| Measure 80 – The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act |
Adding to the chorus of political and community leaders around Oregon and the nation that is calling for an end to America’s catastrophic War On Drugs, Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard has officially endorsed Measure 80, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act.
| Portland Community College |
| Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard: “Regulating and taxing marijuana for adults is just common sense” |
“As a career Portland firefighter, a State Legislator and a Portland City Council member, I have always fought for funding for our first responders and resources for our social safety net,” Leonard said. “Regulating and taxing marijuana for adults is just common sense, because it allows us to get pot out of kids’ hands, focus our public-safety resources on dangerous drugs, creates jobs and provide a new revenue stream to fund much-needed social services.”
According to Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, Oregon has spent more than $60 million a year on marijuana-related offenses, from local police enforcement costs to court-room costs to the millions spent on incarceration.
Measure 80 would replace a failed system of prohibition with an effective taxation-and-regulation model. While adults 21 and older would be able to purchase cannabis products only at state-licensed stores, Measure 80 introduces tough new criminal penalties, such as felony charges for selling cannabis to a minor, and criminal misdemeanor charges for providing cannabis to a minor.
| THC Finder |
National Cannabis Industry Association releases report detailing economic benefits of industry in Colorado
The National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), in conjunction with the Women’s CannaBusiness Network, a project it launched earlier this year, today called on President Obama to cease enforcement actions against state-legal medical cannabis providers while the administration reviews its policies to determine whether they are in the public interest.
Respected industry businesswomen defended their work and powerfully expressed their frustration with the administration’s crackdown.
| NORML |
Patients and caregivers who have violated Arizona’s new medical marijuana law since receiving a card — or who lied about their histories when applying for one — could soon see their cards revoked, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Two patients have already had their cards revoked, health officials said on Tuesday, but because of a confidentiality clause in the law approved by Arizona voters two years ago, they couldn’t specifically say why the cards were revoked, reports Yvonne Wingett Sanchez at The Arizona Republic.
| THC Finder |
Court Rejects Patients’ Right To Medical Marijuana; Patients’ Group Says Voters Will Reject ‘Godawful Law’ by Defeating IR-124
The Montana Supreme Court ensured late on Tuesday that voters will have the final say on the Legislature’s 2011 medical marijuana law this November, and Patients for Reform, Not Repeal believes voters will say “No” to it.
The court held there is no fundamental right to use medical marijuana, or any drug that’s prohibited under federal law, reports Sam Favate at the Wall Street Journal. In a 6-1 decision, the court reversed a lower court ruling blocking enforcement of IR-124, a state law to restrict access to medical marijuana.
| Pepperdine University |
The deans of Seaver College internship program at Pepperdine University last week officially refused to approve the application of sophomore political science major Victoria Stanzione to intern at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a national non-profit organization dedicated to reforming marijuana laws. Associate Dean Michael Feltner said “the internship is not aligned with the mission and purpose of Pepperdine University and I cannot approve the internship for academic credit.”
According to its website, the university’s mission is detailed as follows: “Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence and Christian values, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service, and leadership.” The university’s affirmation statement goes on to say that, “As a Christian university, Pepperdine affirms that truth, having nothing to fear from investigation, should be pursued relentlessly in every discipline.”
“We are extremely disappointed that Pepperdine University would deny any student the opportunity to learn about public policy by working on this important social justice issue,” said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project. “We do not promote marijuana use, but we recognize that marijuana prohibition has failed and does far more harm than good.
| Northwest Leaf |
No On I-502 says that New Approach Washington is using a McCarthy-style campaign, employing their considerable financial resources, complicit members of the media and influential local political connections to misinform the public regarding the specific issues surrounding the group’s opposition to I-502, a marijuana “legalization” initiative on the November general election ballot.
The “No On I-502” Committee has announced a Wednesday press conference “to clarify, once and for all, our opposition to I-502 and to debunk the propaganda from NAW, and some in the press, that we represent some mysterious, greedy group of marijuana business interests that they’ve failed to specifically identify.”
Speakers at the press conference will include top marijuana attorneys Jeffrey Steinborn, Aaron Pelley and Douglas Hiatt, who will address the facts surrounding both legalization issues and the “per se” DUID provisions of I-502, including the dramatic impact this law will have on tens of thousands of voters in Washington state.
| New Times Broward-Palm Beach |
In this week’s issue, New Times Broward-Palm Beach (which, like Toke of the Town, is part of Village Voice Media) looks closer at the rise and eventual crack down on the synthetic cannabinoid industry.
Over the past three years, manufacturers and retailers of so-called “herbal incenses” have popped up in all 50 states. It quickly became a multibillion-dollar industry built on products that had names like Crazy Eyes, Cowboy Kush, and Skull Killa.
It’s actually a horrible misnomer to call these substances “synthetic marijuana” or “fake pot,” because they actually have nothing to do with real cannabis, and unlike herbal cannabis, they can be dangerous.
Until two months ago, many of these herbal incenses remained legal because state and federal lawmakers couldn’t keep up with the onslaught of new chemicals being churned out by overseas labs and imported by herbal-incense manufacturers. Whenever the government banned one synthetic cannabinoid, chemists simply tweaked their formulations to concoct new, legal replacements that still got people stoned.
| Citizens For Patient Rights |
The California Supreme Court has dismissed the case of Pack v. Long Beach, in which an appellate court had ruled that the restrictive permitting scheme for medical marijuana dispensaries in the city of Long Beach was illegal. This case was often cited by medical marijuana opponents to support the claim that any permitting or regulation of medical marijuana — including those found in the local medical marijuana initiative proposals that have qualified for the November ballot around San Diego — may not withstand legal challenges.
These initiatives include Proposition H in Del Mar, Proposition W in Solana Beach, and Proposition T in Lemon Grove.
Fortunately, with this dismissal, the Pack decision was de-published. This means that attorneys can no longer cite Pack as valid law. Similarly, a municipality cannot rely upon the Pack decision to ban lawful medical marijuana dispensaries, nor to conclude that local regulation of lawful medicinal cannabis dispensaries violates federal law.
The California Supreme Court also recently, and unanimously, let the 2012 decision, Pack v. Colvin, stand, which held that a qualified patient who was managing two storefront dispensaries was entitled to a defense in court to criminal charges of transportation of marijuana and possession of concentrated cannabis.
| Colorado Cannabis Blog |
National Cannabis Industry Association’s Women’s CannaBusiness Network to host event
Group will release report detailing economic benefits of industry in Colorado
Employers and employees to speak
The National Cannabis Industry Association, in conjunction with the Women’s CannaBusiness Network — a project it launched earlier this year — will hold a press conference at the National Press Club on Thursday, September 13 at 9:30 a.m. At the event, female business leaders from the medical cannabis industry will call on President Obama to cease enforcement actions against medical cannabis providers while the administration reviews its policies to determine whether they are in the public interest.
| Americas Program |
| Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity set off from San Diego on August 12 to traverse the country with a message: To end the war on drugs in the U.S. and Mexico. |
Poet Profiled in Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” Javier Sicilia and Other Drug War Violence Survivors from Mexico & U.S. Will Conclude Cross-Country Journey in Washington
Press Conference Will Call for Halt in Arms Trafficking to Mexico and Drug Policy Changes to Reduce Violence in Mexico
The Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity arrived in Washington, D.C., on September 10 on the last stop of its 25-city journey across the United States to call for an end to the failed Drug War that has devastated individuals, families, and entire communities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Drug War has led to more than 60,000 murders in Mexico in the last five years and incarcerated millions in the United States at a cost of over $1 trillion in the past 40 years. The Caravan’s ultimate goal is to help bring an end to that war by urging alternatives to drug policies and sensible regulations of the U.S. gun market, among other critical changes.