The Rev. Canon Carol L. Wade, former canon precentor at the National Cathedral in Washington, will be the new dean and rector at Lexington's historic Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral. She is the first woman to hold either position at the downtown church.Wade will assume her new duties in September...
The Fayette County School Board has named Daviess County Superintendent Tom Shelton as superintendent to replace out-going superintendent Stu Silberman.
The congregations of 18 churches in the state are considering whether to take a stand to have ministers refuse to sign marriage licenses as a protest of Kentucky's refusal to allow same-sex marriage.Two Louisville churches — First Unitarian Church and Douglass Boulevard Christian Church &mdash...;
A video recording that was thought to contain a woman's confession that she was the driver who hit and killed a Lexington police officer showed only an "explicit sexual episode," according to the Fayette commonwealth's attorney's office.The possible existence of a taped confession came to light Monday...
For the first time, a Lexington teen who shot and killed his best friend publicly apologized to the victim's family.Jamar Mays, 18, told Ali Shalash's family — his mother, Gwendolyn Perkins, in particular — he was sorry during a sentencing hearing Thursday."I want to apologize to Miss...
SHAKERTOWN — As I sat in Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill's Meadow View Barn late last month listening to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center soothe the audience with Mozart and Schumann and rouse them with Bartók, it occurred to me just how lucky Central Kentuckians are to have...
Sheree Krider VP- U.S. Marijuana Party Administrator- U.S. Marijuana Party of Kentucky
70 Mammoth Cave Loop Cave City, Kentucky 42127
502-572-4465
U.S. Marijuana Party Status Update and "Statement of Facts"
RE: Recent interruptions within the administration of the U.S. Marijuana Party
Statement by: Sheree Krider, VP U.S. Marijuana Party (interim)
4:41 PM 7/27/2011
Dating back to approximately 2004 I have posted on the Kentucky U.S. Marijuana Party site located at
http://ky.usmjparty.org.
Effeective 2005-2006 I was handed Administrative position of that site.
Since 2005 the visitors per day to that site have risen to upwards of 500+ per day, as I posted not only Cannabis Legalization/Re-Legalition issues but many pertinent issues to the state of Kentucky.
Effective 2010-2011 I was placed in the VP Seat, according to (Wikipedia).
This was discussed between Richard Rawlings and myself to be an INTERIM position until such time as the appropriate person could be assigned.
My experience with the U.S. Marijuana Party is complicated in that when I started the Administration of Kentucky in 2005 I did not realize that Marc Emery had not only been involved in some aspect in the "Party" - to what extent I still do not know, but additionally he had just been indicted by the U.S. DEA. That being said, as far as I can ascertain, Marc Emery was very unjustly prosecuted. But I will not go into that aspect here as there is plenty of information on this subject available online.
Additionally, I did not realize that there had previously to Marc Emery's arrest over 20+ state divisions of the U.S. Marijuana Party.
As of the time I took Administration of Kentucky there were only three left which included Illinois - Richard Rawlings, CO - William Chengelis, and Kentucky - which became my state.
Additionally there was Ms. Anita Mayfield of Missouri who recently passed away without much notice paid by the U.S. Marijuana Party. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet nor talk with her.
In 2010 when I was going thru a difficult divorce I was offered to stay at Richard Rawlings residence for $200 monthly board.
This I did off and on throughout the year although I paid the "board" for nearly every month as this was what he was being charged for rent on the residence in full.
Since I was "interim" VP I tried to help keep things going through difficult times and several times paid for the site hosting, internet connection other office necessities, etc.,
Others helped out with small donations as well which all of it together would not add up to a "taxable" income. In short, the whole organization was operating on pennies.
During the year of 2010 myself and Richard Rawlings became close friends which eventually in May of 2011 turned into a relationship which was not expected. I was still in the process of relocation in Kentucky to a new residence and knew that I would never leave the state permanently.
In May of 2011 Richard Rawlings visited me in Kentucky for two weeks when he abruptly wanted to return to Illinois. After taking him home to Illinois I returned in the first week of June to Kentucky to take care of unfinished personal business. When Richard "declared" a relationship with me, it was right at the time I had to return to Kentucky - in June.
July brought on new problems as my income was not meeting the needs of the household.
It should be noted that I personally never received ONE CENT in any form of revenue, donations, ad sales or otherwise from any of the U.S. Marijuana Party sites or other interests.
In fact, my association with the U.S. Marijuana Party has only costed me money the entire time I have been involved.
In fact, I still owe a $500 bill for services of an attorney during the Righthaven lawsuit.
By approximately July 10th, Richard became upset that my ex-husband had been contributing a small amount to my needs. My ex-husband had always made sure no matter what our personal situation that I had what I needed as he was all too aware of my illnesses and lack of income. Therefore he helped when he could irregardless of the fact that "I had been with another man".
On approximately the 23rd of July Richard made it clear that he expected me to NOT accept help nor talk to my ex-husband here-to-fore. He attempted to stop my ex-husbands texts to me by replying to them himself for which I AM GUILTY of giving him the phone number to begin with.
It worked and my ex-husband retreated but continued to text occasionally to as if I was "OK".
Because of the many symptoms I have I use Cola (Coca-Cola) as my primary drink as it seems to help with my stomach and bowels.
I completely exhausted my personal funds and asked Richard if I could get a few dollars for (cigarettes, cola and toilet paper: I'll be blatent here) necessities at which time he replied, "WE are not sending you any money because WE don't know where it will be spent." I was taken aback at first. I did not understand what he was talking about. Then I realized he had made that remark because my daughter and grandchildren live with me and have been mostly dependent upon me for some time and he thought I would spend it on them. Or maybe it was just an excuse, this I do not know for sure.
Anyway, I have to say that this did hurt my feelings. After all the time, effort and money I had spent to help keep the U.S. Marijuana Party going, and I was basically refused any help.
After about three days with no supplies, (cigarettes too. Yes, I am a nicotine addict), my ex-husband text me and asked "Are you OK" to which I simply replied "no". At that he knew I was sick and came to help me. By this time I had been in bed most all of two days.
My ex-husband of 30 years arrived at my home with things I needed and I informed Richard of this at which time he seemed to loose all control of himself and our situation.
It is being said that I own the U.S. Marijuana Party sites. This is NOT true. Just because I paid a few hosting bills does not an owner make! The U.S. Marijuana Party is a "political organization" - it does (or should not) have "owner's"...It is comprised of a group of people who are like-minded individuals with a collective goal of repealing prohibition against Marijuana/Cannabis/Hemp!
Therefore as "interim" VP of the U.S. Marijuana Party I am requesting that "Wayward" Bill Chengelis of Colorado immediately take control of the organization and recover our losses as best we can.
At "Wayward's" acceptance of the position and at HIS discretion I will immediately resign as VP of the U.S. Marijuana Party and also the Kentucky State Administration of the "Party" if need be in order to maintain the integrity of the Party.
It is my sincere hope that the organization under new control can be brought to the forefront once again in the Marijuana Movement, as I believe it is a vital and essential part that unites all Marijuana organizations in an ever changing political environment.
I am of the opinion that an organization of this nature should see change in its Administrative level positions every two years to ensure the best possible outcome of the "meeting of the minds" so to speak. This will be the beginning of a new and improved organization.
It remains to be seen what the immediate outcome will be. I am awaiting contact from "Wayward". In the meantime I will post intermittent updates as I can. Since I am without any internet connection at this point I will rely upon colleagues to keep me updated on posts, etc.,
Please be aware that I will do whatever I can to ensure that the U.S. Marijuana Party continues on.
I have had many challenges in my life and look forward to many more - this undoubtedly is one of them!
If there are any questions feel free to contact me at the given number. However, be aware that my cell phone connection is sporadic due to the area I live in and I may have to return call.
Galbraith blamed partisan politics for Kentucky’s woes and said as an independent, he will work with both sides of the aisle.
“I foresee that after my stint as governor, I’m going to be one of the most disliked people in the state because I’m going to have to make decisions that neither party candidate can possibly make, because they’ve got to answer to the party,” Galbraith said. “I don’t answer to anybody except God and an occasional judge or two.”
Galbraith said the state should allow the growing of hemp as a source of bio-fuel.
“If you planted 7 percent of the U.S. Agricultural land in hemp, we wouldn’t have to import another drop of oil,” Galbraith said. “Gee, reckon if there’s anyone out there that doesn’t want that to happen? People I call the petrol-chemical-pharmaceutical-industrial-transnational-corporate-fascist-elitist SOBS.”
Galbraith said if people voted for gambling, it should be run by the state and should be placed at the racetracks.
“We better keep these racetracks here because that’s what’s keeping the breeders here,” Galbraith said. “We need to protect the horse breeding industry. My running mate and I want to brand Kentucky as the horse capital of the world…We’d like to build the world’s largest statue of a horse out at the horse park. We would get tourists in here to take a look at that thing and spend their money here. St. Louis has the golden arch. Cairo has the Sphinx. Let’s put a big ole horse in front of the Kentucky Horse Park.”
Twitter and the White House have announced a Twitter Town Hall webcast for July 6 in which participants are invited to ask President Obama "questions about the economy and jobs."
But if past experience is any indicator -- and trust me, it will be -- the most-asked questions will be about the president's willingness to push for the legalization of marijuana.
In March 2009, shortly after his inauguration, Obama held a webcast "town meeting" in which online viewers could submit questions to him.
At one point, the commander-in-chief interrupted the event M.C. to say, "There was one question that voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation. And I don't know what this says about the online audience, but ... this was a popular question. We want to make sure it's answered. The answer is no, I don't think that's a good strategy to grow our economy. All right."
The American Independent has long reported on inconsistencies in federal acknowledgment of marijuana’s medical benefits. These came to a head in March, when an update to the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) treatment database went into detail about the treatment potential of marijuana as prescribed for cancer patients.
In a series of occasionally frantic NCI emails, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) emerged as the boogeyman of medical marijuana advocates like database contributor Dr. Donald Abrams. To Abrams’ chagrin, several of NIDA’s requests to remove aspects of the entry were granted, and the current version of the marijuana entry that appears on NCI’s site is missing several key elements from the original that NIDA had taken issue with. How, it must be asked, did one agency come to hold such sway over government conversations on medical marijuana?
The answer to that question stretches back to 1961, when the UN drafted the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, an international treaty meant to control the flow of illicit drugs across borders and within member countries. Speaking for the institute, NIDA’s deputy press officer Sheri Grabus explains that the convention “required each nation to designate a single official source of marijuana for medicinal research.” In the U.S., NIDA ended up with that responsibility, and it’s been the gatekeeper for legal government and private research on marijuana ever since.
Because marijuana is a Schedule I drug, any researcher looking to study marijuana has to get prior approval from the DEA. But it’s NIDA that ultimately decides who gets to do marijuana research and for what purposes.
NIDA is also the sole pipeline for researchers to the nation’s only legal marijuana grow farm. Since 1975, Dr. Mahmoud Elsohly has been a research professor at the University of Mississippi; for more than 30 years, he’s held the contract to supply marijuana for all research in the U.S.
Simplifying research by making one agency responsible for approval and one man responsible for growing the materials isn’t necessarily controversial. What worries both advocates and researchers is a perceived anti-medical marijuana agenda within NIDA.
“It’s an incredibly expensive and bureaucratic process, which deters science on so many levels,” says Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). St. Pierre contends further that with few exceptions, NIDA only allows access to marijuana if a researcher is looking to show the drug’s adverse effects.
While Abrams declined to comment to The American Independent, his emails put him firmly on the side against NIDA. “I am not happy that NIDA has been able to impose their agenda on us,” he wrote in March. “I am considering resigning from the Board if we allow politics to trump science!” Abrams’ testy history with NIDA goes back to 1996, when the agency only allowed him access to Elsohly’s marijuana after he agreed to change the focus of a marijuana study [PDF] from examining the drug’s benefits to AIDS patients to looking instead at its adverse effects.
For its part, NIDA admits that most research on the adverse effects of marijuana gets the agency’s support but claims it’s not by design. “In fact, for the past several years very few proposals have been submitted to the NIH for testing the medicinal effects of smoked marijuana,” NIDA tells TAI. “Rather, the more promising approach for research has been on cannabinoids.”
This diplomatic answer happens to confirm the notion that the government may give the pharmaceutical industry a legal pass to develop marijuana-based drugs, quashing state-legal dispensaries that sell whole-plant cannabis. But it’s also in line with the contention among abuse specialists that their biggest problem with medical marijuana presently is that people smoke it. As more entities in the federal government make it clear that they recognize the medicinal benefits of the drug, the last big hurdle to fall before medical marijuana has a chance at federal recognition is its delivery system. The question that remains is whether Big Pharma’s going to get there first. And with the first non-synthetic cannabinoid derived from whole-plant marijuana winding down testing, all signs point to that being a matter of when, not if.