California state Senator Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) has pulled off the impossible: he’s authored medical marijuana legislation that is actually supported by both the California League of Cities (which has both lobbied against pot dispensaries and helped cities actively ban them) as well as law enforcement, which has never supported a single pro-pot bill.
Check out the OC Weekly for more.
Have you asked yourself, “Wow, I wonder if Marco Rubio has ever been stoned?” Probably not, because, honestly, who cares?
The funny thing is that Rubio refuses to answer the question because he thinks people might actually care.
The Associated Press decided to ask Rubio the pot question.
Our friends over at the Miami New Times have his response, and their reaction.
A pair of Pennsylvania senators has introduced legislation that would legalize the cultivation of state-regulated CBD-rich cannabis plants and the production of high-CBD oils and tinctures, but the rest of the cannabis plant would remain illegal.
Senate Bill 1182, sponsored by Sens. Daylin Leach and Mike Folmer, would legalize a specific strain of cannabis bred in Colorado by one specific medical cannabis shop that has been made famous through several high-profile media specials. Both lawmakers say the bill is aimed to help children suffering from severe seizure disorders.
| Indiana state Sen. Karen Tallian. |
Up to two ounces of marijuana would be decriminalized and ticketed similar to a parking ticket in Indiana under a new proposal from state Sen. Karen Tallian. Currently, possession of thirty grams or less is a misdemeanor in the state with up to a year in jail and $5,000 in fines and the loss of your driver’s license. The most jailtime you could face for pot in the state would be eight years for cultivation of over ten pounds.
“We need to stop putting our kids in jail for what is becoming legal all over the country,” Tallian told a local news station this week.
| Wikimedia commons/Michael Plasmeier. |
A bipartisan pair of Pennsylvania state senators introduced legislation this week legalizing medical marijuana in that state. Sort of.
Senate Bill 1182 would legalize the production, possession and use of CBD-rich plants oils, tinctures, but otherwise leaves all other cannabinoids basically illegal. Still, the state governor says it won’t happen while he’s in office.
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy yesterday announced that the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing to discuss the conflicts between state and federal marijuana laws next month.
Both medical and recreational marijuana laws will be on the table for discussion, notably whether or not state employees implementing the programs will be safe from prosecution however Leahy also feels that the state’s rights to enact recreational laws should be respected.
| Lloyd Casey. |
When Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signs a hemp-farming registry bill later this morning, no one will be happier than Lloyd Casey. The 86-year-old former state senator, who now lives in Ohio, first introduced a hemp-legalization bill in the mid-1990s, but was rebuffed not once but twice by powerful interests, including a DEA agent who still rankles him nearly twenty years later.
“I said, ‘Goddamn it, I’m going to live long enough to make this happen, and I’d love to rub your face in it,'” he recalls — and he’s scheduled to be on hand to witness today’s signing. Denver Westword has his story.
| Nevada Sen. Tick Segerblom. |
Could medical marijuana dispensaries dot the landscape between the casinos of Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada? That’s what one Nevada state senator is hoping to accomplish this session with a bill that would legalize medical marijuana centers in that state.
| Sully The Urban Hillbilly |
| Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon: “My amendment to the Farm Bill will change federal policy to allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for these safe and legitimate products right here” |
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) explained the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana on Wednesday in a floor speech backing an amendment to a Senate farm bill which would allow farmers in the United States to grow hemp.
| Bodhi Group |
| Canadian farmer harvests a bountiful hemp crop. He could be joined by his U.S. neighbors if Sen. Ron Wyden’s amendment to the Farm Bill is successful |
