Hemp and the Legacy of The Last Free Man in America

 This is interesting and fun to read.  It gives hope and humor.  Thank you Johnathan Miller.  I'll be checking back.

Hemp and the Legacy of The Last Free Man in America

Cops vs. Burgers

Cops vs. Burgers

  Created By:

• 
  Kim Markou
  

  Director and Producer

The Murder of Mary Jane

This film will explore marijuana prohibition, the current legal battle to legalize it, and U.S. citizens serving life sentences for marijuana-related offenses.

Film – Tannersville, Pennsylvania, United States

Why I'm Making This Film

My name is Kim Markou.  I am a freelance writer and producer. Four years ago I battled breast cancer.  Refusing the chemotherapy and radiation, I decided to concentrate instead on diet, nutrition and natural THC, with great results.  I found that even though marijuana has PROVEN medicinal qualities (U.S. Patent # 6630507), our government, steeped in hypocrisy and driven by money, corporate greed and the back room deals of big Pharm, has continued to prosecute and imprison fellow U.S. citizens, many like myself, who desire to treat themselves with a natural plant that contains anti-inflammatory and healing properties. 

 Can the Feds hold back the tide to Legalize Marijuana?

http://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2013/03/25/can-the-feds-hold-back-the-tide-of-legal-marijuana-even-if-they-want/

 This article in the NY Times talks about the use of marijuana by senior citizens.  It's a sign of the times

 

Shuffleboard? Oh, Maybe Let’s Get High Instead

Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times

Cher Neufer of Akron, Ohio, started smoking marijuana at 21 and still indulges with her friends. “It’s just a social thing,” she said.

By ALYSON KRUEGER

The Drug Warriors Cashing In on Pot Prohibition | The Fix

 This is a pretty good article about the revolving door between "Government Service" and private business opportunities for government contracts.  It is a good argument for smaller more fiscally responsible government.

The Drug Warriors Cashing In on Pot Prohibition | The Fix

HIGHTIMES.COM | Pardoning Pot Prisoners

A new petition asks
High Times has spotlighted the Group Petition for Pardon  for five non-violent marijuana offenders who received sentences of Life without Parole for selling marijuana.  In the interest to fiscal responsibility and civil liberties, President Obama should grant these pardons.  It's the right thing to do.

HIGHTIMES.COM | Pardoning Pot Prisoners

 This article by Vikrant P. Reddy and Marc A Levine from Right on Crime is worth the time it takes to read

The Conservative Case Against More Prisons

Higher incarceration rates aren't making us safer—and there are better, smaller-government alternatives.

By Vikrant P. Reddy and Marc A. Levin • March 6, 2013

• 
• 
• 

vgm8383 / Flickr

Since the 1980s, the United States has built prisons at a furious pace, and America now has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world. 716 out of every 100,000 Americans are behind bars. By comparison, in England and Wales, only 149 out of every 100,000 people are incarcerated. In Australia—famously founded as a prison colony—the number is 130. In Canada, the number is 114.

Sen. Leahy: Sequester should halt federal marijuana raids - Washington Times

 Could we actually be getting somewhere?  If we are fiscally conservative and care about civil liberties we should legalize marijuana.  Mass incarceration should not be our nations future.

Sen. Leahy: Sequester should halt federal marijuana raids - Washington Times

A 14-year Pardon Application Process?

 What happens to Clemency Applications?  Very little.  This is the sad story of the progress of a Clemency Application as it travels around the Justice Department.

A 14-year Pardon Application Process?

Former DEA Heads Urge Justice Department to Block Historic Marijuana Regulation Implementation in Colorado and Washington | Drug Policy Alliance

Former DEA Heads Urge Justice Department to Block Historic Marijuana Regulation Implementation in Colorado and Washington | Drug Policy Alliance

 This article from Mother Jones is just another story about government employee unions and their influence on mass incarceration.  

It may be more comfortable for progressives to place the blame on conservatives, but the financial incentives for mass incarceration clearly belong to those who depend on paychecks for prisoners. 

Big Labor's Lock 'Em Up Mentality

How otherwise progressive unions stand in the way of a more humane correctional system.

—By James Ridgeway and Jean Casella

| Fri Feb. 22, 2013 3:01 AM PST

Protesters rallied against a union campaign to save Illinois' notorious Tamms prison. Courtesty Tamms Year Ten

On January 4, the Tamms Correctional Center, a supermax prison in southern Illinois, officially closed its doors. Tamms, where some men had been kept in solitary confinement for more than a decade, was notorious for its brutal treatment of prisoners with mental illness—and for driving sane prisoners to madness and suicide.
The closure, by order of Gov. Pat Quinn, was celebrated by human rights and prison reform groups, and by the local activists who had fought for years to do away with what they saw as a torture chamber in their backyard. But it might have been accomplished sooner were it not for a competing progressive faction: Big Labor.

Justice Department can be smarter about sequester - The Hill's Congress Blog

 Good article in The Hill's Congress Blog - Worth a read.

Justice Department can be smarter about sequester - The Hill's Congress Blog

John Knock probably received the longest sentence received for a first time non-violent marijuana only offender.  This is his story.

John  is a non violent first time marijuana offender. 

He was convicted in a dry conspiracy only where no pot was found.

Barack the Unmerciful

 It doesn't hurt to revisit this piece from Reason about Obam's Clemency.  Seventeen more Pardons, still only one Commutation.  Let's hope they are coming.

Barack the Unmerciful

Anti-Marijuana Group Sucks at Messaging/Telling the Truth

 There is probably some way to follow the money for this organization. 

Anti-Marijuana Group Sucks at Messaging/Telling the Truth