Tag: marijuana reform

SAFER Colorado (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) Executive Director Mason Tvert explains in this interview in the Denver Post why alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana and how medical pot issues are being overblown.

Mason says the future is vaporization rather than smoking:

The future is vaporization. You basically heat marijuana to the point where it releases the chemicals and you inhale vapors. It never combusts so there's no smoke. There's never been a documented case of a marijuana- only smoker acquiring lung cancer as a result. Never. Not one.

How legalization would help the economy: [More...]

Breckenridge, Colorado tonight became the first town in the country to vote to decriminalize possession of drug paraphernalia. It also decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The vote was 3 to 1, or 73 percent to 27 percent.

"This votes demonstrates that Breckenridge citizens overwhelmingly believe that adults should not be punished for making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol," said Sean McAllister, a Breckenridge attorney who proposed the ordinance.

Even though existing state law punishes personal possession of pot -- and bongs, pipes, etc.-- by a $100 fine rather than jail time, it still leaves those convicted with a criminal record. Thanks to voters in Breckenridge, that will no longer be the case. So it is a big deal.

The new law takes effect Jan. 1.

California legislators are holding a hearing today on legalizing and taxing marijuana for personal use. Should they decide against it, voters may still get the final word: three initiatives are expected to garner the necessary amount of signatures to make it to the ballot.

Tax officials estimate the legislation could bring the struggling state about $1.4 billion a year, and though the bill’s fate in the Legislature is uncertain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has indicated he would be open to a “robust debate” on the issue.

What are the chances? [More...]

Signatures are being gathered in California for three 2010 ballot initiatives to legalize adult marijuana possession for personal use by adults.

If any of them pass, California would be the first state in the nation to legalize possession of marijuana. While it would still be illegal under federal law, it might not matter in practice:

Such action would also send the state into a headlong conflict with the U.S. government while raising questions about how federal law enforcement could enforce its drug laws in the face of a massive government-sanctioned pot industry.

....some legal scholars and policy analysts say the government will not be able to require California to help in enforcing the federal marijuana ban if the state legalizes the drug. Without assistance from the state's legions of narcotics officers, they say, federal agents could do little to curb marijuana in California.

[More...]

Via SaferChoice: In 2007, Denver voters passed a referendum amending a city ordinance so that law enforcement would make marijuana enforcement their lowest priority. In response, Mayor John Hickenlooper appointed a panel to implement the new ordinance.

The Denver Marijuana Policy Review Panel recommended today that the fine for marijuana possession be set at $1.

"Upon reviewing the fine schedule, we have noted that a number of offenses carry a $50 fine -- including urinating in public, park curfew, and open container violations -- and others carry even lesser fines, such as disobeying a signal light ($40), light rail violations ($26), and spitting in public ($25)," the Panel wrote in the letter. "We are...requesting that you revise the schedule to reflect the lowest law enforcement priority approved by the voters. "[W]e believe the court should reduce the fine to the absolute minimum allowable, or $1."

If Denver's presiding judge Mary Celeste accepts the recommendation, the $1 fine would be the lowest fine for marijuana possession in the entire nation. The entire letter to Judge Celeste is pasted below.

Medical marijuana dispensaries have been cropping up along the Front Range in Colorado. Already established in Basalt and Carbondale, two in Aspen are planning on opening.

Aspen's community development director issued an opinion Wednesday that the zoning code does not prohibit dispensaries just because it doesn't specifically recognize them. He says they should be zoned just like pharmacies.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed anywhere in Aspen that allows an office, the city’s top planning director said Thursday.

...Aspen’s land-use code does not specifically recognize marijuana dispensaries but Chris Bendon, the city’s community development director, said his office examined various zoning definitions and determined the dispensaries should generally be treated like pharmacies.

Bendon's report will now go to the City Council for approval. What's causing this "brave new world"? [More...]

Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? is now available for immediate delivery. It's already #11 on the Amazon Bestseller list for new releases. It may be the best-selling marijuana book to date on Amazon.

Written by Mason Tvert, Paul Armentano and Steve Fox, with a foreward by former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper, the book argues marijuana is a safer recreational alternative to other substances like alcohol.

If you're in the neighborhood, there will be a launch event for the book Sunday at 2 p.m. at 8 Rivers Cafe, 1550 Blake St. in Denver. The book's Facebook page, with 4,700 members right now, is here.

Via NORML, which is encouraging people to contact their legislators about marijuana reform, here's the e-mail that a constituent received back from GA Rep. Tommy Benton (31st House District). He says he favors caning for minor pot offenders and execution for those that sell marijuana:

Thanks for the email. We will have to agree to disagree on this and whether or not money is wasted. I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana. I think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers. That would solve the problem as well. That is what they do in Singapore and they don’t have a drug problem, but then they have less liberty than we do here.

Rep. Tommy Benton
tommy.benton@house.ga.gov

In a follow-up e-mail, Benton threatened: [More...]

Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) today introduced a bill to eliminate all federal penalties for marijuana possession. Via the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP):

The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009 would eliminate the threat of federal arrest and prison for the possession of up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of an ounce of marijuana — nationwide.

Please go here and send an e-mail to your Congressperson asking them to support this bill. You can view last year's version of the bill here.

Last week he introduced the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, (H.R. 2835), a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail and to allow pharmacies to dispense marijuana to patients with a doctor's recommendation. You can send a message to your Congressperson asking for support here.

Both bills were introduced last year but died at the end of the Congressional session. Hopefully, we'll have more luck this year. Please, do your part.

As Apple always tells us in commercials, there's an iPhone app for evertyhing. Even this:

The app features the laws and consequences for possession in each state, facts and figures supporting why marijuana should be legal and a pre-written letter to President Obama that can be sent by pushing a button, described by David as “petition on the go.” It can also locate the nearest NORML chapter.

Why did they make it? [More..]

Looks like the medical pot raids under Obama and AG Eric Holder are continuing. The latest victim is the Green Cross in Bakersfield. It was raided yesterday as a search warrant was executed and there are reports of three arrests.

Reuters columnist Bernard Debussman has a good column examining the elephant in the room in the debate on the war on drugs:

In 1980, we had 41,000 drug offenders in prison; today we have more than 500,000, an increase of 1,200 percent.” The elephant has ambled out of the bedroom and has become the object of a lively debate on the pros and cons of legalising drugs.

He examines theories as to why the momentum towards marijuana legalization is picking up steam. He also explains why legalization is making sense to so many people right now: [More...]

It's been a busy and productive week in state legislatures for marijuana reform. Just yesterday:

• New Hampshire: The Senate voted 14 to 10 yesterday in favor of HB 648, which would allow qualified patients to possess up to two ounces of cannabis and/or six plants for medical purposes.

• Minnesota: Members of the State Senate gave preliminary approval to Senate File 97, an act to exempt qualified medical cannabis patients from state arrest and prosecution.

• Rhode Island: Members of the Rhode Island Senate voted 35 to 2 yesterday in favor of SB 185, an act to allow for the distribution of medical cannabis by state-licensed compassion centers.

• Pennsylvania: Rep. Mark Cohen D-Philadelphia), along with six co-sponsors, introduced legislation to make Pennsylvania the fourteenth state to legalize the physician-supervised use of cannabis.

[More...]

So much for turning a new leaf on medical marijuana prosecutions.

The U.S. Attorney's office in California will seek a five year jail term for medical pot dispensor Charles Lynch.

Mr. Lynch, who ran a small dispensary in the surfing hamlet of Morro Bay, has become a symbol for the medical marijuana movement since his shop was raided in 2007. A registered business owner, Mr. Lynch has the support of the city’s mayor, city attorney, and the local chamber of commerce.

Medical marijuana advocates see the case as a test of the Obama administration’s policy of non-interference on state marijuana laws. California is one of 13 states that allow the cultivation and sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Sentencing was continued today until June. Attorney General Eric Holder's appointee, H. Marshall Jarrett, is "guiding" the U.S. Attorney in seeking the jail term. Here is the pleading with Jarrett's letter attached. The Judge is George H. Wu, "a Bush appointed jurist who is hearing his first federal case." More here.

The Denver Post takes a bold step today in an editorial, urging the feds to end the war on drugs and legalize marijuana.

The Post points out it's not just pot users calling for legalization: [More...]