Montana Poll: Leave cannabis law in place
This week’s Question of the Week received a heavy turnout in our unscientific online poll and no shortage of thoughtful comments on both sides of the issue. We asked whether the Legislature should overturn Montana’s medical marijuana law, which was approved by a ballot initiative in 2004.
Among more than 4,000 votes cast as of late Friday afternoon, 2,417 said the lawmakers should leave the law in place, while 1,666 votes came in in favor of repeal. Here’s a sampling of some of the comments from those who took the time to write:
- “The Republican manufactured hysteria is completely at odds with reality. They ignore many well-established statistics, such as high school pot use being down 27 percent, in favor of an anecdote or two. Anecdotes like kids are prostituting themselves for pot, our schoolyards are knee-deep in pot, and Montana, as a new drug central, now deserves mention in the same breath as Mexico and South America. I’m getting very tired of uninformed Repub’s catering to the religious right, and telling me how I must live my life. I wonder how many of these same Repub’s are getting big campaign donations from the alcohol industry?”
Indiana may reassess medical marijuana laws
Indiana may not currently have much in common with California, but that could change due to recent legislation that would place the Hoosier state one step closer to
decriminalizing marijuana.
Senate Bill 192 successfully passed through the Senate Committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters on Tuesday with a vote of 5-3.
The bill would require an existing committee to research the effects of marijuana’s current illegal status.
According to the Indiana General Assembly’s website, the Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee would study marijuana’s possible medicinal usage, its effect on the Indiana justice system and whether or not it should be controlled and regulated like alcohol.
Poll: Michigan voters would back medical marijuana law again
A recent poll showed that Michigan voters would again approve the state's medical marijuana law.
The poll, conducted by Marketing Resource Group, Inc., showed that 59 percent of voters would approve the law, while 35 percent would not. Two percent leaned toward approving, while 2-percent leaned against.
The poll results were announced by Marijuana Policy Project, which helped draft the law. In November 2008, 63-percent of voters approved medical use of marijuana.
Flint, Michigan stops medical marijuana dispensaries for now
Flint is taking action on medical marijuana businesses.
The City Council passed a moratorium on dispensaries Monday night.
The moratorium temporarily bans any new dispensary from opening its doors in the city. It does not mean current dispensaries cannot do business.
This is a move many cities and townships have made over the past few months, as officials try to figure out how to regulate the Michigan Medical Marijuana act passed by voters.
Last night's council vote on the 180-day moratorium was unanimous. This gives the city time to establish a zoning ordinance for dispensaries.
Newly proposed law in Washington DC Would Require Marijuana Users To Inform Interested Neighbors
Citizens spoke before Congress Monday in support of Tony's Law, a Senate measure that would require all marijuana-law offenders to inform their neighbors if they're holding.
"Right now, countless Americans are living on the very same blocks as convicted illegal-drug users," said Sharon Logan of the Weed For Tony Coalition. "Without a federal mandate requiring full disclosure, how are unsuspecting residents supposed to find any decent weed?"
Designed to protect Americans from dry spells, Tony's Law was named after 19-year-old New Jersey resident Tony DiCenzo, who went nine months without getting high before discovering that he lived in the same apartment building as a reliable marijuana source.
"Can you imagine the shock and anger Tony must have felt when he found out that the guy on the second floor possessed the Schedule I federal controlled substance?" Logan said. "The offender could have invited poor Tony into his apartment to smoke some at any time. It's heartbreaking."
Injunction issued against L.A.’s medical marijuana law
A judge has ordered Los Angeles not to enforce key sections of its controversial medical marijuana ordinance, issuing a preliminary injunction that once again leaves the city with limited ability to control dispensaries and raises the possibility that new ones could open.
The decision comes almost six months after the City Council adopted the law, which opponents said was riddled with flaws. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mohr, in a decision released Friday, agreed with most of the criticisms raised by the dispensaries.
In his ruling, Mohr acknowledged "there is a good chance that a large number of collectives could open once this injunction takes effect."
Mohr enjoined a crucial provision of the ordinance that outlaws all dispensaries except those that registered with the city in 2007 after the City Council adopted a moratorium on new stores. He concluded it is invalid because the moratorium was improperly extended and therefore had expired before the registration deadline for dispensaries.
Win or lose, California’s Prop. 19 is the right way to go
In just over 48 hours the polls in California will close and citizens of that state will have either accepted or rejected Proposition 19, a citizen's initiative to seriously decriminalize possession and cultivation of marijuana for adults. If passed, California will be the first state in the nation to allow an adult to possess up to one ounce of the fibrous herb, and to operate a 25 x 25 foot grow op. Predictably, law enforcement, drug treatment professionals, and concerned parents are up in arms and warning of dire social consequences should Prop. 19 be adopted.
They offer the same arguments that proponents of cannabis prohibition have been advancing for decades. They warn of rampant pot abuse by children, death and mayhem on the highways, sky high cancer rates, and a surge in addiction. Certainly, they argue, if the wild weed is legalized thousands, perhaps millions of pot users will be subject to marijuana's proposed gateway effect and move on to hard drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
The year is 2020: What’s happening with marijuana?
Social change rarely occurs in a logical direction or at a predictable pace. Many Americans thought rampant, open use of marijuana in the 1960s and '70s would lead quickly to legalization of the drug, but that didn't happen. To the contrary, enforcement of anti-pot laws increased in the 1980s, and penalties grew stiffer.
But over the past few years, as several states and now the District of Columbia have legalized use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, a path to full legalization for recreational use has once again seemed clear to advocates of legalization and skeptics alike. California voters' decision in a referendum Tuesday will play a large role in determining the momentum of the legalization movement.
Continue reading and view a cool video at The Washington Post
Cannabis and the Republican thought process
Marijuana plants growing in California one of The Most Marijuana-Friendly Nations Credit: Tony Avelar, Newsweek
Ann Lee, a Texas Republican and devout Catholic, thought marijuana was the “weed of the devil.” Like so many Americans, Lee believed pot was a dangerous “gateway” drug that tempted the unwary into a dissolute existence. But when Lee’s son, Richard, suffered a severe spinal injury two decades ago and became paralyzed from the waist down, she was given a crash course in the devil drug. “I had to open my eyes, and I also had to pray a lot and believe in Richard’s integrity,” says Lee, now 81. “When I saw the good it did for Richard’s spasticity, I said, ‘Well, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead.’?” Since then, Lee and her husband have been steadfast in their support of Richard as he opened a California medical-marijuana dispensary and founded a trade school in Oakland devoted to the study of pot, aptly named Oaksterdam University. Today Richard, 47 and a millionaire thanks to his pot business, is leading the charge for passage of Proposition 19, the controversial California ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for personal use. And Mom and Dad, now avid Tea Partiers, are manning the phones in support of their son and his efforts.
VIDEO: Former surgeon general calls for marijuana legalization
Former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders told CNN Sunday she supports legalizing marijuana.
The trend-setting state of California is voting next month on a ballot initiative to legalize pot, also known as Proposition 19. The measure would legalize recreational use in the state, though federal officials have said they would continue to enforce drug laws in California if the initiative is approved.
"What I think is horrible about all of this, is that we criminalize young people. And we use so many of our excellent resources ... for things that aren't really causing any problems," said Elders. "It's not a toxic substance."
Prop 203 — the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act — Puts the Chronic in Chronic Pain
Got cancer? Have some pot. Dying of AIDS? Have some pot. Handicapped from the effects of multiple sclerosis? Have some pot.
Chronic headache, heartburn, or painful pimples? Have some pot!
This could well be the case after November 2, if Arizona voters approve Proposition 203, the "Arizona Medical Marijuana Act."
In terms of regulating the number of pot dispensaries and keeping detailed records, Prop 203 is the state's smartest medical marijuana measure proposed to date, and proponents say it's a solid plan to provide seriously ill patients with medication. But like medical marijuana laws in California and Colorado, Prop 203 includes weed treatment for "chronic or severe pain." That's what the vast majority of patients in those states use pot for, not truly debilitating illnesses.
