Nature boy article in Oaksterdam news

Plant for a patient: Herbal Medicine 101: Patio planting using a “screen of green” technique
By Nature Boy

SPREAD THE RELIEF — This Jack Herer-strain plant is planted in a 5-gallon container and trained to grow horizontally as it stretches its limbs.

“I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Fannie Lou Hamer spoke those words during the civil rights struggles of the Sixties. It still seems apropos some 40 years later, as the outrageous policies of the government locks up people who seek herbal alternatives to the pills big pharmaceutical companies try to force on society.

My mother has had breast cancer for over 12 years and survives, although the doctor who originally diagnosed it has died. She doesn't drink or smoke but does take long walks every day. First, she had one tumor removed; then another and still another. Finally she had a double mastectomy, refused reconstructive surgery and now chooses to wear her flat chest with pride. She often remarks that women shouldn't let men tell them how to heal their bodies, and has strong ideas of what she eats and takes into her own.

A few weeks later, the vegetative plant has grown enough to be held down with a grid or mesh to spread and position branches to increase its canopy and yield.

I remember her chemotherapy, how sick she became and how she couldn't eat. After repeated begging, she finally agreed to try just half a cannabis brownie (no way was she going to smoke marijuana!) to ease her nausea. It took awhile but she cheered up and proceeded to eat a plate of pasta along with a salad. She was amazed - and so were we all! It was good to see her smile again. She got her recommendation shortly thereafter.

We got a grow book, talked with a few other patients and grew small plants for her with clones we purchased at a local outlet. She wasn't comfortable with more than a few plants, so we decided to keep them short enough to avoid detection but also increase her yield per plant by spreading the branches out as they grew, using a nylon grid from the gardening store. (First time nylon, next time hemp?) The plants were grown in a sunny patio using standard organic soil and a bit of fish emulsion.

Here is the same plant as it stops spreading out and starts flowering. There is now a seamless canopy between this and the adjacent plant

They were planted in early summer so they wouldn't get too large, and when we harvested we got just less than one pound from the whole crop. It lasted quite a while and after she finished chemo she continued to take it occasionally to help her sleep and when her friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she gave her the rest with her blessings.

I feel like I got my own blessing from this by growing a plant and seeing how it gave her back her quality of life. Growing ones own medicine is simple and direct. While huge drug and Drug War industries lobby against it, patients have taken back the right to control their bodies when they're sick of being sick.

A multitude of small buds are growing from the immature plant, which will fill out and ripen for an early harvest. Photos by Nature Boy

I'm not sure if I'll become a caregiver or ever grow again, but I do know that I'm glad I live in a state that allows medicinal cannabis.

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How you can enter the Odam News garden photo contest

Every issue, Oaksterdam News will choose a winner of the contest for medical gardens and send them an autographed copy of Marijuana Horticulture: the Indoor/Outdoor Medical Grower's Bible - 512 full color pages and 1120 professional color images.

Hawaiian Activists

Hawaii Pro-Cannabis Anti-Meth 2006 Initiative

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Aloha,

Currently on the Big Island's County Agenda, Rev. Roger Christie from
THC Ministries, has written an anti-methamphetamine/ pro-cannabis law
that will be discussed for the ballot in November. The initiative can
be viewed at http://www.peacefulsky.com/

The initiative calls for the end of funding for cannabis eradication,
"Green Harvest", and funnels those resources into battling meth
crimes, and promote education on meth addiction. Essentialy, it would make
misdemeanor crimes, the lowest priority. In Hawaii, 24 plants or less
is a misdemeanor. Thus, 24 plants per each medical or religious user,
without having to be worried about the penguins coming to your door.
Currently, mmj patients are only authorized to grow seven plants, which
is by no means a adequate supply , for most folks.

Please send an email to Hawaii County Board Chairman Stacy Higa at:
shiga@co.hawaii.hi.us

Let him and the rest of the Board know, that meth is a problem, and
energy and resources would be better spent on meth erradication,
addiction recovery and education, rather than looking to criminalize
religious, medicinal and private users of cannabis. I have attached a
copy of the initiative: "The methamphetimine Eradication Act of 2006"

The people of Hawaii thank you for your support. Any questions can be
answered by contacting Rev. Roger Christie of THC Ministries at:

rogerchristie@yahoo.com
808-961-0488

Just think, you could one day find yourself in paradise, and actually
find yourself also in a sanctuary. For those that are thinking to move to
Hawaii, you definitely want to support this initiative. As on the
mainland, prohibition against cannabis here in Hawaii, has created
other social issues, that are actually very dangerous and counter-
productive to society as a whole.

Mahalo,
Rev. Nick Osborne
Northern Light Church of Hawaii
808-990-4434

__________________________
long live overgrow

Have a legal question or want to report a violation of the Compassionate Use Act? Call ASA's toll-free hotline at 1-888-929-4367

This is Very Important! Please donate!

New Medical Marijuana Grand Jury Convened in Connection with Ed Rosenthal

Oakland (August 24, 2006) -- Two individuals were subpoenaed yesterday to appear before a grand jury today in federal court. According to George Bevan, the Assistant U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case, this is a new grand jury ostensibly convened to investigate new information surrounding the prior indictment of Ed Rosenthal. Because of the secrecy that surrounds grand juries in general, the extent of the investigation and the government's aim is not completely clear.

Rosenthal was arrested in February 2002 after the DEA raided the Harm Reduction Center in San Francisco. Due to not being able to assert a medical defense, Rosenthal was convicted in January 2003. After outrage expressed by jurors and supporters alike, U.S. District Court Charles Breyer sentenced Rosenthal on June 3, 2003 to one day in prison. Rosenthal then appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

In April 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court reversed Rosenthal's convictions and remanded his case to federal district court. That action by the Ninth Circuit allowed the government to re-try Rosenthal. However, the government has a limited amount of time in which to do that, and it appears it has convened a grand jury to assist in the process. Since it is illegal to use the grand jury to investigate a case in which an indictment already exists, the government is claiming new charges will be involved. The government's investigation has also been expanded to include events that occurred between 1997 and 2002, whereas the original case was only interested in the period between 2001 and 2002.

The two people that appeared before the grand jury today refused to answer questions and invoked their Fifth Amendment Right against self-incrimination. Bevan then scheduled a hearing for Thursday, August 31 at 10am, in which it is expected that the two people will be granted immunity from prosecution within the context of the investigation. Bevan indicated that if those subpoenaed refuse to answer questions he may either charge them with civil contempt or seek indictments against them.

ASA considers this to be a very serious matter. Not only could this investigation result in more indictments, but Rosenthal stands to be retried and could serve 10 years if convicted. While it does seem ridiculous for the government to retry Rosenthal, after everything that has occurred, there are certainly very real consequences for committed people in this movement.

We will keep you updated as we learn more.

Kris Hermes
Legal Campaign Director


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Kris Hermes
Legal Campaign Director
Americans for Safe Access
www.SafeAccessNow.org
1322 Webster Street, Suite 402
Oakland, CA 94612
Phone: 510-251-1856 x307
Fax: 510-251-2036
Email: kris@SafeAccessNow.org

Join the fight for medical marijuana rights!
To receive ASA alerts, send a blank email to
asa-subscribe@lists.safeaccessnow.org

Some historical background information regarding Mr. Rosenthal

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Reefer Madness: Our current Prohibition.
by William F. Buckley,
Editor at Large
National Review Magazine online
June 10, 2003 --

The experience of Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, California, accelerates the day when heavy dilemmas in our legal system might just force a fresh look at our marijuana laws.
Presumably that will have to happen when state legislators, congressmen, and presidents are in recess, because the great enemy of sensible reform has been, of course, politicians high from righteousness.


What happened to Rosenthal was that he was convicted of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy, facing a conceivable sentence of l00 years in prison and a fine of $4.5 million.
The defense attorney had been forbidden by presiding Federal District Judge Charles Breyer to advise the jury of the perspectives of the defense.
The city of Oakland, instructed by a statewide proposition in 1996, had enacted an ordinance authorizing the growth of marijuana for medical use.

The judge took the flat position that local laws do not override federal laws; therefore the verdict could not be influenced by the legal contradiction, and therefore the jurors shouldn't be sidetracked by hearing about it.
The reasoning was identical to that of Judge George King in the case of computer guru and poet Peter McWilliams.
Judge King did not permit McWilliams to base his defense on the California initiative.
McWilliams died from AIDS, while awaiting sentencing, unrelieved by the marijuana that critically lessened his nausea.

Sentencing day for Rosenthal was at hand on June 5, and there was some commotion when the thought was expressed that the guilty finding could mean life in prison.
One juror had told the press that if she had known such might be the consequence of a guilty finding, she, and presumably other jurors, would not have voted as they did.
The day came, and Judge Breyer, perhaps with a wink of the eye, sentenced Rosenthal to one day in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Now Ed Rosenthal is not to be confused with a stray felon who took a toke at an outdoor movie with his date. Oh no.
Rosenthal is a full-time practitioner of resistance to marijuana legislation.
He has written several books, totaling in sales over 1 million.
In one of his most recent, The Closet Cultivator, he outlined how to build an indoor-marijuana-growing system impossible to detect through any method other than betrayal.
When arrested, he was linked to a nearby warehouse full of the drug, ostensibly consigned for medical use.
Rosenthal had been teasing the law along about as provocatively as one can do.
He had a monthly radio show, and a little while before his arrest his guest was San Francisco's district attorney, Terence Hallinan, who praised efforts by medical-marijuana cooperatives and permitted himself the obiter dictum on existing laws that "the government anti-drug policy is a big lie that's supported by a thousand other lies."

Eric Schlosser of The Atlantic Monthly has published a deeply informative and readable book called Reefer Madness. He wonderfully illustrates the complexity, contradiction, and futility of extant drug laws. Although Governor Clinton of Arkansas introduced legislation to lessen state penalties for marijuana, he went on, as president, to treat marijuana as if it were as innocent as adultery. He doubled the arrests for marijuana infractions. When Nixon declared his tough-drug policies, athwart the recommendation of his own commission which had advocated licensing marijuana for individual home consumption, arrests climbed to over 100,000 per year. In 2001, 720,000 Americans were arrested for pot. About 20,000 inmates in the federal system have been incarcerated primarily for a marijuana offense. Those in state systems would equal that figure, and exceed it.

The problem is more than the laws' contradictions. The Uniform Sentencing Act has given prosecutors, not judges, almost plenary powers over defendants, power ruthlessly used to extract information and to encourage duplicity and to make property rights insecure.
Judicial process is convoluted to the point where a judge can reasonably exercise a choice between 100 years in prison and one day in prison.

The marijuana laws can most directly be compared to the Prohibition-era laws, which didn't work, undermined the law, and were capriciously enforced. Pot consumption varies, but not in correlation with the laws' throw-weight.
If you buy an ounce in New York State, that could bring you a fine of $l00; in Louisiana, a jail sentence of 20 years.
Ed Rosenthal is quoted by author Schlosser. Will the laws in America dissipate, as they have done in Europe? He doesn't think so.
"They've made the laws so brittle, one day they're going to break."
The whole edifice of prohibition would come down, he predicted, "like the fall of the Berlin Wall." Schlosser nicely summarized Rosenthal's prediction.

"A group of powerful, white, middle-aged men will meet in a room to discuss what to do about marijuana.
And they will reach the only logical conclusion: tax it."

Like booze, some will then go on to abuse it, though with consequences less dire.

__________________________
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
-Nelson Mandela-

I talked to people close to the fire and asked what I could do. The advice was as follows:

1. Donate money to ASA NOW! They were the first to call with legal help.
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/

2.Donate money to Green Aid, the charity Ed started.
http://www.green-aid.com/

3. Go to the "Wonders of Cannabis" exhibit. It will be extra special this year in light of current events. Here's last years website-the phone numbers are the same.
http://www.wondersofcannabis.com/
People, if we all skipped buying that next gram of medicine at $20. and gave it to the above charities, the war would be a lot closer to being won. Please donate something, anything.

Weedbay site...

Here's the hot new site on the med scene.
http://www.weedbay.net/
Here's the grow class info...

Grow Class for Med Patients

It's coming up on that time of the month for grow class at the Bulldog coffee shop. Seating is limited so come early and stake your turf.
Saturday July 19th

Bulldog Coffee Shop
1739 Broadway, Oaksterdam

2:30pm-4:30pm

NORML

Here's the NORML website. All the links you would ever need for med patients...

http://www.canorml.org/

Enjoy!

Journey for Justice update.

http://j4j7.info/

Journey For Justice Update

Hello Everyone.

I’m writing to you today from the home of my good friend and fellow activist, Ervin Dargan. Ervin has opened his home to me here in Sunny View, North Carolina, for the last two and a half weeks. His generosity (and patience) has extended far beyond a comfortable room and Internet access, as he has shuttled me about, introducing me to many of his friends and a number of well-known, local activists.

Ervin, a veteran of earlier Journeys, is quite skilled in the area of video and still photography. He and I have been sifting through the forty plus hours of video that we shot during the course of J4J7.

During my time here, I have also been working odd jobs to pay my way back to Missouri and offset some of the debt I incurred during the Journey. I’ve carried cut wood, burned brush, dug ditches, repaired gravel roads, repaired computers (yes, I still do that, too), and carried out assorted gardening tasks. Though my back and shoulders have suffered from the physical work and I have made little money, I count it a worthwhile sacrifice if it helps keeps me on the Journey.

Yes, the Journey isn't over...at least not for me. I'm still doing testimonies. I did two just yesterday. I still have a few of places to go here in North Carolina....people who have promised to let me interview them. Then more on my way back to Missouri, hopefully.

If finances improve, I hope to get back on the road in my little gas friendly car and revisit the states we were forced to breeze thru on the bike run. The contacts we made the last go-round have promised many more testimonies waiting with my next visit.

As the testimonies have been increasing in number, other patients, who previously were too fearful to agree to an interview, have contacted me. I am also planning to release a few trusted souls to collect additional testimonies on my behalf in distant states, to broaden our coverage and speed the process. (Any applicants – please apply here J)

I'm hoping to be heading back to Colorado in a couple of weeks. This time, permanently. I am already a legal medical cannabis patient there and hope to some day soon be a caregiver, but getting there all depends on finances, naturally.
A group in Denver who I befriended during J4J7’s three week stay there, has requested that I come back and help them start a multi-denominational, cannabis-friendly church and community center. They’ve offered me a place to stay until I get on my feet and the opportunity to help them shape Denver’s Cannabis future. We already have an organization in the works that we call the “Cannabis Kind Collective” – it’s purpose being to educate and aid the work of medical cannabis caregivers and dispensaries while protecting the patient with the assurance of safe, affordable medicinal grade cannabis.

Progress has been slow with the webpage. Several people who said they'd help with it have either dropped out or had something serious happen to them where they couldn't follow thru. Despite that, it's starting to come together with Ervin’s help. He offered his layout skills to help design a much more appealing home page.

We could still use the help of an experienced webmaster, but we’re holding our own. I have so much I'd like to do with the webpage. Much about the trip still waits to go up. However, this does not diminish the fact that I have just added another 10 testimonies along with a completely new format. Yes, the webpage is changing yet again – even before it was finished. We are transforming the page for the challenges that lie ahead. “Our triumphs today will be the tools we use tomorrow”. It is for that reason that we are broadening our scope; configuring the site to serve all future Journeys.

For me personally, securing many more testimonies is paramount. I hope others will be of like mind. It is my desire to see the testimonies used in any way, shape, or form, by any worthwhile organization that has need of them, to bring about an end to prohibition.

The only way we are ever going to see Cannabis legalized in this country, is if we overwhelmingly prove to America (Washington already knows) that Cannabis is a safe, reliable treatment for many diseases and ailments. What better way than to exhibit a sea of thumbnails - Medical Cannabis Patients from our website? What better yet is to double click on them and hear their story in their words as they describe their lives, successfully medicating themselves with Cannabis, with the hardships and indignities all patients must suffer because of prohibition?

My Journey continues, and it will until I die or Cannabis is legalized, whichever comes first. But it costs money. Though for me to travel around the country in my little Mazda is a lot cheaper than the caravan we had during J4J7, I still need help. The last Journey drained my meager bank account and max’ed out my credit cards. It is for that reason that I placed a “Medical Testimonies” PayPal button at the base of the Testimonies page. With a little help, a little sacrifice, we will all have a worthwhile tool – the testimonies – at our disposal.

I am once again attempting to redirect the j4j.info domain to the new site. I will be placing a new “this site has moved” page at that location as well as a redirecting meta code.

Literary and monetary contributions for the J4J7.info site are welcomed and encouraged and of course, I still could use a very dedicated, easy to reach, web gal or guy who would be able to help us manage the site. HTML experience a must, other coding skills would be cool…above all, must be able to play with others without fuss. Also understand, at any given time, Kay Lee may step in to oversee and/or give her direction. It is her right and entitlement since she is a founding member of Journey For Justice. We all owe her a great deal and her knowledge is indispensable to our cause.

Please visit the new site and tell me what you think. All constructive criticism is appreciated. I still need to propagate the “Photos” page and refine and update locations like the “Sponsors” page, so check back.

http://j4j7.info

Here's my current contact info, since my cell phone has been virtually useless in and around these North Carolina hills.

Ervin Dargan’s home number: (828) 625-1494.

On the road and back in Missouri, I can be reached thru my cell phone at (314) 422-4524. My new Denver residence will temporarily be at the home of David Buffington, a close friend and fellow Freedom Fighter. The phone number will be forthcoming.

Until our next update….

Mark and the J4J Crew

http://j4j7.info

Fred Gardener

Fred is the man behind the O'Shaunessy. Here's his biography. A renaissance man indeed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Gardner

Fred Gardner

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Fred Gardner is a political organizer and author best known for his opposition to the Vietnam War and his writings about the medical mariijuana movement in the United States.

Fred received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1963. He has worked as an editor at Scientific American, the owner of Variety Home Video, the editor of Synapse (the UCSF Medical Center student newspaper), a private detective, a songwriter, author, and Public Information Officer for the San Francisco District Attorney's office under Terence Hallinan. He owned Variety Home Video. He has 6 sons and 1 daughter. Fred currently lives in Alameda, Ca with his wife Marcy.

In the Fall of '67 Gardner, with Donna Mickleson and Deborah Rossman, started a coffeehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, that became a hang-out for GIs, an alternative USO called the UFO (United Freedom Organization). Gardner covered the court martial of 27 GIs charged with mutiny at the Presidio of San Francisco in October, '68 and wrote a book about the case, The Unlawful Concert, published by Viking in 1970 and reissued by Gryphon Press in 2005.

In April 1970, Gardner worked as a stage manager for the Free The Army (FTA) with actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. This traveling road show for soldiers was meant to counter USO shows put on by Bob Hope. Gardner is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch and edits a journal for the California Cannabis Medical Research Group. He is a long time contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser.

[edit]

External links

• Hollywood Confidential Part I
• Hollywood Confidential Part II
• California Cannabis Medical Research Group website
• The Anderson Valley Advertiser

Your Tax Dollars at work...

http://oaksterdamnews.com/content/view/156/85

http://getoffthepotgeorge.cf.huffingtonpost.com/

Thanks to the Oaksterdam news for the links...

Hot for Teacher!

Grow Class Saturday, August 19th at the Bulldog

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It's that time of the month again folks. There will be a FREE grow class for med patients August 19th from 2:30-4:30 at the Bulldog Cafe in Oakland. The last one was packed so come early.