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an idea enterprise for the brave new world
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picture from Italy
Monday, June 6, 2005 the Supreme Court of the United States of America
In GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL, et al. v. RAICH et al.
Justice O'Connor, with whom The Chief Justice
(William H. Rehnquist 1924-2005) and Justice Thomas join, dissenting.
We enforce the "outer limits" of Congress' Commerce Clause authority not for their own sake, but to protect historic spheres of state sovereignty from excessive federal encroachment and thereby to maintain the distribution of power fundamental to our federalist system of government. United States v. Lopez, 514 U. S. 549, 557 (1995); NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U. S. 1, 37 (1937).
One of federalism's chief virtues, of course, is that it promotes innovation by allowing for the possibility that "a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory;
and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country."
New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U. S. 262, 311 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).
Was Brandeis trying to help small business? It seems not: the Liebmanns' ice company would have been the very kind of small business, seeking to enter an industry dominated by existing firms, that Brandeis would ordinarily have supported, given his opposition to big business and trusts.
Was Brandeis trying to prove that regulation of industry was itself a good idea, helping to protect the public from the harms that "big business" might cause? If so, he has not entirely succeeded over time. The terms of the economic debate have shifted as the American public has become less sanguine about the ability of government regulation to solve our major economic problems. We have seen regulatory agencies "captured" by those whom they are supposed to regulate. We have found instances where government regulation has proved counter-productive. As a consequence, we no longer argue among ourselves in absolute terms - i.e., no regulation or full-blown "command and control" regulation. Rather, we debate more nuanced questions of where, when, and what kind of regulation is appropriate. Brandeis may have seen regulation as an answer; today we see it as a source of questions.
Justice Stevens
Was Brandeis trying to show that States must have greater regulatory powers in order to help small business, workers, and consumers?
It would be nice if the United States Department of Transportation would promote modernization and adopt the use of these vehicles below for use inside the United States. In the least, allow individual states to adopt such rules so as to allow for these vehicles. Compressed air vehicles are an interesting idea to consider as an alternative to petroleum based internal combustion engine vehicles. Compressed air zero pollution combustion engines should be utilized instead for the world's transportation needs.
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MDI air cars are available with hemp fiber interiors, and are available with a hemp fiber composite hood and body panels in certain countries ...
The History of Compressed Air Vehicles
It cannot be claimed that compressed air as an energy and locomotion vector is precisely recent technology. In fact at the end of the 19th century the first approximations to what could one day become a compressed air driven vehicle already existed, through the arrival of the first pneumatic locomotives. Yet even two centuries before that Dennis Papin apparently came up with the idea of using compressed air (Royal Society London, 1687).
The first recorded compressed-air vehicle in France was built by the Frenchmen Andraud and Tessie of Motay in 1838. A car ran on a test track at Chaillot on the 9th July 1840, and worked well, but the idea was not pursued further. 
In 1872 the Mekarski air engine was used for street transit, consisting of a single-stage engine. It represented an extremely important advance in terms of pneumatic engines, due to its forward thinking use of thermodynamics, ensuring that the air was heated, by passing it through tanks of boiling water, also increasing its range between fill-ups. Numerous locomotives were manufactured and a number of regular lines were even opened up (the first in Nantes in 1879).
Mékarski system tram networks were also built in other towns in France: Vichy (1895), Aix-les-Bains (1896), La Rochelle (1899), and Saint-Quentin (1901).
The H. K. Porter Company in Pittsburgh sold hundreds of these locomotives to coal-mining companies in the eastern U.S. With the hopeful days of air powered street transit over, the compressed air locomotive became a standard fixture in coal mines around the world because it created no heat or spark and was therefore invaluable in gassy mines where explosions were always a danger with electric or gas engines.  
Also in 1896, Porter supplied ten compressed air motor cars for the Eckington System in Washington, D.C. There was a tank on the front of the engine and it was recharged at the station.
Between 1890 and 1902 ten compressed air trams circulated in Bern, Switzerland.
In 1892, Robert Hardie introduced a new method of heating that at the same time served to increase the range of the engine.
However, the first urban transport locomotive was not introduced until 1898, by Hoadley and Knight, and was based on the principle that the longer the air is kept in the engine the more heat it absorbs and the greater its range. As a result they introduced a two stage engine.
Charles B. Hodges will always be remembered as the true father of the compressed air concept applied to cars, being the first person, not only to invent a car driven by a compressed air engine but also to have considerable commercial success with it.
Later on, in 1912 the American’s method was improved by Europeans, adding a further expansion stage to the engine (3 stages).
After years of working on a system for driving an automobile by means of compressed air Louis C. Kiser, a 77 year old from Decatur USA has succeeded in converting his gasoline engine into an air compressed system. Kiser removed the entire gasoline line, the cylinder head, water-cooling system, and self starter. A special cylinder head is substituted and a compressed-air tank added in place of the gasoline tank.
In 1926 Lee Barton Williams of Pittsburg USA presented his invention: an automobile which, he claims, runs on air. The motor starts on gasoline, but after it has reached a speed of ten miles an hour the gasoline supply is shut off and the air starts to work. At the first test his invention attained a speed of 62 miles an hour.
The first hybrid diesel and compressed air locomotive appeared in 1930, in Germany. The pressures brought to bear by the oil industry in the transport sector were ever greater and the truth of the matter is that they managed to block investigation in this field.
In January 1932 what appears to be the first journalistic article ever written about a car driven by compressed air was published.
In 1934, 21-year-old Johannes Wardenier announced he developed the world’s first fuel-less automobile. For weeks Dutch newspapers reported of an incredible invention that would change the world for ever. Not long after that he was mysteriously imprisoned in a mental institution, his design for the engine was stolen and he was kept under constant guard and never allowed to see anyone. 
Later he was sent off to a concentration camp where he remained until he was near death and his idea for a motor that ran on air was long forgotten.
According to his design the hot air was pressed into a motor which contained a number of cylinders, half of which go down when the others rise up. As in an ordinary engine, the crankshaft forced a rotating movement. The major difference was that the air after having passed through the cylinders, passed again through the cylinders by means of a compressor at the side, causing a continuous circulation and enough perpetual movement to last three months.
After the Second World War the term “air engine” was never again used in textbooks referring to compressed air or pneumatic locomotives and, whenever they were mentioned the article would go on to state that these engines were of little use or efficiency. 
In the 1970’s Joseph P. Troyan designed an air-powered flywheel that could propel an automobile using the principle of "ratio amplification of motion in a closed system." The Troyan air mobile (U.S. Patent No. 040011) was easily attached to electrical generators to create a pollution-free, variable-power system. ¨My engine simply uses nature’s most powerful force: air pressure¨ Troyan commented.
In the 1970’s Willard Truitt presented his invention in McKees Rocks, USA. But because he did not have the financial means to develop his compressed air car further he gave the rights of his invention to NASA and the US Army in 1982.
After noticing steam pumps in Texas refineries Russel R. Brown started thinking about the idea of an air powered engine. Twenty years later, in 1974, his invention was finished. Brown claimed that his engine could not only run on air but could also be its own source of power. ¨We’re plagued with pollution, but my engine does no more damage to the air than if you inflate a tire and let it out again¨ Brown comments.
In January 1975 driving on compressed air was proposed by Sorgato in Italy as a viable fuel-economy alternative to the electric car for industrial and urban use. The first experimental model had nine air bottles charged to 2840 psi. by an external compressor. Top speed of this near-silent and non-polluting vehicle was said to be 30 miles per hour and had a duration of around two hours. 
In 1976 Ray Starbard from Vacaville, California developed a truck that is able to drive on compressed air. He felt that he had invented the power system of the future, a system that would greatly change the automotive face of the world. ´It’s the car of the future, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind´ Starbard comments ´and all because of mother nature’s purest gift – Air¨.
In 1979, Terry Miller decided that compressed air was the perfect medium for storing energy. He developed Air Car One, which he built for $ 1,500. Terry’s engines showed that it was feasible to manufacture a car that could run on compressed air. He patented his method in 1983 (US4370857).
 
In the 1980’s Carl Leissler developed a motor that was able to function on air. The retired horticulturalist had been working from his garage in Hollywood for over 15 years. He says that to use his motor in a car you might have to use a small electric or gas energy source to help drive the air compressor. ‘We might be able to get 2000 miles per gallon, air is a power in itself’ Leissler comments. 
Oblivious to curious stares Claud Mead drove his air compressed car through the streets. The aim of this car was to spare the American motorists from gasoline woes. The big version of the car would be able to go 800 miles on a full tank.
Australian inventor Des Hill had been working on an air compressed motor for thirty years and had spend more than $ 20,000 on his project. with his air compressed motor). The air compressor which worked when the engine was running, would ensure that the cylinder was filled to capacity at all times. Thus Hill’s engine would realize the principle of perpetual motion. 
George Miller said the air car he invented in 1984 would run forever. Miller envisioned his invention to be a solution to fuel and pollution problems, and the end to the middle east wars. The 58 year old retired coal miner and bricklayer from Johnstown, USA used a medium size, four cylinder engine out of a twelve year old Opel. Air from one of the tanks is fed into it through the spark plug holes, and air pressure moves the piston. The air is circulated out of the engine and back into the tank.
 Jet aircraft starter motors using compressed air as a fuel provided unique power for this experimental dragster from Phoenix, US that had covered the quarter mile in the nine second range.
In May 1987 an article was published about Miami inventor Ricardo Perez-Pomar. The 61 year old pneumatic engineer, originally from Cuba claimed to have developed an engine that will continuously refill the very tank of compressed air that powers it.
‘This machine can be in full operation for months and months before its air tank must be artificially refilled.’ Perez promises.
Until 1987 the German company Arnold Jung Lokomotivenfabrik GmbH produced locomotives functioning on compressed air to be used in mines. In the 1980’s they were still selling and renovating locomotives.
Currently the tram association in Bern Switzerland (BTG) is developing a locomotive according to the original plans. It is expected to be ready in 2010.
At present (2008) various persons and companies are developing compressed air motors applicable to transportation, apart from the many companies that produce and commercialize compressed air motors for industrial purposes.
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Marijuana
Marijuana Timeline In The United States
Copyright © PBS Online and WGBH/Frontline.
1600-1890s
Domestic production of hemp encouraged
American production of hemp was encouraged by the government in the 17th century for the production of rope, sails, and clothing. (Marijuana is the mixture of dried, shredded flowers and leaves that comes from the hemp plant.)
In 1619 the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp. Hemp was allowed to be exchanged as legal tender in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland.
Domestic production flourished until after the Civil War, when imports and other domestic materials replaced hemp for many purposes. In the late nineteenth century, marijuana became a popular ingredient in many medicinal products and was sold openly in public pharmacies.
During the 19th century, hashish use became a fad in France and also, to some extent, in the U.S.
1906
Pure Food and Drug Act
Required labeling of any cannabis contained in over-the-counter remedies.
1900-20s
Mexican immigrants introduce recreational use of marijuana leaf
After the Mexican Revolution of 1910, Mexican immigrants flooded into the U.S., introducing to American culture the recreational use of marijuana.
The drug became associated with the immigrants, and the fear and prejudice about the Spanish-speaking newcomers became associated with marijuana. Anti-drug campaigners warned against the encroaching Marijuana Menace, and terrible crimes were attributed to marijuana and the Mexicans who used it.
1930s
Fear of marijuana
During the Great Depression, massive unemployment increased public resentment and fear of Mexican immigrants, escalating public and governmental concern about the problem of marijuana.
This instigated a flurry of research which linked the use of marijuana with violence, crime and other socially deviant behaviors, primarily committed by racially inferior or underclass communities. By 1931, 29 states had outlawed marijuana.
1930
Creation of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN)
Harry J. Anslinger was the first Commissioner of the FBN and remained in that post until 1962.
1932
Uniform State Narcotic Act
Concern about the rising use of marijuana and research linking its use with crime and other social problems created pressure on the federal government to take action.
Rather than promoting federal legislation, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics strongly encouraged state governments to accept responsibility for control of the problem by adopting the Uniform State Narcotic Act.
1936
Reefer Madness
Propaganda film Reefer Madness was produced by the French director, Louis Gasnier.
The Motion Pictures Association of America, composed of the major Hollywood studios, banned the showing of any narcotics in films.
1937
Marijuana Tax Act
After a lurid national propaganda campaign against the evil weed, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act. The statute effectively criminalized marijuana, restricting possession of the drug to individuals who paid an excise tax for certain authorized medical and industrial uses.
1944
La Guardia Report finds marijuana less dangerous
New York Academy of Medicine issued an extensively researched report declaring that, contrary to earlier research and popular belief, use of marijuana did not induce violence, insanity or sex crimes, or lead to addiction or other drug use.
1940s
Hemp for Victory
During World War II, imports of hemp and other materials crucial for producing marine cordage, parachutes, and other military necessities became scarce.
In response the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched its Hemp for Victory program, encouraging farmers to plant hemp by giving out seeds and granting draft deferments to those who would stay home and grow hemp. By 1943 American farmers registered in the program harvested 375,000 acres of hemp.
1951-1956
Stricter Sentencing Laws
Enactment of federal laws (Boggs Act, 1952; Narcotics Control Act, 1956) which set mandatory sentences for drug-related offenses, including marijuana.
A first-offense marijuana possession carried a minimum sentence of 2-10 years with a fine of up to $20,000.
1960s
Marijuana use popular in counterculture
A changing political and cultural climate was reflected in more lenient attitudes towards marijuana. Use of the drug became widespread in the white upper middle class.
Reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found that marijuana use did not induce violence nor lead to use of heavier drugs. Policy towards marijuana began to involve considerations of treatment as well as criminal penalties.
1968
Creation of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs
This was a merger of FBN and the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs of the Food and Drug Administration.
1970
Repeal of most mandatory minimum sentences
Congress repealed most of the mandatory penalties for drug-related offenses. It was widely acknowledged that the mandatory minimum sentences of the 1950s had done nothing to eliminate the drug culture that embraced marijuana use throughout the 60s, and that the minimum sentences imposed were often unduly harsh.
Marijuana differentiated from other drugs
The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act categorized marijuana separately from other narcotics and eliminated mandatory federal sentences for possession of small amounts.
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) founded
1972
Shafer Commission
The bipartisan Shafer Commission, appointed by President Nixon at the direction of Congress, considered laws regarding marijuana and determined that personal use of marijuana should be decriminalized.
Nixon rejected the recommendation, but over the course of the 1970s, eleven states decriminalized marijuana and most others reduced their penalties.
1973
Creation of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Merger of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNND) and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE).
1974
High Times founded
1976
Beginning of parents' movement against marijuana
A nationwide movement emerged of conservative parents' groups lobbying for stricter regulation of marijuana and the prevention of drug use by teenagers.
Some of these groups became quite powerful and, with the support of the DEA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), were instrumental in affecting public attitudes which led to the 1980s War on Drugs.
1986
Anti-Drug Abuse Act - Mandatory Sentences
President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, instituting mandatory sentences for drug-related crimes.
In conjunction with the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, the new law raised federal penalties for marijuana possession and dealing, basing the penalties on the amount of the drug involved. Possession of 100 marijuana plants received the same penalty as possession of 100 grams of heroin.
A later amendment to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act established a three strikes and you're out policy, requiring life sentences for repeat drug offenders, and providing for the death penalty for drug kingpins.
1989
Bush's War on Drugs
President George Bush declares a new War on Drugs in a nationally televised speech.
1996
Medical Use Legalized in California
California voters passed Proposition 215 allowing for the sale and medical use of marijuana for patients with AIDS, cancer, and other serious and painful diseases. This law stands in tension with federal laws prohibiting possession of marijuana.
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Books
Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine:
Two eminent Harvard researchers describe the medical benefits of marihuana, explain why its use has been forbidden, and argue for its full legalization to make it available to patients who need it.
Highly praised when it was first published in 1993, this timely new edition has been expanded to include the latest research.
Examples of the ways that marihuana alleviates symptoms of cancer chemotherapy, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, glaucoma, AIDS, and depression, as well as symptoms of such less common disorders as Crohn`s disease, diabetic gastroparesis, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Marihuana, the Forbidden Medicine
Reefer Madness:
The History of Marijuana in America
Reefer Madness is the authors reply to the movie of the same name. But this is an honest version of the social history of marijuana use in America.
Beginning with the hemp farming of George Washington, author traces the fascinating story of our nation's love-hate relationship with the resilient weed we know as marijuana.
Reefer Madness
The Emperor Wears No Clothes:
The Authoritative Historical Record of Cannabis
and the Conspiracy Against Marijuana
Probably the best book around about the history, uses, and war on this plant. Over 300 pages of text, photos, illustrations and charts.
This book has been an eye opener to me and everyone else I know that has read it. You would be hard pressed to find a more complete source for information relating to the suppression of the hemp industry in the United States.
The Emperor Wears No Clothes
The Marijuana Conviction:
A History of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States
Comprehensive look at marijuana and drug prohibition. Written by members of Nixons very own committee delegated to the task of researching marijuana, it's history, effects, and whether the drug policy at the time was a sensible one. They found that it was not, and suggested a serious rethinking of marijuana laws.
However, instead of listening to his own research committee Nixon decided to start the now infamous war on drugs. Though this book only follows prohibition up to the early 70s, as that's when it was published, it contains the essential history of marijuana prohibition which most people are not familiar with.
The Marijuana Conviction
The Science of Marijuana
This book is fairly easy to read, but it might contain too much technical info that the casual reader would not find useful.
A person looking for an entertaining, yet just as comprehensive book, might be more satisfied with a book like The Emperor Wears No Clothes.
But, if you are looking for an interesting and scientifically thorough book about marijuana, this is good and especially valuable to a more advanced audience.
A few of the 100 or so sections are: The Plant, Eating and Drinking, A Brief History, The Pharmacology of THC, How Does THC Get to the Brain? Elimination of THC from the Body, How Does THC Work? Higher Brain Function, Comparisons of Marijuana with Alcohol, Cannabis in Pregnancy, Cannabis and Mental Illness, and more, and more, and more.
The Science of Marijuana
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