An amended version of a bill that would end Louisiana’s draconian three-strikes law for some marijuana crimes has finally made its way through the house.
But it could be a tight squeeze to get the bill through. The Louisiana Senate adjourns next week, leaving little time to have the bill heard, debated and voted on before the politicians leave Baton Rouge for the year.
The New York General Assembly yesterday approved a bill that would reduce he penalties for public display of small amounts of marijuana.
Assembly Bill 6716, introduced by Brooklyn Assemblymember Karim Camara, would make public display of marijuana a ticketable offense instead of one that mandates jail time. The law somewhat aligns public display laws with private possession laws passed in 1977 that decriminalized up to 25 grams of marijuana.
| Eric Garcetti. |
Just over a week ago, on May 21st, the voters in the city of Los Angeles resoundingly passed Proposition D, an ordinance designed to raise taxes on sales of medical marijuana and limit the total number of allowable weed dispensaries in the city to 135 storefronts or less. On that same ballot was a hotly contested and grossly over-funded mayoral race pitting two openly pro-cannabis Democratic candidates against one another, resulting in a dominant win for LA City Councilman Eric Garcetti who captured 54% of the vote.
In spite of one of the lowest voter turnouts in the city’s history, Garcetti overcame the aggressive financial campaigning that Los Angeles’ most powerful labor unions could throw at him, becoming the city’s 42nd mayor, and earning himself the power to rule over everything from potholes to pot shops in the nation’s second largest city.
Yesterday, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper made his mark on six marijuana bills, pushing retail sale of recreational pot closer to becoming a reality and putting at least a temporary end to quandaries that occupied the legislature throughout much of the just-concluded session.
“Clearly, we are charting new territory,” Hickenlooper said at the event. “Other states haven’t been through this process in the same way we have. Recreational marijuana is really a completely new entity.” Denver Westword. has the local angle.
| Israel Minister of Health Yael German. |
Facing increasing opposition from doctors and patients who support and depend on the use of medical marijuana, Israel’s Minister of Health, Yael German, has seen her Facebook page dominated by dissent, and a full-scale hunger protest form on her front lawn.
The protests spawned from a recent increase on the regulations that govern the country’s blooming medical marijuana program, specifically on what illnesses would be eligible for treatment with some Kosher Kush.
| Lloyd Casey. |
When Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signs a hemp-farming registry bill later this morning, no one will be happier than Lloyd Casey. The 86-year-old former state senator, who now lives in Ohio, first introduced a hemp-legalization bill in the mid-1990s, but was rebuffed not once but twice by powerful interests, including a DEA agent who still rankles him nearly twenty years later.
“I said, ‘Goddamn it, I’m going to live long enough to make this happen, and I’d love to rub your face in it,'” he recalls — and he’s scheduled to be on hand to witness today’s signing. Denver Westword has his story.
| New Hampshire state house. |
The New Hampshire Senate yesterday gave approval to House Bill 573, which will legalize the medical use of cannabis for patients with qualifying conditions.
But the question of whether medical marijuana patients should be allowed to grow their own medicine is still up for debate, though. The bill originally passed by the House back in March allowed for home cultivation, but thanks to pressure from Gov. Maggie Hassan, the Senate removed those provisions. The New Hampshire House and Senate will now have to iron out their differences before sending final language off to Hassan.
In an attempt to add clarity to California’s oft misconstrued medical marijuana laws, the state Senate voted 22-12 yesterday in favor of Senate Bill 439, which aims to provide protection for dispensary owners in exchange for much more strict regulation.
The new legislation cuts through any previous confusion on compensation, making it clear that dispensaries cannot operate at a profit. Owners of dispensaries would be allowed to receive reasonable compensation and reimbursement of certain expenses, and would also be able to offer pay and benefits to their employees.
The Illinois senate Friday approved House Bill 1, which would create a state-regulated medical marijuana patient program as well as authorize state-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries. Lawmakers say they have created one of the strictest programs in the nation.
But Governor Pat Quinn says he’s still considering the bill, though he told reporters earlier today that he remains “open minded” on the issue. Lt. Gov. Shelia Simon has publicly expressed her support for the bill.
A proposal to decriminalize marijuana across the state will have a hearing this morning at the Missouri House of Representatives — which appears to be the farthest this effort has ever gone in the legislature. It will not, however, make it much farther this time around given that today is the last day of the legislative session.
Still, supportive lawmakers and marijuana reform advocates from Show-Me Cannabis are celebrating the opportunity to have the issue finally debated in this setting. “It’s a big step forward for Missouri,” State Rep. Rory Ellinger, a University City Democrat, tells the Riverfront Times, which as the rest of this story.