GOPer Cokeman

Rep. Trey Radel pleads guilty to cocaine charge:

Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation...

States Rights For Reefer

Bipartisan Marijuana Bill Appears To Have One More Big Supporter In Its Corner: The NAACP:

A bipartisan bill advocating for states rights on marijuana appears to have one more big supporter in its corner.

Marijuana Majority said Saturday in an email that the NAACP's Board of Directors passed a resolution last month in support of H.R. 1523 -- the Respect States Marijuana Laws Act. Introduced in April by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), the legislation is designed to protect both medical and recreational pot users from federal prosecution for following state laws...

The Most Amazing Abuse Of Authority Ever

David Eckert: Colonoscopy, Enema, X-Ray By Cops For Drugs (VIDEO):

David Eckert went shopping at a Wal-Mart in Deming NM on January 2nd, 2013. He then got into his car to leave the parking lot. David Eckert was then stopped by Officer Chavez for allegedly not yielding at a stop sign. Officer Chavez ordered David Eckert out of his car. Things went downhill after that...

Is The Insanity Ending?

Will new Obama policy on marijuana be a boon for black America? | theGrio:

...In 2011, of the 1.5 million drug arrests made, 750,000 were for marijuana. People of color make up the overwhelming majority of those targeted by law enforcement. In every step, from those who are stop and frisked to those convicted and sent to serve time, the drug war certainly picks favorites. According to a recent report from the ACLU, black people are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for a marijuana arrest, even though marijuana consumption is fairly even across races...

Joe On Racism And Reefer

Joe Scarborough Slams Sean Hannity For Retort To Obama Speech (VIDEO):

...I know gene and others will remember middle class whites were angry when liberal politicians would say it’s society’s fault. Well, that’s what’s happening now in reverse. They are bigger societal issues. You know black men wearing hoodies, they all commit crimes. That’s Richard Cohen’s argument. So he had it coming to him. It’s straight out of madness. I hear he had marijuana in his system. You have seen reefer madness. Really? Really? In 2013, Sean, come on.

Whatever excuse there is to say this young black man had it coming to him; that is the defense because there is no defense for shooting down a young black man in a middle class neighborhood with Skittles. This entire spectacle is depressing and it’s giving the parents and loved ones of African American children even more of a reason to be concerned and go out on weekends and peacefully march. And the vultures are going to continue to circulate around this body. And make no mistake, they are and continue to try to destroy his reputation for doing nothing more than walking through a neighborhood. It’s making all of this — it’s making it all too evident that too many people in the media and politicians are calculating and callous in their commentary. Andrea Mitchell, it’s nothing short of depressing...

Big Pharma Loses One

Supreme Court says human genes cannot be patented - CBS News:

The Supreme Court says companies cannot patent human genes, a decision that could profoundly affect the medical and biotechnology industries.

In a unanimous decision, the court struck down patents held by Myriad Genetics Inc. on two genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer...

Go Canada!

Canadian drug policy experts recommend decriminalizing all drugs | The Raw Story:

In a report issued Thursday (PDF), a group of Canadian drug policy experts at the Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction recommend that the Harper administration immediately take up decriminalization of all drugs as the first step toward fundamentally reforming the nation’s drug war to fight addiction instead of the Canadian people...

Drug Corruption Continues

Did Novartis Violate Its Corporate Integrity Agreement? - Forbes:

Twice this past week, the US Department of Justice filed lawsuits alleging Novartis paid kickbacks to boost prescriptions and caused federal healthcare programs to pay for medicines based on false claims. One complaint seeks damages and civil penalties for corrupting the dispensing process with multi-million-dollar ‘incentive programs’ that targeted doctors. The other involves kickbacks in the form of rebates and discounts to at least 20 pharmacies in exchange for switching transplant patients from rival medicines to its Myfortic immunosuppressant treatment (back story)...

Vermont Close To Decriminalization

Vt. House backs marijuana decriminalization
 
The Vermont House gave preliminary approval Friday to a bill that would change the offense of possessing up to an ounce of marijuana from a misdemeanor crime to a civil offense similar to a speeding violation...

Reneging Republican Romps

Former GOP Rep. Tancredo to ‘welsh’ on pot smoking bet | The Raw Story

The Never Option

There is no chance in Hell this would happen-- Obama, as we all know, is totally lacking in political courage, and dropping the war would take a modicum of backbone.

Obama's other option on pot: Legalize it for everyone? - CSMonitor.com

With half or more Americans now favoring legalizing marijuana, President Obama has one bold option that few experts are talking about: Raising the white flag and ending the federal war on pot...

Pot Hits High

Pot Legalization Support At Record High, Poll Finds

National support for legalizing marijuana is at a record high, according to a poll sponsored by the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project.

Fifty-eight percent of voters said the use of marijuana should be made legal, while 39 percent said it should be illegal, the poll, conducted by the Democratic firm PPP, found...

Flopping On Drugs

Bob Barr Insists He's Seen the Light

"Libertarian candidate for President Bob Barr has written his first post at Huffington Post. He says he was wrong about the war on drugs. He now realizes it has been a failure..."

Big Bucks Reefer

LATimes.com reports:"SACRAMENTO — For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops. . ."