Danielle Salisbury | Jackson Citizen Patriot

CITIZEN PATRIOT | NICK DENTAMAROGary Muntz is a cancer patient and veteran of the Vietnam War. He was charged with a drug crime for violating the medicinal marijuana law.

First, it was post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by his service in the Vietnam War. Then came two bouts with throat cancer, which left him without a voice box.
Now, 61-year-old Gary Muntz has a new ailment — lymphoma, a slow-moving cancer of the lymph nodes.
He speaks only with the aid of a mechanical device pressed tightly to his neck. Long periods outside his home require a wheelchair, and he often cannot sleep.
Marijuana helps.
It relaxes him, Muntz said. It wards off the nightmares of his childhood, of his time as a paratrooper in Vietnam. It eases pain that sometimes prevents him from getting out of bed.
Michigan voters approved the state’s medical marijuana law for people like Muntz, who has a card authorizing him to use the drug for medicinal purposes, said his lawyer, Robert Gaecke.
“It was designed for people who really are suffering, that you can see, and this guy was it,” Gaecke said.
Muntz, however, was charged with a felony drug crime for violating the law.
His case illustrates the muddle surrounding the 2008 voter-enacted legislation and the uncertainty that police and prosecutors face about how to enforce it.

Read complete article here:

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/12/pot_charge_against_vietnam_vet.html

By Thomas
U.S. V Steele is a landmark cannabis case that could change federal medical marijuana law for all 50 states.
This is the first case that any defendant in the United States has been allowed to raise an affirmative medical marijuana defense in federal court.
Cormac J. Carney, is the presiding federal judge in U.S. v Smith. In a courageous and historic ruling he decided that the medical marijuana issues will be heard as testimony. This is the first time this has happened in U.S. history.

Read complete article here:

http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2010/12/11/u-s-v-steele-federal-judge-allowes-medical-marijuana-defense/

Marijuana Component Eases Diabetic Heart Woes
The main nonpsychoactive ingredient of cannabis reduces cellular signs of cardiac stress and dysfunction, according to preclinical results appearing in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Read complete article here:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/LabNotes/LabNotes/23853

By Andrew Reynolds
November’s midterm elections included ballot measures in five states that would either legalize or decriminalize marijuana. Even though every measure failed, the results show that a substantial support base for marijuana reform may exist and perhaps is ready to be heard.
In California voters rejected the idea of legalizing and taxing marijuana represented by Proposition 19. However, 46 percent of voters voted in favor of the measure.
Consider the 12 states that have already passed decriminalization legislation, which converts small marijuana-related offenses from criminal offenses to civil infractions or fines.
According to Keene State College Political Science Professor and N.H. State Representative Chuck Weed, throwing marijuana-related offenders in jail for a “victimless crime” is unacceptable.
“It is not unsafe; it hasn’t killed anybody. All of the studies suggest that it’s certainly less addictive than alcohol, less addictive than tobacco. No one has died from overdoses,” Weed said. “Yet, an awful lot of people have their lives ruined because of being thrown in jail, and that isn’t appropriate,” he added.

Read complete article here:

http://www.keeneequinox.com/news/marijuana-prohibition-seen-as-overwhelming-failure-1.2425394?pagereq=1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet

Photo: DenverWestword
Lacy Lee moments after being grabbed May 1 by a Denver cop for holding a joint — during a pro-pot march. The offense carries a $100 fine, but cops were unable to come up with the joint in question. Case dismissed!

Read complete article here:

http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/12/one-joint_prosecution_dropped_–_because_cops_lost.php

By Paul J. von Hartmann
This document is intended to serve the public interest through the formal, public, international exercise of “civilian demand” that the First Amendment of our Constitutions, both State and Federal, be obeyed, due process followed, and our “freedom of religion” respected in Hawaii. As the newly elected Governor of Hawaii, Mr. Abercrombie now has the responsibility of defending and enforcing the First Amendment of Constitutions, both State and Federal, which secure Roger Christie’s “freedom of religion” as they secure all of our “god-given, inalienable, natural rights.”
Reverend Roger Christie’s imprisonment is, in essence, an attack on our national security by unobjective, chemically-addicted courts. A counter-productive “drug war” has been waged against Cannabis agriculture because hemp farming competes with the chemical industrial addiction imposed on our society for the past seventy-three years. The world’s most useful agricultural resource has been outlawed because dominant economic interests cannot compete with Cannabis in a free market.
The contemporary crucifixion of Roger Christie in Hawaii is as blatant and obvious a proof of corporate corruption as the crimes of pollution being committed against the Natural Order. From Gulf war atrocities to “drug war” atrocities; from the Exxon Valdez to BP’s Gulf of Mexico disaster; from hydraulic “fracking” to the production of radioactive waste, America’s addictions to “Gaiacidal” chemicals and processes is precipitating evermore blatant extremes of self-destructive behavior.
Reverend Christie has been disingenuously accused as a “danger to his community” when it is common knowledge that he has been a loved and widely respected peacemaker in his Big Island community for more than a quarter of a Century. It is criminal that he is being denied bail simply because he has been maliciously characterized by an employee of an unobjective court.
Until Reverend Christie is released, a part of every American remains in prison. The magnitude of injustice in Roger Christie’s being denied due process of law, is measured in the incalculable sacrifice of American patriots who fought to secure the legacy of freedom being violated and disrespected. In truth, there is no true freedom anywhere as long as a man of peace is wrongly imprisoned.
Please show consideration in the form of compassion, leniency, mercy, clemency and active, proportionate appreciation for the good work done by Roger Christie in mitigating the hard drug epidemic in Hawaii. It is well-known that a shortage of ‘pakalolo’ in Hawaii translates into increased hard drug and alcohol abuse, gang violence, crime…
I trust that Mr. Abercrombie’s will recognize the opportunity for true leadership, presented by the polar shifts in medical science, public perceptions and political realities surrounding Cannabis ecology, agriculture, manufacture and trade. As Governor of a State that is being “broiled” by UV-B radiation, I would think that you of all people would recognize the critical “strategic” significance of Cannabis, recognized by seven American Presidents as being “of first necessity.”
A timely response to this “Civilian Demand” is requested, as every day that Roger Christie is robbed of in prison is precious time that is gone forever.
Mahalo! for your vision of a “New Day” for Hawaii. I trust it is one where the bright sunshine of truth and clear rivers of freedom will begin to flow under your leadership and courage.
Paul von Hartmann
California Cannabis Ministry
former Hawaii resident,
Oahu 1958-1960
Maui, 1988-1992
Big Island 1998-1999
http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2010/12/09/release-reverend-roger-christie-immediately-a-formal-public-international-exercise-of-civilian-demand-for-the-rule-of-law-to-be-respected/

By Eric W. Dolan

The only way to keep marijuana from growing in national parks is to legalize it and regulate production for consumer use, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) told the US House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The House was in the midst of a debate on HR 1540, a bill which declares that the cultivation of marijuana on federal lands is an “unacceptable threat to law enforcement and to the public.”
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Walter Herger (R-CA), calls on the Office on National Drug Control Policy to work with federal and state authorities to develop a strategy “to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating on federal lands.”

Read complete article here:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/congressman-polis-calls-marijuana-prohibition/

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Photo: Zazzle
​New data revealed on Thursday shows that Vermont state government spends more than $700,000 annually to pursue Vermonters for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Based on the new findings, state Rep. Jason Lorber (D-Burlington) announced plans Thursday to introduce a bill that would decriminalize the possession of less than one ounce of cannabis.

Read complete article here:

http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/12/pursuing_small_marijuana_cases_costs_vermont_700k.php#more

By William Breathes

It won’t make the body scans or perverse groping security pat-downs any easier to handle, but medical marijuana patients traveling to one of five states from DIA can now pack their cannabis openly instead of, say, hiding it in a shampoo bottle.
In the last few months, there have been several stories about TSA regulations allowing patients to fly with marijuana from states that allow it to Maine, Michigan, Montana, Rhode Island and even Arizona because laws in those states recognize out-of-state MMJ prescriptions. There is even video of an unidentified patient toking from a Volcano vaporizer in an airport terminal:

Read complete article here:

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/12/flying_tsa_medical_marijuana.php

The Fourth District Court of Appeals finalized its order that overturns a lower court’s dismissal of Qualified Patients Association’s suit against the city of Anaheim for closing it down.
The court says Anaheim can’t base its pot shop limits on the U.S. prohibition of cannabis.

“Obviously, the city is disappointed the California Supreme Court did not grant review,” Moses Johnson, an attorney representing Anaheim, said.
Does this mean that dispensaries across the Golden State can fight back against laws like the one in the city of L.A. that has put most of its pot shops out of business?
Probably not. But maybe.

Read complete article here:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2010/12/marijuana_dispensary_ban.php