for life and liberty

Will Grigg: “Damned from Memory”: When the Drug War Turns on its Own

The 'war on drugs' is a narcotics price support program and a public works project for the coercive sector (especially the prison-industrial complex). It also provides an apparently bottomless well of revenue to fund the projects in subversion and state terrorism carried out by the CIA and its affiliates. Investigators like John McLaughlin are rewarded for gathering up huge volumes of tiny fish – and severely punished when they disturb any of the politically protected barracudas." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill Grigg: “Damned from Memory”: When the Drug War Turns on its Own

In Legal Showdown Over Marijuana, Oakland Dispensary Takes Leading Role

"In California, the battle between federal and state authorities over legal marijuana is coming to a head in a high-profile legal challenge. Our report comes from special correspondent Jake Schoneker of Media Enterprise Alliance, a PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Lab based in Oakland, Calif." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn Legal Showdown Over Marijuana, Oakland Dispensary Takes Leading Role

The Next Seven States To Legalize Pot

"The Berlin Wall of pot prohibition seems to be crumbling before our eyes. By fully legalizing marijuana through direct democracy, Colorado and Washington have fundamentally changed the national conversation about cannabis. As many as 58 percent of Americans now believe marijuana should be legal. And our political establishment is catching on. Encouraged by the example of Colorado and Oregon, states across the country are debating the merits of treating marijuana less like crystal meth and more like Jim Beam. Here are the next seven states most likely to legalize it." Continue reading →

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Study: Booze Damages the Young Brain, Pot Does Not

"Some new science demonstrates that marijuana may not have the harmful effects critics claim. In fact, while pot had no measured impact in a new study, the very legal and very lucratively-marketed substance alcohol actually has a worse health impact on young users. Specifically, a new study of substance-using teenagers' brains shows that the regular use of alcohol had a harmful effect on the boozing group, while the toking-up group's brains suffered little alteration." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingStudy: Booze Damages the Young Brain, Pot Does Not

Legalise ganja to treat HIV, cancer, doctors tell gov’t

"Director of the Caribbean Drug and Alcohol Research Institute Dr Marcus Day believes the time has come for regional governments to legalise marijuana to counteract the spread of HIV. 'Cannabis actually keeps viral progression down in a body. If you are HIV positive and you are not on medication, smoking cannabis is actually therapeutic, and that's science, not people's opinion,' he said. Day believes HIV patients — especially those not on anti-retroviral drugs — should be allowed to ingest marijuana as a tea or in pastry such as brownies. Statistics show that approximately 30% of those living with HIV in the Caribbean are not on any type of treatment." Continue reading →

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Oakland Insists It Can Defend Medical Pot Club

"The city of Oakland renewed demands to stay forfeiture proceedings against a local medical marijuana dispensary whose business it defends as a matter of state's rights. Though the U.S. government says that Oakland lacks standing to try to block it from seizing Harborside Health Center, the city argued that it has an interest in protecting its economic and public health interests, and it says a stay would serve the orderly adjudication of justice. The U.S. government initiated forfeiture proceedings against Harborside Health Center's Oakland and San Jose locations in July, claiming the clubs sell marijuana in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)." Continue reading →

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How Much TSA Abuse Is Enough?

"What on Earth does the TSA have to do to bump up against some serious resistance? If you feel like you've been sexually molested, you can go and cry on YouTube, like Miss USA did, but that's about as much sympathy as you're gonna get. You were molested for everyone's protection. And let's not forget the recent firing of 400 TSA agents for massive theft. If Americans are OK with a genital grab here and there, why not expand it to other places besides the airport? The longer that this goes on, the more emboldened the state will get, and that's exactly what they'll (slowly, of course) start to do." Continue reading →

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A look inside the federal civil forfeiture process

"Cave Junction grower Jedadiah Wissler, who allegedly supplied marijuana that was seized in 2010 in Texas while it was enroute to Florida, settled in a July agreement with federal prosecutors. Wissler dropped his claim to $44,542 seized from his residence along with some growing equipment, which included an automated marijuana-trimming device called a 'Twister.' He also dropped his claim for a pistol and an AK-47 WAGR-10 rifle with scope and bayonet. In turn, Wissler got to keep a seized pickup truck and unspecified assets in a local bank account, court records show." Continue reading →

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Privacy and the Government’s Dossier on You

"The bureaucracy is inscrutable and powerful. Its resources dwarf each person's. The purposes of this spy-bureaucratic machine are unknown to the individual. It is making decisions over lives but people are not privy to them and can't affect them. The power relationship between you and government is altered drastically when the government creates a dossier on you. You are in the dark. You are helpless and powerless. You feel that way, and you are. You are placed on the defensive. You no longer can act freely. Your freedom and your privacy both vaporize. You become fearful of speaking to others and expressing yourself because this is going into your dossier." Continue reading →

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The Really Scary Thing about the TSA

"TSA employees literally traded in their blue security uniforms, black TSA inspector jackets and TSA badges for a FEMA badge to help residents recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. This is a relatively benign use of the body grabbers. But it makes my point, the body grabbers can be taken off their body grab duties for other government activities. What if price inflation heats up and price controls are instituted? Will the body grabbers be sent out into the land to monitor against price increases and black markets developing? I fear we have not seen the end of the interventionist roles to be played by these characters. They are rested and ready." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Really Scary Thing about the TSA