Was in Venice Beach on the way back to San Diego were every other storefront on the little road facing the beach are 420 MD offices. Spoke to a guy that 420 info. Anyway, he said that the doc were raided last week and had been harrased before- he said that cops were trying to build cases to get their medical liscenses revoked. What is more disconcerting is that it sounded like local authorities not the feds- but I forgot to ask.
Anyway, why the presence of canabis sold openly whether ostensibly or realy for medical reasons being a source of consternation for cops, residents, ect... in Venice Beach is absurd, but alot of the country is inflexible in their ability to think critically.
Anyway, if the heat is being turned up in CA and if Obama's Atorney General issued a statement a few weeks ago that he would issue arrest warants for any public official involved in administering the state's new med MJ policy is a very bad sign for decriminalization/ legalization. This is from an administration that promissed they wouldn't go after med cannabis in states were it is
was already legal. Don't know the particulars about Arizona but I know they [assed an intiative soon after CA legalizing MJ (and heroin I think was included in its wording)- and the criteria were more stringeny than CA. I think they might have revised or passed a new initiative.
At any rate, the feds seem to be increasing the heat in CA after tolerating cannabis in CA. In fact, even though there are dispensaries all over the place in certain counties- enforecement of cannabis laws seem to be paradoxically more stringent in CA than the 70s-90s when most cops didn't care much about buds (I had cops give me back buds twice in San Jose in the early 90s/late 80s and this is pre prop215,) In many parts of the state- usually would confiscate it and send you off with a warning or maybe cite you and maybe tou would pay a small fine. Now I see a backlash comming.
Anyway, one thing that needs to happen is that the pro cannabis factions need to Unify. It makes me sick that prop 19 didn't pass in the emerald triangle- in this case because osyensibly because corporations like Marlboro would take over but realy because they didn't want to lose their tax free profit= especially from their product going east sold at a premium.
In this State its like the speak easies of the 20s, Cops know were they are, they are quasi legal or illegal depending on what law enforcement branch you work for- and the feds usually shut dispensaries down arbitrarily or in manners that are politically expendient (whatever works to preserve their budgets in an era of high debt and budget cuts- dispensaries are easy targets and busting them is easy to justify among middle americans stuck in outdated marijuana madness mindsets in southern and midwestern states populated by self-ritcheous narrowminded idiots and the people in more tolerant states that believe that self determination is anathema if its a behavior contrary to theirs in which case they subscribe to the very unAmerican notion that its the government's job to enforce morality.
Governments' job is to ensure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness- to provide a society were the individual is protected from coercision, fraud, or violence and perserve freedom, not deprive people of it. This is if one sticks to the core principles the USA was founded on clearly and unequivocally enunciated in the majority of the enlightened writtings of the Founding Fathers.
Cannabis prohibition in particular, like mind altering prohibition in general are counterrevolutionary, unpatriotic, unAmerican, setting aside the fact that George Washington was a Hemp farmer- these laws are illegitimate and just plane asinine, based in rascism, hysteria, and a belief that the average American is incapable of making mature decisions for themselves regarding how they spend money they earned on a substance they consent to freely injest. The fact that this substance is relatively inocous, especially compared to alcohol, nicotine, and to a lesser extent scheduled Rx drugs, makes its illegality that much more absurd.
Well, I guess that ignorance is strength and obedience/oppression is bliss under the current regieme (or the for the last 100 years or so of the USAs history.)
Like boulders in a rushing river our sacred liberties and inalienable rights are insidiously eroded as time goes on. The rate increasing or decreasing on the size of the water table (as a function of big brothers' intrusion on our lives-some years increasing at a faster rate than others.)
Every time ending prohibition is proposed is a victory for harm reduction- adding alittle material to dam up the river even if all it does is provide a foundation for future growth.
Members Of Congress Introduce First Federal Measure Since 1937 To Legalize The Adult Use Of Marijuana -- Bipartisan Coalition Backs The 'Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011'
