NakedSunfish ~ Issue 7
Shame on the Drug Enforcement Agency.
(Note: The following is a letter I wrote to Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in the wake of a recent raid by the DEA on a medical marijuana cooperative in the bay area. For the neccesary background, a good account from a local paper can be read at: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4015297.htm )
Dear Senators,
It has been a very long time since I have felt as deeply ashamed of the actions of our government as I do right now. Yesterday the DEA raided the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Santa Cruz and arrested its brave co-founders Valerie and Mike Corral. The two were released and charges have yet to be filed, but the damage has been done. The collective's supply of medicine has been destroyed, and its members--patients with AIDS, cancer and/or other diseases--will be forced to choose between suffering terrible pain or the humiliation of seeking illegal cannabis on the black market, getting God knows what instead of the safe, medically sound variety grown by WAMM.
Why must the federal government continue to interfere with the ability of Californians to seek appropriate medical treatment? Two thirds of California voters--and over three fourths of the Santa Cruz electorate--supported Proposition 215 legalizing medical marijuana in the state. Yet the DEA not only refuses to accept that, they seem to take some perverse joy in singling out organizations like WAMM and other medical marijuana cooperatives that have responsibly sought to obey the letter and spirit of California law.
WAMM, like the Los Angeles cannabis Buyer's Club raided earlier this year, worked in concert with their local sheriff's office. I'm certain that the DEA was aware of this and that it factored into their decision to perform the raid without consulting with local law enforcement. This action points to an agency totally out of control, probably an inevitable result of the nation's increasingly draconian, anachronistic, totalitarian, misguided and ineffective drug policy.
The feds need to get out of California's medical practices. And policy makers need to look at the results of their laws. The DEA doesn't seem interested in differentiating between violent drug-trafficking and responsible care-giving and a quick glance at the pending RAVE Act legislation shows that our law makers have the same feeling towards music promoters. Let's end this farcical war on drugs now.
Ted Kane
Los Angeles, CA
(Note: Another story
that caught my attention was Neal Pollack's typical piece of Gen-X whinery
regarding the Rolling Stones in the New York Times. Sure, it's not as important
of an issue as the travesty of justice taking place in California, but it
did get my dander up and keyboard humming. Here's the original article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/01/arts/music/01POLL.html)
RE: Rockin' to the Stones
To the Editor:
Reading Neal Pollack's article "Rockin' to the Stones? Yeah, in Chairs" filled me with the kind of embarrassment that I all too frequently feel reading the ignorant and self-important ramblings of other members of my generation. Like Pollack, I was 19 when I saw the Rolling Stones perform in 1989. While Pollack spent his evening in Indianapolis apparently having the epiphany that he was a schmuck, the show I saw that year in Cleveland seemed masterful to me. I remember gaining a deeper appreciation of their work and feeling that they made a credible claim for the title of the World's Greatest Rock Band.
Pollack's grouse that classic rock radio exempts too much good music in favor of the mediocre and worse is correct. And he's also right that there were a lot of great bands around in the 1980s, although 1.) it's his own fault if he wasn't listening to it and 2.) it's not like it's an either/or proposition. I listened to the Stones in 1989 and was listening to REM and the Butthole Surfers then as well. I still listento the Stones and the Butthole Surfers, in fact, though I now realize that REM basically sucks.
The most inexplicable statement in his article is his claim that Guns 'n Roses--we called them Chumps and Poseurs in my neighborhood--were somehow equivalent to the Rolling Stones. You want to talk about an overblown product of music industry hype. And, besides, he really can't blame the Stones or classic rock for not exposing him to them--I remember them being on the radio all the time and, in fact, they were the opening act for the Rolling Stones on the Steel Wheels tour. Get there earlier next time, buddy. And quit whining!
Ted Kane
Los Angeles, CA