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Richard Belzer
Just Say Now will be livestreaming a debate on medical marijuana today at 6:30 pm ET in Denver, Colorado. Law and Order star, stand up comic and cancer survivor Richard Belzer will moderate the debate.
Watch the marijuana debate at 6:30 pm ET here.
Belzer was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1984, and has since made a full recovery. He will be moderating a debate at the Plant Medicine Expo and Healthcare Provider Conference in Denver Colorado between pro- and anti-medical marijuana advocates:
- Stan Garnett, District Attorney for Colorado’s 20th Judicial District: Garret is an aggressive prosecutor and a strong advocate for Public Safety. His priorities are prosecuting violent or sexual crimes, serious drug dealing, business and economic crime and cases involving public corruption.
- Tom Gallagher, Councilmember At-Large: Gallagher was elected to an at-large council seat in April 2003, and is a principal in Aeon Project Development.
- Joshua Kappel, Outreach Director for Sensible Colorado: Kappel began advocating for drug policy reform in 2005 as a member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. A graduate of the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, he is now a clerk with Vicente Consulting, LLC, a full-service medical marijuana law firm. He also serves as volunteer outreach director for Sensible Colorado.
- Charlie Brown, Denver City Councilman Brown currently chairs the Council’s Medical Marijuana Committee and is a member of the Government Affairs & Finance Committee and the Business, Workforce, & Sustainability Committee. He was the key sponsor of the city’s new medical marijuana ordinance that regulates this new form of controversial commerce. The ordinance was approved by Council 13-0 on January 11, 2010.
As one of the first states to struggle with the growing pains of accommodating a growing medical marijuana industry, the experience of Colorado elected officials and advocates on both sides should be interesting and informative.
This is the second in a series of live marijuana debates that Just Say Now has livestreamed. The first, a debate on Prop 19 at UC Berkeley, was broadcast on Wednesday, September 22.
Join us at 6:30 pm ET when Just Say Now livestreams the debate.
24 Comments
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Too bad there’s no debate about Charles Ferguson’s assertion that Obama’s agenda is clearly & irrefutably AGAINST that of the people who voted for him! His latest Huff. Post piece (9/24/10), “Summers down, fifty odd more to go” is GREAT, but where’s the Dem. voter outrage, why is Obama still polling so high? Sorry, I just don’t get it. Why are Dems so easily misdirected from the ideals & values we claim to hold so dear?
Nov. election is NOT about what the big, bad, scary Republicans might do to us. It’s all about holding the sleezy, corrupt, shameful Dem. Incumbents WE elected accountable for their actions and inactions. What about it Jane, are the Repubs so scary that these Dem. in name only ——– deserve to be reelected?
Democrats bad, Republicans worse.
Glad these debates are happening. It’s a good way to inform people. Belzer is one of my favorite actors
Catholic University student paper presents a very well reasoned argument,
Marijuana: California’s Newest Moneymaker
http://www.cuatower.com/quill/marijuana-california-s-newest-moneymaker-1.1646349
Wow. I didn’t expect that.
Back in the 80s and 90s I was quite passionate about drug reform. Probably my interest was fueled by working in the correctional industry (I ran Alaska’s biggest halfway house for over two years, among other work). I saw then how drug laws come down so unfairly on racial and cultural minorities, whether it be in apprehension, trial, conviction or sentencing.
As the kids grew up, I took less interest in reform, more interest in other political and social issues.
But the way fdl has dealt with Prop 19 has rekindled my interest.
Thanks, Jane and others here, who are working so hard to get some sanity going on this front.
A cancer survivor is something mighty FIERCE … yes, let them see the whites of your eyes! I am a progressive and I approve this broadcast!
Thank you.
My activism was in response to Bush war mongering.
I knew pot was illegal for unconstitutional religious reasons, but after they passed the Patriot Act, I felt I HAD to legalize it – to save my people. It sounds nuts, but it is true.
Have you got any tips on how to get my family back?
I was so involved another woman took them all away from me.
I have never dealt with being cheated on before, I don’t know what to do. She is my husband’s old girlfriend from before me and although he is livid about me smoking pot, apparently her addiction to cigarettes is not a problem for him. I remember him going on about it as sexy.
She also has big tits, I am not even going to try to compete with her sexually. I just want him to talk to me again. My entire family put me in the deep freeze and accuses me of insanity. They all refuse to have anything to do with me unless I give up pot and admit it is a disease.
I refuse to call my religion a disease so they all refuse to have any contact with me.
I haven’t even gotten so much as a birthday card from my kids in years. When I try to see them, they run away and lock the doors. I have a very hard time imaging why they do that and can’t even begin to think what people must have told them about me.
I can’t prove I’m not insane if they will have nothing to do with me. This really hurts me, I call it torture.
The argument in favor of ending prohibition seems very clear to me. Medical marijuana is a half measure that does not really solve the problem (see California) and may even muddy the debate. Put another way, does legalizing medical marijuana get you closer to ending prohibition? I would argue it gets you farther away from legality and marginalizes marijuana users. Medical marijuana is the DADT of drug reform.
I’ll definitely be watching this!
OT, but Charlie Brown was my city councilman when I lived in Denver. I voted against him because he favored allowing people to build McMansions in already established neighborhoods, so that where a retired couple once had a view of the mountains out of their window they now have a 20 foot high wall. I wonder how that has worked out, I’ll bet half of those monstrosities are empty now.
Just say yes to pot smokers. End imperial fascist corporate puritanical US war on pot smokers, African-Americans, Latinos, and others who enjoy a bit of weed now and then…
o.t:
Maybe the progressives also need to stand up to timid, cowardly and corporate Senate Democrats and timid, cowardly and corporate Obama, who refuses to investigate and prosecute the outlaw members of the Cheney-Bush gangster regime. Obama and AG Holder are both violating their Oath of Office in which they swore to protect and defend our US Constitution. Obama changed when he became President. He campaigned as a progressive Democrat and has ruled as a corporate Republican. Obama has turned his back on his main supporters: progressives, environmentalists, union workers, Latinos, and African-Anericans. Endless imperial wars started by Bush and continued by Obama. Two hundred thousand mercenaries and troops still occupy Iraq and another two hundred thousand mercenaries and troops occupy Afghanistan. Why is Obama wasting billions of dollars weekly on these twin quagmires?
Approval for legalizing marijuana shoots up in every state that approves medical marijuana.
I don’t know about other states now, but for California it was a crucial first step.
We would NEVER be this close to legalization if it were not for the incredible efforts of the medical marijuana community. It is such good medicine that cancer and AIDS suffers made very convincing arguments. Believe me, it has been a long hard road.
You have no idea how hard it has been for you to even suggest it. But that is just my opinion.
Use in teens also goes down.
I haven’t been on this site in some time, but I found and reviewed Jonathan Perri’s “Lies About Prop. 19″ and I have read dragonfly’s argument against it. Though bias and assuming, she does make some valid points. It does seem prop 19 favors the large corporates and puts the Mom and Pop industry at odds with monied interests, much like the balance of our capitalist state has. I am all for legalizing marijuana and can’t believe that we haven’t gotten there yet, but I certainly don’t want to see this go the way of the health care reform debacle.
sound check?
The audio really sucks. I can’t tolerate much more of it.
The live stream is very disappointing re sound – can’t hear anyone. The mike must be in the back of the room with the camera. Can’t anyone tap into the PA system?
Such a bummer – i really want to hear a good debate, if only to learn how to counter some of these anti- arguments.
Agreed. I see the viewership has dropped considerably. Such a shame. I can’t stay there, too annoying.
Medical marijuana is no less an important public discussion than stem research.
How about a transcript for this panel? I wasn’t able to hear everything clearly … tough to make intelligent responses/specific comments. I only caught the edges of a few excellent policy and implementation questions from the panelists.
Good going, FDL!
Jane asks:
Looks like the TeleSatMediaCos have already indicated they won’t without a court order:
T-Mobile Blocks Texting Services for WeedMaps.Com, a California Medical Marijuana Dispensary. T-Mobile Gets Sued in NY Federal Court.
Legalizing weed is a huge step to ending these Jim Crow prohibitions.Drug criminality has been the sole growth catalyst to expand the criminal industrial complex and provide the Fortune 500 with a workforce of prison slaves , as allowed under the 14th amendment.Does anyone actually think drug safety is a government concern when homelessness,malnutrition,medical care and living wage employment are clearly not ?
Very interesting. I was not aware of that.