Supporters of an embattled ballot measure to create a constitutional amendment in Florida allowing for medical cannabis say they have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot this November.
Ben Pollara, who is heading up the People for United Medical Marijuana campaign, says that the campaign will hit one million signatures sometime next week – hundreds of thousands more than the 683,000 valid signatures required by state law.
What do the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, San Diego Chargers, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Washington Redskins and, of course, the Denver Broncos all have in common? They are NFL teams based in states (and a district) where medical marijuana is legal. Currently, NFL policy doesn’t allow players on those teams to use the herb to help their ailments, though.
But could that be changing? When asked about medical pot use for athletes this week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodel told ESPN that he isn’t going to write off cannabis as a therapy but shied away from outright approving of the plant.
| Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. |
Maryland won’t be legalizing cannabis for adult use any time soon, according to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who called cannabis a gateway drug yesterday in a radio interview.
“I’m not much in favor of it,” O’Malley told WEAA’s “Anapolis Summit” program. “I’ve seen what drug addiction has done to the people of our state and the people of [Baltimore].”
Medical marijuana patients in Fresno County, Calif. are not happy with a recent decision by the county’s board of supervisors. They banned all marijuana cultivation in the county’s unincorporated areas with a unanimous 5-0 vote on Tuesday.
The public nuisance ordinance will take effect next month, and will make Fresno County the first county to ban cultivation since medical marijuana was legalized in 1996 with Proposition 215. It will be upheld with fines of $1,000 per plant and an additional $100 per day for each plant that is not removed.
Marijuana grows on trees, but some newly minted Colorado recreational centers faced a shortages less than a week after opening — even though medical dispensary shelves remain stocked. As a result, several retail stores, including the high-profile 3D Cannabis Center, have voiced concerns that they won’t be able to keep filling the bowls of recreational tokers.
Though demand is high, the shortage isn’t necessarily due just to tourists and herb-hungry locals pilfering pot by the pound from the shelves. Instead, the shortage was likely caused before sales could even begin, thanks to a quick timetable for centers going through the recreational-sales process and a limited number of plants shops were able to transfer over to the recreational side.
While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will no doubt get some political points for sidestepping the legislature and finally allowing medical marijuana in his state, the program is extremely limited and leaves some once-hopeful medical cannabis supporters without options.
Notably: the cannabis that will be dispensed through a limited number of hospitals likely won’t be varied enough to include high-CBD strains so beneficial for things like pain and seizure management.
The inability of marijuana businesses to straight-forwardly stash their cash in standard financial institutions due to federal banking regulations aimed at stopping drug trafficking has been an issue in Colorado for years. But despite Obama administration statements about possible fixes and a request from Governor John Hickenlooper more than three months ago, nothing has been done. Now, however, with the recreational pot biz reportedly taking in more than $5 million in the first five days of sales, the Denver City Council is raising its voice.
The Denver Westword has the rest.
| Attitudes on pot in Tenn. haven’t changed much since this photo was taken. |
Tennessee state Rep. Sherry Jones has stepped up to the plate for medical marijuana supporters in her state by introducing a bill that would legalize the plant for medical uses with a doctor’s recommendation. Now she just needs a state Senator to back her.
Language of the bill is not available at the state legislative site yet, but Jones says her bill will set qualifying conditions for medical cannabis as well as legalize the creation of state-regulated “pharmacies” to sell organically-grown herb to patients.
The push to legalize medical marijuana in Florida is nearing its final days, and the group responsible for collecting the petitions to force a vote in November is driving hard to the hoop to make that happen. United for Care, the group behind the massive petition drive, has until February 1 to turn in 700,000 signatures.
“It looks like we have around 1.1 million,” Ben Pollara, campaign director for United for Care, said yesterday. The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the details.
| Wikimedia commons/Mats Holmström |
| Beatrice Ask. |
Apparently it’s somewhat well known political satire isn’t huge in Sweden. That was made painfully clear this week when Beatrice Ask, Sweden’s Justice Minister, posted a link to a satirical article claiming that 37 people had overdosed and died on the day Colorado legalized adult sales of cannabis.
“Stupid and sad,” she wrote after posting the article on line via Facebook. “My first bill in the youth wing was called Outfight the Drugs! In this matter I haven’t changed opinion at all.”