What is really at stake if British Columbia follows Washington State and Colorado and successfully legalizes marijuana? Money, of course, that other green substance. Let's start with the estimated value of the illicit pot growing industry here in B.C. It's often claimed to be between $6 billion to $8 billion, a fairly rough estimate given that none of the principals are filling out any corporate tax forms or quarterly earning reports. Even if it's lower than the estimates, it's a huge industry. By contrast, in 2011 the entire forest industry had a value of just under $10 billion. [continues 534 words]
UBC and SFU researchers find decriminalization would reduce organized crime and lower the rate of cannabis use Legalizing marijuana in B. C. could generate $ 2.5 billion in government tax and licensing revenues over the next five years, according to a study published this month in the International Journal of Drug Policy. The information comes after Washington state and Colorado passed measures two weeks ago approving the legalization of marijuana for adult use under a strictly regulated system. The study - conducted by a coalition of University of B. C. and Simon Fraser University researchers - used surveillance data from the Centre for Addictions Research to estimate the annual value of the B. C. retail cannabis market at between $ 443 million and $ 564 million. [continues 285 words]
"It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country." - Justice Louis D. Brandeis (in dissent), New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann 285 U.S. 262 (1932). By approving Amendment 64 on Nov. 6, Colorado voters did what generations of craven elected officials, from city councilors to district attorneys to state legislators to governors to congressmen to every president since 1970, have been afraid to do. They challenged the lunatic might of the national drug-control bureaucracy. [continues 604 words]
Re: "Pot is no laughing matter - Our children are being targeted by drug dealers, says Lisa M. Virgoe," Saturday Viewpoints. "Whether or not you think the 'war on drugs' is working, wrongheaded or a spectacular failure is immaterial." Such a statement could only be made by someone who really does not care or who is totally unaware of the damage being done. Our laws should reflect the truth. The truth is that marijuana is much less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Of these three "recreational drugs," how many people die from each one every day? [continues 102 words]
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, both the states of Colorado and Washington passed ballots legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, raising interest from advocates about the possible impact of the decision here in British Columbia. Some 55 per cent of voters in Washington approved Initiative 502, legalizing the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by anyone over the age of 21. The question of legalization of marijuana has been a longstanding dispute in our own province, and this change in policy down south has strengthened the cry for similar action here in Canada. [continues 627 words]
The arguments claiming that decriminalizing marijuana will end the influence of Mexican drug cartels and bring in billions of dollars in tax revenue are incessantly echoed in America - and both were strategically used this year to successfully convince voters to legalize the drug in Washington and Colorado. Students, especially, have been quick to embrace these arguments and are at the forefront of the movement to end the prohibition of marijuana. Young adults ages 18 to 29 are twice as likely to favor legalization than adults over 60, according to a 2011 Gallup poll. [continues 582 words]
BOGOTA , NOV 18 - Many Latin American countries have made impressive gains in building state capacity and strengthening democracy in recent decades. And yet criminal networks - entrenched relationships between legal and illegal agents engaged in organized criminal activities - continue to play a large role in these countries' formal and informal economies and political institutions, rending the social fabric and threatening further progress. Criminal networks distort the most important sources of change: globalization, technology, open markets, regional cooperation, and democracy. In a context of weak institutions, persistent inequalities, and high levels of marginalization and exclusion, new growth opportunities for organized crime have emerged. [continues 715 words]
MWISD developing testing policy for students in extracurricular activities Mineral Wells ISD trustees gave the district's School Health Advisory Committee the green light to further develop a student drug testing policy to potentially implement in the next school year. Lead Nurse and SHAC Chair Wanda Voelcker informed trustees that committee members visited with the police chief and drug task force and believe that adopting a policy to randomly test students involved in extracurricular activities might help deter some students from using drugs. [continues 471 words]
The new laws to legalize, regulate and tax the weed are expected to save or generate multiple millions of dollars for these states. I'm going to make a bold prediction. America's War on Drugs is now officially over. Oh, no one in Washington is going to make any sort of announcement to confirm this, but take it from me - our four-decades-old drug war strategy is now formally kaput. To be entirely honest, it has been sputtering along for years now, accomplishing little and costing us upward of a trillion dollars. [continues 855 words]
What is really at stake if B.C. follows Washington State and Colorado and successfully legalizes marijuana? Money, of course, that other green substance. Let's start with the estimated value of the illicit pot growing industry here in B.C. It's often claimed to be between $6 to $8 billion, a fairly rough estimate given that none of the principals are filling out any corporate tax forms or quarterly earning reports. Even if it's lower than the estimates, it's a huge industry. By contrast, in 2011 the entire forest industry had a value of just under $10 billion. [continues 534 words]
Voter Change in Wash., Colo. Raises Issue Here Local law enforcement authorities believe the recent decision by voters in Washington and Colorado to legalize recreational use of marijuana is a big mistake that will only lead to more problems. They hope the drug never becomes legal in Pennsylvania. "I can see using marijuana for medical purposes if it's controlled," said Shamokin Police Chief Edward Griffiths. "But to me, that's the only potential benefit." He wonders where it stops. What's the next drug that's made legal? [continues 606 words]
A majority of Tri-City voters opposed legalizing marijuana, but come Dec. 6 they'll be able to light a joint and have up to an ounce of pot in their pockets. Exactly how they'll get the drugs, however, is one of many questions state and local officials are trying answer. Initiative 502, which was passed by 56 percent of statewide voters, makes it legal for adults 21 and older to have an ounce of useable marijuana, 16 ounces of a marijuana infused product in solid form and 72 ounces of a marijuana infused product in liquid form. [continues 1133 words]
To the editor: In January of this year, I quit smoking marijuana and became a regular spice user. I did this so I could pass urinalysis to gain meaningful employment. I also did this because marijuana is illegal, and I wanted to be a better example for my kids. I'm now in treatment at the Ralph Perdue center. Spice is a shredded plant substance that is smoked. That is where the similarities to marijuana stop. The high from spice is not the same as marijuana. Spice is 66-800 times stronger than marijuana, depending on the brand, and the high is much shorter in duration. Side effects include blurred vision, cardiac arrest, deadly swelling of the brain, deterioration of motor skills, elevated blood pressure and heart rate, heart palpitations, increased agitation, pale skin, paranoia, respiratory infection, seizures and vomiting. [continues 223 words]
The new mandatory minimum sentences will do the opposite of what Stephen Harper says is the intention (Worries Grow Over Stiffer Drug Sentences - Nov. 13). In the U.S., where I am incarcerated for five years for selling seeds from my desk in Vancouver, hundreds of prisoners have been sentenced to 20 years to life without parole for drugs. A man in my unit was sentenced to life without parole for 99 grams of crack cocaine. It's costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars to imprison him for 40 to 60 years. Yet, others will fight over the area where he used to sell crack. [continues 132 words]
More than 40 years ago, the federal government launched a war on drugs. Over the past decade, the nation has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting that war, a figure that does not even include the high costs of prosecuting and jailing drug law offenders. It's hard to put a price on that aspect of the drug war since half of all inmates in federal prison today were busted for drugs. Despite the enormous expense and growth of the prison population, only 7 percent of American adults now think the United States is winning the War on Drugs. Some 82 percent disagree. The latest statistics on drug usage support that conclusion. [continues 365 words]
What is really at stake if B.C. follows Washington State and Colorado and successfully legalizes marijuana? Money, of course, that other green substance. Let's start with the estimated value of the illicit pot growing industry here in B.C. It's often claimed to be between $6-$8 billion, a fairly rough estimate given that none of the principals are filling out any corporate tax forms or quarterly earning reports. Even if it's lower than the estimates, it's a huge industry. By contrast, in 2011 the entire forest industry had a value of just under $10 billion. [continues 534 words]
What's that smell? That acrid, smoky smell? Almost like skunk, but not quite. A bit sweeter. Sort of like the neighbour is burning his grass clippings. Aha! That's it! Burning grass! I smell burning grass. It's wafting up into B.C. from across the border in Washington State, I think. But it's not grass "clippings." It's "grass." It's dried green bits of vegetative matter rolled up in little bits of paper and bringing an air of lassitude-along with adding that distinct odour to the air-to our neighbours to the south. [continues 496 words]
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws was founded in 1970. Mike Meacham is the executive director of the Northern Nevada NORML. For more information, visit http://norml.org/nv/ item/northern-nevada-norml. NORML is an organization that works to provide information to the public about marijuana and its current laws. We also work to reform laws to make them more citizen friendly. NORML stands for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law, and that's what we work to we do. ... There's all kinds of propaganda about how marijuana makes you go crazy. As it is now, it's classified as a class-one felony, which puts it up there with cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. ... It doesn't makes sense to be classified with those drugs. You can't overdose on it. You can't really hurt yourself on it. The worst side effects are hunger and laziness, things that don't really affect anybody but the user. You don't see anybody wanting to get in a fight on marijuana. You don't see people having ill will just because they've smoked. .. It should've been legal years and years ago. Actually, it was. Right now, what's going on is exactly the same as what happened with alcohol. Alcohol went through a period of prohibition, and was still used widely in the underground. Same thing is happening now. People have been using marijuana in the underground for years and years, and it's starting to become mainstream because all the propaganda is becoming dissolved. [continues 294 words]
Marijuana cigarettes should be available for purchase at every corner store, gas station, grocery store and pharmacy in the province. Following the returns from the US election last week, I had a bit of a keen eye on Initiative 502 in Washington State which would legalize the sale of marijuana. When it passed, my first thought was, "finally, somebody got it right". The Initiative allows adults to carry one ounce of useable marijuana and 16-ounces of marijuana-infused product; outlines regulations for marijuana growth and sales; creates a 25 per cent tax on the sale of marijuana; and charges a $250 initial fee with a $1,000 annual renewal fee. [continues 358 words]
