Legalize It

Missouri state representative says marijuana legalization “possible, but unlikely”

By William Breathes on February 17, 2014 Legalize It, Legislation, News

Missouri Rep. Chris Kelly has filed language that would legalize medical and recreational cannabis in Missouri, using language that closely follows another proposed ballot initiative.
In addition to legalizing taxed and regulated sales of ganja, House Bill 1659 would regulate recreational cannabis like alcohol, with a 21-and-up age limit. Missourians would be able to cultivate up to eight plants in their home and keep up to 16 ounces of herb, 16 ounces of edibles and 72 ounces of tinctures and other liquid-infused cannabis products.

GOP Guv Scott Walker says you’re all wrong, weed more dangerous than booze

By Jack Daniel on February 17, 2014 Legalize It, News, Say what?

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was one of a wave of pie-eyed freshman Republicans swept into office in the 2010 midterm election, the consequences of which, we will all be paying for, for quite some time. Upon squeaking his way into office, Governor Walker immediately cut a billion dollars from the state’s education budget, another half a billion from the Medicaid budget, and effectively stripped all of the state’s labor unions of all traditional collective bargaining rights.

Wikimedia Commons

Governor Scott Walker (R-WI)

By refusing to participate in the Affordable Care Act, enacting a malevolent voter ID law to discourage voting, and by paying for tens of millions of dollars’ worth of corporate tax breaks by firing unprecedented numbers of teachers, police and firefighters, Governor Walker has earned his spot as a Republican front runner, and serves as an example, rather than a shame, for his colleagues.
So it should come as no surprise that when President Obama recently spoke out about the dangers of alcohol versus the dangers of weed, Walker had to pipe up.

Ongoing US cannabis reform causing ripples worldwide

By Jack Daniel on February 13, 2014 Follow that story, Global, Legalize It

Whether it is blue jeans, or Blue Dream, what happens in America, rarely stays in America. When states across the nation began shifting towards medical marijuana legislation, the rest of the world barely blinked.
But once Colorado and Washington took the plunge into full recreational pot legalization, the South American country of Uruguay followed suit, and now the dominoes of worldwide marijuana reform have begun to tumble.

18 U.S. Congressmen asking President Obama to reclassify marijuana

By Jack Daniel on February 13, 2014 Follow that story, Legalize It, News

Congressman Raul Grijalva, a southern Arizona Democrat, has joined 17 other congressmen in asking that President Obama to help reclassify marijuana in the federal drug “scheduling.”
Marijuana is a Schedule I substance at the federal level, which the Justice Department describes as the “most dangerous” drugs that have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,” alongside LSD and heroin.
The Schedule I drugs generally are associated with higher penalties. For example, trafficking between 50 and 99 kilograms of pot calls for a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. A first-time offender caught with any amount of a Schedule III drug — which includes certain prescription painkillers, ketamine, and anabolic steroids, among other things — is supposed to serve a maximum of 10 years.

Although Obama himself can’t just reorganize the drug scheduling himself, the 18 lawmakers — mostly Democrats — have asked Obama to instruct Attorney General Eric Holder to use his authority to reclassify marijuana.
Our buds over at the Phoenix New Times have more on this groundbreaking development

University’s Cannabis Genome Research Initiative takes pot science to new heights

By Jack Daniel on February 13, 2014 Follow that story, Legalize It, News

Due to its notorious status, marijuana has often been left behind as science moves forward with the study of botany. But much of that has changed with the passage of Amendment 64.

Phillip Poston/Westword

“Despite the fact that cannabis is one of the most valuable and historically important crop species, we know comparatively little about the plant,” says Nolan Kane, a member of the University of Colorado Boulder’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology, who is heading up the Cannabis Genome Research Initiative.
With this project, Kane intends to map the marijuana genome, creating a more sophisticated knowledge of its DNA makeup and history — a treatment that other plants like corn and soybeans have enjoyed for a few years.
Our friends over at Denver Westword have all of the details on this fascinating technology.

Ashley Weber, paralyzed medical marijuana patient and mom, wins federal housing fight

By Jack Daniel on February 12, 2014 Legalize It, News

Ashley Weber is a quadriplegic who lives with her young son, Collin, in a house whose rent she can afford due to a Section 8 housing voucher courtesy of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Denver Westword

Ashley Weber after the car accident that left her paralyzed

But in December 2012, after revealing that she uses medical marijuana for pain management, the Longmont Housing Authority sent her a termination notice.
Since then, Weber’s been fighting this edict, and after a year of struggle, the LHA has informed her she can stay due to a new policy she inspired.
Michael Roberts over at Denver Westword covers the rest of this inspirational story,

As CT pushes ahead with pot, prohibitionists predictably pull the fear card

By Jack Daniel on February 11, 2014 Follow that story, Legalize It, Legislation

Last month, the Connecticut state Department of Consumer Protection granted the first four licenses for marijuana producers, and they plan to award up to five additional licenses for marijuana sellers by the end of next month. With cannabis already decriminalized in the state, and a heavy liberal bias in the region politically, one may wonder what is taking medical marijuana so long.

Neeta Lind/Flickr

The grow facilities will be considered “pharmaceutical manufacturers” by the state, with all medication produced being put through a mandatory testing process before it gets to the dispensaries. Once on the shelves, sellers will be subject to incredibly strict regulations aimed directly at preventing diversion of medical marijuana to the black market in the state.
Still, with some of the nation’s most strict regulations in place, the usual suspects are screaming from the rooftops that allowing any medical marijuana in Connecticut is going to pose a huge risk for…wait for it…”the kids”.

FL Senator Marco Rubio refuses to answer whether or not he’s smoked pot

By Jack Daniel on February 11, 2014 Culture, Legalize It, News

Have you asked yourself, “Wow, I wonder if Marco Rubio has ever been stoned?” Probably not, because, honestly, who cares?
The funny thing is that Rubio refuses to answer the question because he thinks people might actually care.
The Associated Press decided to ask Rubio the pot question.
Our friends over at the Miami New Times have his response, and their reaction.

Humor: Medical Marijuana Will Kill Florida

By Jack Daniel on February 7, 2014 Culture, Legalize It, Say what?

This November, throngs of Floridians will strap on their sandals and flop their way to the polls to cast ballots that may well be the end of Florida as we know it. That’s right, folks. It’s over. Kiss it all goodbye.

Because on November’s ballot is an amendment so evil and insidious that mere contact with the ink will be enough to turn toddlers into meth-crazed cannibals. I don’t even want to say it.
Fine, I’ll say it: Medical Marijuana.
To read the hilarious full parody, click on over to our friends at the Broward/Palm Beach New Times

High Times Medical Cannabis Cup returns to SoCal this weekend

By Jack Daniel on February 7, 2014 Culture, Legalize It

This weekend, on February 8th and 9th, an estimated 17,000 weed enthusiasts from every corner of the cannabis community will descend on the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino for the second time in as many years, to feast their eyes, and their lungs, on the finest marijuana and concentrates that the west coast has to offer.
While, technically, this weekend’s event is referred to as a High Times Medical Cannabis Cup, little or no flavor or culture is lost in translation between the new-age Cups in the U.S., and the granddaddy of them all, the official annual Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. Competitors, vendors, and buyers all converge for two full days to form a scene complete with informational seminars, special guest appearances, live music, and of course, the awards.

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