Hey Florida, would you like to be carrying 2.5 ounces of marijuana right now? How about tending your own marijuana garden at home with up to six plants? Or would you rather buy marijuana from a store and have the tax proceeds go to the state? Well, call your state senator and tell them you support SB 1562.
The bill, which would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, has absolutely no chance of passing, but it’s the thought that counts. Miami New Times has the full story.
Alaska voters could legalize the cultivation and possession of limited amounts of marijuana by the end of the summer after signatures for ballot initiative cleared the final hurdle last week and gained approved from the state Lieutenant Governor.
Signature gatherers only needed around 30,000 signatures, but ended up getting 36,000 just to be safe.
| Wikimedia Commons |
If, for some reason, you did not believe that there really is a War on Drugs underway in America, two top-ranking U.S. military generals admitted as much earlier this week in testimony before the Congressional House Armed Services Committee in Washington D.C.
Army General Charles Jacoby and Marine General John Kelly sat Tuesday before the pasty white panel of entitled U.S. Congressmen, begging the government’s purse-holders for a few more bucks, and warning that more budget cuts will translate directly into violent drug sales here at home.
| The Mile High City. |
Legal marijuana sales have been going on in Colorado now for just about two months, and so far the sky hasn’t fallen. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Marijuana taxes are pumping money into state coffers and (despite high prices) the shops have all operated without any federal intervention.
Want to know which ones are open and what they are like? Our friends at the Denver Michael Roberts at the Denver Westword has been compiling a list of all 47 recreational dispensaries in the city so far, including links to reviews of most of the shops themselves. Page down for more.
Be careful what you wish for. That is the lesson being realized today by pro-cannabis advocates and activists in America’s Finest City.
| San Diego, California |
Yesterday, on a nearly unanimous 8-1 decision, the San Diego City Council finally cast a meaningful vote on establishing an official medical marijuana business ordinance in the city, laying down a law on pot shops for the first time since the California Compassionate Use Act, commonly referred to as Prop 215, was passed nearly 18 years ago.
The neighborhood cop shop in Roubaix, France, has apparently been busy busting enough local weed dealers to cause quite a stink. They estimate that they have seized at least 40 kilograms of cannabis and ‘resin’, and their successes on the streets and the resulting stockpile of pot has them feeling pretty high…literally.
In an interview with local news outlet 20 Minutes (so many jokes…), one officer who either didn’t want to be identified, or couldn’t remember his name, was quoted saying, “Already on the ground floor it smells a bit. But on the first floor, the odor is really strong. When you go there, you clearly smell the weed. And after a day, you are stoned.”
| Wikimedia Commons |
| Mairie de Roubaix, the city hall of Roubaix, France |
In an epically misguided Sunday sermon for the op-ed page of the Christian Post, Professor Michael Brown puts his dynamic range of ignorance about cannabis on display, summed up simply in the title of his piece, “What are they smoking in Colorado?”
More specifically, Brown targets Colorado Governor, John Hickenlooper, by asking…again…”What in the world is he smoking?” Completely ignoring the will of the voters in Colorado, who overwhelmingly supported Amendment 64, Brown goes right after the governor, attacking him for taking the estimated multimillion dollar revenues that legal weed is expected to deliver, and putting it back into the community.
| Miami New Times. |
Is Florida ready for medical marijuana? Well, yeah actually. The latest polls show that seven in ten statewide support legalized weed for various ailments, and supporters have gathered enough signatures to put the question on November’s ballot. One way or another, loosened mary jane restrictions seem coming to the Sunshine State.
But everyone knows Miami rocks to its own beat on just about every statewide issue. How’s the average Magic City resident feel about medical marijuana? Miami New Times‘ Kathryn Sotolongo took a camera to Bayfront Park to find out.
Just two months after filing title language for a ballot initiative legalizing limited amounts of cannabis with the state, the Drug Policy Alliance says they will not be moving forward with their California proposal in 2014. According to one spokesman for the campaign, 2014 was a “trial run or dress rehearsal for 2016”.
And they aren’t alone. Longtime activist Ed Rosenthal says he’s no longer pursuing his ballot measure any longer either.
A Quinnipiac University poll released this week says that 88% of New York residents are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana in the state, sparking the debate that perhaps the Empire State is finally ready for a nice heavy dose of indica dominant cannabis. This is up 17% in just two years.
| vagueonthehow/Flickr |
| New York residents are high on the idea of fresh pot laws |
Only 9% of New Yorkers are against the idea, but hell, only 39% of residents think that full recreational legalization of weed is a bad idea, with over 57% in favor of just skipping the “medical” step, and making pot legal for all adults.