Red state are going green. We have recently reported that Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, and Alabama, which are all predominantly republican, are making strides towards legalization, or at least decriminalization, of marijuana.
Today we are adding another to that list — Wyoming.
Under the guise of helping sick patients find relief, Maryland created the country’s most restrictive medical marijuana program last year that limits distribution to people who sign up for university-run studies licensed through the state. The program is so strict that many medical marijuana advocacy groups don’t consider Maryland to be a true medical marijuana state.
Lawmakers were quick to pat themselves on the back for being so progressive, but nearly a year later the reality is that the program has gone nowhere and sick Marylanders are still without access to legal medical marijuana.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court OK’d the language in a proposed ballot initiative, so Florida voters this November will get to vote on whether or not to legalize medical marijuana.
Surely, stoners compassionate medical professionals are going are going to come out in full force to vote this thing through and see that weed is enshrined in the state constitution. (I can’t believe this is happening in my lifetime! Black president and weed in the constitution!)
So, next question: Who will profit? Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the full story.
Despite opposition from Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Supreme Court of Florida officially ruled today that a ballot question that could approve use of medical marijuana is perfectly valid. This means that the question will now all but certainly come before voters in November.
Bondi had challenged the proposed amendment on the grounds that it was worded vaguely and pertained to more than one issue. Amendments put before voters can only address a single subject. No word on how big of a brick Bondi has shat, but Miami New Times has the full details.
A full-on medical marijuana bill in Georgia is still years away, but limited access to beneficial parts of the cannabis plant may be relaxed as state Rep. Allen Peake, a Republican from Macon, says he’ll be introducing a medical cannabis bill this week.
According to Peake, the bill would allow for epileptic patients and patients suffering from seizures to apply for a permit from an academic medical center to possesses and use high-CBD oil, which would come from Colorado.
Advocates of medical marijuana met their goal — they collected enough signatures to see that the issue gets posed to voters on this November’s ballot.
Elections officials announced today they they verified 710,508 signatures that were submitted — enough to force a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment. If approved, growing, selling, and using pot for medicinal purposes will be a right enshrined in the state constitution. Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the details.
After New Jersey Governor Chris Christie caught his breath from the walk to the podium to give his 2nd-term inauguration speech on Tuesday, he made a lot of headlines by vowing to “end the failed war on drugs”.
His plan, an inevitable failure in its own right like so many others’ before him, is to treat “addiction” with treatment, rather than incarceration. Of course, he makes no mention of those already unfairly incarcerated in New Jersey on trumped up drug charges, and how to…ahem… balance those scales. As Jacob Sullum writes for Forbes, why should otherwise law-abiding citizens be forced into a situation where they may be forced to decide between rehabilitation and incarceration?
| Florida Gov. Rick Scott. |
Florida Gov. Rick Scott said yesterday that he would vote against a medical marijuana ballot initiative that could come before voters this fall, but that’s about all he can do. A ballot initiative approved by voters can’t be vetoed by Scott’s office.
Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA hospitals, says he has empathy for sick Floridians, but that he can’t bring himself to approve of a freely available plant to help them. Instead, he conflated the issue and associated medical cannabis with alcohol and other illegal drug use.
Oklahoma is not a state where you want to get caught with pot. First-offenders caught with even a flake of bud face up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines. Cultivation or sales can net you anywhere from a mandatory two years to life life in jail.
State Sen. Constance Johnson, a Democrat from Oklahoma City, says it’s time to change that. Johnson has introduced Senate Bill 2116, which would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of pot for adults 21 and up as well as the personal cultivation of up to five plants. The bill would also license commercial growers and retail marijuana stores as well as lessen penalties for those under 21.
Despite medical cannabis being legalized in the state, the Illinois Department of Public Health clearly thinks medical marijuana users are still criminals. Proposed rules for the program unveiled yesterday by the department would require all patients to be fingerprinted and undergo a background check before they could use the plant.
Thankfully, these are just draft proposals and there will be plenty of time for public comment on these stupid, onerous restrictions.