Legislation

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Drug Czar Decries Teen Pot Use; His Policies Behind Increase

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 14, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: The Information Underground

Gil Kerlikowske supports the failed prohibitionist policies which have made marijuana easily available to teens, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

MPP Calls On Drug Czar to Support Regulating Marijuana In Order to Take It Out of the Hands of Drug Dealers Who Sell to Young People

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske on Thursday decried recent data showing that American teens are using marijuana at younger ages and in greater numbers.

In response, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a cannabis policy reform organization, called on Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), to abandon the failed policies of marijuana prohibition and instead embrace the regulation of cannabis, accompanied by science-based education campaigns, as the only sensible way to reduce teen pot use.

“After decades of the same ineffective approach, it’s more clear than ever that our government’s current policies have failed to reduce marijuana’s use or availability among young people and that a change is needed,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for MPP.

NH House Committee: Pot Legalization ‘Too Much, Too Soon’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 13, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: StoptheDrugWar.org

New Hampshire Statehouse: Legislators believe marijuana legalization is “too much, too soon” for The Granite State.

Committee Members Say They Prefer to Focus on Passing a Medical Marijuana Law and Decriminalizing Personal Possession

Marijuana legalization and regulation won’t be happening next legislative session in New Hampshire.

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday concluded its interim study process on HB 1652, which would tax and regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol, and passed on the opportunity to recommend the bill for next legislative session.

The proposal was simply “too much, too soon,” according to Rep. David Welch (R-Kingston), and Welch’s phrase was repeated by several other committee members during the almost hour-long discussion.

However, the interim study process was “very positive and productive overall,” according to Matt Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy (NH Common Sense).

Mexico’s President Concerned About Legalized Marijuana In CA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 8, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Vivirlatino

Mexico President Felipe Calderon: Marijuana legalization would mean a “terrible inconsistency” in U.S. drug policy

The president of Mexico has given his two pesos’ worth in the debate over whether Californians should legalize marijuana at the polls next month.

President Felipe Calderon told the Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he was concerned about what legalizing cannabis in California would do to the larger Drug War. Calderon told AP that legalization would mean a “terrible inconsistency” in U.S. drug policy, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Calderon’s statements are a little puzzling in view of the fact that in August, he said he is open to a debate on the legalization of marijuana and other drugs.

At that time, Calderon called the increasingly widespread public discussion of legalization in Mexico “a fundamental debate.”

“You have to analyze carefully the pros and cons of the argument on both sides,” Calderon said in August.

Before that statement, however, Calderon had long maintained he is opposed to the idea of legalization. The Mexican president’s office issued a second statement, hours after the first one in August, saying that while Calderon was “open to debate on the issue,” he remained “against the legalization of drugs.”

Napster Co-Founder Gives $100K To Prop 19 Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 7, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: aducation.net

Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, has donated $100,000 to the Prop 19 marijuana legalization cause in California.

Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and a current venture capitalist, on Monday donated $100,000 to Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for adults in California, according to campaign finance records.

Parker, the guy played by Justin Timberlake in the new Facebook movie, The Social Network, donated the money to the Drug Policy Action Committee, which is separate from Richard Lee’s Yes On 19 committee, reports Chris Roberts at our sister Village Voice Media blog, SF Weekly.

CA Atty. Gen. Candidates Won’t Pledge To Defend Legal Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 7, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: KALW News

Kamala Harris (left) and Steve Cooley: Neither will give a straight answer on defending Prop 19 marijuana legalization if California voters pass it

Both Candidates Hazy On Whether They’d Defend Prop 19 In Court

It seemed a simple enough question in Tuesday’s debate between the two candidates for Attorney General of California: If voters pass Proposition 19, legalizing marijuana, would they defend it in court?

Neither Democrat Kamala Harris, the San Francisco district attorney, nor Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles district attorney infamous for his personal battle against medical marijuana, was able to muster the courage for either a “Yes” or a “No” on the ballot initiative to legalize cannabis for recreational adult use, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.

Facebook Billionaire Donates To Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2010 Culture, Legislation

Photo: Wikipedia

Dustin Moskovitz has given $70,000 so far to support Prop 19 for marijuana legalization in California.

Facebook billionaire Dustin Moskovitz has confirmed that he recently gave $50,000 in support of Proposition 19, which seeks to legalize marijuana in California this November.

Moskovitz had already given $20,000 to the effort in an earlier donation, reports Luisa Kroll of Forbes. Prop 19 would allow people 21 or older to possess, cultivate or transport cannabis for personal use and would also permit local governments to regulate and tax commercial production and sale of pot.

With his public support of cannabis legalization, Moskovitz joins other billionaires such as Peter Lewis, who has donated $12,800 to Oregon’s medical marijuana initiative, Ballot Measure 74, also to be decided by voters next month.

Lewis, who was arrested for cannabis possession in New Zealand about 10 years ago, has been a longtime supporter of legalization. He reportedly smoked marijuana for pain relief after his left leg was amputated.

Prop 19 Legalization Leads; Opponents Try To Revive Campaign

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Zazzle

Opponents of Proposition 19 — which would legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana for adults in California — are desperately trying to revive their cash-strapped campaign amid signs that public sentiment is turning more and more in favor of the initiative.

“We’re telling folks who are opposed, ‘If we’re going to get our message out, we need additional resources,’ ” said Roger Salazar, spokesman for No On Proposition 19, reports Michael Montgomery at CaliforniaWatch.

The campaign against Prop 19 has so far been financially anemic, raising less than $160,000 in contributions for all of this year, according to required campaign finance disclosures as of September 30.

Meanwhile, supporters of the cannabis legalization initiative have raised more than $860,000 this year, led by Oakland marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee.

Oregon Lawyers Assoc. Endorses Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 5, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Oregon Measure 74

The Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association announced on Monday that it is endorsing a measure on the November ballot that would create state-regulated dispensaries for medical marijuana in the state.

If approved by voters, Measure 74 would authorize nonprofit organizations to set up state-regulated dispensaries to sell pot to authorized medical marijuana patients, who now must grow their own, pay someone to grow it for them, or obtain it on the black market.

Wisconsin: Marijuana Advocates March In Madison

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: The Badger Herald

The 40th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival drew thousands to Madison, Wisconsin, and hundreds of them participated in the march on the Capitol.

Hundreds of marijuana advocates marched down State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday, asking for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Some of the protesters spoke of the benefits of a more far-reaching legalization of cannabis.

In what has become an autumn tradition in Madison, pot advocates observed the 40th annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival, held annually from October 1-3, with most attendees joining the march and finishing the weekend with a rally on the Capitol steps, reports Lucas Molina at The Badger Herald.

Women’s Marijuana Movement Supports California’s Prop 19

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Women’s Marijuana Movement

The Women’s Marijuana Movement on Tuesday, October 5, will coordinate news conferences throughout California and across the nation in support of Proposition 19, the California ballot initiative to control and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, and to highlight the need for marijuana law reform nationwide.

“The Women of these United States are joining together and showing their support of Proposition 19 and the people of California to vote YES and take this historic step towards reforming our nation’s marijuana laws,” Cheyanne Weldon of Texas NORML told Toke of the Town.

“Throughout history, when women have shown their support of prohibition (or lifting of a prohibition), society as a whole has taken notice,” Weldon told us.

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