Search Results: firedoglake (25)

Graphic: Reality Catcher

​First, there was Facebook’s censorship of marijuana leaves in legalization ads on its social network. Then came Google’s decision to accept and run nearly identical ads. Now, an announcement from social news site Reddit’s corporate owner, Conde Nast, to Just Say Now that it will not run any display advertising relating to marijuana legalization has resulted in an near-insurrection among the site’s users — and administrators, who said they were “blindsided” by the move.

That decision, unlike Facebook’s, pertains not just to images of marijuana leaves, but to any ads supporting legalization of marijuana, according to the “corporate offices” of Reddit’s parent company, Conde Nast.

Graphic: Just Say Now
Here is one of the pro-legalization ads (including a marijuana leaf!) that Google has agreed to run.

​Facebook may think it’s “inappropriate” to run ads depicting marijuana leaves — despite the fact that the ads were so popular, they got 38 million views — but apparently Google has no problem with them.

Google agreed on Wednesday to run the ads, very similar to the ones nixed by Facebook, and which also contain images of marijuana leaves.
The advertisements are for Just Say Now, the pro-legalization group launched this month by Firedoglake blogger Jane Hamsher along with Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP).

Marijuana activists were outraged at Facebook this week when the social networking site, which had already been running ads from the group, told the organization that it would no longer run them because they contained images of cannabis leaves, reports Chris Good at The Atlantic.

Graphic: Firedoglake

​Facebook has banned the ads of anti-prohibition group Just Say Now, a campaign for marijuana legalization. Just Say Now ran ads that showed their logo, which uses a marijuana leaf. Despite the ad running more than 38 million times, Facebook has flip-flopped and starting censoring the ads, claiming they promote “tobacco products.”

“In a nutshell, they allowed us to serve our ads for 10 days (38 million impressions), then suddenly reversed their approval and told us we could no longer show the image of a marijuana leaf,” said Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and the Just Say Now advisory board.
“They said they decided to reclassify it as similar to tobacco, but we said we weren’t trying to encourage people to smoke marijuana, we were supporting a change in U.S. drug policy,” Hamsher said, reports Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing.

Photo: Philly NORML
Neill Franklin, LEAP: “Californians finally have an opportunity to do something about it”

​​​A national group of African-American law enforcement officers has endorsed Proposition 19, the measure on this November’s ballot that would tax and regulate marijuana in California.

The National Black Police Association (NBPA), with more than two dozen chapters across the United States, announced the endorsement in Sacramento, where the organization is holding a national conference, reports Jesse McKinley at The New York Times.
“Prohibition takes a toll on people of color across the country,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which supports Prop 19.
“When I was a cop in Baltimore, and even before then when I was growing up there, I saw with my own eyes the devastating impact these misguided marijuana laws have on our communities and neighborhoods,” Franklin said.

Photo: daylife
Michele Leonhart, deputy administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries — yet Obama wants to keep her on.

​It often seems as if cannabis activists can’t agree on a lot of things. But one thing they all seem to agree upon is that President Obama should rescind the nomination of Bush holdover Michele Leonhart to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A number of progressive groups released a letter last month accusing Leonhart, a deputy administrator appointed by President George W. Bush and the acting administrator since Karen P. Tandy’s resignation in 2007, of ignoring a Justice Department directive that raiding dispensaries and growers operating legally in medical marijuana states is a “poor use of resources.”

Photo: Saigon Market
I’m assuming dude falls on the “Yes” side of the question.

​A small majority of California voters supports the legalization of adult cannabis use in the state, according to a new Sacramento Bee/Field Poll.

The poll is especially interesting because it gave voters a menu of options from which to choose their preferred marijuana policy, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at Firedoglake.
“Maintaining the current marijuana policy is in fact an extreme minority position in the state,” notes Walker. Only one third of voters supports strictly enforcing current laws against pot, or passing even tougher laws.
Combining the small group (4 percent) of voters who think marijuana should be legal for everyone with those who support legalizing and regulating it like alcohol results in a total of 51 percent supporting legalization.

Photo: Alejandro Bringas/Reuters
Mexican soldiers stand guard, pretending they don’t have a buzz as bales of marijuana go up in smoke

​It seems that top Mexican officials, weary of their bloody and protracted drug war, have been been subtly pushing the U.S. for some time to seriously consider marijuana legalization. Now, with the sitting president calling for a debate, it’s not so subtle anymore.

Responding to out-of-control violence related to the illegal drug trade, Mexican President Calderon on Tuesday said he is open to a debate on the legalization of marijuana and other drugs.
​Calderon called the increasingly widespread public discussion of legalization “a fundamental debate.”

Graphic: Just Say Now

​​The mainstreaming of marijuana means that it is no longer considered a “right” or “left” issue. Pot legalization is now receiving support from across the political spectrum. 

And that’s a good thing, according to Jane Hamsher, founder and publisher of leading progressive blog Firedoglake.com.
“It is very important to us that this is not viewed as a partisan issue, because we don’t think that it is,” Hamsher said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters.
“Young people want marijuana to be legalized in overwhelming numbers: young voters are not just excited to support legalization, but are much more likely to turn out to vote if marijuana is on the ballot,” Hamsher said. “We’re delighted about organizing legalization supporters and getting them to the polls on Election Day.”

Photo: Politico
Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake on DEA medical marijuana raids: “What part of ‘not a priority’ does Michele Leonhart not understand?”

​Two ideologically diverse advocates on Wednesday echoed an earlier call by a coalition of drug-policy reform groups by condemning a series of recent raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on medical marijuana collectives operating legally under state law.

The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates for states’ rights, and Jane Hamsher, the publisher of Firedoglake.com, called on the DEA to respect duly adopted state medical marijuana laws and immediately end those raids.
“The federal government is only authorized to exercise those powers that ‘We The People’ delegated to it in the Constitution,” said Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. “It is especially egregious when these laws are used to justify raids in states where the use and distribution of cannabis is expressly allowed by law.”

Photo: Showtime
“Weeds” star Mary Louise Parker: Cultural bellwether?

​There’s more good news for supporters of marijuana legalization. For the first time ever, Rasmussen Reports’ poll of American adults has a plurality supporting legalization: 43 percent think marijuana should be legalized, while 42 percent think is should remain against the law.

Almost two-thirds of Americans — even those who are against it — now believe that marijuana will be legalized within the next 10 years.

A “plurality” in polling terms simply means that more people are in favor of pot legalization than are opposed to it.

That’s quite an improvement from a year ago, when a similar Rasmussen poll found 41 percent supporting legalization and 49 percent opposed, reports policy analyst Jon Walker at FireDogLake.
“It is possible that Prop 19, by bringing the debate to the forefront, is starting to noticeably move national opinions by forcing people to take some time to actually think about the issue,” Walker said.