2nd Former US Attorney Endorses Effort To Legalize Marijuana In Washington

 Posted by at 11:39 PM on November 12, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  2 Responses »
Nov 122011
 
2nd Former US Attorney Endorses Effort To Legalize Marijuana In Washington

A second former top federal prosecutor in Seattle has endorsed an effort to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use in Washington state. Kate Pflaumer served as U.S. attorney during President Bill Clinton’s administration. In a guest editorial in The Seattle Times on Saturday, she and two former judges endorsed a plan being pushed by a group called New Approach Washington. It calls for legalizing up to an ounce of marijuana, which would be sold and taxed at special stores. Pflaumer, former King County judge Robert Alsdorf and Seattle city [Continue Reading]

Republican Presidential Candidates: These People Need Drugs

 Posted by at 11:17 PM on November 11, 2011  Medical Marijuana Policy  1 Response »
Nov 112011
 
Republican Presidential Candidates: These People Need Drugs

by Ed Rosenthal I took a few hours from my extremely busy schedule of getting high, playing racquetball, and putting the final touches on a few new books Marijuana Pest & Disease Control and Medical Marijuana 101 (pre-order both now!) the other day to watch the bizarre shit show that was the Republican Presidential Debate on CNN. Oh sweet Jesus. Sometimes, I cannot believe that I live in the same fucking planet as these characters, much less the same country. Let’s quickly go one-by-one: MITT ROMNEY Did this guy walk [Continue Reading]

California Marijuana Possession Arrests Continue To Increase

 Posted by at 10:55 PM on November 11, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  No Responses »
Nov 112011
 
California Marijuana Possession Arrests Continue To Increase

by David Borden It turns out that New York City isn’t the only place where marijuana possession arrests have skyrocketed in recent decades. It’s also happened to The State of California. The SF Weekly reports on a new study to this effect, published by the Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice. I wanted to post a quote from the article by Mike Males, the researcher who authored the study: “The War on Drugs is not intended to solve the drug problem — it’s intended to maximize the harm drugs cause [Continue Reading]

Michigan Attorney General Rules Cops Can’t Return Confiscated Medical Marijuana

 Posted by at 1:33 PM on November 11, 2011  Medical Marijuana Policy  3 Responses »
Nov 112011
 
Michigan Attorney General Rules Cops Can't Return Confiscated Medical Marijuana

Michigan’s attorney general says law enforcement agencies that seize medical marijuana from licensed patients or caregivers don’t have to return the legal medicine when the patient or caregiver is released from custody. Attorney General Bill Schuette, a vocal critic of Michigan’s marijuana law, issued his opinion late Thursday. “By returning marijuana to a registered patient or caregiver, a law enforcement officer is exposing himself or herself to potential criminal and civil penalties under the (federal law) for the distribution of marijuana or for aiding or abetting the possession or distribution [Continue Reading]

Marijuana Legalization Gaining Momentum In Michigan

 Posted by at 9:56 PM on November 10, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  No Responses »
Nov 102011
 
Marijuana Legalization Gaining Momentum In Michigan

By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town Michigan is undergoing a groundswell of activism for a statewide vote on the legalization of marijuana, and voters could get a chance to have their say in November 2012. There’s a strong popular will toward reforming the cannabis laws statewide, according to Kalamazoo defense attorney Louis Stocking, who ran the petition drive for that city’s successful citywide vote Tuesday to make enforcing the marijuana laws the lowest priority of police, reports Paula M. Davis at the Kalamazoo Gazette. Following Michigan’s approval of [Continue Reading]

Study Shows Cannabis Safely Enhances The ‘Pain Relief’ Effects Of Opiates

 Posted by at 2:34 PM on November 10, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition, Marijuana Science, Medical Marijuana Policy  1 Response »
Nov 102011
 
Study Shows Cannabis Safely Enhances The 'Pain Relief' Effects Of Opiates

Cannabis administration significantly augments the analgesic effects of opiates in patients with chronic pain, according to clinical trial data published online in the journal Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. Investigators at the University of California, San Francisco assessed the use of vaporized cannabis over a five-day period in 21 chronic pain subjects who were on a regimen of twice-daily doses morphine or oxycodone. Participants in the trial inhaled cannabis vapor on the evening of day 1 of the study, three times a day on days 2 through 4, and in the [Continue Reading]

Kalamazoo And Tacoma ‘De-Prioritize’ Marijuana Possession

 Posted by at 8:30 AM on November 10, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  1 Response »
Nov 102011
 
Kalamazoo And Tacoma 'De-Prioritize' Marijuana Possession

by Karen O’Keefe Voters in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Tacoma, Washington directed local law enforcement to make marijuana possession the lowest enforcement priority. The measures passed by 2:1 margins, garnering nearly 65% of the vote in Tacoma and 66% in Kalamazoo. With only 61-66% of homicide cases in this country cleared every year, and only 12% of burglaries cleared, it’s not surprising that voters think police should have more important things to do than arresting individuals who possess a substance safer than alcohol. While crimes with actual victims went unsolved, police [Continue Reading]

California Medical Marijuana Industry Comes To Reality TV

 Posted by at 8:10 AM on November 10, 2011  Medical Marijuana Policy  No Responses »
Nov 102011
 
California Medical Marijuana Industry Comes To Reality TV

by Scott Morgan This is going to put a very big exclamation point on Harborside Health Center’s reputation as the biggest and best dispensary in the medical marijuana business. Reality TV might seem an unlikely backdrop for the political debate over marijuana in America, but increased interest in the issue makes anything and everything possible, and perhaps inevitable. Unless you think no one will tune in to see big bags of glowing green ganja flashing across the screen, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that this show is [Continue Reading]

Cannabis Health Benefits Justify Legalization, Not Prohibition

 Posted by at 10:11 PM on November 9, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  3 Responses »
Nov 092011
 
Cannabis Health Benefits Justify Legalization, Not Prohibition

by Paul Armentano In July 2011, the Obama Administration rebuffed an administrative petition filed by a coalition of public interest organizations, including NORML, which sought to reassess cannabis’ Schedule I status under federal law. Yet little if any scientific basis exists to justify the federal government’s present prohibitive stance, and there is ample scientific and empirical evidence to rebut it. This evidence includes safety data substantiated over thousands of years of human use as well as the conclusions of hundreds of modern preclinical and clinical trials. In recent years, scientists [Continue Reading]

Supreme Court To Decide Whether Cops Can Track You With GPS

 Posted by at 7:46 PM on November 8, 2011  Ending Marijuana Prohibition  2 Responses »
Nov 082011
 
Supreme Court To Decide Whether Cops Can Track You With GPS

By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town The United States Supreme Court will decide whether law enforcement should have obtained a search warrant before placing a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device on the car of a Washington, D.C., man who was suspected of dealing drugs, so they could covertly track his movements. The justices on Tuesday heard oral arguments in an appeal from the Obama Administration, which wants the power to track suspects’ movements without getting a warrant, reports Bill Mears at CNN. A majority of the justices [Continue Reading]

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