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Reply-To: 
From: "Reverends Tucker & Baldasaro" 
To: "'Honourable Paul Martin'" 
Cc: "NEWS ROOM EDITORS - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" 
Subject: Re: Christmas Tree of Life
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 11:14:14 -0500
Organization: Church/University of the Universe

Reverend Brother

Walter A. Tucker

 
Reverend Brother

Michael J. Baldasaro

 

The Assembly of the Church of the Universe
544 Barton St.,  E., Ham., On., L8L 2Z1
Voice: (905) 522-3247 Internet: www.iamm.com

 

 

December 24, 2003 Via E+Registered Mail

 

The Honourable Mr. Paul Martin

Prime Minister

House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Prime Minister,

 

Re: Christmas Tree of Life

 

As Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Assembly of the Church
 of the Universe, we greet you 
and congratulate you.

 

It is our understanding that your Government 
will in the near future, draft a new law 
regarding Marijuana which we consider to be The Tree of
Life and which our congregation 
uses as a Sacrament in Ýcommunication with God.

 

We therefore feel that it is our responsibility to 
communicate our wish to be considered 
when legislation is structured as being exempt from the 
prohibition the same way as other 
sects were and are exempt from the alcohol prohibition.


Surely Prime Minister there must be some way for 
us to contribute to the welfare of our 
State and its People.


It is not our wish at any time to be in confrontation 
with  Government. Perhaps you could 
suggest a venue or an avenue where a confluence of 
interests with your Government might 
be possible.

 

In closing, we wish you and yours long life 
and happiness and all the good 
things that all of us long for.

 

 

Be well and prosper.

In peace, bless you, bless us all.

 

 

 




Reverend Brother Walter A. Tucker

Reverend Brother Michael J. Baldasaro

 

WAT/MJB

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My 2003 High Times Cannabis Cup Photos

The last cup I attended was the incredible 1996 one which occurred just after the Nov. '96 marijuana election victories in California and Arizona.




My first fun event was getting in an unmarked van driven by uniformed Russian bell-hops, and being whisked away to Coffee Shop Rusland; Amsterdam's oldest licensed coffee shop (City of Amsterdam cannabis coffee shop license #1). Free hot dinner was given to me. Then, various other tempting things were offerred such as hash, marijuana, fresh orange juice, sandwiches, etc.



The beautiful lady in the middle is Special Agent Natasha - the Owner of Rusland.


When I finally decided to make the rounds and sample the different entries after my kidnapping experience, I ran into two chaps. We visited about 5 shops in one mid-morning session before breaking for a great pizza lunch. The guy in the middle is from Japan; the guy on the left is from California.



The next day, I made it to Chris Bennett's excellent lecture about various biblical references to pot use, and even to Jesus Christ's.


This beautiful lady from Silverton, Oregon, Cynthia King, sold me a bunch of herbal remedies made with hemp oil, bees wax, tangerine oil, and other exotic herbs.





The Herb Shed
P. O. Box 822
Silverton, OR 97381
voice mail: 503 - 874 - 9423


My only real disappointment was the lack of any strong legalization/reform exhibitors like NORML. However, the Cannabis Action Network was represented this year. I also met members of a (I think) brand new South Carolina NORML Chapter from Columbia, S.C. The members were all hanging out at Rusland Coffee Shop when I met them, and seemed to be solid, sincere, and strong mainstream people. They looked like mom and pop types, though I didn't get to really know them. I also met quite a few other very nice South Carolina people including one guy who had prescriptions for Marinol, Demerol, Percodans, etc., but who kept getting hassled for pot. He told me that Marinol was 100% useless and quite weak in its effect on him.

That our government wastes even one second putting surveillance on this guy is something the GAO should study and evaluate!

I also still haven't met brave Alabama Marijuana Party founder Loretta Nall. Famous vaporizer promoter Eagle Bill seems to be an expert on the old Georgia NORML. (Remember Teresa Yarborough?)

The whole issue of whether pregnant moms who test positive for THC should or should not be allowed to keep their children, should be openly debated by the scientific, medical, legal, human rights, and media community. Scientific evidence obtained in an unbiased manner should be obtained from places where pregnant moms who use pot are allowed to keep their kids. If such a thing is prohibited in the first place, there is no way unbiased data can be obtained.

I recently spoke with a Florida mom (a biker's wife) who told me of the horrible, demeaning, abusive, and damaging act committed against her in a certain Southern U.S. state. When she gave birth to her last kid, she tested positive for THC in the hospital. She was arrested and jailed, just out of the hospital, for 30 days. That meant that she was not allowed to bond with her new infant immediately.

She and her husband relocated to the Florida panhandle coast. I actually don't know if Florida is more liberal or not in this regard. There really ought to be a major study on which states allow moms to come up THC positive, and which ones don't.


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Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 7:27 PM

Subject: Reuters.com - Dutch Approve Cannabis as Prescription Drug - Mon September 01, 2003 07:20 AM ET

jb (james@medicalmarijuana.org) has sent you this article.

ÝDutch Approve Cannabis as Prescription Drug

Mon September 01, 2003 07:20 AM ET

By Paul Gallagher

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands Monday became the world's first country to make cannabis available as a prescription drug in pharmacies to treat cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis patients, the Health Ministry said.

The Netherlands is making the drug widely available to chronically ill patients amid pressure on countries like Britain, Canada, Australia and the United States to relax restrictions on its supply as a medicine.

Dutch doctors will be allowed to prescribe it to treat chronic pain, nausea and loss of appetite in cancer and HIV patients, to alleviate MS sufferers' spasm pains and reduce physical or verbal tics in people suffering Tourette's syndrome.

"From September 1, 2003 pharmacies can provide medicinal cannabis to patients with a prescription from a doctor. Cannabis has a beneficial effect for many patients," the Health Ministry said.

The Netherlands, where prostitution and the sale of cannabis in coffee shops are regulated by the government, has a history of pioneering social reforms. It was also the first country to legalize euthanasia.

Two companies in the Netherlands have been given licenses to grow special strains of cannabis in laboratory-style conditions to sell to the Health Ministry, which in turn packages and labels the drug in small tubs to supply to pharmacies.

As well as pharmacies, 80 hospitals and 400 doctors will be allowed to dispense five-gram doses of SIMM18 medical marijuana for 44 euros ($48) a tub and more potent Bedrocan at 50 euros.

The Health Ministry recommends patients dilute the cannabis -- which will be in the form of dried marijuana flowers from the hemp plant rather than its hashish resin -- in tea or turn it into a spray.

HIV SUFFERERS WELCOME MOVE

A British drug firm pioneering cannabis spray medicine to give pain relief for multiple sclerosis patients is hoping to launch the product in Britain later this year.

The association of HIV patients in the Netherlands welcomed the government's move to make cannabis available in high-street pharmacies.

"We are glad the government recognizes that for some people it can improve the quality of life," said Robert Witlox, managing director of HIV Vereniging. The association has called on health insurers to cover the cost of the drug like any other.

The government, which recognized many chronically ill people were already buying cannabis from coffee shops, said it should only be prescribed by doctors when conventional treatments had been exhausted or if other drugs had side-effects.

The government said it would start distributing to pharmacies Monday. The Health Ministry's Office of Medicinal Cannabis has a monopoly on wholesale distribution of the drug, grown in laboratory-style conditions to ensure medicinal purity.

The ministry estimates up to 7,000 people in the Netherlands have used cannabis for medical reasons, buying it in coffee shops. It said this could more than double once it was available from pharmacies in pure medicinal form.

Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use. It was used as a Chinese herbal remedy around 5,000 years ago, while Britain's Queen Victoria is said to have taken cannabis tincture for menstrual pains.

But it fell out of favor because of a lack of standardized preparations and the development of more potent synthetic drugs.

Critics argue that it has not passed sufficient scientific scrutiny at a time when researchers are trying to determine if it confers the medical benefits many users claim. Some doctors say it increases the risk of depression and schizophrenia. ($1=.9145 Euro)

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(((Excerpts)))

Prison beds mean area jobs

A bill passed Wednesday makes room for another 3,000 inmates in Northwest Florida jails.

By Kendall Middlemas; (Panama City, FL) News Herald Writer; 850 747-5079 ;kmiddlemas@pcnh.com

The Panhandle will get more than 3,000 new prison beds as part of a prison-funding bill the Florida Legislature passed Wednesday.

Rep. Allan Bense, R-Panama City and the House speaker-designate, said Northwest Florida was the "most logical" place to add prison beds because of available expansion room and infrastructure.

Among Panhandle counties, Santa Rosa and Washington counties will see the biggest boost in beds. Each will be home to new 1,380-bed annexes at existing state prisons.

The bill provides $25.8 million - its largest single appropriation - for the first phases of construction of the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution annex. It also provides $2 million for planning and permitting the Washington Correctional Institution annex.

Additionally, the bill includes $4.8 million for construction of 131-bed dormitories at prisons in 14 counties, including the Apalachee West Correctional Institution in Jackson County, Liberty Correctional Institutional and Wakulla Correctional Institution.


...... ...... ...... ......


The state's prisons hold approximately 77,000 inmates. Officials say they need about 1,800 more to handle an unexpected spike in admissions.

The prisons admitted 2,823 inmates during June, the most in any month in more than a decade. The panel that forcasts prison populations expects that trend to continue.


...... ...... ...... ......


The bill which provides roughly $65.9 million overall for new prison beds throughout the state, enjoyed relatively smooth sailing through both houses of the Legislature, but it was not without critics.

Some legislators objected to a provision that exempts the Santa Rosa annex and the 14 new dormitories from competitive bidding requirements.


...... ...... ...... ......


(((summary: due to the emergency nature of the need for more prison capacity, there wasn't enough time for the competitive bidding process.)))


...... ...... ...... ......


Some legislators also tried to expand the bill to include funding for diversionary and crime-prevention programs, which they argued would help ensure that the cycle of building new prison beds is not endless.


...... ...... ...... ......


(((summary: due to the emergency situation of needing new prison capacity, there was no time to debate the alternatives. The state has more money than expected and has decided to spend it on more prison capacity.)))


...... ...... ...... ......






















The Assembly of the Church of the Universe
Morning Star Mission of God, 544 Barton St, E.; Ham., On., Can. L8L 2Z1, (905) 522-3247
www.churchoftheuniverse.com

June 3, 2003 (Via E-mail & Personal delivery)

The Corporation of the New City of Hamilton
And The Committee of the Whole
c/o Mary Galliger, Coordinator, Committee of Whole
City Clerk's Office
71 Main Street West
Hamilton, Ontario
L8P 4Y5

Dear Representatives,

Re: Filling in the Clearwater Quarry at the Fletcher Creek Conservation Area Formerly Clearwater Abbey, Church of the Universe, Front of the Gore, Puslinch, On., N0B 2J0

We request that the Committee of Whole entertain our Delegation at their Meeting on June 11, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. and that the following motion for the following relief be granted, upon the following grounds:

That any plans of the Hamilton Conservation Authority and/or the Corporation of the City of Hamilton, which are and/or may be in operation to fill in the aforesaid Quarry be Ordered to be Stopped Immediately and put on hold pending a final determination of the proceedings commenced in Ontario Court of Justice (County of Wellington) Court File No. 4286/03, (wherein the City and Authority were served as Interested Parties), in Reverend Tuckerís constitutional challenge to the Decision of His Honour Judge E.G. McNeely, pronounced June 21, 1983 at Guelph, from which no appeal has ever been heard and determined according to law.

We hope that there will be no need to resort to the Ontario Courts of Justice to stop this atrocity.

The Committee of the Whole should simply grant our request, especially in light of the probable changing of some itís Members after the 2003 Civic Election and likely changes thereafter to the composition and attitude of the Hamilton Conservation Board Members, and especially in light of the desire of many of Hamiltonís Citizens to keep the Quarry open so it may be continued to be used and enjoyed by everyone and their children and their childrenís children, just as it has been used for spiritual and personal growth, appreciation and fulfillment since its creation by God when the waters rushed in to end Canada Crushed Stone Limited Quarry Operations in the 1930's.

Thank you in advance for your re-consideration and help.

Be well and prosper.
In peace, bless you, bless us all.

Reverend Brother Walter A. Tucker
Reverend Brother Michael J. Baldasaro

wat/mjb

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This item sent by Rev. Sam of the Assembly of the Church of the Universe; Hamiton, Ontario, Canada.

The Hamilton Spectator
April 19, 2003

Marijuana May Slow Effects of Aging

By JEREMY LAURANCE
The Independent, London

Cannabis, the third most popular recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco, could become as widely used as aspirin in the 21st century. There is growing evidence that its compounds may protect the brain against the damaging effects of aging.

Although the drug distorts perception and affects short term it may also help prevent degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and motor neurone diseases.

Scientists at the Institute of Neurology in London, say the "huge potential" of cannabis compounds is emerging, as understanding of its biological and pharmacological properties improves. Professor Alan Thompson and his colleagues wrote in Lancet Neurology: "Basic research is discovering interesting members of this family of compounds that have previously unknown qualities, the most notable of which is the capacity for neuro protection."

The results of two trials in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are expected this summer and the first cannabis-based medicines are being considered for licensing.

None of them will have the psychoactive properties of the raw drug when smoked or ingested. Thompson's team says: "Even if the results of these studies are not as positive as many expect them to be, the fact that we are only just beginning to appreciate the huge therapeutic potential of this family of compounds is clear." Cannabis was thought to affect the cells like alcohol by seeping through the cell membrane. But in 1990 the first cannabinoid receptor was found, which revolutionized the study of cannabinoid biology. The discovery revealed an endogenous system of cannabinoid receptors, similar to the opioid system, to which the drug bound when it was ingested.

Just as endorphins are the body's natural equivalent of heroin, a fatty acid called anandamide (Sanskrit for "inner bliss") is the natural equivalent of cannabis.

The natural system of cannabinoid receptors plays a role in maintaining the balance of chemicals in the brain, which regulate the rate at which neurons fire.

By altering this system, scientists believe it may be possible to slow or prevent the process of brain decay. David Baker, lead author of the Lancet review and senior lecturer at the Institute of Neurology, said: "Alzheimer's disease is the result of very slow degeneration caused by the death of nerve cells. We probably don't see symptoms until 30 to 40 per cent of the nerve cells have died. "Something regulates this decay and if we could slow it by even a small fraction we might delay by a decade the point where someone loses their memory."

But cannabis is a double-edged sword, with potentially damaging side effects.

"It may be possible to develop drugs that allow selective targeting of different areas of the brain and spinal cord and there may be a way of limiting the negative effects," Baker said.

A study by Baker and colleagues, in which the natural system of cannabinoid receptors was removed in mice, showed that the rate of nerve loss was increased, indicating its role in preserving brain function. The study, accepted for publication in a medical journal, "really clinches the argument," Baker said.

He added: "Cannabis has gone from the drawing board into trials in record time, largely because of patient pressure. Hopefully it will work and be acceptably safe."

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Doctor Used Marijuana Successfully to Cure Drug Addiction and Alcoholism

I tried to link to the article at the website www.expatica.com, but I couldn't get the link to work. Here's the attempted link: click here.

Important Note: Marijuana is NOT equivalent to methadone. Methadone maintenance or methadone substitution, while effective for heroin addiction, is not equivalent to marijuana usage to cure narcotic addiction. Methadone, like Oxycontin, heroin and morphine, is also a narcotic.

In contrast, marijuana is not a narcotic regardless of what political bosses, terrorists, or criminals may tell you!

Posted June 16, 2003. Received from the Church of the Universe, Canada.

Dear Editor:

RE: Dedicated or addicted

On the subject of drug abuse by police, you may be interested to know of a conversation I had with Dr Willis Butler, a well-known physician, and cannabis legalization advocate in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Dr Butler's father was also a physician, who in fact, founded Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Honolulu. (Ed. Note: Kaiser Permanente is one of America's largest health care insurance, HMO, and hospital companies, mainly in the western states.) The elder Dr Butler's specialty was treatment of addiction, mostly alcoholism.

According to his son, many of his father's patients were law enforcement professionals with alcohol and drug abuse problems. This took place in the 1920s, before cannabis prohibition.

Cannabis was prescribed by Dr Butler to successfully treat alcoholism and drug addiction. In as few as twelve applications of cannabis, an alcoholic could be cured.

In my own circle of friends and people I have interviewed in the course of my work, cannabis has been used by several people with years of hard drug problems.

They were able to substitute cannabis for their previous heroin dependence, and eventually quit drugs, without withdrawal symptoms.

One of the most compelling arguments for an end to cannabis prohibition is its effectiveness in "building a wall between the people and hard drugs - that wall is [cannabis]", according to the Dutch Minister of Justice, interviewed in the film "The Hemp Revolution".

The fact that cannabis scarcity engenders hard drug abuse is a dimension of the current situation that is severely under-appreciated. Cannabis is a safe and effective herbal therapeutic, for whom mankind has largely lost respect. It is our great loss.

If you care to know more about the true value of cannabis, please feel welcome to visit the web pages below.

For peace,

Paul von Hartmann
Project P.E.A.C.E.
(Planet Ecology Advancing Conscious Economics)

Editor's note: the websites mentioned were not posted at "www.expatica.com". Try using Google.

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May 6, 2003 : Supreme Court of Canada to Hear Caine, Malmo-Levine, and Clay Cases.

On May 6, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeals in Caine, Malmo-Levine, and Clay, challenging the prohibition of cannabis that has existed in Canada since 1923. The evidence in these cases, accepted by the Courts, clearly established the lack of any significant harm to others or society from marijuana use alone, and that the harms caused by the prohibition law itself, to millions of Canadians, has been and continues to be substantial and disproportionate. The Canadian Senate Committee and even a House of Commons Committee appear to generally agree, though differ as to the solution.

Once the Court cases are over, the only remaining way to try and change these laws is through Parliament and that means 'politics'.

Help us stop this unprincipled and unjust threat to the liberty of all persons in Canada. Send your donations (Yes,we do accept anonymous and even cash donations) 'in trust for Norml Canada' to:

NORMLCANADA
c/o John W. Conroy, Q.C.
Conroy and Company
Barrister and Solicitors
2459 Pauline Street
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada V2S 3S1
Tel:(604) 852-5110
fax:(604) 859-3361
e-mail: jconroy@johnconroy.com
Web:http://www.johnconroy.com
AND our new website being built : www.normlcanada.org.

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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   MARCH 14, 2003
>
>          Medical Marijuana to be in Dutch Pharmacies March 17
>
>                   Doctors Can Prescribe Immediately;
>                Government Preparing to License Growers
>
> CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, ............................. 202-462-5747 x113
>          MPP director of communications         or 202-215-4205 (cell)
>
> WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Under a groundbreaking new law effective March 17,
> physicians in the Netherlands will be able to prescribe medical
> marijuana and pharmacies will dispense it to patients as they do other
> prescription medications. This will make the Netherlands the first
> country to treat marijuana in the same manner it treats other
> prescription drugs.
>
>    In order to establish a stable, quality-controlled supply of the
> medicine, the Dutch government will shortly begin contracting with
> medical marijuana growers, who will be required to meet specific
> standards covering product quality, as well as security rules designed
> to prevent diversion into the illegal market. Spokesman Bas Kuik of
> the Dutch government's Office of Medicinal Cannabis said that he
> expects the first contract to be signed "somewhere near the end of
> March," with the first crop reaching pharmacies in September. Once
> this system is in place, pharmacies will be required to dispense only
> medical marijuana from these government-licensed providers. Until
> then, they will be permitted to obtain the medicine from producers of
> their own choosing.
>
>    While the Netherlands is the second nation to formally sanction the
> medical use of marijuana, it is the first to incorporate it in its
> standard system of prescription drug regulation. The Canadian
> government established a medical marijuana program in July 2001, but
> only a limited number of patients have made it through the complex
> permission process. In addition, Canada has yet to provide these
> patients with a legal means of obtaining their medicine, a problem
> that has led to continuing litigation.
>
>    "This is yet another indication of how out-of-step the U.S. is on
> medical marijuana policy," said Robert Kampia, executive director of
> the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "While the
> Netherlands is guaranteeing patients safe access to quality-controlled
> medical marijuana through doctors and pharmacies, we're still fighting
> just to keep people with cancer and AIDS out of jail. Americans like
> Ed Rosenthal face up to 40 years in federal prison for providing the
> same service to patients that the government of the Netherlands is
> ensuring through licensed producers and pharmacies. The rest of the
> world increasingly regards the U.S. policy of criminalizing medical
> marijuana patients and providers as cruel and pointless."
>
>    The Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis can be reached by telephone
> at 011-31-70-340-5129. Spokesman Bas Kuik can also be reached by
> e-mail at bm.kuik@minvws.nl. The new Dutch law and implementation
> regulations can be viewed at http://www.mpp.org/Dutch .
>
>    With 11,000 members nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project works
> to minimize the harm associated with marijuana -- both the consumption
> of marijuana and the laws that are intended to prohibit such use. MPP
> believes that the greatest harm associated with marijuana is
> imprisonment. To this end, MPP focuses on removing criminal penalties
> for marijuana use, with a particular emphasis on making marijuana
> medically available to seriously ill people who have the approval of
> their doctors.
>
>                                  ####

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Provincial Parliament Elections in Holland Today May Oust P.M. Balkenende

(From Hans de Witt, NORML Canada Dutch Correspondent)

((( NOTE : Balkenende's party (the Christian Democrats) and the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA), the two parties already in power, won the provincial parliament elections on March 11, so Balkenende is still the P.M. for a while.)))

(11 March 2003 AMSTERDAM) Today ELECTIONS again!!! What a great democracy... probably 42% of voters (maximum) will take the time to vote... for Provincial States... (Like North-Holland) (South-Holland, Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe, Groningen, Friesland, Utrecht, ZEELAND, .... oh yes, and Flevoland, the new one. (I forgot!) 13 Provinces.... such a small country!
BUT!
Trick!

The Provincial State-members may vote for the seats in the FIRST chamber! (75 seats) so it IS of national importance... because... if the First Chamber has a Majority opposing the Second Chamber, then the Second Chamber can't pass a law.

Ed. Note : this is the same arrangement of the United States Senate, and the state legislatures prior to the 17th amendment of 1913. Prior to the 17th amendment, the various state legislatures in the U.S. voted for U.S. Senator. In other words, the state legislature of New York, for example, elected the U.S. Senators from New York State ; not the people of New York.

In Holland the Erste Kamer (First Chamber) members are elected not by the Dutch people directly, but by the provincial parliament members. The Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber) is just the name of a cannabis coffee shop, and has nothing to do with politics any longer. Just kidding. The Tweede Kamer is the lower house, elected directly by the Dutch people.

If you call me tonite at 22H00 ...or so... I'll know if whether if Balkenende will make the formation (and him PM) OR NOT! HIS secretary of Justice wants to close at least a few hundred coffee shops! and TODAY he has to write a letter to De Tweede Kamer about the bugging practices of the Queen!

What a joke!

In other news: this country contains 100.000.000 (one hundred million) chickens! And now we have this disease called Bird-Pest... sort of deadly influenza.. and probably a few million chicks will die! Or get killed as a measure to prevent disease spreading... They are working on BIGGER number of destruction of sick chicks PER HOUR... because they can't keep up with the virus!

But it seems... or that's at least what they tell us.. that the chickens in supermarket are all born and raised in Thailand! Never eat chicken again in my life.

by the way... I never drink BEER... i hate it... makes me sleepy and muffled.. I think it was invented for soccer-fanatics...:)

Going to fullfill my democratic RIGHTs now... Vote PRO - Vote S.P.
(Socialistic Party will double again!)
My party... the only party with radio commercials!
I've spread 200 folders in my neighbourhood.

From the province of North-Holland
your socialist commentator,
Hans d. W.
Amsterdam


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Marijuana IS Mexican.

Origin of the word "marijuana" and/or "marihuana": [Mexican Spanish]
(Aug. 1997 reissue of the American Century Dictionary, published by Time-Warner Books, copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.)



Pancho Villa in Action.
Click here for a good quality history link on Pancho Villa.

Pancho Villa, Revolutionary and Founding Father of Modern Mexico , Was (Probably) a Famous Marijuana User.

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"Now Is My Chance to Light Up ...."

It isn't legal here. I arrived in Zurich at about 7:00 in the morning. A Monday morning. After checking in at my hotel, I went out to investigate the rumors that marijuana might be readily available to an ordinary tourist like myself. The main drag in Zurich is called the "Bahnhofstrasse" because it originates at the bahnhof, the main train station. On Bahnhofstrasse, I walked into a nice bookstore. There I found a good English language guide book to Switzerland, the Let's Go ; Austria and Switzerland 2003 , edition published by Macmillian in England. ((( Harvard University seem to no longer have any connection to the Let's Go series. )))

There in the bookstore was a remarkably nice lady working. I decided to ask her if she knew where I could find some marijuana.

She told me immediately : "If you go to the Niederdorf, there you will find it." I asked her to make sure she understood what I was talking about. This was a very beautiful woman. She said, "Of course. I understand. You want to smoke some, yes ?"

So I left for the Niederdorfstrasse. This is the main drag in the "old city" of Zurich down the hill from the University. It is a pedestrian only, medieval like street with lots and lots of nice restaurants, shops, etc.

Soon, there, I saw a sign for a hemp store.

Inside the store, another nice lady told me that marijuana wasn't legal in Switzerland, but that she would be glad to sell me some shirts or pants made of hemp. She told me they had no cannabis for smoking. But she pointed out that nearby was another shop


where a person was once able to obtain great quality cannabis for making tea. But they had no marijuana to smoke. She also warned that the cops had made them quit it, or so she thought, but wasn't sure.

Guess what ? My hotel was on a small lane which becomes Niederdorfstrasse. I was already there.

When I arrived in Zurich at my hotel, I began a "sleep-fest" that totally surprised me. I slept probably 10-12 hours per day for about 7 days. I didn't realize how tired I was. Traveling to Switzerland is re-charging my batteries.

I was pleasantly shocked to discover that my hotel in Zurich did not require prepayment for my room. And I stayed there a full week, paying at check out. I am also at this moment running up a bill at an Ayurvedic rejuvenation clinic for about 4 or 5 thousand Swiss francs , and this clinic has not demanded even one cent from me so far. I've been here for 5 days. My stay here includes the room, 3 meals a day, and the panchakarma treatments from ancient Indian traditional medicine. Incidentally, the doctor here knows absolutely nothing about medical or casual use of marijuana, so I dropped the subject and the USE of herb so as not to bother the other patients or my doctor. The doctor is French. However, the Indian doctors that I have spoken with years ago seemed to think it was OK in small doses, but at the moment, there are no Indian doctors here at this clinic.

The clinic also provided me with unrestricted access to a direct dial phone in my room, without pre-payment, with full long distance service, so I've been able to maintain the NORML Canada site from my room. In Zurich, there are plenty of great internet cafe's, etc., for that.

Neat things about Switzerland : Trains and marijuana. europeans never went through the traumatic experience that we Americans endured in having our rail transport system mostly de-commissioned.

I've never been a serious medical marijuana user, but I sometimes feel poignantly proper in wishing to use pot when there is a smoking car available. Pot is less harmful than tobacco, so why shouldn't it be used on european smoking cars, which still exist in large numbers ? There is some research which shows that the simultaneous use of tobacco and marijuana results in less damage to the lungs than the use of tobacco alone. Therefore, according to scientific research, the use of pot in the smoking car could very well be beneficial to the other passengers who are using tobacco by itself.

In Holland, I had seen stoners using pot on trains scolded by the long suffering Dutch train conductors. In other words, despite all the cannabis activities in Holland, nobody feels entitled to smoke it when riding in the "smoking section" of a Dutch train. Peculiar. The clever Dutch seem to all know that "smoking sections" were constructed, at a cost of many millions and millions of Francs of public finance, exclusively for the use of those smoking tobacco. Tsk... tsk... tsk....

The other day here in Switzerland, I deliberately got onto the smoking car of a train running between Lucerne and Zurich. For the first leg in my car, I was surrounded by cigarette smokers. I wanted to light up a joint, but nobody around me seemed like the type who wouldn't mind. Soon, to my relief, all of the tobacco addicts left at the same time. I thought to myself, "Now is my chance to light up ..."

But then a whole new crew marched into "my" car and sat down, so I repressed my urge to roll up a joint. When the train began to move again, the new passengers all at once got out pouches of tobacco, tobacco rolling papers, and little green baggies of marijuana, and all started to roll up large Euro-style conically shaped joints. Then they started smoking the pot/tobacco mixtures. About that time, the conductor walked into the car to check the tickets. After getting a whiff of the super potent mix being smoked, he just walked through and out of the car, ignoring everybody, without saying a word.

I still don't know if it was against the rules there or not to smoke pot on the train.

I also noticed, for the first time, that mechanical wind-up watches were still available from many different companies in Switzerland at prices usually well over $1,000. I hadn't noticed any such watches for sale in America for many years at the types of discount stores I usually go to (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, jewelry stores at malls, etc.) Even wooden clocks, from the Swartzwald (Black Forest) are still being made and sold.

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Stoner colleges - pot friendly universities -
marijuana decriminalized countries with U.S. accredited colleges or universities.

Freedom Friendly - Study Abroad - Western/Eastern Europe - Full Time Campi

Study just 2 months in Western/Eastern Europe, or get an entire 4 year undergraduate or graduate degree there,
fully accredited and transferable standard credits - U.S. system.

International Baccalaureate Degree

Netherlands ranked number one by U.N. for raising kids!

General Advice 1:Short Term Study Abroad : check here, then check with the Study Abroad office at your current school, or that department of a nearby large university.

General Advice 2: as a foreigner visiting other countries, you may not have all the rights of a local citizen in terms of "political consciousness", or "political opinions". I suggest keeping your opinions about drug policy in a particular country discreet until you learn the ropes, and know all your rights.

NOTE: Voters in Oakland, California legalized marijuana for adults in 2004.
Voters in Denver, Colorado legalized marijuana for adults in November 2005.






(15 February '07 Chicago Tribune) U.S./U.K. Rank Lowest in Industrialized World for Quality of Child-Raising Environment. I have been advocating for years that students go to europe.

Schools in europe which cater to international students, and which teach in English:

K-12 institutions: I don't have a list of them, but in every european country there are at least one or two English language American or British schools. In Switzerland, there are a few boarding schools for high-school aged kids in the K-12 age group. These K-12 or high schools are usually called, "international school", or "American school", or "British school".

WARNING!!!! Don't tell anyone at customs/immigration that you use medical marijuana legally, or believe pot should be legal, etc. Border bureaucrats have their own rules regardless of laws, politics, or policies in the interior regions of countries!

How this project began:

The U. S. Department of State says that there are four million Americans currently living abroad (recently an article stated that one million of these are in Mexico). Some go to U.S. accredited institutions located in foreign countries, or send family members to such schools.

Study Abroad Colleges with Full Time 4 Year Programs, at least: things change all the time, so there may be other schools at this moment with full time academic programs in europe. I'm not talking about "semester abroad", or short term "study abroad" programs. I'm talking about full time 4 year American accredited colleges and universities in europe, and also graduate programs. A student could do their full degree over there without ever setting foot in the U. S. Most, or all, of the following schools have dorm housing available. Some of them are branches of U.S. institutions, some are not. Some are branches of large european schools.

In most cases, these branch campi (???campuses??? This is not correct Latin, is it?) operate independently, and take applications directly.

Languages. English is the only language of instruction at these U.S. system accredited institutions, except those which are part of a larger institution.

Schiller International University in Leysin, Switzerland, has an intensive language section for English and French. St. Louis University, Madrid, Spain, has Spanish language undergraduate and graduate majors. John Cabot University, Rome Italy has an Italian Studies undergraduate major that includes language. Franklin College in Lugano has French and Italian language majors. But most of the schools on this list generally don't have really intensive language courses, if at all. At best, they have introductory and/or intermediate level college language courses, usually for that country's own langauges only, and sometimes only on request, if at all. English is the only language of instruction at these U.S. system accredited institutions, except those which are part of a larger institution such as Erasmus Univesity, which is a Dutch institution.

Also, in every european city, there are non-university language courses in every conceivable language, even not languages which correspond to your location, and mainly offered to the business community.

Ironically, there are more language programs with study-abroad possibilities offered by almost any U.S. community college, or major university, inside the U.S. Check at your favorite institution.

Major european languages at these colleges and universities in europe with full-time dedicated campi ("campuses" seems incorrect in Latin) are taught usually according to this pattern: French in France, Belgium, or Switzerland; German in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and perhaps Belgium; Spanish in Spain; Dutch in Holland and Belgium; Danish in Denmark; and Italian in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria.

Visas. I know this sounds contrary to logic, but most first-time business or educational visitors to europe often go over and get established on a tourist visa. Tourist visas are said generally to be only for three months, but allow complete freedom of movement in the european customs and immigration union area which now includes about 30 countires. 3 months? (You might check with other students of similar nationality about visas if you first visit as a tourist.) NOTE: if you're absolutely sure you're going to stay for a while, go ahead and get the required visa before you go.

Negatives of Visas. For many residents studying on a visa, travel can be very restricted. Tourists have more freedom. It is good to know the rules and how strictly they are enforced. You can check with embassies or consulates before you go, but I recommend asking many students actually at the institutions what the policies actually are.

Webster University has a 2 month "mini-term" course structure at all of its Euro-campuses, campusis, no, campi...(???campuses??? This is not correct Latin, is it?) which means you can try out the campus as a tourist for just one to three concurrent full credit courses without needing a visa anyway (but the Webster University website states that even those there for only 2 months now must register with the "foreign police"). While there for two months, you can investigate visa realities after 9/11. If you don't like it, you can transfer the credits you earned to any other American system college and return home.

In the event that you decide to go full time there, you will most likely have to return to your country of origin in order to get the required visa before you depart for full time studies abroad which can take many months.

Work. Americans can legally live and work in europe if they follow the rules. Also, America has individual treaties with various countries on this subject, regardless of Euro-wide policies. In the work area, visa and work-permit rules are very strict from what I have heard, these days. But who knows, things change all the time. An organization which has information about getting jobs, etc., is expatica.com.

Other schools/work: there are all sorts of schools in europe, but technical schools, as far as I know, are restricted to fully registered nationals with housing permits, etc., etc. You can apply to mainline european universities though. Erasmus University in Rotterdam has a lot of courses and programs taught in English, as do other european Universities. England and the U.K. are probably your best bets in terms of technical training, as a foreigner. I know a person from the U.S. who has lived legally in europe, fully registered etc., for almost 30 years, and who even married a legal european resident, and this person cannot attend any technical training schools in France, for example, which seem to be only for those actually born in France. Language is not the issue; this person is fully fluent in French and a few other european and Scandinavian languages and got their Masters Degree from Univ. of California. However, this same person was able to get a certificate from a travel industry school on the West Coast of the U.S., and can now go back to europe to seek work legally in the travel industry. You have to know the rules.

Price/Financial Aid. At Webster University, a student need only take one course initially at a cost of about US$ 1000.00, for tuition alone for a two month full credit course - three courses would be a little more than $3,000.00. Regular American financial aid is easily available to all who qualify; also there may be scholarships available both from within the U.S. and at the foreign locations, provided locally.

Alaska, California, Denver: if you think city or state law can shield you from Federal law, there are such places in the U.S. that have legalized marijuana, or who ignore it in practical terms. Also, you may find unusual places like the Netherlands where local police ignore marijuana usage despite this being completely contrary to law; but beware - some people get busted in certain areas while others are left alone; but arrests are at all time highs in the United States.

Some English-language, U.S. academic system schools operating in europe:


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Coffee Shop Surveillance System. Like your friendly neighborhood convenience store, Burger King, or other store front, the Dutch coffee shop provides an ideal place for police to conduct surveillance on unsuspecting "drug criminals". In other words, one justification for allowing cannabis coffee shops to exist is that police work regarding DRUGS, is made much easier for the surveillance freaks. I reported this dutifully in my first video (tape 1). But the drug police can also utilize any other public store front for general surveillance. But surveillance is not the main reason that the Dutch allow cannabis coffee shops.

The main reason is that it's simply a civilized approach.




































































Dutch Government Still in Flux.

Note : the two winning parties were the Christian Democrats and the Labor Party, but no coalition has been formed.

Bos (the coalition party (PvdA or Labor) leader) means indeed Woods - forest.. but he's not going in cabinet.. he remains in 2nd Chamber (parliament) (this supposed to be better for 'the Face' of the PvdA party as a whole ... a unity....)

The Prime Minister (Christian Democrat) is called Balken (made of woods) -ende (end) a heavily reformed (i.e., Dutch Reformed Reformed Church) guy from Zeeland !! His parents are from what we call 'the black stockings' church... Not your regular type of sexy nylons or stockings.. but real non-transparent black woolen stockings... opposite of sexy!! No Television, these types don't even go to swimming pool on sunday! He looks a bit like Harry Potter... they say.. so he's a joke already! The point with CDA (christian democrats party) is... they contain all types of christians... well... we DO HAVE also 2 other christian parties... they are even more strict... SGP (something like..."governmentally Reformed Party...) and the Christian Union... which is also a fraction of Reformed church but more leftish... more christian in fact :)

In Surinam there is NO politics. The former president Bouterse.. is still wanted for murder here... and trafficing cocaine! He's not allowed one step outside Surinam or will get arrested and extradited to Holland.. Remember the 1982-murders...? (ed. note : NO) 15 people got shot in the back!

At the moment we have NO government... we HAVE new parliament... but as the task of parliament is to control government (cabinet) ...they have nothing to do... but watch (and comment) Formation! Everybody scared the WAR starts... withOUT us having even a secretary of Defense...haha!

So, do not worry about coffeeshops... all will stay the same.. they can't change anything.. more and more EU countries begin to see the facts!

    The facts are:
  • -division between hard and soft drugs..
  • - no new heroin addicts (crack is a LOSER drug)
  • -lowest number of drug deaths in the WORLD!
  • -independant medical institute TESTs xtc-pills on big house parties... (P.M. Balkenende wants to stop with that - stupid!)

I think they are stricter now with AGE controlls... if the police sees 1 person under 16 in a coffeeshop... they might close it! As I told you... it happens regularly that youngsters ask me to go buy some stuff for them.... even PAY you for it! I refuse it... even though I started smoking at 15 myself !

The stuff i'm smokin now for 2 years maybe... is EU 7.50 per gramm.. but they give me always 2 gramm for 11.50... which is analogue to weed policy ... I mean ALL weed they sell is 7.50 p/g OR 11.50 for 2 gramm.. maybe 3 years the same now...

"Can't keep me away from Jah!" Buju Bantan

see you

Hans de Witt

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Dutch Political Scene(2) Report from Hans de Witt in Amsterdam.

((( Parliamentary Elections on Jan. 22nd. )))

+++breaking news+++

(11 January 2003 AMSTERDAM) For the first time in maybe 5 or more years I heard an elected parliamentary member, in this case Loesewiese van der Laan, number 2 on D66 list, on the radio plead for the legalization of soft drugs... read hashish and marijuana ; this in order to make the police more available for their real work, i.e. getting REAL criminals!

It's a pity it's not going too well with this party, Democrats '66 (found in 1966).. at the moment with 7 seats in parliament, but according to the polls, shrinking.

Also a pity I didn't hear any other party agree with this standpoint YET.. maybe will follow soon. Debates all over the place now.

+++local observation+++

This week I was stopped twice by young girls of 15..."Hey Sir" very polite for that neighbourhood... and then I could guess it already... "Can u please get some weed for us...?" So that's the end of "gedoogbeleid" - "gedogen" ...it's harder, stricter... I answered: "No, I'm not going to... I could get in trouble ..."

It happens regularly that kids have to show identity-card for confirmation of their age, in the coffee shop that is.

So I refused twice!!! Bill, does this mean I'm an old (moralistic) daddy now ??? To the other girls I also said: "Dont start with it, you will all end up broke!"

your local correspondent,

Hans de Witt

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Dutch Political Scene Report(1) from Hans de Witt in Amsterdam.

(7 January 2003 AMSTERDAM) The wife of Eur. Central Bank president, Greta Duisenberg... has become a pro-Palestinian activist... her husband... prominent PvdA guy 68 years now... sort of european Greenspan ... must be pretty embarrassed with her... but he still supports her..! Now he said he wants to retire this year.. but his successor... a French guy called , Jean Claude Trichet... is under investigation by the Justice department...! FRAUD...! And he's gonna be the Director of all european Money!

I think we should get a German Bank president... not a French one! Djjjeeee... the French will never be europeans... all they want is a French KING...like Giscard d'Estaing... who thinks he is Napoleon himself!

Did you realize? The French Revolution is a BIG JOKE... they were the ones who ended monarchies in europe... they chopped heads of all Royal families in France in 1789 or so... BUT since then all their presidents are acting as IF they are born Kings themselves... nothing ever changes~~!

In England everything is measured by bookmakers... so... the odds are against this or that.. Now... the odds of a war against Iraq have changed from 60-40 into 40-60 PRO war against Iraq... so that's a big switch!

So it's 40 PRO now... 60 against...

and if the bookmakers say it... count on it! ^___^

yeah... Zappa rules... I wished I could send you more of this music... would give you energy! NRG!

It's real incredible to have this 1972 tapes in my cd-player now.... almost every day!

O.. a guy from Breda (Brabant) stole 8.5 million dollars worth of MY favorite hashish ! Shit... King Hassan... the best there IS.... and now he got shot dead in Morocco together with father in law... who happened to be a captain of industry there..! On the street in ... damn capital of Morocco...?

I think the media are controlling the elections already from scratch! Wait... we get new Parliament as from January 22nd.

They've put FOUR so called critical, quasi-pseudo-left-wing journalist type sort of heavy weights in the Prime Time news hour 10-11 pm NOVA remember?? ... and I believe it sucks... all PvdA voters!

When I tell to my friends, they say I'm paranoid.. but I'm not!

(Ed. Note : PvdA is the Dutch labor party, similar to the party of Tony Blair of Britain. The european labor parties are these days run more often by businessmen rather than old-time labor leaders. Hans de Witt has nostalgia for the old days of traditional labor/"socialist" type politics. For that reason, he is partial to this party : www.sp.nl/en, The Dutch Socialist Party, which is the only real "left wing" party left in Holland.)

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NORML Canada President, Attorney John Conroy's Analysis of 2 January Windsor, Ontario Court Ruling.

(Jan. 5, 2003) While a reading of this recent case by a non lawyer may seem to be quite technical, and it has been described by some as a loophole, in fact it results from the application of "the principles of fundamental justice" under s.7 of Canada's Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 1982 Canada became a "Constitutional Democracy" as opposed to a "Parliamentary Democracy". The Constitution, and no longer Parliament, became supreme and it fell to the independent courts to interpret and apply it and ensure the government complies with it.

S.7 of the Charter provides that everyone in Canada, not just citizens, have the right to life, liberty and the security of their persons and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

In a case called Morgentaler(1988), the Supreme Court of Canada(SCC) struck down the abortion provisions of our criminal code holding essentially that they caused a woman to choose between her liberty and her health. Also that the "therapeutic abortion committees" were unconstitutional because they operated without legislated criteria against which one could measure the exercise of their discretion. A women had to apply for permission to get an abortion and could be turned down because there were no criteria. The government was given a certain period to try and make those laws comply with the Constitution but did not do so and abortion became legal in Canada.

In Parker(2000), the Ontario Court of Appeal, following Morgentaler, held that the section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act prohibiting possession of cannabis was unconstitutional because it caused a person with a serious medical need to similarly choose between their liberty and their health, because there was no provision for medical access. S.56 of the Act was held unconstitutional because it gave the Minister an absolute discretion to grant exemptions for medical use but, again, with no criteria to govern it. Consequently the Court gave the Government 12 months to fix it up.

The Government's response was the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations. They did not move to have s.56 amended by Parliament. While those Regulations appear to take away the Minister's discretion by setting up various criteria for various categories, the discretion has really just been shifted to the bureaucracy, but according to criteria in easily changeable "regulations" as opposed to in the "Act". Regulations are passed by the Federal Cabinet (the Governor General in Council) and are easily amended or withdrawn. To amend the Act requires Parliament, not just the executive Cabinet.

In the Young Persons case out of Windsor, Ontario, the Court held that the Parker decision required the Federal Government to put the matter before Parliament to amend the Act so that it set out the criteria governing any discretion given to the Minister or others by regulation or otherwise. The principles of fundamental justice require that the criteria or 'legislative standard' be set out in the Act, not just the easily changeable regulations. Because the government had failed to do so it had failed to comply with the terms of the Ontario Court of Appeals decision in Parker within the 12 month period allotted and consequently s.4, the possession section became, or rather remained unconstitutional.

Consequently s.7 of the Charter, and specifically "the principles of fundamental justice" require that before "liberty" or the "security of ones person" can be affected there must be some legislated criteria set out in the Act against which any discretion given is measured.

In my opinion the same applies to s.60 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act which purports to give the Cabinet an unrestricted discretion to add to or remove drugs from the schedules to the Act if the Cabinet, not Parliament, deems it to be "in the public interest". This term has already been held to be unconstitutionally vague and as being without settled meaning by the SCC in the cases of Morales and Pearson(1992) striking out such as a basis or criteria for denial of bail. There should be legislated criteria, that should probably be "risk of harm" based, in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, so that "cannabis" which does not present a significant risk of harm to others or to the public as a whole, could not be prohibited.

John W.Conroy,QC
CONROY & COMPANY
Barristers and Solicitors
2459 Pauline Street
Abbotsford, BC V2S 3S1
Telephone: (604) 852-5110
Fax: (604) 859-3361
email:jconroy@johnconroy.com
Website: www.johnconroy.com

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REPORT FROM NORML IN NORWAY : (Nov. 28, 2002)

The situation in Norway:

Cannabis is illegal.

If you sell or cultivate marijuana, 
you can face sentences up to two years.
Commercial growers and smugglers can get 
21, but it's more likely you get
5-7 years.

NORMAL is an organisation with 2500 members.

We're workinng to reform the marijuana laws in many ways:

1)We update our website on a daily basis 
with news from around the world,
with a special focus on the nordic countries; 
Sweden, Denmark, Finland and
Norway.
2)We publish a magazine for cannabis 
culture in 5000 copies.
3)We have great MMM happenings in Oslo 
and Trondheim. For 2003 Bergen will
be added to the list.
4)We send letters and videos to politicians 
to inform them about why it's so
important to relegalize marijuana.

You can say the situation in europe has made 
it a lot easier for NORMAL to
build a network. Politicians and lawyers 
are now joining the organisation,
and several people have come forward 
admitting personal use. The last one to come
out of the closet was our former Prime 
Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Best regards

Peter Mikkelson
--
Norsk Organisasjon for Reform av Marihuana Lovgivningen
Hjelmsgt. 3, 0355 Oslo        22 46 39 84 / 99 32 59 61
http://normal.no                  mailto:post@normal.no


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Message from Umberto Iorfida

most recent NORML Canada prez.

PARDONS for Canadian Marijuana Convictees now Available !

(December 11, 2002 ; King City, Ontario) Email from Umberto Iorfida : "Incredibly, enough, on Dec 11th, I received a package from the National Pardon Centre of the Attorney General's office of Canada, instructing me how to assist the many people that will be applying for a pardon in reference to the pending legal changes in the marijuana laws, and encouraging N.O.R.M.L. Canada to help direct persons affected, to their office in Montreal ,Quebec, Canada. (It's the only central records office for the entire country.)"

The National Pardon Centre is in downtown Montreal. Umberto has various forms and phamplets which he is mailing out to interested persons. To cover postage, copying, and clerical costs, please send $5 (Canadian) to the following address, and Umberto will mail you the required forms and phamplets, as well as information on contacting a knowledgeable attorney who can help with the pardon process. You may also contact the National Pardon Centre yourself in Montreal.


Send $5, or more, (Can.) to :

Umberto Iorfida
14846 Jane Street
King City, Ontario L7B 1A3
tel. 1-(905)-833-3167

email u.iorfida@sympatico.ca

Interestingly, Umberto has said that if the major law changes occur which are being discussed in Parliament, applying for a pardon may not be necessary soon if a general amnesty is granted to all Canadians with criminal records for pot.

But who knows what Parliament will do. As a means of putting pressure on the government to move in this direction, Umberto believes that applying for a pardon now could have a very positive effect on lawmakers to thoroughly decriminalise marijuana.

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ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
 (GENERAL DIVISION)  
(Now the Superior Court of Justice)


JUDGMENT


          
The Honourable Mr. Justice McCart
 August 14, 1997 at London, Ontario, Canada

Professor Alan Young, Professor 
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Counsel for the Applicants/Defendants

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, Respondent (Prosecution) and CHRISTOPHER CLAY  
and JORDAN KENT PRENTICE Applicants (Defendants)


HIS HONOUR: I wish to turn now to some statistical 
evidence which was introduced by various of
 the witnesses and which I accept as valid. I heard 
from a most impressive number of 
experts, among whom there was a general consensus 
about effects of the consumption of 
marijuana. From an analysis of their evidence 
I am able to reach the following 
conclusions: 

 



1.    Consumption of marijuana is relatively harmless 
compared to the so-called hard drugs
 and including tobacco and alcohol; 



2.    There exists no hard evidence demonstrating 
any irreversible organic or mental damage
 from the consumption of marijuana; 



3.    That cannabis does cause alteration of mental 
functions and as such, it would not be
 prudent to drive a car while intoxicated; 



4.    There is no hard evidence that cannabis consumption 
induces psychoses; 



5.    Cannabis is not an addictive substance; 



6.    Marijuana is not criminogenic in that there 
is no evidence of a causal relationship
 between cannabis use and criminality;



7.    That the consumption of marijuana probably does 
not lead to "hard drug" use for the 

vast majority of marijuana consumers, although 
there appears to be a statistical 

relationship between the use of marijuana 
and a variety of other 

psychoactive drugs;



8.    Marijuana does not make people more aggressive or violent; 



9.    There have been no recorded deaths from 
the consumption of marijuana;



10. There is no evidence that marijuana causes amotivational syndrome; 



11. Less than 1% of marijuana consumers are daily users;



12. Consumption in so-called "de-criminalized 
states" does not increase out of proportion 
to states where there is no de-criminalization. 



13. Health related costs of cannabis use are 
negligible when compared to the costs 
attributable to tobacco and alcohol consumption. 




Reverend Brother Walter A. Tucker & Reverend Brother Michael J. Baldasaro
 
Church of the Universe, 544 Barton St., E., Ham., On., L8L 2Z1




Telephone: 905-522-3247
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-----Original Message-----
From: inkfetish [mailto:inkfetish@rogers.com] 
Sent: December 12, 2002 12:07 PM
To: TheChurch@iamm.com 
Cc: Church/University of the Universe; Reverend Damuzi
Subject: The impossible happened, they withdrew the "Marijuana" charges
and I am free!!!!!!!!

Ý
----- Original Message ----- 
From: inkfetish 
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 11:57 AM

I wanted to write and tell you that I had my Court Trial Dec 10 2002,
and as you know I prepared the case myself and I was defending myself. A
couple of weeks ago I filed my charter application upon the crown and
court, then I went to court on Tuesday. Well you'll never guess what
happened....???????? the impossible happened, they withdrew the charges
and I am free!!!!!!!! NO criminal drug record, no charges pending, free.
Free to apply for a pardon, and FREE to get a Canadian
passport!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Free to leave Canada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
f r e e ! ! ! !
Ý
I am so happy, and proud, I got me and my bud Sheldon off with no record
no fine no charges nothing, I am so lucky! so glad!! No body thought it
was possible, not even the lawyer that helped me prepare, but by the
grace of God, and for protecting and defending His Tree of Life, The
impossible became possible, what a miracle. 
Ý
It just goes to show you that even a mere small mortal like me can make
a difference, the key is to try. To try and do what you believe is right
and moral according to your own beliefs, God, or conscience. 
Ý
'Thou hast no right but to do thy Will. Do that, and no other shall say
nay.' Liber AlÝ Crowley
Ý
The Brothers from the Church are the only ones that thought it might be
possible, that even thought that I'd be listened to. Thank you Brothers
for all your help and encouragement your fearless example lead me to
hold my head up strong and let everyone know what a travesty of justice
and God our Marijuana laws are.Ý Justice was served for once!
Ý
Thank you Brothers, Thank you.
Ý
Love is the Law, love under Will.
Ý
G
Ý
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On 11/18/02 12:23 PM, "Reverend SAM" iamm@iamm.com wrote:


> Church of the Universe
> www.iamm.com
>
> November 18, 2002
>
> To: Brother Bill Carroll, Web Maintainer
> N.O.R.M.L. Canada
> Web: http://www.iowatelecom.net/~sharkhaus/
>
> Dear Brother Bill,
>
> Re: Least we forget.
> N.O.R.M.L.
> National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
>
> Thank you for reviving and maintaining the N.O.R.M.L. Web Site
> @ http://www.iowatelecom.net/~sharkhaus/
>
> We are pleased to link N.O.R.M.L. to us @ www.iamm.com
>
> Have you heard from Brother Umberto Iorfida lately or do you know of his
> whereabouts ? We would like to award him a Degree in Legal Self Defence
> "L.S.D." from the University for his work and victories in Ontario's
> Courts and as a Business Manager keeping N.O.R.M.L. alive in Canada for
> as long as he did. Support is always thin. Remember, Clayton Ruby once ((ed. note) probably Ontario's most prominent criminal defense lawyer.)
> was a member and probably Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Justice Jerald Ledain and
> others...? LoL "Lots of Love".
>
> Keep us on your news list please.
>
> Be well and prosper.
> In peace, bless you, bless us all.
>
> Reverend SAM
> www.iamm.com

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Umberto Iorfida says that The Church of the Universe is Canada's Oldest.

A few weeks ago I was talking with Umberto, and he mentioned that NORML Canada was not the oldest marijuana legalization organization in Canada. That honour (honor) goes to the Church of the Universe which began (as I recall), in 1969.

Some people had it right from the beginning.


















































































More News From The Netherlands: Univ. Of Amsterdam Study Concludes That "Tolerant" Cannabis Laws Do Not Lead To More Use

        June 10, 1995 Amsterdam, The Netherlands:  Contrary to what many people assume about the citizens of Amsterdam, where the sale of cannabis in coffee shops is allowed, the majority of the population does not indulge in cannabis or hashish.

        The Department of Social Geography of the Univ. of Amsterdam has monitored the cannabis use of the Amsterdam population (ages 12 years-old and up) since 1987 by means of three large scale household surveys.  According to researcher Dr. Peter Cohen, observing the period 1987-1994, the average age for first time cannabis use in The Netherlands is a remarkably high twenty years of age [as compared to 14 years-old in the U.S.---ed.]!  The research also indicates that despite the high numbers of "coffee shops" in The Netherlands, only 25% of the population have ever used cannabis.  In addition, only 6% admit to using it daily.

        From these extensive surveys, Dr. Cohen has been able to develop a profile of the "average" cannabis consumer: well educated, single, outgoing, around thirty years-old, and of Dutch descent.






































































































(August 14, 2002)

Bill:

I will answer in James' behalf, since I am the one who has been
corresponding by e-mail with Mr. Cowan.

I tried sending some attachments, but it was taking so long to send them,
perhaps you have a fax number which I can use?

The 3 documents are from the original Dossier Medi-Wiet published by Wernard
in 1996.  As you will see, the date on the cover letter is 13 March 1996.
The articles on Mr. Ebelties I found further on in the dossier.  On the
second page of the article, in the first column, Mr. Ebelties talks about
obtaining his marijuana from Stichting Institute of Medical Marijuana.

Lastly, I have a cover page from our statutes showing we started our
organization in October of 1993, just as I have previously advised Mr Cowan.

I have also advised him of the following:


Our non-profit organization was started here in the Netherlands in 1993.  To
the best of our knowledge, we were the first such organization here in this
country.  There were several groups that came after (Maripharm, MediWiet,
Stichting PMM), but we were the first.

However, to compare us with the national program that was in the works in
Canada, gives us far too much credit.

Incidentally, there were two opium permits issued in the last year by the
Dutch Health Ministry, to produce medical cannabis for research purposes.
We received our permit in October of 2001, and Maripharm received their
permit some time later.


Bill - you ask in your message who was the first legal provider.  None of
these groups (including ours) were legal, until we received our opium permit
last year.  These groups were tolerated, including the Medi-Wiet program.

We have asked Mr. Cowan to rectify this point on his web site.  It is not
that we want any special recognition from him, because we do not need that.
Rather, I have followed his web site for a long time, and he is always
stressing how public officials do not speak the truth.  We are only asking
of Mr. Cowan that he speak the truth.

Regards,


Linda Burton


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Carroll" <sharkhaus@iowatelecom.net>
To: <info@medicalmarijuana.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 12:07 AM
Subject: Greetings


> James,
>
> Looks like thinks are going quite well at the SIMM, judging by the
web site.
>
> One question I have is this :
>
> Was the SIMM the first legal (official) provider of medical marijuana in
> Holland ?  Richard Cowan claims it was Wernerd of Positronics with his
> "medi-wiet" program.
>
> >From what I understand, it was Todd McCormick who thought up the idea for
> Wernerd.
>
> Any comments ???
>
> Bill Carroll

Top of article.


































(31 Dec. '99 NORML Canada) For a Number of Years Now, Errors Have Been Printed in Much of the Canadian Media About Iorfida's 1994 Court Win. After consulting legal counsel, we believe free speech in Canada to still be safe.  Do you ?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The following is courtesy of N.O.R.M.L. U.S. and Iowa NORML

Subj:   NORML *SPECIAL* Release 11/6/1996
Date:   96-11-06 22:38:48 EST
From:    
carl@mail.commonlink.com (Carl E. Olsen)
To:     iowanorml@commonlink.com

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF  
MARIJUANA LAWS
        
1001 CONNECTICUT AVENUE NW
SUITE 1010
WASHINGTON, D.C.  20036
 
T 202-483-5500  o  F 202-483-0057  
E-MAIL NATLNORML@AOL.COM
Internet http://www.norml.org

NEWS RELEASE
   **  NEWS RELEASE  **  NEWS RELEASE  **  NEWS RELEASE

November 6, 1996

California,  
 Arizona Voters Approve Initiatives In Favor Of Medical 
Marijuana

        Voters  
 in both California and Arizona have approved initiatives 
endorsing marijuana's therapeutic value and allowing patients to  
 use 
marijuana for medical purposes where its use has been deemed appropriate 
by a physician.  The result came despite  
 heavy campaigning by opponents 
and decades of anti marijuana hysteria.
        The passage   
 of Proposition 215 in California and Proposition 200 in 
Arizona demonstrates that Americans can clearly distinguish between the 
use  
 of marijuana as a medicine for serious ill patients and legalization 
for recreational use.  It further shows that the country has  
 reached a 
consensus on the former, even as it remains divided on the latter.
        "This is a  
 victory for medical marijuana as well as for patients and 
doctors," said NORML Deputy Director Allen St. Pierre.  "It shows  
 that 
Americans do not want the federal government to interfere with the 
relationship between a seriously ill patient and  
 the recommendation of 
his or her physician."
        Both state and nationwide polls taken prior 
  to this election's vote have 
shown that a majority of Americans favor medical marijuana reform.  The 
recent events in
    California and Arizona may finally push those on Capitol 
Hill to take a close and objective look at this issue.  It may
      also 
encourage some of the 23 states that currently have laws regarding 
medical marijuana to modify their measures so
        that they can begin 
directly benefiting patients.
        "These votes demonstrate that
          the public are ahead of the politicians 
when it comes to reforming our drug policies, specifically medical access  
          
to marijuana," said NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup.  "Americans 
do not believe that denying medicine  
          to the sick and dying should ever be 
a part of the drug war."
        The California  
          initiative says that "Patients or defined caregivers, who 
possess or cultivate marijuana for medical treatment  
          recommended by a 
physician, are exempt from the general provisions of law which otherwise 
prohibit possession or  
          cultivation of marijuana."  It further provides 
that, "Physicians shall not be punished or denied any right or 
           privilege 
for recommending marijuana to a patient for medical purposes."  The Act 
does not supersede state  
           legislation prohibiting persons from possessing 
or cultivating marijuana for non medical purposes.  
           


"Despite heavy opposition from federal politicians and law enforcement,  
           
the California medical marijuana initiative passed because individuals 
know by either their own personal experience or 
            by the experiences of 
those around them that marijuana has medical utility," said St. Pierre.  
"The government has lost  
            all credibility on this issue by claiming 
otherwise."
        "With  
            the passage of Proposition 215 in California, new legal 
protections will be put into place for patients who use  
            marijuana under a 
doctor's order," said Dave Fratello of Californians for Medical Rights  
(CMR), one of  
            the primary proponents of the measure.  The group also 
announced that they will offer a toll free number, 
             1 (888) YES-4-215, to 
explain how 215 works, and for whom it is and is not designed.
         
             Proposition 200 in Arizona, known as the "Drug Medicalization, 
Prevention and Control Act," is broader than California's  
             measure and 
would essentially "medicalize" Arizona's drug policy.  The Act calls for 
mandatory, 
              court supervised treatment and probation as an alternative to 
incarceration for non-violent drug users and provides 
               expanded drug 
treatment programs.  It will also allow doctors to prescribe controlled 
drugs such as  
               marijuana to patients suffering from serious illnesses such 
as glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and
                 AIDS.  Arizonans voted in 
favor of the initiative by a vote more than two to one.

                  "These votes give a flashing green light 
to the American public
                    that 
they have the power to change the course on American drug policy," said 
St. Pierre.
                     
        
-END-

MORE THAN 10 MILLION MARIJUANA ARRESTS
                       SINCE 1965  . . .  ANOTHER EVERY 
54 SECONDS!



                        
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*  
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                          carl@mail.commonlink.com           *
*  Post Office 
                           Box 4091         *  NORML News archived
                             at:            *
*  
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http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/  * 
                              
*  (515) 262-6957 voice & fax   *    
                              Carl_E._Olsen@commonlink.com       * 
                              
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The Vote Heard 'Round The World !

Report from San Francisco : November 6, 1996

(UNCONFIRMED) : Attorney General Lundgren Orders Police
Statewide to Respect Marijuana Medical Users (UNCONFIRMED REPORT)

(Courtesy of Carl Olsen of Iowa NORML, and Steve Kubby) 
>X-Sender: kubby@pop.linex.com
>Date: Wed, 6 Nov 1996 19:23:43 -0700
>To: (Recipient list suppressed)
>From: kubby@alpworld.com (Steve Kubby)
>Subject: The Vote Heard 'Round The World!
>
>I've only had a few hours sleep in the past two days, but I wanted to get a
>quick report out to you.
>
>The party at the CBC was fantastic with a stellar gathering of activists.
>Brownie Mary even made it from her sick bed and partied until midnight.
>News crews were everywhere, including one from Denmark.
>
>Although the US media are downplaying things, the vote is big news
>worldwide.  Faxes, news crews and interview requests are now pouring in to
>the SF CBC from around the world, including Belgium, Denmark, France,
>Holland, England, Canada and Germany.  Dennis did interviews non-stop all
>day.
>
>Late today in California, Dan Lungren issued orders to police that they
>must now ask anyone caught with marijuana if it's for medical purposes and,
>if so, the police must let them go.
>
>More tomorrow when I've had some rest.
>
>____________________________________________
>          A  l  p  i  n  e    W  o  r  l  d    O  n  l  i  n  e
>                 URL: http://www.alpworld.com
>____________________________________________
>  Rated:   TOP 5% by Point and TOP TEN by Web Counter.
>  Over 1.8 MILLION HITS per month, verified by Linex Com
>  Rated #1 by NEWSWEEK and WEBSIGHT magazines.
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> "T H E   M E D I C A L   M A R I J U A N A   A R C H I V E S"
>Political Cartoons, photos, stories, editorials, rare documents
>inside reports, polls, over 100 pages of cool stuff.
>   URL: http://www.alpworld.com/HEALTH
>____________________________________________
>
>
>
>
***********************************************************************
*  Carl E. Olsen                *  carl@mail.commonlink.com           *
*  Post Office Box 4091         *  NORML News archived at:            *
*  Des Moines, Iowa 50333       *  http://www.commonlink.com/~olsen/  *
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