Search Results: police-chief (15)

He doesn’t want it to go the way of the casinos.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

Magician and legalization supporter Penn Jillette talked to Marijuana Business Daily:

“What I’m really hoping for is that the marijuana industry can keep its funk.

“When Nevada first started with gambling, even though it was illegal, even though it was all very, very shady, there was a certain kind of individuality and honesty. Then, in the ’80s, corporations really took over Vegas and it got very homogeneous and very mall-style in general and McDonaldized.

Citizen Dave
Madison Wisconsin Police Chief Mike Kovak wants to legalize weed


The war on drugs, specifically the battle against marijuana, has been an “abject failure”. So says the Police Chief of Madison, Wisconsin, Mike Koval.
Koval is an officer of the streets, having shot up from the rank of Sergeant all the way to Police Chief with no stops in between. During his three decades in uniform, Koval has become convinced that the fight against cannabis is a massive drain on resources, and only serves as a distraction from the truly harmful drugs, like heroin.


Pueblo, Police Chief Luis must have a lot of time on his hands. This week he publically announced his fears that if his officers ever have to respond to a pot club (they haven’t ever) that they may get a contact high.
“I am concerned that if there are some kind of disturbance inside one of those clubs and our officers get there, they will be entering a structure that will be nothing but laden with [marijuana]smoke,” Pueblo Police Chief Luis Velez told Denver’s KUSA. His biggest worry: that they’ll be too high to drive afterward. Seriously.

Legalizing limited amounts of cannabis for adults over 21 should be saving taxpayers money as police can now focus on actual crimes instead of hassling legal pot users and dispensers. But Colorado’s police chief’s don’t see it that way. Instead, they are insisting on more money to pay for pot cops, which they say are sucking money and officers away from other duties.
Apparently they didn’t get the message: the bill was intended as a way for cops to spend their existing resources on more important things, like actual crimes.

Pristoop.

We all know cops aren’t the brightest bulbs on the shelf (after all, if they were smarter they wouldn’t be cops). But in case you needed a reminder of the mental heavyweights we are dealing with, Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop had to publicly apologize yesterday for passing on a satirical, hoax news story claiming 37 marijuana deaths the day Colorado legalized pot sales.
Even better: Pristoop admits that he believed the information was completely accurate, and even though none of it is true he still is sticking by his wrongheaded position.

Portland, Maine has legalized the possession of up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for adults over 21, with more than 70 percent of voters in the city giving their approval to the measure.
While certainly a step in the right direction, the bill was mostly symbolic. Marijuana cultivation remains illegal, and 2.5 ounces of cannabis was already among the lowest civil penalties in the city. The legalization does eliminate up to $600 in fines for those caught with 2.5 ounces or less, however.

Mary McNeil/Flickr.
Vancouver Police Department Chief Jim Chu.

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu says that police need more options in dealing with marijuana possession charges and decriminalizing the possession of 30 grams or less at the federal level could save millions in court and police costs.
Chu delivered his message to his peers earlier this week at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting. The association also passed a resolution urging the government to provide alternative ways of dealing with the “crime” of low-level marijuana possession.

LEAP

Nine States and Localities Vote for More Sensible Drug Laws
In a historic night for drug law reformers, on Tuesday, Colorado and Washington voters passed measures legalizing and regulating marijuana, Massachusetts became the 18th state to allow medical marijuana and six localities voted to modernize policies on marijuana.
“I cannot tell you how happy I am that after 40 years of the racist, destructive exercise in futility that is the war on drugs, my home state of Washington has now put us on a different path,” said Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief who is now a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Injustice In Seattle
White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske claims that hemp products contain THC.

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has a response(ish) to a petition sent to the White House supporting the legalization of hemp. In his “response,” Gil reveals either a stunning ignorance about hemp, or a shocking propensity to tell a whopper.
By Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
America’s farmers deserve our Nation’s help and support to ensure rural America’s prosperity and vitality. Federal law prohibits human consumption, distribution, and possession of Schedule I controlled substances. Hemp and marijuana are part of the same species of cannabis plant. While most of the THC in cannabis plants is concentrated in the marijuana, all parts of the plant, including hemp, can contain THC, a Schedule I controlled substance. The Administration will continue looking for innovative ways to support farmers across the country while balancing the need to protect public health and safety.
The amounts of THC found in industrial hemp — even in the flowers — are so minute as to be meaningless, since the trichomes contain a preponderance of CBD instead. But the amounts of THC found in hemp fiber are so low as to be undetectable — that’s why hemp fiber products are legal in the United States.

KPLU
Norm Stamper, LEAP: “Everyone knows that marijuana prohibition has failed”

​Law Enforcers Say Ending Prohibition Will Improve Public Safety
A group of police officers, prosecutors, judges and other criminal justice professionals – including Seattle’s former chief of police – is endorsing I-502, the Washington initiative to regulate and tax marijuana that voters will decide on this November.
 
Norm Stamper, the former Seattle chief and a spokesman for the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), said, “Everyone knows that marijuana prohibition has failed. When even those who once worked to enforce these laws are saying this, the only logical next step is to enact a system that legalizes, regulates and controls marijuana.
“Doing so will not only take money away from the gangs and cartels that sell marijuana now, but will generate new, much-needed revenue that can be used to pay the salaries of police officers and teachers and for substance abuse prevention and education,” Stamper said.
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