Toke of the Town

Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

This Is What A Drug War Looks Like When It’s Dying

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By on Legislation, News



Drug Enforcement Administration Director Michele Leonhart’s recent testimony during an oversight hearing before Congress is very notable for a couple of reasons.
The first and most obvious is Leonhart’s deep cluelessness — whether real or (very convincingly) feigned — about the effects of marijuana, the effects of federal drug policy and, particularly, the impact of federal marijuana policy on people’s lives.
Leonhard flat-out refused to admit that marijuana is any different than heroin, meth, or cocaine, and simply avoided directly addressing the hard questions put to her by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)
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Two Men Sentenced To Death For 3/4 Ounce Marijuana

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By on Global, News

MFS – The Other News

A 19-year-old Syrian and a 21-year-old British man were sentenced to death in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for allegedly selling marijuana to an undercover policeman.

The Briton’s mother collapsed outside Criminal Court in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., after the verdict was announced as the Syrian’s mother tried to comfort her, telling her they could appeal the decision, reports Haneen Dajani at The National.

The two young men were caught after an officer posing as a customer bought 20 grams (about three-quarters of an ounce) of cannabis for Dh1,500 (just over $400 American). The officer had earlier bought Dh500 ($136) worth to test it and confirm it was actually marijuana.
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Group Wants Marijuana Lowest Enforcement Priority

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By on Legislation, News

Jon Miller
Sensible Washington organizer and attorney Douglas Hiatt, right, fires up activists before a marijuana march in downtown Bremerton, Washington, earlier this month

Sensible Washington Announces Paid Signature Gatherers in Bremerton, Washington 
Sensible Washington on Monday announced that several “gracious and anonymous donors” have agreed to pay signature gatherers $1 per valid signature, “to assure we get our Bremerton initiative on this November’s ballot.”
This initiative would make cannabis the lowest enforcement priority within the city, as well as ban the city from cooperating with the federal government in the implementation of federal cannabis policies (federal non-cooperation).
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Texas Democratic Party Supports Marijuana Decriminalization

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By on Legislation, News

Satire With Samuel

The Texas Democratic Party has officially endorsed the decriminalization of marijuana, saying that current laws are negatively affecting too many young people who get busted with small amounts of weed.

“You shouldn’t put a criminal stigma on these young folks for the rest of their lives, and affect their ability to get jobs and their ability to have a meaningful career for using marijuana when they were young,” said State Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, reports Daisy Martinez of Action 4 News.
Hinojosa said he and the Texas Democratic Party believe the criminalization of marijuana may also be contributing to the selling power of drug cartels and dealers.
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Nebraska Judge Rejects Beal’s Medical Marijuana Argument

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By on Medical, News

Freedom of Medicine and Diet
Dana Beal: “I’m not a run-of-the-mill drug runner. I’m a medical advocate. I had to do it.”

A Nebraska judge this week rejected an effort by one of the original Yippies from the 1960s to get marijuana delivery charges against him dropped because he says he was hauling marijuana across the country to help AIDS and cancer patients on the East Coast.

Dana Beal, 65, is looking at up to five years in the clinker after his arrest near Ashland, Neb., in 2009 in a van carrying 150 pounds of marijuana, reports Paul Hammel at the Omaha World-Herald.
Beal, a resident of New York City, said he was hauling the load of weed to a club of buyers from New York and Washington, D.C., who use cannabis for medicinal purposes. Medical marijuana is still illegal in New York, but has been legalized in D.C.; however, all cannabis sold to patients in D.C. is required to be grown within the District by licensed cultivators.
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UK Cannabis Group Made Unauthorized Withdrawals From Members’ Bank Accounts

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By on Global, News

Peter Reynolds Watch
Peter Reynolds of Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR)

By Kevin John Braid
Special to Toke of the Town
You may remember a couple of months ago I wrote about the despotic behaviour of Peter Reynolds, the leader of the British political party, Cannabis Law Reform, or CLEAR for short.
Things were not looking good for the UK cannabis movement. Attempts by former members of the CLEAR Exec, Chris Bovey and Greg de Hoedt, to topple Reynolds had failed, as Reynolds unconstitutionally sacked them.
Reynolds even filed bogus reports to the British police against those who challenged him, falsely accusing them of hacking the CLEAR web site and boasting on Facebook they were likely to receive a couple of years in prison. Dorset police have since confirmed no action is being taken against the people Reynolds reported with regards to his allegations.
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President of Uruguay Calls for Legal Regulation of Marijuana

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By on Global, Legislation, News

MercoPress
President Jose Mujica of Uruguay says his country will be the first in the world to legally supply marijuana

Uruguay Would Be First Country in World to Legally Supply Marijuana; Revenues Would Fund ‘Treatment’ and ‘Rehabilitation’
 
Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance: Bold Move by Uruguay Part of Growing Trend in Latin America; Moving from Whether to Legalize Marijuana to How
 
The government of Uruguay on Thursday announced that it will submit a proposal to legalize marijuana under government-controlled regulation and sale, making it the first country in the world where the state would sell marijuana directly to its citizens.
According to local media, the law would make marijuana legally available in government-authorized locations under certain criteria: there would be a national registry of consumers; sales would only be legal for adults over 18 years; there would be a maximum amount available per month per consumer (according to Toke of the Town‘s source in Uruguay, 40 joints per month); and strict quality controls would be ensured.
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N.H.: Gov. Lynch Vetoes Medical Marijuana Bill

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Patrick Whittemore/Boston Herald
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, for the second time since 2009, has vetoed a bill which would have provided safe access to medical marijuana for seriously ill patients in his state

Patients’ Hopes Now Rest With House and Senate
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch on Thursday followed through on his threat to veto SB 409, New Hampshire’s medical marijuana bill.  The bill will now return to the House and Senate for a final vote that will decide the bill’s fate.
 
Veto override votes are planned for June 27 in both the House and Senate.
 
The veto came as no surprise. Lynch vetoed similar legislation in 2009, after which the House voted by more than two-thirds to override the veto, but support in the Senate fell two votes short of the necessary two-thirds.
 
Senator Jim Forsythe (R-Strafford), prime sponsor of SB 409, vowed he would continue urging his colleagues to vote in favor so seriously ill patients can finally be protected from arrest if their doctors recommend medical marijuana.
 
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MT Repubs Join Dems In Calling For New Medical Marijuana Law

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

KTVQ
Montana Republicans ignored the will of 62 percent of the state’s voters last year when they passed the restrictive SB 423. Now, with the election approaching, they seem to have suddenly discovered their hearts.

It seems nobody is happy with the medical marijuana law passed by the GOP-controlled Montana Legislature in May 2011. Now even the Montana Republican Party has joined the call for a new bill in 2013.

State Republicans ignored the will of 62 percent of Montana’s voters last year when they passed the restrictive SB 423. Now, with the election approaching, they seem to have suddenly discovered their hearts.
In a landmark change to the party platform this past weekend, Republicans joined Democrats in supporting medical marijuana and called for “the next legislature to create a workable and realistic regulatory structure.”
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