FACT IS, I'VE BEEN THINKING...

Wow... if I haven't mentioned it previously, I moved to the Boston Area back in 1981, and lived in various communities for the next 8 years. Eventually I moved to New Hampshire.

I attended a couple Boston Marathons... worked in downtown Boston starting at Suffolk University. From there I moved on, to work at other prestigious places. It's tough to share, but I loved Boston, I simply never felt I fit in, although I almost did. A part of me longs to move back there, yet another part of me never would. Maybe it was my initial experiences in Boston, the security guard at Suffolk University that took an instant dislike towards me - or hatred I might say, and threatened to kill me first chance he got if he found me alone. Yeah, a Suffolk University security guard; did I report him? This was 1981... a blue collar employee didn't report such things!

I was only there for less than a year, but I made friends... one was a woman who provided unlimited help with my resume and encouragement, and no I didn't have sex with her, but the view from her 20th story condo was an orgasm by itself. And there were the long lunches I was able to take resting on the Boston Commons. There was the Italian friend/co-worker who clued me into the fact that no Italian wine was a bad buy. And he was correct.

I lived in Malden, MA initially, well, after a couple months in the Back Bay, which was certainly write to home material, and worked for a time at the Boston Shakespeare Theater.

Think this stuff is easy to remember? It's not. It's years ago, and I'm almost 60. I grew up in a small town in NY State...the pace was slooow... the move to Boston was a second chance... my first being Arizona which ended in disaster. A story I'm not going to go into right now.

I moved to Boston with an invitation from a girlfriend... a nutcase, seriously. But she got me settled in Boston and true to the promise she made me she got me out of that small town. Yeah, living with her didn't last long, and before I knew it I was on the top floor living with a total stranger named Roman who was a rock star... who got home at 2AM and proceeded to eat strange foods and I had to buy a pair of eye-shades to sleep - in my sleeping bag at the edge of his one room. He was gay, but never pushed me. But as a matter of fact I met a lot of people who were gay... and the women were especially hostile towards men, which I found difficult to accept, as what made me the enemy just because I was male?

Talk about motivated... I moved quickly to Malden as I mentioned, to a rooming house. I made friends with an 80 year old sea-captain, and the guy 15 years younger than me across the hall. We shared the kitchen and the bathroom. And one day I met the serial killer that I gladly took a ride with apparently to go to a strip club for a good time, only he went through Boston and Boston PD had a web set for him, pulled us over, arrested him for God knows what and they told me to "get the hell away..." and I did, and moved to Allston/Brighten soon after.

What I'm trying to say is Boston was a blast! I made great friends... but it was really, really difficult. I was so alone, so much, but eventually i found myself, I found friends, and I found a life in Boston. But often, friends moved away. Relationships were different - when you live among millions of people you're not so unique, is what I'm saying. Friendship was a special thing, but the pace was such that things changed quickly. Adjusting to change was key to surviving in the Boston Area. Eventually i realized I wasn't cut out for it, though a part of me still longs to move back.

I think about that as I consider what it's like for immigrants moving to Boston. Congress is reconsidering the Immigration Bill since the Boston Marathon bombings took place.

Two people brought the City of Boston and surrounding communities to a halt... for good reason, but to underscore, my underscore, the difficulty of thriving in a big city like Boston... well, the wrong-doings of two people hardly makes a difference to me. I was minutes away from death myself at one point, and I doubt if the killer, the alleged killer, had succeeded, that I'd even have been found, let alone identified. Life in Boston was difficult, yet it was Great! You almost have to be born there to appreciate it, but then so many people aren't.

One morning leaving my driveway in Malden a guy jumped out of the bushes, asked for a ride, which I refused him. Two days later my car was broken into and much was stolen.

All you could do with the police was file a report, but you never heard back from them. In Allston my car was again broken into, the radio was stolen. I filed another police report. Heard nothing. I talked with my neighbor, a guy 10 years younger than myself. Seems he had a party that night, and he knew "the person' who stole my radio... he returned it to me promptly. Neighbors worked together or not at all.

All told, what I'm  trying to say is try not to judge events in Boston too quickly. It's a jungle, not a small town.

HAPPY 420; THE HOLIDAY THAT IS, BUT ISN'T ... A MORE DETAILED HISTORY OF CANNABIS

Today is April 20th, 2013... a celebrated holiday to millions of Americans. What they are celebrating is a plant with amazing and mystifying properties... a healing plant and one that brings enlightenment to it's users. The plant is called cannabis. It's history of use goes back hundreds of thousands of years. It's use includes as a medicine, as a shamanistic purveyor of visions, a recreational means to let go of the stresses of life and to unwind, safely, in the majority of cases.

"Started in 1971 as a codename for San-Rafael high-schoolers on the hunt for an elusive and now mythical marijuana patch, 420 has turned into an annual celebration and over the years April 20 has become some kind of national holiday for marijuana activists." Quote from an anonymous source. But the history is well documented.

"Marijuana"... on the federal level is a Schedule One narcotic, with the alleged dangers for being extremely addictive, without any medical value, and a plant that is so dangerous that since 1971 and passage of Nixon's "Drug Control Act" has cost the American tax-payer trillions of dollars in prohibition efforts and eradication intervention. Today marijuana provides millions of dollars of benefits to law enforcement, prisons, and drug rehabilitation centers. Millions of Americans use what's called marijuana, many on a daily basis, like alcohol or tobacco, which are also drugs, however, marijuana is a drug in a class considered an exception to those drugs that are legal. Despite the deaths and destruction caused by alcohol and tobacco use, marijuana is considered far more dangerous to society, and yet, not one recorded, documented death is due to the use of marijuana.

Despite hundreds of thousands of years of the use of marijuana and no documented, verified harms as a result of it's use, millions of citizens lives has been ruined either through imprisonment or criminal penalties which become a criminal record and that interfere with gainful employment, education or simply, promote  alienation that interferes with individual marijuana users from sharing similar passions.

How can this be?

Normal explanations seem to fail to express the truth or reality; they've been tried so many times in the past by myself and others and those efforts yield blank stares or disbelief by onlookers and those who make the laws.

This disbelief is the result of an exceptionally well thought out, successful and biased propaganda effort begun by the free press, aka newspapers/journalists, what was called yellow journalism back in the early 20th century (early 1900's). This group became an invaluable partner to the federal government when, after the end of alcohol prohibition, after the end of the Great Depression, after the end of the Civil War, passage of the Emancipation Proclamation made Blacks (Negroes) free and equal to all American citizens; something that didn't sit well with many pro-slavery advocates.  There was something else that didn't sit well with many Americans, especially those in the southern states. Just like today, illegal immigration from Mexico was deemed a problem - a big problem, as back then, after the great Depression there were limited jobs as it were for American citizens. The one difference compared to today is that there wasn't a drug war, there wasn't a concern that drugs were being smuggled over the border.

Cannabis, ganja, hemp were all legal. But America had a problem - not all of America, but enough people and enough politicians that there was a problem to solve.

1) How to prevent interracial sex between Black men and White women. As late as 1978 I spoke with a elderly woman quite upset with the still ongoing trend where Black men and white women mingle. She point out your routine blood poster that for a college student shows different types of blood. One type was called normal blood. Another type shown on the poster was labeled, sickle cell. This she said, pointing to the sickle cell blood is "niggers blood". And they are spreading it to Whites. She concluded, "they don't have the same blood as Whites.

I tried to explain to her that sickle cell was a disease, not the blood of Blacks. I said, "we all share the same kind of blood, human blood. She was unconvinced and I left her with her illusion.

2) There happened to be something Mexicans enjoyed a lot. They called it marijuana. It just so happened that Black Americans were hitting the high times with their Jazz music. These Black Jazz artists just happened to have a wild flock of followers - White women.

1 + 2 = 4. Anti-Emancipation groups along with southern states were demanding the federal government do something. At first, there seemed to be nothing they could do. They couldn't interfere in relations between Blacks and Whites, and they were only having limited success preventing Mexican's from crossing the border to find work in the US. Until one unnamed genius in one of the southern states stuck upon the fact that Mexicans enjoyed marijuana.

William Randolph Hearst (Wikipedia Link) is best known for the birth of Yellow Journalism (Wikipedia Link). We have his legacy and empire to thank for the for the most successful sham on the American public and indeed, the world, something unprecedented in it scale and the consequences. Yellow journalist were able to rouse an unconcerned public with the news that Black jazz musicians were doping White women with a powerful new drug supplied my Mexicans. Movies were made, the most famous being Reefer Madness -  1936 (Wikipedia Link). And to add horror to the mix, the drug was allegedly being pushed on unsuspecting children and teenagers.

The dangers of marijuana became a firestorm in Washington, with a newly created department of the federal government, and it's first commissioner, Harry J. Anslinger at the helm. His job, prevent loss of tax revenue due to trafficking of illegal drugs. There was just one problem, ganja wasn't illegal in the US. That's what Mexican's used, only they called it marijuana. Marijuana was a plant, an invaluable plant used in industry and medicine. Harry's job wasn't to bust ganja users in America, it was to control hard drugs and eradicate a loss of tax revenue to the federal government. Yellow journalists saw it differently. Several corporations saw it differently. Mexicans had to go; Blacks had to be put back in place;  marijuana and hemp had to go - hemp fiber used to make rope and fabric was a hindrance to corporations creating new synthetics fibers. Cannabis as medicine, hardly considered - at Congressional hearing in the 1930's only one doctor was interviewed as to his opinion on the dangers of cannabis, and prohibition. He stated it was a medicine and was quite opposed to restrictions. He was of course ignored.

Harry J. Anslinger had only one big problem - there were still insufficient grounds to outlaw a plant. It would be like demanding he outlaw coffee or tobacco. At first he refused. But then he struck on an idea. The solution to machine-gun wielding thugs during prohibition was to charge an enormous tax to own a machine gun. Of course you had to present the machine gun first to pay the tax, which meant you were arrested for possessing a machine gun illegally as you hadn't paid the tax. Those worthy of owning a machine gun like law enforcement or reputable dealers were of course proved with the required tax stamp. So Harry decided to do the same with cannabis, and the birth of the Marihuana Tax Act was born.

No I did not misspell marijuana, Congress did. As I said, in America we knew it by three names, cannabis, ganja and hemp. Mexican's called it marijuana. Congress, or some clerk typed marihuana, and to this day all legal decrees bear the name marihuana.

Not only is it misspelled, prejudicial and the science is wrong about any alleged dangers... but for 75 years people have been hounded and punished for possession and use of a plant that was never a concern to the population in the first place. Whole generations of people have been misled and prohibited fro being equal members of society for choosing a plant instead of synthetics, alcohol or tobacco. Lovers, those seeking can advertise interest in the aforementioned, but risk the law if they share an interest in cannabis.

And after 75 years, all that is about to change - two states, Colorado and Washington have legalized cannabis for personal use and plan to market it as alcohol. More than 15 other states have legalized it for medicinal use, and all this despite the fact the federal government placed cannabis in a federally controlled category of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the world, as Schedule One, without any medicinal value, and as such, medicinal studies about cannabis are forbidden without a license from the federal government, assuring that any research be biased towards it's dangers not it's benefits. Ironic then the the federal government owns the only patent on cannabis as a medicine, showing proven of it's active ingredient, THC.

Again... Happy 420 - hope everyone had a really great celebration!

About me, celebrating?  I had to replace a fuel-pump in my car that died after the one year warranty expired and I'm drinking beer. I would prefer a joint (cannabis cigarette) but alas, I'm 58 and out of touch with the younger generation that has access to the plant. See, although Congressman Rand Paul might believe cannabis is something you grow out of by age 28, a fade, so to speak - to take up drinking beer and whiskey, or like Vice President Biden hopes we'll all grow up and "buy a shotgun" instead of a handgun, truth is, there are actually many millions of people over age 28 that prefer the handgun as much easier to carry than a shot-gun and the cannabis much safer than the beer and whiskey. That's plain, common-sense reality.

Stop The Hurt! End the War!

HAPPY 4/20!!! AND A BRIEF WORD ABOUT THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS

Once again it's April 20th, this year 2013...

Two states have now legalized cannabis and prepare to market it like alcohol. The federal government has yet to make any statement, other than the Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske - HERE in this 420 Article.

Unfortunately, I'm not one of the fortunate millions of persons able to be a happy toker... which is why I'm happy to simply be a 420 blogger, guess you might say. Looking forwards to the day when being old doesn't make one an outsider in the cannabis community!

To ALL a HAPPY 420!!!

Having lived in the Boston area back in the 1980's my heart goes out to all the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings... and at the two individuals who are suspects in the bombings and killings, it is a mystery to me, as is the War on Drugs, how they felt they were agents promoting a good cause?

Having lived in Boston I also know that most people in the area cannot buy a gun to protect themselves against such idiots. I had to get a FID (Firearms Identification Card) just to own a BB-gun when I lived there, or to buy mace. The two suspects I'm assuming got neither a FID nor a permit to carry a firearm to make bombs and arm themselves. That is the way of the black-market that prohibition creates. I doubt very much they purchased anything at a gun show or anywhere near legal, or that any recently failed bills in Washington would have prevented had they passed.

Massachusetts has as stringent a set of laws against legally owning firearms as does NY and CT, and just like a sign in front of a mall, proclaiming, "No Firearms Allowed", it's simply an invitation to the bad guys and terrorists that you are free to sow whatever harm you wish. It's a message that our state is defenseless.

Some or many of you may disagree with me. But the fact remains that most of the serious crimes involving guns are in states or places forbidding law abiding citizens, and by that I mean, commonly decent and caring people, from owning a gun.

It is ironic I think that in states with legalized cannabis that those citizens are barred by federal law to own guns, when in those same states an alcoholic without a criminal record or seriously recognized mental health problem can own a gun. Ironic as most cannabis users don't want to own a gun anyways... but if they did, I doubt they'd be so eager to use it. Anymore than they feel like driving 90 miles per hour down a road only to lose control.

The majority of mass killers don't use any drugs which includes alcohol. The exception is Charles Manson, and as with anything there will be exceptions. But to condemn a whole sub-culture based on make-believe bogeyman theories is ludicrous.

It's time we all sit down as the human-race and determine what reality really is, and to stop the perpetual lies that simply cause millions of human-beings a lot of pain and suffering.

I welcome your comments as always... tell me I'm wrong or tell me you think I'm correct, just don't tell me I'm right or left!

BRIANNA MAITLAND AND MAURA MURRAY - STILL MISSING FOR NINE YEARS, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN !!! CONCLUSION - PART FIVE

About a month ago I received an e-mail from Slam Dunks with a question from a reader interested in knowing more about Brianna Maitland. The reader listed names of persons she had heard might be involved and asked about a rumor of a truck idling nearby on the night she disappeared. She wanted to know what color the truck was.

After nine years, the names looked back at me and I drew a blank. It's not that some of the names weren't familiar, but rather the fact that today the names mean very little. There was a time I could discuss some of those she named... that time has passed. It's one thing to be on the ground working nearly every weekend with the family of a missing person, and quite another to be nine years past. Some of the names were in fact familiar to me, such as those associated with other cases of murder victims in Vermont. Or they were questioned and given polygraphs by VSP.

Today, that is in the past. The Maitlands moved away around 2007. They cut all contact with people they knew, very close friends in fact. The family website came down, although it's still there none of the online activity that took place between 2004 and roughly 2007 is there any longer. It's safe to say it's considered evidence, in a crime involving a "drug addict" who couldn't pay off her dealers.

Many think the world to be a big place. We are often reminded it's not that big. When the person asking for help on Slam Dunks site said she had important information about Brianna's location, we took it seriously. When she became frustrated that we were simply bloggers without any clout, we took that seriously. I did a Google search and found the Maitlands location and phone number.

I explained to Bruce Maitland the nature of my call and that someone claimed to have information about Brianna. I asked him for permission to give her access to connecting with him and he approved. He apologized to me that he couldn't talk. He explained VSP was working on Brianna's disappearance, but he'd agreed that he would disclose no additional information in return for their cooperation. He did provide permission for me to give the interested party his phone number, which I did. I received one more phone call from him letting me know he's talked with this person and was considering the information provided.

Regarding that list of names, well we can probably add to it... like recently deceased"thrill killer", Israel Keyes, Washington State, known to have committed a murder in Vermont during the time Brianna was last known to be alive. And since Maura Murray was considered at risk within a three hour radius of that area, it can be information added to the list of names possibly  involved in her disappearance too. Add to that list of suspects, the co-conspirators involved in a plot to castrate and kill Justin Bieber... Justin-Bieber-Murder-Plot-CNN News;  this bizzarre plot will be sure to get your attention as the alleged suspects were apprehended at the US border to Canada, just a stones throw away from where Brianna was last seen. They were allegedly operational during the time Brianna disappeared.

The question about the color of the truck rumored to be idling nearby, even if it's presence was ever validated the color was never determined.

A supposed sighting of Brianna in a NJ casino got everyone going for awhile, as well as a supposed sighting of Maura Murray in a Hampton Beach club. Both were eventually disregarded as not being either person. But the truth is that hope remain that in both cases the missing person will resurface, although the reality of that is that neither will.

Maura Murray is now part of a newly created Cold Case Unit in NH after then Attorney General Kelly Ayotte left to become a state senator. Despite an insistence on the part of law enforcement in NH that Maura took her own life, her things were never returned to her family and her disappearance is still considered a high profile case of foul-play. No one need question authority in this matter.

Looking back on when I first joined the Brianna Maitland family website the overall topic of interest was her use of drugs, and the obsession with her being a victim of drug related violence. It was a feeding frenzy, with almost every comment relating to her potential accidental overdose or her death due to not paying drug dealers. To be fair, why would this be such  cause for concern? Nearly everyone involved believed she was responsible for what had happened to herself... that friends had simply panicked and that they were the victims as a result of her questionable lifestyle and drug use.

I won't begin to try to understand law enforcement protocol, but it seems they jumped to a biased assumption in both cases, and the result was very poor followup and investigations, in both cases. I guess though to be fair any unusual circumstances have to be figured into an event... in Maura Murray's case it was the alcohol - DUI and an accident and she'd run from the scene. They had time to issue their arrest warrant for DUI when she eventually surfaced, which we now know she never did. They made an assumption it seems that she was in fact intoxicated, but having done so on a cold Winter night, in the middle of nowhere, they couldn't have done a more thorough search for her?

By the time Brianna's car was found, although 48 hadn't elapsed, although they picked personal effects up off the ground indicating a possible struggle, it's possible they took in account the pot leaf trinket hanging from her rear-view mirror, the beer caps glued to her radio controls, and naturally assumed something similar. A DUI where the driver would show up again fairly soon, so they could issue an arrest warrant.

In the meantime, both persons were considered runaways... and there was no indication they were endangered. Good police work or a dangerous protocol?

What's past is past... but not forgotten. That's one thing I learned about law enforcement... yes, partially through TV... that they are in no rush. A cold case to the family is torture, but to the police they have all the time they want. It isn't uncommon for cold cases to lapse 20 years or longer, and for a crime to eventually be solved. "Patience Is A Virtue", my father always said... it's been nine long years, but I doubt we have to wait too much longer.

  Links to Part 1 - 4:

Part 1: "Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray - Missing Nine Years..."
Part 2: "Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray - Missing Nine Years..."
Part 3: "Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray - Missing Nine Years..."
Part 4: "Brianna Maitland and Maura Murray - Missing Nine Years..."