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 than the Bush administration did. What’s up with that? 
Here’s what’s up: What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law. I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books.” What I can say is, “Use your prosecutorial discretion and properly prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing folks damage.” As a consequence, there haven’t been prosecutions of users of marijuana for medical purposes.

The only tension that’s come up – and this gets hyped up a lot – is a murky area where you have large-scale, commercial operations that may supply medical marijuana users, but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users. In that situation, we put the Justice Department in a very difficult place if we’re telling them, “This is supposed to be against the law, but we want you to turn the other way.” That’s not something we’re going to do. I do think it’s important and useful to have a broader debate about our drug laws. One of the things we’ve done over the past three years was to make a sensible change when it came to the disparity in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. We’ve had a discussion about how to focus on treatment, taking a public-health approach to drugs and lessening the overwhelming emphasis on criminal laws as a tool to deal with this issue. I think that’s an appropriate debate that we should have.

John Entwistle notes: The interview is from the Rolling Stone Magazine. Read the whole interview here. I think he is telling us we have to get our individual congress persons to go with rescheduling. 

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 statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office is the agency’s first since a single press release was sent the day after the March 14, 2011, raids on 26 homes, offices and businesses that effectively stymied the state’s once-booming medical pot trade.

Then, federal prosecutors said the warrants were part of a long-running investigation into drug trafficking.

More than a year later, prosecutors have provided their first update on the investigation, saying more than 25 people have been indicted on federal drug charges related to the raids and 12 people have been sentenced.

The fallout is still happening, with another recent round of arrests, indictments and plea deals.

Cotter said prosecutors will keep targeting large-scale marijuana operations.

John Entwistle notes: As difficult as the situation is the path out is actually very clear. Re(de)scheduling. That’s the only way out of this maze. Currently we have two options for federal rescheduling. First, the Barney Frank Bill (HR 1983) & Second, the State Governor’s Rescheduling Petition. This is difficult, potentially time consuming but technically speaking the job ain’t over ‘till cannabis is removed from schedule I of the CSA.

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 Francisco Democrat Tom Ammiano as his Public Safety Committee voted 4-2 along party lines to create a state bureau to police the California medical cannabis industry.

Despite clearing his committee, Ammiano’s Assembly Bill 2312 faces long odds of reaching the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown because of strong opposition from police.

John Entwistle notes: We are opposing this bill. Read the whole article below at the source link. And you can read all documents associated with AB 2312 here.

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 billion to $30 billion annually—would be largely wiped out if marijuana were legalized throughout the country. Finally, it is clear that legalization would greatly decrease price and, therefore, increase the number of both recreational and heavy marijuana users.

Beyond these facts, the ramifications get extremely murky. Being honest about the uncertainties involved is the price of admission to any serious discussion about marijuana legalization…

John Entwistle notes: This is a good column from one of the folks behind the RAND study. Read it at the link below. The RAND study is also available here.

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 2011 for pot sales relating to operating two dispensaries in Long Beach and a collective in Garden Grove.

Read more: http://the420times.com/2012/04/convictions-of-two-ca-dispensary-operators-thrown-out

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 president of the union vowed to leverage the “full force” of its 35,000 members to keep dispensaries open.

The City Council is weighing a ban that would forbid businesses to sell marijuana but still allow patients who are seriously ill and their caregivers to cultivate it.

Three articles: http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/03/marijuana_dispensary_workers_t.php

& http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/23/local/la-me-pot-workers-20120323

& http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/22/california-marijuana-workers-ready-to-unionize/

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 — the active in ingredient in cannabis — can stay in the body for up to sixty days. Pot’s effect wears off in 90 minutes to three hours. Ergo, someone who’s had a a joint thirty days prior to any collision can be jailed for DUI under Torres’ ignorant bill. AB 2552 creates more costs to the state, criminalizes innocent people and does not the make roads any bit safer.

John Entwistle notes: We oppose this bill!!

Another Article Here & Here

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 marijuana industry in California if passed.The delay was requested by Ammiano, who also chairs the committee. 

The hearing is now scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, 2012.

John Entwistle notes: First, we oppose this bill. Second, you can read it yourself at the following link: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=ab_2312&sess=CUR&house=A&search_type=bill_update

Third, it is basically ASA’s initiative light.

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 go-ahead, the program has faced a number of obstacles. While some have been outside the city’s control — Congress prohibited the program’s implementation for more than a decade, for one — others have been homegrown. Ironically, it’s these self-imposed impediments that threaten the viability of a program that is only now starting to take shape.

John Entwistle notes: This is an excellent article for those following this story from our nation’s capitol. Click the “source” link below to read the whole article. Here is another article.

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 4/20 event.

Two weeks ago, a second wave of federal letters was sent out to 25 medical marijuana centers across the state, Boulder included. At the time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office wouldn’t comment on which shops were targeted. But we’ve since learned that as many as three dispensaries across from the University of Colorado Boulder campus were told they had to shut their doors.

Read the most recent letter from U.S. Attorney John Walsh defending his actions in Colorado.