Diana LaBedz running for Mayor

SUBHEAD: Westside activist joins contest for chief executive of Kauai. Image above: Diana Labedz at home in Kekaha By Staff on 15 July for Garden Island News - (http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_89976b72-8fea-11df-9336-001cc4c002e0.html) Environmentalist and Kekaha resident Diana LaBedz on Monday pulled papers to challenge Mayor Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. in the September mayoral primary, intends to file papers, and thinks she can unseat the incumbent, she said.

She also says she intends to do it without the aid of campaign signs, which she says are not recyclable and end up in the landfill at campaign’s end.

“I will be grateful if people want to make, post and take down the signs when the election is over, that they be made out of recycled material. Our Kaua‘i island will be thankful,” she said in an e-mail.

LaBedz, a former chemical dependency counselor who advocates decriminalization of marijuana, said she is serious about challenging Carvalho, will file papers as soon as she gets the requisite number of signatures, and thinks she has a chance in the upcoming election, she said in the e-mail.

Asked if she has issues she’d like to address, LaBedz outlined 12:

“A dozen issues of importance and (need) immediate attention,” she said.

— Chemical, mono crop, genetically-modified organism agriculture and its negative effects on soil, air, pollinators and human health. She will be promoting small, family farms and organic agriculture;

— The need to follow the General Plan. “Rebuild, renovate and restore;”

— Advocate for the growing of hemp and the decriminalization of the use of marijuana;

— Our immediate need to address and improve the Kaua‘i educational system;

— A voluntary ban on the use of bottled water and instituting a maximum reduce, re-use, recycle system;

— Establishing a county-manager system of local government;

— The need protect Hawaiian lands and the Hawaiian culture;

— Demand that the proposed Kekaha shrimp farm have a zero ocean discharge;

— Continued open access to Larsen’s Beach;

— A need establish an acceptable dump site before the EPA issues an unaffordable fine;

— Increase the bus system to Sunday and weeknights till 10 p.m.;

— Keep the county parks open at night.

She has been a leader in environmental issues both in Hawai‘i and on the Mainland, and is a founding member of various groups, including the Kaua‘i Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, The Eco-Roundtable, and the Vegetarian Society of Hawai‘i (Kaua‘i chapter).

She also produced and hosted a weekly environmental TV show in Southern California as well as an environmental radio show, “Kaua‘i’s Earth Connection,” on KKCR, she said.

“Democracy on Kaua‘i requires a minimum of two candidates for mayor. We now have a choice. I believe, together we can do better,” she said.

“It’s time we must turn the corner. Each one of us must go inside and search to find the path to a healthy future for the island and its people. We must never take more than we give,” she said.

“The mayor’s position is supposed to provide leadership. There must be serious stands on the issues of the day to protect Kaua‘i island and her people regardless whether it is under county jurisdiction.”

Contact Diana LaBadz: email: DianaLaBedz@aol.com phone: 808-337-9977

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Hemp & Marijuana Should be Legal By Diana LaBedz on 16 July 2010 - I am sure this subject raised a few eyebrows. This is a difficult issue to raise. I feel this is a good time, I feel strong enough to take the reticule. Hemp/Marijuana should be legal on Kauai, it has many over looked benefits and miss information and beliefs. Let me know your thoughts. ~Diana Farming and the manufacturing of Biofuel Having access to Cannabis has proven medical properties Nutritional Values - Hemp milk, Hemp bread, Hemp cooking oil, etc Industrial Hemp Products, Cannabis has great potential for creating thousands of environmentally friendly products Economic Benefits, can be taxed Creates jobs and small family farms. SAVE $$$ The County can save money by redirecting the funds and man hours that are currently spent by prosecuting citizens. Those who profit from continuing the war on drugs are the law enforcement and prison industry. This issue is also about liberty and the sovereign right of each of us to make personal choices -- This collection of myths and facts is based on the book Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence . A decade after the book was published, the latest scientific evidence continues to support the original findings. Top Five Marijuana Myths

• Marijuana Can Cause Permanent Mental Illness
• Marijuana Is Highly Addictive
• Marijuana Is More Potent Today Than In The Past
• Marijuana Offenses Are Not Severely Punished
• Marijuana Is More Damaging to the Lungs Than Tobacco

This collection of myths and facts is based on the book "Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence" . A decade after the book was published, the latest scientific evidence continues to support the original findings. Harvard Professor, Lester Grinspoon, M.D., has studied Marijuana as medicine for decades and offers three possible reasons why the government is so opposed to Hemp/Marijuana Re-Legalization: "(1) Governments don't readily acknowledge mistakes. The government has been exaggerating the dangers of recreational marijuana for almost 70 years. It has spent many million of dollars in efforts to demonstrate some harm that would justify prohibition. Since 1967 more than 10 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, and many of them have had to serve long prison sentences. Careers have been ruined and families bankrupted or destroyed. The damage is beyond estimation. It is difficult for the government to turn around now and say, "Sorry, we made a mistake." (2) There are now considerable vested interests in maintaining prohibition. The Drug War has created a vast enforcement and "educational" bureaucracy, a drug abuse industrial complex that parallels the military-industrial complex produced by the Cold War and is just as difficult to unseat. Forfeitures of drug dealers' property fill the coffers of the drug control system, supplemented by the illegal seizures of corrupt drug agents. The Drug War juggernaut also sustains a growing industry devoted to examining the hair and urine of citizens for traces of marijuana and other drugs. The pharmaceutical companies and drug-testing laboratories that profit from this practice do not want to see it ended. . . . All in all, a large and growing investment of capital and human resources in involved. (3) Finally, Marijuana has become a symbol charged with cultural tensions. Along with psychedelic drugs, it was seen as a catalyst of the antiestablishment movement of the 1960's and 1970's. Many regarded the free speech, civil rights, and anti-Vietnam War movements as socially healthy and exciting expressions of a vibrant democracy. But other saw these movements as symptoms of a society out of control . . . The establishment plays to this fear by exaggerating the harmful potential of the drug and especially by presenting its users as deviant. Successful middle-class marijuana users passively cooperate with their campaign when they keep their use secret and allow the television camera's lens to focus on latter-day hippies." [Hempworld, Fall 1996] More Marijuana Myths

• Marijuana Has No Medicinal Value
• Marijuana Is a Gateway Drug
• Marijuana's Harms Have Been Proved Scientifically
• Marijuana Causes an Amotivational Syndrome
• Marijuana Policy in the Netherlands is a Failure
• Marijuana Kills Brain Cells
• Marijuana Impairs Memory and Cognition
• Marijuana Causes Crime
• Marijuana Interferes With Male and Female Sex Hormones
• Marijuana Use During Pregnancy Damages the Fetus
• Marijuana Use Impairs the Immune System
• Marijuana's Active Ingredient, THC, Gets Trapped in Body Fat
• Marijuana Use is a Major Cause Of Highway Accidents
• Marijuana Related Hospital Emergencies Are Increasing, Particularly Among Youth
• Marijuana Use Can Be Prevented

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