Wisconsin lawmaker Greg Underheim of Oshkosh is
circulating a bill to legalize medical marijuana in the state. As I mentioned last week, recent
polling in Wisconsin has shown that 75% of the people of that state support legalization of medical marijuana, including over 65% of Republicans. With numbers like that, it amazes me that Jim Sensenbrenner, the man who introduced
this bill in the House, continues to represent the voters of that state. Here are some highlights of the bill:
- Ten year minimum sentence for someone over 21 who passes a joint to someone under 18.
- Two year minimum sentence for someone who witnesses drug use and does not report it within 24 hours.
His likely opponent in 2006 is
Bryan Kennedy. Apparently, the district was recently redrawn and now contains parts of heavily Democratic Milwaukee. Kennedy is getting a lot of recent attention from
Kos as
well.
Jim Sensenbrenner is one of our most irresponsible legislators and, despite a reputation for being a small government advocate, has introduced one of the ugliest 'big government' bills in years. Kennedy should have a cakewalk here, but I see absolutely no mention at all of this in any of his campaign info. I realize that the drug war is somewhat of a fringe issue, but when 75% of your state supports an issue that your opponent voted against, you run with it. Using medical marijuana as a campaign issue is not necessarily good nationwide, but for specific races like this one, it can capture more libertarian voters who have always voted for Sensenbrenner, but aren't paying very close attention to what he's actually doing in Washington.
In other news...
Irv Rosenfeld, one of the few people still being supplied with medical marijuana by the federal government, is disqualified from a sailing event by the US Anti-Doping Agency.
An excellent op-ed in the Charlotte Observer from Robert Sharpe, policy analyst for the nonprofit organization Common Sense for Drug Policy.
Canadian sexual abuse crusader David McCann is pressing charges against embattled Canadian seed seller Marc Emery, but he's actually a supporter who believes that if Emery is tried in Canada, he won't be extradited.
Here is a disgraceful article in an online webzine aimed towards the black community. It is a rundown of the most commonly trumpeted myths about marijuana under the headline THE BLUNT TRUTH ABOUT MARIJUANA: Five Facts Parents Must Know. I'll be firing off an email to the author shortly. What a mess.
Libby at Last One Speaks also discusses an article showing the downside of Oregon's anti-meth legislation
Nikos at the D'Alliance discusses pot 'abuse' and the NFL, a topic I wrote about a while back, and might revisit at length in a future roundup.
Hartford, CT is hosting an October 21-22 Conference to evaluate how the city spends its resources in drug law enforcement. The conference will have a variety of anti-prohibitionist voices providing input.
Grits For Breakfast finds that drug offenders in Texas spend much more time in jail awaiting trial than people who've actually committed real crimes.
Pete at Drug WarRant has more on the recent activity in rural Massachusetts.
Also via Drug WarRant, this article about the resignation of Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, who is unhappy about Karzai's unwillingness (or likely his inability) to root out drug lords from the Afghan government.
And also from Afghanistan, Drug War Chronicle Editor Phil Smith is in Kabul for two weeks reporting on the latest in Afghanistan's booming poppy trade.
Hairy Fish Nuts finds an incident where cops found someone's marijuana stash while chasing a bear.
Medical marijuana user Montel Williams is upset about the recent Supreme Court ruling (I think the actual article is old, but it's a new post on the NORML TV site).
Ashley Smith, the Atlanta woman who was held hostage by murder suspect Brian Nichols, apparently gave Nichols some meth during the ordeal. He wanted pot, but she only had meth.
From CNN, a coke ring was allegedly being run by two men in a Pennsylvania prison.
Guangdong province in China is beefing up their drug war spending.
A report about a 22-year-old member of the Japanese armed forces being arrested for marijuana possession. His is the sixth arrest on the base.
Chaos Digest finds a Dutch company that's after my heart.