TRINIDAD, Humboldt County - Pot politics are nothing new to Sunshine Johnston, who has been cultivating cannabis on her organic farm near the famous Avenue of the Giants for many years. But the emergence of land speculators in the Emerald Triangle is threatening to ruin her bucolic buzz. Johnston, her friends, neighbors and fellow growers are perturbed by hordes of high rollers who are snapping up every old ranch, logging tract and forested parcel that goes on the market. The scramble for land in Humboldt County and, to a lesser extent, Mendocino County, is an apparent attempt by entrepreneurs to cash in on the possible legalization in November of recreational pot peddling in California. [continues 1850 words]
Supervisors ADD One Month to Temporary Prohibition, Hold Off Voting on Longer Plan. Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to extend a temporary ban on growing medical marijuana in unincorporated areas by one month, but shelved a proposed 10-month ban. Al Seib Los Angeles Times SUPERVISOR SHEILA Kuehl noted that there is a strong possibility that Californians will vote in November to legalize recreational marijuana use. In asking to postpone a vote on the longer ban, Supervisor Sheila Kuehl noted that there is a strong possibility that Californians will vote in November to legalize recreational marijuana use. [continues 311 words]
When the MILegalize petitions proposing the legalization of recreational marijuana in Michigan hit the streets last summer I signed the first one that came my way. That was sometime in July. Now my signature probably won't count. That's the big issue facing the folks who organized the legalization effort right now: whether or not petition initiative signatures collected outside of a 180-day window are valid. And it doesn't look good. The most immediate answer to that question will be rendered by Gov. Rick Snyder when he decides to sign, or not sign, S.B. 776, the recent legislation that sets a hard 180-day window for collecting signatures on a petition initiative. [continues 1181 words]
If Successful, It Would Allow Only Personal-Use Cultivation Proponents of banning commercial marijuana production in Calaveras County on Monday gathered signatures at grocery stores and other locations in hopes of placing its proposal on the ballot in November. Bill McManus, a volunteer with the campaign, said he got about 25 signatures during two hours parked near Vista Del Lago Drive and Highway 26 near Valley Springs. In late morning he moved to the MarVal grocery parking lot at the Valley Oaks Center in Valley Springs, where his first signature came from Hershall Roberts, 66, of Valley Springs. [continues 762 words]
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a proponent of the legalization effort, should be reminded that his most important responsibility as an elected official is to protect the people from all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Adult Use of Marijuana Act is rumored to be bankrolled by billionaires who do not have California's best interest in mind. New York billionaire Sean Parker has purportedly been recruited to augment money that will flow from George Soros and the Drug Policy Alliance. They didn't earn billions because they are dumb, but apparently they think we are. Their stated benefits of legalization are frankly an affront to one's intellect. [continues 481 words]
The Board of Supervisors delayed a vote on a proposed cannabis cultivation urgency ordinance on Monday, after several hours of discussion concerning the permanent ordinance, and some last minute changes to the proposed urgency regulations. The item, intended to update the county's cannabis regulations for this year, is planned to go before the supervisors for a vote Tuesday afternoon and will require a four/five vote of approval to pass. The proposed urgency ordinance is intended to encourage compliance with county cannabis regulations to mitigate any further environmental damage and threats to public safety while a more long-term redrafting of county cannabis regulations and accompanying environmental review takes place over this year. It is based on the county's 9.31 cultivation program and would be administered by the Sheriff's Department, and permit certain growers to cultivate up to 99 plants per parcel. [continues 793 words]
The THC Potency Of Street Marijuana Has Increased, Writes Diane McIntosh In my psychiatric practice, I treat patients with psychotic illnesses including schizophrenia. Most were born with a genetic vulnerability to develop the disorder, but many share another important life experience: they smoked pot from an early age. Debate has raged across Canada about the impending legalization/decriminalization of marijuana. Canadian physicians, in their role as advocates for physical and mental health, have been conspicuously absent from the debate. This troubling void in leadership is apparent from the lack of informed discourse exhibited across all forms of media. Our failure to educate Canadians regarding the potential risks of street pot, particularly for a developing brain, has important social, physical and psychological implications. [continues 916 words]
Voters Statewide Rejected Last Attempt by Seven Percentage Points New Campaign Took Time to Craft Measure and Build Coalition Reaching Out to Latinos and African Americans San Francisco - Nate Bradley, co-founder of the California Cannabis Industry Association, paused for a moment as he assessed how the latest campaign to legalize recreational marijuana differs from an effort in 2010 that was decisively rejected by voters. Bradley, who worked on the failed campaign, said the previous attempt was a grass-roots undertaking, while the latest measure is "run by experts at passing initiatives." [continues 1486 words]
Up In Smoke (Cheech and Chong,1978) may have floated the hazy notion that smoking marijuana was harmless fun, but new research shows that a woman's chance for delivering a healthy baby is actually what goes up in smoke if she lets smoke into her brain and lungs while pregnant. Researchers from the University of Arizona looked at 24 studies of pregnancy and marijuana smoking. They discovered pregnant women who smoke cannabis were more likely to be anemic and babies more likely to end up in neonatal intensive care with a low birth weight. [continues 146 words]
"Up in Smoke" (Cheech and Chong, 1978) may have floated the hazy notion that smoking marijuana was harmless fun, but new research shows that a woman's chance for delivering a healthy baby is actually what goes up in smoke if she lets smoke into her brain and lungs while pregnant. Researchers from the University of Arizona looked at 24 studies of pregnancy and marijuana smoking: They discovered that pregnant women who smoke cannabis were more likely to be anemic and their babies more likely to end up in neonatal intensive care with low birth weight. [continues 158 words]
Up in Smoke (Cheech and Chong, 1978) may have floated the hazy notion that smoking marijuana was harmless fun, but new research shows that a woman's chance for delivering a healthy baby is actually what goes up in smoke if she lets smoke into her brain and lungs while pregnant. Researchers from the University of Arizona looked at 24 studies of pregnancy and marijuana smoking: They discovered that pregnant women who smoke cannabis were more likely to be anemic and their babies more likely to end up in neonatal intensive care with low birth weight. [continues 148 words]
The big names and deep pockets behind California's effort to legalize marijuana have paid off with a voter initiative that's almost certain to qualify for the November ballot. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, joined by leaders in law enforcement, public health and social justice, said Wednesday in San Francisco that enough signatures had been collected to put recreational pot up for a vote in this year's presidential election. The broad array of marijuana proponents, marking the official launch of their statewide campaign, overcame the hurdles of competing priorities and scant funding, on top of general unease about the drug. They coalesced support behind the Adult Use of Marijuana Act - a consensus that past efforts to legalize cannibas have not enjoyed. [continues 628 words]
Nov. 8 Initiative Would Authorize 15 % Tax on Retail Sales Ofmarijuana in California SAN FRANCISCO - California voters will decide again this November whether to decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana by adults, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, calling the looming vote a "pivotal moment" in the national debate around pot legalization and the 45-year-old war on drugs. Newsom and other leaders of a coalition behind the Adult Use of Marijuana Act announced they have collected enough signatures to place on the Nov. 8 ballot a measure that would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess, sell or transport up to an ounce of pot. California voters rejected a similar measure in 2010. [continues 782 words]
Gavin Newsom Says Too Many People Are in Jail for Drugs He and Others Point to 2010 Effort As Turning Point in Debate Opponents Unveil Their Campaign, Begin Critiquing Details The coalition behind the campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in California launched Wednesday, vowing to avoid the stumbles that undermined past efforts here to legitimize the drug. The as-yet unnumbered initiative aiming for November has begun submitting more than 600,000 signatures, far more than the 365,000 needed. It was California that led the legalization debate six years ago with Proposition 19, a pivotal moment in the national discourse that spurred Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska to formally recognize cannabis, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at the downtown event. [continues 574 words]
In a milestone victory for the cannabis industry, the federal government agreed to drop its four-year bid to shut down Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the biggest medical marijuana dispensary in the country with more than 100,000 patients, city leaders said Tuesday. The Department of Justice did not immediately comment on the deal, which Harborside said still needed to be finalized, with all of the parties in the legal fight signing off. But Oakland officials joined the pot dispensary in an exultant news conference at City Hall, heralding a move they saw as symbolic of a federal withdrawal in the battle against an industry that is steadily marching toward acceptance - and is viewed in Oakland not as a scourge but an economic engine. [continues 1035 words]
The Industry Is Intensifying Its Battle Against Pesticide Rules. The Colorado marijuana industry is stepping up its fight against the state's efforts to regulate the application of pesticides on cannabis. After passing in the state House, a bill that would have codified Gov. John Hickenlooper's November executive order - telling state agencies that any marijuana grown with unapproved pesticides is a threat to public safety and should be removed from commerce and destroyed-died in a state Senate committee last week. [continues 632 words]
California blazed a trail to legalize medical marijuana 20 years ago. But the Golden State is only now confronting the full complexity of regulating consumer safety and business practices in an industry that's ballooned to an estimated $2.7 billion annually. It's no simple task, requiring startup-like coordination and enforcement across a dozen state agencies looking to rein in a sector of the economy that has thrived in a decidedly spotty patchwork of local oversight. California's lack of control over the industry thus far has not gone unnoticed, according to John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who focuses on marijuana policies. [continues 1263 words]
Job Could Be One of Highest-Paid in State Government State health officials want to hire someone to keep an eye on marijuana legalization - at potentially one of the highest salaries in state government. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is advertising a position for a "marijuana health effects and research manager." The job will involve monitoring the health consequences of legalization; gathering data from hospitals, emergency rooms and poison control centers; and helping to lead an advisory committee that produces a report on legalization's outcomes. [continues 270 words]
Dear Stoner: Why did the annual 4/20 rally (the one with Lil Wayne and Wiz, canceled on April 16) have to jump through so many obstacles for a permit, but the stoner fest at Civic Center on April 20 was just fine? Scott Dear Scott: The Official 4/20 Rally isn't just a group of potheads coming together; it comes with vendor booths, food carts and musical performances, and it requires tickets to get in, with some of the VIP tickets costing significant amounts of money. Because of all those commercial factors, the City of Denver considers it a "special event," so the event's organizers must register with the city for permits to hold the rally at Civic Center Park every year. And it's not just one or two permits that are needed: After notifying the surrounding neighborhood of the event, organizers must obtain permits from the Denver Fire Department, the Denver Police Department, Excise and Licenses and the Department of Environmental Health - and that's just the first four, with more to go after that. Unfortunately for everyone on April 16, Mother Nature doesn't issue permits. [continues 251 words]
A Victoria police officer who won a human-rights complaint against the force says "on the ground" experience led him to support drug legalization - and he says he doesn't think he's alone on the force. Constable David Bratzer was awarded $ 20,000 last week after the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal ruled the Victoria Police Department violated his rights by preventing him from advocating for legalization. A civil-liberties group describes the ruling as precedent-setting. Constable Bratzer filed the complaint after the force barred him from participating in the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which advocates for regulated legalization of illicit drugs. He was also banned from speaking at a panel discussing harm reduction in Victoria. [continues 452 words]
