| TokeoftheTown.com |
A majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a poll released yesterday. This is the first time in 40 years of polling that the scales have tipped in favor of cannabis reform. Only 45 percent of the 1,501 adults polled though marijuana should remain illegal.
| TokeoftheTown.com |
Alabama legislators will have the opportunity to legalize personal use and cultivation of marijuana for adults 21 and up, create a state-regulated marijuana retail system and legalize industrial hemp production with House Bill 550, introduced yesterday.
Alabama might not be the first state that comes to mind when thinking of marijuana legalization, but people in the Cotton State love their herb and Birmingham Rep. Patricia Todd knows it: she’s already introduced two medical marijuana bills in the last two sessions. But House Bill 550 is a much bigger step.
Despite overwhelming public support in favor of the decriminalization of cannabis, Hawaii’s SB472, which would have decriminalized small amounts marijuana in that state, was pronounced dead on arrival yesterday without even being granted a roll call for a vote.
Among the most blue of blue states in the nation, and enjoying Democratic Party-held Senate and House chambers as well as the Governor’s seat, Hawaii seemed poised to follow in the footsteps of 15 other U.S. states that have done away with arrests and jail time for low-level marijuana possession busts, opting to issue nominal fines instead.
| MPP. |
| Cathy Jordan. |
Back in February, police raided the home of Florida Cannabis Action Network president Cathy Jordan and charged her and her husband Robert with cultivating marijuana. Jordan, who uses cannabis to manage Lou Gehrig’s disease. Thankfully, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office has a heart, and dropped the case because Cathy clearly needs the marijuana for medical reasons. Hopefully this drives a message to Florida legislators who have stalled on a proposed medical marijuana bill this session.
For more, check out the Broward-Palm Beach New Times coverage.
West Virginia medical marijuana users will remain illegal in the eyes of the law thanks to the House of Delegates refusing to allow a floor vote on a proposed medical marijuana bill earlier this week.
Despite nearly two-dozen supporters speaking on behalf of House Bill 2961 before the Health and Human Resources Committee – and not a single person speaking out against it – the chairman refused to move it forward.
While cigarette smoke will still be tolerated in certain bars in the state of Washington, marijuana use will no longer be tolerated according to the state Liquor Control Board wh.ich oversees recreational marijuana under recently-passed I-502.
The board voted Wednesday night to create rules preventing puffing in bars, citing concerns about people mixing herb and booze together.
| M is for “munchies”. |
While marijuana might give you the munchies, that doesn’t mean that you ganja tokers are eating more than your non-toking friends. At least, that’s the data collected on a study of 60 people, half of them tokers (up to ten joints a day) and half not.
The study “Metabolic Effects of Chronic Cannabis Smoking,” just published in the journal Diabetes Care, found that daily smokers had less of a particular kind of belly fat and took in the same amount of calories as their less-cool brethren.
| USCG. |
On Sunday, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter notified dispatch of a high-speed boat cooking it north just 90 miles west of San Nicholas Island, which is just over 100 kilometers southwest of Los Angeles.
A Coast Guard ship in the area straight lined it to the scene. But by that time the smuggler had ditched his load and hightailed it out of there, leaving more than 6,500 pounds of seeded, compressed pot floating on the waves in the pacific. In total, 245 bales of pot wrapped in plastic were recovered.
It’s not looking good for the the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act, a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Florida.
While the Florida Legislature has gone ahead and moved forward with trying to ban bongs, the Cathy Jordan bill has yet to even get a hearing in either the House or the Senate. The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the rest.