tagged w/ Medical Marijuana
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By Andrew Jones
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 12:44 EST
A majority of Californians believe that marijuana should be regulated like wine, according to a recent statewide poll sponsored by legalization advocates.
Sixty-two percent of residents in the Golden State support the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012, a ballot initiative that will be voted on in November. The poll, conduced by opinion research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, found that only 35 percent were oppose to the ballot.
The firm found that 80 percent of the 800 people surveyed agreed with the statement “State and federal drug laws are outdated and have failed, therefore, we need to take a new approach that makes sense for today.”
Steve Collett, treasurer for the legalization group behind the poll, celebrated the results in a media advisory.
“There is no policy that is more discriminatory or wastes more tax dollars,” Collett said. “This initiative helps farmers, reduces prison overcrowding, relieves burdens on the courts, generates revenues for the state, and frees up police to work on real crimes.”
This is the latest poll showing increased support for pro-marijuana advocates. Last October, a Gallup pull showed that half of Americans now support legalizing marijuana.
California voters narrowly turned down legalization in 2010 by a 53 to 46 percent margin. Efforts to have Californians vote on legalization again were still underway.
Both Colorado and Washington are also expected to vote on legalizing marijuana in November.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/01/poll-62-percent-of-californians-want-marijuana-regulated-like-wine/
"I think someday soon, the benefits of Marijuana will be too many to continue to overlook!!!"By Andrew Jones
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 12:44 EST
A majority of Californians... more
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This is spooky. The DEA is apparently "investigating" state legislators in Montana who helped write the state's medical marijuana law as being part of a marijuana trafficking "conspiracy."
This is for real. They are going around interrogating medical marijuana providers about what they know about specific legislators.
Like one legislator said, "this is McCarthyism all over again."
Part of the basis for this is a federal judge in Montana recently ruled that federal marijuana laws trump state medical marijuana laws. The once-booming (and granted, the system was being abused) medical marijuana industry in the state is virtually dead.
But now, it sounds like the feds are going after people who wrote the law to begin with.
It almost makes you want to vote for Ron Paul! (Well, not really).
http://missoulian.com/news/local/dea-inquiries-into-state-s-medical-marijuana-industry-include-legislators/article_54b1b528-4a3a-11e1-99bc-001871e3ce6c.htmlThis is spooky. The DEA is apparently "investigating" state legislators in... more
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By Muriel Kane
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A British pharmaceutic firm is completing clinical trials of a drug derived directly from marijuana and hopes to receive approval to market it from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2013.
The drug, which contains both THC and cannabidiol, has already been approved in Canada, New Zealand, and several European countries to relieve muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis. In the US, however, it would be sold to relieve cancer pain.
The FDA began approving drugs based on synthetic equivalents of the active ingredients in marijuana in 1985, but this would be the first drug derived from the plant itself. This is significant because, as the Associated Press points out, “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position.”
“There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing,” the president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society told the AP. “It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, `If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.’”
Some marijuana advocates, however, worry that government approval of marijuana-based prescription drugs could become a new argument against legalization of medical marijuana. “That’s the race against time,” Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access told AP, “in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/22/pot-based-prescription-drug-could-receive-fda-approval/
"Legalize It!!!!!!"By Muriel Kane
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A British pharmaceutic firm is completing... more
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By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the founders of the United States would have dealt violently with marijuana growers, despite the fact that they grew the plant for commercial purposes themselves.
He said at an town hall event in New Hampshire that decriminalizing drugs like marijuana would increase the rate of addictions and increase crime.
“In general, I’d like us to be as drug free as possible and I think that it requires a much more serious approach.”
Gingrich was later asked if former Presidents Thomas Jefferson or George Washington should have been arrested for growing marijuana.
“I think Jefferson or George Washington would have rather strongly discouraged you from growing marijuana and their techniques with dealing with it would have been rather more violent than our current government,” he responded.
Both Washington and Jefferson grew marijuana on their Virginia farms. At the time, the plant was used to make a number a products, such as rope and textiles. It did not become a widely-used recreational drug in the United States until the 20th century, but some academics have claimed that at least seven early U.S. presidents used the drug in the form of hashish.
Gingrich has previously called for a more aggressive drug policy, including the death penalty for drug smugglers.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/04/gingrich-founding-fathers-would-have-violent-reaction-to-pot-growers/
Watch this video from CNN, uploaded Jan. 4, 2012.
"WTF???" Who made Newt a Historian???" I Highly Doubt the Founding Fathers would have done or said anything about the Hemp back in that day, in fact I am sure they used quite a bit of it for ropes, clothing etc....By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the... more
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During his run for the presidency, Barack Obama instilled hope in medical marijuana supporters by pledging to respect state laws on the matter. And for the first two years of his term, he was generally faithful to his promise. Yet suddenly, and with no logical explanation, over the past eight months he has become arguably the worst president in U.S. history regarding medical marijuana.During his run for the presidency, Barack Obama instilled hope in medical marijuana... more
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By David Edwards
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told columnist George Will and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Sunday that Republican opposition to marijuana legalization was “a great embarrassment to the conservatives.”
During a town hall-style debate on ABC, Frank demanded a response from Will about decriminalizing marijuana.
“I mean, personal liberty, if someone wants to smoke marijuana who’s an adult, why do you want to make them go to jail?” Frank asked.
“With regard to marijuana, I need to know more about whether it’s a gateway drug to other drugs,” Will replied. “I need to know how you are going to regulate it, whether you’re going to advertise it.”
“Anything is a gateway to anything,” Frank said, dismissing Will argument. “That’s the slippery slope argument which is a very anti-libertarian argument. The fact that if somebody is doing something that’s not in itself wrong, that it might lead later on to something else then stop the something else. Don’t lock them up for smoking marijuana.”
“What you’re calling a cop-out, I’m calling a quest for information,” Will insisted.
“How long’s it going to last, George?” Frank asked. “We’ve been doing this for decades.”
“I understand liberalism’s aversion to information because it often doesn’t go in their direction,” Will quipped.
“No, I’m not averse to it,” Frank shot back. “I’ve been studying this for a long time. You know, you’re on Medicare. How much longer are we going to have to wait for you to make up your mind?”
“Let’s get off marijuana,” Ryan interrupted, eager to move to the next topic.
“It’s a great embarrassment to the conservatives,” Frank pointed out. “They want to tell people who they can have sex with. Come on, all this is big government! Who can I have sex with? Who can I marry? What can I read? What can I smoke? You guys, on the whole — not all of you — but the conservatives are the ones who intrude on personal liberty there.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/18/barney-frank-schools-george-will-paul-ryan-on-marijuana-legalization/
Watch this video from ABC’s This Week,
"I agree with Barney Frank!!!"By David Edwards
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told columnist... more
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"Marijuana Gateway to Health" has reached the number 2 position on Amazon's Health Policy list! It has also come in at about the 9000 position on the general ranking list! Anything under 10,000 is very respectable! Thank you to everyone who has helped me promote the book and the new science-based knowledge that proves that using marijuana is health-positive behavior!
"...required reading for all medical professionals, politicians, and everyone interested in health and wellness." -Andrew Weil MD
"I learned more from this book than anything I've read in the past decade." -Marsha Rosenbaum, Ph.D., Sociologist, Drug Policy Alliance
http://www.marijuanagatewaytohealth.com/"Marijuana Gateway to Health" has reached the number 2 position on... more
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Ever since the federal government announced a major crackdown on medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries in California, a lot of people have been wondering what the hell Barack Obama is thinking. Message boards for medical marijuana activists in the state have been abuzz with one-time Obama supporters swearing allegiance to Ron Paul, who supports legalization, and expressing outrage at Obama's perceived betrayal of their cause.
After all, the Prez smoked weed in college and unlike certain would-be non-inhalers wasn't afraid to admit this fact during his 2008 campaign for the White House.
And then there was the fact that Obama's hand-picked law enforcement chief, Eric Holder, promised back in 2009 that his Justice Department would not waste resources prosecuting marijuana cases in states like California that have passed voter initiatives allowing residents to smoke pot for medicinal use.
So, given the huge outcry in the wake of this fall's crackdown, it's no surprise that Holder is now trying to soothe the masses with more sweet-talk. Specifically, in a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday pertaining to the feds' disastrous program of providing automatic rifles to the Mexican cartels in the lame attempt to trace the weapons (which ended up being used to massacre cops south of the border), Holder reiterated the Obama administration's support of the so-called Ogden Memo from 2009, which declared fighting voter-approved medical marijuana to be the feds' lowest priority in the war on drugs.
"What we said in the memo we still intend, which is that given the limited resources that we have, and if there are states that have medical marijuana provisions . . . if in fact people are not using the policy decision that we have made to use marijuana in a way that's not consistent with the state statute, we will not use our limited resources in that way," Holder stated. The operative phrase in Holder's somewhat vague statement is "consistent with state law."
Given the fact that state law, as it applies to medical marijuana, is full of inconsistencies and gray areas, those four words amount to a huge loophole that the Obama administration can use to justify prosecuting any marijuana grower or dispensary that happens to end up its cross-hairs. Since the feds' recent crackdown, landlords who rent to marijuana growers or dispensaries throughout the state have received letters threatening seizure of their property, including Yousef Ibrahim, who had been renting to several cannabis clubs in Lake Forest before evicting them and filing for bankruptcy.
Suffice it to say that these letters invalidate everything Holder has said about Obama's policy up to now, and that time is running out for the president to win back the stoner demographic before November 2012.
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/12/obama_administration_promises.phpEver since the federal government announced a major crackdown on medical marijuana... more
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Any attempt to segue into this post with a clever lead is likely to fall flat, so in the interest of skipping the cliches: a new study out of University of Colorado Denver and Montana State University shows that legalizing medical marijuana sales in various states over the past two decades has led to a nearly 10 percent drop in traffic fatalities. What the study really shows--by way of causal chain--is a five percent drop in beer sales, and that has in turn led to fewer fatalities on the road. Put that in your pipe and smoke it (couldn’t resist just one).
This is the kind of study that’s going to be attacked from all sides, by those with agendas and those who will simply point out that establishing that causal link between legalized pot and the decrease in alcohol sales (and in turn the reduced traffic deaths) is difficult with all the variables out there. But it is an interesting study for no other reason than it actually attempts to measure the effects of legalizing pot by linking it to some kind of hard data rather than some hard-to-quantify metric.That, of course, is traffic data, of which we have plenty. Traffic data is bountiful and generally pretty good because incidents on the road--particularly those that involve injury or fatality--very rarely go unnoticed by authorities, who are required to dutifully record them in the public record. So Daniel Rees of UC Denver and D. Mark Anderson of MSU started looking at the traffic data both nationwide and more particularly in the 13 states that legalized marijuana for medical use between 1990 and 2009.
They found several connections and trends that seemingly stem from the legalization laws, but most notably they found evidence that alcohol consumption by 20- to 29-year-olds decreased, and that translated into fewer deaths on the road. Previous simulator studies have shown that drinkers tend to drive more aggressively and take more risks, while marijuana users tilt toward risk-averse behaviors. Notably, they also found that in the states that legalized marijuana there was no evidence of an uptick in use among minors, which is a major concern for the medical marijuana opposition.
To be fair, establishing these kinds of links is still difficult as variable abound and the data is sometimes difficult to trust. Common sense (experience?) tells us that kids smoking pot generally don’t go around telling adults about it, including those conducting academic research. So establishing whether or not more or fewer kids are getting high is more or less an exercise in guesswork. And Rees and Anderson point out that while alcohol is often consumed in public places marijuana is consumed privately, often in the home. So making marijuana use a publicly acceptable activity for all people--not just those with a medical necessity--might diminish the reduction in traffic fatalities as more stoney drivers get behind the wheel.
But things being what they are, medical marijuana laws appear to be trending toward safer roadways, and that’s all this study purports to demonstrate. Place whatever value on that you will. PopSci would like to point out that this post does not constitute an opinion either for or against the legalization of medical marijuana, and Rees’s and Anderson’s findings are just, like, their opinions, man.
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/todays-study-debate-medical-marijuana-laws-reduce-traffic-fatalitiesAny attempt to segue into this post with a clever lead is likely to fall flat, so in... more
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Uploaded by ReasonTV on Nov 29, 2011
The federal government is in the midst of a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries across the state of California.
This is despite repeated claims from President Obama and his Department of Justice that they would not devote federal resources to circumventing state medical marijuana laws.
"The law has been hijacked by profiteers who are motivated not by compassion, but by money," said Melinda Haag, one of California's U.S. Attorneys, at a DOJ press conference on October 11, 2011.
Aaron Sandusky, owner of G3 Holistic, a group of medical marijuana dispensaries in California's Inland Empire, is one such target of the DOJ's crackdown on medical marijuana "profiteers." The DOJ sent him a letter promising to shut down his operations within 14 days. And they followed through.
Reason.tv talked to Sandusky, who's long battled the city of Upland's sordid handling of medical marijuana dispensaries, before and after he was raided.
"We all want the same thing," said Sandusky. "We want to see less crime. That's why we have these places."
Sgt. Glenn Walsh and Agent Mark Brewster, both members of the California Narcotic Officer's Association, believe that the stepped up enforcement from the DOJ is a positive development.
"There's no avenue in the law, whatsoever, to accommodate the sales of marijuana," Brewster said.
Walsh concurs, arguing that California's Prop 215 and SB 420 allow for the collective cultivation of medical marijuana but do not allow for a single cent to exchange hands during that process.
"If it's my land, and I want to help you cultivate marijuana [on it], I can do that," said Walsh. "You cannot, however, reimburse me for any expenses."
The prospect of cultivating and distributing a legal product to a large demand base without any money changing hands seems far-fetched to medical marijuana growers and sellers like Sandusky, who himself invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of his life in a grower's facility before it was raided and destroyed in early November.
"They seized all of our assets, all of my personal assets," said Sandusky. "I have sixty dollars in my pocket. That's it."
The DOJ has issued threatening letters to dozens of dispensaries across the state and plans to continue shutting them down one by one. While some in the government work to shield Obama from criticism on the issue, the President has so far remained curiously silent on the crackdowns.
About 10 minutes, 30 seconds. Written and Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Associate Producer is Tracy Oppenheimer. Shot by Paul Detrick, Oppenheimer, and Weissmueller.
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Listen to those commie cops. They're making money off drugs; they're the criminals.Uploaded by ReasonTV on Nov 29, 2011
The federal government is in the midst of a... more
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Story at-a-glance
Fifteen states plus the District of Columbia have laws permitting medical marijuana, but the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has raided medical marijuana suppliers and even arrested patients, because on a federal level, possessing or distributing marijuana is still considered a criminal offense
In 2009, the U.S. Justice Department told federal prosecutors to lay off Americans producing and using medical marijuana in accordance with state laws, but this year in a blatant about-face, the Obama administration declared that only seriously ill patients and caregivers would be spared from arrest
Recently, a series of attacks against the medical marijuana industry have occurred, including threats against banks and landlords that do business with those in the industry. Also, the IRS has denied medical cannabis facilities in California the right to file standard expense deductions. These strong-arm tactics put the medical marijuana industry in jeopardy, and may force those who depend on it for medical purposes to resort to the black market
Research shows medical marijuana holds promise in the treatment of over 100 health conditions, including cancer, autoimmune diseases, pain, glaucoma, asthma, psychiatric conditions and high blood pressure.
Fifty percent of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana
By Dr. Mercola
full story at link...Story at-a-glance
Fifteen states plus the District of Columbia have laws permitting... more
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Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy organization, filed suit in federal court on Thursday challenging the Obama Administration's attempt to undercut local and state medical marijuana laws in California.
ASA argues in its lawsuit that Obama's Department of Justice (DOJ) has "instituted a policy to dismantle the medical marijuana laws of the State of California and to coerce its municipalities to pass bans on medical marijuana dispensaries."
The DOJ policy has involved aggressive SWAT-style raids, criminal prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and providers and threats to local officials for merely implementing state law.
"Although the Obama Administration is entitled to enforce federal marijuana laws, the 10th Amendment forbids it from using coercive tactics to commandeer the lawmaking functions of the state," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the lawsuit Thursday in San Francisco's federal District Court.
"This case is aimed at restoring California's sovereign and constitutional right to establish its own public health laws based on this country's federalist principles," Elford said.
The ASA lawsuit, which seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, was filed on behalf of its 20,000 members in California who are directly and adversely affected by the DOJ's actions.
California's four U.S. Attorneys announced in a highly unusual press conference on October 7 that the DOJ would be engaging in a multi-pronged attack on the state's medical marijuana laws involving enforcement action against state-compliant producers and distributors, as well as threatening their landlords with criminal prosecution and civil asset forfeiture.
In addition, the same four U.S. Attorneys have been sending threatening letters to several municipalities across California in an attempt to undermine the passage of local medical marijuana regulations.
On July 1, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California sent a letter to Chico Mayor Ann Schwab stating the city's proposed ordinance regulating medical marijuana dispensaries would violate federal law. U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner also warned Chico's city attorney, city manager, and police chief that council members and staff could face federal prosecution for attempting to implement such a law.
As a result, the Chico City Council voted on August 2 to rescind its medical marijuana dispensary ordinance.
On August 15, the Eureka City Council got a letter from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern Distirct of California threatening that its regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries violates federal law. Similar to the Chico letter, the Eureka letter said that the city's publicly vetted licensing scheme "threatens the federal government's efforts to regulate the possession, manufacturing, and trafficking of controlled substances."
The letter added that "If the City of Eureka were to proceed, this office would consider injunctive actions, civil fines, criminal prosecution, and the forfeiture of any property used to facilitate a violation of [federal law]."
Because of these threats, Eureka suspended implementation of its local medical marijuana ordinance.
The federal actions announced on October 7 by U.S. Attorneys have also detailed the regulatory efforts of local governments in Arcata, El Centro, Sacramento and other municipalities across the state.
Less than a week after the DOJ press conference, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted an early morning raid on October 13 at Northstone Organics, a fully licensed cultivation collective in Mendocino County. The DEA handcuffed the collective's founder and his wife and cut down all 99 plants, which were each zip-tied and legally registered with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department. Mendocino has one of the most tightly controlled medical marijuana cultivation ordinances in the state, overseen by Sheriff Tom Allman.
Several local and state officials have publicly blasted the Obama Administration's tactics.
Mendocino County Supervisor Josh McCowen called the DEA raid on Northstone "outrageous," and said "The elimination of of dispensaries that operate legally and openly will endanger patients and the public."
Last week, the co-author of California's Medical Marijuana Program Act, State Senator Mark Leno, "urge[d] the federal government to stand down in its massive attack on medical marijuana dispensaries."
On October 21, State Attorney General Kamala Harris renounced the federal government's tactics, saying "an overly broad federal enforcement campaign will make it more difficult for legitimate patients to access physician-recommended medicine," and urging "federal authorities in the state to adhere to the [DOJ's] stated policy" of allowing California to implement is medical marijuana laws without federal interference.
Although the lawsuit accuses the Obama Administration of commandeering California's legislative function and interfering with local laws meant to distinguish between medical and non-medical use, it does not challenge the federal government's authority to adopt and enforce marijuana laws.
The lawsuit states that "It is, rather, the ... misuse of the government's Commerce Clause powers, designed to deprive the State of its sovereign ability to chart a separate course, that forms the basis of the plaintiff's claims."
More Information
U.S. Attorney letter threatening Chico officials [PDF]
U.S. Attorney letter threatening Eureka officials [PDF]
Americans for Safe Access (ASA)
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/10/medical_marijuana_advocates_sue_obama_doj_over_cra.phpAmericans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy organization, filed suit... more
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of marijuana advocates gathered in downtown San Francisco Tuesday to protest recent federal crackdowns on California's medical cannabis industry while President Obama attended a fundraising luncheon at the nearby W Hotel.
Among the demonstrators was an employee at a local marijuana collective. "I've worked there for years," the man, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Huffington Post. "But if the Feds close us down, I'll be out there on the street with the Occupy Wall Street protesters because I'll be out of a job. This is my career, my livelihood. What Obama has done to our industry is nothing short of entrapment."
Despite an earlier promise to leave medical marijuana laws to the states, federal officials recently launched a whirlwind crackdown on cannabis dispensaries throughout the state, threatening to shut down certain pot shops and targeting others with exorbitant IRS bills and other sanctions. At a press conference held prior to the demonstration, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) joined advocates, local lawmakers and business owners in calling on the Obama administration to intervene.
"It's a total overreaction by the U.S. attorneys and they need to be reined in," Ammiano said. "I don't know who let the dogs out, but they need to be called off."
San Francisco resident Misha Breyburg, who participated in the protest, said he was disappointed in Obama's regression from his campaign promises. "It's important for politicians to stand by their words," he said. "These people out here -- they've worked hard, they've saved their money and they've taken all of the legal steps -- and then to have their property taken away from them? Maybe in North Korea."
California voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1996 with the passage of Proposition 215, later named the Compassionate Use Act, which allows patients to possess and cultivate cannabis with a doctor's permission. The law has been interpreted many times since its inception. In City of Garden Grove v. Superior Court in 2007, trial court sided with the patient, finding it "is not the job of local police to enforce the federal drug law." A California Supreme Court ruling in 2010 found residents may grow or possess "reasonable amounts" of marijuana with a doctor's blessing.
As a candidate, Obama promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward pot clinics adhering to state law, telling a 2007 town hall in Nashua, N.H., that a Justice Department prosecuting medical marijuana users was "not a good use of our resources." Now Ammiano, a self-described Obama supporter, is asking the president to "exercise some leadership on this issue."
"We have it on tape," Ammiano said of Obama's promise. "Eric Holder early in the campaign said that the Attorney General would not raid medical marijuana dispensaries -- there are around 16 states that have them -- then out of the blue comes this droid missile aimed at medical marijuana and the dispensaries, and there's a lot of untruth...to me this is kind of a 'Reefer Madness' mindset."
The crackdown comes even as 50 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to a recently released Gallup poll, up from just 36 percent in 2006.
Authorities estimated nearly 1,000 protesters descended on the W Hotel during the duration of Obama's appearance. In addition to the marijuana enthusiasts, the president was greeted by environmentalists, anti-war activists and a smattering of Occupy Wall Streeters. The most vocal demonstrators opposed the construction of the Keystone pipeline in the Midwest.
Rally signs ran the gamut, from "Yes We Cannabis" and "Obama Changed," to "No Pipeline For The One Percent" and "Bring Our Troops Home." Another group set up a loudspeaker and played clips of promises made during Obama's 2008 campaign speeches that have not yet been met.
The president stopped by San Francisco as part of a West Coast tour promoting his economic and jobs plans as well as his 2012 campaign. Take a look at images and video from the demonstrations (at link)SAN FRANCISCO -- Hundreds of marijuana advocates gathered in downtown San Francisco... more
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By LISA LEFF
Source: AP
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.
In an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. government and the nation's burgeoning medical marijuana industry, at least 16 pot shops or their landlords received letters this week notifying them that they are violating federal drug laws, even though medical marijuana is legal in California. The state's four U.S. attorneys are scheduled to announce a broader crackdown at a Friday news conference.
Their offices refused to confirm the closure orders. The Associated Press obtained copies of the letters that a prosecutor sent to 12 San Diego dispensaries. They state that federal law "takes precedence over state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a dispensary is selling and distributing marijuana."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44806723/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/calif-pot-dispensaries-told-feds-shut-down?gt1=43001
"Free the Weed!!!!"By LISA LEFF
Source: AP
SAN FRANCISCO — Federal prosecutors have launched a... more
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In its continuing effort to pare down the number of Americans who can exercise their rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has sent a letter to firearms dealers informing them that medical patients “addicted” to legally dispensed medical marijuana have no right to own and possess firearms.
According to Arthur Herbert (see memo at right), Assistant Director of Enforcement Programs and Services at the ATF, “any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use of medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition” and will be compelled to admit the prescribed use of medical marijuana on ATF forms at the point of purchase.
http://www.factoverfiction.com/article/4376In its continuing effort to pare down the number of Americans who can exercise their... more
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Shutdown averted, but deep differences linger - Jurors presented tales of Jackson’s promise, pain - 4 Americans get pot from US governmentShutdown averted, but deep differences linger - Jurors presented tales of... more
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Bakersfield is the big city in Kern County, California. It’s just north of the Grapevine, and generally people driving to or from LA try to get past it as quickly as possible, especially if they’re black, Hispanic, or hippie looking. Because the official mentality of Kern County seems to be stuck back in the 1970s or so. You hear that, boy?Bakersfield is the big city in Kern County, California. It’s just north of the... more
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A new collective is trying to sell sustainable, organically grown marijuana, but patients are hooked on indoor weed that wastes energy and pollutes the planet.A new collective is trying to sell sustainable, organically grown marijuana, but... more
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