Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Rosenblum For Oregon AG: The Cannabis Community’s Choice

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 27, 2012 Legislation, News

Ellen Rosenblum, candidate for Oregon AG: “As Attorney General, I will make marijuana enforcement a low priority, and protect the rights of medical marijuana patients”

By Michael Bachara

Hemp News Correspondent

As Oregon moves closer toward marijuana legalization in November with the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) and the Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative 2012 (OMPI 2012) petition drives, the race for Oregon Attorney General on May 15 between Appeals Court Judge Ellen Rosenblum and former acting U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton will be crucial to the implementation of the cannabis legalization initiatives.

Earlier this month, in a debate at the Eugene City Club, Rosenblum said she supported the state’s current medical marijuana law as one that “provides vulnerable citizens with the medicine they needed to cope with their diagnoses.”

On the other hand, Holton said the law is actually “a train wreck, putting marijuana in the hands of people, kids, who are not using it for pain management purposes. Of 50,000 card holders, 30,000 got them from 10 clinics. We’ve got a broken system.”

Just last summer, Holton issued a letter to Oregon medical marijuana collectives, co-signed by 34 district attorneys, the head of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and the head of the Oregon Chiefs of Police. The letter stated, “The sale of marijuana for any purpose — including as medicine — violates both federal and Oregon law and will not be tolerated.”

Oklahoma GOP Kills Legislation To Drug Test Politicians

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 27, 2012 Legislation, News

Surf In Oregon

With some of the wack-ass laws emanating from the Oklahoma Legislature recently — I mean, come on, life in prison for hash? — you might wonder if those Okie lawmakers are on drugs, or something.

Well, you’re just gonna have to keep wondering, because the Republican-led Oklahoma Senate has killed legislation that would have required politicians to be drug tested, along with people receiving temporary public assistance, reports Michael Allen at Opposing Views.

The Senate Committee on Health and Human Services on Monday passed a bill that would require applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to undergo a mandatory drug test, reports KSWO-TV, but they stripped out language that would have required they themselves be tested.

Cops & Judges Ask Legislator to Withdraw Marijuana DUI Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 27, 2012 Legislation, News

Regulate Marijuana Like Wine

Retired LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing: “Enacting this legislation would not only be disastrous for our state’s legal medical marijuana patients, but would impede public safety for all Californians by distracting police from catching actually dangerous drivers”

Law Enforcers Say Bill Would Criminalize Legal Medical Marijuana Patients & Distract Police

Patients Would Face Mandatory 10-Year Prison Term With Third ‘DUI’ — While Not Impaired

A group of former California police officers, prosecutors and judges on Tuesday issued a letter asking Assemblymember Norma Torres to withdraw a bill she introduced that would criminalize driving with any amount of cannabinoids in the body.

The criminal justice professionals, members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), say that the standards created by the bill have nothing to do with actual impairment behind the wheel and will criminalize the state’s legal medical marijuana patients.

“Zero tolerance has a nice ring to it, but most all applications of this overused (and clichéd) concept result in harmful unintended consequences,” the letter reads in part. “Zero tolerance relieves the decision-maker of the burden of making sound legal judgments and routinely produces more harm than good.

Is Jeremy Lin Top Shelf Weed?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Culture, Dispensaries, News

Tucson Citizen

Eighteen bucks a gram, $60 an eighth for “Lin Sanity OG” in California

By Bob Starrett

It is March Madness, still, I think. As I understand it, that is a college basketball tournament of some sort. It seems to happen every year. Now I don’t have a bracket and I don’t know anything else about it other than I try to avoid it as best I can.

I had to read three articles before I determined that the Final Four was Kentucky and Louisville, and Kansas and Ohio State, I think it is assumed that all Americans know this. I couldn’t have told you any one of the four without looking it up. So let me write one of the comments here preemptively:

“Starrett is so stoned that he doesn’t even know that the final four were decided on Sunday and he is so baked that he doesn’t even know the teams!” All I can say is no, I am not stoned and yes, I had no idea that the final four teams were decided yesterday and no, I did not know what teams had won until I looked it up today. And finally, I don’t care.

Oregon’s Second Marijuana Legalization Initiative Gathering Sigs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Legislation, News

Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement

By Ron Georg

Special to Toke of the Town

While the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA 2012) is riding a wave of publicity following Willie Nelson’s recent endorsement, a second legalization initiative is quietly garnering signatures across Oregon, and chief petitioner Bob Wolfe said his group Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement is on track to collect the 116,000 signatures they’ll need to get Initiative Petition 24 on the November ballot.

Oregon’s first attempt at legalization by citizen initiative — 1986’s Ballot Measure 5 — failed by a three-to-one margin. In part, that was a reflection of the times; Reagan-era America probably wasn’t quite ready. Many advocates also believe voters were frightened at the prospect of an unregulated, anarchistic marijuana industry.

Imperial Beach Medical Marijuana Signature Gathering Begins

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

SafeAccessIB.org

Just more than 1,000 valid signatures are needed for November’s ballot, but organizers plan to turn in 2,000 to make sure

Advocates Begin Circulating Petitions To Overturn City’s Ban On Safe Access To Medicinal Cannabis

A team of community activists on Friday converged in Imperial Beach, California, and began circulating a petition and gathering signatures to place the Safe Access Ordinance of Imperial Beach on the November general election ballot.

If passed, the measure would overturn Imperial Beach’s current ban on safe access to medical marijuana and replace it with reasonable zoning regulations and operational requirements for medical cannabis dispensing collectives and cooperatives wishing to operate in the city.

The Imperial Beach City Council began working on this issue two years ago when Marcus Boyd, vice chair of San Diego Americans for Safe Access and local business owner in Imperial Beach, brought the issue to them at a council meeting.

At that time, the city denied Boyd’s request for a business license and adopted a temporary moratorium, promising to conduct research and return a reasonable ordinance in just a few months.

Police Likely ‘More Vigilant’ On Stoned Drivers Under I-502: Stamper

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Legislation, News

autoblog

Former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper admitted in a new interview with the Seattle Weekly that law enforcement officers in Washington state will likely be more vigilant in trying to apprehend and arrest drivers under the influence of marijuana if I-502, a limited legalization initiative, is approved by state voters in November.

But Stamper, who now heads up Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), said he believes that a major breakthrough in the nationwide push for marijuana law reform like I-502 would be worth the trade-off, reports Keegan Hamilton at Seattle Weekly.

Central American Drug Summit: No Consensus Reached

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina: “It’s important this is on the discussion table as an alternative to what we’ve been doing for 40 years without getting the desired results”

Guatemala’s President Considers Requiring U.S. To Pay For Drug Raids

A group of Central American presidents meeting in Guatemala to discuss a major overhaul of drug laws, including legalization and decriminalization, failed to arrive at a consensus on Saturday and agreed to meet again soon in Honduras.

Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina invited five other presidents to examine what he called a growing frustration with U.S. drug policy, report Chris Kraul and Rex Renderos at the Los Angeles Times. A growing rumble of protest is coming from the region, saying the Drug War is costing too much in crime and corruption.

Many expected some sort of policy declaration to come from the meeting, but as the meeting closed, no reason was given for its absence.

Nevada Court Strikes Down Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun

District Court Judge Donald Mosley ruled that Nevada’s medical marijuana distribution law is unconstitutional because it doesn’t provide a reasonable way for patients to lawfully get medicinal cannabis

In a case almost certainly headed to the Nevada Supreme Court, a district judge has ruled that the state’s medical marijuana distribution law is unconstitutional. According to Las Vegas District Court Judge Donald Mosley, the law does not provide a reasonable method for patients to get medical marijuana lawfully.

A review by the state supreme court could bring more clarification to the law after split opinions by lower courts, according to Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA), reports Alicia Gallegos at American Medical News. The NSMA was not involved in the case, and has not taken a formal position on the distribution law.

Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook Rises Above The Crowd

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 23, 2012 Culture, Medical, Products

Cannabis Cheri

Cheri Sicard’s “The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook” has something for everyone’s taste. You can get it for $24.95.

It’s becoming more and more difficult, if you write a cannabis cookbook, to separate your work from an increasingly crowded field. With the burgeoning library of marijuana recipe collections becoming ever more competitive, if you want your pot cookbook to get noticed, you’d better be good.

That hasn’t been a problem for Cheri Sicard, author of The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook.

A long time before Sicard wrote a book about cooking with marijuana, she was already a cooking expert and author. You see, Sicard has led an interesting life, spending much of her childhood and early adult life traveling the country as a circus performer, magician and mentalist. Along the way, she started writing about travel and food. She was a professional food writer and recipe developer before she became a medical marijuana patient.

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