We’ve told you already today about the close race in Florida to legalize medical marijuana, but there’s at least three other major marijuana votes today to keep an eye on.
Browsing: Medical
| Robert Platshorn, legendary smuggler and marijuana legalization proponent. |
Florida voters today will decide whether or not to legalize limited amounts of marijuana for medical use. While the measure initially polled well, it’s approval has fallen in recent weeks and supporters say they need every last vote they can muster — notably that of the state’s large senior population.
With such a possible historical swing in the offing, we decided to touch base with one of Florida’s biggest proponents of marijuana reform, a guy who’s truly given his life to the cause: Robert Platshorn. But even Bobby Tuna himself is iffy on the amendment’s chances.
“At this point, I think it’s 51 percent we will, and 49 percent we won’t pass amendment two,” Platshorn told New Times Monday afternoon. “I’m concerned because of the way the polls have yo-yoed up and down. And the fact that the no campaign was able to run what was virtually a Reefer Madness campaign.”
Too lazy to get off the couch to pick up your pot? Soon, you’ll be able to order your weed with the tap of a finger.
The app Nestdrop, which already delivers alcohol on demand, is expanding to marijuana with a soft launch in L.A. at the end of October. Co-founder Michael Pycher says the app will offer delivery, within the hour, for valid patients in a broad area between Downtown, Manhattan Beach and Encino/Tarzana.
| Buddha Tahoe OG. |
A somewhat surprising number of Florida’s biggest and most influential newspapers have come out against medical marijuana. The Orlando Sentinel, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Florida Times-Union are just a few. None of those editorials actually bashes the idea of medical marijuana. They’re cool with it, in theory. They just think that it should be an issue decided on by the Florida Legislature and that the amendment is too vague and will cause some sort of abuse. What kind of abuse? No one knows — the editorials are being very vague about it.
This of course ignores two key points:
1. There is no way the Florida Legislature in its current Republican-controlled form will legalize medical marijuana (and this amendment failing will give it more reasons not to do so).
2. Floridians already smoke tons and tons and tons of marijuana.
More at the Miami New Times.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor in her apartment outside of Houston, Faith’s mother looks over at the toddler repeatedly as she talks. There are no physical indicators that signal the start of a seizure, but Faith’s mother can tell one is on its way. Everything about raising Faith involves watching and waiting, and today is no different.
Suddenly, Faith’s mom jumps up, her words stalling mid-sentence, and makes her way to the mat where the chocolate-haired child is lying. She plops down next to her daughter, gives her moon face and chubby-cherub limbs a once-over, and places a hand across her tiny chest, feeling for any sign of what’s to come. It’s an unnerving ritual, the watching and waiting, but Faith’s mom can feel what is happening in her own bones. She knows that Faith is about to seize.
The Houston Press took a look at medical marijuana refugees from Texas, and it’s a compelling read.
As we enter the final stretch for elections, news had been quite somber for the passage of medical marijuana. After a year of strong initial polling that indicated Amendment 2 would be pushed through by voters, recent weeks have shown that the initiative was in danger of falling short and failing to pass. One pollster even said medical marijuana in Florida “is done.”
But a new poll conducted in the past week by public opinion research firm Anzalone Liszt Grove — called one of the most reliable pollsters by FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver — shows that Amendment 2 is still very much alive and, according to this data, will pass come November 4.
Did marijuana contribute to — and perhaps even cause — the death of Michael Brown, whose shooting by a police officer caused weeks of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri? That’s the implication of a blog post by Dr. Christian Thurstone, an addiction specialist who’s also a major player in Project SAM, a national organization fighting to prevent greater access to cannabis.
Project SAM has already distanced itself from Thurstone’s post after initially hyping it, following a Twitter spat with marijuana reformers. Meanwhile, Thurstone’s position echoes previous suggestions by Christine Tatum, his wife and co-blogger, that pot may have played a role in the Boston Marathon bombing and the Columbine and Aurora theater shootings. Denver Westword has more.
| Andre Maestas, from Facebook. |
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (yes, that Maricopa County) is prosecuting a college student with a medical-marijuana card for felony possession of less than a gram of weed.
Andre Lee Juwaun Maestas, a 19-year-old Arizona State University student, could end up with a felony on his record, probation and stiff fines because of the March discovery of about .6 grams of marijuana and some smoking paraphernalia in his dorm room.
Medical-marijuana patients are still at risk for a DUI conviction simply for having trace amounts of THC in their bloodstreams, the state Court of Appeals confirmed on Tuesday.
In a 3-0 ruling with disclaimers by one judge, the court upheld the conviction of a Mesa man despite an apparent exception for such prosecutions in the voter-approved, 2010 medical-pot law.
Arizona, if you haven’t heard, has a zero-tolerance law against drivers with marijuana metabolites in their veins, medical card or not. Our May 2013 feature article, “Riding High,” covered how it was possible for patients or illegal cannabis users to be convicted for DUI even when impairment wasn’t a factor, and even when the only metabolite found was carboxy-THC, a molecule known to be inactive.
| Commons/Spmenic. |
The city of Seattle has sent letters to about 330 medical marijuana shops telling them that they have to get licensed by the state or face penalties if they don’t shut down. The rub? There is no state license for them to obtain.
According to Seattle PI, the City of Seattle has rules that force any marijuana business with more than 45 plants or 72 ounces of herb on hand to get a license. Seattle has suspended the rule for the most part, but the letters seem to indicate a shift is coming.