Search Results: senator (345)

Photo: My Fox DC
Senator, a toy poodle, got stoned after he placed a marijuana roach in his mouth. His non-genius owner even got him a drug test. Yeah, he tested positive.

​A Maryland woman who said she considers her toy poodle “more like a child than a pet” was crying as she took the cannabinated canine to the veterinarian Monday, after the partying pooch grabbed a marijuana roach in its mouth.

Cynthia Painter of Chevy Chase, Md., said she was walking “Senator” in her apartment courtyard when he tried to eat the cannabis butt, reports Will Thomas at My Fox DC.
“I quickly removed it, but within an hour, he couldn’t walk right and his eyes were glassy, so we rushed him to the hospital,” Painter said.
“Soon as the vet saw him, she said, ‘He’s stoned,’ ” Painter said. Proper!

Photo: Salem News
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: “In this time of drastic budget cuts, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement and the courts cannot afford to expend limited resources” prosecuting petty pot offenses

​A bill downgrading the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana from a misdemeanor to an infraction has been signed into law by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The law, SB 1449 by Senator Mark Leno, means small-time pot offenders will no longer have to appear in court, and will no longer have a criminal arrest record. It will also save California millions of dollars in court and prosecution expenses, according to Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML.
The bill treats petty cannabis possession like a traffic ticket, punishable by a simple $100 fine and no arrest record.
“Gov. Schwarzenegger deserves credit for sparing the state’s taxpayers the cost of prosecuting minor pot offenders,” Gieringer said. “Californians increasingly recognize that the war on marijuana is a waste of law enforcement resources.”

Tea Party of South Dakota

Allen Unruh: “They would not want to work”

​”One of the side effects is, they would not want to work.” ~ Allen Unruh, organizer for a local South Dakota Tea Party group

Supporters of a measure to legalize small amounts of marijuana for medicinal use in South Dakota on Monday sought to assure the public that it would not create pot dispensaries or open the door to full legalization.

“This is about ill people,” said Tony Ryan, a retired police officer whose wife suffers from multiple sclerosis. “It’s only about ill people. It’s not a free-for all.”
​The rally also came on the same day that conservative firebrand Allen Unruh, an organizer for a local Tea Party group, denounced the medical marijuana measure as a back-door effort to legalize cannabis, which Unruh complained would lead to “widespread laziness” among users.
“One of the side effects is, they would not want to work,” Unruh said. “Unemployment is already through the roof.”
(Damn, I don’t really feel like doing the rest of this story, man. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just kidding!)

Photo: ACS Blog

​A new poll finds growing support for a November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in California.

Sunday’s survey by the nonpartisan Field Poll on Prop 19, which will be on the state’s November ballot and would legalize marijuana and tax its production, distribution and sale, shows more voters warming to the measure, which is now leading 49 to 42 percent, with 9 percent undecided.
A Field Poll in July showed the measure trailing, 44 percent Yes to 48 percent No, reports Jim Miller of the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

Photo: NORML Blog

​The Nebraska Board of Pharmacy rejected a request to reclassify marijuana so that it could be used for medicinal purposes. The board decided Monday that it lacks the authority to reclassify marijuana as a drug that could be legally prescribed by physicians.

Any decision to reclassify marijuana so it can be prescribed for certain medical conditions is up to the federal Food and Drug Administration, State Pharmacy Board Chairman Richard Zarek said Wednesday. So the board declined to act on the matter, reports Paul Hammel of the Omaha World-Herald.
“There’s nothing the Board of Pharmacy can do as long as it’s listed as a Schedule I drug and ineligible for dispensing,” Zarek said.

Photo: Duane Roberts
Duane Roberts: “Repealing federal laws criminalizing marijuana will save the U.S. government billions of dollars”

​Duane Roberts, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate from California, has called for repealing federal laws prohibiting marijuana from being used for “medicinal, recreational and industrial purposes.” Roberts urged the passage of Prop 19, saying it will send a message to the political establishment.

“As I officially kick off my campaign for the U.S. Senate today, one of the first declarations I make is to call for the repeal of all federal laws on the books which make it a criminal act for people to grow, sell and use marijuana for medicinal, recreational and industrial purposes,” Roberts said on Thursday.
“According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 800,000 people are arrested each year in this country for using a plant of which the evidence suggests is far less dangerous to consume than alcohol, tobacco, and some well-known prescription pharmaceuticals,” Roberts said.
This is a big waste of taxpayer money, according to Roberts.
“Not only does this clog the court systems and fill up the jails and prisons with non-violent offenders, but it diverts the limited resources of the police, prosecutors, and judges away from pursuing individuals who engage in violent crimes against others,” said the Senatorial candidate.

Photo: Theodore’s World
Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office: “He submitted his resignation, and Sen. Boxer accepted it because his actions yesterday were wrong and unacceptable”

​A senior aide for Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was arrested Tuesday for trying to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Capitol Police reports.

Marcus Stanley, who served as senior economic adviser and at one time worked on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Boxer, was stopped by a police officer when he allegedly tried to “remove and conceal” a “leafy green substance” from his pocket during a security screening at the Constitution Avenue door of the Hart Building around noon on Tuesday, according to Capitol Police.
Officers confiscated the substance, which later tested positive for marijuana, and Stanley quickly resigned, reports Erika Lovley at Politico.

Graphic: Yes On Prop 19

​It’s gonna be a close one in California, as the latest poll on Proposition 19, this November’s tax and regulate voter initiative, shows the numbers tightening.

According to the latest SurveyUSA poll [PDF] of likely voters, taken August 31-September 1, Prop 19 still holds a modest lead with 47 percent of voters saying they will vote yes with 43 percent saying they will vote no. Ten percent still weren’t certain how they’d vote on the measure.
The last two times SurveyUSA polled the state, August 9-11 and July 8-11, 50 percent of likely voters said they’d vote yes for legalization, while 40 percent said they would vote no, reports Jon Walker at Firedoglake.
The initiative would allow adult Californians to possess up to one ounce of cannabis, while allowing cities and municipalities to allow, prohibit or regulate its sale in retail stores, reports Dennis Romero at LA Weekly.
Just this week, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced she will co-chair the campaign against legalization of marijuana with L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca.
“Is it no surprise that people are going to get killed behind this easy profit?” Baca said Wednesday, reports Nannette Miranda of ABC 7. The sheriff seems to be unaware that the illegal nature of pot is what leads to the violence — just as with alcohol Prohibition.

Photo: Examiner.com
GOP Senate candidate Dino Rossi captured in a rare moment without his head up his ass

​You’d expect a politician to promote medical research being done at local universities. But Republican Senatorial candidate Dino Rossi of Washington on Thursday tried to gain some traction in his political campaign by attacking a local research project which studies the use of marijuana cannabinoids to control pain.
Rossi thought it would make an easy target, after all: Talk about “wasteful” federal stimulus spending to rile up the Tea Party faithful, and then drag in a tired old stoner stereotype for good measure.
“This is one of those boondoggle projects that forces you to set aside the serious economic consequences of this so-called stimulus for a moment and just laugh at how out of touch Washington, D.C., really is,” Rossi said. “Washington state taxpayers are tired of their money going up in smoke. This bill isn’t going to stimulate anything other than sales of Cheetos.”
It’s time for a diversion, Rossi seems to believe, to distract voters from inconvenient little things like, well, the fact that he was recently named to a list of the 11 Most Crooked Candidates in the United States(!) by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

​A bill has just reached the floor of the United States Senate that would double penalties for any edible products combined with medical marijuana in California and the 13 other states that provide compassionate relief for patients.

The worst part is that the bill was written and sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California!
S. 258, the “Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act,” was introduced by Sen. Feinstein and is using a hyped-up media scare about “candy flavored methamphetamine” to attack medical marijuana patients and providers.
Since there is no national trend toward lacing candy and other edibles with meth or any other drug besides cannabis, this bill clearly targets legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries, caregivers and patients in states that have legalized it as medicine.
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