Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana, a Political Action Committee formed in the fall of 2011 to push for passage of a statewide production and distribution system, is holding a "Unity Conference" this weekend, followed by a press conference and lobby day on Monday.

Advocates will gather at the Sacramento Central Labor Council on Saturday and Sunday to build their skills and strategize on passing statewide regulations. Hundreds of advocates will then gather on Monday at the Capitol to lobby every State Assembly and Senate office.

 

In a just-released poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, three quarters of American voters -- 74 percent -- want the Obama administration to respect individual state medical marijuana laws.

Only 15 percent of voters nationwide support using federal resources to arrest and prosecute those who are acting in compliance with their state medical marijuana laws.

The poll informed voters that medical marijuana is legal with a doctor's recommendation in 16 states as well as the District of Columbia, and in some of those states it is legal for licensed and tightly regulated individuals to grow and sell marijuana to qualifying patients. Respondents were then asked if President Obama should respect the medical marijuana laws in these states, or continue to use federal resources to arrest and prosecute individuals who are acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

Medical marijuana was a major issue in the Democratic primary for Attorney General in Oregon - and the candidates' starkly different positions on the issue ensured victory for former judge Ellen Rosenblum.

Two Democrats -- Rosenblum and Dwight Holton -- had battled it out in the primary for what effectively is all the marbles, since there will be no organized Republican opposition on November's general election ballot.

The candidates had seemed similar until the medical marijuana issue became a major part of the campaign, with Rosenblum's friendliness to safe access for cannabis patients distinguishing her from her more hardline opponent, who was cast as an enemy of Oregon's medical marijuana law.

Both candidates were moderate Democrats, and both were attorneys. Holton was the former U.S. Attorney in Portland. Rosenblum is a long-time judge.

The race took a unexpected turn last month when the marijuana community got behind Rosenblum, spurred on by Holton's characterization of the Oregon marijuana law as a "train wreck."

The DUI bill has been a rollercoaster for the past two years, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword, perhaps due at least partially to the fact that there's no solid science supporting the proposed limit of five nanograms per milliliter (5 ng/ml) as being at all correlated with actual driving impairment.

Failure of the bill once again in the Colorado Legislature (for the third time) may have reverberations all the way to the U.S. West Coast, since an identical DUI limit -- 5 ng/ml -- currently threatens to derail a semi-legalization initiative, I-502, in Washington state.

The Coalition for a Drug Free California (CDFC), an extremist anti-marijuana fringe group headed by entertaining wingnut Paul Chabot, has called for California Assembly Member Tom Ammiano to be removed from his chairmanship of the Public Safety Committtee.

The Colorado House gave its initial thumbs-up to a bill setting the cannabis driving limit at 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood (5 ng/ml), reports The Associated Press.

Last year the pot DUI bill was rejected in the Senate after it was brought to light that a 5 ng/ml cut-off point is unsupported by science; the link between that blood THC level and driving impairment appears tenuous at best.

Last week, the Colorado House was once again poised to adopt the bad legislation, but the bill died as a result of a filibuster on a civil unions measure.

A fire at a South Seattle Vietnamese restaurant led to the seizure nearly 400 marijuana plants on Monday morning.

Spasticity scores on the modified Ashworth scale dropped by an average 2.74 points more with smoked cannabis than with a placebo, researchers at the University of California San Diego found, reports Crystal Phend at MedPage Today.

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 initiative petition on Friday turned in 27,401 signatures from the month of April, exceeding the minimum number of signatures for a statutory ballot measure by more than 2,000 signatures.

According to an official at the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division [PDF], OCTA 2012 is the third initiative to meet the early turn-in requirement by exceeding the minimum number of signatures required for qualification for ballot status. 

"We are continuing our petition drive," said initiative sponsor Paul Stanford of OCTA 2012. "We estimate that, on Monday, May 14th, another 10,000 signatures to be turned in to our office by petitioners that are gathered this week, and at least 10,000 more in each subsequent week."