Incase you missed it, you can view it here.

The coverage on New Zealand TV is continuing to grow. Yesterday, Metiria Turei went on TV3′s morning news show to talk about medicinal cannabis, after Peter Davy was given 6 months home detention.

Next up, is a documentary that takes a look at the pros and cons of a change in the law.

from Throng.co.nz

Inside New Zealand: High Time? … investigates the facts and fallacies surrounding cannabis use in New Zealand and asks whether it’s time we made cannabis legal. Central to the story is Dakta Green, formerly known as Ken Morgan, who was an electorate chairman for the National Party and campaigner for Saturday Trading and Casinos before becoming an advocate for cannabis law reform.

He is leading the charge for cannabis to be legalised and has set up “The Daktory”, a warehouse in West Auckland that operates as a club for cannabis users where they can purchase and smoke the drug, as an example of how legalisation might work in the future. “The purpose of this club is to show my fellow New Zealanders that you have absolutely nothing to fear from people who are part of the cannabis culture,” says Green.

The rest of the article can be read at throng.co.nz

The documentary was filmed in part by Red Eye Productions, the valued Daktory film crew. However, they did not edit it.

Red Eye Productions have been unable to get a hold of the final cut. “The feature film will present the truth if the TV Show doesn’t,” a member told me earlier.

Image by Yair Karelic

CANNABIS CULTURE – The Government of Canada will appeal an Ontario court’s ruling that struck down the country’s marijuana laws as unconstitutional.

Matt Mernagh, the med-pot user at the center of a historic court battle over the country’s medical marijuana laws, says he has been served his notice of appeal in the case.

“I received a phone call from the Crown prosecutor today,” Mernagh told Cannabis Culture earlier this afternoon. “He offered his congratulations on the case and told me to get ready for the appeal.”

Mernagh was served with the appeal shortly afterward.

A tweet from posted on his Twitter account just afterwards read, “notice of appeal has just been handed to me wooooooo govt wants its ass handed to them again”.

In an April 12 ruling in the case of R. v. Mernagh, Ontario Superior Court Justice Donald Taliano found that Canada’s Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) and “the prohibitions against the possession and production of cannabis (marihuana) contained in sections 4 and 7 respectively of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act” are “constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect”.

The judge agreed with Mernagh, who had tried unsuccessfully for years to find a doctor who would sign his MMAR forms before being busted growing his own plants, that the medical marijuana program is inadequate for the needs of patients. The judge found that doctors’ “overwhelming refusal to participate in the medicinal marijuana program completely undermines the effectiveness of the program” and that “the requirement for a medical doctor’s declaration has rendered the MMAR unconstitutional”.

The Court struck down medical marijuana laws and the laws dealing with cannabis possession and production, giving the government 90 days to fix the program before the new rules come into effect.

The case will now go back to court on appeal. If the government wins, Mernagh says he will take the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

“Our people have waited way too long for this,” he told CC last week. “This could very well be the final kick.”

If the government loses the appeal, it would likely be forced to make significant changes to the medical marijuana program.

“If the government is not successful on appeal,” lawyer Alan Young told the Toronto Star, “they are going to be caught between a rock and a hard place because they don’t have an alternative program in mind. They don’t have a plan B. They’re in trouble.”

Source: Cannabis Culture

Aucklans gathered outside the Auckland District Court today to show their support for Peter Davy. Davy is charged with several marijuana related offences.

He was released on bail pending a later court date.

If you thought M*A*S*H* ran for ages, the war on drugs continues at triple the running length with no end in sight. Over 36 years and we’re no closer to a ceasefire from the state than we were in Muldoon’s day. The police continue to wield the Misuse of Drugs Act as a tool of oppression and collateral damage.

What’s a pacifist to do in a war zone? Render aid.

The Compassion Tour kicked off Friday morning. It is on the way to Timaru in support of Peter Davy, a cancer survivor who is facing unjust imprisonment as well as losing the support for his partner who has advanced Multiple Sclerosis. Peter is determined to go on hunger strike if he is imprisoned. It’s the only tool he has left, the tool of the political dissident.

Peter Davy is due to be sentenced at Timaru Court House next week. Dakta Green and a team of volunteers from The Daktory are on their way down to gather people for a candlelight vigil outside Timaru Courthouse next Tuesday 15th, the night before Peter is sentenced on Wednesday 16th.

It would be remiss to avoid Christchurch in its time of need as well. Everyone at The Daktory was speechless the night of the earthquake. Hillary Barry’s staunch and professional marathon frontage on TV3 sunk into us all. Searching for a way for us in Auckland to help those in Christchurch, I contacted a mate working in the Civil Defence Beehive Bunker:

Me: We have a bus and a bunch of volunteers keen to help with ChCh in any way. You looking for any help?
Them: LOL thanks we’ll keep it in mind. Shall I tell the boss that a bunch of stoners wants to help?
Me: Paula Rebstock would approve. Welfare to Work indeed!
Them: Offers of help: emergency.management@dia.govt.nz

There was no way I was contacting the Department of Infernal Affairs. I have an axe to grind with them. And I’m sure no offence was meant by the “bunch of stoners” jibe as well, but this is the same dreary stereotype that really pisses me off (Andrew Sullivan shares this sentiment). We are not all Cheech and Chong idiots incapable of action or organisation. We are a social club stitched right through the fabric of NZ society, as valid as Ratana, Black Seeds and Bro Town.

After many joint conferences in smoke-filled clubrooms, we decided to do what was in our power to provide for the people of Christchurch; medicine and humanitarian supplies.

Assorted survival supplies have been donated by our hundreds of Daktory members including cash, blankets, cans, baby supplies, water, chemical toilets and gas stoves. These will be handed over to the Christchurch Mayoral Fund.

The Compassion Tour will also be helping salve the psychic injuries and chronic medical conditions of the Christchurch residents who can’t or won’t leave their quake ravaged city. The team will be handing out donated medicinal cannabis supplies at Switched On Gardener Linwood on Monday. Here’s a few photos of the Daktory members preparing the rescue kits:

We wish the Compassion Tour all the best on their trip, and the very best of outcomes for Peter Davy and Christchurch.

Cross posted from here.

My name is Peter Davy and I am 51 years old. I pleaded guilty in Timaru Court (New Zealand) to cultivation of cannabis and associated charges. The judge told me to expect a prison sentence on March 16th when I go up for sentencing because it is about the fifth time I have been convicted. I have cancer and I am 24 hour caregiver for my partner who has advanced Multiple Sclerosis. She is dying and will die without me. I am not trying to use her an excuse however… this is my crusade not hers…. just pointing out the facts… as in the complete lack of empathy and compassion in our present justice system.

This is about Medical Marijuana and a police force that continually lies to make themselves look good. Firstly I want to make it clear that I will be going on a hunger strike the moment I am given a prison sentence and I absolutely do not want to be force fed under any circumstances. I will also be refusing all cancer medication. I am 100% committed to continuing with a hunger strike until I am dead.

I want the opportunity to give my side of the story because I have been refused that right over and over. I always plead guilty so there is never a trial where I can present my side of things. At no time have I ever had a lawyer that even believes me…. let alone has the ability to give highly technical information to a court. I only started smoking marijuana ten years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer… before that I was one of the top computer engineers in the country and the IT Manager for the South Taranaki District Council. Since I started smoking cannabis I have been targeted by gangsters and police alike and already been to prison once where I attempted suicide.

My IQ has been tested by a Forensic Psychologist as being in the top 5% in the country… and that despite failing all the maths questions. So I am not a stupid man and would not willingly put myself through ten years of hell unless I truly had a good reason. I would be the first to admit that I have done some really stupid things in that ten years and paid the consequences… but my conscience is clear. I am obsessive about anything I truly believe in which is why I was such a good computer engineer. I research everything to death and am extreme in what I do. I have never been a dealer or a gangster as the police have continually tried to make out… and still are. The police like to make themselves look good and have never ever shown the slightest bit of interest in the truth.

The truth is that I genuinely believe in Medical Marijuana… not as an excuse for recreational use… but as a scientifically proven medicine for specific medical conditions. I have had to do all my own research and I have continually tried… on my own… to breed a better medical strain specifically for medical use. This is highly technical from a plant breeding perspective and a medical research perspective. I can stand up without notes and debate my science with anybody… to prove that I am not bluffing… I can explain what and why and how. I am willing to go up against any scientist anybody cares to put against me… or any Govt plant breeder…. just to show that I really do know my stuff and am genuine. I am willing to do that on live TV because I’ve had enough of all the lies and half truths. This is all about science… and always has been… and nothing at all to do with deliberate criminal activity.

I want the opportunity to tell my side of the story… on TV… or in the newspaper… before I get locked up. I want the public of New Zealand to know exactly why I am going on a hunger strike. Our so called Justice system has never ever given me that opportunity. If I’m wrong and my science is flawed… then so be it… but I want to go down for the truth… not a pack of lies. The sick and weak are being persecuted in this country by a police force that has become a law unto themselves and everybody is too scared to speak out. I don’t blame them because everytime I’ve tried to speak out through the “appropriate” channels, I’ve been slammed. I can name over 20 politicians and Government Departments that I have approached over the last ten years and been completely ignored… or worse. You should see what happens in this country if you dare to make a complaint to the IPCA (Independant Police Complaints Authority). I have tried to talk to medical doctors (including my own endocrinologists) and they can’t get rid of me fast enough…. yet at no time have I been trying to convince anybody that I am right. All I’ve wanted is expert opinion to add to my own research or just a chance to explain what I’m doing to somebody with enough technical, scientific or medical knowledge to understand. It’s pretty lonely trying to fight the world by yourself.

Let me be clear that I hate confrontation and I hate publicity but I have nothing to lose anymore and somebody has to make a stand… or nothing ever changes. I have absolutely no experience at all at this sort of thing but all I know is that I want to give my side of the story. I truly believe in what I have been doing and in a just society I should be at least allowed to give my side of the story. I am frightened because I expect a smear campaign…. that is the way the system seems to work in this country and I have done some stupid things…. but like I said… I have nothing left to lose. My partner will die without me and it will be all because of a pack of lies.

I am also writing a book about my experiences and have currently written 100,000 words. I hope to have it finished by the time I go to prison so the whole country knows why I am going on a hunger strike. I am not a troublemaker and have tried everything I can think of to settle this matter without involving the media… instead I’ve just antagonised people and made things worse. Apparently one of the most serious crimes of all in this country is to dare to question the actions of the police or dare to suggest that politicians are making a mistake.

Please note that I have nothing at all against the police… other than my own personal issues. I am sure that overall they do a great job. This is really all about Medical Marijuana… not about the police. If they had been fair and honest then I would not even be mentioning them at all.

New Zealand could be leading the world in Medical Marijuana research… not following miles behind like a buch of sheep. We could be making social policy for the rest of the world to copy… instead of loading up our prison system with people who are victims not criminals. I want to be proud of my country and all I have ever done is try to make my contribution to a cause that needs champions or it will just end up in a bigger mess than it already is.

Below is just a tiny portion of my research to date:

Here are links to the medical information on the endocrine system and cannabis:

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/The%20Emerging%20Role%20of%20the%20Endocannabinoid%20System%20in%20Endocrine%20Regulation%20and%20Energy%20Balance.pdf

or

http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/full/27/1/73

Please note that I am completely unbiased and the majority of information is negative… which I accept 100%. My particular interest is the use of Delta 9 THC cannabinoid to suppress prolactin production in a pituitary tumour. Somewhere I have research that actually shrunk a prolactinoma in rats till it could no longer be detected with an MRI, using only cannabis. Unfortunately I can’t find that specific paper at the moment.

However here is links to scientific research that did shrink brain tumours in rats using externally administered cannabis. Note that one study used 50,000 rats which would yield a statistically significant result:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/12088.php

http://www.naturalnews.com/029780_marijuana_cancer.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14570037

Links to all the best research can be found at this site… all proper research papers and done by some of the leading medical researchers in the world. You will note that the research is overwhelming:

http://safeaccess.ca/research/cancer.htm

Please note that I accept 100% that cannabis has a negative effect in many other areas… such as lowered fertility in males and possible shrinking of gonads… though there is still some controversy about that research while there is no controversy about shrinking cancer tumors with cannabis.

A much easier text to read (for non medical people) on cannabis and the endocrine system can be found here:

http://www.ukcia.org/research/EndocrineEffects.pdf

Please note that the applicable section (for me personally) is the reduction of prolactin secretion using cannabis.

As an interested observer I find glaring holes in all the research… both for and against. The main issue is that all the research focuses almost exclusively on Delta 9 THC which is only one of the cannibinoids found in cannabis. As an example… take any antipsychotic drug that is given with another drug to reduce side-effects… in other words the second drug blocks or inhibits part of the action of the first drug. So for all we know there are cannibinoids that block or inhibit other cannabinoids. I have always said… like most things in life… it is about the balance of these cannabinoids and different balances (which can be specifically bred into a plant) will have different medical effects… both negative and positive.

All my research to date has been on very rare cannabis strains containing THCV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabivarin

I went to enormous trouble to track down seeds for these strains (there is only a handful in the whole world… all tropical), many of which are now extinct. I was the only person in the world who had the original Thai THCV strain which became extinct in the wild in 1982. A researcher in Switzerland sent me his last ten seeds which I inbred and bulked up… all of which were seized by the Timaru police.

At no time have I ever said that cannabis is a safe drug or that it should be used recreationally. I fully agree that it has scientifically validated negative effects and my research and Plant Breeding has focused on trying to breed a variety that has reduced negative effects with an increase in positive medical effects. In particular, in addition to my own endocrine issues, I have concentrated on trying to breed a plant very narrowly targeted at alleviating Multiple Sclerosis symptoms. All my research in this area can be scientifically validated:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6387-cannabis-truly-helps-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers.html

http://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar?q=cannabis+multiple+sclerosis+research&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/662254.stm

In the case of MS the negative effects of cannabis are not even scientifically relevant because people with MS (my partner who is dying) are suffering so much anyway and are in fact terminally ill. Most will die (including my partner) long before any negative effects of cannabis use manifest themselves. It is cruel in the extreme to prevent access to cannabis for MS sufferers. I challenge anybody to watch what my partner goes through on a daily basis and then look me in the eye and say she should not be allowed access to cannabis if it makes her life even a tiny bit more bearable. Easy to make these decisions about other people when you’re perfectly healthy yourself… but try walking a mile in my partner’s footsteps.

The research for cannabis and MS has been done over and over and the results are conclusive. I have simply been trying to extend that research into a more MS focused approach rather than just using the approach that “all cannabis is the same” because it isn’t. This is my area of expertise and cannabis varieties differ enormously in effect. Most of the people in power making decisions about Medical Marijuana have absolutely no idea at all what they are talking about. They are not up with the latest research, they have their own political agendas which have nothing to do with true science and most of all they have no real world experience of what they are talking about.

As I have been saying for ten years… I am almost unique in that I have a pituitary tumour…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prolactinoma

http://www.uptodate.com/contents/patient-information-high-prolactin-levels-and-prolactinomas

http://endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/prolact/prolact.htm

….. a high level of intelligence, experience in plant breeding and an almost exhaustive knowledge of cannabis… so I am ideally positioned to conduct trials and experiments on myself… which I have been doing for ten years now.  I have no wish to destroy my brain cells, that is just crazy and I was quite depressed to find out how much my brain reaction time has slowed down when I carried out an IQ test conducted by the Forensic Psychologist Dr Sue Galvin a few years ago. I have no issues with her findings and they worry me. That is the whole reason I think my research is important.

My brain used to be razor sharp and fast as lightning. You can ask anybody that knew me back then. I was one of the very top computer engineers in this country. The minute I started taking pituitary tumour drugs (Bromocriptine and Dostinex)…

http://www.druglib.com/druginfo/bromocriptine/side-effects_adverse-reactions/

…. I knew that I had lost my edge. Something was missing. My brain was all over the place and I couldn’t focus on a single task anymore. I felt depressed for no reason all the time with a feeling of impending doom. I also had nausea, headaches and cold sweats. It was/is a horrible feeling. I miss my razor sharp brain. When I discovered cannabis it helped me a lot but I would be the first to admit that it still didn’t give me back whatever it was I had lost. The benefits outweighed the disadvantages though. It worried me that I scored very high (top 5% of the population) on a properly conducted IQ test but Dr Galvin noted repeatedly that my reaction time (the time it took me to get the correct answer) was abnormally slow in many tests and that I displayed mental fogginess in the maths tests. Note that my score in maths tests was very poor (average to below average) yet my overall score was still in the top 5% of the population. If I had done better in the maths then my IQ would be in the genius to high genius range. Dr Galvin hypothesised that my use of cannabis may have been an influential factor in my terrible score on maths tests and I have no reason to disagree. That worries me a lot… so don’t think I’m happy about needing cannabis… on the contrary I have been almost obsessive at trying to breed a strain that alleviates negative symptoms of pituitary disorder without such a negative effect on brain speed and function.

It is also important to note that I have been used as a guinea pig by a long selection of doctors who tried various prescription drugs (anti-psychotics, ant-depressants, tranquilisers, pain-killers… etc) which turned my life into a living hell. Not one legal drug had the slightest beneficial effect. They turned me into a zombie, slowed my brain to a standstill and made it feel like mush, made me suicidal, I felt half asleep all the time, I slept all the time, I had nightmares, I became impotent and my prolactin levels increased. Note that a pituitary tumour in a male causes impotence and dangerously high prolactin levels… so prescription drugs that did the same made me terribly messed up. I gave all these doctors a fair go because I wanted my life back as much as anybody.

What really upset me is that doctors hate being told that their treatment isn’t working… even if it isn’t. So as well as feeling like hell I had the additional stress of trying to deal with doctors who wouldn’t even listen when I told them it was making me worse. Their usual reaction was to increase the dose until I no longer felt the slightest bit human at all. The adverse effects of cannabis have always been minimal in comparison to any prescription drug that I was encouraged to take. Let me make a point here… doctors go on about the “negative” effects of cannabis… but conveniently ignore the fact that the negative effects of precription drugs (especially anti-psychotics) are a thousand times worse. Severe nausea, depression to the point of suicide, mental fogginess, liver failure, heart disease, messed up white blood cells… those drugs can kill you. Cannabis has never killed anybody.

Everybody says to me “but medical cannabis is illegal.” Well I know that obviously… but just because you make a law it doesn’t somehow make cancer go away or cure Multiple Sclerosis. It doesn’t do anything except make life even worse for sick people. If I go to court for growing Medical Marijuana and get a light sentence… then I come up a year later and the judge is angry because I offended again… I don’t get it… the cancer didn’t go away just because I got a light sentence the first time… nothing has changed… yet I have to present all the exact same medical evidence all over again… and invariably get a much harsher sentence and maybe go to prison. I just don’t understand that. Either Medical marijuana works or it doesn’t and the law has absolutely nothing to do with that. This is about science and medicine and tinkering around with the law doesn’t somehow make the science more valid or less valid. If a law is unjust and inhumane then all the rhetoric in the world won’t alter the underlying fact that it is a stupid law to start with.

To summarise Thoreau… “There are two types of laws: just and unjust. Every individual in a society has a responsibility to obey just laws and, even more importantly, to disobey and resist unjust laws.”

or

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law. – Martin Luther King Jr.

or  (my personal favourite)

If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so. – Thomas Jefferson

If NZ does eventually legalise Medical Marijuana then we want the safest possible form of the drug, specifically targeted for medical use… not some generalised ad hoc form of the drug that will be abused by recreational users. I can stand up in any court in this land, without notes to refer to… and explain Mendel’s theory of inheritance that I used as the basis for my Plant Breeding experiments… I can explain every single experiment I’ve ever done… I can explain the significance of the different alkaloids or cannibinoids and why it is the ratio that is important… rather than a single cannabinoid like THC. Non scientific people probably won’t understand me but I am happy to do it none the less. I am happy to debate the matter with any scientist the court might wish to appoint if they want to try and say I am a fake.

Cross-posted from here.

Pardon, dear readers, for the sporadic blogging over the last few weeks. There are many reasons why this has been so, but the main one is that I haven’t been drinking. Sure, there’s been the occasional beer here and there, catching up with old mates, but none of the long, contemplative solo drinking that fuels the really original content (moderated of course with chain-smoking rollies and puffing on the old pipe).

I haven’t been drinking because I have moved out of the Hobbit Hole in Wellington and into the Daktory in Auckland. The Daktory is New Zealand’s first cannabis clubrooms. Like Te Whiti and Tohu’s little experiment in Parihaka before it was crushed by the armed constabulary back in the nineteenth century, the Daktory forbids alcohol. So here I am, perched at a mate’s place’s balcony overlooking Great North Road with all the basic blogging ingredients; a view, a bottle of red wine, a full stash box, and a pack of duty free tobacco. Let’s go.

As long time readers will know, I have been hassling for some small time to reform NZ’s stupid, archaic, disproportionate, hypocritical drug laws. I have reached the conclusion that hell will freeze over before our poll-driven, majoritarian politicians lift a finger to change these bad laws persecuting a vulnerable minority.

It is hard to pinpoint the exact straw that broke the camels’ back; Operations Lime, Bitters, Cobra, the never-ending arrests of pot users and home growers. Or perhaps it was NZ Customs seizing all vaporisers imported into NZ not long after I gave evidence to the Health select committee demonstrating one:

Vaporisers are one of the most effective harm minimisation tools for consuming cannabis. Because THC and other cannabinoids evaporate at a lower temperature to plant material, a vaporiser allows users to grab the medicine without the tar and burnt plant material entering their lungs. Absorbtion within the lungs is quicker than mouth sprays such as Sativex, and therefore dosage can be moderated much more accurately.

Vaporisers are to cannabis users what the Needle Exchange Program is to heroin users. Even rabid former drug czar Chairman Jim Anderton supported legislation in favour of the Needle Exchange. And Customs won’t let these vaporisers in at all. Customs’ reasons for doing so are wrong-headed and contradictory, but it is too expensive appealing to the courts when faced with the bureaucratic legal monolith of NZ Customs that makes dealing with ACC look like a box of chocolates.

It’s all part of the rolling maul to allegedly eliminate drug use by removing utensils. There’s a bill floating through parliament right now that will eliminate them even more by banning the sale of pipes, bongs, and parts thereof. Let them smoke joints and buckies, eh. That’s some screwy version of harm minimisation right there.

Speak of the devil. Here’s a TV3 puff piece on pipes at the dairy, complete with an interview with the empty shell known as Jim Anderton. Pipes help remove tar and other toxins from smoke on the way to the lungs. Pipes aren’t as effective as vapes, but they’re a crapload safer for users than an unfiltered joint.

That journo wouldn’t know harm minimisation if it jabbed them with a dirty needle or a Hepatitis B joint. Fortunately for TV3, they manage to balance this rubbish out with this raw footage interview with the Police’s Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Cahill, who seems both reasonable and clued up. I’d buy that cop a beer to bend his ear.

While vanilla politicians such as John Key, Judith Collins and Simon Power continue to arrest my people, invade their homes, steal their assets, and generally ruin thousands of lives every year whilst blowing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on cops, choppers, courts, the clink and whatever other social costs of useless prohibition, I have had enough. It is time for some civil disobedience as well.

So here I am living at the Daktory in New Lynn, New Zealand’s first cannabis club. The Daktory provides a friendly supervised environment for its members whilst funding cannabis law reform. Hey, it’s not as if Lion Nathan or Vodafone will sponsor the cause. In the two years the Daktory has been operating, there has been no fights. It has maintained a self-regulating etiquette based on the internationally accepted AHOJ-G criteria (pdf):

The sale of cannabis is illegal, yet coffee shops are tolerated in their sale of cannabis, if they adhere to certain criteria: no advertising, no sale of hard drugs, not selling to persons under the age of 18, not causing public nuisance and not selling more than 5 grams per transaction.

I have never found a place in my life as supportive as the Daktory. It’s the Whanau Ora of NZ cannabis culture. I am with my people. Time will tell if the cops bring the hammer down on us here at the Daktory, like they are already trying to do with Switched On Gardener and Operation Lime. Dakta Green is facing trial later this year for charges trumped up during a fortnight of police harassment back in 2009. I’m assisting in his defence.

Alas, I must go. I am not only blogging, but also babysitting. Daughter of Madame J is 10 years old. I have just told her that when I was her age, the police used to arrest gay people, raid gay bars and lock its patrons up in prison. Her jaw just dropped. It’s amazing how intolerant this country once was, and still is. We hope for a change towards a more tolerant society, but in the meantime I’m living like it’s legal. Wish me luck.

Cross-posted from here.

Two ideologically diverse advocates on Wednesday echoed an earlier call by a coalition of drug-policy reform groups by condemning a series of recent raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on medical marijuana collectives operating legally under state law.

The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates for states’ rights, and Jane Hamsher, the publisher of Firedoglake.com, called on the DEA to respect duly adopted state medical marijuana laws and immediately end those raids.

“The federal government is only authorized to exercise those powers that ‘We The People’ delegated to it in the Constitution,” said Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. “It is especially egregious when these laws are used to justify raids in states where the use and distribution of cannabis is expressly allowed by law.”

“How many hundreds of thousands of people are going to be arrested before We The People say ‘enough is enough’?” Boldin asked. “The time to end this unconstitutional, immoral, and costly federal war on people is now.”

Under the “leadership” of acting administrator Michele Leonhart, the DEA has staged medical marijuana raids in apparent disregard of Attorney General Eric Holder’s directive to respect state medical marijuana laws.

Most recently, DEA agents flouted a pioneering Mendocino County, California ordinance to regulate medical marijuana cultivation by raiding the very first grower to register with the sheriff. Joy Greenfield, 69, had paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local sheriff.

Told that Greenfield had the support of the sheriff, the DEA agent in charge responded by saying, “I don’t care what the sheriff says.”

The DEA’s conduct is inconsistent with an October 2009 Department of Justice memo directing officials not to prosecute individuals “whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”

“At least 73 percent of Americans support medical marijuana, according to recent polls, and its use has been made legal in 14 states plus the District of Columbia,” said Jane Hamsher, publisher of progressive political blog and advocacy group Firedoglake.com.

“Attorney General Eric Holder was crystal clear last year when he directed officials within his department not to waste federal resources interfering with state medical marijuana laws,” Hamsher said. “Yet throughout the tenure of President Obama’s administration, the DEA’s raids have continued in a manner wholly inconsistent with the spirit of that directive.”

“What part of ‘not a priority does Michele Leonhart not understand?” Hamsher asked.

“We are pleased that opposition to the DEA’s over-aggressive behavior is spreading across the political spectrum,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“The agency is defiantly sending agents on missions to destroy the private property of citizens who are in full compliance with state medical marijuana laws,” Fox said. “In doing so, the DEA is intentionally undermining the will of state voters and lawmakers who have acted to ensure that medical marijuana patients are no longer treated as criminals.”

“Such acts are not just an insult to advocates of medical marijuana — but also demonstrate a desire to flaunt the power of the federal government in a manner that denies states the right to pass and carry out laws in the best interest of its own citizens,” Fox said.

Based largely upon these recent raids, a coalition of drug policy organizations — including MPP, NORML, California NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), and Students for Sensible Drug Policy — last week called on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Leonhart to be the permanent head of the DEA.

Knocking on deaths door, 10 year old Joey Perez was slowly dying. The potpourri of prescription medications he’d consumed since the age of 5 were damaging his body beyond repair. The side effects were literally killing him. Doctors had no answers, or any safe alternatives. Their only suggestion was the combination of a few more meds, and to experiment with what happened next. Mieko, Joeys mother, knew his body was weak and shutting down. She knew his fragile body could not handle the addition of any more toxic medicines. Luckily for Joey, her experience as a legal researcher gave her the tools she needed to start her and Joey on this journey. A healing journey with an effective treatment – Medical Marijuana.

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Speaking privately with Richard Nixon in 1971, the late Art Linkletter offered this view on the use of marijuana versus alcohol. “When people smoke marijuana, they smoke it to get high. In every case, when most people drink, they drink to be sociable.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Nixon agreed. “A person does not drink to get drunk A person drinks to have fun.”

The following year Linkletter announced that he had reversed his position on pot, concluding instead that the drug’s social harms were not significant enough to warrant its criminal prohibition. Nixon however stayed the course — launching the so-called “war” on drugs, a social policy that now results in the arrest of more than 800,000 Americans each year for violating marijuana laws.

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