Toke of the Town

Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Group Unveils 2013 Initiative To End Cannabis Prohibition In WA

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By on Legislation, News

Sensible Washington

The nonprofit political organization Sensible Washington on Tuesday will announce they will be running a statewide initiative to repeal adult cannabis prohibition in Washington State, to be filed in January, 2013, as an Initiative to the People.
Similar to last year’s I-1149 and 2010’s I-1068, this initiative would repeal the civil and criminal penalties related to adult cannabis use and possession. It would remove cannabis from the state’s list of controlled substances, without altering legal penalties for minors and for those driving while under the influence.
Sensible Washington is taking input from the community on any potential alterations to the initiative language. Preparation for this initiative, including volunteer recruitment, will begin immediately.
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Drug Legalization Debate Escalating In Latin America

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By on Global, Legislation, News

NTN

Front Page New York Times Article Describes Uruguay Government’s Proposal to Legalize and Sell Marijuana – Joining Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala, Belize and Others in Proposing Drug War Alternatives 
Ethan Nadelmann, DPA Executive Director: The Genie Has Escaped the Drug Prohibition Bottle
One by one, the dominoes are starting to sway.
Monday morning, the front page of The New York Times featured an article titled “South America Sees Drug Path to Legalization,” which discusses the growing debate on alternatives to the Drug War. Throughout Latin America, both former and current heads of state are demanding that the full range of policy options be expanded to include alternatives that help to reduce the prohibition-related crime violence and corruption in their own countries – and insisting that decriminalization and legal regulation of currently illicit drug markets be considered.
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Medical Marijuana Patients Get Their Day In Federal Court

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Eastern District of California Blog

D.C. Circuit to Hear Oral Arguments this October in Lawsuit Challenging Marijuana’s Federal Classification
Late last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit agreed to hear oral arguments in Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration, a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value. Ten years after the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) filed its petition, the courts will finally review the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic value of marijuana. The D.C. Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments on October 16 at 9:30am.
“Medical marijuana patients are finally getting their day in court,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group. “This is a rare opportunity for patients to confront politically motivated decision-making with scientific evidence of marijuana’s medical efficacy. What’s at stake in this case is nothing less than our country’s scientific integrity and the imminent needs of millions of patients.”
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Angry Herds: Pot Smoker vs. Pot Smoker

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By on Culture, Growing

Worldwide Hippies

Commentary By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
About a month ago, in California, Assembly member Tom Ammiano removed a pro-cannabis bill he authored (AB2312) from proceeding in the State Senate after determining that he wouldn’t be able to gather enough support from his colleagues.
The pulling of Ammiano’s bill, and the Feds’ continued attacks on legitimate marijuana businesses, kick-started a very heated online debate among pot activists and other political cannabis factions. The issue: “Is marijuana strictly only medicinal?” and, I’m paraphrasing, “By calling it a recreational drug, does it undermine the purpose and objectives that the medical marijuana movement has been trying to achieve for these 20 years?”
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Made In Humboldt: When Marijuana Legalization Hits, Be Ready

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By on Culture, Growing

Made In Humboldt California

Humboldt Stories
It’s not Weeds, it’s real.
By Sharon Letts
Nick arrived at the Small Business Development Center in downtown Eureka one minute before the Business Plan workshop started.
“No small talk with others,” he thought to himself as he summed up the room that was filling up fast. Young and old sat side by side. All were there to start some kind of business of their own, and he was right there with them – it’s just that his business was, well, a little green.
He was tired of house sitting for other people and their grows, but he didn’t want to be just a grower either.
If and when legalization hit he wanted to be ready to do something else, something more.
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Safe Access To Cannabis Will Be On Solana Beach Ballot

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Active Rain

Citizens for Patient Rights announced on Friday that an initiative to allow and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries will appear on the November ballot in the City of Solana Beach, California. On Wednesday, July 25, the Solana Beach City Council voted unanimously to put the initiative proposal to a vote of the people. 
“This is a great development for the patients and caregivers of Solana Beach, and for the over 1,800 Solana Beach residents who voiced their desire to have a vote for safe access on the November ballot by signing the initiative petition,” said James Schmachtenberger, of the Patient Care Association, which has supported the signature gathering effort.
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Call To Action: Stop The Feds From Silencing Robert Platshorn

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By on News

The Silver Tour
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

Here’s What You Can Do To Fight Back Against The Feds Who Would Trample On Robert Platshorn’s Rights For Spreading The Truth About Marijuana
It’s time to push back and expose the bureaucrats that are now moving behind the scenes to silence cannabis activists like The Silver Tour‘s Robert Platshorn all over the country. They are acting as a secret army, in anticipation of the upcoming spate of pro cannabis ballot initiatives. There are serious First Amendment rights at stake, not to mention their intent to kill the tremendous public momentum for ending cannabis prohibition. 
“We must shine a light on these bureaucrats and expose their actions,” Platshorn told Toke of the Town Friday morning from his home in Florida. “There is nothing that frightens them more than jerking them out of the shadows that hides them from public scrutiny while they do their dirty work.”
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California Marijuana Eradication Program Cut Back

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By on Growing, News

News Junkie Post
“Here, I’ll hold the plants and you hump my leg. How much is it we’re making again? Couple hundred bucks an hour?”

CAMP Cancelled After Three Decades; Replacement Program Is Smaller

The good news is that the moronic Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP), which over a period of almost three decades burned through millions of dollars of taxpayer money while terrorizing citizens across California with military-style raids, was cancelled this year due to state budget cuts. The bad news is that it’s been replaced with another, renamed program — but at least this one is scaled down, reports Dave Rice at the San Diego Reader.
The new Cannabis Eradication and Reclamation Team (CERT) will operate with only three helicopter teams instead of CAMP’s five teams. The crews, now dividing the state into three regions instead of five, are in charge of spotting illicit grow operations and then transporting gung-ho Rambo-esque teams of heavily tricked-out drug agents to remote locations, then destroying the plants offsite.
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Parole Board To Platshorn: ‘You Cannot Travel To Promote The Legalization Of Marijuana’

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By on Medical, News

rakontur
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

You’d think that Robert Platshorn, the former 1970s marijuana smuggler who became, after almost 30 years in the federal pen, the longest-serving cannabis prisoner in United States history, had already paid his debt to society.

Platshorn, author of Black Tuna Diaries and whose story is told in the documentary Square Grouper, now promotes the legalization of medical marijuana, aiming his message at senior citizens with The Silver Tour.

And there’s the rub. Platshorn’s new parole officer, Scott Kirsche, on Wednesday afternoon phoned the Black Tuna and gave him notice that the recently granted permission to travel to Chicago to address the American Bar Association has been rescinded on orders of his superiors, Reginald Michael and Frank Smith.
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Marijuana Extract Fights Muscle Stiffness In MS Patients

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By on Medical, News

SciTech Daily

Marijuana extracts, taken orally, significant reduce muscle stiffness, pain and spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to new clinical trial data published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.


Scientists at the University of Plymouth in the U.K. looked at the medicinal use of cannabinoids compared to a placebo in 279 patients with MS over a 12-week period, reports NORML. Cannabis extracts used in the study contained standardized amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and non-psychoactive cannabidiol (CBD), two of the major medicinal cannabinoids in the plant.
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