Medical Marijuana Panel Leaders Set Meeting With AG on Minority Dispensers Leaders of the state's medical marijuana commission are meeting with Attorney General Brian E. Frosh next week to figure out how to achieve more racial diversity when the panel awards licenses to companies to dispense the drug. The Medical Cannabis Commission has come under scrutiny because most of the 30 companies to which it has awarded preliminary licenses to grow or process marijuana are led by white men. None of the companies that won lucrative licenses in the state's fledgling industry are led by African-Americans. About a third of the state's population is African-American. [continues 488 words]
No Black Businesses Received Licenses to Grow Medical Marijuana Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) have joined black state lawmakers in expressing dismay about the lack of diversity in Maryland's burgeoning medical-marijuana industry. At the same time, the head of the legislative black caucus is calling for legislation to ban elected officials from taking jobs in the industry. Del. Cheryl D. Glenn (D-Baltimore), who was instrumental in passing the bill that legalized medical marijuana, said she's angry that another leader in that effort later joined a company seeking a license to grow, process and sell the drug, without publicly making clear his dual roles. [continues 752 words]
The latest casualty in the administration's "war" against drugs is tiny Danica May Garcia, all of five years old. Danica May, young Rowena Tiamson, 22; Jefferson Buhain, 20; Roman Clifford Manaois, 20, have all paid the ultimate price for an illegal drug trade that was allowed to prosper unabated by previous administrations. These innocents have been categorized as "collateral damage." To dehumanize them so in the effort to play down the accountability of those responsible is really to watch them die twice. [continues 1000 words]
Black Lawmakers Say Cannabis Licensees Lack Racial Diversity The head of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland is asking the governor to intervene in the awarding of medical cannabis licenses because the selected companies lack diversity, denying minorities the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an emerging industry. "I am completely disappointed with the medical marijuana commission and the decision that they have made in terms of awarding licenses," said Del. Cheryl D. Glenn, chairwoman of the black caucus. "Clearly, there was no effort at all to factor in minority participation and make sure that it's inclusive of everybody in the state of Maryland." [continues 1240 words]
State among several to allow treatment not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. But Pennsylvania enacted a law in April that lists 17 conditions for which doctors can prescribe marijuana, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, posttraumatic stress disorder, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson's, Crohn's and Huntington's diseases. [continues 1090 words]
Health-care specialists in Pennsylvania prescribe the drug despite the federal government's reluctance to approve it as safe and effective for treating illness. Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. ELLEN F. O'CONNELL/Staff Photographer The van Hoekelen Greenhouses Inc. facility is located on Lofty Road in Kline Township. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. [continues 1378 words]
African-Americans Ticketed, Arrested for Pot Offenses in Chicago Far More Than Any Racial Group Four years after the Chicago City Council decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana, African-American neighborhoods continue to bear the brunt of enforcement, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found. As anticipated, the Chicago Police Department is making a fraction of the arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession it made in 2011 - the last full year before cops were given the option of ticketing, rather than locking up, people caught with about half an ounce or less. [continues 1364 words]
The Aug. 16 editorial "Don't reclassify marijuana yet - research it" would have benefited from more research itself. The Drug Enforcement Administration's refusal to reschedule cannabis has nothing to do with health, for if it cared about safety, it would need look no further than itself. You're more likely to be shot by a DEA agent than you are to die from an overdose of pot because the latter has never happened. The burden of proof has unjustly fallen on legalization advocates; initially convicted by racism and xenophobia, cannabis has been proclaimed guilty until proved innocent. [continues 63 words]
Critics Say MD. Diversity Isn't Reflected; Decisions May Be Challenged Maryland set up its legal medical marijuana industry with hopes of racial diversity and equity in the division of profits, but not one of the 15 companies that were cleared this week for potentially lucrative growing licenses is led by African Americans. Some lawmakers and prospective minority-owned businesses say this is unacceptable in a state where nearly a third of the population is black, the most of any state with a comprehensive legal pot industry. They say the lack of diversity is emblematic of how, across the country, African Americans are disproportionately locked up when marijuana use is criminalized but are shut out of the profits when drug sales are legalized. [continues 1046 words]
Much has changed in the cannabis world since Russ Feingold lost to Ron Johnson in 2010. Then, about 15 states had legalized medical cannabis, a number now at 25. Today, four states and Washington, D.C., have legalized adult use. This November, at least three more will vote on medical, and five more will vote on adult use. Feingold's record has been thin. While cannabis activists extensively advocated for his support, he never sponsored any bills. The federal CARERS Act would make it easier for researchers to study marijuana. It is sponsored by U.S. Sens. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and has 19 cosponsors including U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison. [continues 88 words]
Tracing marijuana's journey from menace to medicine 1922 - Famous Five member Emily Murphy, who helmed the battle to have women declared "persons" in Canada, publishes The Black Candle, an anti-drug (and unabashedly racist) manifesto that raises alarm over "a new menace" in the world of drugs: Marijuana. The book calls marijuana "a weed of madness" and suggests only three ways of escape from its addictive clutches - insanity, death or abandonment. 1923 - Cannabis is added to the restricted list under Canada's Narcotics Drug Act after a vague reference to a "new drug" is mentioned during a late-night session in the House of Commons. It, along with codeine, is added with no debate. Historians believe the influence of Murphy's book was one of the primary reasons for its addition. [continues 503 words]
After the Star's Kevin Donovan first saw the video of Rob Ford smoking crack, he assumed the scandal would resolve itself quickly Driving through darkened streets back to my house south of Ford Nation in May 2013, my mind raced with the impact of what I had just seen. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack and making some pretty nasty, though mainly incoherent, statements. Pulling into my driveway, I grabbed the hastily scratched notes made hours before when colleague Robyn Doolittle and I viewed the shaky video on an iPhone in a parked car. [continues 995 words]
ATLANTA - Twenty years after a federal law blocked people with felony drug convictions from receiving welfare or food stamps, more states are loosening those restrictions - or waiving them entirely. In April, Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, signed a criminal justice reform bill that lifted the ban on food stamps for drug felons in Georgia. Alaska followed suit in July, although applicants must prove they are complying with parole and are in treatment for substance abuse. And in Delaware, a bill to lift cash assistance restrictions for drug felons passed out of committee in June. The legislative session ended before the bill could be put to a vote. [continues 1261 words]
On a Sunday morning in late July, in a small town in southwest Alabama, Barbara Moore Knight gave her fellow church members news that brought spontaneous applause and murmurs of "Amen!" She told them that her son, James LaRon Knight, was among the drug felons whose sentences had been commuted by President Barack Obama the week before. In 2004, Knight was convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine. Although the crime was nonviolent, he was sentenced to more than 24 years in a federal prison. The sentence was a travesty, an unduly harsh punishment for a family man never accused of running a substantial criminal enterprise. [continues 535 words]
TORONTO - Three years after sparking a firestorm of controversy, a notorious video featuring Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine was made public on Thursday, a move that angered the late Toronto mayor's family and drew mixed reactions from the public. The so-called "crack video" was released after the conclusion of a court case involving Ford's friend and driver Alexander (Sandro) Lisi, who faced an extortion charge related to efforts made to retrieve the clip. Some people called publishing the video "tasteless" and shameful, while others said they respected that media outlets were simply doing their job. A further few said the video of the controversial politician, who died on March 22, 2016 from a rare form of cancer at age 46, was simply "sad." [continues 578 words]
Washington - As a college student in Virginia, Corey Jacobs started selling drugs with the help of a group of friends to make some extra money. A Bronx native, Mr. Jacobs was no kingpin, and no aspect of their drug conspiracy involved violence. Now age 46, Mr. Jacobs has served 16 years of a sentence of life without parole in the federal system. No question, Corey Jacobs should have gone to prison for his felony. But does he deserve to die there? [continues 1176 words]
How did MJ get on same schedule as heroin? For nearly a century officials have touted the dangers of marijuana. Many of us can dip into the memory banks to find attempts of officers visiting our classrooms to enlighten us on how drugs would ruin our lives. The common narrative was that we'd get arrested and go to jail as they conveniently overlooked the fact that the only danger came from the legal system rather than the plant itself. Predictably and perhaps ironically, the DARE program didn't deter as many young minds from experimenting with marijuana as it intended. According to a Pew Research poll, nearly half of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. [continues 547 words]
Every week in the world of cannabis there are timely happenings - new legislation, new businesses, new dimensions of social justice implications - but there are also more lasting phenomenons, subtly evolving undercurrents to the headlines of the ongoing narrative. One of which is the way social media spaces both accommodate and deny cannabis consumers and businesses. Currently Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram all have bans on cannabis-related advertising. This represents a change in policy that, as little as two years ago, took a much harder stance against cannabis in general and frequently blacked out accounts for merely associating with the plant. [continues 659 words]
As our country mourns the deaths of eight police officers and a series of African-Americans killed during encounters with police, the question we all ask is, how can we stem this horror? One way would be to end the war against nonviolent drug users. More than 1.2 million Americans are arrested every year for simply possessing an illicit substance. It is widely recognized that the war disproportionately punishes African-Americans and is responsible for millions of confrontational interactions between law enforcement and blacks. Many of these anger-producing and potentially violent contacts would not take place without the drug war. [continues 653 words]
The latest marijuana legalization polls are out, and they contain bad news and good news. First, the bad news. Recent polls in both Massachusetts and Arizona - two of the five states that will be voting on legalizing recreational marijuana this November - show the initiatives losing. In Massachusetts, a poll conducted by Gravis Marketing found that 51 percent of those surveyed planned to vote against the legalization initiative, while 41 percent planned to vote for it. In Arizona, a poll conducted by OH Predictive Insights, found the initiative losing 52.5 percent to 39.1 percent. [continues 680 words]
