| Ray Stern. |
Arizonans who want to fight marijuana prohibition in this state have two strong allies in powerful positions: State Senator Kimberly Yee and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.
Like would-be leaders of a modern-day women’s temperance movement, the two Arizona politicians share a strong belief that cannabis users deserve to be jailed, and that the legalization movement sweeping the country should be literally nipped in the buds.
Look, we know we don’t have to tell you all that marijuana prohibition just doesn’t work. We know it’s preaching to the choir to tell you all that marijuana laws are enforced wildly unequally between white people and minorities and that, despite the same rates of usage, a black man is far more likely to be arrested for pot than a white man is. And you certainly know that states spend millions upon millions each year fighting simple marijuana possession crimes.
The Georgia Senate last night approved a limited medical cannabis bill that will allow for CBD-based oils for children with severe seizure disorders at the very last minute, saving the measure from dying out for the session. But the controversial addition of a completely unrelated measure requiring health insurers to cover behavioral therapy for children under six who have autism ended up killing the bill outright.
Like any politician these days, Senator Claire McCaskill wants to talk about jobs, the economy, and how she can create more jobs and a better economy. But during her town-hall meetings across Missouri this week, McCaskill was bombarded with questions about marijuana legalization — and she’s really surprised about that.
Fortunately, that didn’t stop people from asking McCaskill about marijuana reform, including whether rape survivors and war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder should be allowed to medicate with marijuana instead of powerful pharmaceutical painkillers.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, misdemeanor marijuana possession charges have dropped dramatically since voters passed Initiative-502 in 2012. Court records show that there were only 120 low-level cases brought to the courts in 2013 compared to a whopping 5,531 in 2012. They say that represents a major shift in law enforcement priorities towards real crimes.
But talk to the King County prosecutor’s office and you’ll get a different story: misdemeanor pot charges weren’t a major issue before the laws, and they aren’t really now.
| Geert Kuipers/Flickr. |
Update: Patients will soon be able to access medicine at dispensaries in the city of Las Vegas as well as in unincorporated parts of Clark County, Nevada.
The Clark County Board of Commissioners last night approved licensing rules and say they could begin accepting applications for dispensaries by mid-April. Clark County commission Chairman Steve Sisolak called the move “monumental”.
High Times will once again be a Mile High on the 4/20 holiday, when the magazine will bring its now-annual Cannabis Cup back to Denver. But do recent shutdowns of other cannabis-friendly events in the city mean that attendees won’t enjoy the same huge clambake that has marked the last three Cups?
According to promoters, the event will once again be filled with speakers, grow workshops, live music and plenty of national and international vendors — much like last year’s.
April 1, 2014 could mark the end of home cultivation for Canadian medical marijuana patients, as new regulations that force MMJ users into a state-run dispensary system are set to begin that day.
But patients upset over having to destroy their gardens have petitioned to have the rule blocked and potentially overturned, arguing that they have the right to freely cultivate their medicine instead of being priced out of a consumer market.
| DopeCoin.com |
Medical and recreational cannabis is big business in several states, but dispensaries and customers are increasingly only able to accept and use cold, hard cash as banks refuse credit accounts for fear of federal prosecution.
But two software developers say they are working around that problem by creating the first digital currency targeted specifically for state-legal pot businesses.
Poll numbers about how many Floridians support legalizing medical marijuana seem to be all over the place — well, except below the 60 percent necessary it would need to pass. A new University of North Florida poll shows that 74 percent of Floridians intend to vote to legalize medicinal pot in November. That’s down from 82 percent in a poll from November, but again, unless there’s some dramatic shift, all signs continue to point to this thing passing.