Jeremiah Vandermeer's Blog

Dear Mr. Obama and Mr. Harper, the Internet has spoken and the message is clear (in all caps): END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION!

Yes, the Pot People run this digital bitch.

In the past week, the marijuana legalization issue has dominated online polls directed at heads of state on both sides of the US-Canada border.

On the US's side, Change.org's "Idea's for Change in America" was, for the second year in a row, pwned by "Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana", which came in first place. I would give you the exact figures on the win, but Change.org has stashed the results until they announce the winners on Monday.

On the Canadian side, in a YouTube sponsored poll called "Your Interview With Prime Minister Harper", questions related to marijuana rank #1, #2, #3, #4, and #10 - with questions about Bill C-15 and mandatory minimums ranking #6, #7 (click here to see the whole list). Question #10 asks the Conservative PM, "It's been a couple of months since the US asked Canada to deport Marc Emery, the prince of pot. This decision seems politically motivated. Will you hand him over to the US, even if you're not allowed to deport someone for political opinion?"

The message couldn't be more clear to Obama and Harper: your fellow countrymen and countrywomen (at least those with Internet access) want to see an end to this War on Herbs.

Will you take action on these issues as promised in the preambles to these online polls, or at the very least, address the fact that Netizens are crying for a "Change" to marijuana laws?

Probably not. But we'll be back next year.

Executives at CBS broadcasting have quietly reversed their decision refusing to air a NORML's Times Square advertisement advocating legalizing and taxing marijuana.

CBS, the network responsible for the Showtime program Weeds, denied the ad last month. But after a flurry of news articles and Change.org actions, CBS has caved.

Change.org reports that CBS's communication vice president, Shannon Jacobs, said the network has "communicated to the people who wanted to place the ad that they will accept the ad if they still want to run it."

Another win, and boy does it feel good. Our team is getting stronger - the pressure is on - and we will not be ignored. Great to see another corporate media dinosaur tamed and saddled with the help of new media activism. Congrats to NORML and Change.org!

UPDATE: Speaking of Change.org, there is a new "Ideas for Change in America" campaign on the activism website, and Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana is most popular issue right now! Go vote!

Though they may try, Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada will never kill our cannabis culture, and the 2010 Winter Olympics are proof!

Weed This Week is my new marijuana news show on the Pot-TV Network (or check it out on YouTube). I was being harassed by viewers of Cannabis AM with Jacob and Mandy (8:20am weekdays) to start my own program, so I thought it was time to spark up my video editor. Stay tuned for more...

Usually Lewis Black has my eyes welling up from incessant laughter, but this clip of the gruff Daily Show comedian speaking seriously about marijuana legalization nearly brought tears to my eyes.

"My feeling is that we need to leave a legacy behind," Black told SIRIUS radio hosts Derek and Romaine. "I believe this is what my generation came to the planet to do, and that is legalize pot. If we do that we leave behind a true legacy."

"Is that a good legacy?" one of the hosts asks.

"It's a tremendous legacy; it really is."

Check out more from Lewis Black on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart or his official website.

Hide your jelly beans! Two guys from the Bronx were thrown in jail for nearly a week because crazy coppers mistook their candy for a bag of crack cocaine.

The trouble began the night of Jan. 15, as José Pena, a 48-year-old plumber, and his longtime pal and colleague Cesar Rodriguez, 33, were headed to a party, and decided to stop at a bodega on 181st Street and the Grand Concourse.

When they came out, cops were waiting and asked to search their Ford minivan. "I said ‘Go search.’ I even opened the door," Rodriguez told The Post.

An officer rummaged around, came out holding a "Hello Kitty" sandwich bag, and shouted "Bingo!" the men said.

"It’s only candy!" Rodriguez said, as the cops handcuffed him and Pena, and several other police cars rushed to the scene.

Rodriguez said he buys a 50-cent bag of Coco Candy, a hard coconut-based treat, almost every day. Because it easily crumbles, he puts it in a sandwich bag.

"Can you test it? Can you taste it?" Rodriguez asked the cops. "Shut up!" they replied.

"I didn’t know having candy was a crime," he said.

The men’s lawyer, Neal Wallerstein, said the cops could have realized their mistake quickly.

"That’s the reason why they have a field-test kit," he said, referring to the NYPD’s portable drug identification equipment.

But Wallerstein said cops just needed their noses.

"It smells like sugar," he said.

Instead, the two men were jailed for crack possession. Pena got out after three days, but Rodriguez was held two more, until Thursday morning. [New York Post]

I keep reading stories where police act (like idiots) first, and ask questions later - or not at all.

Take for a second example this case of undercover police officers in Vancouver who, while responding to a domestic disturbance call, mercilessly beat the man who answered the door before asking him any questions. Turns out it was the wrong address - but even if it was the right one, should cops really be smashing-in peoples' skulls without at least investigating things a little?

Speaking of skull-smashing cops, here's some from New York going crazy at a botched drug sting, punching a handcuffed man in the head and smashing his face into the pavement:

The man was was initially charged with "obstructing governmental administration and resisting arrest", but police have since dropped the charges. He and his friend plan to sue.

And here is yet another police beating where Pittsburgh cops stomped and tased a 18-year-old honor student within an inch of his life because they saw a "heavy object" in his coat which later turned out to be a Mountain Dew bottle.

This will keep happening over and over again until there are fundamental changes in how police are trained. Police officers must see citizens as fellow human beings, the ones to protect, not the enemy.

Here is (another) very sad illustration of prohibition laws actually harming the public more than the substances prohibited.

Police in the Greater Vancouver area have been on a grow-op busting bonanza, moving in on several suspected houses and a warehouse, and even shutting down part of a street for emergency services.

Cops across the province have been stepping up grow-op busts, with officers telling newspapers that they hope peoples homes will be forfeited to the Crown.

Many homes are being seized as the busts continue, which undoubtedly causes serious hardship for the families who once lived in them.

But if you think losing your home will disrupt family life, how about losing your children?

Though details are shaky, the Vancouver Province is reporting that two children, a 12-year-old and a 21-month-old were seized from their parents and placed in the care of the province's Ministry of Children and Families after police discovered an "active" marijuana grow-op in the house.

This is just one of many horror stories.

Lisa Kirkman, a Canadian cannabis activist, was shocked when American authorities abducted her 11-year-old son, Noah, while he was visiting his father in Oregon. Oregon’s Department of Human Services refuses to return him to his mother in Canada because she was, years ago, busted for growing medical pot without a permit.

It is truly scary that authorities can rip families apart just for growing pot, and it makes me shudder when I think of the words of my friend David Malmo-Levine, who calls the drug war a Gentle Genocide.

Marijuana doesn't destroy families, but marijuana prohibition does.

The sad case of Rachel Hoffman - a 23-year-old Florida State University student busted for marijuana possession, threatened into becoming a police informant, then murdered during a bungled drug sting - continues to play out in court.

After being threatened with jail time for pot and agreeing to work for authorities, police officers gave Rachel $13,000 in marked bills and arranged a buy of cocaine, ecstasy and a hand gun. She was killed with the weapon she was supposed to buy and robbed of the police money.

Click here to read the Cannabis Culture feature article "Rachel Hoffman: A Drug War Tragedy" by Paul Armentano for a full background on Rachel's case.

On December 17, 2009, which would have been Rachel's 25th Birthday, one of her suspected killers, car-wash worker Deneilo Bradshaw, was found guilty of first degree murder with robbery and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Bradshaw, who faced a possible death sentence, is appealing the decision.

Bradshaw claimed his brother in law and co-accused, Andrea Greene, had forced him into going along with the robbery and was the one who actually pulled the trigger. Greene is scheduled to stand trial in October 2010.

Former Tallahassee Police Officer Ryan Pender, in charge of the sting that took Rachel's life, want his job back. (Photo by Tallahassee Democrat)The only police officer fired in the case, Ryan Pender, wants his job back and recently appealed his dismissal in court.

Haggeling with police union reps and Tallahassee city attorneys, Pender refused to take responsibility for what he said was Rachel's failure to obey police orders during the disastrous operation, and broke down in tears - not in remorse for Rachel, but when his lawyer asked him how it would feel to get his job back:

"To get my career back, that I worked eight-and-a-half years for … ," he trailed off, overcome with emotion. "I've learned a tremendous amount more than I thought I would have learned from this." [Tallahassee Democrat]

The former officer, who has repeatedly attempted to paint Rachel as a big-time drug pusher, continued his inflated accusations:

"I had at least seven CIs, and out of all of them, she was the most knowledgeable," he testified. "She used the language. She knew what prices were." [Tampa Bay Online]

Rachel's family, who fought successfully to have much of the evidence in their daughter's murder case released, blasted the fired police officer:

"Ryan Pender lost his job as a result of a notoriously incompetent operation which he case managed. So he lost his job. That pales in comparison to what Rachel Hoffman lost," said Hoffman family attorney Lance Block. [WCTV CBS]

Pender should know by the end of March whether his position will be reinstated.

Of course, the firing of Officer Pender will not return Rachel to her loving family, but hopefully, at the very least, send a message to other police officers who might use small-time pot smokers as police operatives in bigger cases, and shed more light on shady police practices.

In memory of their daugher, Rachel's mother and father wrote inspiring statements read in court during Bradshaw's trial, posted in full below.

My name is Margie Weiss. I am and always will be the proud mother of Rachel Morningstar Hoffman.

Rachel was born on December 17, 1984 in Clearwater. Yesterday was her 25th birthday. She is my only child. She originally came out as a beautiful brunette blue eyed infant and blossomed into a bright, attractive young woman with flowing, wavy red hair, milky skin with freckles and big brown eyes. Although she didn't have any brothers or sisters, since birth she was surrounded by her pets: a tank of fish, a cockatiel, a golden retriever, two black cats and a ragamuffin, later graduating to riding horses, showing off her adventurous athletic abilities. This conditioned her with a sensitivity, gentleness and genuineness for others. From the time she was a toddler and first entered pre-school, she loved being with other children, always in the thick of everything. She was full of energy and engaged in every possible activity. Rachel was a very active child and teenager. She danced for 10 years, did gymnastics, brownies, karate, softball and cheerleading. Born a music lover, her talents were cultivated: as first chair flute in middle school band followed by five years of classical piano lessons where she excelled. No wonder Rachel wound up attending and loving music festivals. She had a good ear for listening, especially to her friends.

When the time came for Rachel to apply for college, only FSU would do. It was her first choice and she was ecstatic when she was accepted. Our Rabbi would drive up from Palm Harbor twice a year to visit the FSU campus and he told me that Rachel was the only young adult who was present for all his visits and that she always followed them up with a thank you note. She was so active in our Temple since preschool, her Bat mitzvah where she showed off her Hebrew fluency leading the entire Shabbat service, along with her concern for the homeless in her speech, as well as immense pride for her heritage from her grandparents who were Holocaust survivors. Then there was Confirmation, and a trip to Israel after starting college. She also worked as a counselor for years at the Jewish Summer camp and had a special affinity for the little ones. Rachel watched out for the underdog, the kids who were from divorced families or who were a little different. She majored in psychology and was interested in pursuing a career working with children.

Losing my only child at an age where she had her whole life ahead of her, so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and in the manner in which she died, without any opportunity to prepare, much less say goodbye, has been, well, definitely a challenge. While I appreciate this opportunity to tell you who Rachel was and how her death has affected our community of family and friends, and me, there is not enough time or words that can completely describe how the impact of losing her in this way has had on all of us who knew her.

It has become painful attending synagogue because it reminds me of Rachel's funeral and seeing all the families with grandchildren, one honor which I will never have a chance to embrace, nor a wedding, nor a travel partner, nor my only child and best friend to hold my hand if and when I outlive my Mom and my husband. For now I avoid thinking of Rachel as dead because it is just too unimaginable.

Rachel had a smile that lit up the room. That smile is evident in every photo taken of her especially with her family and friends lovingly surrounding her. Her warmth, her sensitive listening and care along with her nurturing spirit gave everyone an oasis for acceptance. Her cooking is still famous amongst her friends here in Tallahassee, as she fed all her friends and had dreams of becoming a child psychologist and a chef. The underlying truth I get from talking to Rachel's friends, some of whom attended this trial, was Rachel's knack for making friends so easily by being so attentive to each person she met. Rachel made all of us feel significant and special. I miss her dearly.

This trial has been a most difficult experience. Hearing and seeing the evidence was painful, but I knew I had to be here. It is what a mother does for her daughter. I will always be Rachel's mother and I will love her forever!

Respectfully,
Margie Weiss, Rachel's mother

---

My name is Irv Hoffman and I am the father of Rachel Hoffman. Since my daughter's death, I am not always sure where I'm supposed to be other than at her grave site. I don't know what I'm supposed to do there and I don't know what I'm supposed to say. There is no awakening from this horror I feel daily. This is not a dream that I will ever awaken from. I feel totally devastated physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Rachel was unique and I have no doubt that had she been given the chance she would have touched thousands of lives. Rachel graduated from FSU with a degree in psychology in four years. She had hoped to either go to graduate school or pursue a degree in culinary. Rachel loved to cook for her friends and loved good food. Rachel was giving. She told me she often thought of the homeless who had no food and on occasion after eating out, she would give her left over food to a homeless person on the street. Rachel was loving and compassionate. She had a heart to help others, especially children and those who were disadvantaged. She loved her work with children as a camp counselor during the summers. She always reached out to those who did not fit in both at college and at her synagogue.

Rachel loved music from a very early age. I remember taking her to her first concert and the joy it brought her. It was not unusual for her to look for people on the sidelines who looked excluded and pull them into her circle of friends to dance. While at the home of a family friend, Rachel befriended a little girl with Down's syndrome and would often dance with her much to the child's delight.

While in high school, Rachel thought it would be a wonderful idea to take in a foreign exchange student from Spain. Rachel made a point of including this child in her circle of friends and would take her everywhere.

Rachel was young and made mistakes. As a mental health counselor, I had no doubt that she was ready to move on from this. She had many choices to make that lied ahead of her, but those choices were taken away from her, not by her choice but against her will. I often wonder what she would have become. She had a promising future. She loved people and people loved her.

Rachel could have been anyone's daughter. She comes from a large and loving family including her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Rachel loved to travel to visit her family and would make frequent trips home to stay connected. Her death was devastating to her family.

Being a mental health professional, some might think it would be easier for me to resolve issues of loss. However, to the contrary, it just hasn't been that way for me. The constant, intrusive thoughts of the last minutes of Rachel's life haunt me daily. Something in you dies when you bear the unbearable.

Rachel was and is my whole world. I was a devoted father to this beautiful girl both in her good times and her difficult times of adjustment. Her death has devastated my soul and changed my life for the worse forevermore. Life as I knew it is over. It ended just as Rachel's life ended; I no longer find interest in activities I used to enjoy. My world feels upside down. All my dreams for Rachel which will be unanswered seem to only make me feel more depressed. There will be no grandchildren, no more bike rides, cookouts, vacations, precious times shared. Rachel's life is over. My life and the many people who Rachel touched have been forever changed.

Respectfully,
Irv Hoffman, Rachel's dad

Though Vancouver's homicide rate has actually dropped, police are reporting that drug prohibition-related murders have risen by 20 percent.

Despite a bloody gang war, there were actually fewer homicides in the Metro Vancouver area this year than in 2008 -- 56 compared to 58.

But Corporal Dale Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, says the difference is in the type of homicides police investigated.

He says there was a 20 per cent increase in the number of organized-crime and drug-related homicides this year.

Carr says the team has wrapped up 80 per cent of the domestic murders so far, but the solve rate on drug and organized-crime murders is much lower. [CTV News]

Most crime in Canada has been on the decline for years, but the one thing that increases is violence due to our futile drug polices. This should be a huge red flag to the Canadian public and police that drug prohibition does not work.

Legalizing and regulating drugs would immediately end the gang wars by eliminating the black market for illegal substances and give control (just like tobacco, alcohol, and coffee) to legitimate businesspeople and government regulators.

Instead, Canadian police and politicians are looking for a Drug War surge; Bill C-15 will ramp-up the drug war by expanding their definition of 'the enemy' to include increasing numbers of ordinary Canadians.

I guess it isn't that hard to figure out why the police are pushing so hard against all science and common sense indicating prohibition is a failure: declining crime rates and peaceful citizenry are the real threat to crime-fighting institutions.

What happens to those assigned the task of "keeping the peace" if the people keep their own peace?

The Vancouver Police department is working overtime - not fighting crime, unfortunately - but doing their best to make sure Bill C-15 becomes Canadian law.

Mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana "crimes" means BIG money for the police/prison-industrial complex and these guys are really working hard for their next paycheques:

Vancouver police fear watering down of pot growing law
By Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun

A Senate amendment that would soften a bill designed to impose mandatory sentences on people illegally growing marijuana will likely result in the proliferation of smaller growing operations, says the head of the Vancouver police department’s anti-gang and drug section.

Insp. Brad Desmarais said the department opposes an amendment of Bill C-15 by the Senate's committee on legal and constitutional affairs that removed the section imposing a minimum sentence of nine months on anyone found guilty of growing fewer than 200 plants. [...]

Desmarais said the motive behind all illegal marijuana growing operations is profit.

“If they remove the minimum sentencing for grow ops under 200 plants then they will, without a doubt, create a huge industry where we will see a proliferation of grows with 199 plants because there will be less penalty,” he said.

“Criminals constantly operate on a cost/benefit analysis — 199 plants will still constitute a viable commercial option. I suspect if this amendment passes we will see even more manifestly unsafe grows occurring.

But it is not just the one article, it's a Media Blitz! Here's a similar piece published in the Globe & Mail yesterday. And check out this video from Global News.

Police departments and the RCMP have been using PR teams to shape public drug policy to their benefit for years - sending out press releases, holding news conferences and doing interviews with reporters who are too happy to publish their comments with little criticism or alternative viewpoint.

I like what Pot-TV's Marijuana Man said his video Cops Selling Prohibition:

A bunch of C-grade students who couldn't do anything but become a cop are telling us how we're supposed to live our lives and what is right and wrong here. Totally insane, and completely beyond their scope.

Of course they want prohibition - they want the gang violence, they have to have this to expand their ranks, to get more big trucks, to get more big guns, more smashing machines.