Governor Ducey imagines Arizona students lounging around, stoned out of their minds on marijuana-laced lollipops.
A Scottsdale mom worries about pot stores on every corner.
The Arizona Public Health Association sees benefits as well as risks.
Arizona voters will find these opinions and more among the pro and con arguments for Arizona’s marijuana-legalization initiative that the state published last week. It’s an entertaining, albeit lopsided, glimpse into various views on the issue.
Democrats have adopted a platform that their members are trumpeting as the “most progressive platform in party history” — and when it comes to marijuana, Dems aren’t just blowing smoke. The Party of the Donkey has taken a position on marijuana that no major political party in the United States has taken before.
The preliminary draft of the platform, released on July 1 by theDemocratic National Convention Committee, asserts that states should be “laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana.”
It goes on to say states that wish to decriminalize marijuana should be allowed to do so.
The marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the November ballot in California is a disappointment to many in the cannabis decriminalization movement. California NORML, the granddaddy of political pot groups, has not fully endorsed it.
These critics say that Proposition 64, which will allow Californians 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, is about as conservative as it could be without defeating the very purpose of legalization, which is allowing folks to enjoy weed without fear of arrest.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) blames legal weed for the “urban travelers” who have caused violent episodes on Denver’s 16th Street Mall, the city’s main pedestrian thoroughfare. Recently, a 32-year old Indiana man was arrested after video showed him attacking pedestrians with lengths of PVC pipe. It’s not clear whether he was high at the time.
Other recent incidents, also caught on video, have seen arrests after attacks and aggressive panhandling. New research shows that legal states have seen a drop in Medicare prescriptions for anti-depressants and opiods, and a corresponding reduction in Medicare costs.
Prescriptions did not drop for drugs like blood-thinners that can’t plausibly be replaced with MED. (Read that study here.) If California legalizes REC in November, it could influence federal policy on banking and other issues. Regulators in the state said they will start inspecting dispensary scales to ensure that customers are getting their money’s worth.
Massachusetts’ REC initiative will be on the ballot in November. Gov. Charlie Baker (R), Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D) and Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo (D) have banded together to oppose it. Arkansas voters will decide on a MED initiative. Fortune sees signs of a backlash in Colorado. Murders in California’s Lake County, a center of growing, reached a 10-year high of eight last year. Donna Weinholtz, wife of Utah gubernatorial candidate Mike Weinholtz (D), is under federal investigation related to her MED use.
The rules for Alaska’s pot café’s are under review. Voters in the state’s Matanuska-Susitna Borough will decide on a commercial ban in the fall. Former Liberal Party deputy prime minister Anne McLellan will lead Canada’s nine-member legalization task force. McLellan is a former law professor at the University of Alberta. Canada’s legal purchasing age may vary across provinces, but the government wants a consistent national law on DUI. Both LSU and Southern University are exercising their option to grow Louisiana’s MED supply.
This article also appeared in the the pot-focused weekly newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego declared his support for an anticipated marijuana-legalization initiative on Monday, saying it would help minorities and the economy.
The 36-year-old Iraq War veteran and Democrat who represents Arizona’s Seventh Congressional District has supported legalization for years.
Customers of Arizona’s largest utility shouldn’t be forced to help contribute to an anti-marijuana-legalization campaign, consumer advocates say.
As Phoenix New Times reported on Monday, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, the holding company for Arizona Public Service, made a recent donation of $10,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, a group led by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk that’s fighting to keep cannabis a felony in Arizona. Click here for story.
| Azel Praer/Flickr |
| The seeds of change are sprouting in Kansas |
The way that the laws are currently written, you really do not want to get busted with weed in Wichita, Kansas…or any part of Kansas for that matter.
A first-time offense for simple pot possession in Kansas will earn you a misdemeanor charge on your record, up to a $2,500 fine, and even a year in jail. Get popped a second time and you could be looking at a felony.
But if the pro-cannabis advocacy group Kansas for Change has their way, that may be about to change for the better.
As far as late Christmas presents go, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s decision to pardon nine non-violent offenders is as big and unprecedented as they come.
But for a governor who before Monday pardoned only one person since taking office in 2009, the list of formerly-naughty Missourians is arguably more notable for the name it doesn’t include.
While the eight men and one women Nixon pardoned yesterday already served their sentences for felony and misdemeanor crimes ranging from minor theft, writing bad checks and marijuana possession, there’s no mention of Jeff Mizanskey, the only inmate in the state currently serving a life sentence without parole for three nonviolent pot charges.
Our buds over at the Riverfront Times have the full story.
| Ray Stern |
| Finding banking services for his business, Encanto Green Cross, has been difficult for Nick Kriaris. |
On a recent Friday afternoon, Nick Kriaris, owner of Encanto Green Cross medical-marijuana dispensary in Phoenix, and his brother, Chris, tried to open an account at Bank of America for their nonprofit business with $420 in cash.
The attempt at the bank branch at 3030 North Central Avenue was, to some extent, a stunt, from the pot-culture-inspired amount of the initial deposit to the dispensary employee videotaping his bosses. They knew the odds of success were minimal, if not zero.
But if the bank agreed to take the medical-marijuana retail shop’s money, it would have been something of a minor historical moment. Although dozens of dispensaries are authorized to operate in the state, no bank will deal openly with them — yet.
Ray Stern has all of the details over at the Phoenix New Times
In 1999, the voters in Maine approved the state’s first medical marijuana bill with a lopsided 61% approval. A decade later, the law was improved upon to allow for storefront dispensaries and to broaden the list of acceptable medical conditions that marijuana could be recommended for. In 2011, the law was built upon once again, protecting patients’ rights by making many registration processes optional.
In November of 2013 Portland, Oregon became the first city on the east coast to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21. In November of this year, the city of South Portland became the second.
Statewide recreational marijuana legalization -similar to what we’ve seen in Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and D.C. – appears to be inevitable in Maine.