Photo: Lash & Associates Publishing |
βA Pennsylvania legislator intends to introduce a bill which would double penalties for first-time marijuana possession in the Keystone State.
Photo: Lash & Associates Publishing |
βA Pennsylvania legislator intends to introduce a bill which would double penalties for first-time marijuana possession in the Keystone State.
The Liberator Today |
βCalifornians have a chance to make two strides for human rights in the coming weeks. Two important bills before the Legislature must be voted on this month: SB 129 would grant employment rights to medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 would reduce penalties for marijuana cultivation.
Graphic: Simple Cannabis |
βA legislator in Texas has introduced a bill which would reduce penalties for the possession of marijuana.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. |
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week said he doesn’t want people caught with small amounts of pot facing felony charges anymore and is pushing for decriminalization across the state.
Just don’t ask him to back legalizing anything, yet.
Washington D.C. |
Washington D.C. adults (and minors) packing up to an ounce of weed on them can breathe a little easier today walking around town, as decriminalization laws went into effect that makes having ounce or less a civil infraction with a fine of $25.
That is a huge improvement from how things were yesterday, when those same residents were facing misdemeanor charges, six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Boston Public Library Flickr edited by Toke of the Town. |
As we reported back in June, Maryland state Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican, is spearheading a move that would block the decriminalization of limited amounts of marijuana in Washington D.C.
But many, including D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray see it as a shot to D.C.’s home rule and Democrat-controlled city council. Now Gray is urging all D.C. residents to boycott Maryland’s beaches and resort towns.
The U.S. House of Representatives is standing in the way of Washington D.C.’s marijuana decriminalization laws, refusing to authorize funding for the law change.
Despite that, Mayor Vincent Gray says the city will still move forward with the change, which makes the possession of about an ounce of pot a civil infraction punishable by a $25 fine. But Gray also warns that House Republicans could possibly shut down the city’s medical marijuana program as well.
Marijuana advocates were abuzz last month — and by “abuzz” we mean excited, of course — when a bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession was passed out the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. The bill had been watered down to apply only to people younger than 21, but the Texas chapter of NORML, the national pot-legalization organization, still called it an “amazing step for Texas.”
Also encouraging was progress on a medical marijuana bill that would make medical need a valid defense in pot possession cases. The measure, some version of which has been introduced in the past several sessions, got a hearing for the first time ever. Both those bills — the only pro-marijuana legislation to get any sort of traction this session — are now officially dead, which isn’t to say that marijuana activists are admitting defeat. Dallas Observer has more.
Marijuana possession would not be included in Louisiana’s draconian mandatory minimum sentencing laws if a bill introduced earlier this week manages to find approval in the state legislature.
State Rep. Austin Badon, a democrat from New Orleans, introduced House Bill 103 on Tuesday which in addition to removing marijuana possession a qualifying offense for the state’s three strikes law.
indybay.org |