News

Medical Marijuana Intern Wanted By Denver Paper

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Culture, Medical, News

No bong-cleaning required.

My friend and colleague William Breathes, the nation’s first marijuana/dispensary reviewer employed by a major newspaper chain (me being the second), is a busy man. Breathes is so busy with marijuana news, in fact, Denver Westword is looking to hire a college student to fill what is likely the first medical marijuana dispensary critic internship in history.

Now, before you get all hyperventilated, I should tell you that you don’t have to be a medical marijuana patient to get the nonpaying gig; “there’s plenty of stuff to cover about medical marijuana that doesn’t require you to smoke legal herb,” Breathes said in Wednesday’s announcement.

“In fact, you’ll mostly be updating dispensary listings and reviews, covering a pot meeting or two and generally helping out with our Colorado cannabis coverage,” Breathes said. “Previous blog experience helps, but isn’t required — we’ve all got to start somewhere.

NYC Mayor, Leader In Pot Busts, Now Wants To ‘Help’ Young Men

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Culture, News

NORML

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been busily arresting record numbers of young men — especially young men of color — for the past decade. Now, with the so-called “Young Men’s Initiative,” Bloomberg claims he suddenly wants to “help” them instead of throwing them in jail.

Mayor Bloomberg was asked, shortly before he first ran for office, if he had ever smoked marijuana. “You bet I did. And I enjoyed it,” he answered.

While that quote became the basis of a NORML ad campaign, it certainly didn’t make any difference on the future Mayor’s practice of aggressively going after marijuana users in the Big Apple. Mayor Bloomberg made New York City the marijuana arrest capital of the world.

Marijuana Dispensaries Make Neighborhoods Safer: Study

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Whiteside Manor Blog

A report published by one of the world’s most respected research organizations, the nonpartisan RAND Corporation, shows that local crime rates generally increased in areas after the closure of nearby medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.

The study, conducted in June 2010 — just after many L.A. collectives were forced by the city to close — found that crime reports increased by about 60 percent within three blocks of a closed dispensary relative to the same distance around nearby open dispensaries.

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Not Linked To Crime: RAND Study

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2011 Dispensaries, News

The Law Blogger

A new RAND study finds no connection between L.A.’s dispensaries and crime.

The RAND Corporation on Tuesday issued a report dispelling the myth that there are inherent links between medical marijuana distribution centers and crime. The study upon which the RAND report is based claims that crime was as much as 60 percent greater around medical marijuana dispensaries that had been shut down by the City of Los Angeles compared to those areas with open dispensaries.

“[W]e found no evidence that medical marijuana dispensaries in general cause crime to rise,” said Mireille Jacobson, the study’s lead author and a senior economist at RAND.

RAND’s study, which challenges the common claim that medical marijuana dispensaries promote criminal activity, affirms the findings of patient advocates.

War On Drugs: Worth It, Or Worthless? Debate Sept. 21

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2011 Culture, News

SSDP

Should we continue to fight the War On Drugs, or should we look toward alternative approaches such as legalization? If you have an opinion on this question, you’ll be interested in a debate scheduled for Wednesday night.

The University of Arkansas Chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), in coordination with University Programs, is hosting a debate between Ethan Nadelmann, a former Princeton professor and current executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, and former DEA Administrator and U.S. Congressman Asa Hutchinson.

The two will debate whether we should continue to fight the War On Drugs or look for other solutions including regulation.

Both speakers bring years of experience to the table, of vastly different kinds.

Hutchinson held the top position at the Drug Enforcement Administration from 2001 to 2003. Ethan Nadelmann is a leading voice in the drug policy reform movement worldwide, and is executive director of the DPA.

Banks Refusing To Deal With Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 20, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

THC Finder

Even as protesters decrying how out of touch bankers are with everyday Americans are occupying Wall Street, home of America’s banking industry, many financial institutions in states where medical marijuana is legal are refusing to do business with cannabis dispensaries.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medicinal marijuana, but possession or sale of cannabis for any use is still illegal under federal law. It is this disconnect that is giving rise to an unwillingness on the part of many banks to do business with the marijuana collectives.

The banks fear that federal regulators will target them, reports Kathryn Glass at Fox Business, because the federal government says that banks which do business with dispensaries are supporting activities that are illegal under federal law.

Marijuana Dispensary Re-Opens As Patient Resource Center

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 19, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Steve Porter/Northern Colorado Business Report

Tina Valenti, In Harmony Wellness: “As a patient services and advocacy center, In Harmony Wellness will continue the tradition of assisting patients in need”

After voters in the city of Windsor, Colorado last November staged a citizen-initiated shutdown of the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries, one collective, founded in 2008, found a way to survive even after being forced to stop operations in May 2011.

When City Attorney Ian McCargar offered the perspective that In Harmony Wellness didn’t necessarily have to close its doors, but simply needed to step selling cannabis, it sparked an idea.

Marijuana Prosecutions Near Record High In 2010

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 19, 2011 News

NORML

Police made 853,838 arrests in 2010 for marijuana-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report, released on Monday. The annual arrest total is near the highest ever reported by the agency, and is nearly identical to the total number of cannabis-related arrests reported in 2009.

More than half — 52 percent — of all drug arrests in the United States are now for marijuana, according to the report. An estimated 46 percent of all drug arrests are for offenses related to marijuana possession.

One Drug Arrest Every 19 Seconds In The U.S.: FBI Report

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 19, 2011 News

East County Magazine

A new FBI report released on Monday shows that there is a drug arrest every 19 seconds in the United States. That’s right, three people a minute, 180 people an hour, 4,320 people a day.

A group of police and judges who have been campaigning to legalize and regulate drugs pointed to the figures showing more than 1.6 million drug arrests in 2010 as evidence that the War On Drugs — really a war on U.S. citizens — is a failure that can never be won.

“Since the declaration of the ‘war on drugs’ 40 years ago we’ve arrested tens of millions of people in an effort to reduce drug use,” said Neill Franklin, a retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “The fact that cops had to spend time arresting another 1.6 million of our fellow citizens last year shows that it simply hasn’t worked.

Washington Democratic Party Endorses Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 19, 2011 Legislation, News

Graham Lawyer Blog

The Washington state Democratic Central Committee endorsed a marijuana legalization initiative in the state over the weekend, calling cannabis prohibition a waste of taxpayer money.

Simple marijuana possession charges now account for fully half of all drug arrests in Washington, according to the Democrats, who pointed out pot’s status as the second biggest cash crop in the state. reports Jonathan Martin at The Seattle Times.

The group said cannabis has the potential to raise $215 million in new tax revenues each year if a current legalization drive, Initiative 502, also known as New Approach Washington, passes.

I-502 is sponsored by the ACLU of Washington and endorsed by prominent figures including former U.S. Attorney John McKay (who was responsible for the prosecution of “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery), Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and travel host Rick Steves.

It is expected to gather enough signatures to go before the state Legislature in the upcoming session. At that point, the Legislature can either take action or, more likely, let the initiative be decided by the state’s voters on the November 2012 ballot.

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