As spiritual events go, it was an unusual request.
“If there’s anybody here who’s a member of law enforcement, you don’t have to identify yourself, just please leave,” the Rev. Timothy Tipton told a crowd at Denver’s Oriental Theater. “This is a private event.”
Thus went a stop on the Cannabis Church Revival Tour, a three-event swing along the Front Range last week promoting the religious use of marijuana and its potential as a legal defense against pot prosecution. The tour was organized by the Rev. Roger Christie, founder of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, as a way to spread awareness about his church and its affiliates. But Christie said his visit to Colorado had, in part, a more specific purpose: to reach out to people disgruntled by new state medical-marijuana laws they think are too restrictive.
With two laws that place tighter regulations on medical-marijuana patients and dispensaries poised to go into effect next month, some marijuana activists have begun discussing what they believe is an alternate pathway to legally using marijuana — even if courts have generally not agreed with them.
Christie touted religious use of cannabis as a legal refuge for marijuana users of all stripes protected by the First Amendment — as long as they are sincere.
“You can still have cannabis, but you don’t have to be sick,” he said. “Or if you are sick, you don’t have to go to the doctor. A lot of people go to the doctor for legal protection. We provide another source of legal protection.”
The problem, though, is that courts have often looked askance at that stance.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1990 ruled that states could pass “generally applicable” laws — including drug laws — that have “incidental” effects on religious practice without violating the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.
Since then, state courts in Hawaii, Alaska and Arizona, as well as at least one federal appellate court, have rejected freedom-of-religion defenses in marijuana cases. Just recently in Clear Creek County, a judge convicted a man in a marijuana possession case after deciding his religious beliefs weren’t sufficient to exempt him from state law.
Christie said the church has had 108 legal victories across the country, but that number includes only cases where charges were dropped or not filed. The church has yet to achieve a jury victory, and Christie said he is pursuing a federal lawsuit in Hawaii he hopes will set a precedent protecting spiritual use of marijuana.
In the meantime, he said, church members could request trials and try to win over juries with the sincerity of their beliefs. Christie said church members sign a document attesting to their sincerity and must wash their hands with hemp soap before entering the sanctuary.
Kathleen Chippi, a Nederland dispensary owner who is starting a cannabis ministry, said she will ask new church members to take cannabis theology classes.
“If you want to use cannabis as sacrament and use that as a defense, you need to know what you’re talking about,” Chippi said.
Religious users believe marijuana brings them closer to God and is referenced in the Bible.
“I like to say that we get high to say, ‘Hi’ to the Most High,” Christie said.
Those whom Christie anointed as new church members at the revival said they were attracted more by the spiritual connection they feel when using cannabis than by the chance of using marijuana legally.
“My whole life, I’ve been smoking weed,” said James Aguilar, a 41-year-old Denver resident who is also a medical-marijuana patient. “And I just thought it would be good to join something I believe in.”

GRAND JUNCTION — A grand jury has declined to bring charges against three Western Colorado marijuana growers, months after the operation was raided following a neighbor’s complaint.
Prosecutors asked for charges, including felony marijuana cultivation, against three owners of a medical- marijuana dispensary called Naturals, A Wellness Center.
The growing operation was raided March 9. Officers from the Western Colorado Drug Task Force found 1,080 marijuana plants and asked for patient registry cards to justify that amount of marijuana.
The three owners — Cristin Groves, Brian Groves and Sid Squirrell — insisted they were following state law and are legal caregivers entitled to grow pot for medical-marijuana patients. The owners shared marijuana registry cards.

The universe of marijuana laws may be devolving into chaos, but Bill McPike remains a mellow man. For 30 years, the Fresno, Calif., attorney has defended clients against pot charges and counseled entrepreneurs on setting up shop to legally grow and sell the substance that spawned a thousand slang terms.
But whatever its name over the years — Mary Jane, weed, wacky tobaccy — at no other point has the law been so unsettled. A collision of federal policy, state statutes, local ordinances and old-fashioned politics means more clients for McPike to defend and more uncertainty to navigate. Although U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said last year that federal prosecutors would back off cases involving medical marijuana usage, authorities in California and elsewhere recently have vowed to rein in what they see as an unwieldy industry of pot growers and consumers.
Added to the mix are a jumble of local ordinances drawing odd boundaries that can make it legal to sell marijuana on one side of the street and illegal on the other. “It creates a lot of problems,” said McPike, 59. A longtime member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, he regularly conducts seminars about conforming with California’s medical marijuana laws. Last month, he hit Burbank’s Holiday Inn to talk about what it takes to establish a medical marijuana business. It was an event organized by the California Medical Marijuana Club. The group’s website proclaims that “A friend with weed is a friend indeed.”
McPike also teaches courses on establishing a medical marijuana business through 420 College, the self-described premier medical marijuana school in California. For $250, students get training in opening a nonprofit marijuana business, transporting marijuana, cultivating it and cooking with it. Those who successfully complete the program receive “Bill McPike’s Cannabis Businessmen” certification.
Throughout his 30-year legal career, McPike has seen highs and lows in the support for reforming marijuana laws. But what’s going on now in his home state and elsewhere is unprecedented. In November, California voters will consider an initiative to legalize and tax marijuana.
The patchwork of laws has created plenty of confusion, McPike said, especially among those seeking to start a medical marijuana business. “They just go do it, with no forms to back them up, then the cops come across them and they’re in real trouble,” he said.
GRAY AREA
Fourteen states now allow the cultivation and use of marijuana for medical reasons. Besides California, they include Michigan, New Jersey and Colorado. Last month, the District of Columbia Council approved a law to allow people with HIV, glaucoma, cancer and other chronic diseases to buy medical marijuana from a small number of dispensaries in the city. Also last month, a group of about 100 medical-marijuana workers in California voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The group includes growers and sellers.
Amid the changes in the laws across the country, medical marijuana dispensaries have flourished, with the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles alone estimated at 1,000. In his announcement in March 2009, Holder indicated that government resources would go to catching illegal large-scale dealers and more violent drug-related crimes rather than raiding dispensaries.
But just as the federal government has demonstrated a laxer attitude, local authorities say the proliferation of dispensaries has spawned operations that supply pot for recreational, not medical, reasons. On June 7, the city of Los Angeles announced that it would seek to close 400 dispensaries there. The City Attorney’s Office said the crackdown affects unregistered dispensaries that opened after the implementation of a 2007 moratorium. Also on June 7, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter signed two bills to increase the oversight of medical marijuana in his state. At the time, Ritter cited the “chaotic proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries” as the reason for the change.
“There’s a lot of gray area,” said McPike, speaking from his home near Shaver Lake, Calif.
At one point in his career, he was defending 32 clients in 16 counties, he said. Many of his clients were prosecuted even though they had with them at the time of arrest documentation showing that the pounds of marijuana they possessed were for legitimate medical reasons, he said. McPike was able to get several of those cases dismissed by filing demurrers — an unusual move in criminal prosecutions. Instead of his clients pleading guilty or not guilty — typically the only two choices in a criminal case — his clients admitted the facts of the case and put the burden on the prosecution to show how it was illegal. “They couldn’t do it,” he said.
McPike grew up in Fresno, a community that he said was steeped in marijuana culture. He worked as a claims adjuster before graduating from Humphreys College Laurence Drivon School of Law in 1980 when he was 29. One of his law professors would become a client, he said.
Trevor Oppliger, a deputy district attorney in Fresno, said McPike knows his stuff. He and McPike crossed paths numerous times as opposing counsel when Oppliger was prosecuting drug cases. “He’s a grandfatherly type, if that makes sense,” Oppliger said. “His experience and knowledge are profound.”
Former Mendocino County deputy district attorney James Lee Nerli described McPike as a “mellow guy.” Now in private practice in Fair Oaks, Calif., Nerli worked opposite McPike on several marijuana cases. “He had plenty of clients. That’s for sure,” Nerli said.
McPike still represents a few individuals, but he spends most of his time consulting with people who want to open dispensaries. More and more of his work involves individuals outside California who want to either use or produce medical marijuana. To set up a storefront shop such as those allowed in California, it takes as little as $5,000, he said.
HOMEGROWN WORK
McPike is not alone in his line of work. Several solo practitioners and law firms, mostly in California, tout themselves as marijuana defense attorneys. For instance, Beverly Hills is home to Allison Margolin’s practice. The 2002 Harvard Law School graduate describes herself as “L.A.’s dopest attorney.” About 70 percent of her practice focuses on people who have run afoul of California’s medical marijuana laws. Since Holder’s announcement last year, more older, retiree types have gotten into the business, she said.
Then there’s Michael Kraut, also a Harvard-educated attorney, whose pot practice focuses exclusively on criminal defense. He does not assist with startups. He’s a former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles. His clients, he said, most often get in trouble with the law because they simply do not understand it.
McPike said he’s had a steady flow of clients and that it’s been relatively easy to grow his practice over the years by word of mouth. He’s never run a Yellow Pages advertisement.
“I get all kinds of people calling me. I don’t know how they find me,” he said. A few days ago, a gentleman who had recently received two heart stents contacted him to see about becoming part of the marijuana “clubs” that California allows. They are co-ops of sorts that permit medical marijuana users to grow and use their own product.
Later this month, McPike is headed to Los Angeles to conduct a seminar through 420 College. The curriculum includes how to start a marijuana delivery service for just $500.
McPike said he has learned that the best piece of advice for clients is to keep their mouths shut with authorities until they get an attorney. “The biggest mistake is the talk,” he said.

Tim DaGiau will be the first to admit he smokes pot – but it’s not a casual joint to help him better enjoy Pink Floyd.
It’s medical marijuana to help him live a normal life.

Tim DaGiau after one of his many surgeries/submitted photo

Prior to his first toke as a high school senior, this 22-year-old New Jersey native and current Colorado State University student was constantly struck with seizures and other side effects from epilepsy.
Arizona’s November ballot will include a vote on the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, which would allow marijuana use for people with terminal or serious illnesses and other qualifying conditions.
DaGiau was fine until age 10. Then his first seizure hit in a playground. His second seizure was kind enough to come a mere two weeks later, in the middle of the school cafeteria.
“It would be the beginning of a journey through thousands of convulsions, 13 anti-epileptic drugs, multiple alternative treatments and five brain surgeries, the last of which would leave me paralyzed on my left side,” DaGiau wrote in an e-mail.
“For eight years I would endure the often devastating side effects of Western medicine until finally, when hope had begun to wear thin, I discovered the answers to my prayers and my first effective treatment: cannabis.”
DeGiau has certainly had one heck of a ride until he had his first hit of a joint at age 18.
“As it entered my body, my constant plaguing thoughts of seizures dissipated,” he said. “It was as if my prison had dissolved.”
That was the last hit he had for two whole years, until, as a last resort, he applied for the medical marijuana program as a sophomore at Colorado State University.
Before his application went through, he decided to go for one more surgery, even though past surgeries were not met with success.
“I was too anxious to attain a cure, too impatient to see if I would ever be able to employ marijuana as a treatment.”
So he went under the knife – with disastrous results.
“Not only would I continue seizing,” he said, “but rather, this time, I would be paralyzed on my left side, due to an unforeseen level of swelling in my brain.”
Medical marijuana to the rescue.

Tim DaGiau (right)/submitted photo

Road still bumpy
While DaGiau’s friends, family and “even the most conservative” folks don’t scoff at his medicinal pot smoking after hearing his story and seeing what he’s accomplished, using marijuana as medicine can still present some hurdles.
Like being isolated from his family. While at Colorado State University, DaGiau’s medical marijuana use was fine and dandy. But it was not until New Jersey enacted its own medicinal marijuana legislation just this year that he could visit his home state while continuing his treatment.
“Acknowledging that an abrupt abandonment of the drug, similar to any pharmaceutical, would provoke cycles of convulsions, and aware of the fact that marijuana was illegal in New Jersey, I was barred from visitation,” he said.
The same holds true for any vacation spot where pot – medicinal or not – remains illegal.
And then there’s the landlord who tried to get DaGiau evicted. Even though DaGiau’s apartment complex had a package room, the landlord decided to leave a package inside DaGiau’s apartment while he was out.
“I returned home to find a note on my door which stated that the police would be coming if it was ever sensed again that I was in possession of cannabis (there was never a smell in the hallway, just this intrusive entry, which made me question how he’d know if I was). Realizing that he could evict me, I abruptly halted use.”
DaGiau had already gone 93 days with no seizures, and his parents were coming to Colorado to celebrate 100 seizure-free days the following week, which was also July 4 weekend.
But DaGiau stopped use for fear of eviction. He had a seizure, sure enough, on day 96. “While biking, I fell and began seizing so violently that my face was badly scraped and tooth chipped. My parents never saw day 100 and I’ve never lasted that long since,” he wrote.
His fear propelled him to move out of his apartment, despite having lived there for two years with no problems, and sign a new lease elsewhere.
“Thankfully, I have not had to face a drug test (for employment or any other reason),” he said. “However, there are no civil protections in any state’s medical marijuana law, which permits evictions and terminations to be fully legal.”
A slate of new tax laws on Colorado’s dispensaries – which DaGiau says will surely put most of them out of business – is another fine hurdle, one that prompted DaGiau to join an activist group.
“The sole purpose is to educate the public in an appropriate, peaceful manner,” he said of the Colorado-based Medical Marijuana Activists.
He sent the group his resume, which outlines his successes, especially those achieved after turning to medical marijuana.
“It was an immediate difference. I adopted a new identity, one that incurred fewer convulsions and less paramedic encounters. I transitioned from being reclusive to, instead, exerting an outgoing and assertive personality, as a pre-law junior.
“In two years as a medical marijuana user, I have attained the role of president and vice president of department advisory boards, acted as an intern for district court judges, PR firms and several other corporations.
“Additionally, I volunteer at several organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association, a local hospital, a juvenile probation program, a domestic violence prevention program, along with several others.
“In essence, due to a reduced fear of enduring the humiliation from seizing in public, I have taken advantage of the opportunity to rebuild my life anew.”
Not only is DaGaui now a member, but he was appointed director of public relations, his second major in addition to journalism.
“I strongly believe that my determination, story, and strong speaking skills will bring this now relatively local group… to a national level,” he said.
“In all reality, a 22-year-old kid is exactly what many of these movements have been lacking – the driven, assertive, and goal-oriented youth that is able to exemplify that not all young patients are ‘users’ or stoners.”

How a medical marijuana program works
Folks hoping for some medical marijuana don’t simply show up at their doctor’s office and put out their hand for a joint.
Doctors, like DaGiau’s physician who is now his neurologist, provide signed paperwork stating the patient would benefit from medical marijuana.
Patients then shell out the fee to apply for a medical marijuana card, or license, if the state issues them. DeGaiu paid $90 to apply for his Colorado card, which he has had since 2008.
If a person is granted the license, he or she uses it to purchase their pot at “healing centers,” which are dispensaries that grow and sell marijuana. The healing centers register with the state to legally grow marijuana. While getting a bag full of catnip or paprika is not an issue, DaGiau says some users do fret about the possible use of pesticides or other chemicals on the marijuana.
Another concern is medical marijuana fraud, or folks receiving it who do not necessarily need it to ameliorate a medical condition, DaGiau says. In the past two years, people have been applying for medical marijuana cards in droves.
“The Medical Marijuana registry, when I applied, was required to respond within 35 days,” he said. “It is now over three months, just to provide an idea of how many applications they now receive. I have met those who were able to receive a license, despite a phony condition.”
One of DeGiau’s theories as to why medical marijuana fraud may be so rampant is because “no physician has ever been tried by the state in the program’s 10-years-to-life, so I think many feel ‘What’s the difference if I sign off on the patient?’”

In addition to Colorado in 2000  and New Jersey in 2010, a total of 12 other states have enacted laws that make medical marijuana legal. They are Alaska in 1998, California in 1996, Hawaii in 2000, Maine in 1999, Michigan in 2008, Montana in 2004, Nevada in 2000, New Mexico in 2007, Oregon in 1998, Rhode Island in 2006, Vermont in 2004, and Washington in 1998. Click here for more details on each state’s medical marijuana laws.

Syracuse, NY–(ENEWSPF)–June 25, 2010.  The administration of the plant cannabinoids delta-8-THC and delta-9-THC inhibit cellular respiration and tumor growth in human oral cancer cells, according to preclinical trial data published in the June issue of the journal Pharmacology.
Investigators at the State University of New York (SUNY), Upstate Medical University in Syracuse assessed the anticancer properties of delta-8-THC and delta-9-THC in the human oral cancer cell line Tu183, which is highly resistant to conventional anticancer drugs.
Researchers reported that the administration of THC resulted in a “rapid decline” in cellular respiration in malignant cells. By contrast, investigators found that the administration of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide was “ineffective” as an anticancer agent.
“These results show the cannabinoids are potent inhibitors of Tu183 cellular respiration and are toxic to this highly malignant tumor,” researchers concluded.
Last year, investigators from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island reported that the moderate long-term use of marijuana in humans “was associated with a significantly reduced risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.”
A 2008 scientific review published in the journal Cancer Research previously reported that cannabinoids inhibit the proliferation of a wide range of cancers, including brain cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lymphoma.

Fairfax residents unable to travel to a medical marijuana dispensary can now legally receive home delivery.The town Planning Commission approved the move and also granted the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana permission to serve minor patients who enter its School Street dispensary, and to sell cloned marijuana plants.
But the commission refused to allow the club to grow plants of its own, because founding director Lynnette Shaw has not yet said where the group would do so.
The decision marked a victory for Shaw, who has labored since February to change 40 of the 84 conditions the Planning Commission imposed on her business in 1997, when it became the first legally sanctioned medical marijuana dispensary to operate under California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996.
“I am proud of Fairfax,” Shaw said in a statement. “I feel honored by all the support we have.”
The town removed 12 of Shaw’s conditions in 2001 and deleted nine more on June 17, agreeing to modify an additional 31. Under the new conditions, the Marin Alliance can make deliveries to customers in Fairfax in one of two trucks. A licensed, bonded driver must accompany a dispensary employee while making deliveries, and the dispensary must carry insurance that indemnifies the town from liability. Drivers can carry up to $2,500 in marijuana products and $2,500 in cash.
Shaw had sought the delivery service to allow the Marin Alliance to compete with unlicensed clubs from Marin County and licensed

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clubs from San Francisco, both of which had begun delivering marijuana to Fairfax residents.That’s a problem Kevin Reed can understand. For the past three years, Reed has operated The Green Cross, a medical marijuana delivery service based in his San Francisco home.
“Mine was the first dispensary in the city of San Francisco to get a permit to sell cannabis with the stipulation that it be delivery only – and they wanted it to be ‘delivery only’ because it was out of my home,” Reed said. “All clubs (in San Francisco) that have a permit to sell medical cannabis can deliver, but most choose not to do so, because there’s absolutely no money in it. It’s easier to open a storefront and have people come to them.”
During the past year, however, Reed has faced competition from illegal delivery services taking advantage of the shifting legal climate surrounding marijuana use.
After one attempted robbery early in its operation, The Green Cross developed a code of conduct for its employees and patients. “We drive unmarked cars,” Reed said. “All of our drivers have panic buttons on their cars. And there are a couple of neighborhoods we just don’t go into after dark.”
Concerns about delivery safety led Fairfax Police Chief Ken Hughes to oppose the delivery provision, and Planning Commissioner Pamela Meigs to abstain from the commission’s vote.
“The other (changes to the) use permit I felt OK with, but I could not agree with the delivery system,” Meigs said. “I feel safety is a priority for the community.”
The Planning Commission agreed to the changes on a vote of 5-1-1, following four consecutive meetings on the issue. While Meigs abstained, commissioner Peter Lacques cast the sole dissenting vote, objecting to the provision that allows minors to enter the dispensary.
“I feel very strongly there’s absolutely no rational reason why minors should be allowed into the dispensary,” Lacques said.
Aware that they were potentially blazing new legal ground, members of the commission spent many hours researching and debating the many aspects of the Marin Alliance’s permit, with assistant town attorney Inder Khasla spending more than 20 hours on the case, at $195 an hour.
Yet town officials say it’s unlikely the permit will serve as an effective blueprint for two other medical marijuana dispensaries that have applied to set up shop in Fairfax in recent months – or others who could apply in the future.
“We do not have an ordinance relative to this use,” said Fairfax Planning Director Jim Moore. “We have to evaluate these requests on an applicant to applicant basis.”

Facing a vocal barrage from a well-educated cross-section of San Jose’s 55,000 cannabis patients, the city’s leaders kicked the can down the road Tuesday evening — voting to postpone regulating dispensaries until August.
“This is the good part,” said dispensary operator Stephen DeAngelo after the marathon, six-hour hearing. “It’s another one of those days that makes me incredibly proud to be an American living in California in a place that’s really about making local democracy work.”
The council was considering permitting at random just ten of the city’s seventy or so clubs, after charging each a $95,000 registration fee. Dispensaries would then have to turn patient records over to the chief of police, possibly violating federal privacy laws. The community came out to bash each staff recommendation.
“Do not put a young woman’s name on a list and give it to the the police,” begged patient advocate Darlene Welch. “She is 23 years old. She has no hope then.”

• San Jose City TV
• Darlene Welch delivers public comment during a heated San Jose City Council meeting

Oakland attorney James Silva said the proposed ordinance would violate the US Constitution, and he was ready to file an injunction.
“The proposed ordinance is draconian, but some of the provisions … would violate the Fifth Amendment,” he said. “This is a community that wants to reach out to you and is hoping you’ll reach back.”
After an exasperated Mayor Chuck Reed brought the hearings to a head, the city voted unanimously on Councilman Oliverio‘s motion to push back any rule-making until August 3rd, and learn more about what they want to do. Council ordered police to focus enforcement on dispensaries open within 500 feet of schools and residences. The city also moved toward putting a medical cannabis tax on the November ballot.
DeAngelo says the result was a starkly more reasonable series of actions than those recommended by the city’s attorney and chief of police.
“I think city staff has been responding to pressure by the city attorney to craft the most restrictive possible ordinance,” he said. “Fortunately, within the city council exists substantial support for protection of patient rights.”

DAILEKH: Locals of Baluwatar and Naumale, in a remote basin 28 km northwest of the district headquarters Dullu, have seen their lives transformed since a micro-hydro system was installed. CFL bulbs have replaced the hazardous kerosene lamps in their homes, women have been freed from the drudgery of milling grain, and men no longer need to struggle to irrigate their fields.
The micro-hydro project was constructed under the Food for Work scheme of the World Food Programme with the participation of the locals. Although designed to generate 22 KW of electricity, it produces only 11 KW as of now. The project has lit up 145 households of Baluwatar and Naumule villages. A household pays just Rs 70 a month for unlimited use of electricity.
The change is obvious in Naumule basin. In this small developing town, houses have refrigerators, televisions and mobile phones. They also have fax and copier machines. “We could not have imagined this life two years ago,” says Ratna Prasad Jaisi, operator of the power plant.
Apart from the conveniences of electricity, the plan has allowed local entrepreneurs to upgrade their work. Local carpenters can now use electrical tools. “I am learning carpentry,” says Laxmi Ram Darlami. “I can get work anywhere once I have the skill to operate electric-powered tools.” The villages also take pride in their new electric-powered mills and hemp-refining factories.
An electrical system irrigates 16.67 hectares of paddy field in Naumule basin. “Irrigation has increased the productivity of the basin,” says Santa Bahadur Chand, former VDC chair. “Micro-hydro has made life easier in many ways.”
Micro-hydro has increasingly been used as an add-on or stand-alone system for the purpose of electric lighting in the last two decades. Nepal has made remarkable strides in micro-hydro with external technical assistance, indigenous innovation, and facilitative government policies. There are already micro-hydro plants in 57 districts with a capacity to produce 12 MW of power in total and a plan is in the works to construct one in each VDC within two years using local fund, technology, and manpower.
Such projects can be a major source of energy for rural areas as they can be operated by simply diverting water from a stream or river and channelling it into a turbine through pipes. It does not require a dam or storage facility. Micro-hydro is affordable and can be a long-term power solution for Nepal.
Dewan Rai

DEEPESH SHRESTHA

http://nepalitimes.com/issue/2010/07/23/Nation/17287

I’M CONFUSED. When I walk around busy midtown Manhattan, I often smell marijuana. Despite the crowds, some people smoke weed in public. Usually the police leave them alone, and yet other times they act like a military force engaged in urban combat. This February, cops stormed a Columbia, Mo., home, killed the family dog and terrorized a 7-year-old boy — for what? A tiny quantity of marijuana.
Two years ago, in Prince George’s County, Md., cops raided Cheye Calvo’s home — all because a box of marijuana was randomly shipped to his wife as part of a smuggling operation. Only later did the police learn that Calvo was innocent — and the mayor of that town.

“When this first happened, I assumed it was just a terrible, terrible mistake,” Calvo said. “But the more I looked into it, the more I realized (it was) business as usual that brought the police through our front door. This is just what they do. We just don’t hear about it. The only reason people heard about my story is that I happened to be a clean-cut white mayor.”
Radley Balko of Reason magazine says more than a hundred police SWAT raids are conducted every day. Does the use of illicit drugs really justify the militarization of the police, the violent disregard for our civil liberties and the overpopulation of our prisons? It seems hard to believe.
I understand that people on drugs can do terrible harm — wreck lives and hurt people. But that’s true for alcohol, too. But alcohol prohibition didn’t work. It created Al Capone and organized crime. Now drug prohibition funds nasty Mexican gangs and the Taliban. Is it worth it? I don’t think so.
Everything can be abused, but that doesn’t mean government can stop it, or should try to stop it. Government goes astray when it tries to protect us from ourselves.
Many people fear that if drugs were legal, there would be much more use and abuse. That’s possible, but there is little evidence to support that assumption. In the Netherlands, marijuana has been legal for years. Yet the Dutch are actually less likely to smoke than Americans. Thirty-eight percent of American adolescents have smoked pot, while only 20 percent of Dutch teens have. One Dutch official told me that “we’ve succeeded in making pot boring.”
By contrast, what good has the drug war done? It’s been 40 years since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Since then, government has spent billions and officials keep announcing their “successes.” They are always holding press conferences showing off big drug busts. So it’s not like authorities aren’t trying.
We’ve locked up 2.3 million people, a higher percentage than any other country. That allows China to criticize America’s human-rights record because our prisons are “packed with inmates.”
Yet drugs are still everywhere. The war on drugs wrecks far more lives than drugs do!
Need more proof? Fox News runs stories about Mexican cocaine cartels and marijuana gangs that smuggle drugs into Arizona. Few stop to think that legalization would end the violence. There are no Corona beer smugglers. Beer sellers don’t smuggle. They simply ship their product. Drug laws cause drug crime.
The drug trade moved to Mexico partly because our government funded narcotics police in Colombia and sprayed the growing fields with herbicides. We announced it was a success! We cut way back on the Colombian drug trade.
But so what? All we did was squeeze the balloon. The drug trade moved across the border to Peru, and now it’s moved to Mexico. So the new president of Mexico is squeezing the balloon. Now the trade and the violence are spilling over the border into the United States.
That’s what I call progress. It is the kind of progress we don’t need.
Economist Ludwig von Mises wrote: “(O)nce the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness “¦ (w)hy not prevent him from reading bad books and bad plays “¦ ? The mischief done by bad ideologies is more pernicious “¦ than that done by narcotic drugs.”
Right on, Ludwig!
John Stossel is host of “Stossel” on the Fox Business Network. He’s the author of “Give Me a Break” and of “Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity.”