Washington D.C. council member Tommy Wells wants to stop making criminals D.C. residents for possession of small amounts of cannabis, and will introduce legislation today to do just that.
Wells, a democratic candidate for mayor, announced his plans to make possession of less than an ounce a civil fine with a $100 fine as the maximum punishment. The goal, he says, is to end the criminalization of youth in his community.
| New Jersey Governor Chris Christie isn’t sympathetic to severely sick children. |
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spent most of the day Monday with his wife Pat, and his good buddy, and fellow Jersey boy, Jon Bon Jovi at Borough Hall in Sayreville, N.J. They gathered in front of a hand-chosen crowd to celebrate a very generous one million dollar donation made by the rock-star to the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, which is chaired by the Governor’s wife. So that explains why two out of the three were there, at least.
Meanwhile, it has been five days since we last reported on recently approved changes to the state’s medical marijuana laws that would help extremely sick kids get access to cannabis if needed. The Democrats who lead the state legislature pushed the bill to the Governor’s desk on June 25th, or two weeks ago, where it sits waiting for the Governor’s signature. But c’mon, its Bon frickin JOVI!
After the Michigan Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that dispensaries have no legal grounds to operate in the state shutting down all but a handful of dispensaries, thousands of patients were left without a reliable and safe means of accessing medicine.
State lawmakers see that as a problem, and are currently in talks over a bill that would legalize and regulate the dispensaries reports Jake Neher with Michigan Public Radio.
Oregon medical marijuana dispensaries – roughly 150 or so – are one step closer to have a set of state guidelines after lawmakers last week approved a bill creating a medical marijuana dispensary program by a 32 to 27 vote.
House Bill 3460 is now awaiting the signature of Gov. John Kitzhaber to become law. If passed, the bill would not create any new taxes and the industry would pay for the regulations through licensing fees.
Marijuana possession and cultivation penalties in Oregon have been cut in half thanks to Gov. John Kitzhaber’s signature on two bills earlier this week.
Kitzhaber Monday signed SB 40 and SB 82, which eases marijuana penalties in the state for those caught with over an ounce and eliminates a provision that suspends driver’s licenses for possession of less than one ounce.
Yesterday, the Colorado Department of Revenue and the Marijuana Enforcement Division jointly released emergency rules for the marijuana industry promulgated without any public input or testimony so that the industry can begin being licensed and selling to adults over 21 by January 1, 2014.
The agencies stress that these mandates are temporary, meant only as placeholders until permanent rules are adopted later this year after the public has had a chance to give their input at future rule-making meetings. Denver Westword went over the edicts and pointed out a few of the more interesting tidbits. Click over to Westword to check them out followed by the complete document and a press release from the DOR and the MED.
Ex-crackhead Rep. Darryl Rouson, who sponsored the bill that eventually became the “bong ban” law on Monday, is unhappy about how watered down it turned out to be, when all was said and done.
Rouson believes that The Pot is a gateway drug to things like The Crack. Therefore, he worked diligently for years on a bill he hoped would ban all bongs, glass bowls, roach clips, and other things that can be used as a marijuana smoking device. But the final bill basically says that head shops can sell the devices, as long as they’re for tobacco only, thus creating the raddest loophole ever, man. The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the full story.
Patrick Kennedy, the former Democratic Congressman from Rhode Island, is not a fan of marijuana legalization, and he wants everyone to know about it. The son of the late Teddy Kennedy, the wildly popular long time Senator from Massachusetts, Patrick is riding the coattails of his family name on a whirlwind media tour to promote his new prohibitionist group, SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana).
After visits to nationally syndicated cable television shows like Bill Maher and Piers Morgan, Kennedy’s latest soapbox comes in the form of an op-ed piece that was graciously printed by the notoriously conservative and anti-cannabis San Diego Union-Tribune.
In the piece, Kennedy says, “When I woke up after the 2012 election, two states had voted to legalize marijuana. That day I also ‘woke up’ to how naive I had been. ”
Post-traumatic stress disorder isn’t just a media buzzword. It’s mental and often physical suffering that affects millions of people to varying degrees, often making life unlivable. In recent years, cannabis has been shown – albeit anecdotal – to help improve PTSD symptoms yet many states with medical marijuana laws still don’t allow it as a qualifying condition.
When most people think of Jamaica, the first two things that come to mind are usually relaxing reggae music and killer cannabis. Yet, even though weed is widely accepted in public on the irie isle and brings in big tourism dollars, smoking marijuana is still technically illegal in Jamaica.
In an attempt to capitalize on a rise in support for marijuana decriminalization, organizations like the Ganja Law Reform Coalition and the Rastafari Millennium Council are making a push to convince the Jamaican government to end 100 years of prohibition on the marijuana plant.