for publication.
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
Subj: 014 LTE: US OR: Legal Haze
From: Allan Erickson <>
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 12:36:40 -0800
US OR: Legal Haze
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1089/a03.html?397
ae
http://morningdonut.blogspot.com/
- ---
To the editor-
If Oregon's medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) is, as Oregon State Police
Lt. Dingeman says in the R-G article Legal Haze (Sunday, Dec 6), "at
the point where we feel it's out of control" perhaps he could explain
who is committing the other four out of five cannabis cultivation
violations.
We know that last year nearly one quarter of a million pot plants were
seized, with most of those coming from large commercial criminal
enterprises run most often by foreign cartels. These cartel grows are
toxic messes, often damaging large pristine waterways in remote areas
of the state.
While there may be abuse of the OMMP (by a very small portion of those
in the program) the real damage comes from pot's prohibition itself.
Without Prohibition the cartels' hand in cannabis production goes away.
Those abusing the OMMP go away. The arrest or citations of those
innocently consuming a bit of herb goes away.
Pot's Prohibition is a big lie. Pot's safety and
agricultural/industrial/medicinal qualities are science. Let's have
that public debate! When we do, the Dingemans and Oregon's other
cannabis obstructionists will be shown to be operating from a factual
wasteland.
Allan Erickson
- --
To unsubscribe from sentlte, visit http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
or send a message to containing the command:
unsubscribe sentlte
------------------------------
End of SentLTE-Digest V09 #75
*****************************
Mark Greer () ___ ___ _ _ _ _
Media Awareness Project /' _ ` _ `\ /'_`)('_`\
P. O. Box 651 | ( ) ( ) |( (_| || (_) )
Porterville, CA 93258 (_) (_) (_) \__,_)| ,__/
(800) 266-5759 | |
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ (_)
|
