There are increasing signs that 2016 might just be the year the largest state in the nation legalizes recreational marijuana. Polls have shown from 56 percent to 60 percent of California's likely voters in the November presidential contest support legal pot. And due in part to hefty financial backing from a Silicon Valley billionaire, the leading pro-marijuana measure - the Adult Use of Marijuana Act - has gotten off to one of the strongest starts among dozens of proposed initiatives on different topics being pitched for the Nov. 8 ballot. [continues 1501 words]
Anti- Drug Campaign Was Praised by Some, Dismissed by Others Drugs already had a strong grip in Compton High School when Maple Cornwell became assistant principal in 1983. Crack cocaine was just making its debut. Educators had few tools to fight what would quickly turn into an epidemic. Into this void came the voice of Nancy Reagan, with a message for children around the nation: "Just Say No." The campaign against drugs became Reagan's most memorable achievement - - lauded by some for showing the destruction addiction wrought, condemned by others who say it helped lead to mass incarceration and demonized black communities, and shrugged off by many who thought the message was naively simplistic and ineffectual. [continues 844 words]
A Four-Pillar Plan The supervised injection facility for heroin users proposed as part of Ithaca's new municipal drug policy garnered lots of media attention, but not much in the way of praise from local law enforcement leaders. Tompkins County Sheriff Kenneth Lansing said his department was not consulted in the development of the drug plan. "We all know that people that are doing things they shouldn't be doing are paranoid, and I'm just not sure how safe they're going to feel going to a facility that's going to allow them to do this," Lansing said about the injection facility. "There are hurdles with the legality to look at. Nothing against the mayor; I think he's doing a hell of a job, no doubt about it, and the plan has some great ideas. I just can't accept [the injection facility], and I can't support it." [continues 581 words]
On Dec. 5, 2014, San Francisco police were on the corner of Hyde Street and Golden Gate Avenue in the Tenderloin, arresting crack sellers. It was a busy day: Shortly after busting one man for selling a few rocks to an undercover police officer, a cop returned to the scene of the crime to gather data to fill out his report when he witnessed another drug deal in action. The cop busted that seller, who identified himself to police as "a Sureno from the south side," according to court records. Police later found that both sellers had extensive rap sheets for narcotic sales. [continues 953 words]
SACRAMENTO - Devout cannabis advocates and social justice reformers believe this may finally be the year California voters legalize marijuana, and that optimism has led to a mashup of proposed statewide ballot measures - more than 20 filed so far. They vary from a one-sentence constitutional amendment that simply declares California adults are free to "grow, own (and) purchase" marijuana to a 62-page treatise on how to best regulate and tax legal pot. But just one has attracted the deep-pocketed donors and leading advocacy groups to emerge as the clear favorite to make the November ballot - the so-called Adult Use of Marijuana Act. The initiative would allow those age 21 and older to possess and use up to an ounce of marijuana, making California the fifth state in the nation to legalize recreational use. [continues 478 words]
Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick wants the city to be the first in the U.S. to offer a supervised injection facility, where heroin users would be able to shoot up under the care of a nurse. The facility is one piece of a comprehensive new approach he wants Ithaca to take against the scourge of addiction. A comprehensive approach following the four pillars of treatment, harm reduction, public safety and prevention will be announced officially Wednesday, when Myrick and the Municipal Drug Policy Committee unveils "The Ithaca Plan: A Public Health and Safety Approach to Drugs and Drug Policy." [continues 1542 words]
Up Against Billionaire-Funded Bid, Grass-Roots Groups Stand Down. SACRAMENTO - Devout cannabis advocates and social justice reformers believe this may finally be the year California voters legalize marijuana, and that optimism has led to a mashup of proposed statewide ballot measures - more than 20 filed so far. They vary from a one sentence constitutional amendment that simply declares California adults are free to "grow, own [ and] purchase" marijuana to a 62-page treatise on how to best regulate and tax legal pot. [continues 1272 words]
MEXICO CITY - Armando Santacruz is a clean-cut father of five and successful business owner. Nothing at all about him screams "pothead." Yet, Santacruz, 54, is at the forefront of a growing movement to legalize marijuana in Mexico - a move that could have seismic repercussions both in Mexico and the USA. He talks about legalizing pot with the same impassioned fervor many here use to describe soccer clubs or favorite restaurants. Santacruz was one of four plaintiffs who won a pivotal Supreme Court case here in November, which allowed him and his co-plaintiffs their private consumption of cannabis and galvanized a national debate. [continues 639 words]
Nearly 47,000 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2014 - more than from gunshot wounds or car crashes. In Maryland, the governor's office has defined the problem as an "epidemic ... destroying lives." Indeed, heroin deaths alone have increased by 186 percent from 2010 to 2015 in the state. Not only are drug-related deaths on the rise, so are the associated harms, including: drug-related crime and violence, the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C and the financial burden for taxpayers who shoulder the costs of health care and criminal justice. [continues 638 words]
Measures Again Pushed to Allow Sale, Possession in New Mexico SANTA FE - Sixty-one percent of New Mexicans surveyed this month said they support legalizing marijuana, and doing that would bump up state revenues by tens of millions of dollars, legalization supporters said Thursday. "If it can get on the ballot, it's going to pass," said Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, who once again is sponsoring a constitutional change to legalize marijuana possession, regulate its production and sale, and tax it. [continues 553 words]
SACRAMENTO - A proposed Assembly Bill seeking to fix a deadline error in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act took another step forward Tuesday after unanimous approval by the Senate Government and Finance Committee. Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, is hoping to push AB 21 to the governor's desk as soon as possible in order to strike a set March 1 deadline that was inadvertently included in the new medical marijuana regulations requiring cities and counties to adopt medical marijuana cultivation standards or allow the state to take local control. [continues 185 words]
Last week, Sean Parker made an honest issue out of cannabis legalization. The former Napster and Facebook whiz kid (and current philanthropic billionaire) plunked down $500,000 towards the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, a legalization measure vying for the Nov. 2016 ballot. The check was a long-awaited confirmation: It had been known as the "Parker Initiative," despite no material support from Parker until last week - and only tepid verbal approval. Along with $250,000 donations from a political action committee controlled by WeedMaps - the dispensary-finding website that serves as the "Google Maps for Pot" - and from legalization veterans Marijuana Policy Project and the Drug Policy Alliance, to whom much of the credit for legalizing in Washington, Colorado, and Oregon are due, Parker's half-million is the biggest donation to the campaign committee called "Californians to Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana While Protecting Children." [continues 765 words]
The Recent Rash of Medical Pot Bans Strikes the East Bay. Meanwhile, Full-Scale Legalization Gets Cleared for Signature-Gathering. Alameda County medical cannabis patients, they're coming for you. California's rash of medical pot bans continues to spread in 2016 and has now reached into the historic heartland of medical cannabis law reform. Patients in places like the East Bay's Castro Valley could face new threats for growing even one medical pot plant indoors if a new, fast-moving county effort succeeds. Alameda County's lawyers recommended on January 6 that the board of supervisors ban any medical cannabis cultivation or deliveries in unincorporated areas by January 24. [continues 636 words]
ALBANY - New York joined the ranks of nearly half the states on Thursday in allowing the use of medical marijuana with the opening of eight dispensaries statewide, serving a variety of tinctures, concentrates, vapors and other forms of the drug. How many patients actually received medicine from those dispensaries, however, was uncertain; several locations around the state had customers who entered, but it was not clear if any actually bought the drug, or were qualified to do so under the state's strict guidelines. On Thursday, officials at the state's Department of Health said that only 51 patients had been certified for the program thus far, though that process only began on Dec. 23 and requires the approval of a physician who has registered with the state. [continues 905 words]
The Loosening of Marijuana Laws in Much of the U.S. Increases Competition. BADIRAGUATO, Mexico - He started growing marijuana as a teenager and for four decades earned a modest living from his tiny plot tucked at the base of these rugged mountains of western Mexico. He proudly shows off his illegal plants, waist-high and fragrant, strategically hidden from view by rows of corn and nearly ready to be harvested. "I've always liked this business, producing marijuana," the 50-year-old farmer said wistfully. He had decided that this season's crop would be his last. [continues 1338 words]
So is this Facebook dude's new marijuana initiative gaining traction or what? - -Jah Q. Public It is picking up steam. However you feel about the initiative itself, it would seem that the people pushing it through are savvy operators. For those of you not up to speed, here is a quick recap: Sean Parker, Facebook billionaire, has decided to sponsor an initiative to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis sales in California. The Adult Use of Marijuana Act has been building alliances and picking up supporters (Gavin Newsom is a fan, as are a bunch of folks at Reform CA, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Marijuana Policy Project, The Drug Policy Alliance, Tim Blake from the Emerald Cup-I could go on but you get the drift). Parker has the money and he has the support of many of the big names, but I still have some misgivings. [continues 365 words]
The manifestation of the once-rogue marijuana industry's current commercial success and its untold future potential were on display last weekend at the Emerald Cup, the state's largest cannabis convocation. But while some of the state's 55,000 outdoor cannabis farmers were dressed for success in Carharts, hoodies, and flannel, the biggest name - subject of the biggest news - was a no-show. In between lining up for dabs of artisanal pressed hash made by Frenchy Cannoli and rushing the Cookies booth to pose for selfies with social media phenomenon Berner, more than 20,000 weedheads also heard two words, whispered like a mantra and uttered like a curse, over and over and over again: "Sean Parker." [continues 750 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite its opposition to making marijuana use legal, the Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit from Nebraska and Oklahoma that seeks to declare Colorado's pot legalization unconstitutional. The Justice Department's top courtroom lawyer said in a brief filed Wednesday that the interstate dispute over a measure approved by Colorado voters in 2012 does not belong at the high court. Nebraska and Oklahoma filed their lawsuit directly with the Supreme Court in December 2014, arguing that Colorado's law allowing recreational-marijuana use by adults runs afoul of federal anti-drug laws. States can sue each other in the Supreme Court, a rare instance in which the justices are not hearing appeals of lowercourt rulings. [continues 114 words]
Supporters of more liberal marijuana laws on Thursday delivered dramatic pleas that a temporary District law that bans consumption of the drug in private clubs be allowed to expire. If the ban remains, the District would be punishing the poor, the sick, children and many others, the advocates said, because the law effectively eliminates any loopholes allowing for marijuana use outside a private home. That leaves those who rent, are visiting or who live in federally subsidized housing without a "safe" space in which to partake, marijuana activists said. [continues 566 words]
This column increased in size by 50 percent a few weeks ago, and yet there is still barely enough space for all the canna-news. Light one up and let's jump right in. PUFF, PUFF, PUBLISH-Portland made national news this week when our branch of the USPS put out a memo to area newspaper publishers. In it, they reminded our modern-day William Randolph Hearsts that it is still illegal "to place an ad in any publication with the purpose of seeking or offering illegally to receive, buy, or distribute a Schedule I controlled substance." It went on to say, "If an advertisement advocates the purchase of clinical marijuana through a Medical Marijuana Dispensary, it does not comply" with federal law. [continues 607 words]
