Despite the Florida Supreme Court holding up the actual petition over charges that it deceptively would open the floodgates of outright legalization in the Sunshine State from the state attorney general, the People United for Care proposal to legalize medical cannabis is gaining support.
Recent polls have shown it with support as high as 68 percent and the campaign has collected nearly 700,000 signatures so far. That’s about 17,000 more than the required 683,000 to make the ballot, but supporters say they need some cushioning in there for invalid signatures.
Supporters of a third marijuana legalization proposal in California have been green-lit to begin collecting signatures on a bill that would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year on enforcement as well as generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris gave the Marijuana Control, Revenue and Legalization Act approval (as well as a name and ballot summary) Dec. 24.
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica signed a bill legalizing limited amounts of cannabis in that country Monday night, finally making the law official in the country after weeks of international attention.
The signing went into effect with little or no fanfare or ceremony. In fact, it was the president’s secretary, Diego Canepa who quietly made the announcement on Tuesday morning to international press.
| Jonathunder. |
| RT Rybak. |
When you think of words to describe R.T. Rybak, “depressed” certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list. But in a wide-ranging interview with Mpls St. Paul Magazine’s Steve Marsh, the soon-to-be former mayor says that’s how smoking a bunch of pot made him feel during his days at Breck High School. What got him out of his ganja-induced funk? Fittingly, the ebullient R.T. says it was his first political campaign.
Minneapolis City Pages has more.
As January 1 draws closer, the biggest question in Colorado has been: What will be the first shops legally allowed to sell recreational cannabis to adults 21 and over? Now we know…sort of. Monday, the State of Colorado become the first state to license recreational marijuana dispensaries when the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division mailed out 348 retail marijuana licenses to growers, retail stores, infused-product manufacturers and even three testing facilities. That total includes 136 pot shops licensed to sell cannabis starting January — 1 so long as they have local approval.
Denver Westword has the full story.
| And they call marijuana the “dark side”. |
An Oregon-based federal Drug Enforcement Agency agent skilled in wiretapping drug traffickers – including marijuana dealers – is now working in the medical marijuana industry as a financial consultant, the second of his colleagues to do so in recent years.
Patrick Moen worked for eight years for the DEA, but over the summer decided a switch to the “dark side” (as his former colleagues call it) when he realized the green was likely better. Money, that is.
| Jeff Mizanskey. |
When Eric Sykes, a mass communications senior at SIUE, read the October Daily RFT story about Jeff Mizanskey, the Missouri man doing a life without parole sentence for marijuana, he thought he might have a good subject for his video documentary class. But as he delved into the project, it became more important than just a grade.
“When I first contacted Chris Mizanskey, Jeff Mizanskey’s son, I realized just how real this situation was,” Sykes tells Daily RFT.
Amendment 64 legalized the possession and use of limited amounts of pot for adults 21 and over, but it didn’t legalize public consumption of cannabis on streets, sidewalks, parks or any other public place, for that matter. But apparently that message didn’t quite reach Denver and Boulder residents, as public pot consumption tickets have skyrocketed in both cities since Amendment 64 passed.
In Denver, there were a total of eight tickets written for marijuana consumption in 2012, according to records from the Denver Police Department. So far in 2013, 155 tickets have been written, more than nineteen times the number the previous year. Westword has the full story.
Melody Kenyon of Fort Collins, Colorado, was shocked when her application to open a medical marijuana dispensary by the name of Canna King was denied by the city. She was so shocked, that she has filed a lawsuit in the Larimer County Court against the city of Fort Collins, claiming that it is the city, not her, who is guilty of moral turpitude.
| Alain Cassagnol. |
Ho Ho holy shit does Long Island’s Alain Cassagnol, 19, have bad timing. Not only did he happen to be speeding through a 45 mph in his Benz at more than twice the speed just as police were in the area, but he tried to cover up the smell of the pot he allegedly had with him with frankincense and myrrh “Blunt Block” incense.
You read that right: Frankincense and myrrh. The day before Christmas Eve.