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Montana Supreme Court Hands Marijuana Decision To Voters

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 12, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Court Rejects Patients’ Right To Medical Marijuana; Patients’ Group Says Voters Will Reject ‘Godawful Law’ by Defeating IR-124

The Montana Supreme Court ensured late on Tuesday that voters will have the final say on the Legislature’s 2011 medical marijuana law this November, and Patients for Reform, Not Repeal believes voters will say “No” to it.

The court held there is no fundamental right to use medical marijuana, or any drug that’s prohibited under federal law, reports Sam Favate at the Wall Street Journal. In a 6-1 decision, the court reversed a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of IR-124, a state law to restrict access to medical marijuana.

University Denies Student Internship At Marijuana Policy Project

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 12, 2012 Culture, News

Pepperdine University

The deans of Seaver College internship program at Pepperdine University last week officially refused to approve the application of sophomore political science major Victoria Stanzione to intern at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a national non-profit organization dedicated to reforming marijuana laws. Associate Dean Michael Feltner said “the internship is not aligned with the mission and purpose of Pepperdine University and I cannot approve the internship for academic credit.”

According to its website, the university’s mission is detailed as follows: “Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service, and leadership.” The university’s affirmation statement goes on to say that, “As a Christian university, Pepperdine affirms that truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in every discipline.”

“We are extremely disappointed that Pepperdine University would deny any student the opportunity to learn about public policy by working on this important social justice issue,” said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. “We do not promote marijuana use, but we recognize that marijuana prohibition has failed and does far more harm than good.

I-502 Opponents Decry ‘Legalization’ Misinformation Campaign

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 11, 2012 Legislation, News

Northwest Leaf

No On I-502 says that New Approach Washington is using a McCarthy-style campaign, employing their considerable financial resources, complicit members of the media and influential local political connections to misinform the public regarding the specific issues surrounding the group’s opposition to I-502, a marijuana “legalization” initiative on the November general election ballot.

The “No On I-502” Committee has announced a Wednesday press conference “to clarify, once and for all, our opposition to I-502 and to debunk the propaganda from NAW, and some in the press, that we represent some mysterious, greedy group of marijuana business interests that they’ve failed to specifically identify.”

Speakers at the press conference will include top marijuana attorneys Jeffrey Steinborn, Aaron Pelley and Douglas Hiatt, who will address the facts surrounding both legalization issues and the “per se” DUID provisions of I-502, including the dramatic impact this law will have on tens of thousands of voters in Washington state.

CA Supreme Court Dismisses Case Against City Regulation of Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 11, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Citizens For Patient Rights

The California Supreme Court has dismissed the case of Pack v. Long Beach, in which an appellate court had ruled that the restrictive permitting scheme for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of Long Beach was illegal. This case was often cited by medical marijuana opponents to support the claim that any permitting or regulation of medical marijuana — including those found in the local medical marijuana initiative proposals that have qualified for the November ballot around San Diego — may not withstand legal challenges.

These initiatives include Proposition H in Del Mar, Proposition W in Solana Beach, and Proposition T in Lemon Grove.

Fortunately, with this dismissal, the Pack decision was de-published. This means that attorneys can no longer cite Pack as valid law. Similarly, a municipality cannot rely upon the Pack decision to ban lawful medical marijuana dispensaries, nor to conclude that local regulation of lawful medicinal cannabis dispensaries violates federal law.

The California Supreme Court also recently, and unanimously, let the 2012 decision, Pack v. Colvin, stand, which held that a qualified patient who was managing two storefront dispensaries was entitled to a defense in court to criminal charges of transportation of marijuana and possession of concentrated cannabis.

Businesswomen To Ask Obama To Stop Cannabis Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 11, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Colorado Cannabis Blog

National Cannabis Industry Association’s Women’s CannaBusiness Network to host event

Group will release report detailing economic benefits of industry in Colorado

Employers and employees to speak

The National Cannabis Industry Association, in conjunction with the Women’s CannaBusiness Network — a project it launched earlier this year — will hold a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday, September 13 at 9:30 a.m. At the event, female business leaders from the medical cannabis industry will call on President Obama to cease enforcement actions against medical cannabis providers while the administration reviews its policies to determine whether they are in the public interest.

Caravan For Peace Visits D.C.; Demands End To Drug War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 10, 2012 Culture, News

Americas Program

Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity set off from San Diego on August 12 to traverse the country with a message: To end the war on drugs in the U.S. and Mexico.

Poet Profiled in Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” Javier Sicilia and Other Drug War Violence Survivors from Mexico & U.S. Will Conclude Cross-Country Journey in Washington

Press Conference Will Call for Halt in Arms Trafficking to Mexico and Drug Policy Changes to Reduce Violence in Mexico

The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity arrived in Washington, D.C., on September 10 on the last stop of its 25-city journey across the United States to call for an end to the failed Drug War that has devastated individuals, families, and entire communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Drug War has led to more than 60,000 murders in Mexico in the last five years and incarcerated millions in the United States at a cost of over $1 trillion in the past 40 years. The Caravan’s ultimate goal is to help bring an end to that war by urging alternatives to drug policies and sensible regulations of the U.S. gun market, among other critical changes.

Elliott Recommends Pregnant Mothers Smoke Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 10, 2012 Culture, News

When you speak to a cannabis festival audience — as I did Saturday at Hempstalk 2012 in Portland — you’d better have some attention-grabbers to share, since these good folks have typically been hearing speeches about marijuana all day.

One thing that I shared with the sizable crowd was the not-nearly-well-enough-known fact that babies born to mothers who smoke marijuana are both healthier and smarter than those born to women who don’t do any drugs or herbs at all.

The prohibitionists tell us that the smoking of marijuana by pregnant women results in lower birth weights and less intelligent babies. The scientific research tells us that toking mothers have babies that are just as healthy, with birth weights just as normal, as babies born of non-toking mothers.

Marijuana Dispensary Sues Los Angeles Police Department

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 Dispensaries, News

David Downs – Journalist

One medical marijuana patient collective in Los Angeles is taking a unique approach in its fight to defend itself from being forced to close. It is targeting the L.A. Police Department in a lawsuit.

Other suits have been filed by other dispensaries and collectives following the city council’s unanimous decision to ban the shops from operating, but this is the first lawsuit to directly take on the city’s police department, reports the Cannabis Law Group.

The case is Collins Collective v. City of Los Angeles, LAPD. Cannabis Law Group attorney Damian Nassiri is handling the case.

According to the collective, the reason for the suit is that L.A. police officers, in violation of California law, threatened “severe repercussions” on August 13 if the collective continued in its efforts to establish a storefront dispensary. Cops said that if the collective opened, they would forcibly shut it down and arrest the members.

Marijuana Activist Launches Recall of Michigan Attorney General

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 News

MLive

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is, as my mama in Alabama would say, a horse’s ass

A new recall effort against Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette — infamous for his dogged opposition to the medical marijuana law approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of state voters in 2008 — is underway.

Attorney General Schuette has been busily trying to dismantle the state’s medical marijuana law ever since it was passed by voters. He claims to be a “states’ rights conservative” — unless the “state’s right” we’re talking about is a medical marijuana law.

Marijuana activist Richard Clement is trying, for the second time, to remove the attorney general after falling short with a petition signature drive last year, reports WKZO.

Federal Judge Calls For Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 Legislation, News

Speckled Axe

Judge Richard A. Posner: “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana”

Most-Cited Judge In America Criticizes Drug War As ‘Absurd’

A widely respected federal judge called for the legalization of marijuana in a lecture at Elmhurst College in Illinois on Thursday.

Judge Richard A. Posner of the influential Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago “is an intellectual giant who is the most-cited judge in America,” reports Larry Bodine at Lawyers.com. “His call for legalization is considered significant because Posner is considered a legal conservative,” Bodine wrote.

“I don’t think we should have a fraction of the drug laws that we have,” Posner said. “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana. I can’t see any difference between that and cigarettes.”

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