Legislation

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Medical Marijuana Under Attack: Here’s How You Can Fight Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 17, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance: “These lawyers are playing politics with the lives of patients who need medical marijuana to cope with debilitating pain and nausea”

Medical marijuana patients across the country are under attack, according to Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

“Despite the Obama Administration’s promise to respect state laws, lawyers in the federal government are now threatening to arrest and prosecute people who are legally licensed to grow medical marijuana under state law,” Nadelmann said.

“These ideologues are trying to block sensible regulation — and they’ve already succeeded in Washington State,” Nadelmann said. “We must stop them from erasing all the progress we’ve made and from leaving patients out in the cold.”

Nadelmann is urging all supporters of medical marijuana to write U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to demand that the federal government keep its promise to respect state medical marijuana laws.

HDNet ‘World Report’ Looks At Driving While High

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 16, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: HDNet

Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on HDNET “World Report”: DWHigh: Medical Marijuana and Driving

With the number of medical marijuana patients rising, and with 16 states now allowing medicinal cannabis, advocates are fighting against attempts to regulate the amount of THC that can be in your blood while driving.

HDNet “World Report,” in an episode which will debut Tuesday night, May 17, will examine driving while under the influence of medical marijuana.

In Colorado, which has a growing medical marijuana community, the question is, should there be a limit? The Legislature recently defeated a measure which would have limited blood THC levels at five nanograms per millilter (ng/ml). Advocates said the measure was far too strict, and would, in effect, have banned medical marijuana patients from legally driving.

“World Report” puts legal medical marijuana users behind the wheel of a driving simulator and watched them navigate a course, first while sober, then after consuming pot. (Of course, under Colorado’s recently proposed — and unrealistically low — five-nanogram limit, all of the patients would likely be considered “high” even while completely sober, thus making moot the question of impairment.)

New York Bill Would Reduce Charge For Marijuana Possession

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 16, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: Animal New York

A shared desire to reduce the penalties for marijuana possession has inspired a rare show of bipartisanship and upstate-downstate agreement in the New York Legislature. A freshman GOP state senator is co-sponsoring a bill with a Democratic Assemblyman to reduce the penalty for public possession of small amounts of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a violation.

According to the cosponsors, many people — especially minorities in New York City — end up getting busted for small amounts if they are stopped by a police officer and told to empty their pockets — at which point the pot possession supposedly becomes “public,” reports Rick Karlin of the Albany Times Union.

Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless Search Based On Pot Smell

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 16, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Voice Of Detroit

Step One, knock and announce your presence. Step Two, claim you hear someone “destroying evidence.” Step Three, knock the door down. Voila, no Fourth Amendment protection!

Police who claimed they heard sounds of “evidence being destroyed” after knocking on the door of an apartment that smelled of marijuana were entitled to knock down the door and search the place, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday.

In an overwhelming 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the warrantless search of an apartment in Lexington, Kentucky, ruling the search was legal because of “exigent circumstances.” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote for the majority. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cast the lone dissenting vote.

Cannabinophobia: The Timing Makes You Wonder

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 13, 2011 Culture, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Loopy Lettuce

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

Schedule I: A category of drugs not considered legitimate for medical use. Included are heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and marijuana.

April 14th 1937

Whose bright idea was it to tax it? Is the option still open?

Marihuana Tax Act of 1937

The Act levied a tax equaling roughly one dollar on anyone who dealt commercially in cannabis, hemp, or marijuana. The Act did not itself criminalize the possession or usage of hemp, marijuana, or cannabis. It did include penalty and enforcement provisions to which marijuana, cannabis, or hemp handlers were subject. Violation of these procedures could result in a fine of up to $2,000 and five years’ imprisonment.

Washington Legislator Introduces Medical Cannabis Fixer Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 13, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Pete Kuhns/Seattle Weekly

Washington state Rep. Roger Goodman shows off a stash of his drug of choice: chocolate. Goodman is sponsoring an attempt to fix Washington state’s badly flawed medical marijuana law.

State Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) on Friday introduced a medical cannabis bill in the Washington House of Representatives that would address many of the patient access problems remaining after Governor Christine Gregoire two weeks ago vetoed most of S.B. 5073, which would have legalized dispensaries and provided arrest protection for patients.

Goodman’s bill includes protections for patients and providers, including language giving arrest protection to patients with authorizing paperwork and language decriminalizing medical cannabis dispensaries.

Delaware Governor Signs Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 13, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: markell.org

Governor Jack Markell of Delaware on Friday signed into law a measure legalizing medical marijuana in the state.

Governor Jack Markell on Friday signed SB 17 into law, making it legal for Delaware residents with certain serious medical conditions to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

The bill had bipartisan sponsors and support in the Legislature. This makes Delaware the 16th state, along with the District of Columbia, to pass an effective medical marijuana law.

The law goes into effect on July 1 and will permit people diagnosed with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, decompensated cirrhosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), intractable nausea, severe seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms, wasting syndrome, and severe debilitating pain that has not responded to other treatments, or for which treatments produced serious side effects, to possess up to six ounces of marijuana without fear of arrest.

Signature Drive Will Try To Stop Medical Marijuana Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 11, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: THC Finder

Montana medical marijuana advocates are getting ready to start a signature-gathering effort to suspend a soon-to-be-enacted law restricting the industry — and they won’t need to collect as many names as they initially believed.

The Secretary of State’s office has determined that advocates need at least 31,238 signatures to block the Legislature’s medical marijuana overhaul bill from becoming law, reports Charles S. Johnson at the Billings Gazette. It could take up to 43,247 signatures, depending on which state House districts they use, but they won’t need to gather 73,010 signatures as some originally believed.

N.H. Senate Puts The Brakes On Medical Marijuana Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 11, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: ReLegalize Indiana

The New Hampshire Senate has postponed action on a bill that would have legalized the medicinal use and possession of marijuana for people with debilitating or terminal illnesses.

The Senate voted on Wednesday to delay action on the bill, which would have legalized less than two ounces of cannabis for medical purposes, reports the Associated Press.

Sen. Ray White (R-Bedford) said the Senate does not plan to vote on the bill this year, leaving seriously ill patients in the state with no alternative except either suffering or breaking the law.

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