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Quick Hits (page 2)

Rastafarian? You are in luck

By: Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle Staff Writer

If you're a Rastafarian who considers marijuana holy, it's legal to light up in Guam -- and maybe in any national park on the West Coast.

At least that seemed to be the conclusion of a federal appeals court in San Francisco, which said Tuesday that a 1993 religious-freedom law puts limits on prosecutions in the "federal realm" -- specifically in a U.S. territory like Guam, or potentially within any other federal property.

A conservative three-judge panel said a Rastafarian -- whose Jamaica-based religion regards marijuana as a sacrament that brings believers closer to divinity -- could not be federally prosecuted for merely possessing marijuana, a decision that upheld a portion of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The same reasoning would apply to drug prosecutions on other federal property, such as national parks, said Barry Portman, the federal public defender in San Francisco. He said marijuana possession for personal use is prohibited by federal law but is rarely prosecuted.

The ruling did not help the defendant in the Guam case, however, as the court said he could be prosecuted for importing marijuana.

"Rastafarianism does not require importation of a controlled substance, which increases (its) availability," the court said.

That distinction doesn't make sense, said Graham Boyd, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who argued the case and plans to seek review by a larger appellate panel.

"It's equivalent to saying wine is a necessary sacrament for some Christians but you have to grow your own grapes," he said.

The religious freedom law protects religious practices from legal interference unless the government can show a compelling need for enforcement. It was prompted by a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing Oregon to enforce an anti-drug law against a Native American who used peyote for religious purposes.

In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal statute was an unconstitutional interference with states' authority to enforce their own religiously neutral laws -- but that ruling applied only to state prosecutions.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the 1993 law was a valid restriction on the federal government, reasoning that Congress had the power to create religious exemptions to laws it had originally passed.

The ruling, which follows decisions by two other appeals courts, applies to California, eight other Western states, and the Pacific territories of Guam -- where the case originated -- and the Northern Mariana islands.

If it became a nationwide standard, it would also cover such federal enclaves as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, defense lawyers said.

The case involved Benny Toves Guerrero, a Rastafarian arrested at the Guam airport with five ounces of marijuana and 10 ounces of seeds. He was charged with importing the drugs from Hawaii.

Guam's Supreme Court ordered the charges dismissed, saying Guerrero's religious practices were protected by Guam's "fundamental law." The appeals court disagreed, saying the fundamental law was passed by the U.S. Congress and contained no religious rights beyond those of federal law -- and that importing drugs wasn't a protected religious practice.

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Mary Jane'z Novelties

Growin' Our Own (page 2)

Cowboys, Bandidos and Cantinas

By: Pistolero

Late summer of 1972 myself, a friend and 2 brothers in law were called upon to make a trip to Houston, Texas to pick up my mother in law/mother who was stranded in Houston. Well, we looked upon this as just another adventure, off we went. We loaded into my brother in law's 1957 Chevy and hit the road. We had to go to LA first to pick up some money and then go from there. Down to LA on 101. Got down there in time for breakfast, picked up the money and within an hour we were on the road again. I always loved taking trips like this so I always seemed to be the designated driver. I didn't mind I trusted my driving over any of theirs any day. We had a little weed when we left but the plan was to stop in Juarez long enough to score some weed and some beans (bennies, speed).

The trip was pretty smooth and uneventful for the first part until we got to El Paso/Juarez. We pulled into one of the parking lots by one of the bridges, it was about 4 in the afternoon. A Mexican cab driver whips up next to us as we were standing by the car planning our next move. We talked a few minutes and it was pretty plain to us all this guy was wasted......stoned as you can get. This had to be our man. We told him what we wanted and what we were up too and he said jump in he can fix us up with no problem. We jump into the cab and he crosses over the bridge and then into the back alleys and roads gringos don't usually see. We're all a little nervous but hell, there's 4 of us so we feel pretty safe. He drives around a little and pulls to a stop in front of a building that says "Pharmacia" (pharmacy, drug store). he said he would get the speed here, we all looked at each other and said fine with us how much money? We gave him $5.00 and he comes back in about 15 minutes with a bottle of pink heart shaped tablets, small tablets - there's about 50 in the bottle. Apparently at the time you could buy this stuff in any pharmacy, some of the best speed you could find. It was excellent stuff. He fires the cab up and were off again down the alleys. After a few minutes we pull up to a neighborhood type bar. The cabbie says we all need a beer...ok, I can go for that. We walk into this very Mexican old style type bar, Mexican music playing in the background. A few tables against one wall and a long bar that made a little "L" shape at the end with enough room for 2 stools. To the right of the last stool was a curtain hanging over a door way. Same thing at the other end of the bar there was a curtain hanging over a doorway.

We all sat down with me sitting at the corner by the curtain, next was our friend and then my 2 brothers in law. We all ordered a beer and the cabbie said he would be back in a few minutes. No problem. We were the only people in the bar so it wasn't too bad. A movement caught my eye at the other end of the bar, a woman steps out and smiles at all of us, and walks up to my brother in law and whispers something in his ear. I'm kind of laughing to myself when she looks up and eyes me and smiles again and walks past everyone else and comes up to me. She lowers her face to mine and whispers "so you want to have a good time" and smiles again. I told her no thanks and she gives me a really shitty look and walks out thru the curtain by me. After a few drinks of the beer another woman comes out from behind the curtain at the far end of the bar. She goes to my brother in law and whispers something in his ear, he whispers something back and all of a sudden she's smiling at me and walking past every one else and comes right up and whispers in my ear "hey so you want to fuck huh"...After a second I told her no thanks not tonight, again a really shitty look and she goes out thru the curtain by me. I notice my 2 brothers in law are cracking up and trying to hide it, I ask them what's so funny and they said nothing but kept laughing.

Now I'm starting to see a connection here I'm thinking to myself when another woman comes out from behind the curtain. She walks up to my brother in law and again the same thing, she whispers to him he whispers back and bang here she comes right to me. She asked if I wanted to fuck ... I told her no thanks. Now I'm getting pissed and getting an attitude. All of a sudden the curtain by me is ripped back and here stands 3 huge Mexicans...one in cowboy Mexican getup with a big ass 45 tucked in his waist band and huge bowie knife handle protruding out of the other side. On each side of this guy are 2 great big mean looking Mexican guys. The guy in the suit looks me in the eyes and says "what's the matter you don't like my women," my first thought is I'm dead and then it hits me what's been going on with the women....why they kept coming over to me. I tell the suit guy I would love to fuck all his women they were all so beautiful but I don't have any money to pay for it...to show I wasn't kidding I pull my 2 front pockets out and there's nothing. I said I could only afford the beer that I had bought and meant no disrespect to his beautiful women. Well the suit guy looks at the guys standing next to him and then looks back at me and stares at me for what seemed about an hour and says "ok" and turns and walks off. Apparently I insulted the guys honor by declining to fuck his women. As it turned out my brother in law when approached by each woman would tell them I was looking for a woman and that I might even want 2 or 3. He had come real close to getting me killed in that place. I always got them back, he was paying for it within the hour. Just as we finished our beers the cabbie shows up and says its time to go, I'm thinking it was time before we got there.

We all gladly pile into the cab and the cabbie said we had to go back into the states for the weed because it was all kept over there. After laughing for a couple of minutes we approached the bridge and the cabbie stops and says only one guy in the cab back over that the rest could walk over. So we elected my brother in law to take the beans and go over with the cabbie and we 3 would walk over. As we approached the bridge on foot I notice a little shed/post that a uniformed policeman was sitting in. We walk up and this guy looks like something out of a Poncho Villa movie. Old geezer with handle bar mustache and huge sombrero on. Laying on the table top was a huge old colt 45 6 shooter with engraving all over it, the damn gun was an antique worth more than our car. He says to us we had to pay a crossing fee, I laughed and said what if I don't have any money. .he says then you don't cross and put his hand on the 6 shooter.OK I says what's it gonna cost us.....he studies us a second and says 1 cent each. I'm trying now not to laugh my ass off but this is so funny I cant help. My brother in law tosses 3 cents onto his table top and I say adios amigo, he smiles a toothless grin and says adios. The car was only about 100 yards from the bridge so walk over and the cabbie and my brother in law are waiting for us. The cabbie says who wants to go get the weed and I say he's already in the car with you take him. He didn't want to go but he was elected. As the cab pulls off we notice we have a flat tire. Shit. I told the other 2 if they want it fixed to get busy because I ain't doing shit after almost getting killed in that fucking bar. They both declined and said they would save it for the other guy. We were starting to get worried about him, it had been gone about half an hour. Alright, here comes the cab, he pulls up and my brother in law jumps out and throws a ball of tin foil at me. It was about the size of a hard ball. We all got out and talked to the cabbie a few minutes and gave him a couple of extra bucks and he disappeared back over the bridge into Mexico.

We told my brother in law he wasn't finished yet he had a flat tire to change LOL ... after a little bitching he did, I sure the hell wasn't. As he's changing the tire I sit in the car and open this ball of tin foil.....damn it just kept getting bigger and bigger......must have been at least 3-4 ounces. Shit we only spent $15 bucks on weed. After the tire was fixed we headed for the freeway and on to Houston.

I asked my brother in law why the weed was in tin foil. He commenced to tell us a story of the weed acquisition. They drove to an old motel in El Paso, we could see it from the parking lot. He said they took an elevator to the 4th floor and knocked on the door of one of the rooms. A guy opens the door and the first thing he sees is wall to wall bricks of weed. He said there was a little wooden table and 2 chairs. The bricks were floor to ceiling and took up most the room. On the table was a brick that had been cut in half and a few chunks missing and a huge knife. The guy asks my brother in law how much weed he wanted....well he says about $15 bucks worth and figured he would probably get thrown out the window for such a trivial amount. He said the guy says ok here, he has a big piece of tin foil that had flour tortillas wrapped in it and took them out grabbed a handful of weed and put it in the tin foil waded it up and handed it to him. He said he was so nervous he just wanted out of there.

As were going down the freeway one of my brothers in law was rolling a joint, its about 10 o'clock at night now. I look in the rear view mirror and see a motorcycle cop overtaking us and I tell every one to cool it there's a cop about to go by. as I look back again I freak out big time ... there's about 15 motorcycle cops around us now all staring at us. Here's a car with California license plates with a bunch of long haired hippie freaks going down THEIR highway. Slowly they overtake us and right ahead is an exit that had one of the biggest donut shops I had ever seen ... these guys just peel off the exit and go straight for the donut shop. After I'm sure they all pulled into the donut shop I started laughing so hard I could hardly drive. Saved by a fucking donut shop. Man it was time for that joint. The weed was excellent ... very fresh and high grade. After a couple of joints and laughing at the night's events guys started to go to sleep. As usual I'm driving. About 1 in the morning I was the only one awake and it had gotten real cold so every one was covered up with a blanket or jacket. The damn heater in the car didn't want to work all of a sudden. I was on a cut off road I was taking to another highway. It was a windy country road lots of turns and hills. I come around a turn a bang there's a roadblock. The Border Patrol people had put up a roadblock. I stop and rolled my window down and asked what's going on. They explained it to me they were looking for illegals and asked who the people were covered up in the back seat and next to me. Not really thinking about it I said just my brothers in law and a friend. Right...I can see by the looks on there faces they don't believe that for a minute. One of them tells me to uncover one of the guys in the back seat. I turn around and start shaking my brother in law and he starts mumbling some shit and I yelled at him to wake up. All of a sudden he comes out from under the blanket screaming what the fuck is going on goddammit ... the 2 border patrol guys back up and look at each other and say ok you can go with out wanting to look at any one else. I pull off thinking its time for another joint, man this trip is getting real strange.

Around 9 the next morning we were almost where we had to go. Had to make a phone call for the last bit of the trip. We got to where my mother in law was around 10am. She told us to be careful of the rattle snakes, she had killed one a couple of days before, it had crawled into her oven. I'm thinking fuck this shit, we aren't going to be hanging around long enough to get to know the local varmint's and critters. We had to spend the night which I didn't enjoy in the least. But I spent most my time staying really stoned. Damn that Mex weed was good. Next day with 3 more passengers we headed back to California. There was my mother in law, her daughter and another son. They were about 7-9 years old at the time so they didn't take up a lot of room luckily. So now there's 7 of us. We tried not to find any excitement on the way back. It was hard since we were always looking for something to liven up the day. We had to stop a few times and smoke a joint or two but that was it. We made it home without too many problems, did get lost once in Arizona and had a flat right as your coming into Fresno. Other than that we made it home in one piece. I probably drove 95% of the trip. Those little pink hearts sure helped out on the way home.

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Mike Golden, the Radio Rebel

Pipeline (page 2)

DEA to set up Shop in the Netherlands? Or Dutch Assassination Opens Door for DEA?

By: Mike Golden

DEA head, Asa Hutchinson has announced that the DEA will move its efforts in the Netherlands to thwart the sex drug Ecstasy. Upping the DEA's efforts in this foreign jurisdiction appears to be a direct result of the mysterious assassination of cannabis supporting Dutch leader Pim Fortuyn, and the election of the Conservative Catholic Party [CDA]. Nol Van Shaik had written about the assassination's effect and in Bud Life's 6th issue discussed the possibility of a conservative coalition being formed after the void created by the unfortunate assassination of Mr. Fortuyn. Our friend Nol discussed what could be the outcome and effect on the Dutch Cannabis Coffee Shops. Although the issue of shutting down the licensed shops was mentioned, Nol's conclusion was that in the end they would remain open. Now with the DEA head's announcement there is a much clearer picture of the events unfolding in the Netherlands.

Apparently the DEA had already made tentative plans with the new CDA government, otherwise how can it unilaterally insert itself into the Netherlands drug policies? Would this new incursion have been possible without the elimination of Dutch leader Fortuyn, who was taken out of the picture by a political assassination? While the DEA claims it will step up operations in the Netherlands to eliminate Ecstacy, we know it won't put blinders on and ignore cannabis and hashish. Once the DEA is in full swing on this collateral drug it may perpetuate its goals by going after the Dutch growers and Cannabis Coffee Shops. Will it become an expanded fact finding nightmare and fishing expedition to actually eliminate the open soft drug cannabis policy? Will the coffee shop owners and U.S. tourists come under the scrutiny of the DEA? Will the fascist feelings we suffer from over here in the U.S. from imbibing cannabis eventually replace the laid back freedom felt in the Netherlands? One thing is certain from 9/11, you will be totally scrutinized at the airport if you come back from the Netherlands.

A far out possibility which may be in the works is a U.S. Customs check in the Netherlands. You may think this is bunk but if you have ever been to Nassau, Bahamas, you know that the U.S. Customs checks you when you leave this foreign jurisdiction. Another door to freedom will be closed by the war on drugs. It is apparent that the U.S. war on drugs will do everything it can and will be supported by the new CDA and other foreign jurisdictions in its efforts to stop ALL drug use. Remember in the U.S., as opposed to the Netherlands, there is no legal distinction between soft drugs like cannabis and the hard drugs. So the DEA will tell the people it's after Ecstacy, but it will increase efforts from this diving board to go after cannabis and put all drugs off limits. The DEA is just getting its foot in the door with the Ecstasy drug excuse. Tourists from the U.S., seeing how open and available cannabis is in the coffee shops, are an apparent threat to the war on drugs as they see how it could be over here. This is a shuddering thought to the DEA and U.S. drug policy. The billions of dollars they make off asset forfeitures is better than what can be made from IRS agents in auditing taxes. The DEA wants the black market to stay open so it can vacuum up these extra dollars which it could not otherwise collect in taxes. Keep the prohibition going to get more revenue and make more criminals to fill the courts and jails is its goal. Keep the DEA and war on drugs going. More money means more power. After all, if the war on drugs was a success the DEA would have to cut back and lay off agents and suffer budget cuts from its success. Let's face it no bureaucracy ever wants to give up its power.

Conspiracy theorists would wonder about the recent assassination and elimination from the scene of Dutch leader Pim Fortuyn. Could the DEA have made arrangements to step up operations in the Netherlands unless this pro cannabis leader had been eliminated? Apparently not, but with his heinous death and somebody meddling in the Dutch political scene we will never know. Perhaps this assassination has scared other Dutch politicians or warned them to become hard on all drugs. Do the Dutch politicians have some thoughts on who or what agency assassinated M. Fortuyn? Do you believe our government would never involve itself in the politics of another nation or act as the policeman for the world? As I understand our government's stated policy, it would never order or allow the assassination of a foreign leader to further its goals, even in a stated war like the war on drugs. What do you think? Wouldn't the U.S. give its intelligence to the Dutch if it were aware of an assassination plot against one of its leaders? After all, the U.S. is in the most heightened intelligence gathering operation in the history of the world. Apparently the U.S. was not aware of the assassination plot to kill this Dutch leader. Others, the fringe lunatic conspiracy theorists, still think the C.I.A. was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and these types might want to believe that the U.S. planned and carried out the assassination of Mr. Fortuyn to get him aside and to go "gung ho" with the war on drugs. They claim that this assassination would usher in the new era and that a war against the successful Dutch cannabis drug policy could be launched. By eliminating this Dutch leader a swing to a no cannabis drug policy might eventually result. The Dutch could not be bought off or threatened with breach of treaties, so maybe they could be scared off with a high profile assassination? While we do not subscribe to this conspiracy theory, we mention it in passing.

Another development is the U.S. attack on our friendly neighbor Canada - threatening them to close the door on medical use of marijuana. After all, we ignore all studies with marijuana that might lead to the conclusion that it has a bonafide medical use. Is this a violation of freedom of expression and speech? The only recent deaths of Canadians that we can recall was the "friendly fire" in Afghanistan which killed Canadian soldiers. Even conspiracy theorists cannot by any stretch of their imaginations link this to the war on drugs. However, the fringe looneys are certainly watching to see if any Canadian judges or leaders have an unfortunate accident or are assassinated. If something like that were to occur then fuel and credibility would be given to these fringe conspiracy thinkers. If the U.S. throwing its money around to buy off foreign nations and leaders doesn't work, and the threats of breaking treaties doesn't work, how far do you think it might go in its war on drugs? An assassination? I'll let you decide.

The future is showing us what will be the final results from the Dutch assassination and the immediate open door the Dutch have given to expanded DEA operations in the Netherlands. Don't think that once DEA operations are stepped up under the guise of going after Ecstacy that it will stop there. It may be that the Dutch Cannabis Coffee Shop days are numbered.

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Dakota Joseph Arts