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Browsing: Legislation

Colorado Alliance Files Initiative To Tax And Regulate Marijuana

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol

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Denver-based activists have filed a ballot initiative with the Secretary of State that they say would regulate marijuana in Colorado in a manner similar to alcohol.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol must now gather 86,105 signatures before August 6, 2012 to qualify for the November 2012 general election ballot.

The proposal requires the Department of Revenue to tax and regulate marijuana and directs this new revenue source to the public school capital construction assistance fund.
It would allow people 21 and older to buy and possess up to an ounce of marijuana. They would also be allowed to grow up to six plants and to possess all the marijuana produced by those plants, reports Scot Kersgaard at the Colorado Independent.
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R.I. Marijuana Advocates See Loopholes In DOJ Memo

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: RIPAC

​The head of Rhode Island’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group said she is still optimistic that cannabis dispensaries will be open in the state in the not-too-distant future.

JoAnne Lepannen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC), said on Tuesday that she has carefully reviewed “Seeking to Authorize Marijuana for Medical Use,” the two-page memo issued last week by the Justice Department, reports W. Zachary Malinowski at The Providence Journal.
Lepannen said she sees a silver lining in the document because there is no specific threat by federal authorities to prosecute state employees who are associated with the licensing or oversight of marijuana dispensaries.
“I think there is a ray of hope here,” Lepannen said. “We have to read into this letter what [the federal government]didn’t say. That speaks volumes.”
The memo does warn that those who “facilitate” large-scale medical marijuana production (presumably, that wording was used to intimidate landlords, as well as actual cultivators) are violating the federal Controlled Substances Act.
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Medical Marijuana Program Goes Forward In D.C.; Feds Watching

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Medicinal DC

​The District of Columbia passed its first milestone in selecting who gets the much-coveted licenses for the city’s medical marijuana program, even as the federal government is taking a second look at its hands-off approach to those who legally grow and sell cannabis under laws allowing its medicinal use.

More than 80 individuals or businesses applied to cultivate or sell medical marijuana through letters of intent submitted to the Department of Health, reports Tom Howell Jr. at The Washington Times. The applicants range from entrepreneurial lawyers and gardeners in D.C., to medical marijuana professionals based in states like Colorado and Montana.
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Indiana Lawmakers Studying Marijuana Legalization

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Medical Marijuana States

​The idea of legalizing marijuana is going to be studied by lawmakers in Indiana.

The General Assembly’s criminal law and sentencing policy study committee plans to examine all the different angles of the marijuana issue, including legalization, reports WHAS 11.
The Hoosier legislators will also take a look at decriminalizing pot, or creating a medical marijuana program in the state.
Among the lawmakers who support the study is Republican Rep. Tom Knollman, who is battling multiple sclerosis. Knollman told lawmakers during this legislatige session that he wished he could legally try cannabis to help relieve his pain.
Knollman said at the time that although he’s among the most conservative of state legislators, he hopes he can be a law-abiding citizen and “use one of God’s plants.”
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Sensible Portland Aims To End Marijuana Arrests In Maine City

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Sensible Portland

​A group of concerned citizens in Portland, Maine is trying to pass an ordinance making marijuana possession the lowest enforcement priority for police, with no arrest required.

Sensible Portland turned in petitions with more than 2,000 signatures to the city clerk on Tuesday morning, reports WGME. In order to put the question before voters on the November ballot, 1,500 valid signatures are needed.
The proposed ordinance also requires Portland’s mayor to report to the City Council on marijuana arrests by the police, reports Caroline Cornish at WCSH 6.
The ordinance is limited. Officers wouldn’t face any penalty if they violated the ordinance, and the language specifically states that it’s not intended to prohibit police from working with federal drug enforcement agents.
But Sensible Portland said it’s important for voters to go on the record about this issue, since the federal government said it plants to crack down on even medical marijuana users.
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CT: No Jail For Less Than Half An Ounce Of Pot, Starting Today

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Newser

​As of today, July 1 in Connecticut, getting caught with less than half an ounce of marijuana no longer gets you a ride in the back seat of a police car.

Instead, people older than 21 who are caught with up to 14 grams will be given the equivalent of a traffic ticket carrying a $150 fine, reports David Owens at The Hartford Courant. If you’re 18 to 21, you’ll get the same ticket, but with a 60-day suspension of your driver’s license. Those under 1`8 will be referred to juvenile authorities if caught with pot.
Fines for subsequent offenses by adults range from $200 to $500. If you get three or more marijuana offenses, you’ll be required to take some of those bullshit “drug counseling” sessions are your own expense.
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Montana Judge Blocks New Restrictions On Medical Marijuana

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Eliza Wiley/Helena Independent Record
District Court Judge Jim Reynolds hears testimony during a case brought before him by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association. On Thursday, the judge blocked implementation of key parts of a new restrictive medical marijuana law passed by the conservative Republican-controlled Legislature.

​A judge has blocked key parts of Montana’s law that would have imposed tough new restrictions on medical marijuana suppliers starting on July 1. 

In a preliminary injunction issued on Thursday, state District Judge James Reynolds in Helena ruled the new limits would effectively deny access to cannabis for many patients entitled to use it under the state’s seven-year-old medical marijuana statute, reports Emilie Ritter of Reuters.
Montana’s medical marijuana law was approved by an overwhelming 62 percent of voters in 2004.
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Bill Would Legalize Medical Marijuana In Massachusetts

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By on Legislation, Medical

Photo: The Boston Phoenix
More than 80 people, mostly medical marijuana supporters, packed the conference room for the hearing before the Joint Committee on Public Health.

​Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana to ease symptoms of chronic and debilitating illnesses, and regulate the centers that distribute the herb.

“Marijuana has proven its medical efficacy,” Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) testified before the Legislature’s public health committee on Tuesday, reports the Associated Press. “This bill is about more than just common sense, it’s about compassion.”
Smizik is one of 27 House co-sponsors of H 625, which would legalize and regulate the use of cannabis for patients with specific illnesses.
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Kentucky’s Lower Penalties For Marijuana Now In Effect

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Sheree Krider

​Kentucky, long known as a state where excellent marijuana is grown, has lowered its penalties for possession of up to eight ounces of the herb, effective Friday, June 24.

Back in March the Kentucky Legislature overwhelmingly passed (97-2 in the House; 38-0 in the Senate) House Bill 463, which was then signed into law by Governor Steve Bershear. The new law reduces the penalty for personal possession of up to eight ounces of pot to a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a maximum penalty of 45 days in jail.
But don’t get too carried away; those penalties are just for first offenses. Subsequent offenses with up to eight ounces are still felonies, for which you can get up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
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Goodman Runs For Congress On Cannabis Legalization Platform

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By on Legislation, News

Photo: KOMO News
Congressional candidate Roger Goodman, left, advocates the legalization of marijuana and protecting the planet.

​What if we could elect a real, live drug policy reformer to Congress? A candidate who has that background — and unabashedly advocates the legalization of cannabis nationwide — is running for the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington state, and he has an excellent chance to win.

Washington state Rep. Roger Goodman had in February initially announced he would run in the 8th District against Rep. Dave Reichert, a right-wing Republican, but now that Rep. Jay Inslee is vacating his seat in the House to run for Governor, Goodman will be running for that open seat in the reliably liberal 1st District where he lives, the candidate told Toke of the Town in an exclusive interview Friday afternoon.
“My number one priority is planetary health,” Goodman told me. “We need to pay attention to that, and we need to foster justice in our society.
“Cannabis policy reform is actually a part of both of those major issues, and my training as a lawyer, an environmentalist, a former Congressional chief of staff, a state agency director, and now as a legislator and reformer for years, qualifies me not just on cannabis reform but on qualify of life issues and on true progressive leadership,” he said.
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