Of the 33 state legislators from Colorado who signed a recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling for congressional action “to protect the sovereignty of states like Colorado and ensure that marijuana businesses and consumers will be free from undue federal interference,” none were Republicans.
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The state votes in November.
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) said she’s “open” to REC legalization in Massachusetts.
Pennsylvania is moving aggressively to create rules for its MED industry. Major regulatory changes are coming in L.A.
Portland (Ore.) City Hall is fighting with a pot shop about a license requirement.
In SFWeekly, I said we need more weed reporters. I also spoke to HelloMD about WeedWeek and the cannabis beat.
New Jersey state senator Nicholas Scutari takes questions at his press conference on marijuana refor
During a four-day trip to Colorado earlier this month that took him through Boulder, Golden and Denver, New Jersey senator Nicholas Scutari, a Democrat from Union, examined the effects of legalizing recreational marijuana. He concluded that similar legislation could benefit New Jersey.
His trip included visits to dispensaries and meetings with state officials, law enforcement and local business owners. In a press conference held when he returned home, he said he came away with a better understanding of safety regulations, such as making sure packaging on marijuana products indicates clear dosage levels and equipping police departments with drug-recognition experts.
| Indiana State Sen. Karen Tallian. |
Emboldened by recent federal developments that seemingly gives states more authority to regulate medical cannabis, an Indiana state Senator says she’s ready to (once again) push a medical marijuana bill through the state legislature.
State Sen. Karen Tallian has unsuccessfully ran marijuana-related bills for years (including decriminalization measures) that didn’t even get the respect of a hearing in a committee. But Tallian says that the time is right to have a real discussion about legalizing marijuana for medical uses in her state and urged Republicans on the other side of the aisle to get their heads out of the sand.
The motivation behind the prohibition philosophies of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell could have something to do with his political campaigns being funded with the help of the black market cocaine trade. Now, while the theory is purely speculation, a recent drug bust on a cargo ship in a Caribbean port reveals that the Kentucky lawmaker may be more rooted in Scarfacian principles than those of any good old’ boy from the Bluegrass State.
| Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon. |
U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, says he will most certainly vote to legalize limited amounts of marijuana in Oregon next week. Merkley tells Talking Points Memo that he’s tired of seeing resources wasted on a failed war on pot.
“I think folks on both sides of the argument make a good case,” Merkley said. “And there is concern about a series of new products — and we don’t have a real track record from Colorado and Washington. But I feel on balance that we spend a lot of money on our criminal justice system in the wrong places and I lean in favor of this ballot measure.”
| Phoenix New Times 2014. |
Dr. Sue Sisley was about to conduct some of the most important cannabis research in the United States when she was abruptly fired from her job at the University of Arizona this past June for what she says (and what clearly appears to be) purely political reasons.
Our cohorts at the Phoenix New Times have done an amazing job looking into what happened and, more importantly, what is in store for Sisley’s study that looks at how military veterans can use cannabis to help treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
| Senator Pat Roberts and opponent Greg Orman at a debate this weekend. |
For years, marijuana advocates have warned folks from Colorado to think twice before taking cannabis over the state line to Kansas, which has some of the toughest weed-related penalties in the country and has been repeatedly accused of pot profiling. So it’s something of a surprise to discover that the two candidates in a suddenly competitive Kansas senatorial race — incumbent Pat Roberts and independent upstart Greg Orman — both have problems with federal marijuana policies.
Last month, pot activists cheered as the U.S. House approved an amendment to a spending bill that will end funding for U.S. Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana operations and patients otherwise following their state law.
Now a companion amendment in the U.S. Senate has found traction with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. A second senate amendment sponsored by Sen. John Walsh, a Democrat from Montana, would protect patients in medical cannabis states from prosecution for firearms possession and use.
| Ingebrigtsen (left) and Rosen regard efforts to legalize weed as “a direct attack at our way of life in Minnesota.” |
An anti-medical marijuana letter co-written by MNGOP Sens. Julie Rosen and Bill Ingebrigtsen reminds us of some of the crazy stuff you would’ve read about pot nearly a century ago.
The letter, which is addressed to Rosen and Ingebrigtsen’s Senate colleagues, describes marijuana as a “devastatingly addictive drug” that “rips families apart, devastates relationships and destroys communities.” Seriously. There are people that still believe this crap. Our friends at the Minneapolis City Pages did a great job of calling them out on their BS, though.