WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is preparing to release about 6,000 inmates from federal prisons starting at the end of this month, as part of an effort to ease overcrowding and roll back the penalties given to nonviolent drug dealers in the 1980s and 1990s, federal law enforcement officials said. About a third of the inmates are undocumented immigrants who will be deported. Because many of those inmates were convicted of crimes that are significant legal offenses, President Obama is unlikely to be criticized as sharply for their release by those who have objected to past deportation decisions by the administration. [continues 772 words]
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is preparing to release roughly 6,000 inmates from federal prisons starting at the end of this month as part of an effort to ease overcrowding and roll back the harsh penalties given to nonviolent drug dealers in the 1980s and '90s, according to federal law enforcement officials. About a third of the inmates are undocumented immigrants who will be deported. Because many of them were convicted of significant legal offenses, President Obama is unlikely to be criticized as sharply for their release by those who have objected to past deportations by the administration. [continues 816 words]
Given politicians' predilection to appear tough on crime, a bipartisan compromise to possibly reduce draconian sentences for nonviolent drug offenders is a big deal. The long-awaited agreement, announced Thursday by eight key U.S. senators, would put into legislation some of the criminal justice reforms that President Barack Obama seeks to leave as a legacy. The bill deserves to move forward in Congress. Among other changes, the measure would shorten mandatory federal sentences for repeat drug criminals; give federal judges more discretion to make sure that low-level dealers don't get the same punishment as drug kingpins; and bring 6,000 inmates under a 2010 law that reduced the racially skewed disparity between sentences for crack and powder cocaine. [continues 388 words]
Legislation Would Have Applied to Small Amounts of Marijuana Citing his oath of office, Mayor Richard Berry vetoed legislation Wednesday that sought to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. He also rejected a companion proposal - to make marijuana a low priority for law enforcement. Berry, a Republican, said the oath of office he took included a promise to uphold the law. "I just have hard time signing any legislation that preempts state and federal law, whether it's marijuana or any other issue," Berry told reporters Wednesday. [continues 226 words]
A Veteran Advocate of Marijuana Legalization Looks at What's Ahead SEATTLE - Allen St. Pierre went to work at NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, when the United States was in just-say-no-to-drugs mode. That was a generation ago and California was years away from becoming the first state to legalize medical marijuana. On Thursday, recreational marijuana sales will begin in Oregon, the third state to legalize party pot. St. Pierre is now NORML's executive director, and he talked this week about the country's embrace of cannabis. "What a long, strange trip it's been," he said. [continues 885 words]
Albuquerque City Council Approved Changes, and Now Final OK Lies With Mayor Richard Berry The Albuquerque City Council on Sept. 21 voted to reduce marijuana penalties for possessing an ounce or less for personal use. Mayor Richard Berry has 10 days from the vote to veto it. Will the mayor, who vetoed the legislation last year, change his mind this time around? He should. Let me count the ways. 1. Over 115 million people, or one-third of the U.S. population, lives in jurisdictions where marijuana has been decriminalized. Oregon decriminalized marijuana more than 40 years ago. Santa Fe, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia decriminalized marijuana last year. [continues 493 words]
We all know heroin use is an epidemic in our area. But what are our local leaders and institutions doing or not doing to fight it? This year the Enquirer will be focusing on accountability and solutions to the region's heroin problems. WASHINGTON - Shawn Ryan needs Congress to lift the federal cap on the number of heroin addicts he can treat, so he and other Cincinnati-area physicians don't have to turn away patients desperate to stop using. Charmaine McGuffey needs funding for a medical detox unit, so she and other officials at the Hamilton County Jail don't have to rely on flu medicine for inmates in severe withdrawal. [continues 949 words]
As a result of a concerted effort by law enforcement, the California Assembly last week voted down common-sense civil asset forfeiture reforms. Senate Bill 443, by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, would have significantly reinforced the notion that property rights and constitutional rights still matter in this day and age. The bill, among other provisions, would have required a conviction before seizing someone's assets, barring state and local law enforcement agencies from receiving revenue in cases involving joint efforts with federal law enforcement agencies until there is a conviction. [continues 539 words]
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Advocacy groups have poured millions of dollars into legalizing both recreational and medical marijuana in states across the country. One of the most powerful and influential groups Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project was behind successful recreational measures in Alaska and Colorado, two of four states that now allow recreational use. MPP organizers hope to replicate those efforts in five other states during the 2016 elections, an undertaking they say will if successful prove significant for the effort to end marijuana prohibition. [continues 3111 words]
Garduno, Benton to Introduce Plan; Mayor May Oppose the Idea Two Albuquerque city councilors plan to introduce legislation next week that would make it a civil offense - not a criminal violation - under city law to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. Their proposal would also declare marijuana as the lowest law-enforcement priority for city police. Officers, however, would still have discretion to cite people under the state law for marijuana possession - the penalties for which can include up to 15 days in jail and fines up to $100 as a criminal petty misdemeanor. [continues 377 words]
DALY CITY, Calif. - The smell of cannabis impregnated the air. Hundreds of people crowded around a makeshift stage, where men in head-to-toe marijuana print threw cannabis caviar, joints, and dollar bills at onlookers. "Best weekend ever!" screamed a man dressed in a joint costume. Organizers said more than 16,000 people attended the Nor-Cal Cannabis Cup here in June. Inside a fenced-in area in the parking lot of the Cow Palace, people smoked out of three-foot bongs, tried rainbow-color vape pens, and tasted cannabisinfused gourmet ice cream, all out in the open. Those without a medical marijuana card waited in line for hours for a two-minute consultation with a doctor, who charged $100 for a three-month medical marijuana recommendation. [continues 1112 words]
When first experimenting in the 1970s, I immediately began reading everything I could on the subject of marijuana. And right from the beginning, what I was finding, especially the material coming from the newly minted Drug Enforcement Agency, was not in sync with what I was experiencing with the product. My favorite from that period is the old saw about marijuana robbing you of incentive. While it might have been a familiar stereotype back in the "be sure to hide the roaches" days, it didn't correspond to anything that was happening to me. If anything, I was toking up and getting really motivated. Once you got past the "I got stoned, and I missed it" cliches and Cheech and Chong routines, cannabis was no hindrance to motivation, and I found it laughable - still do - that it was even part of the conversation. If a person wasn't naturally motivated, pot might not work positively, but it wasn't the drug's fault. As an artist told Sanjay Gupta on one of his "Weed" specials, "It's my favorite way to work." [continues 581 words]
The most credible effort is late out of the gate, while campaign warchests are missing in action. Meanwhile, California lawmakers are rushing to write rules for medical pot. In 439 days, Californians are expected to cast a historic vote on an initiative legalizing cannabis for recreational adult use. But the text of that initiative and the hard proof that activists have the $20 million necessary to campaign for it have yet to materialize. The California Secretary of State's Office suggested July 7 as the last day to submit a measure to the state attorney general and request an official title and summary for a November 2016 ballot measure. But the leading coalition will not file an initiative until some time in early September, said Dale Sky Jones, chancellor of Oaksterdam University in Oakland and chair of what's referred to as ReformCA - the post-Proposition 19 coalition that includes the most effective, major reform groups: Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, and the American Civil Liberties Union. [continues 712 words]
Proponents, With State Wins Under Their Belt, Say Yes. Foes Aren't Conceding. WASHINGTON - Advocacy groups have poured millions of dollars into legalizing marijuana in states across the country. One of the most powerful groups - Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C. - was behind successful measures in Alaska and Colorado to allow recreational use. MPP organizers hope to replicate those efforts in five states next year, a potentially significant undertaking for the effort to end marijuana prohibition. [continues 1251 words]
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Advocacy groups have poured millions of dollars into legalizing both recreational and medical marijuana in states across the country. One of the most powerful and influential groups - Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project - was behind successful recreational measures in Alaska and Colorado, two of four states that now allow recreational use. Organizers hope to replicate those efforts in five other states during the 2016 elections, an undertaking they say will - if successful - prove significant for the effort to end marijuana prohibition. [continues 3106 words]
Spokesman: Marijuana Is 'Still Illegal Under Federal Law' SANTA FE - Medical marijuana is legal in New Mexico, but the federal Drug Enforcement Administration seized and destroyed numerous pot plants from a licensed dispensary in Santa Fe after a recent explosion burned two employees. The Santa Fe police asked the DEA to help investigate after the blast at the NewMexiCann Natural Medicine dispensary in Santa Fe on July 23. Two employees were seriously burned as they were using a process that involves soaking marijuana in butane and then using propane heat to extract THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, to produce concentrated hash oil. [continues 754 words]
So many good things have happened to Joseph Rivers lately that it's easy to forget that the good came from a bad experience in Albuquerque four months ago when Drug Enforcement Administration agents took his $16,000 and thus his dream without benefit of arrest or criminal charge. Which is not to say that the bad is completely over - because it isn't. Rivers, you may recall, is the young man from the Detroit suburbs who was headed west to Los Angeles to seek his fortune as a rapper and music video producer when the Amtrak train he was traveling in made a stop April 15 in Albuquerque and his $16,000 in cash, stored in an envelope in a blue suitcase, was seized by DEA agents who had a hunch - - but no search warrant, charging document or probable cause - that the cash was connected with criminal activity. [continues 729 words]
ALBANY, N. Y. (AP) - Tie-dyed they're not. Entrepreneurs, physicians and wellheeled investors are among those authorized by New York health officials to grow and dispense medical marijuana, the latest sign that the industry has come a long way from its humble beginnings 20 years ago. "You can't ignore that this is a billion-dollar industry," said Marc Ross, a New York City attorney who has studied the emergence of medical marijuana. "The big businesses are sitting on the sidelines now because they can't come out of the closet - not just yet anyway." [continues 624 words]
If current trends hold, it is likely that California will soon legalize marijuana for recreational use if not in 2016, then in the not-too-distant future. To prepare for this eventuality, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, chaired by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, was established in 2013 to analyze questions and policy issues arising from legalization. The commission released its final report last week, and the results are a mixed bag. The report details 58 strategies, goals and other recommendations, including focusing on education and treatment programs, limiting youth access and ensuring that smaller businesses have as much opportunity to enter the market as larger ones. [continues 314 words]
Regulations May Result From Enquiry SANTA FE - An explosion at a Santa Fe medical marijuana dispensary that severely burned two employees is being investigated by federal Drug Enforcement Administration and multiple city and state agencies. Nicholas Montoya, 29, and Aaron Smith, believed to be 28, were severely burned while using butane and propane in a process to extract THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, from cannabis around 4:40 p.m. on Thursday at NewMexiCann Natural Medicine, one of the state's licensed medical pot producers. A process using butane and boiling over heat is widely used to produce concentrated hash oil. [continues 608 words]
