| Free Jeff Mizanskey. |
Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life without parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org.
Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 near Kansas City (and near Sedalia, where Mizanskey was arrested). The billboard features a photo of Mizanskey and says: “Life without parole for a non-violent pot crime? It’s time we fix our unjust cannabis laws.”
The Riverfront Times has the full story on this heinous injustice.
A bill that would legalize marijuana for medical use has been debated and tweaked since it was first introduced late last spring. But the one thing that’s held steady is popular support.
Further proof came last week when KSTP-TV released the results of polling conducted through SurveyUSA. The research firm asked 543 registered voters whether medical marijuana should be legal and found overwhelming support: 68 percent of Minnesotans said yes and 24 percent said no.
As we wrote earlier this week, some have come to blame the rise in heroin production south of the border on legalized cannabis in the United States. It’s a bunk assertion, and the problem was created by an epidemic of pharmaceutical abuse… but either way, we’re left with cartels producing heroin to keep up with a growing demand in the U.S.
A Washington Post article this week reported on the rise of heroin coming into the United States and mentions Mexican drug traffickers’ “shrewd marketing strategy”: targeting areas where prescription-drug abuse is high, including St. Louis.
Michael John Cefola had been driving for days, transporting cargo in his vehicle all the way from California. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or maybe it was just carelessness. But Cefola couldn’t keep his blue Chevy four-door from swerving in and out of the lane on a Gainesville highway. A police officer noticed this and pulled Cefola over. Turns out, the officer happened to be a member of the Gainesville-Alachua County Drug Task Force.
Also, turns out Cefola was allegedly transporting about 90 pounds of pot worth around $356,000 on the streets. Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the full story.
The senate version of a bill that would legalize marijuana for medical use in Minnesota got its first hearing Thursday, undergoing two hours of testimony and proving that the issue is not dead. Time ran out before members of the Health, Human Services and Housing Committee could vote, but they plan to resume discussion when they return from Easter/Passover break.
Want to own a marijuana shop in Washington state? You’d better have a clean record around the country first.
Washington officials say they have been granted permission by the FBI to use the FBI’s national crime database for checks on marijuana store owners.
Thanks to a few bad parents who let their children get into marijuana edibles that shouldn’t have been left out, Colorado lawmakers now feel the need to play parents. Under a proposed bill, any marijuana edible that resembles a commercially-available food (thing gummy bears, lozenges, and cookies) would be banned.
| TokeoftheTown.com |
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie yesterday reiterated to a crowd of about 500 students and parents that recreational marijuana laws in his state aren’t changing under his watch. It sends the wrong message to kids, he says.
Apparently locking up their brothers, sisters and parents for up to six months for as little as a joint does send the right message in Christie’s world.
We reported earlier this week that all hopes for medical marijuana in Minnesota this year were gone. We’re happy to report we were wrong.
A bill legalizing the use, cultivation and sales of medical cannabis introduced last year by State Senator Scott Dibble, a Democrat from Minneapolis, will be considered by a state Senate committee later today.
| Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. |
Families of children suffering from severe seizures could have access to high-CBD treatments under a plan expected later today from Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.