A Pennsylvania legislator introduced a bill Monday that would give medical marijuana patients a chance of expunging a conviction of marijuana possession if the charge resulted from their use of cannabis for medical purposes. The bill is sponsored by State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery), and does not have any support yet from Republicans who control the legislature. To be expunged, patients would have to prove they had a doctor's diagnosis for one of the 21 approved serious health conditions at the time of the conviction. The patient would also have to provide evidence they were using cannabis to treat the condition. [continues 106 words]
When the state Senate in New Mexico this week considered a measure that would have asked voters whether to legalize marijuana, the debate inevitably became as much about Colorado as the lawmakers' home state. When making his case against the measure, Sen. William Sharer, a Republican from Farmington, pointed to Denver, where he said crime has increased since retail marijuana stores opened in the city in 2014. The measure ultimately failed, 24-17. Marijuana policy experts and Colorado officials urge caution when trying to grade legalization's impacts - which are the subject of debate all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where this week justices are scheduled to discuss a lawsuit over pot filed against Colorado by two neighboring states. But there is one thing that legalization supporters, opponents and neutrals within Colorado agree on: It's unlikely marijuana has much to do with Denver's recent uptick in crime, as Sharer suggested it did. [continues 406 words]
A week ago Friday, lawyers for Richard Kirk, a Denver man who is charged with the murder of his wife after eating a cannabis edible during a domestic disturbance in April 2014, changed his original plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity. The pot made him do it. Had he not ingested a marijuana edible, he wouldn't have murdered his wife, Kristine, who was on the phone with 911 when she was shot. It's a horrible story. Police reports indicate that the incident took place at home while their three sons were present. According to a police affidavit for a search warrant, Richard Kirk bought a Bubba Kush joint and a 100-milligram piece of Karma Kandy Orange Ginger taffy at a store on South Colorado Boulevard. He apparently ate some or all of the candy, came home, began arguing with his wife and acting irrationally, cutting his legs on broken glass, before unlocking the gun safe and shooting his wife in the head. [continues 602 words]
It should be no surprise that the working group tasked with coming up with a recommendation to the legislature about how cannabis edibles should be marked ended after four sessions and no consensus. The working group came about because of House Bill 1366, which directs the State Licensing Authority to develop recommendations for better ways to clearly mark edibles as cannabis products by 2016. Rep. Jonathan Singer, a member of the working group, put it succinctly: He wants to distinguish a marijuana edible just as he can a regular candy bar. [continues 848 words]
Crunching the Numbers in Marijuana's March to Legalization Let's play a little numbers game today. This is not the kind of numbers they played in an illegal lottery that flourished for decades before states started taking over the gambling business. Back in the 1940s, my uncle was a numbers runner who walked down alleys collecting nickel and dime bets in an illegal lottery that flourished for decades in poor neighborhoods. He couldn't write down the numbers that people wagered on because that was evidence if the police caught him. He had to memorize each number, who bet it, and the amount wagered. It was a tricky and intricate situation where a good memory came in handy. [continues 1225 words]
On Nov. 4, Alaskans will make a decision on Ballot Measure 2: whether to legalize the use of marijuana. As we make this decision, it is important we base it on complete information rather than the propaganda that is being slung. We have the benefit of not being the first state to wrestle with this issue. All we need to do is look as far as Colorado and Washington to truly understand the effects of legalizing marijuana. So what are we hearing coming out of Colorado? The legalization and commercialization of marijuana in Colorado started less than two years ago, and there are several problems, consequences and new financial repercussions associated with the law. They are reporting increased marijuana-related emergency room visits, increased hash oil explosions, increased marijuana-involved auto fatalities, and an increased number of workers testing positive for marijuana. [continues 797 words]
On Nov. 4, Alaskans will make a decision on Ballot Measure 2, whether or not to legalize the use of marijuana. As we make this decision, it is important we base it on complete information rather than the propaganda currently being slung. We have the benefit of not being the first state to wrestle with this issue. All we need to do is look as far as Colorado and Washington to truly understand the effects of legalizing marijuana. So what are we hearing coming out of Colorado? The legalization and commercialization of marijuana in Colorado started less than two years ago, and there are a number of problems, consequences, and new financial repercussions associated with the law. They are reporting increased marijuana-related emergency room visits, increased hash oil explosions, increased marijuana-involved auto fatalities, and an increased number of workers testing positive for marijuana. [continues 806 words]
Maryland is a state with a serious marijuana arrest problem, according to the FBI's 2011 annual Uniform Crime Report. With 22,043 arrests for marijuana possession producing an arrest rate of 378 people per 100,000, Maryland ranked among the top five in marijuana possession arrests, according to the most recent data available. "I have no idea why these numbers are so high," said state Sen. Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore County Democrat who is an advocate for marijuana decriminalization in Maryland. "The numbers are shocking and staggering." [continues 505 words]
Will pot soon be legal in Kansas? Fire It Up Kansas, a non-violent nonprofit organization, sure hopes so. According to the group's Facebook page, it only has one purpose: to "legalize marijuana on a state and federal level for the purpose of medicine, production and recreation." To further its efforts, the organization is planning to use a billboard campaign to promote the legalization of marijuana in the state. Co-founder and president of Fire It Up Kansas, Mike Golden, said that the intent is for the legalization of marijuana to be seen as a legal market instead of a black market. [continues 795 words]
BALTIMORE - Ninety years ago, brewing, transporting and selling alcohol were all federal crimes. The prohibition of alcohol was repealed in 1933 because it supported large criminal organizations through the inflated prices of unregulated, illegal booze and because it disproportionately harmed the lower and middle classes. Today we still have prohibition, its largest benefactors are still international criminal gangs, and its victims are still mostly the poor and middle-class. The prohibition of narcotics - including marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, and MDMA - has the same problems that alcohol prohibition did in its time, and then some. International drug traffickers reap huge profits and middle-and lower-class Americans pay the costly price of outdated drug policies. [continues 620 words]
FBI data: American police made a total of 12,196,959 arrests last year Tens of thousands of people smoked marijuana and listened to live music at the Denver 420 rally at Civic Center Park on April 20, 2013. Despite lax enforcement in some areas, the pace of U.S. pot busts remained unchanged from 2011 to 2012. Residents of two states voted to legalize marijuana in 2012, but despite an increase in public support for liberalizing drug policy, American police arrested about the same number of people last year on pot-related charges as in 2011. [continues 485 words]
NEW YORK - Danielle Bradford was raised in state custody because of her parent's abuse and drug dependencies. When she was 18 she moved out, found work at a local waffle shop and got her first apartment in Nashville, Tenn. Her estranged father helped by co-signing on the lease. One evening she was at home with her neighbors when three police officers knocked on the door. They said they had received a report that there was a portable meth lab on her property. "I allowed them to look, and obviously they did not find anything," she said. What the police did find was that her neighbor had some marijuana and a bowl that she had prepared for him. [continues 4844 words]
Over the past year, Howard Wooldridge's job has gotten easier. The former Lansing area police officer spent the past 16 years working to decriminalize marijuana and other drugs, at times taking his horse on long rides around the country to publicize the cause. A lobbyist for Citizens Opposing Prohibition, an organization he formed, Wooldridge rubs elbows with congressional aides, trying to get them to convince their bosses to end a drug war that costs the country $82 billion a year. [continues 1610 words]
Cotter Says Medical Marijuana Is Too Easy to Get Over the past year, Howard Wooldridge's job has gotten easier. The former Lansing area police officer spent the past 16 years working to decriminalize marijuana and other drugs, at times taking his horse on long rides around the country to publicize the cause. A lobbyist for Citizens Opposing Prohibition, an organization he formed, Wooldridge rubs elbows with congressional aides, trying to get them to convince their bosses to end a drug war that costs the country $82 billion a year. It's been a long haul for Wooldridge and at times the lack of progress weighed heavily. [continues 1593 words]
Kudos to Kingsley Guy for acknowledging that it is "time to rethink" America's war on drugs (Jan.13), and for recognizing that a majority of the public now favors regulating marijuana consumption by adults. The modern drugwar is fueled by the criminalization of marijuana. Police made 757,969 arrests in 2011 for marijuana-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report. Nearly nine out of 10 of those arrested were charged with violating marijuana possession laws-not for growing, trafficking, or selling cannabis. According to the report, marijuana arrests now comprise one-half of all illicit drug arrests in theUnited States. [continues 137 words]
Voters in Washington and Colorado Say No to the Long, Costly War on Pot Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released its accounting of all arrests made by law enforcement agencies across the fruited plain. Cops and federal agents made 12,408,899 arrests in the USA in 2011. No wonder we're known around the world as Incarceration Nation. Let's walk through the breakdown of that big number: *Of the total, 534,704 arrests were for violent crimes, and that number was down about 5 percent from 2010. [continues 790 words]
The legalization of medical cannabis symbolizes more than just a large group of people several thousand in the Commonwealth gaining access to the only drug that adequately treats their illness without the fear of prosecution looming over their shoulders. The passage of ballot question 3, Massachusetts becoming the 18th state to legalize medical cannabis would represent yet another notch in the exposure of cannabis' Schedule 1 classification by the federal government as empirically illegitimate. That said, this week's release of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report comes at an opportune time to support the case for medical cannabis. In a climate of over 750,000 arrests being made yearly in this nation in the past decade, roughly 40 percent of which being issued for mere possession, as said report reflects, the notion of legally allowing possession for medical purposes is hardly radical, and refreshingly compassionate. To all those who favor truth over fear, progress over regression, compassion over condemnation, I urge you to vote yes on ballot question 3 this Tuesday. Randolph [end]
The legalization of medical cannabis symbolizes more than just a large group of people - several thousand in the commonwealth - gaining access to the only drug that adequately treats their illness without the fear of prosecution looming over their shoulders. The passage of ballot Question 3, Massachusetts becoming the 18th state to legalize medical cannabis would represent yet another notch in the exposure of cannabis' Schedule 1 classification by the federal government as empirically illegitimate. That said, this week's release of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report comes at an opportune time to support the case for medical cannabis. In a climate of more than 750,000 arrests being made yearly in this nation in the past decade, roughly 40 percent of which being issued for mere possession, as said report reflects, the notion of legally allowing possession for medical purposes is hardly radical, and refreshingly compassionate. To all those who favor truth over fear, progress over regression, compassion over condemnation, I urge you to vote yes on ballot Question 3 Tuesday. Justin Matheus Randolph [end]
On Monday, the California State Conference of the NAACP announced its "unconditional endorsement" of a November initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. On Tuesday, the NAACP said why. According to a just-released study by the Drug Policy Alliance, blacks are far more likely to be arrested for pot possession than whites - even though statistically, blacks use marijuana at lower rates than whites. The Alliance, a national advocacy group, favors treatment rather than arrest or imprisonment for people suffering from drug dependency. [continues 907 words]
MISSION - Police Chief Leo Longoria said his city and the surrounding area has experienced a "bleed-over of violence" coming from Mexico. His community remains secure, he said, but he still would welcome National Guard troops to the city, as Gov. Rick Perry has requested from the federal government for communities along the border. Above all, Longoria said residents should remain vigilant and aware of their surroundings. "I don't believe we have a uncontrollable spillover," he said. "What we have is a bleed-over of violence." [continues 696 words]
