Sunday, September 30th 2012

Greetings, friends. The date for the global march has been moved back one day to Sunday, September 30th, 2012. Please mark it on your calendars and change your event pages.

The Time Is Now

The legalization of cannabis is about a lot more than meets the eye. The issues at stake here encompass personal freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The 1st amendment states that we are not only free in our homes but in our persons (that is, our bodies and what we choose to put in them and how.) If we are indeed free in our persons, then every single person who has been incarcerated for the simple act of using this herb has been falsely arrested and imprisoned. Yes, current law states they have committed an infraction, but common sense alone states that they have not actually done anything wrong. That means the police officers who arrest these people are guilty of false arrest. It also means that every person who has been fined for marijuana use has been the victim of both theft and extortion. The police unions who lobby so heavily on behalf of criminalization and maintaining the status quo are not doing so out of any concern for the people they claim to serve and protect. They are not acting out of benevolence or because they have any love for the society they live in. The war on drugs puts money in their pockets. Can you imagine how many fewer arrests and incarcerations there would be in the United States if cannabis were legalized and regulated? It’s not a far fetched assumption that many law enforcement officials would lose their jobs. The need for prison space would drop dramatically. The federal government would not be dumping nearly as much money into local and state law enforcement narcotics divisions. The war on drugs is no such thing. It is a war on drug users. Our opponents claim that marijuana leads to the destruction of families. Where is their concern for the families of men and women who are languishing in jail cells for doing nothing more than using an herb that anyone can easily grow? Everyone must stand and fight this now. We have gone on too long like this and it’s only getting worse. Instead of building more schools, we are closing schools and building prisons. Instead of preventing actual violent crimes, our police are paid to ruin the lives of peaceful people for breaking laws that make no sense on their face. 420. It isn’t just a number. It is a symbol and a mantra that everyone who believes in personal freedom must take up.

Calling Out The Narco-Warriors: The NNOAC and Ronald E. Brooks

www.natlnarc.org . This is a nationwide gang of law enforcement officials dedicated to maintaining the status quo on our nation's drug policies, especially as it relates to cannabis. Their primary purpose is to protect their finances which come from the federal government. Their secondary purpose is to obtain even more tax dollars for the purpose of fighting their illegal, misguided war, especially on cannabis users. "Below is a list of NNOAC’s goals and objectives: • To ensure that the Edward R. Byrne Memorial Fund is fully funded in order to maintain the multi-jurisdictional drug task forces, which are the backbone of narcotics law enforcement. • To maintain, increase, and intensify drug asset revenue sharing – the most important tool that narcotic law enforcement has today. • To assist in the preparation of the National Drug Strategy. • To place more emphasis on the domestic side of the drug strategy by increasing state and local level involvement on the direction taken in the fight against drugs. • To increase unification, networking, and act as a liaison for the exchange of information. • To have an impact on legislation affecting narcotic officers and narcotic enforcement in the United States. • To act as a conduit for the exchange of information, intelligence, and training guidelines affecting narcotic enforcement. • To identify and refer members to quality training for narcotic law enforcement officers to ensure their safety and effectiveness. • To act as a resource for states that want to establish a narcotics officers association" Here is their annual report for 2011. http://www.natlnarc.org/newsletters/Vol13No2_lowres.pdf As you will see, this organization relies on outdated information and attitudes. Here is a statement from their president, Ronald E. Brooks. This guy is quite a piece of work: "As a 35-year law enforcement veteran and a father of two, I am alarmed by the dramatic increase in efforts to legalize or de-criminalize powerful and dangerous drugs, including marijuana. Frankly, I am surprised that the drumbeat of the drug legalizers – that “the drug war has failed” – has been allowed to continue virtually unchallenged despite significant declines in teen drug use over the past eight years. I am appalled at the idea that legalizing and taxing marijuana is a smart way to close government budget gaps. It is unthinkable to suggest unleashing even more destruction and addiction through legalization just to help balance a state’s budget...." What we have here is a group of drug war drones left over from the Ronald Reagan era. And simply because they are on their last leg doesn't mean they aren't dangerous. These men (did you notice they were all middle aged men on the front page?) are willing to, and often do, destroy innocent people's lives for the simple act of using cannabis. They speak of drugs tearing apart families, yet give no thought to tearing families apart by incarcerating countless people who have done nothing more than use an herb to their benefit. They maintain their funding through fear-mongering, using outdated information and spreading outright lies. Join us in the coming weeks, months and years as we at Anonymous and Team Vendetta set out to remove these relics of the past and their overbearing bully tactics. Stand with us as we usher in the era of tolerance, understanding and honest discussion on these matters which are important to so many. Sincerely, Jason Steele

New Event Page For Operation Cannabis 420 - Phase II

We have created a new Facebook Event page for Operation Cannabis 420 - Phase II. The other one was full of glitches and we were unable to share or invite anyone. These problems have been corrected and we are ready to go into full swing. Please share the event and spread the link. Remember that October 1st is only one of the dates we will be marching on. We are in the process of nailing down the rest of the dates and will publish them shortly. Peace, my friends. ---- JS  http://www.facebook.com/events/282549035173193/282566721838091/?notif_t=like

Calling out the narco-warriors: The Police Unions

John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context. At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law. Some of the groups who want to keep the drug illegal are police unions that want more members to pay more dues. One of the primary sources for cash for more policing activities are Federal grants for penalizing illegal drug use, which help pay for overtime, additional police officers, and equipment for the force. That’s what Lovell does, he gets those grants. He also fights against democratic mechanisms to legalize drugs. In 2010, California considered Prop 19, a measure to legalize marijuana and tax it as alcohol. The proposition gained more votes than Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive and Republican gubernatorial nominee that year, but failed to pass. Opponents of the initiative ran ads, organized rallies, and spread conspiracy theories about billionaire George Soros to confuse voters. Lovell managed the opposition campaign against Prop 19. He told Time Magazine that he was pushing against the initiative because, “the last thing we need is yet another mind-altering substance to be legalized.” But Republic Report reviewed lobbying contracts during the Prop 19 fight, and found that Lovell’s firm was paid over $386,350 from a wide array of police unions, including the California Police Chiefs Association. While Lovell may contend that he sincerely opposes the idea of marijuana legalization, he has constructed an entire business model predicated on pot prohibition. Shortly after President Obama’s stimulus program passed, Lovell went to work channeling the taxpayer money for California into drug war programs. According to documents Republic Report obtained from the Police Chiefs Association, Lovell helped local departments apply for drug war money from the Federal government. Here’s a copy of one letter sent to a police department in Lassen County, California:

There is big money in marijuana prohibition. Lovell represented a police union in a bid to steer some $2.2 million dollars into a “Marijuana Suppression Program.” In 2009 and 2010, California police unions sought a $7,537,389 chunk of Federal money for police to conduct a “Campaign Against Marijuana Planting” program. The anti-marijuana money went directly into the paychecks of many officers. For example, police departments in Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tehama Counties formed a “North California Eradication Team” to receive $550,000 in grants that helped pay for overtime, a new officer, and flight operations: The total amount awarded was $550,000, to be split between Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties, which make up the Northern California Marijuana Eradication Team (NorCal-MET). Broken down in the agenda worksheet, the sheriff’s office is expecting to spend $20,000 on flight operations, $94,895 for the full-time deputy’s salary and benefits, $16,788 for the administration assistant salary and benefits and $29,983 to cover up to 666.29 hours of overtime. The Federal anti-marijuana honeypot might have dried up if Prop 19 had passed. Legalizing marijuana would have generated billions in tax revenue for the state of California, while also reducing victimless crime prosecutions. But for lobbyists like Lovell, legalization was a direct assault on hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fees for helping to solicit taxpayer money for his clients. Police unions also contributed about $100,500 to a campaign account used to coordinate opposition to Prop 19. Of the $386,350 in fees paid by police unions to Lovell through 2009 and 2010, status update reports reviewed by Republic Report reveal that Lovell worked on a number of issues, from advocacy against Prop 19 to channeling grants and monitoring legislation. Of course, police unions aren’t the only interest group with a stake in maintaining broken drug laws. The beer industry, alcohol corporations, and prison guard unions also contributed money to help Lovell stop Prop 19. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now helps push for legalization as a citizen advocate, told Republic Report that drug company lobbyists also fight to keep marijuana illegal because they view pot as a low-cost form of competition.

Cancer Killed by Cannabis - Weed - Pot - Marijuana finds UCLA research ...

Team V3nd3tt4 Press Release - Operation Cannabis 420 Phase II

Greetings from Anonymous and Team Vendetta,

As many are aware, Operation Cannabis 420 is a grass roots effort to bring all who use cannabis together for the purpose of legalization. Our efforts have been largely successful in terms of raising awareness and getting the word out. Our video and press releases for Operation Cannabis 420 - Phase 1 have reached countless numbers of people thanks to the internet and the pro-cannabis media. The support we have garnered for this operation is better than we could have dreamed.

Now, we would like to welcome you all to Operation Cannabis 420 - Phase 2! In this phase of the operation we will be focusing on two objectives: 1) Organizing several worldwide marches for cannabis legalization, the first of which is scheduled for October 1st (some of you may live in countries where the 1st falls on a Monday and might need to march a day sooner) and 2) Bringing to the forefront the "narco-warriors" (as they have come to be known). These are primarily the police unions, the private prison contractors, big pharmaceutical companies, the alcohol and tobacco industries, the corporate lobbyists for these organizations and the politicians who accept payoffs to legislate in their favor. These are the people who have a financial stake in keeping cannabis illegal, and are willing to spread lies, incarcerate cannabis users and ruin people's lives. No more. We are calling them out and will not rest day or night until they end their unjust war on cannabis users.

This is a wake up call. Every single person who uses cannabis and every single person who supports our right to do so must take a stand now. We have too many people languishing in jail for marijuana "offenses". We have too many people who are still ignorant to the facts of this miracle drug. It has been shown that THC can actually kill brain cancer cells, and also slow the rate of regeneration. It's been proven that cannabis is extremely beneficial to cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. These are just some of the benefits we are being denied because of the sleazy activity of a greedy minority.

Join us as we venture to put a stop to this once and for all. Organize an October 1st march for cannabis in your city/town. Talk to everyone. Make people aware. This fight could be won by simple math alone. We have far greater numbers. It's time to put them to use.

Sincerely'
Team Vendetta

Jason Steele, Enon E Muz, Portugese Manofwar, AnonNuke Dawn, You'May Call'Me Vee, Luke Windwalker, Young Guns, Milina Wolfrider