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Advocates Accuse Obama Of Hypocritical Policy On Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 7, 2011 Medical, News

Millions of Taxpayer Dollars Spent Undermining State and Local Medical Marijuana Laws

The Obama Justice Department (DOJ) held a press conference in Sacramento Friday announcing an array of enforcement actions against medical marijuana producers and distributors as well as landlords throughout California.

Patient advocates are calling President Obama’s enforcement effort harmful and unnecessary, representing a stark contradiction to his pledge of disengagement in medical marijuana states. The DOJ claimed it was carrying out civil and criminal enforcement actions against medical marijuana providers and sending “warning” letters to property owners leasing to dispensary operators.

Obama Medical Marijuana Policies Now Worse Than Bush: DPA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 7, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Care2

Obama Administration Escalates War On Medical Marijuana Patients

Despite the Obama Administration’s promise to respect state law and leave medical marijuana patients alone, its attack on patients and providers operating legally under state law is rapidly escalating.

At least 16 landlords in California this week received letters saying they are in violation of federal drug laws, and that state law will not protect them.

The four U.S. Attorneys in California are holding a press conference in Sacramento today (Friday), in which they are expected to announce a broad crackdown on medical marijuana.

Demand Builds To End Drug War: 1,000 To Attend Conference

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 Culture, News

Indybay

By Tony Newman

Director of Media Relations

Drug Policy Alliance

Every day we read and hear about the horrors of the failed drug war in newspapers and on TV. There is the tragic bloodbath in Mexico where more than 50,000 people have been killed since President Calderon launched his “surge” against the drug traffickers five years ago. We see our state and local governments struggling to pay teachers while our prisons are exploding with people with nonviolent drug offenses at a price tag of $50,000 per person. We hear about the overdose crisis where more people are now dying from preventable overdoses than from car accidents. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that there is a growing movement bubbling up across the country that will help us find an exit strategy to this unwinnable war. Do you want to feel the momentum for change and be a part of the solution? Join the more than 1,000 people from around the world who will come together in Los Angeles at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on November 2nd – 5th.

Feds: California Marijuana Dispensaries Must Shut Down

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 Dispensaries, News

LSQ

In a major escalation of the U.S. federal government’s war on medical marijuana dispensaries, federal prosecutors have warned California collectives they have 45 days to shut down or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property — even if they are operating legally under the state’s medical marijuana law, approved by voters in 1996.

California’s four U.S. Attorneys sent letters on Wednesday and Thursday to at least 16 dispensaries or their landlords notifying them they are violating federal drug laws, reports Lisa Leff at the Associated Press. Medical marijuana is legal in California, but federal law prohibits pot for any purpose.

The U.S. Attorneys are scheduled to announce their coordinated crackdown on dispensaries at a Friday news conference. Their offices have so far refused to confirm the closure letters.

DPA Blasts Gun Discrimination Against Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 Medical, News

The Narco News Bulletin

Ethan Nadelmann, DPA: “ATF’s blatant discrimination against Americans who use marijuana legally under state law is outrageous”

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Says Medical Marijuana Patients Are Prohibited From Owning Guns

Last month the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a letter to gun sellers saying it is illegal for medical marijuana patients to own firearms.

“Any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her state has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medicinal purposes, is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition,” says the letter from Assistant Director Arthur Herbert.

“ATF’s blatant discrimination against Americans who use marijuana legally under state law is outrageous,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).

Washington Woman Fired For Buying Oregano

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 News

Renton Reporter

It was a double bummer. Not only was the weed bunk, she also got fired for buying it.

An employee at the Fred Meyer department store in Renton, Washington, was fired on the spot for buying what she allegedly thought was marijuana in the store’s parking lot on September 9, according to Renton police reports.

A loss-prevention officer at Fred Meyer, 365 Renton Center Way, saw the female employee apparently buying marijuana from a vehicle in the parking lot around 3 p.m., reports Tracy Compton at the Renton Reporter.

The rent-a-cop called police, and the police stood by while the employee was immediately fired.

The employee was not arrested, but she came damn close: the cops had already read her Miranda warnings.

When the cops took a closer look at the “marijuana,” it turned out to be a spice ingredient consistent with oregano.

Hemp Activist Creates Stir At National Night Out Event

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 Culture, News

Tucson Weekly

“It’s the ultimate in ridiculousness if you ask me,” activist Michelle Graye told Toke of the Town.

Oh, the drama. When hemp activist Michelle Graye set up a small table with hemp and medical marijuana information Tuesday night at Tucson’s National Night Out event in Amphi Neighborhood Park, she had made the honest mistake of going to the wrong place — there were two National Night Out events in Tucson.

But some “offended” parents in attendance called Graye’s very presence at the event “inappropriate” and said the booth had no business at an event whose focus is crime-fighting. You almost get the idea that advocating for cannabis reform is roughly equivalent to leprosy with some of these folks.

Congress Set To Escalate Drug War After Decades Of Failure

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 6, 2011 Legislation, News

DarkGovernment

A few billion dollars thrown away there, a few million people in prison here, first thing you know you’ve got a Drug War

Bill Would Make It A Crime

To Even PLAN To Smoke Marijuana In Another Country– Even If It Is Legal In That Country

The House Judiciary Committee is considering legislation (HR 313) Thursday that makes it a federal crime to plan to commit a drug offense in another country that would be illegal if it was actually committed in the U.S. — even if the offense is actually legal in the other country.

Federal legislation (HR 1254) that would criminalize possession and sales of chemical compounds found in products such as K2, Spice, and “bath salts” will also be voted on in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday and is expected to pass. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Charles Dent (R-Pennsylvania), has already passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, so the next step would be the full House. Similar legislation is sailing unimpeded through the Senate.

Both bills would subject Americans to mandatory minimum sentencing and increase prison expenses that taxpayers have to pay — at a time when members of Congress are cutting drug education, treatment and prevention citing the need to reduce federal expenses.

U.S. Rastafarian Is Exempt From Probation Pot Testing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 5, 2011 Culture, Legislation, News

Jamison Arend

Jamison Arend of Minnesota won a groundbreaking religious exemption to being drug-tested for marijuana during his probation

It’s not very widely known. But in a groundbreaking case, at least one American citizen, a licensed Rastafarian minister in Minnesota, has been openly smoking marijuana daily with a judge’s approval for the past year and a half, despite the fact that he is on probation.

Jamison Arend was sentenced to five years’ probation on March 24, 2010 after an altercation at his home, reports WeedPress.

During sentencing, Judge Judith Tilsen handed down a trail-blazing exemption to Minnesota’s drug testing laws.

“[T]he defense has proven a colorable claim of religious right to ceremonial use of cannibus [sic], otherwise known as marijuana,” Judge Tilsen ruled. “Ceremonial use is intermittent use, but because of our chemistry and how we do UAs [urine analyses], it would seem to me that even with limited ceremonial use that a UA would come up dirty on a regular basis.

Pardon Marc Emery Petition To Get White House Response

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2011 News

Jodie Emery

Jodie Emery and her imprisoned husband Marc at Yazoo City Medium Security Prison in Mississippi, July 4, 2011

More than 5,000 people have signed an official White House petition for President Obama to pardon Canadian “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery, who is serving a five-year federal prison term in the United States.

The White House recently launched its “We The People” website for Americans to submit petitions on any issue. The Obama Administration initially set the threshold at 5,000 signatures within 30 days in order to get a formal response.

After overwhelming response, including numerous petitions to legalize cannabis, the White House announced on October 3 that it was upping the threshold fivefold to 25,000 signatures, but said that petitions which had already gotten 5,000 or more signatures before the announcement would still be included.

The official White House website called it “a good problem to have.”

“Planning for the new We the People platform, we were confident the system would ultimately get a lot of use, but we expected it would take a little longer to get out into the ether and pick up speed,” reads an October 3 post by Macon Phillips on whitehouse.gov.

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