By Gerry Georgatos

 
During the last few years it became my personal witness how broken justice is in this nation when I came across Indonesian children in Australian adult jails. In campaigning for the freedom of these children I went to every agency in Australia and ultimately to the Prime Minister. No-one wanted to know, and everyone was prepared to pass the buck.
I confronted Prime Minister Julia Gillard about the fact that there were Indonesian children in our adult prisons. She froze – in silence, maintaining that attrition.
People should never be considered as expendable. Only those who have something to hide run from the truth.
Ms Corby has been treated by the Australian Government as if she is expendable, just as were the Indonesian children I came across, many of whom we have since freed.
It is time the Australian Government began in sincerity its duty to Schapelle Corby – in that they commit to her release from prison, even if it means owning up to their own horrid mistakes, to shameful conduct, to various complicity, to the fact that the 4.1 kilos of marijuana were probably planted in Ms Corby’s luggage by corrupted individuals – within transit – within Customs. In recent times, Australian Customs officers have been exposed as the middlepersons in drugs trafficking.
 
Full Article:
http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=633928

By Scott Gacek

 
 
HARRISBURG, PA — A comprehensive bill to allow the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania is expected to be filed Monday by Senators Daylin Leach, a Democrat, and Mike Folmer, a Republican.
Intentions to introduce bi-partisan bill, the Governor Raymond Shafer Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act, was announced late last year.  The bill has received input from lawmakers, healthcare professionals, parents, patients, activists from local and national marijuana law reform organizations, and medical marijuana industry professionals from other states, including Colorado.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/27131/pennsylvania-medical-marijuana-bill-filed-monday/

ANNIKA SMETHURST

 
Cheri O’Connell with daughter Tara and son Sean. Source: News Limited
 

Victorian mum Cheri O’Connell spoke out about the benefits of liquid marijuana, which she says saved her epileptic daughter who was only given months to live.
“These issues in terms of approving medications are issues for the Therapeutic Goods Administration under the Federal Government,” Dr Napthine said.
“They base their decisions on the best medical advice and science. That’s the way these decisions ought to be based and I support that process.”
Eight-year-old Tara was having up to 60 seizures a day but has made a miraculous recovery since her mother , Cheri started giving her liquid cannabis made in Nimbin.
 
Full Article:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/desperate-parents-turn-to-medical-marijuana-in-lastditch-effort-to-improve-their-childrens-lives/story-fni0fit3-1226799787147

JOE DOLCE

Lester Grinspoon
 
Last week the New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote a piece,“Weed Been There, Done That,” which slammed the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and other states and labeled users stupid at worst and indolent at best. Among other criticisms, he wrote that cannabis is “not a particularly uplifting form of pleasure and should be discouraged more than encouraged.”
In making his case, Brooks cited long-debunked research and relied on old stereotypes that serious scholars discredited decades ago. One of the leading thinkers on the topic is Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Harvard psychiatrist and author of the 1971 classic, Marihuana Reconsidered, an exhaustive study of the scientific, medical, cultural and legal arguments against the plant. That book stripped away the myths, lies and distortions surrounding cannabis and sparked an enormous debate in this country and around the world. Joe Dolce spoke to the doctor, who is 85, from his home in Newton, Massachusetts.
 
Full Article:
http://www.mademan.com/dr-lester-grinspoon-on-david-brooks-weed-been-there-done-that/

Erin Cox | The Baltimore Sun

By Steve Fox

(Alex Nabaum for The Washington Post)
 

By NICK SCHWARTZ

By Aaron Bracamontes \ El Paso Times

Songwriter and Texas personality Kinky Friedman exhibited an unorthodox approach when discussing his campaign for Texas Agriculture Commissioner in the Democratic primary on Friday.
The 69-year-old leisurely chews on a cigar, cracks jokes, has no problem dropping an F-bomb and quotes Winston Churchill while clearly stating he supports the legalization and taxation of marijuana during an editorial board meeting at the El Paso Times.
Friedman said he doesn’t smoke pot, unless it is with country music legend Willie Nelson, “and that is just Texas etiquette.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_24889981/kinky-friedman-supports-marijuana-legalization

by LORI GEARY – WSB-TV

 During a 2014 Legislative preview Ralston said, “I have some concerns about it quite frankly but I think, let’s take the politics out of it, and look at the science and hear the medical professionals.”
 
ATLANTA — One of the most powerful lawmakers in Georgia is giving parents of kids who suffer from severe seizure disorders hope.
House Speaker David Ralston told Channel 2’s Lori Geary that while he has some concerns, he’s open to the idea of legalizing medical marijuana.
 
Full Article:
http://www.times-herald.com/local/20140110-House-Speaker-Medical2014-01-10T13-04-42

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqIwaiMt08w