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Illinois DUI

Nearly Three Quarters of Democrats Break with Administration Policy, Vote to Prevent Federal Agencies from Targeting Individuals in Compliance with State Medical Marijuana Laws
 
Democrats in the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve an amendment to the FY 2013 Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill late Wednesday that would effectively end the ability of federal agencies to enforce federal marijuana laws against individuals who are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

National Cannabis Industry Association

​NCIA representative to appear at launch of weGrow store as the District awards cultivation licenses
The District of Columbia’s Department of Health is scheduled on Friday, March 30 to award up to 10 licenses to entities to cultivate medical marijuana under the District’s medical marijuana laws. More than 13 years after the November 1998 approval of medical marijuana by D.C. voters, patients are nearing the day when they will be able to safely acquire the medicine they need to alleviate their pain and suffering.

Kush Clothing

​Alcohol causes far more damage to users and to society than does the use of marijuana, according to a new study published online in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the journal of the British Association of Psychopharmacology.

Researchers at the Imperial College of London looked at “the relative physical, psychological, and social harms of cannabis and alcohol,” reports Paul Armentano at AlterNet. They determined that marijuana smoking, particularly longterm, does some harm to the lungs and circulatory system, and increases certain mental-health risks (which is debatable).

Very Sherry

​Marijuana legalization is by far the top issue on the White House’s “We the People” site, leaving other online petition requests in the dust, a new review shows.

The top cannabis petition — one of many — has more than 55,000 signatures, 20,000 more than any other issue on the site, Roll Call reported on Monday.
Legalization has been the top issue on the petition site since it launched last month as a way for citizens to lobby for issues that matter the most to them, reports Ambreen Ali.
The White House hasn’t yet responded to the marijuana petition. Judging on his track record, President Obama will either belittle and giggle the issue away, or look serious and mouth meaningless platitudes about “more treatment” and “more research” while continuing to pursue his Administration’s war against both recreational and medical marijuana the people who use it.

LIFE
Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske claimed on Thursday that the regulation of alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs has not worked, so regulation of marijuana could not be expected to work, either

​The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) on Thursday announced the latest results of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As is their annual custom, the federal officials used the event — and the survey itself — as an opportunity to decry the use of marijuana in the United States.

“What we saw today was just more of the same stale old rhetoric and exaggerations about marijuana use,” said Morgan Fox, communications manager for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). “The analysis SAMHSA included with the National Survey on Drug Use and Health seeks to blame what they claim is a significant increase in teen marijuana use on relaxed perceptions of harm, caused by the ongoing discussion of marijuana reform, particularly medical marijuana.

Graphic: Students for Sensible Drug Policy

A bipartisan group of legislators introduced three bills in Congress on Wednesday which, for the first time in history, would federally protect and support medical marijuana patients and providers in states where the medicinal use of cannabis is legal.

The first of the bills, the “States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act,” would modify federal law so that individuals acting in compliance with state law are immune from federal prosecution. The other two bills, which address banking and tax issues faced by medical marijuana providers, are the first two bills in the history of Congress to protect and advance the interests of medical cannabis businesses.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is the lead sponsor of the States bill, which has garnered bipartisan support in past sessions of Congress.

Photo: Jeff Fryer/flickr
Rep. Jared Polis (C-Colorado) will meet on Wednesday with members of the National Cannabis Trade Association to discuss the federal legislative needs of marijuana-related businesses.

​The National Cannabis Industry Association, the first national trade organization dedicated to advancing the interests of marijuana-related businesses, will discuss the federal legislative needs of the industry at the National Press Club this Wednesday, March 30.

Prominent leaders in the industry will join Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colorado), as well as the manager of See Change Strategy, an independent firm that, on March 23, released the first-ever financial analysis of the legal medical cannabis industry in the United States.
This report, based on interviews with more than 300 people in the industry, projected the total legal medical cannabis market at $1.7 billion in 2011.

With Republicans in the House claiming they want to cut down on spending for the next fiscal year, marijuana advocates are suggesting they should start with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s budget.

Trimming the federal largesse that keeps the DEA fat and happy makes sense. Billions of dollars are thrown away annually on a quixotic and foolish War On Marijuana that is not supported by the public, that never achieves its goals, and that sees as its victims not only families but civil liberties and respect for law enforcement, as well.
Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project told TPM that the idea makes a lot of sense, reports Ryan J. Reilly.

Photo: Huffington Post
Michele Leonhart, just confirmed by the Senate as administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries

​The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed Michele Leonhart, a Bush-era holdover who has overseen dozens of federal raids on medical marijuana providers and producers, to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“Ms. Leonhart’s actions and ambitions are incompatible with state law, public opinion, and with the policies of this administration,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “It is unlikely that we will see any serious change in the DEA’s direction under Ms. Leonhart’s leadership.”

Leonhart had served as interim director of the agency since November 2007. President Barack Obama nominated Leonhart in February 2010 to serve as the agency’s permanent director, NORML reports.
Numerous drug policy reform groups, including NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and others had opposed Leonhart’s confirmation, arguing that her actions as interim DEA administrator violated the Obama Administration’s pledge to allow science, rather than politics, rhetoric and ideology, to guide public policy.

Photo: Queerty
Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO): The only way to accomplish objectives would be to eliminate “the failed policy of prohibition with regard to marijuana and replace it with regulation”

​The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to pass a resolution Wednesday declaring illegal marijuana cultivation on federal lands to be an “unacceptable threat to the safety of law enforcement and the public,” and calling upon the nation’s drug czar “to work in conjunction with federal and state agencies to develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking organizations operating on Federal lands.”

Speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) agreed with the goals of H. Res. 1540, but said the only way to accomplish such objectives would be to eliminate “the failed policy of prohibition with regard to marijuana and replac[e]it with regulation.”
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