Blogging for Freedom

Dear Karen Tandy, Director of the DEA

Call off your dogs. Please. Your unmarked DEA cars are getting annoying parked down my street. Your surveillance of my house is making the neighbors think there are pedophiles scoping out the kids playing. I gotta tell ya, your drive-bys and hi-tech gadgetry and way-hip undercover disguises actually look kind of silly. You’re really not fooling very many people.

I worry about all the time and money and effort and resources you are putting into me. Surely there are enough people out there who are actually committing crimes who should be investigated. I can send a list of names I got off of America’s Most Wanted, if you’d like.

I also do not appreciate the sneak and peeks I know you’ve been conducting in my home for the last seven months Like I said, you’re not fooling me. (By the way, either your agents or Homeland Security took a piece of valuable computer equipment and a jar of nickels and a jar of dimes without reporting it anywhere. Do you think you can help me get these back?)

I know what this is all about, of course. I don’t have much of a head for business but I do know that assets from drug seizures and confiscations rose from .5 billion in 2003 to 1.9 billion in 2005.  It’s all about the money and property and things that you can take under the Controlled Substance Act of 1974.

You may be succeeding in your fund-raising, but Karen, you are not winning the War on Drugs. Meth is ruining our communities, kids are overdosing and dying from alcohol and prescription pills at a heart-breaking rate. Some form of designer drugs, steroids, mood enhancers are as close as the nearest drug store. In fact, I see commercials for drugs with the potential for abuse on tv all the time. Maybe you’re not aware of it but Americans take a lot of drugs.

What I’m curious about is this – why has the War on Drugs, and now the War on Terrorism, become a War on good, decent, hard-working Americans? You all are locking up more US citizens than any other industrialized country. (Hell, the US imprisons more people than China for jeeker's sake.)  Alcoholism is considered a health issue and an illness but certain drug use is a crime. Huh?

Please tell me why the DEA and the United States Federal government has apparently made marijuana it’s number one priority? More specifically, why are you targeting, investigating, spying on, prosecuting, and incarcerating legitimate medical marijuana patients? Because the Supreme Court says you can? I’m a taxpayer and a voter and I must tell you it’s not a good enough answer.

I have to go to work now but maybe we can discuss these issues and lots more – at your convenience, of course. Feel free to email me any time.

Sincerely,

Granny Green

Dear Karen Tandy, Director of the DEA

Your agents have me under investigation for Felony Manufacture of a Controlled Substance. I’m facing at least 10 years in federal prison for my alleged crimes so, before you go to all this trouble, I’m thinking I should tell you about myself.

I am not a criminal and I am certainly not the enemy. I’m a 60-something, white, professional woman who happens to have a green thumb and an alternative outlook on life. I am the proud mother of adult sons  (all three of whom, by the way, are college graduates and doing great in their chosen careers). I volunteered in the schools, I was an auxilliary worker on the oncology ward at our local hospital.  I baked more cupcakes for more kids than I can remember.

When my mother became seriously ill in 1993 I moved her into our home. I cared for her for three years until she passed at 82. Her main problem was the damage (internal bleeding, brittle bones, pain) resulting from prescription medications. When I took over I found she was taking 16 different prescription drugs from 5 separate doctors. She was taking medications to alleviate the side-effects of medications. And, she was dying.

A wonderful, grandmotherly nurse introduced me to medical marijuana when she gave us some cannabis chocolate-chip cookies to try. Oh, my mother did love cookies. Because of severe anorexia (from arthritis meds) she could barely eat and the cannabis cookies helped stimulate her appetite and it seemed to calm her agitation and discomfort. Even though her doctors were quick to prescribe Marinol (a synthetic pharmaceutical version of the ingredients in cannabis) the effects were not the same. Plus, the cookies cost $5 each and the Marinol cost somewhere around $14 a pill. My mom’s dose was a half a cookie a day = $2.50 and her Marinol dose was 2 pills a day = $28. Since her health insurance was pretty much gone and her savings were depleted we couldn’t afford $28 a day, so we chose the cookies.

Since then I have become quite interested in natural medicine and herbal remedies. I can see you rolling your eyes, but please Karen, at least hear me out. I really don’t think it’s revolutionary or rebellious or treasonous or criminal or dangerous to want to grow my own food and medicine on my own property, in the privacy of my own home. Let's talk.

Sincerely,

Granny Green

 
Dear Karen Tandy, Director of the DEA

High school and college kids like to get high. Parents may not want to hear it, the schools are struggling with it, and you refuse to tolerate it, but it’s the truth. A significant number of adults also like to get high. If we didn’t, the liquor, wine and beer industries wouldn’t have multi-billion dollar sales every year since Prohibition. So I’m thinking, if a lot of us like to alter our mood a bit why do we think young people are any different?

The answer, of course, is that the young don’t have the information or understanding or maturity level to be counted on to make wise decisions. They do stupid things just because. They may know that 6 shots of tequila can make you so sick you want to die, but do they know that chugging 21 shots of alcohol on their 21^st birthday can kill them? Binge-drinking in universities and colleges is skyrocketing. Even though it is estimated that only 10 percent of the students are drinking about 70 percent of the alcohol, it has become a pervading culture and mindset. Those who party, party really, really hard.

In 2004, there were 20 alcohol poisoning deaths reported on American college campuses. How many alcohol-related accidents and near-deaths involving students is not recorded so we really don’t know the extent of the problem. I know just reading the newspaper and watching TV that college kids do really dumb stuff. I remember the 19-year old girl who dove head-first off a two-story dormitory walkway onto concrete when she and her friends decided to see how far they could spit over the ledge. The newspaper article ended with “Authorities report that alcohol has been determined to be a factor in this tragic accident”. Oh, what a surprise.

So Karen, considering the death and destruction of our young people resulting from alcohol use and abuse, why is it never mentioned in your multi-million dollar anti-drug DEA ad campaigns? Alcohol is the leading drug of choice among our youth and it has the serious potential to injure and kill them. So I want to know, where’s all the warnings in your slick TV commercials about the danger of drink?

Or, how about prescription drugs? Even elementary-school kids are taking whatever drugs they find in their parents’ medicine cabinet. “Pharming parties” let kids get together to swap, sell, buy and trade pills they’ve easily acquired in our own homes and communities. For the most part, they have absolutely no idea what they are taking and how very dangerous these substances are. Here’s an example: At a middle-school in a small town north of here (but it could have been anywhere) 6 girls went to a grocery store and bought cold medicine. After drinking it for lunch, they proceeded to overdose during class and were rushed to the hospital and, thankfully, saved. It could so easily have gone the other way because these kids had no idea “just cold medicine from Safeway” could make them so sick. Again I ask, where’s the DEA media campaign to warn kids about prescription and over-the-counter drugs?

Meth, crack, heroin. Now these are horrifying drugs. These drugs destroy lives and families and their addiction causes crime in our neighborhoods. Car prowlings, home invasions, ID theft, robbery are the result of drug problems that affect us all. I have a dear friend who’s son is a heroin addict serving a lengthy prison sentence. She didn’t even see it coming until he overdosed and almost died in her backyard. So where are the commercials and online ads in the new York Times warning parents like her about these killer drugs?

Here’s my big question, Karen. With all the drugs out there killing, maiming and injuring kids, why have you and your DEA so predominately focused your efforts on marijuana?

Quick – how many college kids died last year from a lethal dose of smoked marijuana? How many people in the United States died from marijuana poisoning in the last decade? How many people in the whole world have died from acute marijuana toxicity in the last century? How many people in all of recorded human history have died from smoking too much marijuana? C’mon Karen, be honest. You know the answer is ….. none.

There is simply no documented case in the annals of medicine and science, ancient and modern, of anyone smoking so much marijuana that it killed him or her. And, this after thousands of years of use by all sorts of different peoples all over the planet. Look it up on the Internet if you doubt me -

What exactly is it about marijuana that freaks you out?

Sincerely,
Granny Green

By the way, at least 300 people died last year in the United States from acute alcohol poisoning.

Dear Karen Tandy, Director of the DEA,

I'm thinking you might have misplaced your copy of our Constitution's Bill of Rights, or forgotten what they mean and why our founding fathers insisted on including them.  Maybe this will refresh your memory.

The BILL of RIGHTS

Amendment I - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II - A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III - No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV - The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V - No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment VI - In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

Amendment VII - In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment VIII - Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment IX - The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X - The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Granny Green 

Dear Karen Tandy, Director DEA,

The History Channel has been running this week (June 30, 2006) a series called "Hooked: Illegal Drugs in America and How They Got That Way". Great program, Karen, and since a lot of of factual information about marijuana, hemp, cannabis et.al. is not coming out of your agency, I hope you'll get the chance to watch it sometime. You actually might learn something.

The historical perspective on prohibition of marijuana is particularly fascinating. Even Harry Anslinger, the legendary crusader against the evil herb in the 1930's, admitted later in life that it had all been politically-motivated. The horror stories Anslinger used to justify complete criminalization for possession of even small amounts of marijuana - the crime, the insanity, the child abuse - were fiction. Over 200 statements he made in his career as the first US Drug Czar have been debunked in the years since.

Including this famous one:

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations
with Negroes, entertainers and any others."       Harry J. Anslinger, testimony to Congress, 1937

"It was Anslinger who is responsible, either directly or indirectly or in between, for giving us the idea that marijuana is a gateway drug, that those who break laws concerning marijuana should receive mandatory minimum sentences and that marijuana should be illegal at all. He is also responsible for ending our long-standing production of hemp and for rooting out most wild marijuana throughout the country. Indeed the popularization of the name ‘marihuana’ or ‘marijuana’ is often attributed to Anslinger, although this is unlikely. The influence of the life and career of this man, unknown by most people in our country, affects many legal and social issues today, thirty years after his death." http://forum.grasscity.com/showthread.php?t=60576

Since 1937, when the Marijuana Tax Act became law, the Feds have arrested and incarcerated 20 million Americans for marijuana posession, use, cultivation and/or sales.  All based on specious facts, hysteria, untruths and racism.

Yep, I said it.  The "R" word... Criminalization of marijuana was, in reality, organized racism legislated by our government against any ethnic and minority group it wanted to control - without those pesky Bill of Rights or Constitution getting in the way.  Like the Mexicans, the Blacks, Jazz musicians, artists, movie stars, hippies, love-mongers, peace-niks.

The truth is out there, Karen.  We have 70 years of prohibition behind us, BILLIONS of dollars spent on eradicating a weed that has grown freely and naturally on this planet since the beginning, millions of American lives hurt more by the law and police than the drug, and what have you learned?  Legitimate, science-based research about the medicinal properties of cannabis has been conducted all around the world - I wish I could remember who said this, but one highly respected medical scientist in Europe recently stated that "Marijuana in the 21st century may very well prove to be the aspirin of the 20th century."

Queen Victoria used cannabis for menstrual cramps, for goodness sakes.  She didn't go insane and kill her family with a hatchet. How about Carl Sagan?  He didn't lose his mind - on the contrary, he claimed it opened his mind up to the Universal in his studies of the universe.  Louis Armstrong was a beloved American icon and he smoked pot every day of his adult life. 

Evidence of marijuana as medicine is documented as far back as 5 thousand years in China.  It seems that you and your people - especially your Big Boss, Dick Cheney - are the only ones still towing the Anslinger line.  I see racism rearing it's ugly old head now that Mexican immigration and border control is such a hot political issue on your agenda.  In these days, too, I believe your rabid-dog response to marijuana is a deliberate attempt to control, through intimidation and persecution, "alternative" people, like myself, who disagree with your administration's self-serving wars and your illegal, unethical and un-American policies.  Sorry Karen, but greed and arrogance are simply not qualities I admire in my democratic government.

You should really read up on the subject. And, check out the History Channel listings for that show on drugs and politics.

.... or, maybe you don't believe in history? 

Sincerely,

Granny Green