Search Results: split (98)

Pro-marijuana activist David Wisniewski pointed out repeatedly last year that Prop 205, the adult-use marijuana initiative, did not have the full support of the cannabis-consuming community.

Now he’s running a new legalization campaign that has the same problem.

The Safer Arizona 2018 recreational-marijuana initiative campaign has been getting positive press lately, including an article in Saturday’s Arizona Republic that claimed “Recreational Marijuana May be Headed Back to the Ballot.”

The reality, though, is that key legalization proponents believe Safer Arizona isn’t likely to collect enough signatures to make the ballot — and they have little or no intention of helping to make it happen. The Phoenix New Times has the story…

It’s one of many theories.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.

Angelina Jolie’s exhaustion with Brad Pitt’s cannabis use, reportedly contributed to her filing for divorce. The Guardian asks what that means for custody of their children. Vulture chronicles Pitt’s “ battle with marijuana.”

Three Phoenix cops resigned and face criminal charges after allegedly forcing a 19-year old to eat marijuana or go to jail.

Pro-legalization activists say opponent Kevin Sabet broke the law by displaying a bag of infused gummies on a television panel in Boston. Sabet didn’t return an email requesting comment.

The late Jack Splitt.

Update: Back in June, Jack Splitt was at the center of a joyous scene.

As seen in our previous coverage below, he was alongsisde his mom, Stacey Linn, the executive director of the CannAbility Foundation, as Governor John Hickenlooper, a seat away, signed a bill allowing young medical marijuana patients like him to take their cannabis-based medication at school — something that had previously been forbidden. The resulting legislation became known as Jack’s Law.

Just over two months later, that triumph has turned into tragedy. Jack, who suffered from cerebral palsy, has died at the age of fifteen.

Voters will have a clear choice in November.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

The Democratic Party Platform states “We encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from its list as a Class 1 Federal Controlled Substance, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization.” The Washington Post describes the language as a nod to Bernie Sanders.

For its platform, the Republican Party rejected language supporting MED. It was proposed by Dale Jackson, a GOP delegate from Georgia with an autistic son. Another delegate said mass-shooters are, “young boys from divorced families, and they’re all smoking pot.”

Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) opposed reducing marijuana penalties in 2013.

The Cannabist released its 2016 election guide.

The industry-loathed “ potency amendment” will not be on the Colorado ballot. Frank McNulty (R), a former speaker of the Colorado House and supporter of the measure said the industry paid signature gathering firms to not gather signatures. “Without [signature gathering companies]we didn’t have the ability to get it to the ballot,”McNulty said.

An industry spokesman denied the accusation andThe Denver Post editorial page finds it “dubious.” “ Big marijuana trashes democratic process,” the Colorado Springs Gazette editorializes.

Campaign filings released on August 1 will clarify what happened. (An email query from WeedWeek was not returned.)

The Amendment would have banned products with higher than 16% THC, which account for 80% of cannabis products in Colorado. “Make no mistake,” the Post writes, “139 was an anti-pot measure designed to gut the industry. And it’ll be back.”

With industry support, California plans to regulate water use by growers.

Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, explains his ambivalence about California’s upcoming Adult Use of Marijuana Act vote: “The initiative is decidedly more friendly to big business and will lead to rapid consolidation of the industry. This is an avoidable and undesirable outcome.” (See the initiative’s exact language here.)

Montanans will vote on a measure to expand the state’s MED program. L.A. County voters will decide on a marijuana business tax to benefit the homeless. The L.A. Times tells government officials, “Legal marijuana should not be seen as the solution to your revenue problems.”

A federal judge rejected the claim that current federal laws are “so arbitrary and irrational as to be unconstitutional.” The complaint was brought by Charles and Alexander Green, two Californian brothers accused of trafficking.

A proposed MED measure in North Dakota would be too expensive, the state health department said. The Pennsylvania legislature approved growing hemp for research.


In January of this year, The Washington Post conducted a poll of Washington D.C. residents which found that 8 in 10 polled said they were in favor of either decriminalization, or straight up legalization, of weed in the nation’s capital.

In March, the City Council voted to decriminalize cannabis possession, knocking the punishment down from a year in jail, to a $25 fine. The District’s medical marijuana program is expanding, and much like in Colorado, none of these things are leading to the reefer madness we’ve been warned about for decades.
But with legalization talk being passed around the tightest circles in the nation’s capital, leave it to local Congressional Republicans to try to halt the inevitable progress of reform.


Denver-based edibles manufacturer Dixie Elixirs and the inventor of MED-a-Mints cannabis-infused candy have settled a dispute over alleged trademark violations. MED-a-Mints inventor Gary Gabrel claimed that Dixie Elixirs violated the contract between them when it changed the product’s packaging, making its own name more prominent and replacing the words “cannabis infused” with “THC infused” — a move he said was dangerous because children and some adults might not realize that the mints contain pot.
In a statement, Dixie Elixirs calls a lawsuit filed by Gabrel a “disappointing public spectacle.”
The two parties “have reached an amicable separation agreement,” it says. Read more below.


This past fall and winter there was a push to get medical marijuana recognized as a legitimate treatment for players in the NFL suffering from concussions. And now, with Spring Training wrapping up and opening day just three days away, it is time to shift our attention to Major League Baseball.
ESPN got the conversation started this week, asking an anonymous poll of MLB players whether they would use medical marijuana for pain if it were legal in all 50 states. Just under half (49 percent) said they would. Check out the graphic over at ESPN the magazine.

A new St. Cloud State University survey shows that the overwhelming majority of Minnesotans favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes.More than three-fourths of people interviewed in late October — 76 percent — answered yes to the question, “Would you support or oppose making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe?”

As for full legalization? They weren’t as warm to that. Minneapolis City Pages has more.

Elway Research
Support has fallen since last July. (Hey, looks like Elway’s auto-correct got ’em, changing “initiative” to “imitative.”)

​​Washington state voters appear increasingly split on the prospect of marijuana legalization as a ballot initiative heads to the Legislature next week.

A new Elway Research Poll released on Wednesday showed softening support for Initiative 502, which would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and tax sales, with 48 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed, reports Jonathan Martin at the Seattle Times. The margin of error is five percentage points.
Conventional wisdom holds that initiatives which have starting points of less than around 55 percent support have a low chance of passage at the ballot box.
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