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Today's
Stories
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
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Weekend Edition
December 4 / 6, 2004
Pot Shots
Supreme
Court Hears Raich Case
By
FRED GARDNER
People anxious to watch oral arguments
in Ashcroft v. Raich started arriving outside the U.S. Supreme
Court at 5 a.m on Monday, Nov. 29. Frank Lucido, MD, Angel Raich's
doctor, and Jeff Jones of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op were
second and third. By 9:00 more than 200 concerned citizens had
formed an L-shaped line across the wide plaza and then east on
Constitution Avenue. What once would have been an unobstructed
view of the Capitol (with symbolic meaning, since the Court rules
on the legality of what Congress does) now consists of backhoes,
trucks, ditch-witches, porta-potties, barricades (huge round
tubs of concrete), cyclone fencing, wooden fencing, and non-union
construction workers and rent-a-guards milling about. The sun
was bright, the temperature around 400; the heavy equipment was
kicking fine sand into the air as the line began to move.
More than 100 media types and
others with connections had guaranteed seats. Reporters who cover
the court regularly get box seats along one side of the courtroom
(stage left); we in the overflow were seated behind them and
behind a wall with arched openings. Not all the Justices could
be seen through the arches. Your correspondent had an excellent
view of Justice Stephen Breyer (thin, bald, sepulchral) and Clarence
Thomas (he looked positively bored and was the only judge who
asked no questions). A public information officer gave out a
scorecard with pictures of the Justices, numbered 1-9, and she
held up fingers to indicate who was speaking. Scalia was #4,
the clean-up hitter.
Justice Stevens presided because
Chief Justice Rehnquist is undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer.
Stevens announced that Rehnquist intends to read the transcript
and vote on Ashcroft v. Raich. Activists are spinning fantasies
about Rehnquist, unable to bear the nausea of chemotherapy, obtaining
relief from cannabis and turning into an advocate. I heard versions
of this inane riff from half a dozen seemingly intelligent people.
It's more likely that William H. Rehnquist would cast a vote
against Raich with his last bit of mortal energy. The Controlled
Substances Act -which this case is really all about- was his
work product. He helped draft it as a young lawyer in the Nixon
White House (having gotten the job for, among other services
rendered, hassling black voters in Arizona). If Rehnquist were,
in his hour of need, to use cannabis as an anti-emetic, he would
undoubtedly figure out why it was righteous for him (but not
you) to do so. For years he has taken strong painkillers on a
daily basis to cope with back pain. He doesn't define himself
as an addict because he checks into treatment periodically, i.e.,
he's in control of the situation!
The Petitioner's
Case
Each side gets half an hour
to restate and defend the arguments made in written briefs that
the judges have already read. The petitioner goes first. The
Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration
are petitioning the Court to invalidate an injunction, issued
by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal in October 2003, allowing
Angel Raich and Diane Monson to obtain and use cannabis in accordance
with California law. Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement re-made
the key points: Congress is entitled to enforce the Controlled
Substances Act. Californians growing and using cannabis within
the state will inevitably have an impact on interstate commerce.
The relevant precedent was set by Wickard v. Filburn, a 1942
case upholding the federal government's right to limit the amount
of wheat a farmer could grow for home consumption.
O'Connor interrupted Clement
to ask why the Lopez and Morrison rulings shouldn't apply. In
Lopez (1995) the Court struck down a federal law banning possession
of a gun within 1,000 feet of a school because it didn't involve
economic activity. Morrison (2000), similarly, struck down a
law entitling rape victims to sue assailants in federal court.
The Lopez and Morrison rulings were said to reflect the Court's
"new federalism," a tilt towards states' rights.
Lopez and Morrison didn't undo
Wickard, said Clement. O'Connor noted that the marijuana used
by Raich and Monson did not involve interstate commerce. But
undoubtedly some marijuana would, said Clement, "diversion
would be inevitable" if all California's medical users and
their growers became legal. O'Connor's tone implied that she
was trying to poke holes in the government's position, but she
could have been trying to elicit winning arguments to employ
on behalf of the government in the Supremes' internal debate.
O'Connor asked whether California
law enforcement wouldn't suffice to ban diversion to the non-medical
market. "Marijuana is a fungible product," said Clement,
meaning there's no way to distinguish "medical" marijuana
from the non-medical kind; one could be sold instead of the other.
In response to questions by
Scalia and Kennedy, Clement repeated that diversion of marijuana
was inevitable in an annual national market of $10.5 billion.
Any "island of lawful possession" would undermine regulation
by Congress. (These gentlemen try to avoid saying "Prohibition.")
Clement falsely stated that any beneficial effects of marijuana
could be obtained legally via Marinol. Marinol is synthetic THC
in pill form. Herbal cannabis contains hundreds of other compounds,
some of which exert modulating effects. Precise dosage and immediate
onset can be achieved by smoking.
Justice Kennedy asked about
the impact on price if Californians were allowed to grow their
own marijuana for medical use. Clement said the price would go
down, the opposite of what Congress wants. Congress is trying
to increase the price of marijuana on the black market. Also,
sales of Marinol would be affected if people could grow and use
cannabis -an obvious impact on interstate commerce. And the CSA
trumps a doctor's opinion that marijuana is medically necessary.
[Next time you're sick, call a Congressman.]
Stevens asked if a District
Court could find, contrary to Congress, that marijuana is effective
medicine. Only if the case involved a review of the scheduling
decision, according to Clement. The FDA is not anti-THC, he said,
witness Marinol being moved from Schedule 2 to Schedule 3. [Which
actually shows that the FDA is not anti-corporate.]
Ginsburg and Souter asked about
challenges to marijuana's Schedule l status and its alleged benefits.
Clement said that the Institute of Medicine Report released in
2000 found that smoked marijuana "has no future as medicine."
Science [i.e, the drug companies] will find and synthesize the
good components of the plant minus the bad components. Smoking
is harmful per se. [The Institute of Medicine Report is like
the Bible, you can quote it to make any point.] The Court should
not second-guess Congress.
The Respondent's
Case
Randy Barnett, a libertarian
professor of constitutional law, argued for Raich-Monson that
their activity -growing and using cannabis as medicine- had been
entirely intrastate and non-economic. The feds need not ban such
activity in order to regulate illicit drugs.
In response to questions from
Kennedy, Barnett said that the fungibility of marijuana does
not mean possession for personal medical use is economic activity.
Scalia compared possessing
marijuana for medical use to owning a plant or animal protected
by the Endangered Species Act. Barnett said that banning ownership
of endanged species "might be essential to a broader regulatory
scheme," but owning marijuana for personal medical use was
distinguished by state law. Scalia was skeptical that that California
could narrow the scope of the activity to medical users. He invoked
"reports of whole communes with lots of people in them"
growing marijuana.
Justices Breyer and Souter
pursued the point that California couldn't effectively limit
the set of medical users. Breyer foresaw large numbers of cannabis
consumers resulting in lowered prices, thus undermining the feds'
ability to control contraband. Barnett implied that the government's
figure of 100,000 overestimated the number of medical users in
California. [That estimate appeared in the Spring '04 O'Shaughnessy's
and may be an underestimate today.] Souter speculated about "millions
of medical users buying marijuana on the street."
Ginsburg asked whether a ruling
for Raich-Monson would authorize cultivation of marijuana by
medical users in states that hadn't legalized it. Barnett said
it depended on how the Court's ruling was crafted. If the activity
is non-economic, Congress can regulate only as needed "to
enforce a broader regulatory scheme." Congress doesn't have
to ban medical use of cannabis in order to limit interstate commerce
in contraband.
Scalia asked how the Raich
case differed from Wickard v. Filburn, in which a family was
eating their homegrown wheat. Barnett said Filburn was feeding
wheat to livestock that were sold on the market, not just eating
it. "The wheat was grown as part of a commercial enterprise."
Stevens asked about the likely
effect on the price of marijuana on the interstate market (if
Raich prevailed). Barnett, not sounding totally sure, predicted
"a trivial reduction." Stevens disagreed. There followed
an exchange it which Barnett was asked about the population of
California and couldn't provide the answer. (Kennedy did: 34
million.) Souter tried to estimate how many might be in chemotherapy
-100,000? His point was, "isn't it economic activity if
it has a sizeable effect on the market?"
Barnett differentiated economic
activity from personal activity by using prostitution as an example
of the former. "Substitution effects between prostitution
and sex within marriage does not make sex within marriage economic
activity. The nature of the activity determines if it is economic."
At this point Breyer suggested
that Raich-Monson hadn't exhausted their administrative options.
"Can't your clients go to the FDA and get it rescheduled?
Then if the FDA rules against them" he sounded like a civics
teacher explaining how (and that) the system works "they
can go to court and the FDA ruling can be reviewed for abuse
of discretion. And if there is no abuse of discretion, then wouldn't
I believe as a judge that it is doubtful there is a medical benefit?
After all, medicine by regulation is better than medicine by
referendum." This last phrase was quoted by every reporter
who filed a story. It echoes the enlightened-sounding comment
of Breyer's friend Harold Varmus, former director of the National
Institutes of Health, after Prop 215 passed: "Nobody wants
to settle medical issues by plebiscite." Varmus convened
a panel of "experts" to settle the issue. That was
back in '97.
Barnett urged Breyer to read
the amicus brief written by Rick Doblin, PhD, describing the
endless runaround that would-be researchers have gotten over
the years from FDA, DEA, NIDA, and HHS. He also pointed out that
the Institute of Medicine Report acknowledges that some people
benefit even from smoked marijuana. Barnett's tone was slightly
apologetic (smoking, the sin of all time!) and he missed an opportunity
to inform the Justices that for nausea there is no better drug
and delivery system than herbal cannabis and inhalation. Nor
is there any other drug to enhance appetite.
Kennedy asked if prescriptions
were limited to cases where marijuana saved lives. "It is
limited to a list of illnesses," said Barnett, instead of
acknowledging the open-ended wording of the California law and
the doctors' gatekeeping role.
Ginsburg asked a final procedural
question: can you enjoin criminal prosecutions? Barnett said
Raich-Monson were seeking to enjoin the seizure of marijuana,
which had already occurred.
Clement, in the few minutes
he had reserved for rebuttal, emphasized that the case wasn't
about two individuals. He repeated estimates of 100,000 to 170,000
medical users in California. He quoted the broad definition of
illness that can be treated by cannabis under California law.
He cited a California case (Rutherford) in which the defendant,
caught with 19 separately packed ounces of marijuana and a scale,
was allowed to present a "medical-user" defense. Clement
also cited the WAMM case, in which 250 cannabis users -a veritable
hoard- claimed protection under the law.
Assessment
Those who have been following
Ashcroft v. Raich in the media know that most learned observers
think the Justices' questions implied a looming victory for the
federal government. Linda Greenhouse of the NY Times, in the
press room after the hearing, predicted a 9-0 vote. However,
Pebbles Trippet of the Medical Marijuana Patients Union expects
support for Raich from Ginsburg, Thomas ("the commerce clause
scholar on this court"), Stevens, and O'Connor (who is often
a swing vote). "Anything can happen," says Trippet.
Whatever happens, coverage
of the Supreme Court hearing has made the American people even
more aware that marijuana is safe and effective medicine. Angel
Raich and Diane Monson, although opposites in many ways, are
both convincing advocates. There is a desperate edge to Angel,
who looks emaciated and says urgently that she would die without
cannabis (from which she derives no pleasure except pain relief).
Monson is calm and businesslike -an accountant, she is living
proof that cannabis use doesn't undermine one's ability to do
meticulous work that requires sustained attention to detail.
Her claim isn't that cannabis is keeping her alive, only that
it enables her to function.
More commentary and analysis
in the days and weeks ahead. Some of our shrewder sources are
among the 120 lawyers in Key West, Fla., attending NORML's 21st
annual marijuana-defense-specialists' conference... In D.C. We
learned that the NORML Board has selected Allen St. Pierre to
succeed Keith Stroup as the new director. St. Pierre graduated
from UMass/Amherst in 1989 and moved to Washington, intending
to go to law school. Instead he went to work for NORML as communications
director in '91 and has been there ever since (as deputy director
since '93). In recent years NORML has been out-fundraised by
the slicker, smoother Marijuana Policy Project. St. Pierre may
be too serious and straightforward to reverse this trend. Good
luck!
Hoopla
The recent brawl involving
players and fans in Detroit has evoked countless calls for "more
security," but you don't hear too many for "less alcohol..."
San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Bruce Jenkins asserted 11/27,
"This is a young man's league, the province of teenagers
coming straight out of high school, and they represent an angry,
anti-establishment generation consumed with rebellion, the strident
lyrics of rap songs and the price to pay for being 'disrespected.'"
The NBA is a rich man's league, the province of multimillionaires.
The gifted young giants who get NBA salaries don't "represent"
anybody. They form a small, unique subset of individuals who,
after growing up in black urban ghettos, acquire sudden wealth
and fame. The result is a fractured class identity. There is
no evidence that the generation of 20-somethings, white or black,
is "consumed with rebellion." Nor do "the strident
lyrics of rap songs" equate with rebellion. Commercial hip-hop
culture is all about militant stance without corresponding political
content. "As people lament the decidedly weak security
around the league," writes Jenkins, "we can only recall
the Warriors' glory days in Oakland, when some massive, fearsome-looking
security types patrolled the scene. They always offered a striking
contrast to the sight (and scent) of people blatantly smoking
weed in the Coliseum corridors. Somehow, there always was a sense
of order..." Well, of course things were orderly: it was
weed, not alcohol. And those fearsome-looking security types
had the good sense to tolerate it. [Is it simply coincidence
that "the Warriors' glory days" ended when the Coliseum
cracked down on the doobie section? Or could it be... the curse
of the Zig-Zag man?]
The punishment of Ron Artest
et al is playing in the same theater as the purification of Carmelo
Athony. 'Melo is a beautiful 20-year-old who played one year
of college basketball (leading Syracuse to the national championship)
and one year as a pro in Denver (turning a losing franchise into
a winner). Before this season began 'Melo was arrested for marijuana
possession; a small amount was found in his backpack as the team
waited to board a flight. A friend named James Cunningham then
said in an affidavit that he'd stayed at Carmelo Anthony's house
and borrowed the backpack and left his marijuana in it. Denver
police figured they couldn't get a conviction and didn't charge
'Melo.
Nike is now running an ad campaign
designed to polish 'Melo's image. A hip black poet -very intelligent,
charismatic face and delivery- reminds us that 'Melo is a lovable
kid from a tough part of Baltimore, and that he drinks milk.
Apparently a group of "creative" types employed by
Nike sat around a table coming up with lines like, "Should
we fire him or admire him?," reflecting their own conflicts...
Too bad they couldn't come out and say that Carmelo Anthony gets
migraine headaches and self-medicates with cannabis. Not even
the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could get away with such a direct
truth.
Jabbar got busted for possession
(6 grams!) at the Toronto airport in '98, said it was for medical
use, and was humiliated in the media and blacklisted as a coach.
"It was a slow week for the NBA'S active miscreants,"
wrote David Steele of the Chronicle, "so like the Hall of
Famer he is, Abdul-Jabbar stepped into the breach and got himself
busted. The six-time MVP, six-time championship winner and (naturally)
the league's all-time leading scorer surrendered what was described
as a small amount of marijuana. A Customs spokesman said that
Abdul-Jabbar told the officials at the airport that his doctors
had recommended his using marijuana to combat migraines. Must
have been a doctor in our own fine state, home of Proposition
215..." Steele went on to make light of the fact that Chris
Webber and Robert Parish had been busted for marijuana, too.
These busts were humiliating and costly for the people involved.
Where was the humor? Wittingly or not, Steele was serving the
interests of the team owners, who wanted the NBA players to agree,
in the upcoming contract, to be tested for marijuana. And the
players did indeed capitulate.
The implication of the Carmelo
Anthony bust -like the Abdul-Jabbar bust and the Webber bust
and the Parish bust- is that marijuana use doesn't prevent one
from being a great athlete. Parish was the most durable player
in the history of the league. "David Steele must never
have had a migraine," commented a migraine sufferer of my
acquaintance. "I don't know what the worst pain in the world
is, but it must be the second."
Fred Gardner can be reached at journal@ccrmg.org
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
|