News

B.C. Municipalities Pass Marijuana Decrim Resolution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities voted Wednesday in favour of a resolution calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and the study of a taxed and regulated system. The vote followed an extensive debate of the issue on Monday where delegates heard arguments in favour and against the resolution.

Speaking in favour of the resolution were Dr. Evan Wood, physician, researcher and founder of Stop the Violence as well as David Bratzer, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Geoff Plant, former attorney general of B.C.

The UBCM vote came after the Sensible BC campaign to decriminalize cannabis through a provincial referendum held a public forum in Victoria, which drew more than 500 attendees.

Guatemala’s President: Let’s Legalize Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

U.S. Open Borders

President Otto Perez Molina says the War On Drugs has failed

President Perez Molina Breaks New Ground by Proposing Legal Regulation of Drugs on Eve of Wednesday’s Speech at U.N. General Assembly

Proposal Bolsters Opposition to Drug War Among Latin American Leaders as Drug Prohibition Debate Continues to Escalate

President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala on Tuesday announced his intention to propose legally regulating currently illicit drugs as a means of reducing crime, violence and corruption. He is expected to elaborate on his proposal Wednesday when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

Feds Will Enforce L.A.’s Marijuana Dispensary Ban For Them

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Dispensaries, News

The Native Angeleno

The U.S. federal government on Tuesday took action to shut down 71 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, where the city council recently voted to ban the cannabis access points altogether.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for Southern California sued three property owners that rent to dispensaries, raided three shops, and sent warning letters to 68 more, enforcing federal law, which doesn’t recognize the 1996 California voter initiative that legalized marijuana for medicinal uses, reports Greg Risling of the Associated Press.

Federal authorities started targeting L.A.’s pot shops almost a year ago; the city council’s own dispensary ban is being challenged in court, and could be overturned by popular vote if a referendum appears on a future ballot. The latest round of letters targets all the dispensaries in downtown Los Angeles and in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., reports Dennis Romero of LA Weekly.

OR Legalization Measure Yes On 80 Announces ‘8-for-80 Money Bomb’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 25, 2012 Legislation, News

Yes On 80

Seizing on recent endorsements including former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and State Ways and Means Co-Chair Rep. Peter Buckley, Oregon’s Yes on 80 marijuana legalization campaign is launching its first ‘8 for 80 ‘money bomb’ online fundraiser with the goal of raising $8,000 in a 36-hour online and phone fundraising blitz.

The “money bomb” online fundraiser will start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Sep. 26, and run for 36 hours, until 8 p.m. on Thursday, Sep. 27.

To participate in the money bomb, supporters must go to www.Vote80.org and click on the orange “Donate” button.

Big Romney Contributor Founded Abusive ‘Drug Rehab’ Program

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 25, 2012 News

The Straights dot com

Mel Sembler still brags that the abusive Straight Incorporated “drug rehab” was a “remarkable program”

How Did Sembler Make His Fortune? Abusing Kids

Republican financier Mel Sembler, a major donor to the Romney presidential campaign who formerly chaired the GOP’s finance committee — and that of Mitt himself — made his fortune founding “drug rehab” facilities which are notorious for abusing teenagers.

The 82-year-old Florida shopping mall multi-millionaire switched his political affiliation from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1979 — because of his opposition to marijuana use, reports Lloyd Grove at the The Daily Beast.

“Jimmy Carter made me a Republican,” Sembler said. “And when Carter was dong all this pot smoking and stuff in the White House, I found it terribly distasteful.”

Drug Czar Ignores Failure Of Marijuana Prohibition To Curb Use

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 24, 2012 News

Opposing Views

Drug Czar Gil Kerlkikowske adamantly refuses to consider rational policy alternatives that don’t involve criminal penalties, according to the Marijuana Policy Project’s Morgan Fox

Marijuana Use Rises in 2011 While Alcohol and Prescription Drug Use Decline

In a press conference Monday morning, representatives from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the release of the latest results of the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. As is their custom, the federal officials used the event — and the survey itself — as an opportunity to decry the use of marijuana in the United States and focused on perceived risk as a driving factor for increased use.

Marijuana use has slightly increased in the past year, while alcohol use has declined.

Both LA County DA Candidates Set Sights On Pot Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Mae Ryan/KPCC; votealanjackson.com

Chief Deputy DA Jackie Lacey, left, and Deputy DA Alan Jackson

Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-dumber? So much for actual choices at the ballot box.

Los Angeles County district attorney candidates, Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey, on Thursday night held what may be their last debate before the November general election — and while they disagreed on many issues, both candidates vowed to continue to prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries, even if voters overturn the city of Los Angeles’ dispensary ban, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Singer Fiona Apple Arrested For Hashish In Texas

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2012 News

E Online

Apple kept her eyes closed and a serious expression on her face for her mug shot

Pop singer Fiona Apple was arrested at a Texas border stop on Wednesday for hashish possession, according to multiple media sources. Agents arrested Apple in Sierra Blanca, Texas, after they claimed they found hash and marijuana during a search of her tour bus.

Apple, a marijuana advocate, was aboard her tour bus when the Border Patrol inspected the vehicle with a drug-sniffing dog, reports TMZ. The mutt found the hash and pot, and Apple was thrown in Hudspeth County Jail, report Rebecca Macatee and Sharareh Drury at E Online.

The 35-year-old pop star kept her eyes closed and a serious expression on her face for her mug shot. She is seen wearing a black-and-white jail jumpsuit, according to Rusy Fleming, a spokesman for the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s office.

Why Does Ace Hardware Hate Medical Marijuana?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Rory Murray

Rory Murray on Facebook: “We begin the BOYCOTT of Long Beach ACE Hardware. Why? Because the owner hates California cannabis patients. They’re willing to discriminate? We’re willing to shut ’em down.”

Long Beach Store Manager Sponsors Friday Anti-Medical Marijuana Protest; Cannabis Advocates Plan Counter-Protest

Why does an Ace Hardware in Long Beach, California hate medical marijuana? Why on earth would a hardware store, of all places, take such a bizarre position — opposing safe access to the medicine that works best for a lot of very sick folks?

For whatever odd rationale, at least one Ace Hardware store feels it needs to protest against medicinal cannabis. The ownership of the Ace franchise at 4th Street and Olive Avenue in Long Beach’s East Village Arts District is organizing a Friday afternoon, September 21 protest rally in front of a medical marijuana dispensary across the street — and now patients and advocates are planning a counter-protest, reports Greggory Moore at the Long Beach Post.

Cops, Judges Support CO’s Marijuana Regulation Ballot Measure

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2012 Legislation, News

LEAP

National Black and Latino Police Groups Announce Endorsements for Amendment 64

A group of police officers, judges and prosecutors who support Amendment 64, the Colorado ballot measure to regulate marijuana like alcohol, held a press conference on Thursday to release a letter of endorsement signed by law enforcers from across the state and to announce the endorsement of the national police organizations Blacks in Law Enforcement of America and the National Latino Officers Association.

The campaign has also secured the personal endorsement of Colorado’s public defender, Doug Wilson.

“Law enforcement officers are on the front lines of the war on marijuana and have seen first-hand that prohibition does more harm than good,” says Art Way, Colorado Senior Drug Policy Manager for the Drug Policy Alliance.

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