It’s just a proposal, but it’s an ugly, ugly proposal to hear. Colorado state lawmakers last Friday began kicking around an idea that could repeal Colorado’s Amendment 64, which legalized possession and cultivation of limited amounts of cannabis as well as called for the creation of a recreational cannabis industry.
Basically, the argument hinges on the proposed taxes on recreational cannabis sales and state laws that require tax-related issues to be put before voters for approval.
A moose rummaging his way through a Burlington, Vermont neighborhood is apparently enough of a reason for police to search private property without a warrant. At least, that’s the precedent set over the weekend.
Burlington police were called to help out the Vermont Fish and Game wardens in the area who were tracking down a moose wandering through a residential neighborhood. While searching high and low for the massive moose, police apparently made their way through people’s private property – which is how they came upon 32 pot plants locked in a shed.
A day after a bill that would ban the sale of bongs and certain pipes in Florida overwhelming passed the Florida House, its sister bill found similarly broad support in the Senate. The bill passed the legislative body 31-2 Friday, and will now head to Gov. Rick Scott.
Though, the bill has been considerably watered down since its inception and would have virtually no effect. Miami New Times has the rest.
| Brandon Coats. |
Last year, Colorado resident Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient fired by DISH for failing a drug test, filed a complaint over the issue in Arapahoe District Court. When he lost there, attorney Michael Evans brought the case to the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Now, those jurists have also rejected Coats’s argument. But Evans says he and Coats aren’t done fighting.Next hoped-for stop: the Colorado Supreme Court. Westword has the rest.
| DAB ME, BRO! |
When Colorado voted to “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” last November, a lot of eyes grew wide, and by New Years Eve, experimental pot clubs were popping up across the Front Range with varying levels of success. Quasi-legal, they were testing a legal gray area until the state decides how they’ll handle social smoking spots – likely not allowing them at all.
And I’m okay with that. But it’s not because I’m some pro-restrictions prohibitionist fuck. Far from it. It is because pot-centric, cannabis-only imitation bars are most likely going to suck .
The Arizona House yesterday passed a bill removing academic research from a 2012 law that banned any and all marijuana on college campuses.
According to one researcher, this could open the doors for studies on things like post-traumatic stress disorder for returning veterans at the state level and provide much-needed peer-reviewed studies as to the plant’s efficacy.
Against their own policy, the Department of Veteran Affairs would rather treat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder with addictive benzodiazepines tranquilizers such as Valium and Xanax – instead of using prohibited medical marijuana, despite studies showing cannabis to be a safer alternative.
Current Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines caution providers from using benzodiazepines tranquilizers as a treatment for combat related PTSD. “Once initiated, benzodiazepines can be very difficult, if not impossible, to discontinue due to significant withdrawal symptoms compounded by the underlying PTSD symptoms,” the VA/Department of Defense guidelines state.
| Smoked marijuana/became President. |
The Obama administration is taking a shift (albeit not a very drastic one) towards treating drug problems as a health issue and not as a criminal issue. On Wednesday the White House released their 2013 National drug Control Strategy, a 104-page document that outlines how treatment should become a focus for the nation’s drug control policy.
But at the same time, it doesn’t really tell the police and DEA to stop arresting anybody either and continues a prohibition and war against marijuana (both recreational and medical).
Bad news, Florida ganja smokers, glassblowers and headshop owners. The Florida state House voted 112-3 on a bill that bans the sale bongs and pipes that could be used to smoke marijuana.
Ex-crackhead Rep. Darryl Rouson believes that The Pot is a gateway drug to things like The Crack. Therefore, he sponsored the bill to ban all bongs, glass bowls, roach clips, and other things that can be used as a marijuana smoking device, such as a two-liter bottle and duct tape (although, how these things can be policed is anyone’s guess). Miami New Times has the rest of the story on this ridiculously stupid law.
| San Diego mayor Bob Filner. |
On Monday afternoon at a City Council meeting, San Diego resident Ken Cole spoke out as a business owner and a citizen in favor of Mayor Filner’s proposed new medical marijuana dispensary ordinance. Both he and the Mayor’s office watched in dismay as the City Council voted to essentially ignore them.
Tuesday morning, Cole’s downtown San Diego cannabis collective, One on One, was raided by federal DEA agents and local authorities with the Sheriff’s office who literally broke down the front door and carried out cash, crops, and computers past a crowd of angry protesters.