By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, News
Wednesday, Mar. 10 2010 @ 1:11PM
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| Graphic: Mother Jones |
House Bill 1653, which would reduce the penalty for possessing one-quarter ounce or less of cannabis, passed by an overwhelming 214-137 vote. That's almost 61 percent of the House voting in favor of decrim.
Previously, the bill had been recommended "out to pass" in a 16-2 vote by the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on February 11.
"This makes three years in a row that the House has passed a bill attempting to reform New Hampshire's archaic marijuana policies," said Matt Simon, executive director for the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.
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| Photo: misshightimes.com |
| Miss High Times 2010 contestant Caitlin, of Santa Cruz, California, with part of this year's 16 million ounces |
The numbers, from a recent state Board of Equalization report, were prepared for legislation introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) which would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for Californians 21 and older, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.
Ammiano's legislation, AB 2254, would create a regulatory structure for marijuana similar to that used for alcohol. The bill would allow taxed sales to adults, while banning sales to or possession by those under 21.
Other interesting findings included in the report:
• California is America's top marijuana growing state, with 8.6 million pounds of cannabis produced annually, at an estimated value of $13.8 billion. If those numbers are accurate, that represents more than a third of the entire pot crop of the United States. "The fact that California's largest cash crop continues to go untaxed and unregulated is astounding, especially in such tough economic times," said Aaron Smith, California policy director of the Marijuana Policy Project.
By Steve Elliott in
News
Tuesday, Mar. 9 2010 @ 12:27PM
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| Photo: The Olympian |
| Olympia City Councilman Joe Hyer pleads not guilty to three marijuana felonies, Tuesday, March 9, 2010 |
"Judge Pomeroy, I plead not guilty to all charges," Hyer said during his arraignment.
Hyer is charged with two counts of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, each a Class C felony, reports Jeremy Pawloski at The Olympian.
Hyer, 37, was arrested at his home last month by members of the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force after a "confidential informant" wearing a wire bought pot from the councilman twice during "controlled buys" in February, according to court papers.
Monday, Mar. 8 2010 @ 2:47PM
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| Photo: DEA |
A group emailed the request to Holder on Monday, following up on a letter sent last week, according to the Associated Press.
According to the lawmakers, the raids are discouraging dispensary operators and medical marijuana patients and growers from working with the Colorado Legislature on proposed regulations.
The letter was sent by Sens. Chris Romer and Nancy Spence, and Reps. Tom Massey and Beth McCann.
A suburban Denver man has been charged with marijuana possession in federal court after DEA agents raided his home and found 224 pot plants.
The raid took place only hours after segments aired of a television interview with Chris Bartkowicz, in which he boasts of his $500,000 basement grow operation, his $637,000 home and his expected $400,000 profits this year.
By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, News
Monday, Mar. 8 2010 @ 9:34AM
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| Photo: Tobias Elgen |
| The ferry Wenatchee enroute to Bainbridge Island, Washington (background), where your pockets are considered pot paraphernalia |
Because there's no local statute for misdemeanor level marijuana possession -- under 40 grams -- if you get arrested on Bainbridge Island, in Washington's Puget Sound, you aren't prosecuted under any law dealing with pot, reports Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun.
But that won't keep you from being busted.
"We can arrest someone for having drug paraphernalia," said Scott Weiss, an island officer. "But not for marijuana."
Turns out "paraphernalia" can be defined pretty loosely, to say the least.
"Even if they have marijuana in their pocket, then the pocket becomes the paraphernalia," Kitsap County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Claire Bradley said.
By Steve Elliott in
News
Friday, Mar. 5 2010 @ 12:18PM
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| Photo: 4&20 blackbirds |
| "Just get me some more reefers... NOW!" |
Every few months, you can count on it: Another "scientific" study that attempts to draw some connection, however tenuous, between getting high and going crazy. But those outlandish claims amount to just putting a white lab coat on the "Reefer Madness" warnings of the 1930s, and it's easy to see why.
I mean, get real: Considering modern rates of usage, if cannabis really produced psychosis, the streets would be choked with a gibbering throng of burned-out potheads. It doesn't. They aren't.
"I've said it for years now," film director John Holowach, responsible for the documentary High: The True Tale of American Marijuana, told Toke of the Town. "If pot and mental illness were linked, the two should rise and fall with one another, but they don't."
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| Photo: Matt Mernagh |
| Activist Matt Mernagh: Cannabis sovereignty for Canada! |
It would be reasonable to assume that Canada is in charge of its own medical marijuana program -- wouldn't it?
Apparently not. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the United Nations are offering unsolicited "advice" and "expressions of concern" to our neighbors to the north due to Canada's 5,000 legal medical marijuana patients.
Thanks to prominent Canadian cannabis activist and writer Matt Mernagh for this excellent guest post, and for being on top of the story. ~ Steve Elliott
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| Photo: OregonLive.com |
| John Stossel: "It's not the intoxicant that causes crime -- it's prohibition." |
"In part of my show tonight, I'll talk about how laws against prostitution, organ selling, and drug use hurt more people than prostitution, organ selling, and drug use do," Stossel wrote Thursday.
Stossel notes that the first argument against legalizing drugs is usually "Then more kids will abuse drugs!"
"But there's little evidence for that," Stossel points out. "The Netherlands has officially 'tolerated' marijuana for 30 years. So is there violent marijuana crime? No. Fewer young people in Holland smoke marijuana than do Americans. Legalization took the mystique away. A Dutch minister of health said, 'We've succeeded in making pot... boring.' "
Thursday, Mar. 4 2010 @ 3:15PM
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| Photo: Loretta Nall |
| Loretta Nall: "We plan to keep fighting" |
But one determined group of Southerners there exemplifies the rebel stubbornness for which the state is famous -- by refusing to give up their fight for the safe, legal, medicinal use of cannabis.
The brave efforts of Alabamians for Compassionate Care (ACC), ably led by legendary libertarian and former gubernatorial candidate Loretta Nall, have arguably made the state a good bet to be the first former member of the Confederacy to get a medical marijuana law.
For the past several years in a row, ACC has, against all odds, gotten a bill onto the floor of the Alabama Legislature, and 2010 is no exception. House Bill 642, the Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act is expected to come before the House Judiciary Committee later this month.
Toke of the Town got a chance to chat with Nall about the state of medical marijuana in Alabama.
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| Graphic: NORML |
Last month, CBS denied NORML's request to place an ad in Times Square that featured the potential billions of dollars in tax revenue that would result from legalizing marijuana.
Remember, this is the network that runs stoner-friendly ads for their Showtime Network show, Weeds. CBS is also the network that had no problem running an extremely controversial anti-abortion ad aimed at peak viewership during the Super Bowl.
