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]
What kind of pot should I smoke if I want to be social at a party? - -Wanda Wallflower Good question. Different kinds of weed can definitely make you feel a certain way. Most indicas will give you the quiet introverted couch lock in a hurry. I have definitely killed a party or two with a fat indica joint (usually the Granddaddy Purple). Also, be careful with concentrates and hashes. More than one person has dabbed into oblivion and sat in a corner at the party, staring into space and thinking their own thoughts. [continues 399 words]
This week Boston City Council President Michelle Wu suggested it ought to be legal for individuals to purchase and consume pot. But if Wu has her way it would be unacceptable for them to take their goodies home from the pot store in a plastic shopping bag. Yes, in the same week that Wu and Councilor Tito Jackson announced their support for a November ballot question that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, Wu ordered a study into how Boston might reduce the use of plastic shopping bags - including the possibility of an outright ban. [continues 262 words]
Boston City Council President Michelle Wu and Councilor Tito Jackson will formally endorse the state ballot push to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The move, to be announced at a State House event Wednesday morning, puts them directly at odds with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who is helping to lead the charge against the referendum. A 2007 graduate of Harvard College, Wu said she never used the drug but recalled some classmates did during their years in Cambridge. "It just seems ridiculous that kids at Harvard can smoke pot and have incredibly successful careers while blacks and Latinos, particularly men and boys, who are using the same substance are sent to jail," she said, voice rising. [continues 757 words]
Where there's money, novelty and potential fame, people want in. For some, though, actually getting into Colorado's burgeoning cannabis industry is more difficult than for others. Take the experience of Taneesha Melvin, a 28-year-old Colorado Springs native. This spring, she says, she left her job at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in search of new employment. As a medical marijuana patient herself, Melvin figured her knowledge of strains, experience volunteering at a local dab lounge and service background positioned her well to be a budtender at one of the city's 133 dispensaries. So she dropped $150 on a background check and other licensing fees and set out on the job hunt. [continues 628 words]
Coalition Will Use Big Portion of $2 Million to Target California's Ballot Measure to Legalize Cannabis. SACRAMENTO - Facing well-financed campaigns to legalize recreational pot, a national coalition that includes former Rep. Patrick Kennedy has raised more than $2 million to fight initiatives in five states this year, including a November ballot measure in California. The money is being put up by the political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an anti-legalization group founded by Kennedy; David Frum, a senior editor of the Atlantic; and Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy advisor to the Obama administration. [continues 574 words]
Sizing up the legal use of marijuana I recently completed a C.M.A. survey on the legalization of cannabis (marijuana) for recreational use. I would like to share my responses with you. It's hard to argue against the responsible use of a plant product, which has been around for thousands of years and has been used as a social and personal lubricant since time immemorial. Mankind has always sought respite from the stresses of daily life through chemicals, and often we have turned to psychoactive plants. Relief has included meditation, exercise, religion, collegial organizations, psychotherapy, and illicit psychoactive drugs such as cocaine, heroin and LSD, licit drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, as well as the consumption of fine foods. [continues 387 words]
It is not an opiate problem. Neither is it a cannabis, meth, tobacco, alcohol, nor addiction problem. It is a prohibition problem. We slog ahead, making steady progress on tobacco, milder progress on alcohol. Progress is possible because these substances are not treated as criminal. Imagine the attendance at AA meetings if alcohol were criminal. Legalize it all. Provide truthful education and treatment on demand. It would be far less expensive in both dollars and blood. The drug prohibition is a hangover from our racist past and should be cast off for its immoral roots and proven futility. - - Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch [end]
Oakland's new medical cannabis laws, intended to right the perceived wrongs of the U.S. war on drugs, are the focus of a fierce political fight at City Hall. Although the City Council voted unanimously to approve the laws in May - creating a permit system that will bring Oakland in line with new requirements for regulating the state's multibillion-dollar cannabis industry - several council members say the system they created is not a done deal. The main sticking point is a provision that reserves half the city's medical cannabis permits for residents who were jailed on marijuana convictions in Oakland within the past decade, or who have lived for at least two years within six police beats in East Oakland where pot arrests were concentrated in 2013. To obtain one of these "equity permits," an applicant must own at least a 50 percent stake in the proposed business. [continues 1026 words]
(AP) - Apparently unconstitutional portions of Ohio's medical marijuana law, which set aside a percentage of the state's pot licenses for minorities, were spotted during legislative debate but left in the bill to gain needed votes, a key lawmaker says. State Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said legally prickly provisions exposed by The Associated Press in June may require changes. The law takes effect Sept. 8, at which point a new panel will begin laying out a blueprint for how the new industry will work. [continues 254 words]
The Bay Area's major cities, including San Francisco and Oakland, are rewriting their medical cannabis laws in response to state legislation passed last fall. The rewrites - and the headaches they've brought - are a warm-up for what might happen if California voters chose to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults in November. There are many new aspects to the state medical marijuana regulations, and state agencies will issue further guidelines for cities by January. In the meantime, cities are left to balance a wide range of competing concerns around medical marijuana - from racial equity measures to neighborhood zoning complaints. [continues 363 words]
