O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye – O'Fallon, MO

O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye – O'Fallon, MO

The beauty of American brewers is that they're not beholden to traditional styles like the British, Germans, and Belgians. And in that innovative spirit, Missouri's O'Fallon Brewery released their new Hemp Hop Rye – an amber ale with toasted hemp seeds and malted rye. Combined with a share of American hops, the beer is a smooth and balanced brew with a deep, earthy character. The spice notes of the rye and hemp blend seamlessly into the citrus hops, creating an interesting beer that's easy to drink on a sweaty day, but worth sipping when you have the time.

MERP

 

The "Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy" (MRP) Project
Pronounced "Merp Project"

After covering drug policy for over a decade it is becoming apparent that Marijuana Re-Legalization must occur through a thoughtful restructuring of existent laws.  To that end New Age Citizen will soon be embarking on what will be known as the "Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy" (MRP) Project

The initial phase of the project will be geared towards gathering the endorsement of the following Re-Legalization Guidelines, by both individuals and organizations:

"The most important aspect to any reform in Cannabis law needs to minimally allow non-commercial cultivation, by adults above the age of 18, to be done without any form of government taxation or interference."

If you agree with these guidelines we urge you to get on our mailing list by clicking on the "Join us - It's Free" hyperlink.  These Re-Legalization Guidelines closely parallel the way that we regulate the home brewing of another mind altering drug - beer. The primary purpose of these guidelines are to insure that government is forever restricted from taxing or regulating the personal use of Cannabis.

Of course these guideline encapsulate much forethought and will require further explanation which will be forthcoming.  In the meantime let me just throw out the following points:

* One of major focus of the Drug War has been to whittle away at our constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and unreasonable searches and seizures.  The Re-Legalization Guidelines will go a long way in taking back much of what has lost over the last 67  years since passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.

* Many activists argue that the only way that Marijuana can be legalized is if the Government can find a way to make money off it.  "Tax it" they say "and we can pay off the national debt."   But this will require costly regulation and enforcement which will still afford the government an excuse to enter you home and violate your privacy rights.  It is not hard to imagine that "no knock" busts would still be executed in order to prosecute citizens who might be growing Cannabis "without a licence."

The MRP Project argues that it would be better to see Americans allowed to grow their own Marijuana and then spend the savings (from no longer having to buy ounces at $400+) on food, clothing, retirement savings and other goods and services.  In redirecting their savings towards goods and services tax revenue will also be generated as purchases are made.   So the MRP Project approach is actually superior to the "tax and regulate" approach because it does not require ANY money to be spent on a new government bureaucracy.  And, as previously stated, it also protects our constitutional gaurantees against unreasonable searches and seizures by eliminating one of the greatest excuses for "no knock" home invasions by government agents.

Current Law
MRP Project Law

Jack is a moderate smoker.  He consumes about 3 ounces of high grade Cannabis each year [This amounts to .23 gms of Cannabis per day -- a fraction of what is in an average cigarette].  At $400/ounce this amounts to $1,200 which goes directly to his local drug dealer.
Jack is still a moderate smoker.  But it is now costing him only $20, per ounce, to grow his own Cannabis.  So he now only spends $60 for his 3 ounces and now has freed up $1,140 each year to spend on legal goods and services.  Jack decides to spend his $1,140 savings on a new wardrobe.  Since he lives in Michigan, where there is a 6% sales tax, the State of Michigan gets an extra $68.40 in tax revenue this year.  If there are a million moderate smokers in Michigan, about 10% of the population, this would result in $68 million dollars of tax revenue each year.

Jack gets pulled over for a bad tail light and the officer insists on a search.  A roach is found under the seat.  By the time he pays the fines and an attorney he has been set back nearly $3,000 dollars and he nearly spent some time in jail.  For the next year he must submit to random drug tests at the insistence of the court.
Jack gets pulled over for a bad tail light and the officer issues a warning which requires him to fix the bad tail light.  This costs Jack about $20 -- saving him $2980 from NOT getting busted.  Let's  assume that the 700,000 Amereicans, that get busted for Cannabis possession each year, spend an average of $2,000 on fines, urine tests, court costs and attorney fees.  That amounts to about 1.2 BILLION dollars that American citizens will have back in their own pockets each year! 

* We are supposed to have a government that is "by, for and of the American people."  If that is the case why does the Federal Government continue to fight against the medical use of Cannabis when over 70% of the American people believe such access should be available? 

* With pharmaceutical drugs falling further out of reach of the poor and elderly the MRP Project argues that non-taxation will provide a means for reducing the cost of pharmaceutical drugs by forcing competition with one of the worlds safest, most effective medicines: Cannabis.  While Cannabis will not supplant all pharmaceutical drugs it may offer an alternative in some areas (e.g., glaucoma treatment; as an alternative to certain anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs).  Hopefully this will give impetus to the use of other plant based medicines as well.

If you think these guidelines have merit we encourage you to sign up and get involved.  If your financial situation allows, we also encourage subscribing to our eMagazine and purchasing products from our online store

Yours in Freedom,

Professor Hemp

Cast a vote for compassion

Re "Anniston man finds one state's medicine is another's illicit drug" (News article, Aug. 18):

Thanks to The Star for the article on Michael Lapihuska's situation. Michael's predicament clearly demonstrates the need for Alabama to pass comprehensive medical marijuana legislation.
What happened to Michael is a complete miscarriage of justice. Since when is geographic location used to determine whether someone is a patient or a criminal? If Michael's doctor recommended marijuana for his treatment, then who are the cops/courts to decide whether he can have that treatment? Cops and judges haven't been to medical school. They are not doctors. Their solution to every problem is taser, shoot, abuse and/or imprison. Clearly, that isn't how we want to treat patients in Alabama. It isn't against the law to be sick or to try and alleviate one's own suffering.
The state of Alabama should respect the laws and professional licenses of other states. An Alabama patient living in a state that recognizes marijuana as a valid medical treatment should not have to fear returning home to visit family and friends. They should be able to bring their medicine with them, without fear of arrest and imprisonment. As it stands now, any Alabama patient living in a medical marijuana state must decide between risking arrest and imprisonment if they bring their medicine, not bringing their medicine and thereby compromising their health, or deciding to never return home again. Imagine if the medicine in question was seizure medication or blood pressure pills. Only barbarians would uphold such a terrible law.
Alabamians for Compassionate Care will reintroduce medical marijuana legislation in the 2011 legislative session. This bill would protect patients like Michael Lapihuska by recognizing medical marijuana patients from other states. Please contact your representative and ask them to support the Compassionate Care Act when it comes before them in 2011.
Loretta Nall
Executive Director
Alabamians for Compassionate Care
Alexander City

Read more: Anniston Star - Cast a vote for compassion

Contrary to Ms. Cris Ericson’s comments…

THE U.S. MARIJUANA PARTY IS A VALID POLITICAL PARTY…

I received a disturbing email from someone who I had  thought of as a colleague this morning.   This is an excerpt of that email: (Ms. Ericson’s writing is highlighted in “orange”)…

REVISED PLATFORM AUG. 23, 2010
The United States Marijuana Party is on the
official election ballot in Vermont for the
general election Nov. 2, 2010, with candidate
Cris Ericson for United States Senator
and
Cris Ericson for Governor.

Please send campaign contributions
by check or money order to
Ericson for Governor
or
Ericson for U.S. Senate
Please call for information regarding the
largest legal amounts you can contribute.
You must be a U.S. Citizen.

The United States Marijuana Party in Vermont
is a separate legal entity from the
United States Marijuana Party in other states.

The United States Marijuana Party in Vermont
owns the domains:
http://USMJP.com
http://USMJP.net
http://USMJP.org

The United States Marijuana Party in other
states was originally owned by Marc Emery,
Prince of Pot, who was extradited from Canada
to the United States for selling marijuana
seeds over the internet to allegedly 70,000
Americans.  His sentencing hearing is not until
September 2010. He is being held in Federal Prison
in the State of Washington.  There is no statement
from Federal Prosecutors yet as to what will happen
to the 70,000 Americans that Marc Emery sold
marijuana seeds to over the internet from Canada
using U.S. mails.
Marc Emery's domain was http://usmjparty.com
and domain searches no longer publicly list the owner.
Rich Rawlings owns the domains:
http://usmjparty.org
http://usmjparty.net

Cris Ericson, with her more conservative approach,
is the only candidate in the Unites States of America
who has achieved BALLOT STATUS for the
United States Marijuana Party.

The United States Marijuana Party in other states
under those other domains
( http://usmjparty.com
http://usmjparty.org
http://usmjparty.net )
has NEVER HAD A CANDIDATE ON ANY BALLOT IN ANY STATE
AND IS NOT REGISTERED AS A POLITICAL PARTY
IN ANY STATE WITH ANY SECRETARY OF STATE.

CRIS ERICSON, UNITED STATES MARIJUANA PARTY
is registered with the Vermont Secretary of State
http://www.sec.state.vt.us

Regardless of what Marc Emery's people may say,
CRIS ERICSON IS THE ONLY
UNITED STATES MARIJUANA PARTY CANDIDATE
REGISTERED WITH ANY SECRETARY OF STATE,
AND WITH THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,
AND WHO IS ON ANY OFFICIAL ELECTION BALLOT.

THE OTHER GUYS ARE NOT ORGANIZED OR CERTIFIED
OR REGISTERED AS A LEGAL POLITICAL PARTY ENTITY.

Cris Ericson does not smoke, use, inhale, ingest,
grow, cultivate, sell, transport or do anything
will any real marijuana.

Cris Ericson believes that marijuana should be legal
for adults to use responsibly.

Cris Ericson has an entirely intellectual and factually
correct approach to marijuana legalization based on facts
and statistics,  using only
legal and proper procedural tactics.

Cris Ericson has been on the official election ballot
in Vermont 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010.
Her domain
http://crisericson.com
is archived in the Library of Congress Minerva Program.
Cris Ericson has actively campaigned to legalize
marijuana every campaign season, with diligence and
dedication in the pursuit of freedom to control our
own bodies and our own minds.

THERE ARE STATE
AND
THERE ARE FEDERAL
MARIJUANA ISSUES.

There are Vermont State Marijuana Laws,
and there are Federal Marijuana Laws.

In 2011 USMJP will be able to file as a minor party in Vermont.
<a href="http://usmjp.com"> USMJP Vermont </a>

2010 UNITED STATES MARIJUANA PARTY
PLATFORM OF
MARIJUANA
POLIITCAL ISSUES
FOR THE NOV. 2, 2010 ELECTION IN VERMONT.

*************************************************************************************************************************************

CONTRARY to what Ms. Ericson is claiming, the U.S. Marijuana Party HAS been listed in the Library of Congress:  http://webarchive.loc.gov/lcwa0017/*/www.usmjparty.com/

and http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/lcwa/mrva0017.1992/default.html  and http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/lcwa/searchAll?query=U.S.+Marijuana+Party&field=all&sort=titlesort  and http://webarchive.loc.gov/lcwa0016/2004*/www.usmjparty.com/

and continuing:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050403213736/usmjparty.com/usmjparty_sites.htm

The above lists the archived websites of the State sites of the U.S. Marijuana Party.

The U.S. Marijuana Party was in Time Magazine in March of 2010.

Historically, the Founder of the U.S. Marijuana Party was Ms. Loretta Nall, in November of 2002 after having met Marc Emery while on a vacation in Canada.

After returning home from that trip her home was raided by DEA looking for evidence of illegal Marijuana, of which none was found.  That was effectively the beginning of the U.S. Marijuana Party.

While it is true that there were “Seeds” which were sold through mail order from Marc Emery’s “seed bank” to individuals in  the United States, it is NOT true that the U.S. Marijuana Party is, has, or ever would operate off of Marc Emery’s money since Richard J Rawlings has been Executive Director, starting in 2006. 

Quite the contrary, Marc Emery is now asking for donations to support himself in prison in the U.S.  (For unjust charges, I might add).

Politically speaking we are Independents with many socially libertarian positions.  But each state contends with its own  pertinent demographic problems in a way they feel will best represent their state.

The U.S. Marijuana Party will address any issue concerning  Cannabis/Marijuana/Hemp Prohibition, Human Rights and Civil Rights, as we believe in adhering to the "original" Constitutional Rights of all United States Citizens.

We most certainly believe in the REPEAL OF THE PROHIBITION  OF MARIJUANA/CANNABIS AND HEMP!

There were quite a few “State” party affiliations until 2005 when the DEA arrested Marc Emery with a “trans-national” warrant.  At this time, as is common for third party affiliations, many State sites ceased and desisted out of fear of retaliation from the DEA for something they were not guilty of to begin with.

It was not until 2006 that Richard J. Rawlings was offered the opportunity to take over the U.S. Marijuana Party via Loretta Nall who decided it was in her best interest to run  Independent in Alabama, as she was running for Governor.  Of note, Loretta Nall was then, and still is a very influential political person in her home state.

At the time Richard J. Rawlings took over the U.S. Marijuana Party, there was NO money.  The party still operates with NO budget, NO income to speak of and only Four legitimate state chapters, which are:

ILLINOIS  U.S. MARIJUANA PARTY, Richard J. Rawlings

COLORADO U.S. MARIJUANA PARTY, “Wayward” William A. Chengelis

KENTUCKY U.S. MARIJUANA PARTY, Sheree Krider

WYOMING U.S. MARIJUANA PARTY, Charlie Lake

The U.S. Marijuana Party has legitimate Federal Tax Identification and operates as a LEGAL ENTITY within the U.S. Tax Codes, (even though there is little to report). 

Our follower’s can verify the fact that a “US Marijuana Party of Vermont” never existed, via this link of archived sites for the Party. 

The Official Domains for the United States Marijuana Party
https://usmjparty.org | http://usmjparty.com | http://usmjparty.net
http://usmarijuanaparty.com | http://usmarijuanaparty.org

Official State Chapters
Colorado: http://co.usmjparty.org | http://co.usmarijuanaparty.org
Illinois: http://il.usmjparty.org | http://il.usmarijuanaparty.org
Kentucky: http://ky.usmjparty.org | http://ky.usmarijuanaparty.org
Mississippi: http://ms.usmjparty.org | http://ms.usmarijuanaparty.org
Wyoming: http://wy.usmjparty.org | http://wy.usmarijuanaparty.org

Furthermore, the following information is provided to confirm the ownership of the U.S. Marijuana Party:

The data contained in GoDaddy.com, Inc.'s WHOIS database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy. This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, Inc. By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty. In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
solicitations of any kind, including spam. You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.
Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" field. In most cases, GoDaddy.com, Inc.
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.
Registrant:
United States Marijuana Party
861 S. KIM MOOR Rd.
Peoria, Illinois 61605
United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: USMJPARTY.COM
Created on: 24-Aug-01
Expires on: 24-Aug-10
Last Updated on: 05-Aug-09
Administrative Contact:
Rawlings, Richard richrawlings@usmjparty.com
United States Marijuana Party
861 S. KIM MOOR Rd.
Peoria, Illinois 61605
United States
3096488734
Technical Contact:
Rawlings, Richard richrawlings@usmjparty.com
United States Marijuana Party
861 S. KIM MOOR Rd.
Peoria, Illinois 61605
United States
3096488734

Now that this issue has been addressed as to the “ownership” of the name, we will address a few other issues as well.

Here are a few links either depicting or opinionating Ms. Ericson’s work:

Crackpot Candidate #1: Cris Ericson, Candidate for Governor of Vermont.

Ms. Cris Ericson on Blogger

Theocracy For Marijuana In Vermont

United States Marijuana Party is on Vermont ballot for Governor & U.S. Senate 2010      “…Because Corporations may now promote campaigns, a good campaign fundraiser should be seeking a reality t.v. show producer to follow Cris Ericson's campaign….”

Marc Emery Update  

(Coincidentally enough, after having shunned the U.S. Marijuana Party for it’s alleged affiliation with Marc Emery, she has used “his” update to post her candidacy on that site.)

HOW DOES A CANDIDATE W/NO FUNDS "HIRE" A FUNDRAISER?

Free Marc Emery!! Canada's Prince of Pot Has Begun His Journey Into America's Gulag  (Once again, using a Marc Emery discussion to promote her campaign:..”…)

MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL! VOTE CRIS ERICSON 2010!

by Ms. Cris Ericson (not verified), September 29, 2009, 04:23pm

DO YOU LIVE IN VERMONT?

DO YOU WANT TO HELP MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL?

VOTE CRIS ERICSON 2010!

http://makemarijuanalegal.com
MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL dot com

OUT-OF-STATE CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS ARE LEGAL!
VOTE CRIS ERICSON
FOR UNITED STATES SENATOR
FOR VERMONT 2010.”

As of this time, the political satire of Ms. Cris Ericson for Governor, or Senator (whatever), as a U.S. Marijuana Party Candidate is questionable because there is NO legal affiliation with the UNITED STATES MARIJUANA PARTY.  There are NO “USMJParty” Candidates. 

The following statement was made by Richard J. Rawlings and sent to the Vermont Board of Elections:

“To whom it my concern,

Cris Ericson used fraud to get on the ballot for the 2010 election in your state of Vermont.

Cris Ericson has never been a member of the United States Marijuana Party nor has there ever been a chapter of the United States Marijuana Party in the State of Vermont. Cris Ericson used the United States Marijuana Party name to get the 500 signatures needed to get on the ballot in 2010 without the permission of the United States Marijuana Party. Cris Ericson does not represent the United States Marijuana Party, and we ask that you to remove our name from the Vermont ballot for 2010.

Sincerely.

United States Marijuana Party
Richard James Rawlings
Executive Director”

The “USMJParty” will continue to look into this matter and the legalities thereof, and will post updates as warranted.

smkrider