Though it was a slim one, medical marijuana actually had a chance in Louisiana this year. “Had”, of course, being the operative word here.
Yesterday a medical cannabis bill that arguably would have set up the most restrictive in the country was shot down by the state Senate Health and Welfare Committee.
The state of Florida continues to edge closer to passing some sort of reasonable medical marijuana legislation, but not everyone in the state is happy about it. We have been reporting on the totally predictable knee-jerk opposition from the state sheriff’s association, but as the Florida state legislature is beginning to make moves to legitimize the plant for medical needs, anti-cannabis groups have decided to enter the political arena as well.
Drug Free Florida is an anti-marijuana group whose sole purpose is to oppose, and eventually defeat, the amendment scheduled for a vote this November to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Funded by a 6-digit donation from Mel Sembler (a local land developer, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Australia, and long-time money bundler for the Republican Party), the group’s ties to the GOP do not end there.
The Arizona Legislature adjourned last week, and despite more than 200 bills being signed into law, very few will have any effect on most people.
There were some very good proposals that didn’t pass, which probably would have made Arizona a better place to live and do business. Check out the Phoenix New times picks for 10 bills that should have passed, but didn’t.
The senate version of a bill that would legalize marijuana for medical use in Minnesota got its first hearing Thursday, undergoing two hours of testimony and proving that the issue is not dead. Time ran out before members of the Health, Human Services and Housing Committee could vote, but they plan to resume discussion when they return from Easter/Passover break.
We reported earlier this week that all hopes for medical marijuana in Minnesota this year were gone. We’re happy to report we were wrong.
A bill legalizing the use, cultivation and sales of medical cannabis introduced last year by State Senator Scott Dibble, a Democrat from Minneapolis, will be considered by a state Senate committee later today.
Pot paranoia has been quickly sweeping through the Colorado state legislature, with lawmakers crafting whatever schemes they can to butt in where they aren’t needed in order to combat a non-existent problem.
Case-in-point: last week the Denver coroner made a political statement by including marijuana consumption as a major contributing factor to the suicide-like
death of a 19-year-old college student who had consumed a pot cookie. As any cannabis consumer can tell you, marijuana doesn’t make you forget the laws of physics nor does it turn people into raging maniacs bent on causing harm to others or themselves.
Colorado’s proposed Senate Bills 177 and 178 have the potential to seriously threaten parents who chose to occasionally use state-legal cannabis in their homes, even when children aren’t in any danger whatsoever.
The proposed bills would clarify a “drug-endangered child” with regard to child abuse and neglect cases. Both bills seem to be a second attempt from Sen. Linda Newell, a Democrat from Littleton, to create a hard definition of child endangerment that includes marijuana and doesn’t take into consideration Amendment 64’s passage or medical marijuana exemptions.
| Minnesota state capitol. |
At one point yesterday it looked as though the Minnesota legislature would vote on a medical cannabis bill by the time they adjourned for a two-week Passover/Easter break later today. But now it looks like would-be Minnesota medical marijuana patients are going to have to wait at least two weeks before the issue gets picked up again.
| Rappaport Center/Flickr. |
| Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. |
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh says he will be fighting the applications of two medical marijuana dispensaries in his city in a meddling letter to state Public Health officials this week. In the letter, he tells the state health department that he expects “swift and uniform” denials if the applications have any inaccuracies in them whatsoever.
The Maryland legislature approved a bill decriminalizing the possession of ten grams of cannabis or less earlier this week, and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says he will not stand in the way.