| Photo: Smashed Frog |
| One amendment to SB 5073 would ban print advertising by medical marijuana dispensaries. |
Version Passed By Senate Would Ban Print Advertising By Dispensaries; Law Prof Calls That ‘Clearly Unconstitutional’
The Washington Senate approved a bill Wednesday night which, if approved by the House, would legalize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.
The bill, intended to bring the medical marijuana supply chain out of a legal gray area, was approved by senators on a 29-20 vote after lengthy debate, reports Manuel Valdes of The Associated Press. The measure now moves to the House.
Senators approved several amendments to the bill which are opposed by the medical marijuana community, including a troublesome ban on print advertising which would strip dispensaries of their First Amendment right to advertise. Distressingly, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), author of the bill, introduced that change.
One University of Washington law professor and First Amendment expert called the proposed ban on print advertising by dispensaries “clearly unconstitutional,” reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly.
| Photo: Screwed US |
| Medical marijuana patient Lance Mackey has won the past four Iditarod races. Drug tests were instituted last year — at the urging of jealous opponents, Mackey believes — but the champ tested clean. Now they’re expanding the drug tests. |
Drug tests are back this year for Iditarod dog-sled mushers under updated rules that could now disqualify participants who smoke marijuana before — not just during — the race.
The Iditarod began testing for illegal drugs for the first time last year, reports Kyle Hopkins at The Tacoma News Tribune. Anchorage-based WorkSafe set up a makeshift drug-testing lab in a city supply room in White Mountain, the next-to-last checkpoint on the trail. Officials pulled mushers aside and forced them to take urine tests during their mandatory eight-hour stay in the village.
The top finishers all tested clean, according to Iditarod officials, including champion Lance Mackey, who believed jealous competitors called for the drug tests in hopes the throat-cancer survivor and well-known medicinal cannabis smoker would test positive.
| Photo: Nepal Mountain News |
| A sadhu smokes marijuana at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal at the Shivaratri festival. Hundreds of holy men from Nepal and India gather yearly for the festival, where religious-based cannabis use is common. |
Thousands of holy men — known as sadhus — have been banned from selling cannabis to religious festival-goers at an ancient temple in Nepal.
Hindu devotees are gathering at the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to celebrate the holy festival of Shivaratri. Sadhus — Hindu holy men who renounce the world around them for spiritual goals — traditionally celebrate Shivaratri by smoking cannabis, reports Joanna Jolly at the BBC.
But those found selling pot at the temple this year will face eviction or even arrest by armed police, temple officials say — even if they are holy men.
Since last week, plainclothes police have been “mingling” with the sadhus to “identify anyone selling drugs.” Meanwhile, religious festival attendees are forced to endure the sight of young, gung-ho law enforcement officers defiling and disrespecting a venerated spiritual tradition dating back thousands of years.
About 20 sadhus have already been arrested and forced to an area outside the city, according to officials.
| Graphic: Simple Cannabis |
A legislator in Texas has introduced a bill which would reduce penalties for the possession of marijuana.
House Bill 548 [PDF], introduced by Rep. Harold Dutton Jr (D-Houston), would reclassify possession of less than an ounce of marijuana from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class C misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $500 fine, reports My Fox Austin.
Possession of two ounces or less, but more than one ounce would remain a Class B misdemeanor.
Currently, possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas, with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
| Photo: COTO Report |
| Smart energy meters send lots of data to power companies — which can then be subpoenaed by law enforcement. |
Police have started the Orwellian practice of subpoenaing energy-use records of people suspected of indoor marijuana growing operations.
At least 60 such subpoenas are filed every month in Ohio alone, reports Dean Narciso at The Columbus Dispatch.
Utilities, while “sensitive” to their customers’ expectation of privacy, are compelled by law to provide information about electricity use, said Terri Flora, spokeswoman for American Electric Power, an Ohio utility.
| Photo: Chicago Tribune |
Yes, it’s garbage and no, it’s not a good replacement for real cannabis. But today a whole new class of substances was added to the failed policy of drug prohibition.
As expected, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday announced that five variations of so-called “synthetic marijuana,” also known under brand names such as Spice, K2, and Black Mamba, have been added to its official list of illegal drugs, reports Jessica Fender at The Denver Post.
| Photo: Tim Larsen |
| David Barnes argues for medical marijuana with Gov. Chris Christie during a town hall meeting in Flemington, N.J., September 8, 2010. |
A New Jersey prosecutor has decided to drop a marijuana possession charge against a man who argued he uses cannabis to treat a seizure disorder.
Police in Readington, N.J., found a small amount of marijuana on David Barnes in February 2010, reports The Associated Press. His case became a rallying point for local medical marijuana advocates.
Although the New Jersey Legislature last year legalized marijuana for patients with certain medical conditions, implementation has been delayed as the administration of Republican Gov. Chris Christie labors over regulatory details.
| Photo: Colorado Medical Marijuana Dispensary Review |
| Marijuana-infused edibles such as these delicious-looking cookies would be banned in Colorado under a bill being debated Tuesday in the Colorado House. |
The Colorado House is scheduled on Tuesday to debate a measure which would ban the medical marijuana edibles industry in the state. Most observers gave the bill a low chance of passage.
House Bill 1250 co-sponsor Rep. Cindy Acree (R) claimed the medibles business is bad for both children and patients, and adds that patients can still make their own cannabis edibles, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword. “They can use it however they want: bake with it, drink it, whatever,” she said. “And it doesn’t ban any of the base product, like the oils, the tinctures.”
“The way it’s written now preserves the integrity of the constitutional obligation to make sure patients have access to medicinal products,” Acree said. “But the bill would ban edible food and beverage products.”
And why, exactly, is a ban needed on commercially prepared marijuana edibles?
“Things like ‘pot tarts’ have been showing up on school grounds,” Acree claimed. “And they don’t have regulated doses. I think even patients are misled by some of these things.”
| Photo: CBS 5 News |
| This bumper sticker was enough to get a high school English teacher fired in Arizona. |
“Have you drugged your kid today?” That’s the bumper sticker that got an Arizona schoolteacher fired.
It was just one of 61 bumper stickers on high school English teacher Tarah Ausborn’s Toyota Prius, reports Judy Molland at Care2. But after the teacher refused to peel off the sticker after five parents at Imagine Prep High School complained and administrators ordered it — or her car — removed, she was fired.
School administrators told Ausborn she could keep the sticker on her vehicle if she’d promise to park off campus for the rest of the school year. But Ausborn stuck to her guns, and lost her job.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) told attendees at the first Maine Medical Marijuana Expo on Saturday that current laws against marijuana use are expensive, are applied unevenly and should be repealed.
“People who make a personal decision to smoke marijuana should not be subject to prosecution,” Frank said, noting that the legalization movement has allies in the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, reports David Hench at the Kennebec Journal. “This is the kind of fight that’s worth making. It’s winnable.”
Frank was present during a marijuana arrest at James Ready’s home in Ogunquit, Maine last October. Ready is well-known for his long term relationship with Congressman Frank, reports My Fox Boston.
The Congressman’s message was well received by a crowd of about 100, including many vendors set up for the day-long exposition in Portland, Maine.