Legislation

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42 Members of WA Legislature Ask DEA To Reschedule Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 27, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

The Washington State Capitol building in Olympia

History was made on Wednesday as 42 members of the Washington Legislature petitioned the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule marijuana from its current Schedule I status to a less restrictive classification to allow for its medical use.

“I don’t think a state legislature has done this before,” Seattle-based activist Philip Dawdy told Toke of the Town Thursday evening.

Among the lawmakers signing the letter to DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart was Rep. Timm Ormsby, brother of federal prosecutor Michael Ormsby, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington. Ormsby, along with Western Washington U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, last year oversaw a federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Appeal Challenges DEA Denial To Reschedule Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 26, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Prohibition’s End

Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Thursday filed an appeal brief in the D.C. Circuit to compel the federal government to reclassify marijuana for medical use.

In July 2011, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denied a petition filed in 2002 by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), which was denied only after the coalition sued the government for unreasonable delay. The ASA brief filed on January 26 is an appeal of the CRC rescheduling denial.

“By ignoring the wealth of scientific evidence that clearly shows the therapeutic value of marijuana, the Obama Administration is playing politics at the expensive of sick and dying Americans,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the appeal Thursday.

German Parliament To Discuss Cannabis Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 25, 2012 Dispensaries, Global, Legislation, News

Alaskan Activism

Germany’s socialist Left party is calling an expert hearing on “legalizing cannabis through the introduction of cannabis clubs” in the German Parliament on Wednesday, January 25, but the idea has reportedly been met with “widespread rejection” from mainstream politicians.

The Left party is proposing that Germans be allowed to open cannabis clubs where members can grow marijuana, reports PanArmenian.net. They also recommend that consumers be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of pot for personal use, double the current limit in Germany.

The proposal was written by Frank Tempel, former director of an anti-drug group that worked with police in the eastern German state of Thuringia, reports The Local. Tempel, who is now the Left party’s advisor on drug policy, said there needs to be a sea change in Germany’s attitude to marijuana.

Canada’s NDP Against The Drug War: End Prohibition Survey

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 25, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

EndProhibition.ca

Candidates for leadership of Canada’s NDP were unanimous this week in their support for ending the Drug War, according to a survey released by Vancouver-based End Prohibition.

The survey, released on the heels of a new federal Liberal Party policy calling for marijuana legalization — and new polling showing two-thirds of Canadians support legalization/decriminalization — demonstrates the new political consensus in Canada: The Drug War has failed, and it’s time to regulate cannabis.

“What we see here is a major shift in Canadian politics, where there is wide acknowledgement that the drug war has failed, and that a non-criminal, regulatory approach has unanimous support among the opposition parties,” said Dana Larsen, executive director of End Prohibition. “The question is not should we end the war on marijuana, but rather when we do, what should regulation look like?”

Marijuana Bills Have Public Support: Showdown In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Growing, Legislation, News

indybay.org

The California Legislature will soon be voting on two marijuana reform bills that seem to be more popular with the public than with the politicians in Sacramento: SB 129 by Sen. Mark Leno, which would prohibit employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 by Rep. Tom Ammiano, which would allow for reduced, misdemeanor charges in marijuana cultivation cases.

Both bills have strong public support according to a newly released poll of state voters by EMC Research [PDF]. However, both have had trouble getting through the Legislature, where they must be approved by January 31 in order to stay alive.

79-Year-Old Iowa State Senator Drafts Medical Marijuana Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Senator Gene Fraise

Iowa state Senator Gene Fraise says introducing a medical marijuana bill will force a conversation and help lawmakers come to a consensus on the topic

A new call for Iowa lawmakers to consider legalizing marijuana for medical uses is coming from an unlikely source. State Senator Gene Fraise, a 79-year-old Democrat from Fort Madison, has drafted a bill on the issue.

Fraise, who has been in the state Senate for 26 years, is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is a member of several corrections-related committees, reports the Associated Press.

Senator Fraise is a busy man; he’s also vice chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee and serves on a justice budgeting committee.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy recommended in 2010 that state lawmakers reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug to allow its medicinal use, but the Legislature apparently hasn’t been able to summon up the cojones to act on the recommendation.

Fraise said he’s personally undecided on the issue. But he said introducing a medical marijuana bill will force a conversation and help lawmakers come to a consensus on the topic.

S.F. Starts Back Issuing Medical Marijuana Dispensary Permits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

THC Finder

San Francisco has started back issuing medical marijuana dispensary permits again, after a recent California Supreme Court decision allowing the shops to stay open — for now.

The city’s permitting process had been on hold for a few months after the state appeals court ruling in Pack v. Long Beach, reports Chris Roberts at the SF Weekly. That ruling — which held that cities and counties can’t regulate marijuana, since it’s against federal law — led local governments throughout the state to suspend, repeal, or reconsider their dispensary regulations.

Since the state Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal, the lower court’s ruling has become invalidated, according to a spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office. So the S.F. Department of Health’s medical marijuana dispensary permitting process can start back as normal, and several proposed shops which had been put on hold can finally receive the go-ahead to open their doors.

Medical Marijuana Bill Goes Before Virginia House Committee

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Legislation, Medical

CBS 6

Delegate David Englin hopes to revitalize a 30-year-old Virginia law which allows marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes

A medical marijuana bill is scheduled to go before a Virginia House committee on Tuesday.

Northern Virginia Delegate David Englin hopes to revitalize a 30-year-old Virginia law which allows marijuana to be legally used for medicinal purposes, reports Jerrita Patterson at CBS 6.

The bill, if passed, would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for the treatment of medical conditions such as cancer and glaucoma. (Aye, that’s the hang. Doctor’s can’t “prescribe” a drug considered Schedule I by the feds; see below.)

Warrants Needed For GPS Tracking, Supreme Court Rules

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Legislation, News

Commentopia

Big Victory: Obama Administration Dealt Stinging, Unanimous Rebuke By High Court

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that law enforcement authorities need a probable-cause warrant from a judge to affix a GPS device to a vehicle and monitor its movements.

The decision [PDF] in what is likely the biggest Fourth Amendment case in the computer age rejected the Obama Administration’s position that American citizens have no right to privacy in their public movements, reports David Kravets at Wired.

Judge Rules Federal Law Trumps Montana’s Med Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Missoulian

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled on Friday that Montana’s medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under federal law even if they are strictly following state law

A federal judge has ruled that Montana’s medical marijuana program doesn’t shield providers of cannabis from federal prosecution.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on Friday is another blow to Montana’s medical marijuana industry, reports the Associated Press. Montana’s medicinal cannabis community was already on the ropes; in the past year, it has seen tough, new state restrictions, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, as well as federal raids by Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Judge Molloy ruled that medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under the federal Controlled Substances Act even if they are strictly following state law. He cited the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which says that federal law prevails if there is any conflict between state and federal statutes.

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