Texas

[palmspringsbum]

Kinky Friedman wants to legalize marijuana

Gubernatorial candidate gives his reasons

By Laura Whitley

ABC 13 Eyewitness News

<table class=posttable align=right width=200><tr><td class=postcell><img src=bin/friedman-kinky.jpg></td></tr><tr><td class=postcap>If Kinky Friedman gets his way, smoking marijuana would not be a crime.
</td></tr></table>(9/15/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - In the race for Texas governor, one candidate wants to legalize marijuana. Kinky Friedman says it's one way to avoid overcrowded prisons and help people before their drug problem becomes more serious.

Marijuana is commonly considered a gateway drug. Along with leading some users to other drugs, it leads many to prison.

"As a result, our prison population is bigger than the entire population of Alaska," said Friedman.

Friedman supports the complete decriminalization of pot use. We spoke with him about the controversial idea over the phone.

"If you want to smoke a joint, you go ahead and smoke a joint," he said. "I wish you wouldn't do it, but it's no longer going to be against the law to smoke one joint somewhere. The kid may or may not do it and that will be the end of it."

As CEO of the Cenikor foundation, Bill Bailey helps people fight their addictions. Based on his experience, he thinks marijuana possession should carry criminal charges.

"We do not support the cause for decriminalization because marijuana is a gateway drug," said Bailey. "People start with gateway drugs."

The other candidates for governor do not share Friedman's views. All of them are against pot decriminalization. Only Chris Bell agrees marijuana use should be allowed for certain medical conditions.

"We've lost the war on drugs," said Friedman. "They're more plentiful. They're cheaper and they're available everywhere."

But Bailey believes the focus of the war should be changed, that more addicts should be offered treatment rather than jail.

"If we provide treatment, many of these people will become productive citizens in our country and find themselves helping the nation instead of being a drain on the nation," said Bailey. <hr class=postrule><center><small>(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)</small></center>

[Midnight toker]

Kinky Friedman Rolls the Dice and Tells the Truth in Texas

Blogcritics.org
September 17, 2006
Dave Nalle

The apparently independent candidate for Texas governor, Kinky Friedman, has decided to do what no other politician or would-be office holder has dared to try - to tell the truth and see if people like it. With some polls showing him gaining on incumbent governor Rick Perry while the other two candidates in the race are slipping back a bit, and others showing bizarre variations which suggest that factors are at work in the election that can't be effectively polled for, Friedman appears to have decided to go for broke with some controversial statements. They don't sound at all like politics as usual, but may win him some support for saying what a lot of people are thinking.

He started out last week with a comment about Hurricane Katrina victims currently living in Houston. It outraged some Democrat politicians, who are perhaps dismayed that Friedman is taking a lot of votes from their uninspiring gubernatorial candidate, Chris Bell. State Representative Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus commented that "he has demonstrated a total lack of human sensitivity" and continued in lecture mode to conclude "Kinky Friedman has called himself a 'compassionate redneck. He would do well henceforth to highlight his compassion while de-emphasizing his redneck tendencies."

Yet the truth is that Friedman's comment was factually accurate, if stated in colorful language. There has been a significant rise in crime directly associated with Katrina victims — many with criminal backgrounds — who appear to have taken up permanent residence in Houston. He said: "The musicians and artists have mostly moved back to New Orleans now. The crackheads and the thugs have decided to stay here. They want to stay here. I think they got their hustle on, and we need to get ours." And he was just stating a known fact.

And he did go on to propose $100 million in additional police funding to deal with the problem. Politicians like Rep. Thompson who have attempted to capitalize on the statement for political advantage are overlooking the possibility that it may be clear to the public that Friedman is telling the truth and those who are criticizing him are being transparently politically disingenuous.

More significant, and certainly more calculated are Friedman's recent statements on decriminalization of marijuana. In the past week he commented on the issue a number of times and made a strong, sensible case for decriminalization and releasing non-violent drug offenders from prison. On Thursday he commented:


"We've got to clear some of the room out of the prisons so we can put the bad guys in there, like the pedophiles and the politicians," and said ""I agree with (U.S. Sen.) John McCain that we've lost the drug war... It's clear to me, if you've lost the war on drugs then you've got to go some other direction. You can't keep banging your head against the wall."

This position might get him some real mileage with voters who polls show opposing the war on drugs by as much as 70%. Even the most conservative polls show a strong majority favoring medical marijuana and reduction in prosecution and incarceration of non-violent offenders. On this issue Friedman might really catch the public's attention, and it's a position none of the other candidates have been bold enough to even consider.

Friedman has also taken popular positions on other major issues, including joining the other candidates in disagreeing with Governor Perry on unrestrained toll road development and the controversial Trans Texas Corridor project, and supporting the introduction of casino gambling in Texas to help fund education and reduce the massive flow of money to neighboring states, all of which have some form of casino gambling. He has also been consistently on message in his opposition to the political establishment and politics as usual, and while he may not have easy answers to every question, he shows an openness to new ideas that is refreshing.

Perhaps because he is shaking things up and challenging the status quo, Friedman has become the target of some outright hostility from the media, particularly prominent Dallas-area TV station WFAA, which has given his campaign a surprisingly large amount of coverage — but so bizarrely biased that it can only be described as a deliberate hatchet-job. This included a very strange interview from a reporter whose personal comments suggest that his main interest is Friedman's religious beliefs, of all things.

With some polls showing him only nine points behind a flagging Perry, Friedman may have a real chance of upsetting the political gridlock in Texas. In fact, if independent Republican Carole Strayhorn, who seems to be dropping behind the other candidates, were to drop out alltogether, that might give Friedman the boost he needs to send Perry (and his marvelous hair) out looking for a new job. This might be a broadening experience for him considering that Perry has never held a paid job outside the government since he graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in animal science in 1972.

<hr class=postrule><small>Dave Nalle has worked as a magazine editor, a freelance writer, a capitol hill staffer, a game designer and a history professor. He now designs fonts for a living and lives with his family on a modest country estate just outside Austin. You can find his writings on politics and culture at The Elitist Pig and his writings about fonts, art and graphic design at The Scriptorium.</small>

[palmspringsbum]

Country music star cited for marijuana in Louisiana

9/18/2006, 7:33 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
The Times-Picayune


LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Country music star Willie Nelson and four others were issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after the tour bus they were on was stopped Monday morning on Interstate 10 in Louisiana, state police said.

In a news release, state police said the citations were issued after an early morning commercial vehicle inspection of the tour bus.

"When the door was opened and the trooper began to speak to the driver, he smelled the strong odor of marijuana," the news release said. A search of the bus produced 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and one-fifth of a pound — a bit more than three ounces — of narcotic mushrooms.

There were enough drugs on the bus to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person's possession, said Trooper Willie Williams, a state police spokesman. However, he said, all five people on the bus claimed the drugs as their own, so each was charged with misdemeanors.

Cited along with the singer were Tony Sizemore, 59, St. Cloud, Fla.; Bobbie Nelson, 75, Briarcliff, Texas; Gates Moore, 54, Austin, Texas; David Anderson, 50, Dallas.

Each was released after being issued a citation.

Nelson's publicist, Elaine Schock, said she would have no comment Monday.

Nelson, 73, has recorded songs including "On the Road Again" and "City of New Orleans."

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Willie Nelson back on tour after drug bust

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Tuesday September 19, 2006

Los Angeles- Iconic country music star Willie Nelson was reported to be back on the tour road Tuesday, a day after he and his entourage were busted for possession of marijuana and magic mushrooms. Nelson was arrested in Louisiana together with four passengers on his tour bus after a policeman pulled the vehicle over for investigation and noticed the distinctive smell of marijuana smoke.

Police found more than 750 grams of marijuana in the vehicle and some 84 grams of illegal mushrooms.

The bust came just hours after the environmentally active Nelson called for the legalization of pot at a concert in aid of Kinky Friedman, a radical author and comedian who is running for Governor of Texas.

[Midnight toker]

Coy Doss sentenced to 10 years in prison for marijuana growing operation

The Cameron Herald
October 12, 2006

After hearing testimony for more than an hour and a half, 20th District Court Judge Ed Magre sentenced Coy Ray Doss, 60, of Rockdale to 10 years in prison on charges related to his large marijuana growing operation, which he claimed was for research purposes.

In the hearing last Thursday, Magre also formally accepted Doss' plea of guilty to the second degree felony offense of possession of marijuana 50-2000 pounds, originally entered Aug. 8.

The charge stemmed from an investigation that began in February 2004 by the Milam County Sheriff's Department and the Central Texas Task Force. Aerial survelliance began after authorities received a tip about the large amount of illegal plants. Photographs from that survelliance were part of the evidence presented at the sentencing hearing.

The only prosecution witness called by District Attorney Kerry Spears, Milam County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Ted Retchloff testified about the incidents leading up to the September 2004 raid when 172 pounds of marijuana was seized at the Doss farm located about three miles east of Thorndale off US 79. He said the marijuana was sealed in labeled packages.

Doss later testified he labeled each package with information about the particular strain and pollination as part of his scientific attempts to develop new strains of the plant for medicinal purposes.

Doss and Margaret Doss, his wife of 37 years, both testified that they came to live on Mr. Doss' family property in Milam County in 1986. Since that time they said they and their nine children have maintained self-sufficiency on the farm with family members working at various jobs. Mr. and Mrs. Doss are graduates of The University of Texas at Austin, with Mr. Doss earning a degree in engineering in 1970.

Both denied that any of their children were involved in growing the marijuana. They also said they did not encourage or give their children permission to smoke it. Mr. Doss testified that he did use marijuana as a supplemental treatment for his depression.

Doss testified that he knew growing marijuana was against the law, although he personally felt it should be legal for use as an “herb.”

He said he knew that he should have applied for and/or obtained special circumstances to grow the plant for research purposes and he did not. He expressed remorse for his actions and said he accepted full responsibility. He testified he would abide by all restrictions required if he was given a probated sentence.

Defense attorney W.W. Torrey called several witnesses, including relatives, associates, local business people and elected officials, to testify that Doss was a good candidate for a probated sentence because he had a job offer to work in a medical lab with magnetic resonance technology. Prior to returning to Texas, the Doss family lived in California where Doss was employed in research pertaining to radiation detectors.

Witnesses testified that the Doss children were responsible workers. Witnesses also noted that while they did not approve of his actions, they felt Doss really was involved in research and did not intend the operation for criminal purposes.

Mrs. Doss also testified that the family is financially dependent on her husband, adding that three of the children are minors. In addition to personal testimony, Torrey also submitted to the court letters written in Doss' behalf from other local residents.

During various cross examinations, Spears pointed out that Doss had not held steady employment in 20 years and he had made statements to the effect that he was “growing marijuana to throw it in the face of the government.” She also noted that financial difficulties faced by the family were a result of Doss' illegal actions.

“There is no constitutional right to grow marijuana,” she said. “You can't just violate the law and say ‘I'm sorry.' ”

The range of punishment for the second degree felony charge of possession of marijuana, 50-2,000 pounds is two to 20 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. Pointing to the seizure of 172 pounds of the illegal substance, Spears asked the court for a sentence of “a reasonable amount of prison time.”

In making his case seeking a probated sentence, Torrey pointed to the testimony of defense witnesses who said they felt Doss was not a threat to society and said his presence was needed to keep the family together. He also noted Doss' age and health problems as reasons to consider probation.

After assessing the 10-year sentence, Judge Magre ordered Doss turned over to the custody of the Sheriff's Department to prepare for transportation to the TDC. Torrey's request to continue Doss' bond during appeal was denied.

Following the hearing, the district attorney said the investigation did not reveal evidence of sales and distribution.

[Midnight toker]

This is the most truth in the least words about politics I've seen in a long time.

October 12, 2006 at 06:55:47

Get Kinky for Texas Governor

by Justin Raines

http://www.opednews.com



Andrew Bosworth, PhD
2006-10-12

Kinky Friedman is running for Governor of Texas as an "independent." This is fitting because Kinky hangs out with Willie Nelson and Jesse Ventura. And he is famous as the singer and songwriter of "The Texas Jewboys."

It might be accurate to describe Kinky as a cultural libertarian and an economic populist. He favors decriminalizing marijuana and medicalizing the drug problem. "Texas has more people in prison than Alaska has inhabitants." And he is right about that ghastly fact. Texas, the Lone Star State, is quickly becoming the Lock Down State.

[Editor's Note: Kinky is a great candidate, but he needs our help! He is running against the two major Parties, and independent contributions keep his campaign running. For more information on what Kinky thinks, click here ( http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/issues/ ) . To get Kinky lawn signs, bumper stickers, t-shirt click here ( http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/xcart/home.php ). To donate to his campaign directly, click here ( https://www.kinkyfriedman.com/contribute/ ). Virtual Citizens is located and staffed in South Texas. Please do all you can to support Kinky Friedman for Texas Governor.]

Somewhere along the line, Texas lost its Wild West culture. What arose, in its place, is a kind of moralistic, paternalistic, reactionary culture in which undercover police arrest people for being drunk – not for fighting or lewdness or driving drunk but simply for being drunk while sitting at the bar. In Texas, cop cars are everywhere, and instead of "serve and protect" the attitude often is "we'll kick your ass."

As a result of this authoritarian shift, Texas politics has been dominated by the politics of distraction and division – you know, such pressing issues as same-sex marriage, flag-burning and regulating the sexual suggestiveness of girl cheerleaders, what with their "back lunges" and "low v's." The lower House in Austin considers sexually-suggestive cheerleading to be a threat to American Life.

Kinky confronts many of these issues head on and with humor, favoring same-sex marriage – in Texas! - because he argues that gays have the right to be miserable.

Kinky recognizes that corporate greed is destroying Texas. Testing companies and their lobbyists have hijacked the school curriculum. Nothing happens in a Texas school that is not directly geared to passing the standardized tests. The school day is nothing more than a flurry of endless, mindless worksheets, all designed to produce a generation of robotrons. The "No Child Left Behind" legacy of the Bush era is roundly condemned by parents and teachers, but it continues nonetheless.

Now, key business sectors are pushing the "Trans-Texas Corridor," adding yet another system of toll roads to Texas. And the medical mafia is preventing Texas from developing the kind of state health-care system found in Minnesota or Massachusetts.

Kinky recognizes the complexities of the illegal immigration problem, but he does not support the construction of a giant wall. "After all, in about 10 years," he explains, "we may want to get out."

Kinky represents an endangered breed of Texas – the rugged individualist whose sense of right and wrong lead him to favor free enterprise and social investments, which include investing in schools, hospitals and the poor. This stands in sharp contrast to the class warfare and Social Darwinism offered by the Republicans.

George W. Bush, formerly the Governor here (and known as the "Texecutioner") is no cowboy. (Kinky calls him "a good man trapped in a Republican's body"). But cowboys do not combine ignorance, arrogance and cruelty (what a combination).

When I was in grade school, we all had to read "Shane" by Jack Schaefer. It's about a cowboy who bravely confronts a cattle baron and his hired gunslinger. It's about a man who makes the right decision. Kinky is a true cowboy, and he even dresses like one.

[Note: Kinky is a great candidate, but he needs our help! He is running against the two major Parties, and independent contributions keep his campaign running. For more information on what Kinky thinks, click here ( http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/issues/ ) . To get Kinky lawn signs, bumper stickers, t-shirt click here ( http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/xcart/home.php ). To donate to his campaign directly, click here ( https://www.kinkyfriedman.com/contribute/ ). Virtual Citizens is located and staffed in South Texas. Please do all you can to support Kinky Friedman for Texas Governor.]

Click Here for the Original Article, courtesy of Virtual Citizens

[palmspringsbum]

War on drugs costly, futile

Misbah Anjum
The Pine Log
Posted: 2/5/07

This Saturday, I had the privilege of turning the ripe old age of 18. The United States Constitution now grants me the right to join the military and vote for every representative in public office. I am now a legal adult in the state of Texas, which grants me the right to smoke cigarettes. Fortunately, through the effort of my parents and hundreds of hours of after school programming, I have found myself to be impervious to the urge of smoking.

According to the Center for Disease Control, "Each year in the United States, approximately 440,000 persons die of a cigarette smoking-attributable illness, resulting in 5.6 million years of potential life lost, $75 billion in direct medical costs, and $82 billion in lost productivity." The Surgeon General warns that the use of tobacco causes cancer of the mouth and throat, even if you do not inhale; it can cause lung cancer and heart disease; it can also increase the risk of infertility, stillbirth and low birth weight. Despite the fact that one of the state goals of our government is protection of the people, it still finds it fit to allow the sale and distribution of such a harmful product. The government allows people to slowly kill themselves because cigarettes, and the tobacco trade, are an essential part of the American economy.

The United States has spent billions of taxpayers' dollars on The War on Drugs. Since the late 1960's, propaganda chronicling the noble effort of the Drug Enforcement Agency has been shoved down Americans' throats. In the early 1960's, recreational drugs, including marijuana, became fashionable among young, white, middle class Americans. During this time, drug use became representative of protest and social rebellion in the era's atmosphere of political unrest. In order to put to rest the sentiment against what seemed to be the entirety of the youth, in 1968 the Beureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was created. Over the past 40 years, the War on Drugs has been waged on the streets of our country. The question that remains is what this war has actually accomplished.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy outlined that "in 2003 alone, over 19 billion dollars were spent on the war on drugs." From 2003 to 2004, drug use and trafficking decreased by less than one percent. According to drugwarfacts.org, 786,545 marijuana-related arrests were made in 2005, the majority of which resulted in minor possession charges. The cost of keeping an average offender in prison is $160 a day or $58,000 annually. What benefit is this providing for our country?

Statistics show that during the past 40 years, the DEA has had no effect on the fluctuation of drug-related crime. The agency has put forth the same effort during the highs and lows of the drug market; and though they were accredited for the low, they were unable to prevent the high.

One of the primary targets of the drug war is use and sale of marijuana. Even though marijuana, untainted with other substances, produces fewer risks than a cigarette, the government continues to allow the sale of cigarettes and continues to arrest those who use or sell marijuana. According to the Surgeon General, the chronic use of marijuana presents less harm than the chronic use of cigarettes. Over 4 billion dollars were used in 2005 for the prevention of marijuana. In the United States, 20.9% of the adult population is estimated to be a smoker, nearly 23.3% of high school student population and 8.1% of middle school student population. If one in five of these people are expected to die, which should be considered the more egregious crime? The primary purpose of government continues to be ignored by our elected representatives: the protection of the people. The illogical and futile war on drugs has proven to be more important to our representatives than the wellbeing of millions of their constituents.

manjum@thepinelog.com
Misbah Anjum is a biology freshman from Houston.

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Postcards from the Lege

Naishtat proposes medicinal marijuana defense

By Corrie MacLaggan | Thursday, February 15, 2007, 11:20 AM

Austin Democrat Eliott Naishtat today filed a proposal in the House that would make it easier for those who use marijuana to treat medical conditions to defend themselves in court.

The proposal, House Bill 1534, would not legalize marijuana, but it would create a medical defense for prosecuted patients. A jury would determine whether the patient had a valid medical reason for using marijuana. The proposal would also protect doctors who talk to their patients about marijuana as a treatment option.

“There is ample evidence that marijuana is beneficial to people suffering from the chronic and debilitating pain associated with cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis,” Naishtat said in a statement.

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Column - : Drug prohibition

<span class=postbigbold>What cop learned from years on front line</span>

amarillo.com
Opinion: Howard J. Wooldridge


(Re: Dec. 12 guest column, "Prison not part of solution to drug, alcohol addiction," by Hal Don House.

Dec. 16 rebuttal, "Arguments against jailing drug users have become totally wasted," by James A. Farren.)

DALLAS - As a retired police officer and detective who worked in the trenches of the drug war for 18 years, I heartily agree with House's remarks.

I know my profession has failed to make a difference in drug price, purity and availability. Indeed, these crucial factors are worse than they were 36 years and a trillion U.S. tax dollars ago. Illegal drugs are more plentiful, cheaper, stronger and easier for our kids to buy.

However Texas wants to handle these dangerous illegal drugs, giving the money to law enforcement is a waste. Our efforts are like a mosquito bite on an elephant - and every cop knows it.

As a police officer, I learned the difference between consensual and non-consensual crimes. Prosecutor Farren knows that when someone sells Willie Nelson marijuana and Willie smokes it, that is a consensual crime - wholly different from murder, rape and robbery.

Farren would have us continue this New Prohibition, even as young teens are shot dead every week because this "moral" policy provides them with a job option that gets them killed.

A policy which many say is in place to protect kids actually causes hundreds of deaths a year and tens of thousands of destroyed young lives.

People like House and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition know that ending prohibition would put drug dealers out of business, and they would take along with them their violence, death and corruption. Al-Qaida would no longer be able to earn $3 billion in one year selling drugs. The police could focus more on drunken drivers and child predators.

I challenge Farren to name one advantage, one benefit to Texas resulting from the policy of drug prohibition.

Envision a world where all drugs are sold in state-regulated stores, not on street corners by teens putting their lives in danger.

Imagine a world where the federal police focus on national security threats, not medical marijuana gardens.

Picture a world where terrorists don't buy weapons from money made selling drugs; where felony crime drops more than 50 percent; and local police can concentrate on murder, rape, robbery - crimes with real victims.

How about a world where if you or a loved one develops a drug problem one day, you'll see a doctor, not a judge?

We can have this world if our drug prohibition laws are repealed.

Howard J. Wooldridge is education specialist for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition in Dallas. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and Mothers Against Drunk Driving

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Posted on Mon, Jan. 28, 2008

The times may be changing on the marijuana issue

The Star-Telegram
By JAY ROOT
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

<table class=posttable align=right width=300><tr><td class=postcell><img class=postimg width=300 src=bin/timmons_tim.jpg></td></tr><tr><td class=postcell><span class=postbold>Tim Timmons of Garland suffers from debilitating spasms due to multiple sclerosis. He uses medical marijuana to ease his pain and is challenging politicians to "come arrest me" for smoking it. </span></td></tr></table>A few years ago, politicians who dared to suggest anything other than jail time for marijuana users were considered pro-drug fringe candidates.

Not anymore. Now all the major Democratic presidential candidates are offering more lenient stands on medical marijuana, and White House hopeful Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, has made ending the federal drug war a centerpiece of his campaign.

"There has definitely been a change in the political climate for liberalization," said Tim Lynch, a criminal justice expert at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank. "I think the people are ahead of the politicians, especially of the Washington, D.C., politicians, on this issue."

Polls have consistently shown that Americans support marijuana for medicinal purposes: a whopping 80 percent said so in a 2002 Time/CNN survey. In the same poll, about a third approved total legalization, but 72 percent said recreational users should be fined, not incarcerated.

Even in Texas, where medical marijuana legislation has never gotten off the ground, the Legislature recently passed a law that allows prosecutors to bypass the jail booking process for certain marijuana offenses. It doesn't change the penalty, but the legislation marks Texas' first lenient approach to marijuana in years.

Experts say the more tolerant approach has its origins in California, where in 1996 voters made it legal for people to smoke marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. More than a decade later, 12 states permit some use of medical marijuana, and several others, including Michigan, Arizona, New York and Illinois, are likely to consider initiatives in 2008, said Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. A ballot initiative in Massachusetts aims to go further by decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, making it similar to a traffic ticket.

"I think in 10 years, people will look back at the laws that prevented people from using marijuana as a medicine and say, 'What the hell were they thinking?'" Mirken said.

Of course, not everybody is leaping on the bandwagon. All of the top Republican presidential candidates have expressed opposition to the use of medical marijuana, and the White House drug czar continues to sound the alarm about making it legal under any circumstance, much as it was before California voters approved the landmark referendum.

Research has shown that teen drug use has declined steeply nationwide. A study released in December showed that illicit teen drug use has dropped sharply from levels a decade earlier, with marijuana use in particular showing steep declines.

In testimony before Congress last summer, Dr. David Murray, chief scientist in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, hailed the positive trends among teens but said medical marijuana had sparked violence and robberies in California. He also warned about the negative health effects from inhaling smoked marijuana.

Murray described marijuana as "a substance without medical utility" and expressed concern about the wave of state referenda allowing its use.

"The medical marijuana movement is at best a mistake, at worst, a deception," Murray said. "The people pushing for this are cynically manipulating tragic tales of suffering."

Don't tell that to Tim Timmons. The Garland resident, who has multiple sclerosis, says politicians are the ones manipulating the marijuana issue to appear tough on crime.

Though he takes $3,000 worth of prescription drugs a month -- between 18 and 23 pills a day -- he says marijuana is the only thing that calms the debilitating spasms in his legs and lets him sleep at night.

Timmons has sent scores of letters to state lawmakers, inviting them to see for themselves how marijuana visibly calms his spasms.

Otherwise, he has repeatedly issued this public challenge to state lawmakers who oppose medical marijuana: take him to jail themselves if they think what he's doing is wrong.

"Come arrest me. I'm here waiting for you," Timmons said in the presence of a Star-Telegram videographer, after smoking marijuana from a pipe at his home. "You can put the handcuffs on me."

State Rep. Elliott Naishtat, D-Austin, has twice failed to pass a bill designed to help seriously ill people who use marijuana for things such as pain and nausea relief.

Last year, the politics of the issue were so toxic in the Legislature that Naishtat didn't even get a public hearing on his bill.

The lawmaker stresses that his bill would "not legalize anything" Instead, it would give an affirmative defense in court for people who use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

That way, courts could release those who have a medical reason to smoke it.

"It gives these individuals, if they happen to get arrested, a chance to go before a jury and say, 'I'm not a criminal. I'm sick. My doctor recommended it. It helps me live. Please let me go home.' And juries could say, 'Go home.'"

[palmspringsbum]

Texas Patient Wins Landmark Acquittal in Medical Marijuana Case

Marijuana Policy Project
March 27, 2008

(Long Island, N.Y.) A Texas patient who uses medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of HIV won acquittal on marijuana possession charges March 25 based on a “necessity defense.” Though such a defense - which requires the defendant to establish that an otherwise illegal act was necessary to avoid imminent harm more serious than the harm prevented by the law he or she broke - has rarely been successful in Texas, the jury took just 11 minutes to acquit Tim Stevens, 53. The trial was hotly contested.

Stevens had never been in trouble until Amarillo police arrested him for possessing less than 4 grams of marijuana. As a result of his HIV infection, Stevens suffers from nausea and cyclical vomiting syndrome, a condition so severe that he has required hospitalization and blood transfusions in the past.

Extensive research has established medical marijuana as an effective treatment for nausea and vomiting associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer chemotherapy, uses recently acknowledged by the prestigious American College of Physicians. Key in establishing Stevens’ medical necessity was the testimony of Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau for the state of New Mexico’s Department of Health.

“This case proved to be a testing ground for public attitudes toward medical marijuana,” said attorney Jeff Blackburn, who represented Stevens. “Even in a very conservative part of a very conservative state, jurors were willing to listen to the facts about medical marijuana and give Tim a break, and I hope this case will help to create a trend in Texas.”

“The common sense and decency exhibited by this Amarillo jury is typical of what we see from voters around the country,” said Ray Warren, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., and a former North Carolina Superior Court judge. “The American public doesn’t want to see seriously ill patients arrested and jailed for simply trying to stay alive with the help of medical marijuana. It’s time for legislators in Texas and around the country to follow the public’s lead and take action to protect patients, so that no one battling a life-threatening illness has to live in fear of arrest.”

[palmspringsbum]

Successful Medical Necessity Defense in Texas Marijuana Case


Reason Magazine
Jacob Sullum | March 27, 2008, 12:44pm

This week Tim Stevens, a 53-year-old Amarillo man who smokes marijuana to relieve the cyclical vomiting syndrome associated with HIV infection, used a necessity defense to win an acquittal on a possession charge. His attorney, Jeff Blackburn, says this appears to be the first time the defense, which argues that breaking the law was necessary to prevent a harm worse than the one the law is aimed at preventing, has been successful in a Texas marijuana case.

Stevens, whose vomiting has been so severe that he was hospitalized and received blood transfusions, was arrested last October after an anonymous tipster saw him sharing a joint on a friend's porch in Amarillo and called the police. He had about a twelfth of an ounce of marijuana, resulting in a Class B misdemeanor charge that carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. He probably could have gotten off with a fine or a year's probation, Blackburn says, "but he didn't want to; he wanted to take a stand." The trial lasted about 10 hours on Tuesday, and the jury came back after 11 minutes with a "not guilty" verdict.

Blackburn says the expert testimony of Steve Jenison, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau in New Mexico's Department of Health, helped establish that marijuana is demonstrably effective at treating nausea and superior in some ways to the legal alternatives. (For one thing, unlike the synthetic THC capsule Marinol, it does not have to be swallowed and kept down, a feat for someone suffering from severe nausea.) Blackburn, who was not at all confident about the prospects for Stevens' unusual defense in a "very, very conservative area," also credits "a streak of independence" and a "distaste for government" that he says is common in West Texas. "I think these jurors like the idea that they get to make a decision about what the law means, about when it applies," he says, "and I don't think they were shy at all about deciding how valuable the law proscribing marijuana use really is."