Legislation

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No Surprise: Maui Cops Oppose Marijuana Law Reform

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 15, 2011 Legislation, News

Maui Police Chief Gary Yabuta: “We feel that [marijuana]will be contradictory to character building, job skills, academics, all the skills necessary to become a productive citizen”

Ever heard a cop say “we don’t write the laws, we just enforce them?” Next time you hear it, you have my permission to say “Bullshit!”

Responding to bills in the Hawaii Legislature intended to liberalize marijuana laws, Maui Police Chief Gary Yabuta said the department is taking a more “proactive stance” to show the public its opposition to marijuana by reaching out to Maui residents at public places, reports Melissa Tanji at Maui News.

On Monday, police officers went to Walmart to hand out pamphlets telling cop-sponsored lies about what “experts” supposedly say regarding marijuana as medicine and pot’s health risks. They planned to be there telling more ridiculous cop lies on Tuesday.

The goal of the effort, according to the cops, is to “gather the public’s support” this legislative session and ask people to submit email testimony against the bills which would liberalize Hawaii’s marijuana laws.

Yabuta helpfully said the police “would be glad” to pass out their lying-ass brochures or even present lying-ass talks to the public at community events and at schools.

Officer Yabuta claimed he didn’t know the taxpayer cost of the brochures that are being passed out, but defensively said they were “nothing fancy.” He claimed that funding came partly from a grant that initiated the brochure (your wasted tax money), as well as “county funds” (more of your wasted tax money, spent telling ridiculous, outdated 20th Century cop lies and superstitions about cannabis).

MD Amendment Would Allow Marijuana Injection, Prohibit Smoking

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 15, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Daylife

Delegate Mike McDermott (R-Worcester) would allow patients to inject — but not smoke — marijuana.

“No man’s life, liberty or happiness are safe while Congress is in session,” Mark Twain once famously said, and much the same could be said of the Maryland Legislature. A Republican delegate has now filed an amendment to Maryland’s proposed medical marijuana law which would allow patients to inject — but not to smoke — cannabis.

Never mind that marijuana’s not water soluble, and never mind that smoking — while not an ideal form of administration — is a LOT safer than injecting. That’s the kind of silliness you get when you have politicians writing rules for medicine.

Delegate Mike McDermott’s amendment, if added, would require anyone with an medical marijuana authorization from a doctor to consume it through vaporization, ingestion or injection — but smoking it would still be against the law.

“With the amendment, it becomes a medical issue entirely, but I can’t vote for it in the present form,” the clueless McDermott said, reports Jennifer Shutt at Delmarva Now.

The bill, with or without McDermott’s amendment, is deeply flawed. It would make marijuana a Schedule II controlled substance and allow it to be prescribed by doctors in certain cases — but since it only changes that rule at the state level, any doctor prescribing marijuana would be subject to losing his license, since cannabis is still considered Schedule I (no medical value and high potential for abuse) at the federal level.

Indiana: Hearing On Marijuana Study Bill Held Tuesday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 15, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: World News

State Sen. Karen Tallian: “It has become painfully obvious that our current marijuana laws are not effective”

The first hearing on S.B. 192 took place on Tuesday to discuss the need to study the marijuana laws in Indiana and find alternatives to arrest and incarceration. S.B. 192 would require lawmakers to investigate other options to the marijuana laws that put nonviolent Hoosiers behind bars and tie up scarce resources that the public would rather see spent on infrastructure, according to sponsor Sen. Karen Tallian (D-District 4).

“It has become painfully obvious that our current marijuana laws are not effective,” Sen. Tallian said. “We spend a sizable amount of money every year going after marijuana users and locking them up for a nonviolent crime, while more important programs that desperately need funds go wanting.

Cops Say Obama Is All Talk On Treating Drugs As Health Issue

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 14, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Philly NORML

Neill Franklin, LEAP: “The President needs to put his money where his mouth is”

Another budget, another year of a drug control budget disparity that prioritizes punishment over actually treating drugs as a public health issue. Will President Obama’s rhetoric ever be made into brass tacks budget reality?

A group of police officers, judges and prosecutors who have waged the so-called War On Drugs is criticizing Obama because his federal drug control budget, released Monday, doesn’t match his rhetoric on treating drug abuse as a health problem.

Obama’s federal drug control budget maintains a Bush-era disparity, devoting almost twice as much money to punishment as it does for treatment and prevention. This is despite the President saying, less than three weeks ago, “We have to think more about drugs as a public health problem,” which requires “shifting resources.”

Colorado Bill Targets Cannabis Tinctures And Ointments

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 14, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Denver Relief

Cannabis tinctures and ointments would become illegal under a bill currently before the Colorado Legislature. Why, exactly? Apparently they threaten “public peace, health and safety.”

A new bill that attempts to create more restrictions on the medical marijuana industry in Colorado by banning cannabis tinctures and ointments was released last Wednesday.

House Bill 11-1250 was written to “prohibit marijuana-infused consumable food and beverage product manufacturing and sale.” After an outcry from the medical marijuana community, the bill was amended to apply only to ointments and tinctures, not food or beverage products, reports Chelsea Long at Boulder Weekly.

Ryan Hartman, owner of Boulder Wellness Center, said he was worried about the bill’s impact on his dispensary.

Delaware Lawmakers Submit Medical Marijuana Bill Again

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 14, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Robert Craig/The News Journal

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry: “Delaware legislators have been listening to patients and families in community meetings and the stories they’ve heard changed minds and hearts”

Medical marijuana backers have filed another bill in the Delaware Legislature to legalize medicinal use of cannabis.

This is the third straight year that Senate Major Whip Margaret Rose Henry has introduced medical marijuana legislation, reports The Associated Press. Henry said she is optimistic for the bill’s chances this year.

“Delaware legislators have been listening to patients and families in community meetings and the stories they’ve heard changed minds and hearts,” Sen. Henry said. “Legislators have begun to understand the very real need for legislative action to allow this treatment option without in any way undermining law enforcement or the prosecution of those engaged in the recreational use of marijuana.”

Rep. Helene Keeley, the House co-sponsor, said that unlike California and 13 other medical marijuana states — but like neighboring New Jersey — the bill would not permit patients to grow their own marijuana. This is a disturbing trend with recent marijuana laws — it’s as if there is some sort of competition to see which state can make a medical marijuana law the least friendly and useful to patients.

Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson (R-Milford) said he is undecided about SB 17, the medical marijuana bill, and claimed he is “concerned” that marijuana is a “gateway drug” that “leads to the use of more dangerous drugs.” I think we can pretty much give up on hearing anything intelligent on from that guy on the subject of cannabis.,

Montana House Votes To Repeal Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 10, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Dylan Brown/Independent Record

Montana Speaker of the House Mike Milburn wants to take medical marijuana back away from sick and dying patients in his state — and now he’s a big step closer to doing exactly that

The Montana House of Representatives has approved a measure to repeal the state’s Medical Marijuana Act with a vote of 63 to 37. The vote serves as an ironic counterpoint to the overwhelming 62 percent to 38 percent majority by which Montanans legalized medical marijuana less than seven years ago, in November 2004.

During last Friday’s legislative session, Speaker of the House Mike Milburn (R-Cascade) claimed Montana was “duped” into passing the Act, and most of the House joined him in his attempt to thwart the will of the voters.

Milburn claimed many of the people who have been approved for medical marijuana “aren’t the terminally ill,” reports Marnee Banks at KRTV.com.

Ethics Committee Eyes Iowa Rep’s Medical Marijuana Lie

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 9, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Des Moines Register

GOP Rep. Clel Baudler lied to a California doctor in order to get a medical marijuana authorization.

An Iowa state representative’s lie to a California doctor to obtain a medical marijuana authorization is the focus of an ethics complaint to be considered Thursday by a legislative ethics committee.

The complaint was filed by Des Moines resident and marijuana advocate Mike Pesce, who said Rep. Clel Baudler broke California law, which forbids people from fabricating information to obtain a medical marijuana recommendation, reports Jason Clayworth at the Des Moines Register.

Rep. Baudler claims he “did not fill the prescription.” He said he conducted the publicity stunt last year to demonstrate what he claims are “abuses” of California’s medical marijuana laws.

“I spent 15 minutes with this ‘doctor’ and six of thouse were used attempting to overcome the language barrier between us (he was an oriental [sic]‘doctor’ and only spoke broken English,)” Baudler wrote in an email to supporters in October.

Baudler, 71, a former state trooper, admitted he lied about having medical problems — hemorrhoids, in his case — to obtain a medical marijuana recommendation to prove “how asinine it would be to legalize ‘medical marijuana.’ “

Washington Law Officers Testify For Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 8, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: CBS News

Law enforcement officers who once waged the War On Drugs submitted testimony Tuesday supporting a bill to legalize and regulate marijuana in Washington state. The bill, HB 1550, sponsored by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, was heard by the House Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

Norm Stamper, a retired Seattle chief of police, wrote that legalizing marijuana “would provide a great benefit for public safety by allowing the state’s police officers to focus on the worst crimes, protecting the people of Washington from burglaries, rapes, shootings, and drunk driving.”

“Not only would it free up police resources, it would bring in much-needed new revenue for the state,” Stamper wrote.

Marijuana Decrim Advances In Hawaii; Pot Would Be $100 Fine

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 7, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Zazzle

A bill that would reduce the penalty for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana to the status of a traffic violation has been approved by two Hawaii Senate committees.

The Committee on Judiciary and Labor with the Committee on Health to pass SB 1460 on Friday afternoon, February 4, reports the Hawai’i News Daily. The bill establishes a civil violation for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana that is subject to a fine of not more than $100.

The bill would also delete reporting requirements of the board of education for students possessing an ounce or less of pot, and clarifies that medical marijuana patients and primary caregivers may assert an affirmative defense to prosecution, criminal or civil, involving possession of one ounce or less.

Possession of more than an ounce of marijuana would be excluded from the state courts and state paroling authority to require defendants or paroled prisoners to undergo and complete substance abuse treatment.

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