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Fifteen Colorado Counties Will Vote on Marijuana Measures in November

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By on Legalize It, News

Cities and counties across Colorado have ballot measures related to marijuana regulation. Many of them involve adding additional sales taxes or excise taxes, which are paid when unprocessed marijuana is sold or transferred from a cultivation facility or site to a retail store, manufacturing facility or another facility. But there are also measures that would allow — or ban — the sale of marijuana altogether.

The towns of Palisade, Dinosaur and Englewood are considering allowing retail stores within town limits, while Pueblo voters will decide whether to ban all retail marijuana sales and production in Pueblo County. The only marijuana-related measure on Denver’s ballot concerns public marijuana use in designated areas. Here are the details, county by county: 

Cops Make Zero Arrests at Miami Legalization Festival

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By on Legalize It

Police lights flashed outside Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti, Miami this past weekend during the Vote Yes Marijuana Fest, but no one seemed to mind. The officers had been hired to work the event. There were no plans to rough up any of the participants of the festivities, which included a 2:30 a.m. blunt-rolling contest.

“The police understand,” organizer Oski Gonzalez said. “They don’t want to keep hassling people because of some marijuana. They want to be out looking for some real criminals.”

Don’t Legalize Marijuana — Decriminalize It, Colorado Springs Mayor Tells Arizona

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By on Legalize It

Ray Stern | Toke of the Town

Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is an outspoken opponent of marijuana legalization — but even he doesn’t support Arizona’s felony-possession law.

Suthers — also a former Colorado Attorney General — came to Arizona this week to denounce Prop 205 on behalf of the opposition group Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy. The proposition, which will appear on November’s ballot, would legalize personal amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and older, and set up a system of cannabis retail shops.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Battles AZ Pot Legalization With Behind-the-Scenes Fundraising

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By on Legalize It

Governor Doug Ducey’s work to defeat marijuana legalization in Arizona has included a lot of behind-the-scenes fundraising, including a pricey propaganda talk this week at a posh hotel.

Ducey’s the headlining special guest for the “roundtable discussion” and reception that begins at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Sanctuary on Camelback, 5700 East McDonald Drive, in Paradise Valley. He’ll be joined by two heavyweight Colorado prohibitionists: John Suthers, mayor of Colorado Springs and former Colorado attorney general; and Sergeant Jim Gerhardt, member of the openly prohibitionist Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force.

More Than 41,000 Demand Publix Heiress Stop Fighting Medical Marijuana in Florida

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By on Legalize It, Medical

When Miami New Times sat down with Florida medical-marijuana advocate and political consultant Ben Pollara earlier this month, Pollara said he wasn’t concerned that Carol Jenkins Barnett, daughter of Publix supermarket-chain founder George Jenkins, had donated $800,000 to a group trying to keep medicinal weed illegal.

“I still think ‘shopping is a pleasure,'” Pollara said, referencing the supermarket chain’s famous slogan.

But it turns out tens of thousands of people don’t quite agree with one of the loudest medical-marijuana advocates in the state. As of Monday morning, more than 41,000 people have signed a Change.org petition demanding that Jenkins Barnett stop using the chain’s profits to “fund [her]political beliefs.”

Marijuana Legalization Would Eliminate Several Felony Arrests a Day in City of Phoenix

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By on Legalize It

 

If voters approve it in November, the pending ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona stands to eliminate several felony arrests each day in the city of Phoenix alone.

On average, the Phoenix police have arrested more than seven people a day since January 2015 for suspicion of marijuana possession, according to figures New Times obtained through a public-records request.

The Five Silliest Ads Florida’s Anti-Pot Lobby is Running

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By on Legalize It

Two years ago, a cloud threatened to cast a shadow over the Sunshine State — a cloud of medical marijuana, which would have become legal if Floridians had voted to ratify Amendment 2. Although the measure narrowly failed to clear the 60 percent threshold needed to become law in 2014, Amendment 2 is back on the ballot this year, and the ad campaign against it is back on the air.

Last time, the “No on 2” campaign, bankrolled by Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson, suggested that if medical marijuana were legalized, pot cookies would become “the new face of date rape.” This summer, the no campaign is out with a new round of over-the-top TV spots. New Times Broward Palm Beach ranked the five funniest ones so far in this election cycle.

Publix Heiress Donates $800,000 to Fight Medical Marijuana Legalization in Florida

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By on Legalize It

Florida loves Publix, the supermarket chain routinely ranked the most valuable and beloved company in the whole state thanks in no small part to the fantastically salty sub sandwiches. So it’s sure to jar a few hard-core Publix fans to learn that the family that founded the chain just donated $800,000 to a conservative-led campaign fighting medical marijuana legalization.

State election records show that the Carol Jenkins Barnett Family Trust donated $800,000 July 14 to Drug Free Florida, the lobbying group running a scare-tactics campaign to kill Florida’s medical marijuana amendments. The same group helped squash 2014’s medical marijuana amendment, which fell just two percentage points short of the 60 percent vote it needed to pass statewide.

Ten Myths the Florida Anti-Pot Lobby Is Using to Scare People About Medical Marijuana

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By on Legalize It, Legislation

Florida’s anti-pot lobby is back. And just like in 2014, it’s spreading straight-up lies about medical marijuana to try to frighten voters. Two years ago, Amendment 2 netted 58 percent of the vote — just short of the 60 percent it needed to pass.

That result likely had something to do with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s scare campaign to shut the amendment down: Adelson spent more than $5 million to help fund the Drug Free Florida Committee, an anti-pot political action committee and PR campaign.

Now, with another medical marijuana amendment on the ballot this November, the Drug Free Florida Committee is back, but minus Adelson’s largesse so far. This time, Mel Sembler, a former U.S. ambassador and major Mitt Romney donor, is the money man behind the push.

Last week, Drug Free Florida sent New Times one of its first mass mailers — and it is extremely silly. The list, titled “The Top 10 Reasons to Vote NO on Amendment 2,” is chockfull of factual inaccuracies and half-truths straight out of the film Reefer Madness.

We debunked them so you don’t have to do it yourself.

Marijuana Activists Push Pot at DNC, March With 51-Foot Joints

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By on Legalize It, News

Convention-goers and Philadelphia residents witnessed two 51-foot inflatable joints being marched up Broad Street yesterday in celebration of the Democratic National Committee’s progressive platform on marijuana.

The Philadelphia branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and DCMJ, the outfit that helped legalize marijuana in Washington., D.C., organized a group of about two dozen members to carry the blow-up joints about 3.5 miles from Philadelphia City Hall to the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention is being held.

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