tagged w/ Marijuana Reform
-
The Prohibition against drug use is causing more trouble and expense than the drug use itself, former Gov. Gary Johnson said in a live interview on KRQE News 13.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljwGPwu428UThe Prohibition against drug use is causing more trouble and expense than the drug use... more
-
-
-
which European countries are most likely to have tried pot?
-
-
In this episode of Cannabis Culture's "Reality Check" - Footage of the Canada-wide FREE MARC RALLY (Saturday November 7th, 2009) at Dona Cadman's(Conservative Party) North Surrey, BC office. A special Thank You goes out to all of you across Canada that participated in the Free Marc Rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLTu2E2ZrWc&feature=player_embeddedIn this episode of Cannabis Culture's "Reality Check" - Footage of the Canada-wide... more
-
-
Anti-pot propaganda drives most people to drink alcohol instead. But booze is far more dangerous than marijuana.
Professor David Nutt didn’t play the game. As the chief drug policy advisor in the British Government, an unspoken part of his job description was to help maintain a public fiction about marijuana – or cannabis, as it is known in the U.K. and other parts of the world. Specifically, he was expected to further the misperception of cannabis as a substance worthy of being classified and prohibited in a manner similar to more dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine.
He made a big mistake at the end of last month. In a lecture at King’s College in London, he spoke honestly – and truthfully – about the fact that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol and urged the government to factor the relative harms of substances into their policy-making. Moreover, he accused the British government of ignoring the evidence about the true harms of cannabis in order to reclassify the drug and increase penalties for possession.
Reacting with the logic and reason of pub patron after last call, Home Secretary Alan Johnson immediately demanded that Prof. Nutt resign as the head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. He said Prof Nutt had "crossed the line between offering advice and … campaigning against the government on political decisions."
More accurately, Prof. Nutt crossed the line between deceiving citizens and being honest with them. The home secretary, a former member of Parliament, is no doubt comfortable with a little verbal jousting over public policy decisions. What he could not abide by was a top ranking official threatening the anti-cannabis mythology embraced at the very top level of government. Based on Nutt’s fateful bout of truthfulness, Johnson said he had “lost confidence” in Nutt as an advisor.
In a letter to Professor Nutt, Mr. Johnson explained how the system is supposed to work. He said: "As Home Secretary it is for me to make decisions, having received advice from the [Council] ... It is important that the Government's messages on drugs are clear and as an adviser you do nothing to undermine the public understanding of them ... I am afraid the manner in which you have acted runs contrary to your responsibilities."
The Home Secretary’s chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson put a similar spin on this hostile reaction to fact-based statements to the public. "These things are best sorted out behind the scenes,” he said, “so that the government and their advisers can go to the public with a united front."
In the real world, what this means is that advisors are free to provide research or reports based on an honest assessment of the scientific evidence, but when this research is completely ignored in setting policy, they are expected to keep their mouths shut and move on as if nothing ever happened.
This is all part of the game the government plays in order to maintain marijuana prohibition. In the United States, there are many examples of significant advisory opinions related to marijuana being completely ignored – even where the opinions were part of a decision-making process that should have led to action by the federal government.
In 1970, Congress established the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse to study marijuana and make recommendations about how to control its use. The Commission’s final report suggested removal of criminal penalties, noting, “The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior.” President Nixon ignored the Commission’s findings and launched and all-out war on marijuana users.
In 1988, Francis Young, an administrative law judge at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), following hearings to determine whether marijuana should be placed into a less restrictive category under the Controlled Substances Act, wrote that marijuana should be moved from Schedule I (theAnti-pot propaganda drives most people to drink alcohol instead. But booze is far more... more
-
-
Taxing medical marijuana sales is an idea worth considering, not because it is a potential cash cow for fiscally constrained governments, but because it could raise revenue needed to cover the services the flourishing businesses will require.
But caution is in order. There are some dominoes that need to fall first.
The topic came up again last week, as Denver City Council members Chris Nevitt and Charlie Brown publicly expressed support for imposing a city sales tax on medical marijuana sales. "We've got to tax this damn thing at the city rate, which is 3.62 percent," Brown told us. "We're talking millions of dollars here."
And that may be. But some questions about legality of taxation and the future of medical marijuana have to be answered first. And we think that overall, cities such as Denver ought not look to the emerging industry as a windfall that could close budget gaps.
First, the legality of taxing the commodity is up in the air.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers is researching the issue, and his decision will turn on whether the substance is deemed a prescription or something more like an herbal remedy.
The latter seems more likely, since marijuana isn't a drug that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. And herbal remedies are already taxed.
Second, we don't think governments ought to take advantage of the medical marijuana laws in the way that so-called "ganjapreneurs" have been doing.
Meaning, governments would be just as wrong to reap great wads of cash from back-door legalization efforts as are the mass dispensaries, some of which are just barely pretending to be serving the most infirm among us.
Amendment 20, which passed in 2000, did not approve the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, despite the wishful thinking of some.
Furthermore, legislators are poised to address the medical marijuana issue in the upcoming session, which begins in January, and their decisions could seriously affect how medical marijuana is delivered in Colorado. (See Alicia Caldwell's article from today's Perspective section.)
If their decisions shrink the number and reach of distributors, then a basic sales tax should be enough.
But if lawmakers create a structure that encourages a broader distribution model — with attendant regulatory and service requirements — then other fees and taxes would be worth contemplating.
It would seem prudent, we think, to wait until the shape of medical marijuana is more clearly defined before settling on a taxing structure.
It's smart to get ahead of the game and contemplate the tax and revenue-generating alternatives. But we hope governments will exhibit some foresight and restraint before they make decisions they might have to revise once the medical marijuana landscape is clearly defined.
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_13725482
http://blog.buzzflash.com/files/hemp-washington.jpgTaxing medical marijuana sales is an idea worth considering, not because it is a... more
-
-
SEBASTOPOL, Calif. -- A surge in medical marijuana in California has left communities trying to regulate or ban the drug. This wine country town has welcomed a dispensary as a strong source of tax revenue during the recession.
Peace in Medicine marijuana dispensary is a clean, modern operation in a former auto dealership, and has more registered patients than the town has residents. It could easily be mistaken for a doctor's office, if not for the three security guards and overwhelming skunky smell of pot.
"I guess I had my prejudices that it was going to have bars on the windows and be something very obvious and unappealing to the public," longtime city councilman Larry Robinson said.
Now the dispensary is about to open a second location, next to a Starbucks.
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be leading this thing," said Peace in Medicine's operator, Robert Jacob.
In Los Angeles - the marijuana dispensary capital of the country - about 800 dispensaries are estimated to have opened despite a 2007 order halting new pot operations.
The explosion is blamed on a loophole in the City Council's moratorium. Final regulations are still not in place.
The struggle has been linked to the vagueness of the ballot initiative that California voters passed in 1996 legalizing medical use of the drug. The measure makes no mention of how or where the drug can be sold.
"I think Los Angeles has made this more difficult by not having acted sooner," said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group. "There has been pressure for a long time on the City Council to do something."
The issue took on greater urgency after the Obama administration announced looser federal marijuana guidelines last month.
Federal crackdowns followed the 1996 vote, and fear of prosecution kept pot storefronts out of many areas. But looser federal guidelines, first signaled by Attorney General Eric Holder in February and further outlined in an October memo, have emboldened would-be dispensary operators. The new guidelines simply instruct federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution when dispensaries comply with state medical marijuana laws.
Sacramento is looking to other pot-tolerant cities such as San Francisco, Oakland and Malibu for insight into keeping medical marijuana available but in check.
Most of the state capital's 39 registered dispensaries opened this year before the city passed an emergency moratorium in June.
"They're seeing a little bit of leniency in the federal government that they haven't seen before," said Michelle Heppner, who is leading the city's effort to regulate dispensaries. "They're seeing this as a perfect time in their movement to progress."
One key for cities is finding a way to ensure dispensaries truly operate as nonprofits as called for by state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Officials in Fresno have decided the best way to avoid problems with dispensaries is to not have any. In 2006, the City Council passed a zoning ordinance requiring any pot dispensaries to comply with both state and federal law, and the U.S. government still bans the drug outright.
A state judge last month sided against nine Fresno dispensaries that opened this year, upholding the zoning ordinance that forbids them and ordering them to close.
Smaller cities are also turning to zoning laws. In Claremont, a college town about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, Darrell Kruse sought to open a dispensary in mid-2006 but the zoning code did not permit them.
Kruse opened Claremont All-Natural Nutrition Aids Buyers Information Service (CANNABIS) anyway. Several months later, he was convicted of operating without a business license and fined. A state court rejected his appeal.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/1318723.htmlSEBASTOPOL, Calif. -- A surge in medical marijuana in California has left communities... more
-
-
The End of Prohibition
"I think this would be a good time for a beer," Franklin D. Roosevelt said upon signing a bill that made 3.2-percent lager legal again, some months ahead of the full repeal of Prohibition. I hope Barack Obama will come up with some comparably witty remarks as he presides over the dismantling of our contemporary forms of prohibition—laws that prevent gay marriage, restrict cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance, and ban travel to Cuba. "You may now kiss the groom," perhaps, or—a version of the comment he once made about smoking pot—"I inhaled—that was the point."
Prohibition now is different from Prohibition then. When the 18th Amendment went into effect in 1920, it was a radical social experiment challenging a custom as old as civilization. Its predictable failure—the gross insult to individual rights, the impossibility of enforcement, the spawning of organized crime—came to an end when Utah, of all places, became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment in 1933. Today prohibition is a byword for futile attempts to legislate morality and remake human nature.
Our forms of prohibition are more sins of omission than commission. Rather than trying to take away longstanding rights, they're instances of conservative laws failing to keep pace with a liberalizing society. But like Prohibition in the '20s, these restrictions have become indefensible as well as impractical, and as a result are fading fast. Within 10 years, it seems a reasonable guess that Americans will travel freely to Cuba, that all states will recognize gay unions, and that few will retain criminal penalties for marijuana use by individuals. Whether or not Democrats retain control of Congress, whether or not Obama is re-elected, and whether they happen sooner or later than expected, these reforms are inevitable—not because politics has changed but because society has.
Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2234017/The End of Prohibition
"I think this would be a good time for a beer," Franklin D.... more
-
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ExoR7LLMf4
-
-
CkhID
-
added this
-
11 days ago
- |
-
-
"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes", said San Francisco Assemblymember Tom Ammiano in a press conference today, which SFist described as a "media circus."
Ammiano continued to say "California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana."
The drug would still be illegal under federal law, but if passed, the Marijuana Control Regulation and Education Act would tax $50 per ounce. You would also need to be over the age of 21. Full presser is below.
AMMIANO PROPOSES BILL TO TAX AND REGULATE MARIJUANA Legislation Would Generate $1 Billion in New Revenue for CA
San Francisco, CA - Today Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco)
announced the introduction of groundbreaking legislation that would
tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. The
Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education act (AB 390) would create
a regulatory structure similar to that used for beer, wine and liquor,
permitting taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession
by those under 21.
"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move
towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This
legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict
access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our
public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by
redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes", said
Ammiano. "California has the opportunity to be the first state in the
nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and
regulation of marijuana."
Having just closed a $42 billion budget deficit, generating new
revenue is crucial to the state's long term fiscal health. Board of
Equalization Chairwoman Betty Yee said, "This common sense measure
effectively prioritizes state resources during these times of fiscal
constraint. Prioritizing law enforcement to control the most serious
drugs while raising new revenues from casual marijuana use directed to
treating serious drug addiction is a prudent use of limited
resources."
"I support this legislation because I feel this issue should be the
subject of legislative and public debate," said current San Francisco
Sheriff Mike Hennessey. Orange County Superior Court Judge (retired)
James P. Gray added, "Assemblymember Ammiano is to be applauded in
addressing this critical issue honestly and directly."
"Marijuana already plays a huge role in the California economy. It's a
revenue opportunity we quite simply can't afford to ignore any
longer," said Stephen Gutwillig, California state director for the
Drug Policy Alliance. "It's time to end the charade of marijuana
prohibition, regulate the $14 billion market, and redirect law
enforcement resources to more important matters. Assemblymember
Ammiano has done the state an enormous service by breaking the silence
on this commonsense solution."
"It is simply nonsensical that California's largest agricultural
industry is completely unregulated and untaxed," said Marijuana Policy
Project California policy director Aaron Smith. "With our state in an
ongoing fiscal crisis -- and no one believes the new budget is the end
of California's financial woes -- it's time to bring this major piece
of our economy into the light of day."
http://laist.com/2009/02/23/will_taxing_marijuana_fix_the_state.php"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards... more
-
-
Buried by deficits amid the crisis, U.S. states are getting increasingly creative in dealing with budget challenges
The Golden State is searching for economic salvation in California Gold.
Living up to its long track record of legislative firsts, California lawmakers are looking at legalizing and heavily taxing marijuana as they struggle to close a gaping budget hole.
Radical, yes. But California isn't alone. Across the country, states are getting increasingly creative – and in some cases desperate – as they deal with unprecedented budget challenges.
Tumbling sales and income tax receipts have left once-bursting state coffers badly depleted.
And with many states legally bound to balance their budgets, the choices are never easy.
Hawaii has declared regular “furlough Fridays” in its public schools, Delaware has grounded its state aircraft and closed museums and Virginia has shuttered its highway rest stops.
States have already chopped their work forces by 2 per cent in the past year, throwing more than 100,000 teachers, health care workers, nursing home employees, cops and firefighters out of work. Many states have also slashed the pay of government employees, while raising various user fees and levies. Some school boards, for example, are charging high school students hundreds of dollars a year to park their cars on school grounds.
“Unfortunately for states, an emerging economic recovery does not spell instant budget relief,” said Donald Boyd, senior fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York.
State tax revenues plunged a record 16.6 per cent nationwide in the second quarter, compared to a year earlier, according to a recent study by the Rockefeller Institute. Thirty-six states experienced double-digit declines, as the recession bit into sales and income tax revenues.
The study's authors predicted it could be several years before revenues return to their peaks of 2008, leaving many services badly under-financed.
Under the Obama administration stimulus package, the federal government is giving states $150-billion (U.S.) to help deal with budget problems, easing some of the short-term pain.
But as that runs out, at least 32 states are predicting budget shortfalls for fiscal 2011, with combined deficit of more that $60-billion, according to the national Conference of State Legislatures.
Nowhere is the situation more dire than in California, the most populous U.S. state. Since February, California has chopped $32-billion from spending, raised taxes by $12.5-billion and covered $6-billion more with accounting maneuvres to close a budget deficit that threatened the state with insolvency. Among the more extreme measures, the state recently began paroling hundreds of “low-risk” prison inmates.
California still facing $38-billion in deficits over the next three fiscal years.
And so hard times are giving the high times movement surprising new momentum in the left-leaning state.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he welcomes the debate about legalizing marijuana as the state struggles to avoid insolvency. A recent poll shows 56 per cent of Californians want pot legalized. A major push is on to put the issue to statewide referendum next year. And yesterday, state lawmakers held an initial hearing into a proposed law to end California's 96-year-old pot ban.
“I think it's time for a debate,” acknowledged Mr. Schwarzenegger, who as an actor portrayed a drug fighting undercover police officer in Kindergarten Cop.
A spokesman for the governor insists Mr. Schwarzenegger is opposed to legalization.
The move could generate as much as $1.4-billion (U.S.) in new tax revenue and save the state “tens of millions of dollars” in prison and police costs, state officials told the California Assembly's Public Safety Committee. They based their estimates on a $50-per-ounce levy.
“It is time to take our heads out of the sand and start to regulate this $14-billion industry,” said committee chairman Tom Ammiano, who is sponsoring the legalization bill. “By doing so, we can enact smart public policy that will bring much-needed revenue into the state and improve public safety by utilizing our limited law enforcement resources more wisely. The move toward regulation is simply common sense.”
California could use the cash by taxing pot, just as it does cigarettes and alcohol. But legal experts, economists and law enforcement officials who testified Wednesday before a state committee warned that the proposal is fraught with unknowns.
And chief among them is how the U.S. government would react.
Possession, distribution and sale of marijuana remains a federal crime. And while California can eliminate state penalties and charges, it can't fully legalize.
“We don't know how the federal government would respond,” Paul Golaszewski, an official of the California Legislative Analysts' Office, told the hearing. “It creates a great deal of uncertainty.”
Curt Hagman, the committee's Republican vice-chair, wondered how California could collect any taxes unless the federal government legalizes marijuana.
Several court rulings have upheld the right of federal authorities to enforce its ban, even in cases involving medical use.
California was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use in 1996.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced that it would not prosecute users and sellers of medical marijuana. But Justice department officials made it clear that leniency doesn't apply to recreational use.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/why-california-is-studying-a-marijuana-tax/article1342595/Buried by deficits amid the crisis, U.S. states are getting increasingly creative in... more
-
-
Stephen Gutwillig from the Drug Policy Alliance on FOX News; A discussion into why ending criminal conviction of medical marijuana patients is not all the needs to be done.Stephen Gutwillig from the Drug Policy Alliance on FOX News; A discussion into why... more
-
-
Activist Marc Emery faces a 5-year prison sentence in the United States and could be transferred south as soon as this week. (Picture by Joseph Kamon)
CANNABIS CULTURE - For almost a month supporters of Marc Emery have camped outside of the North Fraser Pretrial Centre where the Vancouver activist is being held. Emery, who faces extradition for selling marijuana seeds through the mail, could be sent to the United States as early as Wednesday.
“24 Hours a day, 7 days a week people have been camped outside to show their support for my husband” said Jodie Emery, “Hundreds of people have attended and the honks of support from passing vehicles are nearly constant. How can the Justice Minister ignore this huge outpouring of public support for Marc?”
Thousands of Canadians have called, emailed, faxed or written the Justice Minister in support of Emery. So far, Minister Nicholson has not responded, though the New Democratic Party, which holds the balance of power in the House of Commons, has stated it's opposition to his extradition. Jack Layton, NDP leader had this to say:
“Several years ago, when this matter became public, we voiced our opposition the extradition of Mr. Emery. We believed then, as we do now, that it is wrong to extradite our citizens for an offence that would not - and, in this situation, did not - result in him being charged in Canada.”
In 2008, the United States and Emery signed an agreement which would have had Emery serve his time in Canada. Officials in the Canadian Department of Justice refused the deal however, on the grounds that having Emery stay in Canada was not in the public interest.Activist Marc Emery faces a 5-year prison sentence in the United States and could be... more
-
-
George Will and others talk pot on ABC's Roundtable.
-
-
Feds will no longer seek to arrest medical marijuana users or suppliers, as long as they are conforming to state lawFeds will no longer seek to arrest medical marijuana users or suppliers, as long as... more
-
-
Real estate brokers say that Colorado's medical-marijuana law has sparked a land rush, as entrepreneurs lured by a growing number of licensed users search for properties for growing or selling pot.
In a down real estate market, landlords who might otherwise wait for more conventional tenants are snapping at the opportunity presented by medical-marijuana dispensaries, said Darrin Revious, a broker with Shames Makovsky Realty.
Since [Colorado]voters approved Amendment 20 in 2000 allowing the use of medical marijuana to treat eight specific conditions, the number of people legally allowed to buy the herb has steadily climbed. In 2007, 1,955 people held medical marijuana cards; the following year, there were 4,720 people on the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Medical Marijuana Registry. The number has grown to about 13,000, health department spokesman Mark Salley said.Real estate brokers say that Colorado's medical-marijuana law has sparked a land rush,... more
-
-
We as Americans have a duty of civil disobedience and the marijuana effort should be no different ..
4/20 is almost upon us and i for one would not like to see this day wasted organize a smoke -n the bigger the better...we can this there are those of us that smoke everyday, but if your hiding its not civil disobedience, its cowardice.
This idea is far from new in Dunedin, New Zealand, members of Otago NORML and some students at Otago University meet every Wednesday and Friday at 4:20 pm under a Walnut tree on the Otago University Union Lawn to smoke cannabis in defiance of New Zealand's cannabis laws. There was considerable media and police interest in the '420' group in 2008, resulting in the arrest of a student and the issuance of trespass notices to members of the public at one of the 4:20 pm meetings.....
Btw..if you live in the CT area contact me ksutherland27@gmail.comWe as Americans have a duty of civil disobedience and the marijuana effort should be... more
-
-
Why?... I know you've asked...This is why...
Message me..and if you are a supporter dont for get to join the various marijuana groups on his site, NORML, Make Marijuana matter, Marijuana Day... the list goes onWhy?... I know you've asked...This is why...
Message me..and if you are a supporter... more
-
-
DESCRIPTION/OVERVIEW
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol). The membranes of certain nerve cells in the brain contain protein receptors that bind to THC. Once securely in place, THC kicks off a series of cellular reactions that ultimately lead to the high that users experience when they smoke marijuana.(2)
CONTROL STATUS
Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Schedule I drugs are classified as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.DESCRIPTION/OVERVIEW
The main active chemical in marijuana is THC... more
-
