Cannabis Fantastic

Marc Emery has been moved to a more permanent custody of the United States. The Canadian cannabis activist and current US prisoner had been held in a Seattle detention center for pre-trial inmates since his trial back in May. He is now in a low-security federal prison in Georgia. Emery had been expected to be transferred to a California facility, but is now at the D. Ray. James Correctional Facility in Folkston, Georgia more than 3,000 miles away from his home.

A Gold Coast Rugby league player became the first Australian professional athlete to be banned for life for his cannabis use. Gold Coast Vikings player, William Morunga is banned not only from playing in the Queensland Rugby League, but also from being associated with the sport in any way, including training, coaching, managing or acting in any support role.

Three leading drug experts argue that banning athletes for cannabis use is disproportionate to the crime, and that cannabis should not be included in the list of substances under the World Anti-Doping Codes. Players and fans feel that the punishment is too extreme since he cannot participate in any way in Rugby for the rest of his life. It seems cruel that using what is realistically a non-performance-enhancing substance would result in such a harsh penalty.

Former US Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders told the NY Times on Friday that we need to lift the prohibition on marijuana. She tells the Times, “I think we consume far more dangerous drugs that are legal: cigarette smoking, nicotine and alcohol, I feel they cause much more devastating effects physically. We need to lift the prohibition on marijuana.”

Her statement was buried in a piece about the Federal government’s vow to fight cannabis crimes even if states enact laws to legalize the substance.

A retired insurance company executive from Florida who has close ties with the Marijuana Policy Project has donated $209,005 to the campaign to legalize marijuana in the state of California.

In 1996, Lewis donated a half a million dollars to Proposition 215, the measure that made California the first state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. In 2000, he donated over a million dollars to Proposition 36 to allow nonviolent drug offenders to spend time in treatment, rather than a concrete box for their crimes.

The movie “Mr. Nice”, the story of long time English smuggler turned marijuana activist, Howard Marks, opened last weekend in the UK. Welsh actor RHYS IFANS, who plays Marks in the movie, was so thrilled with the final edit of the film, he broke down in tears at the screening last week.

UPDATE: Facebook’s hatred of leaf shapes aside, Sean Parker, Facebook’s first president and the co-founder of Napster has now given $100,000 to the Prop 19 campaign. Parker, played by the talented Justin Timberlake in the movie, “The Social Network” is also a press-shy billionaire, like Moskovitz. I hope this begins a bidding war to see [Read on . . .]

Irvin Rosenfeld has been smoking joints regularly for twenty-eight years. “So have many of us,” you might say, but the joints he’s been smoking are special. They were provided by the United States Government!

Award-winning CBS radio news reporter and Radio Bureau Manager, Howard Arenstein was arrested for growing marijuana with intent to distribute. Arenstein, along with his wife were arrested in DC on Saturday.