NOTICE: This Oaksterdam News Network website is not affiliated with oaksterdamnews.com, it is an archive of Issues edited by Chris Conrad and published by Richard Lee beginning in 2005 with Volume 1, Issue 1 and ending with Volume 3, Issue 2 in 2007.  

Oaksterdam News executive editor and publisher step down
May 7, 2007

To Whom It May Concern;

Oaksterdam News executive editor Chris Conrad and publisher Richard Lee have stepped down from the newspaper effective as of the last issue, Spring 2007, volume 3 number 2. Due to irreconcilable differences with the managing editor, the decision to sever the relationship had been made before the publication of that issue. The final details of the reorganization were to be decided and announced in the next issue, however circumstances have arisen in the interim that make this impossible.

Therefore, Chris Conrad and Richard Lee have taken this opportunity to publicly announce that they, individually and collectively, take no personal nor financial responsibility for Oaksterdam News managing editor Jaime Galindo, whether undertaken in the name of the Oaksterdam News or not.

 -- Chris Conrad, El Cerrito CA http://www.chrisconrad.com

 -- Richard Lee, Oakland CA http://oaksterdamgiftshop.com

GREENING OF AMERICA — Map of medical marijuana states is superimposed over the window sign of a Los Angeles dispensary. Passage of New Mexico’s law gives more Americans safe access. Arizona’s law is invalid due to its wording. Oaksterdam News photo by Jaime Galindo

NM law sets stage for new federal drive in Congress

Presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson signed the nation’s 12th state medical marijuana law April 2 in a move advocates said will likely jump-start efforts to reform federal policy.

The signing came in the wake of new research documenting marijuana’s medical value and public outrage at the Appeals Court’s rejection of Angel Raich’s medical marijuana due process claim.

New Mexico joins Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest.

Democrat Richardson, the first presidential candidate to have supported medical marijuana by signing it into law, has consistently voiced his strong support for the bill and was a major proponent in ensuring its passage.

“Gov. Richardson is showing his compassion for seriously ill people, and he is also reflecting the will of the majority of New Mexicans and the American people,” said Drug Policy Alliance NM director Reena Szczepanski.

“I hope other elected officials take note: Americans will stand behind those that believe in compassion and mercy for our most vulnerable, our sick and dying patients struggling for relief.”

Added Rob Kampia, director of the Marijuana Policy Project, “The American public, too, is solidly behind medical marijuana. An October 2005 Gallup poll found that 78 percent of voters supported allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana to reduce pain and suffering. Politicians are learning that supporting medical marijuana doesn’t cost support — it gains votes.”

The California Board of Equalization announced in February that cannabis products are subject to sales tax, including medical marijuana.

With as many as 500 outlets in the state generating two billion in sales, the state could collect $175 million in 2007 on cannabis drinks, baked goods, confections, ice cream, plants, herb, concentrates, topical ointments, and oral spray formulations.

The Board determined that SB 420 does allow sales under state law but since medical marijuana only requires a doctor’s recommendation it is not a prescription medicine and therefore not exempt from sales tax.

Since cannabis is still illegal federally, “retailers may decline to provide information on products sold due to concerns about self-incrimination,” according to a Board of Equalization Special Notice.