Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Marijuana Bills Have Public Support: Showdown In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Growing, Legislation, News

The California Legislature will soon be voting on two marijuana reform bills that seem to be more popular with the public than with the politicians in Sacramento: SB 129 by Sen. Mark Leno, which would prohibit employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 by Rep. Tom Ammiano, which would allow for reduced, misdemeanor charges in marijuana cultivation cases.

Both bills have strong public support according to a newly released poll of state voters by EMC Research [PDF]. However, both have had trouble getting through the Legislature, where they must be approved by January 31 in order to stay alive.

NJ Supreme Court OKs 5-Year Sentence For Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Medical, News

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger

Multiple sclerosis patient John Ray Wilson is led out of Superior Court after being sentenced to five years in prison for growing 17 marijuana plants behind his house to treat his symptoms

New Jersey multiple sclerosis patient John Ray Wilson is getting ready to go back to prison. Wilson will resume his sentence after the state Supreme Court on January 20 refused to hear his appeal, according to his lawyer, William Buckman.

The Appellate Court decision that the Supreme Court let stand is “wrongheaded and a vicious travesty,” Buckman said, reports the Coalition for Medical Marijuana – New Jersey (CMMNJ).

Wilson was arrested in August 2008 and charged with “manufacturing” 17 marijuana plants that he said he used to treat his MS. He faced up to 20 years in state prison.

79-Year-Old Iowa State Senator Drafts Medical Marijuana Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Senator Gene Fraise

Iowa state Senator Gene Fraise says introducing a medical marijuana bill will force a conversation and help lawmakers come to a consensus on the topic

A new call for Iowa lawmakers to consider legalizing marijuana for medical uses is coming from an unlikely source. State Senator Gene Fraise, a 79-year-old Democrat from Fort Madison, has drafted a bill on the issue.

Fraise, who has been in the state Senate for 26 years, is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a member of several corrections-related committees, reports the Associated Press.

Senator Fraise is a busy man; he’s also vice chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and serves on a justice budgeting committee.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy recommended in 2010 that state lawmakers reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug to allow its medicinal use, but the Legislature apparently hasn’t been able to summon up the cojones to act on the recommendation.

Fraise said he’s personally undecided on the issue. But he said introducing a medical marijuana bill will force a conversation and help lawmakers come to a consensus on the topic.

S.F. Starts Back Issuing Medical Marijuana Dispensary Permits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

THC Finder

San Francisco has started back issuing medical marijuana dispensary permits again, after a recent California Supreme Court decision allowing the shops to stay open — for now.

The city’s permitting process had been on hold for a few months after the state appeals court ruling in Pack v. Long Beach, reports Chris Roberts at the SF Weekly. That ruling — which held that cities and counties can’t regulate marijuana, since it’s against federal law — led local governments throughout the state to suspend, repeal, or reconsider their dispensary regulations.

Since the state Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal, the lower court’s ruling has become invalidated, according to a spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office. So the S.F. Department of Health’s medical marijuana dispensary permitting process can start back as normal, and several proposed shops which had been put on hold can finally receive the go-ahead to open their doors.

Medical Marijuana Bill Goes Before Virginia House Committee

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Legislation, Medical

CBS 6

Delegate David Englin hopes to revitalize a 30-year-old Virginia law which allows marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes

A medical marijuana bill is scheduled to go before a Virginia House committee on Tuesday.

Northern Virginia Delegate David Englin hopes to revitalize a 30-year-old Virginia law which allows marijuana to be legally used for medicinal purposes, reports Jerrita Patterson at CBS 6.

The bill, if passed, would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for the treatment of medical conditions such as cancer and glaucoma. (Aye, that’s the hang. Doctor’s can’t “prescribe” a drug considered Schedule I by the feds; see below.)

Warrants Needed For GPS Tracking, Supreme Court Rules

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Legislation, News

Commentopia

Big Victory: Obama Administration Dealt Stinging, Unanimous Rebuke By High Court

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that law enforcement authorities need a probable-cause warrant from a judge to affix a GPS device to a vehicle and monitor its movements.

The decision [PDF] in what is likely the biggest Fourth Amendment case in the computer age rejected the Obama Administration’s position that American citizens have no right to privacy in their public movements, reports David Kravets at Wired.

Judge Rules Federal Law Trumps Montana’s Med Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Missoulian

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled on Friday that Montana’s medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under federal law even if they are strictly following state law

A federal judge has ruled that Montana’s medical marijuana program doesn’t shield providers of cannabis from federal prosecution.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on Friday is another blow to Montana’s medical marijuana industry, reports the Associated Press. Montana’s medicinal cannabis community was already on the ropes; in the past year, it has seen tough, new state restrictions, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, as well as federal raids by Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Judge Molloy ruled that medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under the federal Controlled Substances Act even if they are strictly following state law. He cited the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which says that federal law prevails if there is any conflict between state and federal statutes.

Cops Reject US Attorney’s Colorado Medical Marijuana Threats

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Denver Westword

Tony Ryan, left, and Richard Frieling of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Ryan is a retired lieutenant from the Denver Police force; Frieling is a former municipal court judge and practicing criminal defense attorney

Colorado-based and national representatives of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) on Monday sent a stern letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh, pushing back against his recent threats to medical marijuana centers that operate legally under state and local law.

The letter, signed by 26-year veteran Denver cop Tony Ryan and former Lafayette Judge Richard Frieling, along with LEAP Executive Director Neill Franklin, says Walsh’s actions are “a disservice to the state of Colorado” and “undermine state and local regulations in a manner that will likely increase the underground distribution of marijuana.”

The Elegant Solution: End Cannabis Enforcement In Colorado

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 22, 2012 Legislation

Michelle LaMay

Michelle LaMay founded Cannabis University™ and is author of The Colorado Relief for the Possession of Cannabis Act of 2012

Guest Editorial

By Michelle LaMay

Author, The Colorado Relief for the Possession of Cannabis Act of 2012

One of the most viable seeds of the passionate intolerance for pot — amongst my peers, and now their sons and daughters — sprouted when the men came home from Vietnam. My other peers, “hippies,” spat on them! Hate and extreme prejudice quickly took root and thrived on a haze of titillating propaganda sucked up by the exploitative media.

“Hippies use cannabis”… and if it is discovered that cannabis becomes a drug of choice, that cannabis user is condemned by two generations of biased zealots at home and, most damagingly, by prohibition laws.

I Am Not A Criminal… Unless Big Pharma Sez So

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 21, 2012 Culture

The Government Rag

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

The Federal raids have begun again in California. Starting in sunny San Diego, with the intent of plowing north, not stopping ’til Eureka.

They’re not cherry-picking anymore. The first assault arrived last year when the Feds went for the low hanging fruit, closing dispensaries that were situated within a thousand feet of a school. It didn’t matter if the school was operational or not. One of the schools was a ballet studio that was exactly 999 feet away. No leeway. No discussion. You’re closed.

The restrictions are the same for dispensaries near parks, playgrounds, and other locals where the kinder may be occupying. Because it’s always about the kids… Except when it comes to liquor stores and strip clubs, they’re copacetic.

Then there’s Market Street Coop in San Francisco, which was closed because of a nearby school that moved in after the dispensary opened. That didn’t matter, nor did it matter that there were 13 drinking establishments within the same radius. Obviously these saloons and booze emporiums are zoned for preschools, middle schools, bartender schools, just as long as it isn’t a place people that distributes non-federally taxed medicine to sick people.

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