Marijuana
CN BC: Marijuana Reform High on Electorate's List
Globe and Mail, 20 Apr 2013 - Here's something you won't see happen on Saturday: Christy Clark or Adrian Dix's campaign buses rolling up to the north lawn of the Vancouver Art Gallery to the cheers of thousands of marijuana activists. Neither Mr. Dix nor Ms. Clark will push their way through the happy crowds and skunk-scented smoke, glad-handing potential voters. It is even less likely that either will make their way to the stage brandishing a freshly rolled spliff, spark it up and declare 4/20 officially "on." Neither will inhale deeply, nor extol the virtues of weed, nor pass the dutchie to the left-hand side. And you certainly won't hear them making speeches calling for the decriminalization, legalization, or the regulation and taxation of pot.
Categories: Marijuana
CN ON: Protesters Abide
Ottawa Sun, 20 Apr 2013 - With nearly 15,000 people expected converge on Parliament Hill Saturday for cannabis reform, Parliament Hill may look like it's going up in smoke - pot smoke. With regulations surrounding marijuana usage appearing too lax, organizers of the Fill the Hill 2013 are hoping they're getting closer to realizing their dream to one day smoke legally in Canada.
Categories: Marijuana
US CO: The Pot Business Suffers Growing Pains
Wall Street Journal, 20 Apr 2013 - DENVER - Like any farmer, Elliott Klug understands the highs and lows of living off the land. But his crop requires a rigorous effort. To keep output going, it is harvested every week. It is also grown only indoors. And though you won't find this tip in the Farmer's Almanac, his workers believe that blaring Grateful Dead songs boosts productivity.
Categories: Marijuana
CN BC: Trustee Warns Of Pot Party Dangers
Vancouver 24hours, 19 Apr 2013 - A Vancouver School Board trustee is warning students not to attend the annual 4/20 marijuana celebration in downtown Saturday, citing the health and safety concerns of minors in spite of growing support revealed in new polls to support the drug. On Thursday, trustee Ken Denike noted marijuana is still a "banned substance." He warned parents it's very unlikely children who attend the celebration in front of Vancouver Art Gallery would emerge untouched by the billowing clouds of smoke and weed offered for sale.
Categories: Marijuana
CN ON: Substance Use Ranked Top Concern
The Observer, 19 Apr 2013 - SARNIA - If you ask local public high school teachers what their top concern is for student wellness, the answer may be different than what you'd expect to hear. Substance use has been ranked the top socio-emotional concern for local students, according to a recent survey of Lambton Kent District School Board high school teachers.
Categories: Marijuana
US MD: OPED: Saving Money, And Lives
Baltimore Sun, 19 Apr 2013 - Public Safety Compacts Reduce Sentences for MD. Inmates Who Commit to Treatment We have a great capacity for placing people into categories and minimizing their humanity. One such category is "felons" and another is "drug addicts." We can easily forget that men and women who have been convicted of crimes or are suffering from substance abuse issues are the same as the rest of us at the core - fallible but resolutely hopeful.
Categories: Marijuana
US FL: OPED: Let Patients Light Up To Ease Pain, Improve
Orlando Sentinel, 19 Apr 2013 - Those who claim there always are legal alternatives to medical marijuana are not dealing from personal experience. Twenty years ago, my dad suffered from esophageal cancer and emphysema. The nausea from his treatment was severe and the list of medications prescribed for it ineffective.
Categories: Marijuana
CN BC: Stop The Violence Attempts To Smoke Out Politicians On
Globe and Mail, 18 Apr 2013 - It's not the "did you inhale" question many politicians have been asked, but a lobby group will be questioning want-to-be politicians on their position over a regulated marijuana market in British Columbia. Stop the Violence BC - a coalition of police, doctors, lawyers, politicians and academics - argues a regulated and taxed marijuana market could choke the flow of funds going to organized crime, reduce the proliferation of illegal grow-ops in B.C. and fund drug awareness and harm prevention campaigns.
Categories: Marijuana
CN ON: Permit Or Not, Marijuana Supporter Expected To Protest
London Free Press, 18 Apr 2013 - Even though the city won't permit it, London's annual marijuana festival isn't going up in smoke. Saturday is April 20, the day when pot users celebrate the drug and demand its legalization. And you can bet people will gather in Victoria Park even though the festival was denied a city permit, said organizer Eric Shepperd.
Categories: Marijuana
CN ON: Column: The Conservative Pro-Pot Argument
The Sault Star, 18 Apr 2013 - If you want smaller government and you want the government out of people's private lives, you need to support the legalization of marijuana. It's the logically consistent viewpoint for a conservative. I write this in the leadup to the annual 4/20 marijuana marches where otherwise law-abiding citizens who consume, grow or trade the substance will take to the streets nationwide to show their love of pot.
Categories: Marijuana
US CO: Column: Recreational Pot And Redefining Crime
Summit Daily News, 18 Apr 2013 - How about some good news today? This year, reports Time magazine, drug cartels in Mexico stand to lose $1.4 billion. Why? Because Colorado and Washington decriminalized recreational marijuana in November.
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US PA: 'NJ Weedman' Hit With Blunt Charge
Philadelphia Daily News, 18 Apr 2013 - IT SOUNDS LIKE some alternate reality, where down is up and hot is cold, but Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion said the words himself Wednesday morning, and even he can't believe it. "I'm getting a little stressed," said Forchion, 48. "I have no weed."
Categories: Marijuana
US CO: Tourists All Abuzz About Legal Pot Holiday
The Eagle-Tribune, 18 Apr 2013 - Thousands of people are expected to join an unofficial counterculture holiday celebrating marijuana in Colorado and Washington this coming weekend, including out-of staters and even packaged tours. The events and crowds will test the limits of new laws permitting pot use by adults. More than 50,000 are expected to light up outdoors in Denver's Civic Center Park on April 20 to celebrate marijuana legalization. Thousands more are headed here for the nation's first open-to-all Cannabis Cup, April 20-21, a domestic version of an annual marijuana contest and celebration in Amsterdam. Expected guests at the Cannabis Cup, a ticketed event taking place inside the Denver Convention Center, include Snoop Lion, the new reggae and marijuana-loving persona for the rapper better known as Snoop Dogg.
Categories: Marijuana
US FL: OPED: Research Doesn't Support Use Of Medical Marijuana
Sun-Sentinel, 18 Apr 2013 - Based on science and concern about young minds and the safety of our citizens, we believe that the crude drugs from the plant Cannabis should be illegal. There are differing views on this issue. In our democracy, divergent views are expected. The more personal the issue, the more passionate and less logical the discussion. Media articles support marijuana as a medicine. This complex weed is supposed to cure insomnia, arthritis, glaucoma, nausea, loss of appetite, epilepsy, etc.; and that, if legalized and taxed by government, as with alcohol and tobacco, it could solve our financial woes.
Categories: Marijuana
US CO: 420 Day Has Whole New Meaning
Washington Times, 18 Apr 2013 - Wash., Colo. Are Ready to Party DENVER - Thousands of pot smokers plan to descend on Colorado and Washington this weekend for what may be the biggest marijuana celebration in U.S. history. Saturday marks the first "420 Day" - the unofficial pot lovers' jamboree held every April 20, based on the slang identifier "420" - since voters in both states passed initiatives legalizing adult use of marijuana in November. Although pot isn't exactly legal in either state yet, that will not stop the weed-toking faithful from throwing bodacious parties.
Categories: Marijuana
US AK: Pot May Be Next Frontier For Alaska
Sun-Sentinel, 18 Apr 2013 - Vote in 2014 on Recreational Use? WASHINGTON - Alaska voters likely will get a chance next year to make their state the third in the country to approve the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21and older.
Categories: Marijuana
US AZ: Column: What's In Your Weed?
Tucson Weekly, 18 Apr 2013 - Some Very Expensive Equipment Is Being Used to Determine the Makeup of Several Dispensaries' Marijuana The first time I wondered what was in my cannabis was in the late 1970s, when the U.S. government conspired with Mexico to use the herbicide Paraquat to destroy marijuana crops south of the border.
Categories: Marijuana
Poll of DC Voters Finds Two-Thirds Support Marijuana Legalization
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Activists planning possible Washington, DC, marijuana reform efforts got some good news this week. A Public Policy Polling survey released Wednesday found that three-quarters of DC voters support decriminalizing marijuana possession, two-thirds (67%) think law enforcement resources focused on marijuana should be used elsewhere, and nearly two-thirds (63%) said they would support ballot measures similar to those in Colorado and Washington state, where voters legalized marijuana last November.
DC voters weren't just interested in lessening marijuana law enforcement. A solid majority (54%) said drug use should be treated as a public health issue and people should no longer be arrested and locked up for possession of a small amount of any drug for personal use.
DC-based activists have been meeting about plans to push pot law reforms. The first stop is the city council, but it the council balks, there are also contingency plans for a possible ballot initiative. In interviews earlier this year, activists said they were waiting for polling results before deciding on a course of action. Now they have them.
[image:2 align:left caption:true]"As a 20-year DC resident, I know scores of people who have been humiliated with an arrest and have even spent time in jail for possessing small quantities of marijuana," said longtime District activist and spokesman for Dr. Bronner's Natural Soaps Adam Eidinger. "This new poll confirms that there is little support for laws that criminalize marijuana consumers in the District and they are due for repeal. We hope it inspires the Council to craft meaningful marijuana policy reform legislation, but in either case a change in the law appears to be inevitable."
"District voters, like most Americans, think it is time for a new, more sensible approach to marijuana policy," said Steve Fox of the DC-based Marijuana Policy Project. "People should not be subjected to life-altering criminal penalties simply for using a substance that is objectively less harmful than alcohol. Harsh criminal penalties should be reserved for serious criminals, and our law enforcement resources should be reserved for addressing serious crimes."
"DC voters clearly want to end the failed war on drugs," said Bill Piper, DC-based national affairs director for the Drug Policy Alliance. "Decriminalizing marijuana is a no-brainer, but the Council should do more. There is an opportunity to make a clean break from the past and treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue. More access to treatment and health services. No more putting people in jail."
The ball is in the DC City Council's court, but if elected representatives fail to act, the threat of direct democracy via the initiative process looms.
Categories: Marijuana
Congressman Predicts Current Congress Will Legalize Hemp
[image:1 align:right caption:true]I attended a forum on marijuana legalization at The Brookings Insti
Categories: Marijuana
Illinois House of Representatives Passes Medical Marijuana Bill
[image:1 align:right caption:true]Word just came out that the Illinois House has passed medical marijuana legislation, after several tries. Now it has to go to the Senate.
Categories: Marijuana
