Alaska voters approved legalizing small amounts of cannabis for adults 21 an up on Tuesday, but it might be months before they can legally light up. According to Cynthia Franklin, head of Alaska’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, the bill won’t technically become law until 90 days after the election counting has been officially completed and certified, and that isn’t expected until November 28.
According to the Denver Post, the summer of 2014 will set all-time tourism records — and stats suggest the year as a whole will do so, as well. However, the Post article makes no mention of the possible part the legalization of limited marijuana sales has played when it comes to such visits.
That’s no surprise, since many state and local officials have been either mum on the topic or hostile toward it for months, if not years — a situation that’s puzzling to at least one representative of the cannabis industry.
Tim Casey, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s longtime lawyer, wants out of the hot-potato Melendres racial-profiling case now that it’s in a “compliance phase.”
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona don’t want him to leave so fast, though — not with questions and things left to discover related to corrupt deputy Ramon Charley Armendariz, who hung himself in May rather than submit to arrest.
Voters in Santa Fe and Bernalillo County yesterday approved measures that call for the decriminalization an ounce of weed or less at the state level yesterday. The move didn’t actually change any laws, though. It’s more of a proclamation from voters to elected officials.
Oh, and it doesn’t actually hold the lawmakers to any promises either. Thankfully, there’s enough momentum that New Mexicans can expect several decriminalization and legalization measures to come their way in 2015.
We told you earlier this week about marijuana decriminalization measures in Berkley, Huntington Woods, Pleasant Ridge and several other towns in Michigan and suburbs of Detroit. In total, there were 11 measures scattered around the state.
Well, voters did the right thing in six of those communities last night and passed bills lowering or eliminating marijuana penalties for small amounts of cannabis.
Florida voters failed to get enough “yes” votes for medical cannabis yesterday by about two percentage points. Voters approved the bill overwhelmingly, with 58 percent for the measure and only 42 percent against it. But a 60 percent approval rating was needed to pass Amendment 2.
Amendment 2 supporters were disheartened but promised to run the measure again in the future.
Marijuana fared a lot better than Democrats did at the polls yesterday. Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. passed recreational marijuana measures closely modeled on Colorado’s, and while a medical marijuana amendment failed in Florida, it still managed to collect 58 percent support. (Under Florida law, 60 percent was required for approval). But even as marijuana reformers across the country celebrate, could Colorado be facing a pot crackdown? That’s a very real possibility.
| Rene Petro and fellow CannaMoms in California. |
The last we’d heard from Renee Petro, the Florida pot advocate whose story was highlighted in the Dallas Observer recent feature on medical marijuana refugees, the pint-sized parent was still fighting to obtain cannabis for her son, Branden, a FIRES sufferer. Branden’s debilitating seizures were spiraling out of control, and like the other parents in our story, Renee found herself caught between conflicting state laws and ideologies on medical marijuana. Traditional treatments weren’t working for Branden, and in Florida — much like Texas — when it came to matters of medical marijuana, her hands were tied.
Well, not anymore. After about three weeks on a cannabis protocol, Branden is now quite likely to test positive for THC — legally. More from Angelic Leicht at the Dallas Observer.
Iowa lawmakers seem rather slow to respond to outside stimulus. In 2010, the state Board of Pharmacy said lawmakers should consider allowing Iowans to access legal medical marijuana. The suggestion was completely ignored at the time, but the Board says they need to consider it now.
So once again, the Board of Pharmacy is going to take up the issue and will hold a hearing November 17 to get public input.
| A graphic shared by the Denver Police Department on Halloween. More photos and two videos below. |
On Halloween, the Denver Police Department’s warnings about trick-or-treaters possibly being slipped marijuana edibles reached its peak with the graphic seen here — one that essentially suggests, against all available evidence, that pot candy could kill children. But if DPD reps hoped the #CheatTheReaper hashtag would become a thing, they must have been sorely disappointed. A Twitter search this morning showed it wasn’t used a single time that day — a total that matches the number of marijuana dosings reported in the city in the wake of the Halloween festivities.