TURMEL: Edward Greenspan on medpot law, Lorne White

John Turmel

From:	John Turmel
Subject:	TURMEL: Edward Greenspan on medpot law, Lorne White
Date:	22 Jan 2005 06:07:37 GMT

JCT: I got a call from Lorne White telling me about an
article by Edward Greenspan on marijuana that he thought
would be of real help. I checked it out:

>It's time marijuana was legalized
>Edward Greenspan
>Monday, January 10, 2005 @ 08:00

Edward Greenspan is one of several Osprey Writer's Group
columnists whose opinions appear Mondays in The Nugget.

Stockwell Day tried it. The former justice minister Martin
Cauchon used it. I would bet that well over 50 per cent of
the members of the House of Commons have tried it. The late
Canadian icon Pierre Berton smoked it regularly for the last
45 years. He said it helped him to relax. Last October,
Berton appeared on CBC's satire show, Rick Mercer's Monday
Report, offering tips on how to roll it and actually
recommended his book, The National Dream, as an excellent
rolling surface. He had been a recreational user since the
1960s, saying he'd reached a stage in his life where he
didn't give a damn what he said or what people thought.
Pierre Berton lived until his 84th year. He made Canadian
history alive and exciting, most probably because of what he
smoked for over half his life. And while he smoked it, he
produced 15,000 words a day, including a 1,200-word daily
column.

I'm talking, of course, about marijuana, a.k.a. pot, grass,
weed, Mary-Jane, reefer, Aunt Mary, Acapulco gold, kif,
ganja, Maui wowie. There are more than 200 terms of
endearment for marijuana. It is without a doubt, the most
often used illegal drug in Canada and has been for decades.
A recent federal government survey shows that the number of
Canadians using pot has doubled over the last 10 years. It
shows that most Canadians support the legalization of
marijuana.

Moses Znaimer has co-founded a research company to invent
medicines made with marijuana. For many people, marijuana is
the only thing that eases the pain. It helps cancer
patients. It can stop seizures. In strict medical terms,
marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly eat.

Cigarettes kill. Marijuana doesn't. And by the way, there is
not a single study that says second-hand marijuana smoke
causes cancer.

On May 29, 1969, the federal government formed a Commission
of Inquiry into the Non-Medical use of Drugs. It is commonly
referred to as the LeDain Report. It was a huge undertaking
and all relevant data and research written up to that time
was studied. Public inquiries were held all across Canada.
The real purpose of the study was to answer the question:
'Why should cannabis be treated so harshly compared to
tobacco and alcohol?'

In the very early 1970s we got our answer. The LeDain
Commission told Canada it favoured the abolition of the
crimes of simple possession and cultivation for personal use
of pot. The commission found cannabis is not a narcotic,
that no deaths due directly to smoking or eating cannabis
have been documented, that there is no scientific evidence
that cannabis itself is responsible for the commission of
other forms of criminal behaviour and that physical
dependence on cannabis has never been demonstrated.

In other words, by the early 1970s, Canada knew that
marijuana was not a demon weed. The report was met by a wall
of silence. Our government completely ignored it. Instead,
they appointed LeDain to the Federal Court of Appeal and
then to the Supreme Court of Canada and never mentioned his
name again.

Why is it still taboo? Because the arguments against
legalizing it unequivocally are based on hearsay, myth and
ill-informed opinion about the effects of the drug. People
express fear for our children. We have never left the age of
Reefer Madness.

As an example, very recently the Canadian Council of Chief
Executives, which represents 150 major or multi-national
corporations, stated that a federal bill to decriminalize
pot could increase injuries, absenteeism and poor job
performance and poor productivity. The council, which no
doubt includes many who use alcohol, forgot that alcohol is
legal, but I don't see drinking on the job as a national
problem. The very few people who drink on the job tend to
lose their jobs. As far as I can tell, Canadians like to
work, like to make a salary and aren't going to jeopardize
their jobs.

Most people think that the anti-marijuana laws are stupid
and are there to be ignored. In my view, the anti-marijuana
laws create resentment and disrespect for law and law
enforcement in general. We seem to be stuck in the Dark
Ages.

The anti-marijuana laws are immoral in principle and
unworkable in fact. The comedian Bill Maher says the worst
thing about marijuana is that it makes you eat cookie dough.
In other words, it is harmless.

It's time, in fact it's way overdue, that pot be treated the
same as alcohol and tobacco. Even if it isn't good for
children, it is no argument to say the government,
therefore, should take it away from adults.

We don't do that with liquor. Why can't we just say, 'Kids,
this is not for you.'The state should leave adults alone to
smoke pot.

I don't use it. Never will. But I do love cookie dough.

The law making pot's possession or use illegal is dead
wrong.

It's time to implement a system to regulate pot's
production, distribution and consumption. In other words,
it's time for the government to get off the pot.

Edward L. Greenspan, Q. C., is the senior partner of the
Toronto law firm of Greenspan, White. Comments can be sent
to writersgroup@ospreymedia.ca
----

JCT: So I wrote to Lorne:

>Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:48:41 -0500 (EST)
>From: TURMEL@ncf.ca (John Turmel)
>Subject: Re: News about newspapers
>To: lwhite@becon.org

Jct: When I read the article, I kept hearing "been there,
done that." The real story is that a dinosaur is joining the
3rd millennium.
The only way to pin is to ask about the meaning of Krieger
at the Supreme Court. You could mention the case in Elliot
Lake.
Notice he's looking for regulation, not de-regulation.
I'll stand regulation for a year on the way to non-reg.
I think children should have the right to consume the
Tree of Life too. Especially the seeds if not the buds.
You really should experiment and find out the truth of
the world's greatest medication.
---

JCT: Lorne called to say that I should contact Mr. Greenspan
with the Krieger story. I asked why he thought Greenspan
wouldn't be part of the Krieger cover-up. His search engine
didn't find my activities over past 4 years? Lorne would
have more chance to break through the Turmel-black-out than
I ever would. Lorne wrote back:

>Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 20:17:11 -0500
>From: lwhite@becon.org (Lorne WHITE)
>Subject: News about newspapers
>To: TURMEL@ncf.ca
LW: Hi John: Sorry I missed you Sun/Mon.
1. YOUR PHONE DOESN'T WORK !!!
Can't get through; starts ringing then converts to a
strange, loud, continuous echoing hum.
=> My guess is that you are online, but when I do that,
my line is just busy.
2. Here's what I learned about the GREENSPAN article :
A/ I can e-write c/o the Osprey Forum and they forward it
directly to him.
B/ I asked the Managing Editor if they were following the
Marijuana Turmel situation, and he replied, "Yes, we're
aware of it, but not putting 'heavy resources' on it."

JCT: The managing editor of what knows about the Krieger
Quarter Million Bogus Convictions Scandal? First time I've
ever heard calling "no coverage" as "not putting heavy
resources on it." Har har har.

LW: I found that verrry interesting... you Have caught the
attention of the media, even if they won't report it
properly.

JCT: With 1000 reporters on my initial medpot list and
almost 700 left 4 years later, do you really think they
could have not been hooked by sensational real-time
courtroom drama about Canada's greatest legal scandal. It
does tell you the power of the purse over the reporters. NY
Times retiring editor Swinton called the free press
prostitutes for rich me behind the scenes who pay them to
lie. They're paid to report government lies and look like
they take them seriously. "Minister Anne McLellan said today
in her attack on grow-opts that the trade of marijuana
provides the greatest support for terrorism in the world.
Har har har har. Oh, ahem, she's being taken seriously by
the reporter and no one else is laughing out loud but me.

LW: And I suspect that they are sympathetic to some form of
legalisation of pot - because they published the supportive
GREENSPAN article.

JCT: Who in their right mind isn't? Just government with the
political prostitutes at the top of the police and medical
associations even if not the cops and docs themselves.

LW: Will try to write a letter to GREENSPAN tonight or
tomorrow and forward to you for 'improvement' from Acapulco.
PS. How do Mexican pot prisons compare with the Don Jail?
BE CAREFUL !!!
Lorne WHITE lwhite@becon.org

JCT: There would be no prisons in an interest-free world.

>Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 18:00:46 -0500
>From: lwhite@becon.org (Lorne WHITE)
>Subject: OSPREY FORUM: e-Letter to Edward GREENSPAN re: Pot
Issue
>To: writersgroup@ospreymedia.ca
>Cc: tribme@wellandtribune.ca (DUMA /RPC Geo)

Edward L. GREENSPAN, QC
% Osprey Forum
writersgroup@ospreymedia.ca

Dear Sir:
re: "It's high time government finally got off the pot
issue"
Welland/PortColborne TRIBUNE, Sat. 2005-01-08, pA6

I'm writing to you after seeing "Life and Times" tonight
(Jan. 20th) on CBC Television. I particularly admire your
decision to take 6 months off from your business in 1987,
and devote it to promoting the abolition of Capital
Punishment. It takes courage to stand up for your beliefs,
and for what's Right. -w-

You wrote a very interesting article (above).

Like you, I don't use pot. In fact, I have reservations
about allowing Marijuana to take its place unfettered in
society. After all, look at how much damage has been caused
by alcohol and nicotine, the 2 legal drugs which we
supposedly "control". To be fair, there seems to be mounting
evidence that Marijuana is far less dangerous than either
alcohol or nicotine, and certainly beneficial for certain
illnesses, like Morphine, the legal Heroin. [By the way,
where DO we get the makings for Morphine?]

However, your point about the existing Marijuana laws
creating resentment and disrespect for the legal system cuts
to the heart of the matter.

Are you aware that it appears that Canadian Marijuana laws
may NO LONGER EXIST, but are still being enforced and
prosecuted by Police and Crown Attorneys?

I would appreciate hearing your views on a current case,
reported below, in which an individual, Richard JOHNSON, is
defending himself without counsel, in Elliot Lake. In short,
is the legal argument he makes correct? Is the KRIEGER
decision a precedent which strikes down s.7 Cultivation and,
by inference, s.4 Possession, (according to Crown Attorney
Frankel) and perhaps s.5? of the Marijuana laws?

Have thousands of people been charged and convicted since
the KRIEGER decision, of charges "unknown to law", because
Police, Crown and Judges are ignoring the KRIEGER decision
in the Alberta Court of Appeal and its subsequent failed
appeal by the Crown to the Supreme Court of Canada? (Please
forgive the long run-on sentence!)

If true, this is frightening. What hope is there for average
folk if this practice becomes common in other areas of law?
How quickly will we revert to the abuses of past centuries?
(Has this already started? Is the Maher ARAR case part of
it?)

Is it not a basic principle of British-Canadian law that
"Parliament only legislates, and Courts only abrogate", that
Courts neither re-instate nor create laws, they can only
strike down laws? (The Crown has been arguing that the
HITZIG case re-instated the Marijuana laws.)

You may wish to talk directly to John C. TURMEL who has been
devoting an enormous amount of energy and spearheading this
campaign. You may explore his website for a complete record
of the legal battles across Canada:
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel
His phone number is also below, and he now lives in
Brantford.

I "met" him on the internet while learning about LETSystems,
which he has helped to promote since they were first
invented in BC ~1982.

Looking forward to hearing your opinion about this.

Life Insurance Broker
Rotary Club of Fort Erie
Secretary 2002-04
President 1996-97, 2001-02
LETS niagara Secretary-Treasurer 1997-
Scouts Canada 1986-2002
--
Lorne WHITE lwhite@becon.org
657 Steele St PORT COLBORNE ON CANADA L3K 4Z1
905/ 835-5506 BusFaxRes www.tenstar.LorneWhite.com

-----Original Message-----
From: turmel@ncf.ca [mailto:turmel@ncf.ca]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 6:53 PM
To: turmel@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [letssc] TURMEL: #2 Johnson Quash hearing report

JCT: The Johnsons have filled out their report so I'm going
to publish it with yesterday's stuff and the new from today.

>Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 03:51:22 +0000
>From: el_sunset_warrior@yahoo.ca (el_sunset_warrior)
>Subject: an update to tuesdays court,
>To: MedPot-discuss@yahoogroups.com...

JCT: And here Lorne reproduced the transcript of Richard
Johnson's plea to Judge Serre to be decided Tues Feb 1.

What quality pressure from a non-smoker. Even if Mr.
Greenspan is a Johnny-come-lately to jump on the bandwagon,
at least word's getting out that the bandwagon's on the way.

Thanks for helping Free the Tree of Life.

--
Abolitionist Slave Leader John C."The Banking Systems Engineer" Turmel
for UNILETS interest-free time-based currency in U.N. resolution C6
to Governments in the http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration.htm
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel 519-753-0645 USENET: can.politics