California’s Lieutenant Governor called for an end to marijuana prohibition over the weekend, pointing out that the war on drugs is a failure that merely fuels the disproportionate rate at which minorities are arrested in this country.
That’s encouraging news, especially considering Newsom is said to be one of the top contenders for the governor position in 2014.
| Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. |
Like the proverbial broken clock that is right twice a day, U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) is occasionally doing things that aren’t completely crazy, like defending the Taliban or accusing the Obama Administration of intentionally lying to the American public about the Islamic terrorists who carried out the attack on the U.S. embassy in Bengazi, Libya last year (because you know how soft Obama and his army of drones is on Islamic terrorists). To wit: Rohrabacher has authored legislation that would amend the U.S. Controlled Substances Act to prohibit the federal government from prosecuting people who do not violate state marijuana laws. OC Weekly has the rest.
In a time of extreme uncertainty in the marijuana industry, one thing is still certain, business is booming.
According to data released in a 180 page report last month by Medical Marijuana Business Daily, retail medical cannabis sales in the U.S. are predicted to rise between 10-15% over last year – potentially earning up to $1.5Billion in 2013. Fueled by legalization in Washington and Colorado, and favorable marijuana polling across the country, the Marijuana Business Factbook 2013 predicts that we will see that billion and a half in weed sales double in 2014, to $3Billion nationwide, and then double again to upwards of $6Billion annually by 2018.
The Oregon Public Health Division has handed over medical marijuana patient records to federal agents, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In November of last year, federal agents submitted a search warrant to the Public Health Division as part of an investigation against several growers in Oregon who feds say were using the medical program as a front and selling marijuana on the black market.
Does L.A. really want to see 90 percent of the marijuana dispensaries in the city close down?
Apparently they do. An internal poll by the folks backing May ballot Measure D, which would do just that, shows that likely voters favor the proposed city law by a rate of 52 percent. Opponents of the would-be ordinance don’t seem to disagree with that. Dennis Romero at L.A. Weekly has more.
North Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would downgrade marijuana possession of an ounce or less from a misdemeanor charge to a civil infractions on par with a traffic ticket.
State Rep. Kelly Alexander, who earlier this year pushed unsuccessfully for medical marijuana in North Carolina, introduced House Bill 637 earlier this week. In addition to decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis, if House Bill 637 were to pass it would also allow people convicted of simple marijuana possession of less than an ounce to have the conviction expunged from their record.
| TokeoftheTown.com |
A Federal Bureau of Investigations study released in 2012 showed that police in America arrest someone for cannabis every 42 seconds. That’s around 750,000 arrests annually for marijuana alone. The enforcement, prosecution, and imprisonment of this never ending flow of low-level non-violent offenders are a drain on scarce resources for local and state governments.
Imagine if we could save all of that money and reassign law enforcement agencies to go after the real criminals. Now imagine if we could do all of that for the low, low cost of just 3.75 billion words.
| momsformarijuana.com |
The community of maternal marijuana legalization activists was rocked this past weekend when a cannabis quilt, the product of two years and more than 70 pairs of hands, was stolen from atop a Ford Explorer parked at the CVS on Thornton Lane in Irving, Texas by some heartless asshole who later abandoned it on the side of an interstate. Dallas Observer has the rest.
| Wikipedia commons. |
| Adam Levine from Maroon 5. |
A security guard who worked at one of the largest music conglomerates in the world is suing his former employer numerous labor code violations stemming from what she says was wonton marijuana use and drug abuse in Santa Monica building where she worked.
The woman – who remains nameless – charges that Universal Music Group in California blatantly allowed musicians and guests to smoke marijuana in the courtyard, in the stairwells, in the alleyway behind the building, in the studios, and even in the lobby.