Search Results: lobbyists (39)

Gawker
Yes, there are a few of these in California. No, they are not coming to Arkansas, even if voters there legalize medical marijuana next Tuesday.

Lobbyists opposing the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act claimed on Tuesday that they “are working to discover whether or not medical marijuana vending machines are coming to Arkansas.” They aren’t.
“That’s simply not true; medical marijuana is only allowed to be dispensed in one of 30 licensed, non-profit dispensaries,” said David Couch, legal counsel for Arkansans for Compassionate Care. “This would not be allowed in Arkansas, unless it was approved by the Arkansas Department of Health.”
In California, vending machines add another level of security–helping to ensure that only patients get the medicine. Let’s take a look at how it works:

Hal Yeager/The Birmingham News
CLUELESS! Rep. Jim McClendon, chairman of the Alabama House Health Committee, called constituent emails “harassment”

Health Committee Chairman Unwilling To Read Citizen Emails

Ah, representative democracy. When citizens have concerns, they contact their elected representatives, right? Right?? One Alabama legislator apparently could use a basic civics lesson; it seems Republican Rep. Jim McClendon has forgotten for whom he works. On Thursday morning, he sent an email message to constituents, colleagues and newspapers statewide accusing medical marijuana lobbyists of “harassment.”

McClendon, chairman of the Alabama House Committee on Health, apparently felt quite put upon by the emails sent by members and supporters of the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition, a group fighting for safe access for medicinal cannabis patients in the Heart of Dixie.

Jill Stein for President
Jill Stein: “As a medical doctor myself, I am a strong proponent of legalization”

Exclusive Interview: Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein

Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee for President of the United States, has a very clear concept of the mainstream roadblock to marijuana legalization. “We consider marijuana a substance which is dangerous because it is illegal,” she told Toke of the Town in an exclusive interview Friday morning. “But it is, in fact, not dangerous; it is far less a health concern than perfectly legal substances such as tobacco and alcohol.”
When Stein says so, it perhaps carries a little more weight than if your average politician said it; besides being a mother and a housewife, this 1979 Harvard graduate is a medical doctor. And she believes that marijuana prohibition is a really bad idea.
“We think making marijuana illegal increases the public health threat because it forces people to associate with the underground illegal drug culture,” Stein told us. “We are committed to using science in the scheduling of marijuana and hemp, and it’s quite clear that if science is brought to bear on this — it’s supposed to be about health and addiction — marijuana and hemp would not be scheduled substances. We would move quickly to order the DEA to de-schedule marijuana.”

Elect Mike Smith, GA House Dist. 69
Mike Smith: “With the legalization of marijuana, we can increase tax revenue, close expensive for-profit prisons, and use the savings to improve the education of our children”

In what may be a first for the Georgia General Assembly, outspoken atheist and LaGrange attorney Mike Smith has qualified as a Democratic candidate for George House District 69. If elected, Smith said, he will propose legislation to outlaw all lobbyist gifts to Georgia legislators, legalize marijuana, and “make the rich pay their fair share of taxes.”

“I pledge to bring a rational voice to the Georgia Legislature,” said Smith, 62.
“The failed war on drugs is the lynchpin of the Republican party’s Southern strategy, which was designed to trick white Southerners into voting against their own interests,” Smith said. “With the legalization of marijuana, we can increase tax revenue, close expensive for-profit prisons, and use the savings to improve the education of our children.”
A Vietnam War veteran and former paratrooper, Smith now opposes all wars. “That includes the Republican wars against women, immigrants, gays, blacks, unions, and free speech,” he said.

indybay.org

​The California Legislature will soon be voting on two marijuana reform bills that seem to be more popular with the public than with the politicians in Sacramento: SB 129 by Sen. Mark Leno, which would prohibit employment discrimination against medical marijuana patients, and AB 1017 by Rep. Tom Ammiano, which would allow for reduced, misdemeanor charges in marijuana cultivation cases.
Both bills have strong public support according to a newly released poll of state voters by EMC Research [PDF]. However, both have had trouble getting through the Legislature, where they must be approved by January 31 in order to stay alive.

Law Firm Blog

By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent

None of this is true. It takes place in an office in a big nondescript government building, someplace where obedient, bored American people work and make lots of money arresting other Americans. We now go to a conversation already in progress.
Jack: I would like to speak to the person in charge of busting potheads.
Receptionist: He’s at the bar…
Jack: I’ll wait…
[Three hours later]
PICOBP: C’mon in, mind if I smoke?
Jack: Smoke what? 
PICOBP: Cigarettes? What else is there?
Jack: That’s why I’m here.

Rose Law Group

​Wyoming is sandwiched between two states — Montana and Colorado — which have already legalized medical marijuana. Doesn’t that mean it’s just a matter of time before The Equality State equalizes things with its neighbors?

Well, no, at least not if you listen to state Senator Chris Rothfuss, who said he hasn’t heard of fellow lawmakers even discussing a Wyoming medical marijuana law, reports Bob Vines at the Northern Wyoming Daily News.
Not only that, but Rothfuss, a Democrat from Laramie, said now may not be the time for the state to start looking at that possibility.
“We have a lot of things that we want to focus on that we consider to be high-priority issues,” Rothfuss said. “There’s a general sense that when we have such short terms (in session), nobody wants to get into these types of issues.”

Photo: NORML Blog

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

11. Wars make money for a few and kill the rest…

The War On Drugs makes money for cartels, police, the government, prisons, politicians, crooks, and all those other people we can’t see, like the Glad Bag people and the grow-light industry.
This 100-year revenue stream could dry up if Americans couldn’t be arrested for a drug that has been proven to be less destructive than whole milk.

Graphic: Connecticut Citizens for Marijuana Reform

​Friday, June 17, 2011, marks 40 years since President Richard Nixon, citing drug abuse as “public enemy number one,” officially declared a “War On Drugs.” A trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives later, the War On Drugs remains a complete failure.

Drug policy reform advocates across the U.S. will mark this date with a coordinated day of action to raise awareness about the failure of drug prohibition and call for an exit strategy to the failed War On Drugs. Events will be held in 15 states, and in major cities like Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and New Orleans.
Day of Action events include:
• Chicago: Hundreds of Chicagoans will gather at the State of Illinois James R. Thompson Center to rally against drug policies that have led to injustices such as extreme racial disparity in Illinois’s prisons and jails.
• Los Angeles: Grassroots organizations and students, including Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Pico Youth and Family Center, Mothers United to End the War on Drugs, All Of Us Or None, Homies Unidos and other criminal justice organizations, will stage a Day of Action to call for community solutions to end the 40-year War On Drugs and mass incarceration. Also, the William C. Velasquez Institute will host a forum in Los Angeles with top Latino leaders to discuss the impact of the Drug War on communities of color.