Protest Failed Drug War, Prosecution of Patients as a Waste of Federal Resources

LOS ANGELES – October 11, 2011 – When medical cannabis patients and supporters finished their rally at the federal building on Friday, October 7, 2011, the same day U.S. Attorneys announced their escalated attack on medical cannabis collectives and cooperatives, the protesters made their way to Los Angeles City Hall to see how the ‘occupation’ was going.

“When Occupy LA activists saw our signs, they cheered,” states Degé Coutee, Executive Director of Patient Advocacy Network, an LA-based non-profit organization advocating for patients’ rights. One sign read ‘Cannabis Is Medicine Not Criminal’ while others read ‘Patient, Not Criminal.’

“We chanted ‘No More Drug War’ and they got it,” continues Coutee. “Twenty years ago is was much more difficult to get anti-war activists to acknowledge Drug War atrocities. Now everyone knows someone whose been effected by the Drug War. Everyone knows someone whose used cannabis therapeutically.”

So, Patient Advocacy Network launched Occupy 4:20, a nationwide movement of cannabis supporters protesting the failed Drug War and the federal attack on states with medical cannabis laws while calling for cannabis legalization.

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The Patient Advocacy Network is an LA-based charitable 501 (c) (3) organization founded by patient-activists in 2006.  Since then PAN has provided several hundred workshops to medical cannabis patients and their providers throughout California on compliance issues, law enforcement encounters and how to effectively engage the democratic process.  PAN works with numerous elected officials to educate the legislature on cannabis issues: scientific, social and legal.  PAN advocates for patients’ rights and the end of marijuana prohibition.

Events:  To be held in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Details will be announced here.

Contact Points:

Degé Coutee, Executive Director -Patient Advocacy Network at (323) 334-5282

patientadvocates@riseup.net.

Information:  www.CannabisSavesLives.org,  http://panorg.blogspot.com/

Twitter:  @Occupy420 @PAN4Compassion.

Yesterday, it was the Counter Culture. Today, it’s…Friday, January 14, 2011 and it’s all about us.

Est. 1964 Re-Incarnated by Popular Demand

This is the original, 60’s, counter culture, LA Free Press. Today’s Best Alternative View & Our Old Hippie Headlines, Too! A Head Trip for Smart Minds.

Been There. Done That.

Now, A Chance to Get it Right.

Published by One p.m. (PST)

January 10 – 14, 2011

The Gathering of the Tribes

A discussion of the rise in the Human Consciousness Movement.

More to Come by 1 pm (PST)

Yesterday, it was the Counter Culture. Today, it’s…Thursday, January 13, 2011 and it’s all about us.

Est. 1964 Re-Incarnated by Popular Demand

This is the original, 60’s, counter culture, LA Free Press. Today’s Best Alternative View & Our Old Hippie Headlines, Too! A Head Trip for Smart Minds.

Been There. Done That.

Now, A Chance to Get it Right.

Published by One p.m. (PST)

January 10 – 14, 2011

The Gathering of the Tribes

A discussion of the rise in the Human Consciousness Movement.

Posted by 1 pm (PST)

Yesterday, it was the Counter Culture. Today, it’s…
Thursday, November 25, 2010 and it’s all about us.

Est. 1964 Re-Incarnated by Public Demand

This is the original, 60’s, counter culture, LA Free Press. Today’s Best Alternative View & Our Old Hippie Headlines, Too! A Head Trip for Smart Minds.

The Counter Culture is all about us! It’s a statement with a two-fold meaning that explains why what was once imagined may now become our better reality.

Published by One p.m. (PST)

Series 17 – Day 3 of 3

Ecology. Who Cares?

(In addition to our postings here, please check out Peter Bergman’s blog ===>)

The latest studies and find research on energy issues, coal and clean coal technologies say that:

*Emissions since 1970 – even with triple the amount of coal being used now – have 37% LESS sulfur dioxide,  12.9% LESS nitrogen oxides, and 88.5% LESS particulates!

*Coal can meet domestic electricity demand for more than 200 years at the current rate of consumption… and how it’s helping America promote greater energy security.

*Cleaner coal helps working families save money on electricity bills, provides more money for child care, food and other family essentials.

Learn more about these and other exciting developments at… http://www.americaspower.org/

Top Ten Reasons Clean Coal is Dirty

#1: “Clean” Coal Increases Rates of Disease

The United States burns more than a billion tons of coal each year – that’s 20 pounds of coal for every person in the country, every day.

According to the American Lung Association, 24,000 people a year die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants. And every year 38,000 heart attacks, 12,000 hospital admissions and an additional 550,000 asthma attacks result from power plant pollution.

#2: “Clean” Coal Kills Jobs

Despite coal industry claims that coal mining creates lots of jobs, the truth is that coal mining employment has been declining for decades, due to increased use of machinery instead of manpower.

In West Virginia alone, coal mining employment has plummeted from 126,000 miners in 1948 (who produced 168 million tons of coal), to just 15,000 miners employed in 2005 (who, with the help of machinery, produced 128 million tons of coal).

#3: Burning “Clean” Coal Emits Mercury

Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of human-generated mercury pollution in the U.S. Mercury emissions from electrical generation continues to rise.

Mercury in mothers’ blood and breast milk can interfere with the development of babies’ brains and neurological systems and can lead to learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, problems with coordination, lowered IQ and even mental retardation.

#4: Burning “Clean” Coal is Fuel for Global Warming

The U.S. produces about 25 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.

Burning coal contributes 40 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel. According to the United Nations Environment Program, coal emits around 1.7 times as much carbon per unit of energy when burned as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil.

#5: “Clean” Coal Kills Miners

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 12,000 coal miners died from black lung disease between 1992 and 2002.

#6: “Clean” Coal Wastes Huge Quantities of Water

Coal mining requires an estimated 70 to 260 million gallons of water every day.

#7: “Clean” Coal Pollutes Seafood and Freshwater Fish

49 U.S. states have issued fish consumption advisories due to high mercury concentrations in freshwater bodies throughout the country.

Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of human-generated mercury pollution in the U.S.

#8: “Clean” Coal Destroys Mountains

Instead of traditional mining, many coal companies now use mountaintop removal to extract coal.

Coal companies are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require.

Mountaintop removal involves clear cutting native hardwood forests, using dynamite to blast away as much as 800-1000 feet of mountaintop, and then dumping the waste into nearby valleys, often burying streams.

#9: “Clean” Coal Kills Freshwater Streams

More than 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried or damaged by mountaintop removal mining. At least 724 miles of streams were completely buried by valley fills from Appalachian mountaintop removal between 1985 and 2001.

400,000 acres of rich and diverse temperate forests have been destroyed during the same time period as a result of mountaintop mining in Appalachia.

#10: “Clean” Coal Costs Billions in Taxpayer Subsidies

The U.S. government continues to aggressively fund coal-related projects despite all that is known about coal’s impacts on health, climate and the economy.

The Department of Energy is currently seeking $648 million for “clean coal” projects in its 2009 budget request, “representing the largest budget request for coal RD&D in over 25 years.”

Source: http://www.coal-is-dirty.com/the-coal-hard-facts

Be sure to see more at this tell-all site.

Despite a tumultuous national election cycle and an impending divided Congress, college students refuse to surrender their dedication to protecting the planet and fighting for a clean energy future.

Campuses Beyond Coal, a division of the Sierra Student Coalition, is a key player in organizing this concern into productive efforts. While the prime mission is to ensure that the campus on which a Chapter is located moves ‘beyond coal’ as its energy source, so, too, is there a determination to have their adjacent community take up the cause.

Here in Los Angeles, the University of Southern California (USC) and LA City College (LACC) have had active Campuses Beyond Coal groups.  They, like the other Chapters, not only have been working to free their campuses from any dependence on coal, they have been actively advocating for a coal-free city.  A recent compatriot of the cause is the Los Angeles Valley College.   One concern of them all is the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, as nearly 40% of the electricity with which it powers the city and , therefore, the campuses in it, comes from coal.

On November 16th, these chapters, and more than fifty others, participated in a National Day of Action to demand bold clean energy leadership from all levels of government.  As an artistic instillation of their vision for a future fueled by renewable energy sources, chapters nationwide displayed more than 6,000 signed and hand-folded pinwheels.  These will be collected and shipped to Washington, D.C. for a similar show of solidarity at the National Mall at the end of this month.

As a participant in this National Day of Action,  the chapter at USC also collected pinwheels, and then strung them between trees in the campus’s Alumni Park.  Afterwards, Alex Talishinsky, a USC undergrad and Beyond Coal member, said “We wanted to highlight how much fantastic renewable energy potential there is in Southern California – we have abundant renewable resources right here. We don’t need dirty and dangerous coal power, and we’re calling on our university, city and national leaders to recognize that.”

To that end, for a second time, USC students formally met with their university officials.  “The administrators we spoke with share a lot of our goals, and the campus Sustainability Office has done a lot of great work,” said Carrell Hambrick, the campus’s Beyond Coal Grassroots Coordinator.  Last year, the office of the university president sent a letter to LA City Council, endorsing the mayor’s commitment to a coal-free city in the next decade. However, Hambrick wants to see her campus undertake ambitious, concrete clean energy goals for itself:

“We talked for almost two hours about possibilities to drastically improve efficiency and even generate solar power on campus. The administrators asked us to draft a proposal for an energy task force, which we’ve done, and we hope it’ll lead to substantial changes on campus.  USC is a globally renowned school and we should be on the forefront of energy innovation, too.”

As for the LA City College Chapter, they, too,  displayed the air-powered pinwheels they collected and also called on their Administration, demonstrating the unity, power and purpose of this national campaign:
“We’re out here to ask the administration to commit to a coal free future on campus at LACC and to demonstrate our support for moving the entire city off of coal as soon as possible,” said Carlos Hernandez, President of the Beyond Coal Campaign at LACC.  “The [LA City College] District has already taken steps in the right direction to becoming a leader among sustainable schools with initiatives like green buildings and some small-scale renewable energy projects, but in reality, as long as a large portion of our power comes from coal, we are still dependent on dirty, old technology.” Likewise, these students want their school to be “a national leader, not just in academics, but in solving the world’s energy challenges.”

“We have a choice as to how long we want to continue creating negative impacts of dirty energy generation, and how much we want to delay our investment in localized energy generation, that is not only cleaner but will create jobs here in California,” stated Michael Farrell, a Geography Professor at LACC.  “The switch from fossil fuels is inevitable, the choice we have is when we drop the dirty for the clean alternative.”

Farrell also emphasized the economic benefits of moving beyond coal as soon as possible, saying, “LA choosing to drop coal power will make a statement to the rest of the country that California is the place to invest in new technology. When the rest of the nation and the world comes around to also rejecting fossil fuels, we want California-based industries to benefit.”

Carlos Hernandez concluded “Students at LACC truly get how important this issue is and want our school to move beyond coal and be a national leader in clean energy.  We’re here today because we have a vision where LACC is not just preparing students for jobs in the real world, but it is also acting as a bold leader by driving a clean energy economy that will actually create those jobs.”

After the event, the LACC Student Senate passed the resolution set forth by the LACC Beyond Coal Campaign, which urges the district to pursue an aggressive path to end the use of coal as an energy source and to begin the implementation of renewable energy as an alternative on campus.

Beyond the Campus

The LACC Senate resolution urges the Chancellor of LACC District, Dr. Daniel LaVista, to use his post to advocate that the LADWP pursue the most aggressive time line available for the cessation of the purchasing of power from all power stations that use coal for power.  The student body government at Los Angeles Valley College (Sherman Oaks, CA) also passed the resolution introduced by the LACC Beyond Coal Campaign.

The core organizers of the Beyond Coal Campaign at LACC have a meeting with Dr. Jamillah Moore, President of LACC, December 2nd at which they will request his personal commitment to the goal of creating a coal-free community college system.

Two USC undergraduates, Matt Redhead and Gaby Roffe, on behalf of Beyond Coal, formally advocated for their city to go coal-free by 2020 at the LADWP’s public hearing on its Integrated Resource Plan, a long-range plan that will dictate how the City will get energy for the next twenty years.  Thus far, their Plan retains the use of the two coal-fired power plants (one located in Arizona and the other in Utah) that are among the worst stationary sources of pollution in the United States and that are major contributors to the potentially catastrophic climate disruption that may already be intensifying the wildfires and droughts that directly affect families in Los Angeles.

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council President Eric Garcetti have already publicly declared their support for 2020 deadline.

“I felt that it went well,” said Redhead, USC Beyond Coal Events Coordinator. “It was really good to see other students from southern California who are also involved and willing to publicly engage in the generational battle that clean energy often becomes.”

Successes Elsewhere

If the administration of both USC and LACC do commit to supporting these goals of renewable campus and community energy generation, they will be joining a quickly expanding coterie of schools.

This spring, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill committed to closing its on-campus coal plant by 2020; after a year-long student campaign, Penn State also recently committed to replace the power from its 80-year-old on-campus coal plant with natural gas and eventually with 100% renewable energy.  Ball State in Indiana, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Cornell University have made similar commitments to quit their coal habits for good in the next decade.

For more on the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, contact:

David Graham-Caso
Associate Press Secretary
Sierra Club
office: (213) 387-6528 ext. 214
e-mail: david.grahamcaso@sierraclub.org

For national info on this campaign and coal related issues –

http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/campus/default.aspx

For more information from LACC contact:
Megan Scott
megandanielle@multiscope.com

For more information from USC contact:

Rosalie Murphy

University of Southern California

More information on all of LA can be had at this excellent site:

http://www.labeyondcoal.org/

Ed.’s  Note for our LA readers: There are two more chances to speak out to move LA Beyond Coal. Tuesday, November 30th, at 7 pm, the LADWP is holding their last public meeting to hear thoughts that they might incorporate into their Plan. On the following Tuesday, December 7th, they will present their plan and the City Council will possibly vote at 10am.