Posted by Johnny Green

 

Help Bring Medical Marijuana To Arkansas

Join us for one of the last major canvassing events of the campaign—and earn $1 per signature PLUS bonuses! We’ll be working outside the gates of Riverfest this Friday, Saturday & Sunday, May 25–27. Help us make Arkansas history as we collect the necessary signatures to put medical marijuana on the 2012 ballot!
WE’LL EVEN PAY YOU TO HELP US!
Show up at our Headquarters at The Rev Room (300 President Clinton Avenue) and we’ll provide you with petitions, handouts, stickers—and show you how to collect petitions. Earn $1 per signature—plus up to $750 in bonuses—while you make history putting the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on the ballot! With an anticipated crowd of 160,000 over the three-day weekend, you could earn big $$, while having fun at the fest!
OUR HEADQUARTERS WILL BE AT THE REV ROOM
We will setup a rest station and command center at The Rev Room (at the corner of LaHarpe & President Clinton) starting Friday at 4:30 pm and Saturday & Sunday at 2:00 pm. (Canvassers will be out early Sat & Sun, too!)
BRING SUPPLIES, IF YOU HAVE ‘EM
If you have banners, posters, “I signed!” stickers and handout cards, please bring them! We need all the materials we can gather up.
FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT:

• Melissa Fults: 501-416-0148
• Gary Fults: 501-416-1274
• Gene Remley: 501-258-2806
• Shannon Steece:  501-420-4221
• Ryan Denham: 479-966-7803

http://www.theweedblog.com/join-arkansans-for-compassionate-care-at-riverfest/

by Kay Lee
kaylee1@charter.net

 

I’ve agreed to lay my pain to paper only because my miracle medicine is still illegal.
Before 1992, a handful of doctors proved beyond a shadow of a doubt in a court of law that Cannabis was vital to their patient’s medical care.  The people representing NIDA and Health and Human Services still to this day provide the shrinking list of living patients with an ongoing monthly supply through their approved pharmacy. The rest of us lose our property, go to prison, and are labled ‘criminal’ for the rest of our lives.
It’s important that you understand that, despite what the United States Drug Czar would have you believe, marijuana reform is not ‘cheech and chong’, but a dead serious effort to tell the truth: Marijuana can be used as medicine to drastically raise a sick person’s quality of life. The plant does not take lives, and in some cases it can actually save a life: I know… because it saved mine.
But since I’ve learned that truth, due to prohibition laws, I can go to prison any day for nothing more than using a plant that heals me. In fact, I was arrested once, in 2006, right after my heart surgery at the tender age of 63.
Because my medicine, so vital to my health, is illegal, I have learned as much about the drug war and the inside of prison as is possible, considering I have never lived in one. I have made it my business to know because I could be arrested at any time for what I do: I must repeatedly ignore a bad law in order to use God’s plant to stay alive and useful.
If I go to prison, I will exist in a cold concrete cell and my body will deteriorate. I will be deprived of sunshine and marijuana, thus my mind could sink into the small, cramped world of depression. But, my spirit is strong because of my years of use and I do what I have to do. So, never, ever believe a rumor that Kay Lee killed herself. I am much too strong for that now.

Read complete article here:

http://www.angelfire.com/la/kaylee/depression.html

by Phillip Smith

As summer draws near, the election picture when it comes to statewide marijuana legalization initiatives is becoming a bit clearer. At the beginning of the year, activists in eight states undertook efforts to get initiatives on the ballot, but the field has been winnowed.
With polling this year starting to show majority support for legalization and regulation, 2012 could be the year that legalization actually wins, and voters in at least two states — Colorado and Washington — will have the chance to make that happen. Initiatives in those two states have already been approved for the ballot, and the election campaigns are underway.
 
Read complete article here:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/may/24/status_report_statewide_marijuan

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1559551458001?bckey=AQ~~,AAABWu5CMgE~,bb6I8KF-GJJWeDT8DZthNoFpUkgqRkxc&bctid=1632764447001

Abhay Deol at PVR Nest screening. (Photo: IANS)
 
New Delhi, May 24 — Conspiracy theorists will have you know that the “war” on drugs is just a way to keep drugs in the black market so that their value remains “high”. Comparing cannabis (marijuana/hemp) with hard drugs like cocaine, crack, heroin etc is a way to demonise the drug further.
The downfall of the plant started early last century in the US. Ironically, it was illegal NOT to grow hemp in a few states in the early part of US history. Even George Washington grew it. Its uses were many – as fiber for ropes and sails, to make paper, its seeds are high in proteins, it makes for a stronger, longer lasting material to make clothes with, than cotton. It was possibly the first agricultural crop. It can be grown in most climates, is drought resistant, requires little fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides. Its seeds can be used to make hemp oil.
A little known fact is that it can also be used to produce fuel! Henry Ford’s first Model-T (the people’s car) was even constructed from hemp! He said it was “grown from the soil” and its impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel! Hemp fuel is also biodegradable, does not contribute sulphur dioxide to the atmosphere and is non-toxic. Farmers around the world would greatly benefit from growing it. But alas, we live in a market driven economy and I personally have come to believe that the market is driven by scarcity.
If upon further research it is proved that hemp can provide us with so many alternatives, it would drive many companies out of business. Think about it, it can replace trees for paper, that would not be good for companies who make profit from cutting down trees. Being a weed, it grows really fast and outcompetes other weeds. Hemp strains produce their own resins that make the crop naturally pest free. Not good for companies that make pesticides! It can be used as a fuel! This is one of the major threats! Oil companies are some of the biggest giants in the corporate world. Both Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel designed cars that ran on vegetable oils and hemp oil. This was a century ago!
 
Read complete article here:
http://india.nydailynews.com/article/9f495b71c5859880b8dbf09e43f328e8/abhay-deol-the-world-needs-hemp

The Huffington Post  |  By Melissa Jeltsen

 
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker took to Twitter on Wednesday, calling the government’s war on drugs a failure that unfairly targets the black population. His pointed criticism comes one day after New Jersey advanced a bill to decriminalize marijuana. If it passes, a person caught with 15 grams of pot or less would only face a $150 fine.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/23/cory-booker-drug-war_n_1541082.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

by PAPSITE RADIO 
 
Here’s the link to it:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/papsite-radio/2012/05/20/one-and-a-half-hours-of-sensibility-guest-rick-simpson

By Ray Stern

Craig Rodgers, 36, hopes that smoking and eating marijuana will slow the progression of his brain cancer.
 
Marijuana keeps Craig Rodgers alive.

Rodgers was on a good career track as a trade-show organizer until 2006, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Now he’s a passionate advocate of medical marijuana, lives on government disability, and earns a few extra bucks making candles that look like brains.
He was one of several patients who attended a conference in Tucson last month regarding the use of marijuana in medicine.
Rodgers was fishing in Canada when the first seizure struck. He was rushed from the backcountry to a hospital, but doctors didn’t find the cause until three months later, after another seizure. The diagnosis is seared in his memory.
“Your tumor is here,” his doctor told him while pointing at an x-ray of his head. “You’re going to die.”
Rodgers was given 18 months to live. Surgeons were able to remove about 80 percent of the tumor in 2007 and told him it probably would come back. They also put him on a chemotherapy regimen, which was when he “got involved in cannabis.” He’d tried it a few times in his late teens and early 20s, but this experience was different.
“I took two puffs, and it was incredible,” he says. “It made me feel well.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2012-05-24/news/marijuana-is-real-medicine-for-a-long-list-of-ills/

By Dennis Romero

Jimmay Bones
 
In the wake of a national poll saying 56 percent of likely American voters favor legalizing marijuana, the group NORML Women’s Alliance plans to hold candidates’ feet to the lighter.
The organization will be asking candidates for L.A. County Superior Court judge what they think of medical marijuana. (For once, a judge on the hot seat. We like it.)
They’ll also ask about three-strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentencing and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that has mandated prison population reduction in California.
Whew.
Candidates will be vetted for the June 5 primary and then again for the general election in November.
 
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/05/norml_women_angeles_county_judges_marijuana.php
 

By DAN MODLIN AND ASSOCIATED PRESS