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.
In the latest issue of the New Yorker, President Barack Obama says marijuana isn’t more dangerous than alcohol and is actually less so in at least one significant way.
Obama, who admits to smoking pot during his younger years but has spoken critically about the substance, hasn’t turned into a cheerleader for weed.
But Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Mason Tvert is still upbeat about the President’s statements and hopes they signal more progressive cannabis policies on the part of his administration. Denver Westword has more.
Three Maryland lawmakers say they are crafting a bill that would legalize cannabis use and possession for adults 21 and up in an effort to curb illegal drug trafficking and funnel new tax dollars to schools and drug treatment programs.
The Marijuana Control Act of 2014 would also allow Marylanders to cultivate up to six plants at home.
Alabama state Rep. Mike Ball wants to legalize medical cannabis for sick and ailing Alabamans, but he doesn’t want the whole plant. Instead, Ball says he will be pushing for a bill that allows for high-CBD oils derived from cannabis but not for the outright legalization of the cannabis plant as a whole for medical purposes.
“This CBD oil bill is very high on my list of priorities,” Ball told Montgomery, Alabama’s ABC 31. He says the idea for the bill came after meeting a child in his district suffering from a severe seizure disorder.
The Arizona Department of Health Services again denied adding PTSD, depression, and migraines to the list of medical conditions that qualify people for a medical-marijuana card.
DHS Director Will Humble wrote on his blog that he “didn’t approve the petitions because of the lack of published data regarding the risks and benefits of using Cannabis to treat or provide relief for the petitioned conditions.” Phoenix New Times has the rest.
President Barrack Obama thinks Colorado and Washington are blazing a trail with marijuana legalization the rest of the nation should consider, telling the New Yorker that racial disparity in marijuana arrests need to end.
“It’s important for it to go forward because it’s important for society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished,” Obama told the New Yorker.
Earlier this week we told you about Washington D.C. council and their push to decriminalize cannabis in our nation’s capitol. They might want to set their sights a little higher.
According to a Washington Post poll, 63 percent of D.C. residents want to legalize marijuana for adults. It didn’t matter what age, race or ethnicity either. Everyone wants it. Even half of those who opposed legalizing it think that something needs to be done about the current laws.
Marijuana legalization is one step closer to finding a place on the 2014 Missouri state ballot.
Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander released thirteen petitions Wednesday asking whether Missouri should legalize sale and consumption of the drug, including for medical purposes, expunge marijuana-related offenses from the records of convicted criminals, and authorize the government to tax and regulate the marketplace. Read all thirteen petition titles over at The Riverfront Times.
| Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada. |
Medical cannabis users have a friend in a high place (though he doesn’t get high). Senate majority leader Harry Reid said yesterday that the federal government should reexamine their stance against medical marijuana.
“If you’d asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer – I would have said no, because (marijuana) leads to other stuff,” the Senate majority leader told the Las Vegas Sun yesterday. “But I can’t say that anymore.”
The Ninth District Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that California state law does not protect the state’s medical marijuana shops from the feds. The court made the ruling yesterday in dismissing three lawsuits trying to stop federal prosecution of three California collectives.
Specifically, the dispensaries had argued that federal law enforcement were violating equal protection clauses in the U.S. Constitution.