Browsing: Legislation

Though many say the bill has a snowball’s chance in a forest fire of passing, Pennsylvania’s proposed recreational marijuana legalization bill received the support of the NAACP yesterday.
In a press conference, David Scott with the Pennsylvania NAACP, called the war on drugs a “catastrophic failure” and said the bill would be a step towards addressing the racial disparity among marijuana arrests in the state. Figures show blacks are more than five times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites in Pennsylvania, despite studies showing usage rates between whites and blacks are about the same.

A Colorado medical marijuana dispensary.

The state of Oregon is one step closer to having a single, statewide set of medical marijuana dispensary rules today. The state House yesterday gave approval to House Bill 3460, which sponsors say will legitimize the roughly 150 cannabis collectives already existing in the state.
The bill passed on a 31 to 27 margin, with several legislators arguing that the bill doesn’t do enough to ensure cannabis is going to medical patients in need and not hippies who want weed.

A video still of Vivian Wilson from NBC New York.

Update 6/25/2013: The New Jersey General Assembly approved changes to the state medical marijuana laws that will help severely sick children access beneficial medical cannabis.
The bill now heads to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been reluctant in the past to implement state medical marijuana laws and has been a vocal critic of making medical cannabis available to children.

Oregon legislators are set to vote this week – possibly even today – on creating a program through the state health department to regulate medical marijuana businesses.
Legislators say the program is needed because dispensaries currently operate under a hodgepodge of regulations while advocates point out that keeping dispensaries legal and operation is key to patient medicine access. Not every one of the 53,000 registered medical marijuana has the ability to grow cannabis, and medical marijuana centers allow a safe and legal point to procure their pot.

Update 6/21/2013: Well, it seems the small success that hemp advocates saw yesterday was short lived. The House rejected the farm bill with the hemp amendment that would have allowed for universities to grow and study the plant.
Not only that, but it seems it was purely symbolic, considering Colorado Rep. Jared Polis – who sponsored the amendment – ended up voting against the farm bill as a whole. Don’t you just love the American government system sometimes?

According to Mexican news sources, members of the Party of the Democratic Revolution are drafting laws that would allow people to cultivate cannabis at home, smoke it at specific clubs and bars and possess up to 25 grams.
Currently, possession of up to five grams of cannabis is decriminalized in Mexico along with small amounts of other drugs like LSD and cocaine.

New Hampshire state house.

The New Hampshire House and Senate both approved medical marijuana bills this past session, but the differences between the two proposals were big enough that the two legislative bodies were forced to hammer out their differences in a joint committee.
And from the latest reports, it seems they’ve reached a compromise.

A sample Michigan medical marijuana card.

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan are reopening using a new model this month after being shut down since February thanks to a state Supreme Court ruling making patient-to-patient sales illegal.
Higher Expectations Medical Partnership in Battle Creek, Michigan says his shop now doesn’t have any marijuana on site to sell anymore. Instead, HEMP acts as a clearinghouse for caregivers and patients – a relationship that is still allowed by state law.

Last week, defense attorneys weighed in on a damning March report aimed at the Colorado toxicology lab, which conducts blood tests for cases of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
Now several activists and attorneys have said that the release of the report was postponed until June for fear it would undermine the THC driving bill, which passed last month after two failed attempts. Now, NORML (which was in favor of THC driving limits just a few months ago) wants the state legislature to revisit the law. Denver Westword has the rest.

Oklahoma toughened their marijuana driving laws this week, creating a limit of zero THC in a driver’s blood and setting it as a per se limit. That means that if you have any marijuana or marijuana metabolites in your system whatsoever, you’re guilty of driving under the influence.
So, if it wasn’t already on your list of life rules, you should add DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH OKLAHOMA on there. Sorry Oklahoman’s but your state is about as far from being okay with marijuana as it gets.

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