Two New Hampshire lawmakers on Wednesday will discuss the details of SB 409, the medical marijuana bill they are sponsoring this year.
Sen. Jim Forsythe (R-Stafford) and Rep. Evalyn Merrick (D-Lancaster) will be joined in the lobby of the New Hampshire State Legislative Office Building in Concord by supporters of the bill, including Matt Simon, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, and John Tommasi, a retired Salem police sergeant. Several patients who would benefit from medical marijuana will also attend.
| Cleveland Plain Dealer |
| Vice President Joe Biden: “There is no possibility that the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy on legalization” |
Vice President Joe Biden, on a two-day visit to Mexico and Central America, said that while the drug legalization debate is “worth discussing,” there is “no possibility” that the Obama Administration will change its policy.
Biden’s statements came amid rapidly escalating demands by Latin American presidents that legalization be included among the options for reducing prohibition-related violence, crime and mayhem.
Vice President Biden meets on Tuesday with Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina and other Central American leaders. The Guatemalan president has said that the legalization debate will be on their agenda.
“Vice President Biden’s comment that ‘there is no possibility that the Obama-Biden administration will change its policy on legalization’ should come as no surprise,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). “That comment is consistent with longstanding U.S. policy, and it’s hard to imagine the administration wanting this debate to open up in an election year.”
| Deep Green |
Second Annual Earth Day Weekend Deep Green Festival Combines Speakers, Music, Exhibitors and Attractions with Full Conference
The Deep Green Festival will celebrate and explore the intersection of cannabis, health and ecology on Saturday, April 21, 2012, from noon to midnight at the San Francisco Bay Area’s Craneway Pavilion. A concurrent conference with in-depth panels and workshops will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Craneway Conference Center.
Deep Green explores the Seven Dimensions of Cannabis – Cultural, Creative, Medical, Nutritional, Industrial, Political and Spiritual – and this perspective is reflected in the event’s overall content.
At a time when recent Gallup polls show 50 percent of the U.S. population believes cannabis should be legalized, Deep Green will for the second year present a thorough and insightful exploration of the cannabis plant as a vital medical and industrial resource. Featured on the Discovery Channel reality TV show, “Weed Wars” (Season 1, Episode 4), Deep Green has become a popular gathering for both medical cannabis and industrial hemp innovators and enthusiasts in the United States.
| 420 Medicated |
| The state of Michigan will soon have a snazzy new printer to keep up with demand for Medical Marihuana Program patient ID cards. More than 40,000 Michigan patients are still waiting for their state-issued cards. |
Demand for medical marijuana ID cards is so high in Michigan, the state has had to order a new, six-figure printer that will allow it to produce 4,000 cannabis cards a day.
The state is far behind in printing cards for patients authorized to use cannabis under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. So far behind, in fact, that 40,000 patients still don’t have cards, and have instead been given tamper-proof letters to prove they’re qualified to use the herb for medical purposes, according to Rae Ramsdell, who oversees the program, reports the Associated Press.
More than 131,000 Michiganders have been approved for medical marijuana since state voters approved its legalization in 2008. Thousands more serve as caregivers, who are allowed to grow cannabis for up to five patients each.
| Clear Cannabis Law Reform |
| Judge Alan Goldsack has decided he’s on a moral mission to wipe out cannabis cultivation — and he’s ignoring new reduced sentencing guidelines |
A senior British judge, ignoring new reduced drug sentencing guidelines, has jailed six men for growing marijuana.
Judge Alan Goldsack (no, that’s really his name, man) criticized new regulations that became effective last week and ignored the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, reports Chris Brooke at the Daily Mail.
Under the new sentencing guidelines, at least four of the six cannabis growers who were jailed at Sheffield Crown Court should probably have been given only “community penalties” not involving incarceration.
British tabloids have done everything they can to whip up reefer madness-style hysteria over so-called “skunk” cannabis, claiming its homegrown production in South Yorkshire, the area around Sheffield Crown Court, has supposedly become an “epidemic.” Judges there have been routinely jailing even low-level offenders “in an effort to clamp down on the industry,” the Daily Mail reports.
| THC Finder |
There is no such thing as a safe harbor for medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, according to the federal prosecutor there.
U.S. Attorney John Walsh on Friday sent a letter to a lawyer representing medical marijuana dispensaries, saying safe harbor doesn’t exist for any such shops because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, reports the Associated Press.
Walsh and medical marijuana attorney Robert Corry have exchanged several letters regarding the locations of dispensaries and how far they must be from schools in order to be safe from federal raids.
| postnoon |
The town council in a tiny village in Spain voted 4-3 last week to allow a nearby cannabis association to use city land to grow marijuana for its 5,000 members. Rasquera, which is near Barcelona, believes it can address its unemployment problem and replenish empty city coffers by leasing out its land for cannabis cultivation.
Town leaders of Rasquera, population 900, voted to sign a deal worth 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) with the Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association (ABCDA), part of a growing movement of private marijuana clubs in Spain, reports Giles Tremlett at The Guardian.
| This Is Why You’re Stupid |
| Rush Limbaugh: “This is going to be a setback to the long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking crowd.” |
By Bob Starrett
What does the portly pervert, drug addict and defacto head of the Republican party — Rush Limbaugh — have to say about medical marijuana?
Not a lot, it turns out. He mentions it now and again, just throws it in from time to time, but there is certainly a lack of any coherent thought on the matter. Even this pain management expert can’t seem to get a grip on it. For instance, there is this:
“The FDA says there’s no — zilch, zero, nada — shred of medicinal value to the evil weed marijuana. This is going to be a setback to the long-haired, maggot-infested, dope-smoking crowd.” That is not a position. That is just Limbaugh being Limbaugh.
| FloBeds.com |
| The victim: Fort Bragg Councilmember and veteran forester Jere Melo was murdered on August 27, 2011 — but not by a marijuana farmer. |
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
The sham, the tragedy, is that this press release should have said it all…
Fort Bragg, CA (PRWEB) January 19, 2012Along with a group of concerned citizens, Madeleine Melo has formed the Jere Melo Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation.When Fort Bragg Councilmember and veteran forester Jere Melo was murdered on August 27th, 2011 the entire community of Fort Bragg, California was in shock. Melo was gunned down while investigating a report of a marijuana grow on private timberlands.Madeleine, Jere’s widow, wants to put a stop to the violence and environmental damage caused by illegal marijuana grows. “Nobody else should be killed over marijuana,” said Madeleine, “we need to clean up our woods and that’s what Jere tried so hard to do.”The foundation’s initial focus will be to create public awareness of what JMF Board Chairman Stephen Horner called a situation that has “reached a crisis level.”A board of directors was appointed and represents various public sectors. The initial board members are:John Andersen – Area Manager, Mendocino Redwood CompanyMaribelle Anderson – Anderson LoggingDan Catone – Owner, Financial Advisor, Redwood InvestmentsStephen Horner – Manager, Campbell TimberlandRoy Kornmeyer – Real Property Appraiser, Mendocino CountyScott Mayberry – Fort Bragg Police ChiefMadeleine Melo – Retired Certified Nurse-MidwifeLindy Peters – Sports Director and Radio Personality, KUNKPaul Trouette – Mendocino County Fish and Game commissioner, President of Mendocino County Blacktail AssociationAbout the Jere Melo FoundationThe Jere Melo Foundation (http://www.jeremelo.org) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the community about the need for safety and environmental health in forest lands and open space on public and private property.
As stated above, a foundation in Jere Melo’s name was established by his widow. Sincerely, I wish them the best of luck for their new endeavor.
I just wish that they had told the truth.
While I was on assignment for Toke of the Town covering this story, the L.A. Times had printed the erroneous headline, “Ft. Bragg Councilman Killed in Marijuana Grow!” and continued to print this report that former Ft. Bragg mayor and timber corporation advisor, Jere Melo, was killed while investigating illegal marijuana grow or garden.
| Charles Fox/Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Vice President Joe Biden will get an earful from Latin American presidents who are weary of the failed War On Drugs |
Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Mexico and Honduras on Sunday in the midst of rapidly escalating demands by Latin American leaders that legalization should be included among the options for reducing drug-related violence, crime and mayhem.
The presidents of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico, all struggling to stem the violence associated with a failing Drug War, have said in recent weeks they’d like to have a discussion on legalizing drugs, reports Martha Mendoza of The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, and Peru already allow the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, and the leaders of Brazil and Colombia are discussing alternatives to jailing drug users.
“U.S. government officials are worried because the smartest among them know that the current strategy, both domestically and internationally, cannot be defended on economic, scientific or ethical grounds,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).