Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Marijuana Advocates Mount Challenge To Schedule I Designation

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 15, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Will Hear Oral Arguments Tuesday

DPA Statement: Feds’ Claim of “No Medical Use” Ignores Science

For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, October 16, in a case challenging the Drug Enforcement Administration’s decision to designate marijuana as a Schedule I substance. Schedule I is the most restrictive category for controlled substances, including those drugs defined as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use, and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision.

Can Marijuana Legalization Save The Lives Of Police Officers?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 12, 2012 Culture, Medical

The Stoner Blog

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, RN

Toke of the Town Columnist

“Nationally, twice as many cops – about 300 annually – commit suicide as are killed in the line of duty, according to a study by the National Association of Police Chiefs”

Alcoholism and suicide kill more police officers than on the job violence!

Could substituting marijuana for alcohol use greatly decrease rates of burnout, alcoholism, suicide, depression and divorce, domestic violence and PTSD among the nation’s police officers? Police have on average life expectancies 10 years less than the average person; they also kill themselves at higher rates than the average American.

Marijuana is an exit drug for alcohol abuse and is also “an anti-suicide medicine.”

So why not allow police officers to use the safest recreational drug known to science?

DEA Sends 3 More Letters To Seattle Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 12, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Opposing Views

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration sent three more letters to Seattle-area medical marijuana dispensaries last week, agency spokesperson Jodie Underwood has confirmed. The letters “strongly advised” the dispensaries to pay “prompt attention” that they are in violation of federal law, and directed them to close down with 30 days.

That brings the total to 29 Washington dispensaries which have received threatening letters so far from the feds, reports Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly. This includes 23 facilities which got letters sent on August 18, three more sent out on August 30, and three last week, according to Dr. Decrim of WA CANN, the Washington Cannabis Alert and News Network.

Women For Measure 80 Successfully Protest Shameful Billboards

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 12, 2012 Culture, Legislation, News

Willamette Week

Clear Channel agrees to remove misleading ads, cites transparency issues

Following a grassroots, online protest by volunteers with Women for Measure 80, advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor has agreed to take down a series of shameful, misleading and fear-mongering anti-marijuana billboards around Portland.

At a press conference this morning, Women for Measure 80 coordinator Amanda Rain joined Oregonians for Law Reform and other sensible marijuana-policy advocates to condemn the advertisements, denounce the backers’ scare tactics and call for smart marijuana policies that would effectively protect Oregon’s communities and young people.

L.A. Dispensary Owners Feeling Heat of Federal Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 12, 2012 Dispensaries, News

The Med Men

The battle over the legality of operating a medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles continues to escalate this week, leaving shop owners, patients and law enforcement officials without a clear picture of how to operate on the right side of the law.

In recent weeks, federal officials have perpetuated the confusion surrounding the medical marijuana industry in Los Angeles, issuing warning letters demanding that select dispensaries shutdown. This comes on the heels of the withdrawal of a citywide ban on dispensaries, which was passed and didn’t even get a chance to go into effect before being rescinded.

“The bottom line is that the state of California provides for the existence of collectives and dispensaries,” said Adam Bierman of MedMen, an L.A.-based consulting group that specializes in industry-specific branding, marketing and legal and financial consulting. “And as all the politics play themselves out in the media, well-intentioned operators are inevitably distracted.”

Facebook Protest Results In Removal Of Anti-Marijuana Billboard

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 11, 2012 Culture, News

Dain Helmers

What the hell strain has SHE been smoking?

An Oregon anti-legalization billboard depicting a haggard, stereotypical “drug addict” which reads “What is good about marijuana? Nothing,” may be coming down after protesters organized on Facebook and vented their unhappiness to both the anti-drug group responsible for the message and the billboard company renting them the space for their reefer madness propaganda.

The billboard in question, at the corner of 122nd and Division in Portland, which is in opposition to Measure 80, the voter initiative which will be on November’s general election ballot and would legalize cannabis in Oregon, features what has been discovered to be a manipulated stock photo of a “meth addict,” reports Deborah Morgan at examiner.com.

Several of these billboards have been spotted in the Portland area, according to Bettie Retro, who works at a medical marijuana patients’ lounge downtown. Retro said a coworker saw the billboard at 122nd and Division on his way to work, and shared the story with his colleagues. Portland is home to almost 10,000 registered, legal medical marijuana patients.

Voters Should Hold Out For Real Marijuana Reform

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 11, 2012 Legislation, News

The Seattle Times

Washington’s I-502 ‘Legalization’: Don’t Fall For This Narrow Proposal

By Douglas Hiatt

Sensible Washington

Washington voters are being told a big lie. New Approach Washington, the campaign behind Initiative 502, is advertising that it will “legalize” marijuana. It would not.

It creates a very narrow exception that defines the possession of one ounce by adults over 21, and the state’s rules for production, as “not a violation” of the law.

Montel Schedules Arkansas Medical Marijuana Press Conference

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 11, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Arkansans for Compassionate Care

Montel Williams is scheduled to appear at an October 18 press conference backing medical marijuana in Arkansas

Daytime Emmy Award-winner Montel Williams, a legend among TV talk show hosts, will speak in Little Rock on behalf of the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act on Thursday, October 18.

Williams will back the efforts of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, a coalition of concerned physicians, patients and allies who agree that sick and dying patients should have access to medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

ACC is sponsoring the ballot initiative that would allow seriously ill Arkansans to use marijuana to treat certain conditions with the recommendation of their doctors. The initiative will appear on the November state general election ballot as Issue 5.

Report: 240,000 Marijuana Possession Arrests In Washington In Last 25 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 11, 2012 Legislation, News

Andy Bronson/The Bellingham Herald

Renee Devan, right, takes down a phone number for Martin O. Nickerson of Northern Cross medical marijuana collective, as he sits in the back of a Bellingham Police Department vehicle, under arrest, in the alley behind the store, March 15, 2012

Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans Disproportionately Arrested; 25 Years of Arrests in WA Cost $300 Million or More

With just three weeks remaining before Washington voters decide whether to make possession of up to an ounce of marijuana legal in their state, a new report — “240,000 Marijuana Arrests: Costs, Consequences, and Racial Disparities of Possession Arrests in Washington” — reveals that nearly a quarter of a million people have been arrested in Washington for marijuana possession since 1986. Police made more than half of those marijuana arrests in just the last 10 years.

Oakland Fights Back Against Federal Medical Marijuana Asset Forfeiture

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 11, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

House of 420

Oakland Lawsuit in U.S. District Court to Stop Seizure of Property of Oakland Dispensary

Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and San Francisco law firm Morrison & Foerster have announced that the City of Oakland filed a complaint Wednesday in United States District Court to stop the federal government from seizing an Oakland building used by a medical marijuana dispensary.

“This is a great day for medical marijuana patients and for the residents of Oakland,” said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana patients’ advocacy organization. “City Attorney Parker is ray of sunshine for all patients who have been watching the federal government jeopardize their access to medical marijuana.”

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