tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36679217924279908712024-03-13T05:14:12.134-07:00Grassroot RagRegina Garsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09879820531314244637noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667921792427990871.post-1645037036273375642013-09-05T07:09:00.001-07:002013-09-05T07:16:26.267-07:00National survey shows marijuana use is up<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">SAMHSA Report: <span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">In 2012, 7.3
percent of Americans were current users of marijuana – up from 5.8
percent in 2007. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Notes from the report: The
rate of past month nonmedical use of prescription drugs among young
adults aged 18 to 25 in 2012 was 5.3 percent – similar to rates in 2010
and 2011, but significantly lower than the rate from 2009 (6.4 percent),
according to a new report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA issued its <a href="http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2012SummNatFindDetTables/Index.aspx">2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)</a> report in conjunction with the 24th annual national observance of <b><i>National Recovery Month</i></b>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The
SAMHSA report also found that the rates of past month drinking, binge
drinking and heavy drinking among underage adolescents aged 12 to 17
remained lower than their levels in 2002 and 2009. The percentage of
people aged 12 and older who drove under the influence of alcohol at
least once in the past year in 2012 was 11.2 percent, significantly
lower than the level in 2002 (14.2 percent) but similar to the rate in
2011 (11.1 percent).</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Overall,
the use of illicit drugs among Americans aged 12 and older remained
stable since the last survey in 2011. The NSDUH report shows that 23.9
million Americans aged 12 or older were current (past month) illicit
drug users – (9.2 percent of the population 12 and older). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">Marijuana
continues to be the most commonly used illicit drug. In 2012, 7.3
percent of Americans were current users of marijuana – up from 5.8
percent in 2007. Although past month use of marijuana rose in nearly
every age group between 2007 and 2012, it did drop among those aged 12
to 17 from 7.9 percent in 2011 to 7.2 percent in 2012. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">In
addition to marijuana, the use of heroin also rose significantly. The
number of people aged 12 and older who used heroin in the past year rose
from 373,000 in 2007 to 669,000 in 2012. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The
report showed some other areas of continued improvement including a
drop in the rate of past month use of tobacco products among 12 to 17
year olds – from 15.2 percent in 2002, to 8.6 percent in 2012. Similarly
between 2002 and 2012, the percentage of youth aged 12 to 17 with
substance dependence or abuse declined from 8.9 percent to 6.1 percent.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">The
2012 report also showed that many Americans needing treatment for a
substance use disorder are still not receiving specialty
treatment. According to the report 23.1 million Americans aged 12 or
older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol use problem in
2012 and only 2.5 million (or 10.8 percent of those in need) received it
in a specialized treatment setting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">NSDUH
is a scientifically conducted annual survey of approximately 70,000
people throughout the country, aged 12 and older. Because of its
statistical power, it is a primary source of statistical information on
the scope and nature of many substance abuse and mental health issues
affecting the Nation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;">*The complete survey findings are available on the SAMHSA web site at: <a href="http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2012SummNatFindDetTables/Index.aspx">http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH/2012SummNatFindDetTables/Index.aspx</a></span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">-----</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Also see:</span></b></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://magicstream.blogspot.com/2013/09/substance-use-by-adolescents-on-average.html" target="_blank">Substance use by adolescents on an average day is alarming</a><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://magicstream.blogspot.com/2013/09/substance-use-by-adolescents-on-average.html" target="_blank"> </a></span></span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">For more about SAMHSA visit: <a href="http://www.samhsa.gov/">http://www.samhsa.gov/</a>.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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Regina Garsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09879820531314244637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667921792427990871.post-28751695496812274832013-09-01T07:44:00.000-07:002013-09-01T12:47:39.128-07:00It's time to talk weed... mark your calendar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zREk555EvVI/UiNMAnsOlyI/AAAAAAAAAM4/ysAYKAKp6QY/s1600/TalkWeed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zREk555EvVI/UiNMAnsOlyI/AAAAAAAAAM4/ysAYKAKp6QY/s200/TalkWeed.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Regina Garson</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sighs of it is "about
time" rippled through the country when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that the Committee would hold a hearing on the
conflict between state and federal marijuana laws. The hearing is set for
September 10. (<a href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-sjc-will-hold-hearing-on-federal-and-state-marijuana-laws-in-september" target="_blank" title=" Leahy: SJC Will Hold Hearing On Federal And State Marijuana Laws In September">Leahy,
2013</a>)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The outcry against marijuana
prohibition has been growing for years and getting increasingly louder as state
after state has declared an end to the insanity, and what marijuana prohibition
is doing to the people in this country.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As of this writing, twenty states
have legalized marijuana for medical use. Washington and Colorado have also
legalized it for personal use. Others have legislation pending. While only 12
states have <a href="http://reginagarson.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-first-marijuana-conference.html" target="_blank" title="The Laughing Shroud Award ">voted the legislation down</a>,
the activists in those states have already regrouped and are <a href="http://reginagarson.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-first-marijuana-conference.html" target="_blank" title="My First Marijuana Conference -- Working Toward Change">working
toward change</a> (<a href="http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881" target="_blank" title="20 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC">ProCon.com</a>). </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the meantime, Attorney General Eric Holder just made an announcement and a
memo was released saying that his <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/doj-makes-hopefully-historic-change-for-the-better-on-marijuana-enforcement/" target="_blank">department would recognize the changes instate law </a>when it comes to the legalization of marijuana. It was just a memo
though, and not a change in law, so it is to be seen <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/doj-makes-hopefully-historic-change-for-the-better-on-marijuana-enforcement/"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">how it will
all work out.</span></a></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With 52% of the US population now favoring
full legalization of marijuana (<a href="http://www.people-press.org/2013/04/04/majority-now-supports-legalizing-marijuana/" target="_blank" title="Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana">Pew Research
Center</a>), a growing majority of American citizens from every race, religion,
political party, and career field, including medical and law enforcement
professionals, all feel that it is time for change.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, even as the states have
passed legislation, mostly for medical use, the conflict has remained between
state and federal law and <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/seattle-medical-marijuana-raids-highlight-the-clash-between-state-and-federal-law/">the
prosecutions continue</a>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A recent report by Americans for
Safe Access (<a href="http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/WhatsTheCost_Derivations.pdf" target="_blank" title="What's the cost derivations">ASA</a>) estimates that at
least $180,000 has been spent per day during the Obama Administration just in
targeting medical cannabis patients and dispensaries. In the last 17 years, the
DEA conducted over 528 raids on sick and injured individuals and the
organizations dispensing their cannabis medication; 270 of those were during
the Obama administration. The Obama Administration has already spent nearly
$300 million on enforcement efforts in medical marijuana states alone. The Bush
Administration spent $200 million total. (<a href="http://safeaccessnow.org/blog/blog/2013/07/25/wednesdays-dea-medical-cannabis-offensive-may-have-cost-taxpayers-13-3-million/" target="_blank" title="ASA Report">ASC Report</a>)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Leahy pointed out what many already
know:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is important, especially at a
time of budget constraints, to determine whether it is the best use of federal
resources to prosecute the personal or medicinal use of marijuana in states
that have made such consumption legal... I believe that these state laws should
be respected. At a minimum, there should be guidance about enforcement
from the federal government. (<a href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-sjc-will-hold-hearing-on-federal-and-state-marijuana-laws-in-september" target="_blank" title="Leahy: SJC Will Hold Hearing On Federal And State Marijuana Laws In September">Leahy,
2013</a>)</span></blockquote>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Medical marijuana <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/seattle-medical-marijuana-raids-highlight-the-clash-between-state-and-federal-law/" target="_blank" title="Seattle Medical Marijuana Raids Highlight the Clash between State and Federal Law">prosecution
has continued </a>despite assurances otherwise, and despite the damage to the
lives of so many of our citizens. Marijuana prohibition laws have done more
damage to more lives than marijuana ever has—in all of the recorded history of
humankind.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Leahy has pressed the Obama
administration to determine its enforcement policy in light of these state
actions, including <a href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/12-6-12%20copy%20PJL%20to%20Kerlikowske%20re%20-%20fed%20drug%20control%20policy.pdf" target="_blank" title="Leahy's letter">writing in December</a> to the Director
of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) about the issue. Leahy
has also asked what assurances the administration can give to state officials
responsible for the licensing of marijuana retailers to ensure they will not
face criminal penalties for carrying out their duties under those state laws. (<a href="http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-sjc-will-hold-hearing-on-federal-and-state-marijuana-laws-in-september" target="_blank" title="Leahy's statement">Leahy's office, 2013</a>)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rapidly aging hippies and baby
boomers have been working toward change for a long time. It brought a lot of <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/wp-admin/www.forwardprogressives.com/93-say-dr-gupta-is-right-about-marijuana-how-about-you/" target="_blank" title="93% say Dr. Gupta is right about marijuana. How about you?">hope to a
lot of people</a> when <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/dr-gupta-corrected-his-lies-about-weed-our-federal-government-needs-to-do-the-same/" target="_blank" title="Dr. Gupta Corrected his Lies about Weed, our Federal Government needs to do the same.">Dr
Sanjay Gupta came out</a> recently and took a stand as to these wrongs in his
"Weed" documentary.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The thing is, there is not going to
be any real change until we as a country have a serious conversation and make
some changes in the laws. But way too often, it is considered a laughing
matter. The stoner jokes are old and they are not funny. Marijuana prohibition
has destroyed too many lives and done a whole lot of damage to a whole lot more
people than much of anybody wants to admit, unless perhaps it was your
loved-one who was somehow affected.</span></div>
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<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">News of study after study <a href="http://grannystormcrowslist.webs.com/" target="_blank" title="Granny Storm Crow keeps a list of the studies">confirming the medical
benefits of cannabis</a> have been trickling out for a while now. This is even
as citizens gather to mourn the death of yet another loved-one, or to raise
money to fund research to find cures for diseases, such as cancer, that have
touched so many of our lives. But instead of our taxpayer dollars being spent
to find real cures, they are being spent to fund the War on Drugs, to persecute
our people, and to spend even more of our very limited dollars, in our already
devastated economy to prove the harm of an herb, which may well hold the cure,
and for which there is not a single case of known death—in the recorded history
of humankind. And still the <a href="http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2013/aug/19/marijuana-policy-project/pro-pot-group-claims-marijuana-less-toxic-alcohol/" target="_blank" title="PolitiFact says marijuana is "less toxic" than alcohol. ">nonsense
propaganda</a> continues.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By now, most people in this country
are well aware that the whole <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/dr-gupta-corrected-his-lies-about-weed-our-federal-government-needs-to-do-the-same/" target="_blank" title="Dr. Gupta Corrected his Lies about Weed, our Federal Government needs to do the same.">marijuana
prohibition thing was a farce</a>, a political maneuver to line some fat cat
wallets. We are over it. Lining one's wallet is one thing, but the lives that
have been destroyed both by our legal system and by hog tying our doctors and <a href="http://safeaccessnow.org/blog/blog/2013/07/23/needless-suffering-of-medical-marijuana-patient-embodies-federal-state-conflict-a-prison-extraction/" target="_blank" title="Needless Suffering of Medical Marijuana Patient Embodies Federal-State Conflict: A Prison Extraction">denying
our citizens effective medical treatment</a> is beyond the realm of civilized
and moral consciousness.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hell, yes, it is time for a
conversation.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Innocent children are being taken
from good parents whose only crime was the use of a weed that grows wild in the
field, only to see those children<a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2013/08/12/child-removed-from-parents-custody-for-marijuana-use-murdered-by-foster-family/" target="_blank" title="Foster Family Murders Toddler That Was Removed from Parents for Pot Infraction">
die of abuse in foster care</a>. Good honorable citizens by anybody's standards
have been sentenced to death when the courts ordered that they would not be
allowed their cannabis medication, even when their <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/seattle-medical-marijuana-raids-highlight-the-clash-between-state-and-federal-law/" target="_blank" title="Scroll down and read about Peter McWilliams">lives
depended on that medication</a>. Call it what it is, a death sentence is a
death sentence.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whether it is because of an
addiction, or a need for medical marijuana, we are locking up way too many
seriously ill individuals. Is that what our justice system has turned into? We
have all heard our esteemed politicians say they only go after the dealers, and
the drug lords, but by the time they finish building their cases against these
patients, they all sound like drug lord king pins. That is old news.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But it really hit home with the most <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/27/us-usa-security-dea-idUSBRE97P0Y520130827" target="_blank" title="Holder pressed on U.S. drug agency use of hidden data evidence">recent
fallout from the Snowden incident</a>. They are using NSA information to build
illegal cases, with illegally obtained information, which they <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/due-process-up-in-smoke-the-deas-special-operations-division-is-watching-you-too/" target="_blank" title="Due Process Up in Smoke: The DEA’s “Special Operations Division” is watching you, too.">pass
on as tips to</a> various law enforcement agencies, who then build/invent their
supposed/alleged investigations. The other thing they are famous for is after
they arrest these otherwise good citizens, who other than their drug use don't
have a clue about anything criminal, so they get them in there, present the so
called end results of these <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/due-process-up-in-smoke-the-deas-special-operations-division-is-watching-you-too/" target="_blank" title="Due Process Up in Smoke: The DEA’s “Special Operations Division” is watching you, too.">illegally
fabricated investigations</a>, that they never honestly tell them where it came
from, although by law they are supposed to, and then they offer them a deal if
they plead to lesser charges.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A whole lot of good people have to
make some hard choices, frequently plead guilty to something they never did,
and end up doing some hard time when they are pressured with the likelihood
that they will get a whole lot stiffer sentence if they go to trial. The thing
is, there never should have been a charge in the first place. And if it
actually went to trial, they generally drop the charges because they <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/due-process-up-in-smoke-the-deas-special-operations-division-is-watching-you-too/" target="_blank" title="Due Process Up in Smoke: The DEA’s “Special Operations Division” is watching you, too.">don't
want it to get out</a> how these folks are honestly doing business. And these
are your tax dollars at work.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">You don't get to be the number one
in anything without some effort. At least we have the <a href="http://www.idcr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/WPPL-9-22.pdf" target="_blank" title="Prison Population Rates">number one prison population</a>
in the world. The US has been locking people up using these illegal
investigations for a while. And that is just one more thing that is seriously
wrong with marijuana prohibition and the War on our People (commonly called the
War on Drugs).</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The list goes on as to the wrongs.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another thing that is seriously out
of control is that these investigators are going into our schools, as part of
what is known as the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/school-prison-pipeline" target="_blank" title="School-to-prison pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a>,
not honestly finding any drugs, or anybody in the wrong to arrest, so they are
targeting individual students, and pressuring them, <a href="http://tokesignals.com/shocking-case-special-needs-teens-entrapped-in-undercover-drug-bust/" target="_blank" title="Public Hearing Set to Raise Questions of Ethics, Accountability, Use of Taxpayer Dollars and Impact on Students and Their Families">special
needs students for example</a>, making friends with students who may not have
another friend in the school, convincing them to commit whatever drug related
crime they can talk them into committing, and then arresting them for
committing those crimes. Used to, we locked people up who went into the schools
and preyed on, or otherwise did any kind of damage to our children, not us, we
spend our hard earned taxpayer dollars to write them a paycheck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For all kinds of reasons, these
marijuana hearings Senator Leahy is leading are vitally important to many
people and many lives. But at the end of the day, they are merely a
conversation. It is however a conversation. The ball is in play. If you can't
do anything else, <a href="http://reginagarson.blogspot.com/2013/06/how-to-get-involved-in-helping-to-end.html" target="_blank" title="How to get involved in helping to end the War on Drugs ">keep
the conversation going</a>. It is way past time to end marijuana prohibition in
this country.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Copyright 2013 Regina Garson </span></div>
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Regina Garsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09879820531314244637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3667921792427990871.post-47781142873083989252013-09-01T05:37:00.000-07:002013-09-01T05:37:47.801-07:00Welcome and About Grassroot Rag<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Welcome to the Grassroot Rag. This blog is a need-to page
for discussion of the various activist causes with which I have been and am
involved. Although I will probably write most of the posts, I do not expect to
write them all. I welcome submissions, and will publish other as appropriate.</div>
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A long time writer, editor, and activist, I have been
involved with a range of issues from both the social and the hard sciences. I have
devoted my efforts to a number of causes including the War on Drugs, marijuana
prohibition, equality issues: race/diversity/women, labor and workplace issues,
NASA, space development, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education and mental health issues. Any one or other could show up on any given day.</div>
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Although we all do it in different ways and have different talents, one of the
things I believe in deeply is that citizens of the world, country, community
and family, must all work together for the common good. I believe that it is all of
our responsibility to do what we can to make the world we live in a better
place both for our fellow citizens and for those who take our place when we are
gone. Although over the years, I have been involved in a number of ways, at this point in life, most of my contributions are in writing and publishing.</div>
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I am founder and publisher of <a href="http://www.magicstream.org/">MagicStream.org,</a> a literary zine, which
is among the earliest self-help and wellness sites on the Internet. I also
write for <a href="http://www.forwardprogressives.com/author/reginapickettgarson/" target="_blank">Forward Progressives</a>, and I publish a blog, where you can read more
of my writing: <a href="http://reginagarson.blogspot.com/">Regina Garson's
Blog.</a></div>
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Like to follow <a href="https://www.facebook.com/grassrootrag" target="_blank">Grassroot Rag on Facebook</a>. And follow me on
Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/ReginaGarson">@ReginaGarson</a>. </div>
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With that, welcome to Grassroot Rag. Feel free to comment and
participate. Or email to <a href="mailto:regina@reginagarson.com" target="_blank">let me know</a> if you would like to submit a post on a cause that
you feel is important. </div>
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Regina Garson, the Grassroot Rag</div>
</div>
Regina Garsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09879820531314244637noreply@blogger.com0