Toke of the Town

Browsing: Legislation

2011 Marijuana Legalization Campaign Launching At Hempfest

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By on Culture, Legislation

Photo: Owl Jester/Seattle Hempfest
“There’s no place more perfect to announce our plans for 2011’s campaign than at the world’s premier marijuana reform festival.” ~ Douglas Hiatt, Sensible Washington

​​If at first you don’t succeed, try again!
Sensible Washington, sponsor of this year’s Washington legalization initiative I-1068, has announced that it will launch its 2011 marijuana legalization campaign at this year’s Seattle Hempfest.
“There’s no place more perfect to announce our plans for 2011’s campaign than at the world’s premier marijuana reform festival,” said Douglas Hiatt, chair of Sensible Washington and main author of I-1068, which failed to gain enough signatures to qualify for this year’s general election.
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National Black Police Association Endorses California’s Prop 19

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By on Legislation, News

Photo: Philly NORML
Neill Franklin, LEAP: “Californians finally have an opportunity to do something about it”

​​​A national group of African-American law enforcement officers has endorsed Proposition 19, the measure on this November’s ballot that would tax and regulate marijuana in California.

The National Black Police Association (NBPA), with more than two dozen chapters across the United States, announced the endorsement in Sacramento, where the organization is holding a national conference, reports Jesse McKinley at The New York Times.
“Prohibition takes a toll on people of color across the country,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which supports Prop 19.
“When I was a cop in Baltimore, and even before then when I was growing up there, I saw with my own eyes the devastating impact these misguided marijuana laws have on our communities and neighborhoods,” Franklin said.
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Islands Lawmakers Killing Legalization Bill; Will Be Put To Vote

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By on Global, Legislation

Photo: Saipan Realty
Can you say marijuana tourism? As soon as Saipan’s voters get around to legalizing marijuana — which they’ll soon have a chance to do — the stoner dollars will start pouring in, mine included.

​Imagine this: a tropical Pacific island paradise where weed is legal — and no passport is required to visit from the United States. While that dream may have just suffered a setback, it lives on and may soon be put up for a popular vote.

A House committee on Monday recommended killing a bill which would have legalized marijuana for all uses in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which includes Saipan, Tinian, Ascuncion and Rota islands in the Pacific. But the bill will be reintroduced as a legislative initiative to allow the people to vote on it, according to its sponsor.

Rep. Stanley Torres (I-Saipan), author of CNMI House Bill 17-47, said Monday he is “disappointed” that the committee decided to recommend killing his bill, reports Haidee V. Eugenio of the Saipan Tribune.
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Poll Gives California Pot Legalization Initiative 10-Point Lead

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By on Legislation, News

Graphic: Yes On Prop 19

​Support for Proposition 19, California’s Tax and Regulate Cannabis marijuana legalization initiative, is at 50 percent in the latest Survey USA poll, which was released Thursday. The figure is unchanged from last month’s Survey USA poll.

About 40 percent of respondents oppose Prop 19, which would allow Californians 21 or over to carry up to an ounce of pot and grow a 5×5 marijuana garden. The initiative would also give counties and cities the local option of permitting, taxing, and regulating marijuana sales and cultivation, reports Phillip Smith at StoptheDrugWar.org.
Other recent polls show similar levels of support for Prop 19. A Sacramento Bee/Field poll released last weekend showed support for a general marijuana legalization question at 51 percent.
Interestingly, ike other recent telephone polls, Thursday’s Survey USA poll shows higher levels of support for legalization than the face-to-face polls. Voters could be reluctant to say they support a controversial idea like cannabis legalization in a face-to-face encounter, but may do so in much greater numbers in the privacy of the voting booth, Smith points out.
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Anti-Prop 19 Group Claims Marijuana Leads To Meth, Cocaine

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By on Culture, Legislation



Screen Capture: Reality Catcher
The Stop Prop 19 people aren’t interested in your feedback on their little video. This is a one-way conversation, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!

​A far-right conservative political group called SaveCalifornia.com is turning its unwholesome attention from anti-gay marriage legislation, Prop 8, to fighting this year’s pro-marijuana legislation, Prop 19, the legalization measure on November’s California ballot.

The group’s inaugural television ad ignores decades of scientific evidence showing showing otherwise to claim that marijuana is a “gateway drug” leading to methamphetamine and cocaine, and that it’s the addiction most cited by teenagers in drug rehab (failing to mention that most of those teens were forced into “marijuana rehab” under threat of jail).
Tellingly, both comments and the “Like/Dislike” buttons have been turned off on the YouTube video. SaveCalifornia doesn’t want a dialogue with Californians — it wants to lecture Californians.
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Poll: Majority Supports Marijuana Legalization In California

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By on Legislation, News

Photo: Saigon Market
I’m assuming dude falls on the “Yes” side of the question.

​A small majority of California voters supports the legalization of adult cannabis use in the state, according to a new Sacramento Bee/Field Poll.

The poll is especially interesting because it gave voters a menu of options from which to choose their preferred marijuana policy, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at Firedoglake.
“Maintaining the current marijuana policy is in fact an extreme minority position in the state,” notes Walker. Only one third of voters supports strictly enforcing current laws against pot, or passing even tougher laws.
Combining the small group (4 percent) of voters who think marijuana should be legal for everyone with those who support legalizing and regulating it like alcohol results in a total of 51 percent supporting legalization.
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Good News: OR, MT Pot Cards Available To Out-Of-State Patients

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By on Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Medical Marijuana U.S.A.
If you’re an American with a qualifying medical condition, you can legally smoke marijuana in Oregon or Montana.

​If you’re an American with a qualifying medical condition, you can legally smoke marijuana in Oregon or Montana — whether you live there or not.

With the discovery of a loophole in Montana’s medical marijuana law, the Big Sky State joins Oregon in no longer requiring state residency to obtain legal authorization to use medicinal cannabis.

Montana health officials said Friday that patients don’t have to live in the state to receive medical marijuana cards.
The discovery was made after the Department of Public Health and Human Services reviewed plans to require a Montana driver’s license or state-issued ID, according to department spokesman Chuck Council.
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D.C. Medical Marijuana Patients Forced To Wait Until 2011

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By on Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Awesome DC
​Advocates Say Delays Come
At Cost To Patients

Patients in Washington, D.C., who are suffering from conditions such as cancer and HIV/AIDS will now be unnecessarily forced to wait even longer for relief, according to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

Agencies tasked with overseeing D.C.’s recently approved medical marijuana law will not have the authority to begin licensing providers or accepting patient applications until January 1, 2011, according to a series of proposed regulations released Friday by Mayor Adrian Fenty and the City Administrator.

The District still needs to consider and license potential applicants to manage medical marijuana dispensaries before patients can legally obtain medical marijuana to alleviate their symptoms. Under the District’s law, qualified patients will only be allowed to legally use marijuana that comes from a licensed dispensary.
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WA Supreme Court: Pot Smell Not Cause For Warrantless Search

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By on Legislation, News

Photo: Criminal Justice Collaboratory

​The strong odor of marijuana coming from a stopped vehicle is not sufficient cause for a warrantless search, the Washington Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 majority on Thursday.

Six years of pro bono work by attorney Sharon Blackford paid off, as the court reversed rulings that had been made at the District Court, Superior Court, and Court of Appeals, all of which had upheld the search under the “exigent circumstances” exception to the search warrant requirement.
“We hold the search State v. Tibbles… was not justified by exigent circumstances and the evidence obtained as a result of the search should have been suppressed,” the court ruled. “Accordingly, we reverse the Court of Appeals.”
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Video: America’s Drug War Destroyed In Under Five Minutes

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By on Culture, Legislation


Photo: Netroots Nation
“Radical” Russ Belville: “Three in four cannabis users are white, but it’s blacks and Latinos that spend the brunt of the time for punishment”

​America’s War On Drugs is admittedly an easy target.

It’s never really made sense, it’s never really had the intended results (even while increasing prices and cartel profits, overfilling our jails, and shredding our Bill of Rights), and it’s increasingly unpopular with the public.

But it’s still a thrill to see “Radical” Russ Belville of NORML and Stephen Gutwillig of the Drug Policy Alliance rip the Drug War mentality and methods to shreds in just 4:47 via this video from Netroots Nation.

(Did you know that the U.S.A., with one-fifth the population, has more people in prison than does China? Well, we do. And it’s time to change that.)

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