May 2012
16 posts
Dennis Peron in Long Beach for Gay Pride May 18-20
Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Celebration kicks off the summer Pride season, and the 2012 theme “Pride Links Us Together” is a great way to start things off. This is the 29th annual celebration, which now attracts more than 80,000 participants over Saturday and Sunday alone. The Festival Celebration includes seven large dance areas including a main stage, which has featured...
The Anti-Science Streak in Federal Marijuana...
Excerpt from The Atlantic (May 20, 2012):
Marijuana is nevertheless classified under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule One drug. Under the law, drugs placed in that category must meet all of the following criteria (emphasis added):
The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United...
Marijuana mea culpa -- Last week, we got some...
Excerpt from Metro Times (May 16, 2012):
When marijuana is ingested through smoking, some elements of the substance are released into the bloodstream. Most pertinent to this discussion are THC, CBD and a few dozen other cannabinoids. THC is the cannabinoid at the root of marijuana hysteria because it’s the one most directly responsible for the high. Most edible preparations of marijuana...
A Critical Review Of Washington’s I-502 Initiative
Excerpt from The Weed Blog (May 11, 2012):
From The ‘No On I-502′ Campaign
Initiative 502 has caused a rift in the cannabis reform movement. It never had to be this way. Here are a couple of quick, initial points that should have immediately set off alarms for those who wrote this initiative:
One of our Drug Czar’s top national policies is encouraging states throughout the nation to adopt a per...
Medical Marijuana Raids To Continue After House...
Excerpt from the Huffington Post (May 10, 2012):
The failed bill’s text reads as follows:
None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and...
Last Words to an America in Decline -- Ernest...
[This document was found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012) after his death.]
To all brothers and sisters who hold the dream in their hearts of a future world in which humans and all other beings live in harmony and mutual support — a world of sustainability, stability, and confidence. A world something like the one I described, so long ago,...
US News & World report: Why The Oregon Attorney...
Excerpt from US News & World report (May 11, 2012):
Holton had been interim U.S. Attorney for Oregon when federal agents executed search warrants on several marijuana farms in the state last fall. That and other actions from his office had irked medical marijuana and pro-legalization activists, including Greig, so Greig posted a message to a listserv of about 300 other activists suggesting...
Medical Marijuana Insurance -- Good article
Excerpt from KOMONews.com (May 5, 2012):
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia now have medical marijuana laws. In just Oregon and Washington there are nearly 100,000 medical marijuana patients. Now this once fringe culture has taken another step towards the mainstream – growers and grower cooperatives can now buy insurance policies to protect their crops and marijuana inventories against...
Connecticut's New Medical Marijuana Law -- How...
Excerpt from the Hartford Courant (May 5, 2012):
After nearly 10 hours of debate Friday night, the state Senate voted 21-13 to approve a bill legalizing medical marijuana. The House of Representatives approved the measure 91-56 on April 25. The governor still needs to sign the bill for it to become law. Here’s how it will work:
Q: Who would be eligible to use medical marijuana, if the...
New Jersey -- Local doctors cleared to prescribe...
Excerpt from NorthJersey.com (Apr 26, 2012):
Jagar is among four local doctors who have been approved by the state to prescribe medical marijuana, but none of the companies that were approved to dispense the marijuana when the law was passed more than two years ago have yet been permitted to do so. Most still do not have a facility to operate out of as the municipalities that they have been...
Hawaii News Daily's Medical Marijuana Update --...
Excerpt From Hawaii News Daily (May 3, 2012):
President Obama is taking flak from comedians and politicians alike over the federal crackdown on dispensaries. Meanwhile, raids and legal battles continue to rage across the country. Let’s get to it:
National
Last Thursday, Rep. Barney Frank criticized President Obama for the medical marijuana crackdown. “I think it’s bad politics...
Nancy Pelosi: Medical Marijuana Busts By Feds Of...
Excerpt from The Huffington Post (May 4,2012):
U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday released a statement pushing back against the Obama administration’s interference with medical marijuana laws in California and beyond. Her statement comes after medical marijuana advocates delivered a petition earlier that day calling on Pelosi to defend patients from ramped up...
Berkeley Patients Group Closure Marks Biggest...
With its only retail outlet due to close today, Berkeley Patients Group is set to become the biggest casualty so far in a bold and controversial legal offensive by federal prosecutors against California’s pot industry.
The group sent an e-mail to customers earlier today announcing the pending closure.
While dozens of other medical marijuana dispensaries around the state have been forced to...
Medical-marijuana dispensaries run into trouble at...
Excerpt from The Seattle Times (April 29, 2012):
The booming medical-marijuana industry in Washington is struggling to gain business legitimacy. Already on shaky legal footing because of the conflict between state and federal law, dispensaries are bogged down by troubles with banking and federal taxes. …
That’s in part because federal authorities have warned banks that handling...
Obama Accused Of Lying About Medical Marijuana...
Excerpt from: The Huffington Post (April 29, 2012):
President Obama is accused of lying about federal laws regarding marijuana.
The charge, from Fire Dog Lake’s Jon Walker, comes after the president’s interview with Rolling Stone, published this month.
In the interview, Obama was asked to reconcile his statement, as a presidential candidate, that he would not use “Justice...
April 2012
29 posts
Medical Marijuana & Jewish Law -- Excellent...
Excerpt from The Jewish Standard (Apr 27, 2012):
Medical marijuana is used to treat patients with AIDS and those receiving chemotherapy — both of which are life-threatening scenarios — as well as those suffering from glaucoma, which Jewish law regards as equally hazardous. In fact, serious eye injury/disease was the only condition that was always regarded as “dangerous” because of the connection...
President Obama Speaks Directly about the Federal...
Excerpt from Rolling Stone Magazine (May 10th, 2012) interview with President Obama:
Let me ask you about the War on Drugs. You vowed in 2008, when you were running for election, that you would not “use Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws about medical marijuana.” Yet we just ran a story that shows your administration is launching more raids on medical pot...
Montana Fed Crackdown: US Prosecutor Speaks Out
Excerpt from The Republic:
US Attorney breaks silence on Montana medical marijuana crackdown, says probe will go on
HELENA, Mont. — The Justice Department has broken its long silence about last year’s crackdown on medical marijuana operations in Montana, with U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter saying more than two dozen people have been indicted so far and that prosecutions will continue.
The...
Cal Assembly Committee Passes Medical Marijuana...
Excerpt from The Sacramento Bee:
An Assembly committee Tuesday passed a bill to create state oversight for pot businesses, as its chairman implored the Legislature to act to stave off federal raids on medical marijuana providers.
“The worst public policy choice for California is to sit idly by, doing nothing, and let this failed war on medical cannabis continue unchecked,” said San...
Great Column in The Wall Street Journal -- The...
Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal:
By BEAU KILMER
Discussions about legalizing marijuana should start with a few basic truths.
One is that legalization would save the law-enforcement and social costs of arresting hundreds of thousands of adults each year. (Most proposals would keep marijuana illegal for those under 21.) Another is that pot’s underground economy—estimated at $15...
Convictions Of Two CA Dispensary Operators Thrown... →
weedporndaily:
The convictions of two medical marijuana dispensary and collective operators in southern California has been thrown out by Long Beach Superior Court Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani, who cited many issues with the original trial, not the least of which was an obvious bias on the part of Judge Charles Sheldon toward the prosecution.
Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine were convicted in December...
Workers at L.A. pot dispensaries form labor union
With the fate of the city’s medical marijuana industry in question, workers at more than a dozen Los Angeles pot shops have formed a labor union in part to help ward off a proposed citywide ban on dispensaries.
The employees joined the ranks of grocery workers, healthcare providers and pharmacists at the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 770. At a news conference Thursday, the...
California Assemblywoman Norma Torres: Sober...
According to the vehicle code, it’s already a crime to drive stoned, yet Chino Assemblywoman Norma Torres has introduced Assembly Bill 2552, which would make it a crime to drive sober. How?
Because she wants to make it “unlawful for any person who has any level of cannabinoids or synthetic cannabinoid compound in his or her blood or urine to drive a vehicle.”
Cannabinoids —...
California State Leg: Hearing On Statewide Pot...
The Assembly Committee on Public Safety unexpectedly postponed a scheduled hearing on AB 2312, the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Control Act, which had been scheduled for Today, Tuesday, April 10, in room 126 of California’s State Capitol. The legislation, authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), would create the first statewide regulatory framework for the medical...
Will the D.C. Council regulate medical marijuana...
Excerpt from the Washington Post:
On March 30, the District took a step that was almost 14 years overdue — it granted licenses to six medical marijuana cultivators . With this action, the District is finally moving toward implementing the medical marijuana program that was overwhelmingly approved in a 1998 vote.
But ever since D.C. voters from across the city gave medical marijuana the...
Medical marijuana: Three Boulder dispensaries near...
U.S. Attorney John Walsh has said that his crackdown on dispensaries near schools is intended to protect children and young people from drugs and drug abuse. But a good number of Boulder dispensaries targeted in the second round are near a university full of adults, leading some to speculate on a connection between Walsh’s mission and the university’s attempts to shrink the on-campus...
California State Athletic Association: Allow...
(Sports Illustrated) The California State Athletic Commission voted on Monday to approve an amendment that allows therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for combat sports’ athletes who use drugs currently banned by the state agency for medical purposes, including testosterone and marijuana.To be adopted into state law, the amendment’s verbiage must now be reviewed and approved by the Department of...
Ninth Circuit Revives Lawsuit over Religious...
A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit by a Native American religious group seeking an exemption from federal law so its members can use marijuana without fear of prosecution.
In 2009, federal law enforcement officers in Hawaii seized from FedEx one pound of marijuana — worth about $7,000 — that was addressed to a member of the Oklevueha Native American Church. Police later destroyed it.
...
AZDHS to Begin Accepting Medical Marijuana...
Now the Arizona Department of Health Services has announced that it will soon accept applications for medical marijuana dispensaries.
Many medical marijuana shops opened as caregiver collectives, meaning they connected marijuana providers with five cardholding patients.
Turns out many of them were zoned as dispensaries in hopes that the law would soon change. On Wednesday, they found out they...
Stoned driving epidemic puts wrinkle in nationwide...
Dr. Bob DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, a non-government institute that works to reduce drug abuse, says research proves “the terrible carnage out there on the roads caused by marijuana.”
One recent review of several studies of pot smoking and car accidents suggested that driving after smoking marijuana might almost double the risk of being in a serious or...
Effort to put marijuana legalization measure on...
Effort to put marijuana legalization measure on ballot is in disarray
After Proposition 19 received 46% of the vote in 2010, proponents took heart. They vowed to put a measure to fully legalize marijuana on the 2012 ballot. Instead, four camps vie for funding.
Just weeks before the deadline for state ballot initiatives, the effort to put a marijuana legalization measure before voters in the...
Pat Robertson Says Marijuana Use Should be Legal
For his part, Mr. Robertson said he was “not encouraging people to use narcotics in any way, shape or form.” But he said he saw little difference between smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, a longstanding argument from far more liberal — and libertarian-minded — leaders.
“If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that...
End the willful blindness on marijuana, by Alan M....
I confess to being underwhelmed by the New Hampshire House’s passing — by one vote— the decriminalization of possession of cannabis up to a half ounce.
House members also defeated, by a resounding 228-91, a measure to legalize sale of marijuana by anyone over 21. I know, that’s a big step. But what does “live free” mean, if not the freedom over your own body? It’s the most basic freedom issue....
Patient punishment: Medicinal pot user weeded out...
A plumber with a valid medical marijuana prescription was denied work on a city project after testing positive for the drug, prompting a prominent San Francisco union boss to demand changes to a labor agreement. Larry Mazzola Sr., a business manager for the UA Local 38 plumbers union, has initiated conversations with the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Ed...
Summit of the Americas: Drug War Will Be On The... →
weedporndaily:
This week, President Obama will join more than 30 other heads of state from throughout the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia for the Summit of the Americas. For the first time ever, a major focus of the summit - both in official meetings and behind closed doors - will be the need for alternative strategies to the failed war on drugs.
The urgency of the discussion is growing in...
Marijuana Users Are Safer Drivers Than...
In the study, 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org points out that the only significant effect that marijuana has on operating a motor vehicle is slower driving. 4AutoInsuranceQuote.org says, while referencing a study by the US National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), that driving slower “is arguably a positive thing” and that driving under the influence of marijuana...
The Crimes of Richard Lee
Monday, April 2 - As with many pioneers and visionaries as well as the majority of his fellow Texans, Richard Lee of “Oaksterdam” fame is a bit bull headed. His passion and determination are well chronicled in local cannabis lore. Of course vision, passion, bullheadedness and being from Texas are not crimes in the traditional meaning of the term. So why did the federal government...
Federal Agents Raid Calif. Marijuana University
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - Federal agents on Monday raided a cannabis cultivation school widely known as the “Princeton of Pot” and the “Harvard of Hemp,” a U.S. marshal on the scene said, as the government pressed its clamp-down on medical marijuana.
The raid by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Marshals Service...
March 2012
2 posts
ASA Withdraws Initiative Bid!! -- YIPPIE!!
Excerpt from The Sacramento Bee:
Medical marijuana advocates are dropping efforts to qualify a November ballot initiative to regulate California’s dispensary industry and instead plan a media campaign to lobby the Legislature to tackle the issue.
Cannabis industry groups including dispensaries, medical marijuana growers and a powerful union drafted the proposed measure in the face of an...
“I got money in the bank- I can still get high…”...
Excerpt from Cannabis Warrior blog:
Well, apparently mine (and Dennis Peron’s) opposition to the Medical Marijuana Regulation Control and Taxation Act does not really matter. I have been informed that UFCW and ASA have the money in the bank to push it through, and will do just that. They do not need my support, or the support of anyone else apparently. They do not need your money. They want...
February 2012
11 posts
Private Prison Company to Demand 90% Occupancy --...
The nation’s largest private prison company is offering cash-strapped state governments to buy up their penitentiaries and manage convicted criminals at a cost-savings. But there’s a catch…the states must guarantee that are there are enough prisoners to ensure that the venture is profitable to the company.
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) has reached out to 48 states as part...
The infamous RAND study on legalization in...
Altered State? Assessing How Marijuana Legalization in California Could Influence Marijuana Consumption and Public Budgets
Within this context, this RAND occasional paper is intended to inform the debate about marijuana legalization in California. Although marijuana legalization could have many consequences, this paper focuses largely on two outcomes that are central to the debate in...
Interesting article about marijuana testing --...
Excerpt from The San Francisco Chronicle:
His lab, called The Werc Shop, tests medical cannabis for levels of the psychoactive ingredient known as THC and a few dozen other compounds, as well as for contaminants like molds, bacteria and pesticides that marijuana advocates don’t much like to talk about. The strains that pass muster are labeled Certified Cannabaceuticals, a trademarked...