Friendly Stranger

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(c) all-posters

A Russian lesbian couple repeatedly denied marriage in their home country exchanged vows today before turning around and taking their marriage fight back to Russia.

Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, which helped organize yesterday's marriage, praised the women's fearlessness in taking on the Russian state and what she called "an all-too-common" example of homosexuality being legal but still hindered.

"What we're seeing here today are two very brave, courageous women who are coming to Canada, not only to express their love and devotion for each other but to take their marriage back to Moscow to fight for equality rights and dignity for every gay person in Russia," Kennedy said.

Even Toronto Mayor David Miller, after meeting them briefly at City Hall yesterday, praised them for fighting for gay rights in Russia.

"Well done, women, well done," he wrote on his Twitter site.

Following their marriage, and reception at Fuzion on Church St., the couple said they planned to honeymoon today in, where else, Niagara Falls before flying back to Moscow tomorrow.

source, video

"The alternative Denver newspaper, Westword, is seeking a writer for its weekly review of Colorado's booming medical marijuana dispensaries. But there is a catch - candidates must have a medical ailment allowing them to enter a dispensary and use marijuana. " continue reading

(C) BBC

http://www.syndistar.com/browse/safety/health/drugosaurs.html
"The best-selling Drugosaurs Series teaches children to make smart and healthy choices by avoiding drugs. 3rd to 7th grades"

http://www.drugpolicycases.com/blog/2009/01/26/will-legalization-result-in-rise-in-use/
"Some people say that if we legalize “drugs” in this country, everybody’s going to get high all the time. They might even point to Netherlands and tell you how the rates of marijuana users spiked after weed there was decriminalized. Well, that’s true - nobody really knows what would happen if marijuana or other drugs ever become available legally. But - we can try and project.
........"

"Most pride events occur annually and many take place around June to commemorate the Stonewall riots, a pivotal moment in the modern LGBT rights movement."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

"Voters yesterday overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100. The change in the law means someone found carrying dozens of joints will no longer be reported to the state's criminal history board."


Comment by by mikekap01:

"First and foremost, marijuana is not being legalized. The smoking of it, buying of it, or possession of it is not being condoned or made legal.
Secondly, I think it is necessary to realize that probably at some point within our lives but certainly sometime soon marijuana will be legalized. This changes is almost recognizing this and saying that "okay, people are going to carry a personal amount of marijuana and we don't need to ruin their lives as a result"
Furthermore, I would be interested to see how much money has in fact been used to catch and prosecute these minor offenders over the past decade. A person walking down the street with a joint and no intent to distribute or anything of the sort would have to go to court potentially costing the state bags of the money that is now becoming more and scarcer.
Instead of an outflow of cash, this new amendment will create income. These minor offenders will pay a fine, and not face criminal charges. Compare this if you will to parking tickets and/or moving violations. Speeding is against the law but is it necessary for everyone found going 70mph in a 55mph zone to arrested and brought to court? No, we have realized the complete excessiveness of this and declared that this crime is punishable by a citation and a small black mark on the person's record.
What this comes down to, is that we as tax payers should be not spending our hard earned money to prosecute people with personal amounts of marijuana. Whether or not you agree with marijuana, and whether or not I agree with it is an irrelevant topic. There is a need to recognize when a punishment does not fit a crime and when imposing criminal charges for a personal amount of marijuana is simply excessive. "

A report on cannabis prepared for next year's UN drug policy review will suggest that a "regulated market" would cause less harm than the current international prohibition. The report, which is likely to reopen the debate about cannabis laws, suggests that controls such as taxation, minimum age requirements and labelling could be explored.

The Global Cannabis Commission report, which will be launched today at a conference in the House of Lords, has reached conclusions which its authors suggest "challenge the received wisdom concerning cannabis". It was carried out for the Beckley foundation, a UN-accredited NGO, for the 2009 UN strategic drug policy review.

( Continue reading )

Duncan Campbell
The Guardian,
Thursday October 2 2008

Rainbow flags in various cultures and movements

Early European history

The use of rainbow flags as a sign of diversity, inclusiveness, hope and of yearning has a long history. This denotation goes back to the rainbow as a symbol of biblical promise, when God used the rainbow as a sign to Noah that there would never be a flood like the one that happened. The reformer Thomas Müntzer (1489-1525) connected socially revolutionary claims with his preaching of the gospel. He is often portrayed with a rainbow flag in his hand. The Thomas Müntzer statue in the German town of Stolberg also shows him holding a rainbow flag in his hand.
In the German Peasants' War of the 16th century, the rainbow flag together with the peasants' boot ("Bundschuh") was used as the sign of a new era, of hope and of social change.

South America (Pre-Columbian)

A flag with a seven-striped rainbow design is used in Peru and Ecuador to represent Tawantin Suyu, or Inca territory. The use of the flag has its origin in Inca culture and it is called wiphala. Even today in the city of Cusco, Peru it is common to see the flag around the city displayed even in government buildings and in Cusco main square. The meaning behind the whipala has to be found in connection with the Incas and with the cosmovision and philosophy of Andean indigenous culture.
Some argue that there is no historical reference to an Inca or Tawantisuyo flag or banner until the early 1920s; but other specialists suggest that there are chronicles and some references that support the idea of a banner attributable to the Inca. In 1534 during the invasion and occupation of the city of Qusqu today Cusco, the Spaniards found the first resistance of qhishwa-ayrnaras and saw between the multitude, objects similar to the flag of strips and pictures of seven colors of the rainbow. The existence and the use of this emblem probably has been from the same creation of Tiwanaku for more than 2000 years.

Cooperative movement (1921)

A seven-colour rainbow flag is a common symbol of the international Cooperative movement. The rainbow flag has been the co-operative emblem since 1921 when the International Co-operative Congress of World Co-op Leaders met in Basel, Switzerland to identify and define the growing co-operative movement’s common values and ideals to help unite co-ops around the world.
In Essen, Germany in 1922, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) designed an international co-op symbol and a flag for the first "Co-operators' Day," which was held in July 1923. After some experiments with different designs, a famous French co-operator, Professor Charles Gide, suggested using the seven colours of the rainbow for the flag. He pointed out that the rainbow symbolized unity in diversity and the power of light, enlightenment and progress. The first co-op rainbow flag was completed in 1924 and was adopted as an official symbol of the international co-operative movement in 1925.
The ICA has been flying a flag with its official logo since April 2001, when its Board decided to replace the traditional rainbow flag. Its use by a number of non-cooperative groups led to confusion in several countries around the world. The ICA's official flag was changed to clearly promote and strengthen the co-operative image, but still uses the rainbow image. Other organizations sometimes use the traditional rainbow flag as a symbol of co-operation.
Like the rainbow, this flag is a symbol of hope and peace. The seven colours from flags around the world fly in harmony. Each of the seven colours in the co-operative flag have been assigned the following meaning:

• red: stands for courage;
• orange: offers the vision of possibilities;
• yellow: represents the challenge that GREEN has kindled;
• green: indicates a challenge to co-operators to strive for growth of membership and of understanding of the aims and values of co-operation;
• sky blue: suggests far horizons, the need to provide education and help less fortunate people and strive toward global unity.
• dark blue: suggests pessimism: a reminder that less fortunate people have needs that may be met through the benefits of cooperation.
• violet: represents warmth, beauty, and friendship.

Meher Baba (1924)

Meher Baba designed a rainbow flag on April 23, 1924. It is flown each year near his samadhi (tomb-shrine) in Meherabad, India during the week of Amartithi (the anniversary of his death on January 31, 1969). Baba explained the symbolism, saying, "The colors in the flag signify man's rise from the grossest of impressions of lust and anger – symbolized by red – to the culmination in the highest state of spirituality and oneness with God – symbolized by sky blue."

Peace movement (1961)

PACE flag (Italian for 'peace')
This rainbow flag in Italy was first used in a peace march in 1961, inspired by similar multi-coloured flags used in demonstrations against nuclear weapons. It became popular with the Pace da tutti i balconi ("peace from every balcony") campaign in 2002, started as a protest against the impending war in Iraq. The most common variety has seven colours, purple, blue, azure, green, yellow, orange and red, and is emblazoned in bold with the Italian word PACE, meaning "peace".
Common variations include moving the purple stripe down below the azure one, and adding a white stripe on top (the original flag from the 60s had a white stripe on top). This flag has been adopted internationally as a symbol of the peace movement.

LGBT pride (1978)

LGBT flag
The rainbow flag, sometimes called 'the freedom flag', was popularized as a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and diversity by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. The different colours symbolize diversity in the gay community, and the flag is used predominantly at gay pride events and in gay villages worldwide in various forms including banners, clothing and jewelry. For the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall riots held in 1996 in New York city a mile-long rainbow flag was created and post-parade cut up in sections that have since been used around the world.
Originally created with eight colors, pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes and as of 2008, it consists of six coloured stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. It is most commonly flown with the red stripe on top, as the colours appear in a natural rainbow.

OSLO (AFP) — Norway's parliament on Wednesday adopted a new marriage law that allows homosexuals to marry and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated.

After a heated debate, the members of parliament adopted the text by a vote of 84 to 41.

The three centre-left coalition parties in power and two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, voted largely in favour of the law, while the Christian Democrats and the far-right Progress Party voted against it.

Norway thus became the sixth country in the world to grant homosexuals the right to marry on an equal footing with heterosexuals, according to Norwegian television TV2.

"This decision is of an importance comparable to universal suffrage and our law on parity," Labour Party rapporteur Gunn Karin Gjul said during the debate.

The most controversial part of the law is that which gives lesbians the right to be artificially inseminated. The sperm donor must be identified so that the child can seek out his or her biological father at the age of 18.

"We are now creating a system where the father is reduced to a sperm sample," lamented Ulf Erik Knudsen, a member of the far-right.

Outside the parliament, a handful of opponents protested with posters reading "Have fathers become superfluous?" and "Parliament has no mandate to change the laws of nature."

Among other things, the new legislation replaces a so-called "partnership law" adopted in 1993 which gave Norwegian homosexuals the right to civil unions.

Health care workers who do not want to perform artificial inseminations on lesbians because of their personal convictions will not be under any obligation to carry out the procedure.

The new law is expected to enter into force at the end of this year or early next year.

Homosexuality was illegal until 1972 in Norway, a country which has since become one of the most liberal in the world in the field.

The full report, "Teen Marijuana Use Worsens Depression: An Analysis of Recent Data Shows 'Self-Medicating' Could Actually Make Things Worse" can be accessed at http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/teen-marijuana-depression-report.pdf.

Article: Drugs, teens, pot are dangerous mix

By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press Writer
Latest News
Drugs, teens, pot are dangerous mix

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released Friday.

A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed - 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Marijuana is a more consequential substance of abuse than our culture has treated it in the last 20 years," said John Walters, director of the office. "This is not just youthful experimentation that they'll get over as we used to think in the past."

Smoking marijuana can lead to more serious problems, Walters said in an interview.

For example, using marijuana increases the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent, the report said. And teens who smoke pot at least once a month over a yearlong period are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than nonusers, it said.

The report also cited research that showed that teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed were more than twice as likely as their peers to abuse or become addicted to pot - 8 percent compared with 3 percent.

Experts who have worked with children say there's nothing harmless about marijuana.

"I've seen many, many kids' lives negatively impacted and taken off track because of marijuana," said Elizabeth Stanley-Salazar, director of adolescent services for Phoenix House treatment centers in California. "It's somewhat Russian roulette. There are so many factors, emotional, psychological, biological. You can't predict the experimentation and how it will impact a kid."

Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that advocates the decriminalization of marijuana, called the study "an absolutely dishonest report, deliberately confusing correlation with causation."

"This very week the British government's official scientific advisers on illegal drugs issued a report saying they are 'unconvinced that there is a causal relationship between the use of cannabis and any affective disorder,' such as depression, he said.

The drug control policy office analyzed about a dozen studies looking at marijuana use, including research by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Overall, marijuana use among teens has decreased 25 percent since 2001, down to about 2.3 million kids who used pot at least once a month, the drug control office said.

While the drop is encouraging, Walters appealed to parents to recognize signs of possible drug use and depression.

"It's not something you look the other way about when your teen starts appearing careless about their grooming, withdrawing from the family, losing interest in daily activities," Walters said. "Find out what's wrong."

When over 20,000 people descend on Queen’s Park to liberate marijuana, you know there’s good times to be had. The march itself begins at 2pm, but there will be live entertainment playing at the park all day. This year we are taking things to a whole new level with Marc Emery taking the helm as our grand marshal.
For more information, please visit online event guide and the Toronto Freedom Festival website.