The board tasked with writing rules for Alaska's recreational marijuana industry voted Friday to allow people to use pot at certain stores that will sell it, a first among the four states that have legalized the drug. The 3-2 vote by the Marijuana Control Board also changed the definition of the term "in public" to allow for consumption at some pot shops, none of which are open yet. Colorado, Washington and Oregon have legalized recreational marijuana but ban its public use, including in pot stores. [continues 320 words]
There might be no better example of the malevolent power of money in politics than the marijuana pro-legalization movement. Funded by billionaires who get their way by spending so heavily they drown out other voices, it wields the sort of unfair influence Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was speaking of on "Face the Nation" when he said, "The power of money over the political process is horrendous." However, Sanders said that in September and now supports the legalization of marijuana, which means he's siding with one of the moneyed interests he excoriates. [continues 389 words]
November is epilepsy awareness month and that is cause for celebration in the cannabis world because cannabis has been shown to be a safe, effective and far less toxic treatment option when compared to the usual allopathic anticonvulsants. This is accomplished through the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties found in the cannabinoids and terpenoids that are the major active components. These compounds help to turn down the music for many who suffer from epileptic conditions. With cannabis they are able to live fuller lives, without their development being interfered with by pills. [continues 477 words]
THOSE SEEKING to participate in Oregon's recreational (AKA adult-use) cannabis industry are feverishly preparing license applications for January 4, 2016. Meanwhile, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) on October 22 released rules for those who wish to grow, process, and sell adult-use cannabis in 2016: 78 pages of government-crafted regulations, covering a wide range of details, and-surprise-very few people are happy. (Note: Barring a late start by Phish, I've never seen so many weed smokers so grumpy. Can't any of the world-class growers in this state create an "OLCC Kush" to deal with the effects of working with this agency?) [continues 406 words]
Canada was recently ranked the freest country in the world, but newly installed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn't about to let it rest on its maple leaves. He won the October national elections after proposing something no major American presidential nominee has ever dared to endorse: legalizing marijuana. His Liberal Party argued that because of the current ban, "proceeds from the illegal drug trade support organized crime and greater threats to public safety, like human trafficking and hard drugs." Its platform called for legalizing, regulating and taxing cannabis. [continues 637 words]
At Least Four Groups Are Now Pursuing Future Ballot Initiatives. COLUMBUS - The good ole-fashioned butt-kicking Ohio voters delivered to ResponsibleOhio Tuesday won't scare off pro-pot forces from trying again. No less than four marijuana groups are talking about or circulating petitions to get on the statewide ballot, some as early as next year. Even ResponsibleOhio vows to return with another proposal to present to voters. Jacob Wagner of LegalizeOhio2016, one of the four groups, said the defeat of Issue 3 cleared the decks for a cleaner, less controversial marijuana legalization plan. [continues 1363 words]
Monday's long-awaited announcement that billionaire angel investor Sean Parker is backing a marijuana legalization effort was welcome news. It was also doubly misleading. First, as of press time, Parker is not backing the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), the legalization initiative unveiled this week by an environmental attorney and the former head of the California Medical Association. Despite headlines to the contrary in the Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, and elsewhere, Parker isn't putting money behind AUMA - at least not yet. [continues 823 words]
The sheer size of Tuesday's crushing electoral defeat of marijuana legalization in the Buckeye State surprised political experts inside and out of Ohio. Despite a $20 million campaign, Issue 3 lost. Amid its smoking wreckage, six reasons emerge to explain what happened to Issue 3 - and what happens next. The business plan. "Boy, that word monopoly. It's been an ugly word in politics since Theodore Roosevelt's day," political scientist David Niven at the University of Cincinnati said Tuesday night. Issue 3 was unique in the history of the modern legalization movement in that it would have written into the Ohio Constitution provisions to limit the cultivation of the state's crop to 10 already-chosen properties. Issue 3's backers said the plan's advantage would have been to allow the state to tightly regulate marijuana at the grow source. The technical term for such an economic model is oligopoly. But the term "monopoly" got slapped on Issue 3 from the outset, and Issue 3 backers could never run it down. [continues 640 words]
Former State Public Health Official Will Head Ballot Effort Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom Says Measure Is in Line With His Views Doctors' Group Backs Legalization; Will Evaluate Measure Donald Lyman, a retired physician and former board member at the California Medical Association, said Monday he will lead a well-funded statewide effort to legalize recreational marijuana next year. Lyman, of Sacramento, is the chief proponent for the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, the long-awaited legalization measure introduced Monday that's expected to receive funding from former Facebook president Sean Parker and be guided by veteran Democratic political consultant Gale Kaufman. [continues 855 words]
Former Facebook President Plans to Spend Millions on Legalization Effort. SACRAMENTO - A coalition that includes former Facebook President Sean Parker on Monday proposed an initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California and place a 15% tax on retail sales of the drug. Parker, a billionaire who also co-founded the file-sharing service Napster, plans to put millions of dollars behind the proposal, intended for the November 2016 ballot, according to those in the coalition. "It's very encouraging to see a vibrant community of activists ... coming together around a sensible reform-based measure that protects children, gives law enforcement additional resources and establishes a strong regulatory framework for responsible adult use of marijuana - - one that will yield economic benefits for all Californians," Parker said in a statement. [continues 256 words]
San Francisco - The push to make California one of the states where marijuana can be sold to and legally used by adults for recreation took a major step forward on Monday as ballot language backed by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, other wealthy entrepreneurs who support pot legalization and leading advocacy groups was filed with the state. The proposed legalization initiative is one of more than a dozen that has been submitted in California for the November 2016 election. Because of the deep pockets and political connections, observers think the Adult Use of Marijuana Act is the vehicle with the greatest chance of success. [continues 77 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The push to put California among the states where marijuana can be sold to and legally used by adults for recreation took a major step forward on Monday as ballot language backed by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, other wealthy entrepreneurs who support pot legalization and leading advocacy groups was filed with the state. The proposed legalization initiative is one of more than a dozen that has been submitted in California for the November 2016 election. Because of the deep pockets, political connections and professional credibility of its supporters, however, observers think the so-called Adult Use of Marijuana Act is the vehicle with the greatest chance of success. [continues 324 words]
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As a member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, a collector of antique marijuana apothecary jars, the founder of an industrial hemp business and "a pot smoker consistently for 47 years," Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio lawyer, has fought for decades to make marijuana legal, calling it "my life's work." But when Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday to consider a constitutional amendment to allow marijuana for both medical and personal use, Mr. Wirtshafter will vote against it. [continues 1193 words]
COLUMBUS, Ohio - As a member of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, a collector of antique marijuana apothecary jars, the founder of an industrial hemp business and "a pot smoker consistently for 47 years," Don Wirtshafter, an Ohio lawyer, has fought for decades to make marijuana legal, calling it "my life's work." But when Ohio voters go to the polls Tuesday to consider a constitutional amendment to allow marijuana for both medical and personal use, Wirtshafter will vote against it. Issue 3, as the proposed amendment is known, is bankrolled by wealthy investors spending nearly $25 million to put it on the ballot and sell it to voters. If it passes, they would have exclusive rights to growing commercial marijuana in Ohio. [continues 1049 words]
WASHINGTON - As U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign goes to pot, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stands to roll up some of his supporters - marijuana advocates and weed purveyors. Sanders, the first presidential candidate to support marijuana legalization, got a bump from the nation's largest pot advocacy group yesterday. The Marijuana Policy Project boosted Sanders' voter guide report card score from a "B" to an "A" after the Democratic Socialist said he'd vote for Nevada's pot legalization initiative if he lived in the state. [continues 334 words]
Big donors, led by former Facebook president Sean Parker, are lining up to fund a 2016 California initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use. But behind the scenes, legalization efforts are splitting California marijuana advocates with national drug-policy groups over such things as including initiative language to protect marijuana users from job discrimination or over how tightly to restrict pot cultivation or cannabis industry operations. With billionaires now readying to fund legalization efforts, some cannabis activists fear they will be left on the sidelines on an issue they pioneered and elevated to political relevance. [continues 1376 words]
For years, the biggest risk in the cannabis industry - and the one scaring away the biggest investors - was the federal Justice Department. As U.S. attorneys and DEA agents have demonstrated, medical marijuana operations can follow state law to the letter only to lose everything when federal law enforcement decides to get involved. This is what shut down a third of San Francisco's licensed and permitted medical marijuana dispensaries during the 2011-2012 crackdown. That risk appears to be over now. On Monday, a federal judge ruled that recent actions in Congress bar the Justice Department from interfering with a state-legal marijuana enterprise - a stunning rebuke for federal drug cops, and a game-changing victory for legal weed. [continues 752 words]
Support for cannabis legalization is at record highs in the U.S. according to Gallup poll, while new research shows marijuana use has doubled among U.S. adults in past decade A record number of Americans think marijuana use should be legal, according to a new poll released Wednesday by international pollster Gallup. And government surveys published Wednesday offered further indications that marijuana is moving into the mainstream nationally, nearly three years after Colorado voters legalized recreational pot. Marijuana use among U.S. adults doubled over the past decade, rising to more than 22 million mostly recreational users, the surveys show. [continues 619 words]
WASHINGTON - In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." The ruling could have a broad impact on the DEA's ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward. At issue is the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment to last year's government spending bill. The amendment, co-sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, lists the states that have medical marijuana laws and mandates that the Justice Department is barred from using federal funds to "prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." Pretty straightforward, right? [continues 533 words]
Political Operatives Help Perplexed Lawmakers Understand Changes in Attitudes About Legalization. WASHINGTON - After all the avoidance, the awkwardness and the blunders, it was obvious that help was needed: Someone had to explain to these people how to talk about drugs. Evan Vucci Few conversations flummox members of Congress more than the one over legalizing marijuana. As public opinion rapidly shifts, lawmakers have ducked, dodged and bobbed. The prevailing Capitol Hill mindset is that pot is a political loser. The country is divided, the thinking goes, and the safe path is to sidestep the minefield. [continues 1021 words]
