Regarding "Stockman bill would have banned some asset seizures" (Page B2, Tuesday), if only Steve's Stockman's bill to stop federal seizure of assets could fix bad laws instead of being a political statement. The government's ability to label goods suspicious and take them without any proof of illegalities is Orwellian in its reasoning. The Justice Department claims it's an effective tool, ignoring innocent victims of asset seizure in the fever to stop drug trafficking and organized crime. [continues 68 words]
Is it ethical for an Alaska attorney to smoke marijuana? The Alaska Bar Association's Ethics Committee has weighed in with an informal opinion on that question and two other key ethical issues surrounding attorneys and soon-to-be legalized recreational marijuana in Alaska. The ethics committee examined the issues in an analysis posted to the Alaska Bar Association's website, "particularly in light of the conflict between state and federal law," the analysis states. Though recreational marijuana will become legal Feb. 24 in Alaska, it remains illegal under federal law. [continues 579 words]
Following a trend of relaxing marijuana policy, the Department of Justice announced recently that it will no longer prosecute people who grow marijuana on tribal lands. Though the Obama administration recently said something similar regarding states where marijuana has been legalized, the move was unanticipated and, in places, unwelcome, according to reports. Many tribes prohibit marijuana cultivation in their own bylaws. But the announcement has already spurred a movement in the Hoopa Tribe to relax a ban on growing on the Hoopa Reservation. [continues 539 words]
OK, so this federal budget thing passed and I am confused. Is medical marijuana legal or not? - -Paul Ahseewonk Marijuana is still illegal under federal law. However, the new budget contains an amendment written by Dana Rohrabacher, R-Orange County, and Sam Farr, D-Central Coast, that prohibits federal agents from raiding medical cannabis facilities in states that have medical cannabis laws. By the way, 32 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing the use of medical cannabis, so this is kind of a big deal. Not only that, the new budget also strengthens protections for hemp farmers. And, like I mentioned last week, the Department of Justice has said that Native American tribes can grow and sell cannabis on tribal land. All in all, Obama has been a really good president when it comes to marijuana. I didn't like him all that much in 2011, when it seemed like damn near all the clubs in California were getting raided and shut down, but his policy work since then, and especially during his second term, has been excellent. [continues 328 words]
Dear Stoner: I am a landlord who lives two hours away from our rental in Pueblo. Last week I discovered that our new tenants are using our house as a grow house without our consent. I have no problem with Amendment 64 or using the house in that manner, but that's not what we agreed on. Just wondering if you have any information or ideas for us as landlords as to our rights and how we can approach this to benefit everybody. [continues 355 words]
Time was when the only Nebraska- Colorado rivalry was about pigskin prowess. That annual NU-CU fall tilt gave sportswriters a chance to tell crude jokes about each other's jurisdictions to rile the fan base while coaches worked the teams to fever pitch by game day. That all went away, of course, when CU decided that it was too good for the Midwest and, seemingly forgetting that Boulder is still located on the Great Plains, looked westward in search of greener financial pastures. So far at least, that hasn't worked out very well. Rivalries are now few and far between. [continues 775 words]
Some cannabis start-ups aren't waiting for "technical" legalization before openly doing business. Advertised online as "the first cannabis delivery service to come to Alaska," Discreet Deliveries is open for business, and flagrantly illegal. The Wasilla-based start-up offers fast, free delivery of cannabis "smokeables" and "edibles," anywhere in Anchorage, Eagle River, or the Mat-Su Valley. Its extensive menu includes finely cured buds of Zero Dark Thirty, a hybrid strain of cannabis that's high in both psychoactive and medicinal compounds, for prices ranging from $60 for one-eighth of an ounce to $320 for a full ounce. In the edibles category, Jolly Lollis are four for $28 ("one lolly, one serving"), Cannabis Carrot Cake Cookies are two for $20, and, for connoisseurs with classic taste, Baked Brownies are $20 each. [continues 965 words]
Hawaii medical cannabis patients are at the end of their rope. For 14 years, they have not been able to access safe, efficacious medicine due to a hastily crafted state law that forces them to buy on the illegal market. Even more egregious, if a state dispensary bill is passed in 2015, it would be two to three years before administrative rules are adopted, exacerbating the stress and pain. Patients cannot wait more years. Lawmakers have already demonstrated their lack of compassion and caring for the sick and dying. [continues 67 words]
Flagstaff, Ariz. (AP) - The Navajo Nation had bitter debates when it was deciding whether to allow casinos on the reservation and whether alcohol should be sold in them. The arguments focused on the revenue and jobs that casinos and liquor could bring to a community in which half the workforce is unemployed and most arrests and pervasive social ills are linked to alcohol abuse. When the federal government announced this month that it would allow Native American tribes to grow and sell marijuana, the divisive discussions returned. The tribal president's office talked about expanding crops to include marijuana for medicinal but not recreational use, while a tribal lawmaker quickly declared his opposition. [continues 883 words]
DENVER (AP) - Chris Easterling was sick of relying on drug dealers in Minneapolis when he needed marijuana to help ease the pain of multiple sclerosis. They were flaky, often leaving the homeless man without the drug when he needed relief the most. So he moved to Denver, where legal pot dispensaries are plentiful and accessible. Easterling is among a growing number of homeless people who have recently come to Colorado seeking its legal marijuana and who now remain in the state and occupy beds in shelters, service providers say. [continues 390 words]
OKLAHOMA CITY - Despite getting the federal government's go-ahead to grow and sell marijuana, local tribes are showing little interest in expanding into the trade. If they did, says one expert in Native American affairs, it would raise a tangle of questions involving tribal and state law that are unique to Oklahoma. State leaders have outlawed marijuana - its growth, possession or use - - and violators face prison. But the 39 federally recognized tribes here have a way around that. A Justice Department memo published last week cites tribal sovereignty as grounds to allow the cultivation of marijuana on their land. [continues 501 words]
Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow pot smokers to carry a concealed firearm. The 'Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights' is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and pot. The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists. [continues 569 words]
PROSSER - Another benefactor has stepped forward to reward the Prosser School District and another organization for their refusal of a $14,000 donation from a marijuana grower. Rich Gerlitz, a Richland resident and 1971 graduate of Prosser High School, and his wife, Jan, recently gave $7,000 checks to the district and the Prosser branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties after both turned down money from Randy Williams, owner of Fireweed Farms just north of town. Williams approached the district about donating some money after he made about $600,000 during a Nov. 15 marijuana auction. Superintendent Ray Tolcacher and the Prosser School Board turned it down, saying it could send mixed signals to students about marijuana. [continues 195 words]
DENVER (AP) - Chris Easterling was sick of relying on drug dealers in Minneapolis when he needed marijuana to help ease the pain of multiple sclerosis. They were flaky, often leaving the homeless man without the drug when he needed relief the most. So he moved to Denver, where legal pot dispensaries are plentiful and accessible. Easterling is among a growing number of homeless people who have recently come to Colorado seeking its legal marijuana and who now remain in the state and occupy beds in shelters, service providers say. [continues 573 words]
DENVER (AP) - Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow cannibis smokers to carry concealed firearms. The "Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights" is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and marijuana. The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists. [continues 573 words]
Legal Dispensaries Are Nearing Final Approval to Open in San Diego SAN DIEGO - Five more illegal medical marijuana dispensaries have been shut down by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, including two in Mission Valley and one each in North Park, Kearny Mesa and City Heights. City officials are facing pressure to close as many illegal pot shops as possible before the first legal dispensaries open early next year. The most recent estimates put the number of illegal dispensaries operating in San Diego at roughly 50. [continues 146 words]
Gov. Walker wants to extend the timeline for marijuana regulation. Grace Jang is quoted as saying the "new industry will require regulatory infrastructure that Alaska has to create from scratch ..." (ADN Dec. 20). Three thoughts: 1. The Alaska Department of Law lists the minutes from the Constitutional Convention, which took all of 72 days to complete. Voters have given the Legislature nine months. 2. Why start from scratch? There are four other examples already on the books: Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Alaska alcohol. Alaska is not them but we're close enough to start from their efforts. Think they have forgotten some little nook or cranny; it will be easier to identify if you don't start from scratch. The topics and subtopics ad nauseam are known, the outline is there. Four big flip charts and an outlined fifth ought to do it. [continues 62 words]
The Fairbanks North Star Borough will follow Anchorage in forming a working group to explore the legalization of marijuana in Alaska and the crafting of laws specific to local commercial regulation. On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly's new Committee on Regulating and Taxing the Cultivation, Manufacture and Commercial Sale of Marijuana met briefly to outline how it will work to craft marijuana laws in Alaska's largest city. Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said he too would form a working group to begin crafting ordinances addressing legalization to present to the borough assembly. In an interview Tuesday, Hopkins said the makeup of the body had not been finalized but that it would include community stakeholders and be led by borough Community Planning Director Christine Nelson. [continues 524 words]
The letters sent from prison inmates follow a script. In block letters, handwritten in pencil, as many words as possible are squeezed onto irregular scraps of paper. Sentences are vague and innocuous so as to not raise the hackles of the prison censor. They're also profoundly depressing, even when the prisoner claims to be in good spirits. "On the way here, the guards had the prisoner next to me taken out and killed," read one letter I received from a man who is doing time for running a state-legal dispensary. "There are other things I can only tell you about in person." [continues 819 words]
Or change your laws As the beginning of the lawsuit filed last week puts it, "Come now the States of Nebraska and Oklahoma, by and through their Attorneys General" ... to stop legalized marijuana. The states are suing the state of Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to get the federal government to curtail Colorado's industry. The joint suit cites the Controlled Substances Act and various international treaties in its argument. It requests the Supreme Court declare Amendment 64 unconstitutional, stop Colorado from further implementing legal marijuana and, of course, pay the states' attorney fees. [continues 348 words]
State Allowing Food, Liquid Infusions for Qualifying Children Children who live in Illinois will be allowed access to medical marijuana in the new year under rules announced by state officials Tuesday. Those younger than 18 will need permission from a parent or legal guardian, must get the drug through an adult caregiver and will be required to receive approval from their own treating physician and a second doctor. Children may obtain only marijuana-infused products, such as food or liquid drops, and will not be allowed to get raw pot for smoking, under Illinois Department of Public Health rules. [continues 307 words]
A leader of efforts to revise Oklahoma's marijuana laws says Attorney General Scott Pruitt's attempt to stop legal retail sales in Colorado is "ridiculous" and mischaracterizes that state's cannabis industry. Chip Paul, a Tulsa business owner and leader of Oklahomans for Health, said it would be impossible to accumulate more than a small quantity of marijuana through legal purchases in Colorado, and that licensed growers have too much at stake to sell on the black market. "It's just not possible," Paul said in a telephone interview. [continues 330 words]
The last time a marijuana decriminalization bill was introduced in the Virginia General Assembly the year was 2011 and the patron was Del. Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, a former assistant clinical professor of pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University's medical school. The bill never made it out of committee. The Virginia General Assembly will again consider a marijuana decriminalization bill in the 2015 session, this one sponsored by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria). The fact that marijuana decriminalization in Virginia has been championed by a conservative Republican from Southern Virginia and liberal Democrat from Northern Virginia is telling. Marijuana law reform is a bipartisan issue supported by a majority of Americans. [continues 681 words]
Judge Says Nestdrop, Which Takes Orders From Customers, Is Violating L.A. Law. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge said Tuesday that Nestdrop, a smartphone application that lets customers order medical marijuana, must stop delivering pot. Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer filed a court complaint earlier this month saying that Nestdrop, which offers alcohol and medical marijuana delivery, violates a law that restricts pot shops in Los Angeles from taking their product to customers. Judge Robert O'Brien granted a preliminary injunction against the company Tuesday to stop the pot deliveries. [continues 346 words]
Editor: Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes could put to good use a large harvest basket of revenue. I am sure that there are respected tribe members that smoke cannabis. They just have to be careful not to be captured or exposed. If the elders can be persuaded to see the wisdom in embracing this newly proffered liberty, the tribes can prosper on the capitalist playfield. It is a lot easier to educate your people on any harms of cannabis than to prohibit it. As there is nowhere in Wyoming where one may possess or use cannabis, one idea worth consideration would be the creation of a cannabis lodge/spa. Open to adults with ID, offering cannabis, garden tours, food, lodging and camping. JAY BERGSTROM, Forest Ranch, California [end]
Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow pot smokers to carry concealed firearms. The Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and pot. The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed-carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists. [continues 184 words]
Editor: Regarding your Dec. 15 editorial (Our Opinion, "Authorize Medicinal Pot"), medical marijuana has lifesaving benefits that extend beyond patient relief. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with access to medical marijuana have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than states where marijuana is prohibited. This research finding has huge implications for states like Pennsylvania that grapple with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths. The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the recent JAMA research. Legal marijuana access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The marijuana plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or prescription narcotics. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal marijuana access has the potential to save thousands of lives. ROBERT SHARPE POLICY ANALYST, COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY, WASHINGTON, D.C. [end]
Powerful Tool Has Become Another Government Idea Gone Awry, Says David Simpson "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." - - James Madison, 1788 Civil asset forfeiture, or forfeiture of contraband as it is referred to in Chapter 59 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, is the process by which the state may confiscate assets of an individual that are alleged to be proceeds or instruments of crime. Current law allows such property to be seized even if the property owner is never charged, much less convicted. If charges are brought, the seized property may be disposed of prior to conviction, or in the case of acquittal, does not have to be returned to the owner. [continues 524 words]
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. (AP) - The Navajo Nation had bitter debates when it was deciding whether to allow casinos on the reservation and whether alcohol should be sold in them. The arguments focused on the revenue and jobs that casinos and liquor could bring to a reservation where half the workforce is unemployed and most arrests and pervasive social ills are linked to alcohol abuse. When the federal government announced this month that it would allow American Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana, the same divisive discussions resurfaced. The tribal president's office talked of expanding crops to include pot for medicinal but not recreational use, while a tribal lawmaker quickly declared his opposition. [continues 702 words]
As a physician working on the front lines of addiction treatment and research in Baltimore, I read Lisa Lowe's recent op-ed with great interest but also with some perplexity ("Addiction services needed more than statistics," Dec. 18). I share Ms. Lowe's frustration with the difficulty that many patients and families - especially those with private insurance - have accessing affordable addiction treatment and transitional housing. However, despite her impassioned advocacy for "evidence-based best-practice therapies," Ms. Lowe's piece contains misleading and frankly false information about effective addiction treatments. [continues 238 words]
New Mass. Schools Are Offering Programs on What Is Likely to Be a Fast-Growing Business NATICK - Jeanne Ficcardi-Sauro was watching television this summer when she saw a story about a trade school for a fast-growing field that promised plenty of job opportunities. She couldn't wait to enroll. Ficcardi-Sauro, of Franklin, became one of the first students at the new Northeastern Institute of Cannabis, or NIC. It's a two-classroom school in an office park that prepares people for positions ranging from dispensary workers to medical marijuana educators. In advance of the expected opening of the first Massachusetts dispensaries next year, the for-profit NIC has graduated about 12 students and has 64 more enrolled. [continues 923 words]
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Navajo Nation had bitter debates when it was deciding whether to allow casinos on the reservation and if alcohol should be sold in them. The arguments focused on the revenue and jobs casinos and liquor could bring to a reservation where half the workforce is unemployed and most arrests and pervasive social ills are linked to alcohol abuse. When the federal government announced this month that it would allow American Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana, the same divisive discussions resurfaced. The tribal president's office talked of expanding crops to include pot for medicinal but not recreational use, while a tribal lawmaker quickly declared his opposition. [continues 906 words]
U.S. Supreme Court Could Shut Down State's Marijuana Industry or Refuse to Hear Case. In suing to stop marijuana legalization in Colorado, two neighboring states have embarked down an arcane legal pathway that could take years to reach a conclusion, legal scholars say. Nebraska and Oklahoma last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss out portions of Colorado's pot legalization law. The states contend that Colorado's law - and especially Colorado's licensing and regulation of marijuana stores - violates the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which says the federal law reigns when state and federal laws are in irreconcilable conflict. [continues 504 words]
FAIRBANKS - Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins plans to launch a working group to help form local regulations for commercial marijuana. Following a community town hall meeting earlier this month that included representatives from the three local governments, Hopkins said he plans to bring forward borough regulations by as early as February. "I certainly don't want to sit in my office and say it ought to be this," he said, "This is a community effort." Specifically, the purpose of the group is to "develop zoning standards, production and sales requirements, and determine what other use issues need to be considered for adoption by the assembly and, to the extent needed, city councils." [continues 415 words]
THE Huffington Post, through its widely viewed video service HuffPost Live, is promoting recreational use of marijuana as well as even more troubling nonsense about the medicinal value of hard drugs like ecstasy, acid and other Schedule I substances. When Miley Cyrus smoked a joint on stage at the European Music Awards and at the Art Basel Miami Beach festival, most saw it as reflecting the ills of celebrity culture. But the danger of public acceptance and misuse is much greater when a significant media outlet promotes illicit drugs. [continues 644 words]
Reservation Will Continue Zero Tolerance Policy A decision by the United States Department of Justice that will allow for the sale and growth of marijuana on Native lands will not affect the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. Tribal Spokesman Frank Cloutier said there is a zero tolerance ordinance and that the Tribe also does not recognize the medical use of marijuana. Other Native American tribes across the United States are also not on board with the idea of growing and selling marijuana despite the possible economic benefits and the OK from the federal government. [continues 381 words]
DENVER (AP) - Despite growing public support for legalizing marijuana, a lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma shows that at least two segments of American society are prepared to fight the idea before the nation's highest court - social conservatives and law enforcement. The lawsuit seeks to overturn Colorado's experiment in legalized recreational pot, alleging that the two conservative states are being overrun with Colorado marijuana that is making it harder for them to enforce their own drug laws. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning framed it as a public-safety issue, though the complaint provides little data to support its claim that Colorado pot is pouring into neighboring states. [continues 543 words]
The Pueblo Board of County Commissioners is set to take up a measure attempting to limit the number of marijuana plants in home-based grows. The proposed zoning measure was delayed Dec. 10. It proposed that the number of medical marijuana plants grown by individual caregivers be limited to 18 in a private home, 12 in an apartment or duplex and that outdoor growing be limited to agricultural zones in the county. A few people spoke out in opposition to the proposed changes. It's possible that the commissioners will again delay a vote, since the county is working with the legislature on a similar law for the entire state. [continues 184 words]
A weird lawsuit filed in the Supreme Court of the United States against Colorado only formalizes what we know. Colorado's marijuana free-for-all is a burden to our neighbors. We grow and sell some of the most potent pot in the world and it crosses into other states as dealers and drug tourists come and go. Colorado voters chose to subject themselves and their children to this ill-fated experiment, but neighboring states get to live with an abundance of our spillover. [continues 483 words]
U.S. Attorney: Federal Memo Doesn't Change Legal Status of Pot Native American tribes on the Wind River Reservation are now able to grow and sell marijuana without federal prosecution after the release of a U.S. Justice Department memo last week that directed attorneys to stop prosecuting such cases. Christopher Crofts, U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming, said the Justice Department memo doesn't immediately change marijuana laws for the tribes or legalize marijuana on the Wind River Reservation. [continues 425 words]
Re "Mixed messages on pot shops," Editorial, Dec. 16 The Times correctly criticizes the city of Los Angeles for continuing to collect business taxes from new pot shops that are actually not allowed to be open under Measure D. Kudos to City Council members Nury Martinez and Jose Huizar for their call to stop issuing tax certificates to such dispensaries. Indeed, the purported confusion about medical marijuana well reflects how pot is profitable for a few while costing society at large. [continues 53 words]
It's been almost 15 years since the law was enacted, and Hawaii still doesn't know what to do with its medical marijuana program. It's actually less of a program than a policy, and that policy is: Hawaii residents can get a prescription for the drug, but filling it is another matter. If the state had the concern that it should about maintaining the integrity of the program and quality control for the drug it provides, lawmakers would finally finish the work they started in 2000 by establishing a regulated dispensary system. The fact that it hasn't yet done so means that anyone enrolled in the program is on their own, with no reasonable way to ensure the effectiveness or safety of what they're using. [continues 527 words]
Judges Seek Clarity Before Sentencing In a sharp reversal of federal drug policy, Congress has prohibited the Justice Department from interfering with laws in California and other states that allow the medical use of marijuana. And the turnabout caught the immediate attention of federal judges, who want to know its impact on some recent criminal convictions under the federal law that classifies pot as one of the most dangerous drugs. A day after President Obama signed the new law last week as part of a government spending bill, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco asked a federal prosecutor whether the change would affect the sentencing of a Mendocino County pot grower, who pleaded guilty to charges requiring at least five years in prison. [continues 696 words]
Flagstaff, Ariz. (AP) - The Navajo Nation had bitter debates when it was deciding whether to allow casinos on the reservation and if alcohol should be sold in them. The arguments focused on the revenue and jobs that casinos and liquor could bring to a reservation where half the workforce is unemployed and most arrests and social ills are linked to alcohol abuse. When the federal government announced this month that it would allow American Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana, the same divisive discussions resurfaced. The tribal president's office talked of expanding crops to include pot for medicinal but not recreational use, while a tribal lawmaker quickly declared opposition. [continues 62 words]
More Than $500,000 in Vendor Fee Rebates Is a Sales-Tax Reward. Colorado's cannabis shops, on the hook for higher taxes than traditional retailers, are nonetheless reaping more than half a million dollars in rebated sales-tax revenue in 2014 thanks to timely payment to the tax man. The refunded money from the state's so-called vendor fee, a 79year-old agreement the state made with its businesses, suggests the state's marijuana businesses are achieving an important goal, that of becoming more establishment, despite the extra hurdles they face in the marketplace. [continues 791 words]
A Denver Post Blog Is the First Mainstream Media Site Devoted to the World of Legal Pot. DENVER - Jake Browne sauntered into his neighborhood marijuana shop recently and asked the "budtender" for a look at his wares. The lanky attendant spread half a dozen Mason jars across the counter, each holding a fat, fragrant bud of cannabis. "Mmmm," Browne purred as he opened a jar of Jack Flash. "Smells like drain cleaner and urine. Sounds unappetizing, but it's actually great." He sniffed another. "You get a nice Grape Skunk off of that," he said. "You can smell the sandalwood and cardamom spice notes." [continues 750 words]
Starting about 1988, we, the God-fearing, law and order, peace-loving people of Georgia willingly allowed our state and federal governments to take from us our most closely guarded constitutional right not to be subjected to seizure of our assets without due process of law. It happened without so much as a whimper from any of us. During this period, the legislature gave the police the right to seize and keep your property over the fear of drugs. The War on Drugs started then, and we have since wasted billions of dollars on this lost effort. We lost the war. This money could have been used to replace every bridge in our state in need of repair or replacement, to build new schools, and to hire and pay teachers rather than furloughing them. [continues 967 words]
Before the last election when Measure S, the proposal to make some sensible changes to the county's current medical marijuana ordinance was on the ballot, our local sheriff repeatedly stated that the current "nuisance" ordinance was "complaint driven." That means, as I understand it, that someone, such as a neighbor, must complain about some annoying or illegal aspect of a local medical grow before the Sheriff's Department takes action. Yet, as The Union recently reported, during Brad Peceimer-Glasse's preliminary hearing for a cultivation arrest in early September, a sheriff's deputy "... testified that the properties were investigated after overflights revealed the marijuana cultivation." [continues 115 words]
The Landscape Has Changed Since the Issue Went Before California Voters in 2010. California voters shied away from becoming the first in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana in 2010, but four states have since approved such a law and the eureka state appears primed to join the party in 2016. Polls show public support growing in the state and nation, and advocates have repeatedly proven much better at fundraising than their foes. With momentum on their side, proponents are targeting California and four other states in the next election cycle. [continues 1477 words]
HONOLULU (AP) - Fourteen years after Hawaii legalized medical marijuana, there is still no legal way for patients to obtain pot without growing it themselves. The 2000 law also is silent on how the state's 13,000 patients can get the seeds for plants they are allowed to grow. Even as four states have legalized recreational use of marijuana through voter initiatives, Hawaii legislators remain focused on creating a statewide medical marijuana dispensary system, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported "I do expect that bills will be introduced on decriminalization and legalization, as always," said Democratic state Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee. "But Hawaii's not ready for legalization. The public is not clamoring for it. My colleagues are not knocking on my door saying, 'We have to have it. It is now on the radar and it is gaining momentum.' People are still waiting to see how things are handled in Colorado and Washington and other states." [continues 281 words]
Inside United States
