The Drug Enforcement Administration's decision on Thursday to not remove marijuana from the list of the nation's most dangerous drugs outraged scientists, public officials and advocates who have argued that the federal government should recognize that marijuana is medically useful. Reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug would have made it easier to get federal approval for studies of its uses and paved the way for doctors to eventually write prescriptions for marijuana-derived products that could be filled at pharmacies, like other Schedule 2 drugs such as Adderall, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [continues 870 words]
At least one barrier to asset forfeiture reform has been cleared, as a compromise has been reached between law enforcement groups and state Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles. Last year, California seemed set to join a growing number of states in reforming civil asset forfeiture, a means by which law enforcement agencies can seize a person's assets without first obtaining a criminal conviction. As initially conceived, Senate Bill 443, bipartisan legislation authored by Sen. Mitchell and Assemblyman David Hadley, R-Torrance, would have required a criminal conviction before assets in excess of $25,000 could be seized, granted a right to counsel for the indigent and authorized attorney's fees for those who successfully appeal forfeiture cases, among other requirements. [continues 495 words]
How did MJ get on same schedule as heroin? For nearly a century officials have touted the dangers of marijuana. Many of us can dip into the memory banks to find attempts of officers visiting our classrooms to enlighten us on how drugs would ruin our lives. The common narrative was that we'd get arrested and go to jail as they conveniently overlooked the fact that the only danger came from the legal system rather than the plant itself. Predictably and perhaps ironically, the DARE program didn't deter as many young minds from experimenting with marijuana as it intended. According to a Pew Research poll, nearly half of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. [continues 547 words]
Colorado experience shows it's a winner Well, it's been long enough since Colorado became one of the first two states to approve recreational marijuana legalization in November 2012. The rumor was that New Mexico was taking a wait and see stance before embarking on it's own legalization. But now the stats are everywhere: Colorado is ranked as one of the fastest growing economies in our nation. The unemployment rate is at its lowest since 2008, well below the national average. Incarceration rates have dropped through the floor. [continues 575 words]
Republican political consultant Mike Madrid isn't used to getting calls from the ACLU, and yet he has found himself working with the civil liberties group because some practices are so egregious that Republicans and Democrats should have no trouble finding common cause. The issue is civil asset forfeiture - also known as "policing for profit." The federal government can seize your property, and the only way you can get it back is to prove you are not guilty of a crime. California law prohibits local authorities from permanently seizing most property without a conviction, but there's a loophole in the law - called "equitable sharing." Local police can seize your property, hand jurisdiction over the feds, and get rewarded with up to 80 percent of the goodies even if prosecutors fail to convict - or even charge - an offender. [continues 774 words]
Legalizing Recreational Cannabis May Have Varying Implications for Health of Kids and Teens Come November, California could join Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington by becoming a state where adults can legally buy, possess and use cannabis recreationally as well as medically. What would this mean for kids and teens? We now may have an idea. Colorado was the first of these states (plus the District of Columbia) to enact laws calling for such blanket legalization, passing Amendment 64 in 2012. Two recent reports focused on Colorado-one on teenage use, one on kids' accidental ingestion-offer a mixed picture. [continues 852 words]
Marijuana Is Anything but Harmless Voters in at least five states, including California, will be asked whether they want to legalize marijuana for casual use on Election Day. Four states and Washington D.C. have already taken this step. "This is really a watershed year for marijuana legalization," said F. Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Proponents like the Drug Policy Alliance claim that legalization should occur partially for "health" reasons. The Marijuana Policy Project has called pot "harmless." Others say it is "safe" and even "healthy." Nearly all proponents seem to deny or minimize its risks. Popular culture reinforces this view portraying use generally as a risk-free endeavor. And big business looking to cash in on legalization is all too happy to propagate this claim. [continues 627 words]
Although the initiative to prohibit marijuana business in the Fairbanks North Star Borough outside of cities will not appear on this October's ballot, there are issues that still remain very problematic. In addition, Mr. Travis Fraser's community perspective of July 17, "Marijuana petition seeks to overturn voters' wishes," deserves a response. On Nov. 4, 2014, statewide voters adopted Proposition 2, which provided for the legalization and commercialization of marijuana in Alaska. The vote was 53 percent in favor and 47 percent against. How that result was arrived at should be of concern to all Alaskans. Those Alaskans opposing Prop. 2 spent a total of $267,612 to defeat it. The other side, supporting Prop. 2, included two powerful drug advocacy groups based in Washington, D.C.: Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance. They contributed $855,350 to promote the passage of Prop. 2. How much support for this issue was mobilized with $855,350? [continues 665 words]
Marijuana Execs Find Welcome Vibe Among the Pols Marijuana has gone mainstream at the Democratic National Convention this week. Democratic officials, including Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and his state's attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, mingled with pot industry executives Monday night at a reception at a sleek bar downtown, miles away from the convention hall. A day earlier, the Marijuana Policy Project staged a fundraiser to support its work to push new laws around the country legalizing the use of marijuana. [continues 553 words]
Svante Myrick aims to bring Vancouver's pioneering programs back to his small city in upstate New York Svante Myrick has led a lifelong battle against the devastation caused by illicit drugs. He spent much of his childhood homeless while his father, a crack cocaine user, walked in and out of his world through "a sort of revolving door of jail and rehab," he said. Now Myrick, 29, the youngest and the first black mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., is fighting ideology and policy to make his city the first in the U.S. to be home to a legal supervised-injection facility (SIF) for heroin users. [continues 720 words]
With four months to go before the election, an initiative campaign to legalize marijuana for adults in California has a $5.5 million war chest. Promoters of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, got a $2 million boost in donations this week from two key financial backers. Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster and was Facebook's first president, gave an additional $1.25 million, bringing his total contributions to $2.25 million. The New Approach PAC, which is a legacy of Progressive insurance mogul and legalization activist Peter Lewis, gave an additional $750,000. The PAC has now contributed $1.5 million. [continues 226 words]
An initiated act aimed at legalizing medical marijuana has been cleared for the Nov. 8 general election ballot, but the proposal faces opposition from three fronts - the backer of a competing constitutional amendment, a conservative organization and the governor. The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act received enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, Melissa Fults, campaign manager for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, said in an interview Thursday. Kerry Baldwin, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, confirmed that the group did meet the signature threshold. It is the first initiated proposal to clear that hurdle; today is the deadline for submitting petitions for a general election ballot proposal. [continues 1171 words]
It's a widely abused practice that was imposed on America by past state legislatures and the federal government. Civil asset forfeiture has been used to take innocent people's property for decades, and is perhaps better known as "legal plunder." As such, there's nothing particularly "civil" about civil asset forfeiture, and a California state senator wants to do something about that in the Golden State. In many states, under civil asset forfeiture, law enforcement can seize private property without a search warrant or an indictment, much less a conviction, based solely on suspicion that the property has been involved in, or is the ill-gotten gains of, criminal activity. [continues 629 words]
Newsom Tells Cannabis Industry to Help Pass November Ballot Initiative. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom warned a conference of cannabis industry representatives Tuesday that they need to get involved in passing a marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot or the cause will be set back nationally. Newsom also chided fellow Democratic elected officials for not doing more to change the law even though, he said, the war on drugs has been an "abject failure." "I kind of got frustrated by some of our colleagues because they weren't leading," Newsom told about 2,000 industry activists and entrepreneurs at a conference in Oakland sponsored by the National Cannabis Industry Assn. [continues 381 words]
Rx Push for Ballot 1st With Signatures Backers of an initiated act to legalize medical marijuana became the first group this year to submit signatures for a ballot proposal when they delivered petitions to the Arkansas secretary of state's office Monday. The petitions, bearing about 117,000 signatures, were submitted almost three weeks ahead of the July 8 state deadline. The next step is for validation by the secretary of state's office; 67,887 signatures from at least 15 different counties are needed for an initiated act to land on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. [continues 966 words]
Committee Tries to Understand Supervised Clinic Concept As Crosstown Clinic Physician Testifies to Its Efficacy Members of a U.S. Senate committee looking to confront drug abuse struggled with the concept of prescription heroin and raised concerns about supervised-injection sites increasing crime as they heard testimony on Wednesday from a B.C. doctor who helped lead one of the most radical interventions in North America. Scott MacDonald, physician lead at Providence Health Care's Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at a hearing in Washington titled "America's Insatiable Demand for Drugs: Examining Alternative Approaches." He was one of four experts invited to speak, and the only one from outside the United States. [continues 568 words]
ARLINGTON - Arlington's chief of police wasn't in his office on Wednesday, June 15. Instead, he was in Washington D.C. Arlington Police Chief Fred Ryan was testifying before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs at a hearing on alternative approaches to combating the opioid addiction crisis. He was speaking as a representative of the Police-Assisted Addiction Recovery Initiative (PAARI), sharing his experiences fighting heroin and other drugs in Arlington with an approach emphasizing getting opioid users into treatment. [continues 492 words]
Let's Twist Up a Fattie... of News! Halfway There!-What's round at both ends and high in the middle? Snoop Dogg standing between two medicine balls. Also, Ohio! Governor John "Welp, I Tried" Kasich signed a bill this month to legalize medical cannabis, making the Buckeye State the 25th state. It won't go into effect for 90 days, and when it does, it will have some restrictions: Although residents with a doctor's recommendation will be allowed to use cannabis, there will not be any (legal) licensed growers or dispensaries in the state until 2017 or 2018. [continues 561 words]
Bill Targets the Taking of People's Property Without a Conviction. SACRAMENTO - Almost a year after California lawmakers rejected legislation that would restrict police departments' ability to take cars, cash, homes and other property from suspected criminals without a conviction, the bill's author is trying again as similar efforts succeed across the country. The practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, gained currency during the height the drug war in the 1980s as a way for law enforcement to financially cripple drug lords and fund anti-narcotics operations. But advocates for reforming the laws say too often police officers ensnare innocent residents who are poor and have few resources to ensure their property is returned. [continues 871 words]
Personal pot possession in California was reduced from an arrest to an infraction in 2010, but systemic racism around pot enforcement continues, a new study finds. The American Civil Liberties Union of California, in conjunction with the Drug Policy Alliance, published a groundbreaking, heavily reported piece of research Monday that concludes that the Black community in California faces ticketing for pot at a rate four times as high as whites. Latinos have about double the rate of pot tickets as whites. [continues 1008 words]
