Cannabis News

[BD9]

Because it went so well the last time a poll was posted. LOL

http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/29/just-2-groups-of-people-now-oppose-legalizing-mari.aspx

However, Gallup's national poll also highlights two groups of people that still oppose the legalization of marijuana: those affiliated with the Republican Party, and seniors aged 55 and up.

According to Gallup's 2016 survey, just 42% of adults who identified as Republican want to see marijuana legalized. It's worth noting that this is more than double the 20% of Republicans who wanted to see weed legalized nationally in 2003 and 2005, so there is some semblance of a sentiment shift underway. Nonetheless, a majority of Republicans would still prefer not to have marijuana legalized nationally.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/196550/support-legal-marijuana.aspx

When Gallup first asked this question in 1969, 12% of Americans supported the legalization of marijuana use. In the late 1970s, support rose to 28% but began to retreat in the 1980s during the era of the "Just Say No" to drugs campaign. Support stayed in the 25% range through 1995, but increased to 31% in 2000 and has continued climbing since then.


Democrats and Independents Soar to Majorities Favoring Legalization

Additionally, support is up more among independents and Democrats than it is among Republicans, partly because of the older age skew of the last group. Seventy percent of independents and 67% of Democrats support legal pot use, a major increase since the combined survey of 2003 and 2005 when 46% of independents and 38% of Democrats supported the idea. While less than a majority of members in any political party backed legalizing marijuana in 2003 and 2005, Democrats and independents have fueled the recent nationwide surge in support.

BD9 says,
"I have written, emailed and called both of my senators, one republican one democrat, who are both against MMJ and full on legalization." The only hope I have is that both my senators work with veterans and Indiana has a strong lobby of pro MMJ veterans.
No matter our political affiliation and we need to call, write and speak to elected officials if we want change. Read that as being a pest. If enough of us contact our elected officials they have to start listening .

 

[Baron23]

California looks to build $7 billion legal pot economy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The future of California’s legal marijuana industry is being shaped in a warren of cubicles tucked inside a retired basketball arena, where a garden of paper cannabis leaves sprouts on file cabinets and a burlap sack advertising “USA Home Grown” dangles from a wall.

Here, in the outskirts of Sacramento, a handful of government workers face a daunting task: By next year, craft regulations and rules that will govern the state’s emerging legal pot market, from where and how plants can be grown to setting guidelines to track the buds from fields to stores.

Getting it wrong could mean the robust cannabis black market stays that way — outside the law — undercutting the attempt to create the nation’s largest legal marijuana economy. The new industry has a projected value of $7 billion, and state and local governments could eventually collect $1 billion a year in taxes.

California is “building the airplane while it’s being flown,” lamented state Sen. Mike McGuire, a Democrat whose sprawling Northern California district includes some of the world’s most prized pot fields. (cont)

A glance at proposed state spending for marijuana programs


By Associated Press January 29 at 12:07 PM
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown this month recommended spending over $50 million in his proposed budget for marijuana regulation. It’s anticipated the funds will be repaid after taxes begin coming in. Here’s a breakdown of some of the proposals:

— Department of Consumer Affairs: $22.5 million, to develop regulations for the transportation, storage, distribution and sale of legal marijuana, along with licensing and enforcement.

— Department of Food and Agriculture: $23.4 million, to develop regulations for marijuana cultivation, including licenses for growers.

— Board of Equalization: $5.3 million, to notify businesses of new tax requirements and update systems to process taxes.

 

[Baron23]

Maryland lawmakers to push for recreational marijuana

A group of Democratic lawmakers in Maryland want the state to join a growing number of others that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, taxing and regulating sales of the drug similar to the way the state deals with alcohol.

Legislators said Monday that adults ages 21 and older in Maryland would be able to possess and grow limited amounts of marijuana if the two bills sponsored by Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), Del. Curtis S. Anderson (D-Baltimore) and Del. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore) are approved.

“This legislation will effectively end the failed policy of cannabis prohibition in Maryland and replace it with a much more sensible system,” Madaleno said of the legalization and regulation bills he will introduce this week. “It establishes a thoughtful regulatory scheme and tax structure based on best practices and lessons learned from other states.”

Under the regulation bill, the state would license and regulate marijuana retail stores, manufacturers and testing and cultivation facilities. The tax bill would enact an excise tax of $30 per ounce, paid by cultivators, and a 9 percent sales tax on retail marijuana sales.

The resulting revenue would be specifically designated for a community schools program, substance-abuse treatment and prevention, workforce development programs and public education to deter driving while impaired. (cont)

Virginia likely to ease rules on marijuana

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia won’t be pulling a Colorado by decriminalizing marijuana this year. But the state might relax its penalties for possessing marijuana and its rules on who can use marijuana products for medical reasons.

Legislators this session introduced more than a dozen marijuana-related proposals. A Senate committee last week killed two bills to decriminalize the substance, and a House bill likely will die this week.

However, lawmakers seem amenable to making marijuana products more available for medical purposes and to being more lenient with Virginians convicted of simple possession of marijuana. Still, those bills have drawn opposition from certain legislators, highlighting a cultural divide within the General Assembly.

That divide was evident in the debate last week over a bill allowing Virginians with cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and several other illnesses to use cannabidiol oil or THC-A oil, which are extracted from marijuana. Under current law, only people with intractable epilepsy can use the oils. (cont)

Minnesota’s medical marijuana program needs more money

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s medical marijuana program needs extra state funding to cover the costs of its patient database and inspections of drug manufacturers, just a few of the regulations that make it one of the most restrictive such laws in the country.

It’s the latest reminder of the financial constraints on the program borne from the heavy restrictions on Minnesota’s 2014 law.

The plant form of marijuana remains banned under the law, requiring the state’s two medical manufacturers to concoct marijuana oils, pills and vapors with routine state inspections and secondary lab testing. Just 10 severe conditions such as cancer and epilepsy qualify for the program, a number that has grown in recent years with a few additions.

The state’s manufacturers combined to lose more than $5 million in the first year of legal medical marijuana sales in 2015. And patient count hasn’t met projections, exacerbating high prescription costs for patients that the two companies who cultivate and sell medication have only recently begun to address with modest price decreases. (cont)
Reading stuff like this its really hard to not hate politicians and governments of all stripes for their arrogance and institutional stupidity. Shakespeare had it right....first we must kill all the lawyers.

Maine alcohol bureau to have marijuana oversight

Maine Gov. Paul LePage says he’s using an executive order to shift oversight of licensing and enforcement relating to legal marijuana.

LePage sparred with state lawmakers about who should have authority over marijuana sales in Maine. He gave the authority to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations on Monday.

The order is an outgrowth of a row LePage had with lawmakers last week about his desire to move oversight from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations.

The Republican governor says the alcoholic beverages bureau has expertise in managing retail sales, licensing and enforcement, and thus should have oversight. (cont)

 

[cybrguy]

Where does Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch stand on marijuana law?
Dylan Stableford 4 hours ago

President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, is a native of Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. So where does Gorsuch stand on the pot issue?

It’s not entirely clear.

Gorsuch, a conservative federal judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, has not voiced his views on legal weed — at least not publicly.

But the 49-year-old, who lives with his family in the cannabis-friendly college town of Boulder and teaches at the University of Colorado Law School, has offered a written opinion in several marijuana-related cases.

In 2010 (U.S. v. Daniel and Mary Quaintance), Gorsuch ruled against a couple who tried to argue that federal marijuana distribution offenses should be dismissed on religious grounds because he found the defendants to be insincere:

Daniel and Mary Quaintance responded to their indictment for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana with a motion to dismiss. They didn’t deny their involvement with the drug, but countered that they are the founding members of the Church of Cognizance, which teaches that marijuana is a deity and sacrament. As a result, they submitted, any prosecution of them is precluded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), which forbids the federal government from substantially burdening sincere religious exercises absent a countervailing compelling governmental interest.

After taking extensive evidence, the district court denied the motion to dismiss. It held, as a matter of law, that the Quaintances’ professed beliefs are not religious but secular. In addition and in any event, the district court found, as a matter of fact, that the Quaintances don’t sincerely hold the religious beliefs they claim to hold, but instead seek to use the cover of religion to pursue secular drug trafficking activities.​

Daniel and Mary Quaintance responded to their indictment for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana with a motion to dismiss. They didn’t deny their involvement with the drug, but countered that they are the founding members of the Church of Cognizance, which teaches that marijuana is a deity and sacrament. As a result, they submitted, any prosecution of them is precluded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), which forbids the federal government from substantially burdening sincere religious exercises absent a countervailing compelling governmental interest.

After taking extensive evidence, the district court denied the motion to dismiss. It held, as a matter of law, that the Quaintances’ professed beliefs are not religious but secular. In addition and in any event, the district court found, as a matter of fact, that the Quaintances don’t sincerely hold the religious beliefs they claim to hold, but instead seek to use the cover of religion to pursue secular drug trafficking activities.​

In 2013 (Family of Ryan Wilson v. City of Lafayette and Taser International), Gorsuch held that a Colorado police officer’s fatal Taser use on a man who was fleeing a marijuana arrest was justified:

Illegal processing and manufacturing of marijuana may not be inherently violent crimes but … they were felonies under Colorado law at the time of the incident. And Officer Harris testified, without rebuttal, that he had been trained that people who grow marijuana illegally tend to be armed and ready to use force to protect themselves and their unlawful investments.
​

Illegal processing and manufacturing of marijuana may not be inherently violent crimes but … they were felonies under Colorado law at the time of the incident. And Officer Harris testified, without rebuttal, that he had been trained that people who grow marijuana illegally tend to be armed and ready to use force to protect themselves and their unlawful investments.



And in 2015 (Feinberg et al. v. IRS), Gorsuch ruled against the owners of a Colorado dispensary who had refused to turn over data to the Internal Revenue Service because they feared they would be incriminating themselves, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law:

This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana. The Feinbergs and Ms. McDonald run Total Health Concepts, or THC, a not-so-subtly-named Colorado marijuana dispensary. They run the business with the blessing of state authorities but in defiance of federal criminal law. Even so, officials at the Department of Justice have now twice instructed field prosecutors that they should generally decline to enforce Congress’s statutory command when states like Colorado license operations like THC. At the same time and just across 10th Street in Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS refuse to recognize business expense deductions claimed by companies like THC on the ground that their conduct violates federal criminal drug laws. So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.​

This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana. The Feinbergs and Ms. McDonald run Total Health Concepts, or THC, a not-so-subtly-named Colorado marijuana dispensary. They run the business with the blessing of state authorities but in defiance of federal criminal law. Even so, officials at the Department of Justice have now twice instructed field prosecutors that they should generally decline to enforce Congress’s statutory command when states like Colorado license operations like THC. At the same time and just across 10th Street in Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS refuse to recognize business expense deductions claimed by companies like THC on the ground that their conduct violates federal criminal drug laws. So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.



“Yes, the Fifth Amendment normally shields individuals from having to admit to criminal activity,” Gorsuch explained. “But, the IRS argued, because DOJ’s memoranda generally instruct federal prosecutors not to prosecute cases like this one, the petitioners should be forced to divulge the requested information anyway. So it is the government simultaneously urged the court to take seriously its claim that the petitioners are violating federal criminal law and to discount the possibility that it would enforce federal criminal law.”

Outside of those cases, there isn’t much on Gorsuch’s pot stance to go on. However, one of Gorsuch’s former students told a website called the Joint Blog that he once asked the Colorado jurist whether he supports legalization of marijuana.

Gorsuch reportedly responded by saying that he “at the very least” supports states’ rights in regulating marijuana. Cannabis, like heroin and LSD, is currently a Schedule I drug under federal policy, “defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

The cannabis industry remains cautiously optimistic that Neil Gorsuch, if he is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, will allow states to continue their march toward marijuana legalization. (Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP)
If the account is true, that would put Gorsuch more or less in line with the man who nominated him.

At a campaign event in October 2015, Trump said he thinks legalization of pot should be “a state issue, state-by-state.”

In an interview with Fox News that year, Trump said he supports medical marijuana “100 percent.”

Which is why marijuana industry leaders are cautiously optimistic about the prospects of cannabusiness growth in the Trump era.

“For the most part, experts all think we will see a continuation of some form of the status quo,” Chris Walsh, editor of Marijuana Business Daily, told Yahoo Finance last month. “Maybe there will be some efforts to crack down here and there, but the consensus is that a widespread crackdown will be difficult.”


“If Trump’s going to attack the marijuana industry — like the recreational side, or the new states that legalized — it’s going to be very difficult for him to do that,” Walsh added. “He’s going to have a very hard time unwinding all the time and money and effort that states have put into these programs.”

The same goes for Gorsuch.

“We believe that a conservative legal philosophy should be consistent with respect for federalism and state sovereignty,” Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, wrote in an email to Yahoo News. “Voters in 28 states have chosen to establish legal, regulated cannabis programs in their states, and state lawmakers and regulators have implemented those programs. Trampling on those state initiatives would be the kind of federal overreach that conservative judicial leaders typically speak out against.”

 

[justcametomind]

Trump wants to crack down on Mexican weed, not US's. At least at the moment, in his eyes the most important issue is the drugs incoming trough the Mexican border.
The fact there is an internal production actually helps him to say that Mexican import is unneeded.

 

[HellsWindStaff]

And in 2015 (Feinberg et al. v. IRS), Gorsuch ruled against the owners of a Colorado dispensary who had refused to turn over data to the Internal Revenue Service because they feared they would be incriminating themselves, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law:

This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana. The Feinbergs and Ms. McDonald run Total Health Concepts, or THC, a not-so-subtly-named Colorado marijuana dispensary. They run the business with the blessing of state authorities but in defiance of federal criminal law. Even so, officials at the Department of Justice have now twice instructed field prosecutors that they should generally decline to enforce Congress’s statutory command when states like Colorado license operations like THC. At the same time and just across 10th Street in Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS refuse to recognize business expense deductions claimed by companies like THC on the ground that their conduct violates federal criminal drug laws. So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/12/21/pot-dispensary-loses-tax-fight-in-10th-circuit.htm

Same case, extra reading.

But this is actually a good thing IMO. He is legitimizing them. Legit businesses can't skirt the IRS. He is holding them to the same standards as everyone else, which is a good thing.

 

[Baron23]

Where does Trump Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch stand on marijuana law?
Dylan Stableford 4 hours ago

President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, is a native of Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. So where does Gorsuch stand on the pot issue?

It’s not entirely clear.

Gorsuch, a conservative federal judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, has not voiced his views on legal weed — at least not publicly.

But the 49-year-old, who lives with his family in the cannabis-friendly college town of Boulder and teaches at the University of Colorado Law School, has offered a written opinion in several marijuana-related cases.

In 2010 (U.S. v. Daniel and Mary Quaintance), Gorsuch ruled against a couple who tried to argue that federal marijuana distribution offenses should be dismissed on religious grounds because he found the defendants to be insincere:

Daniel and Mary Quaintance responded to their indictment for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana with a motion to dismiss. They didn’t deny their involvement with the drug, but countered that they are the founding members of the Church of Cognizance, which teaches that marijuana is a deity and sacrament. As a result, they submitted, any prosecution of them is precluded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), which forbids the federal government from substantially burdening sincere religious exercises absent a countervailing compelling governmental interest.

After taking extensive evidence, the district court denied the motion to dismiss. It held, as a matter of law, that the Quaintances’ professed beliefs are not religious but secular. In addition and in any event, the district court found, as a matter of fact, that the Quaintances don’t sincerely hold the religious beliefs they claim to hold, but instead seek to use the cover of religion to pursue secular drug trafficking activities.​

Daniel and Mary Quaintance responded to their indictment for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana with a motion to dismiss. They didn’t deny their involvement with the drug, but countered that they are the founding members of the Church of Cognizance, which teaches that marijuana is a deity and sacrament. As a result, they submitted, any prosecution of them is precluded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), which forbids the federal government from substantially burdening sincere religious exercises absent a countervailing compelling governmental interest.

After taking extensive evidence, the district court denied the motion to dismiss. It held, as a matter of law, that the Quaintances’ professed beliefs are not religious but secular. In addition and in any event, the district court found, as a matter of fact, that the Quaintances don’t sincerely hold the religious beliefs they claim to hold, but instead seek to use the cover of religion to pursue secular drug trafficking activities.​

In 2013 (Family of Ryan Wilson v. City of Lafayette and Taser International), Gorsuch held that a Colorado police officer’s fatal Taser use on a man who was fleeing a marijuana arrest was justified:

Illegal processing and manufacturing of marijuana may not be inherently violent crimes but … they were felonies under Colorado law at the time of the incident. And Officer Harris testified, without rebuttal, that he had been trained that people who grow marijuana illegally tend to be armed and ready to use force to protect themselves and their unlawful investments.
​

Illegal processing and manufacturing of marijuana may not be inherently violent crimes but … they were felonies under Colorado law at the time of the incident. And Officer Harris testified, without rebuttal, that he had been trained that people who grow marijuana illegally tend to be armed and ready to use force to protect themselves and their unlawful investments.



And in 2015 (Feinberg et al. v. IRS), Gorsuch ruled against the owners of a Colorado dispensary who had refused to turn over data to the Internal Revenue Service because they feared they would be incriminating themselves, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law:

This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana. The Feinbergs and Ms. McDonald run Total Health Concepts, or THC, a not-so-subtly-named Colorado marijuana dispensary. They run the business with the blessing of state authorities but in defiance of federal criminal law. Even so, officials at the Department of Justice have now twice instructed field prosecutors that they should generally decline to enforce Congress’s statutory command when states like Colorado license operations like THC. At the same time and just across 10th Street in Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS refuse to recognize business expense deductions claimed by companies like THC on the ground that their conduct violates federal criminal drug laws. So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.​

This case owes its genesis to the mixed messages the federal government is sending these days about the distribution of marijuana. The Feinbergs and Ms. McDonald run Total Health Concepts, or THC, a not-so-subtly-named Colorado marijuana dispensary. They run the business with the blessing of state authorities but in defiance of federal criminal law. Even so, officials at the Department of Justice have now twice instructed field prosecutors that they should generally decline to enforce Congress’s statutory command when states like Colorado license operations like THC. At the same time and just across 10th Street in Washington, D.C., officials at the IRS refuse to recognize business expense deductions claimed by companies like THC on the ground that their conduct violates federal criminal drug laws. So it is that today prosecutors will almost always overlook federal marijuana distribution crimes in Colorado but the tax man never will.



“Yes, the Fifth Amendment normally shields individuals from having to admit to criminal activity,” Gorsuch explained. “But, the IRS argued, because DOJ’s memoranda generally instruct federal prosecutors not to prosecute cases like this one, the petitioners should be forced to divulge the requested information anyway. So it is the government simultaneously urged the court to take seriously its claim that the petitioners are violating federal criminal law and to discount the possibility that it would enforce federal criminal law.”

Outside of those cases, there isn’t much on Gorsuch’s pot stance to go on. However, one of Gorsuch’s former students told a website called the Joint Blog that he once asked the Colorado jurist whether he supports legalization of marijuana.

Gorsuch reportedly responded by saying that he “at the very least” supports states’ rights in regulating marijuana. Cannabis, like heroin and LSD, is currently a Schedule I drug under federal policy, “defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

”

Seem to be reasonable and logical decisions based on law at the time.

 

[macbill]

Medical marijuana's underexplored potential for helping opioid addiction

A small human pilot study, along with a number of animal studies, are revealing that cannabinoids, extracts of cannabis legally sold as medical marijuana, could reduce cravings and ease withdrawal symptoms in heroin users. In light of the U.S. opioid epidemic, this is a neglected area of research that quickly needs attention, argues neurobiologist Yasmin Hurd of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who studies how both cannabinoids and opioids act on the brain. She discusses her position in a short review published February 2 in Trends in Neurosciences.

 

[Baron23]

Alaska regulators consider allowing pot-shop smoking lounges

JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska brothers James and Giono Barrett have a dream: that some of the scores of cruise ship passengers who crowd the state capital’s streets each summer will one day use their shore excursions to kick back and light up a joint in a pot store lounge.

The Barretts own Juneau’s first marijuana retail shop and want to tap into the $260 million or so that tourists dropped in the small coastal city last year.

Regulators could decide soon whether to make that happen. At a meeting Thursday in Juneau, they will consider allowing marijuana retail stores statewide to provide separate areas of their businesses for onsite consumption.(cont)

 

[Baron23]

Well, that didn't last long

Alaska rejects marijuana consumption at retail pot stores

JUNEAU, Alaska — Marijuana regulators in Alaska narrowly rejected a proposal Thursday that would have made the state the first in the nation to allow marijuana consumers to use the pot they buy at the retail stores selling it.

In a 3-2 vote, the Alaska Marijuana Control board decided not to allow it, frustrating industry officials and business owners who vowed to continue to press for some sort of allowable marijuana use at retail shops.

The proposed new rules would have let people buy marijuana products in authorized stores and go into separate store areas to partake. (cont)

 

[Silat]

Well, that didn't last long
Alaska rejects marijuana consumption at retail pot stores

Meanwhile the legislators went out for drinks at a local strip club.

 

[Baron23]

Wisconsin Democrats introduce bills aimed at legalizing medical marijuana

A pair of Democratic lawmakers hopes to move Wisconsin closer to legalizing medical marijuana with the introduction on Monday of two pieces of legislation.

The first bill would legalize the use of medical marijuana for patients with qualifying conditions. The second would put the question to voters in the form of a nonbinding statewide referendum.

It is the hope of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, that lawmakers who aren't inclined to support legalizing medicinal use of the drug might be supportive of having voters weigh in through a nonbinding referendum.

Neither proposal is likely to gain traction in the Republican-led Legislature, and Gov. Scott Walker does not support legalizing medical marijuana.

"This will lead to law-abiding citizens who have chronic diseases and health issues we can’t even begin to imagine, to put them in a situation where they don't have to break the law anymore," Erpenbach said in news conference.

Marijuana bill to be introduced in Kansas

Kansas has a “Reefer Madness” attitude toward the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana, claims an Inman man who is actively pursing decriminalization of cannabinoids.

“We need to have, at the very minimum, an honest and civil and open discussion about what is really going on,” said Nick Reinecker, who operates Inman Harvest Cafe.

“Reefer Madness” is a 1938 film that overdramatizes the lives of people involved with the marijuana menace.

Over the past three years, Reinecker has advocated for elimination of criminal penalties for possession and use of cannabis as well as full legalization, regulation and taxation of the substance. He thinks marijuana should be subject to taxation, the same as alcohol and tobacco.

He expects to testify in Topeka again this year.

Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, and Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, submitted bills in 2016 supporting the use of cannabis for treatment of medical disorders, but they died in committee.

This year, Haley planned to introduce two bills: one would allow for medicinal use of marijuana and the other would legalize recreational use.

The medical use bill would be similar to Colorado’s, making cannabis available through script, or through written recommendation; doctors cannot prescribe cannabis because it is illegal on the federal level. Legalization would allow for recreational use. (cont)

Regulating Weed in California is A Daunting Task and Now the Unions are Sparring

California has until January 2018 to figure out a whole lot of complicated issues on how to regulate its largest agricultural crop—marijuana.

Suddenly, tons of people, those who voted for and those who voted against legalizing it, want in.

The Teamsters union, which did not initially support legalization, is one of them.

“There are a lot more players who are interested in talking to us than when we started,” said Assemblyman Rob Bonta.

One of California’s complicated issues is how to blend the 2015 Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which set January 2018 as the deadline to implement regulations—even though MMJ has been legal in California since 1996. Better late than never.

Now, with the passage of Prop 64 legalizing recreational weed, legislators need to blend the two laws into something everyone can live with, even though the laws are not terribly different.

However, small distinctions between the two laws are pitting labor unions against one another as they attempt to grow their memberships in the new billion-dollar industry, reports the Sacramento Bee.

One of the main differences is who can move marijuana from farms and manufacturers to market. Enter the Teamsters, who want jobs for their truckers and warehouse workers. (cont)

New York Lawmakers Pushing for Recreational Pot in 2017

New York lawmakers are hoping that the recent legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts and Maine will inspire the state’s legislative forces to take similar action in the 2017 session.

Two bills—A3506 and S3040—were recently introduced in the New York General Assembly and in the Senate aimed at creating a system that would allow marijuana to be taxed and regulated across the state in a manner similar to beer. The proposals would enact the “Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act,” which would give adults 18 and older the freedom to possess up to two ounces of weed and cultivate as many as six plants at home for personal use. It would also give way to the creation of a fully legal cannabis industry whereby adults 21 and older could purchase cannabis products at retail dispensaries statewide.

“The intent of this act is to regulate, control, and tax marihuana in a manner similar to alcohol, generate millions of dollars in new revenue, prevent access to marihuana by those under the age of eighteen years, reduce the illegal drug market and reduce violent crime, reduce the racially disparate impact of existing marihuana laws, allow industrial hemp to be farmed in New York state, and create new industries and increase employment,” the proposal reads.

So far, eight states, including neighboring Massachusetts, have legalized the leaf in this capacity.

There are some who believe that the evolving cannabis laws in parts of New England might be enough to twist the arms of state lawmakers this year and get them to take the issue of cannabis reform a little more seriously than they have in the past.

There is even some evidence to suggest that New York governor Andrew Cuomo may be opening up to this type of reform.(cont)

 

[CuckFumbustion]

Meanwhile the legislators went out for drinks at a local strip club.

hi-yo!

Two bills—A3506 and S3040—

I will watch that more closly.
New York legislators taking up recreation for tax revenue with no ballot initiatives. There has been incremental laws in NYC that make it more illegal to be visible in public and treated as an infraction for a first time offense. The medial MJ program was slowly enacted, but a few factories that made CBD oils were able to go forward. If NYS feels it can protect indoor growers from crime, then I'm optimistic. That seems to be the thorniest.

 

[cybrguy]

We can only hope that Justice will still have enough energy left when it comes time to protecting Medical Cannabis. I think we're gonna need her...

 

[Baron23]

We can only hope that Justice will still have enough energy left when it comes time to protecting Medical Cannabis. I think we're gonna need her...

Great post for a political opinion thread....which this is not, my friend.

Ex-medical marijuana officials charged for illegal shipment

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Prosecutors in Minnesota filed felony charges Monday against two former officials from one of the state’s licensed medical marijuana manufacturers for allegedly shipping marijuana oil to a subsidiary facility in New York.

Minnesota and New York have both legalized medical marijuana programs, and parent company Vireo Health cultivates and sells the medication in both states. But shipping products across state lines still violates both state and federal laws.

The complaint filed in Wright County Court alleges that two officials who no longer work for Minnesota Medical Solutions — the company’s Minnesota branch — collaborated in December 2015 to ship more than 5 kilograms of concentrated marijuana oil from Minnesota to New York, where the company faced a product shortfall ahead of New York’s January 2016 start to legal sales.

Laura Bultman, the former chief medical officer, and Ronald Owens, the former chief security officer, each face felony charges that carry fines of up to $3,000 and up to a year in jail. A third Minnesota Medical Solutions executive was named in the complaint but has not yet been charged. (cont)

Firms bumped as finalists for pot licenses fight for answers

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Two Maryland companies say the state is wrongly refusing to explain why they were abruptly bumped off a list of 15 finalists to be licensed to grow medical marijuana in the state.

Green Thumb Industries and Maryland Cultivation and Processing have asked a Baltimore judge to decide whether the state is abusing the “deliberative process privilege,” which allows internal deliberations among members of a state commission to be kept secret.

Assistant Attorney General Heather Nelson cited that rule in more than 80 objections to attorneys’ questions during the January deposition of Deborah Miran — the only person on a Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission subcommittee who voted against replacing the two companies with others ranked lower.

Raquel Guillory, a spokeswoman with the attorney general’s office, said the office doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation. “The appropriate forum to litigate this is in the courtroom, not in the press,” she said.

Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said the case reinforces the government watchdog group’s concerns about abuse of such exemptions.

“We are hopeful that the judge will take a close look at the overuse of privilege here and hopefully open the door to more transparency in the case,” Bevan-Dangel said.

Last summer, Maryland selected 15 finalists from 145 applicants to grow and process medical marijuana, but none has received final approval. Maryland is one of 28 states that allow medical marijuana. The initiative has attracted intense interest in a market that stands to be lucrative because the law allows wide patient access.

Green Thumb applied to grow marijuana for medical use in Washington County and initially was ranked 12th in an evaluation of qualifications. Maryland Cultivation and Processing applied for a license in Frederick County and was ranked eighth.

The sudden rise of Holistic Industries from the 20th ranking to 14th to grow marijuana in Prince George’s County has drawn attention, partly because of its political ties. The company’s team includes former Maryland health secretary Nelson Sabatini and Ismael “Vince” Canales, who heads the state’s Fraternal Order of Police. Holistic also had Gerard Evans, the highest-paid lobbyist in Annapolis, advocating for it.

Shore Naturals Rx of Worcester County had been ranked 21st and was moved up to 15th.

One of the most vigorously contested lines of questioning in Miran’s deposition focused on the accuracy of an affidavit submitted by Harry Robshaw, the commission’s vice chairman. He has said the companies were switched to comply with the need for geographic diversity.

In Robshaw’s November affidavit, he wrote that the commission’s subcommittee met July 27 to receive a presentation on the rankings by Towson University’s Research Economics Statistics Institute.

Robshaw, who is police chief in Cheverly in Prince George’s County, wrote that the subcommittee initially deliberated and adjourned because it had incomplete information about where the applicants would operate. It got that information two days later, when it voted on the proposed ranking to present to the full commission Aug. 5.

But Miran contradicted that. When asked by Philip Andrews, an attorney for Green Thumb, whether it was accurate to say the subcommittee had incomplete information during its July 27 meeting, Miran said: “No.” She was not allowed to answer why that wasn’t true because Nelson objected, citing the deliberative privilege. (cont)

Ah...my home state of Maryland....

 

[macbill]

Pot prices drop as more states approve legal marijuana

Marijuana has risen to become a multi-billion dollar industry, but today’s U.S. legal weed market is offering considerably cheap pot.
Prices for marijuana flowers have plunged in states with legal marijuana laws in place, reports Forbes.

 

[Baron23]

Contaminated medical marijuana believed to have killed cancer patient

A rare fungal infection has killed a California man undergoing cancer treatment and it’s believed he got it from medical marijuana, CBS Los Angeles reports.

The treatment left the man’s immune system compromised, but his death still surprised doctors because he was relatively young and his cancer was beatable. He was using medical marijuana to fend off the treatment’s effects. After his death, testing of 20 medical marijuana samples from across the state found the vast majority were contaminated with dangerous bacteria and fungi.

“It started with a couple patients that were undergoing very intensive chemotherapy and a stem cell therapy, and those patients were very immune-compromised,” explained Dr. Joseph Tuscano of the University of California, Davis Cancer Center.

The California man was one of those patients who was already in a very serious cancer fight. Then that fight suddenly became much more complicated with a relatively rare but particularly lethal fungal infection.

“We thought it was strange to have cases of such a bad fungal disease in such a short amount of time,” said Dr. George Thompson, a fungal infection expert with UC Davis Medical Center.

Dr. Michael Hirt specializes in integrative medicine and says that the fungus that was in the man’s body was equivalent to what is on rodent droppings.

Hirt says telltale signs of fungal contamination are a stale, musty smell and black, light blue or green dots on the marijuana leaves

Louisiana State University is Looking for Pot Farmers

Louisiana State University is taking offers from contractors to grow and process weed for the state’s medical marijuana program.

LSU professor Dr. Ted Gauthier told WBRZ-TV that lots of people from out of state have shown a great deal of interest in doing the honors. He added that they expect to have about 10 finalists to choose from.

“We’re looking for somebody who will be able to provide the quality product for the patients in Louisiana who will be using the medical marijuana product,” said Gautheir, a researcher at LSU’s AgCenter Biotechnology Laboratory.

Louisiana’s medical marijuana bill was officially signed into law back in May 2016, making it the 25th state to legalize some type of MMJ program, although no one was allowed to grow or process cannabis until now.

And the word “officially” is important because Louisiana actually legalized medical marijuana in 1978, being the first U.S. state in the union to do so.

At that time, medical marijuana usage was limited to glaucoma patients and those undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. But still, then-Governor Edwin Edwards had vision and took it serious (cont)

Consulting Colorado Drug Cop Spreading Marijuana Legalization Lies
Curious about what marijuana legalization might do to New Jersey, local lawmakers in the Atlantic City area wanted an expert to tell them what they might expect. Instead, they heard from Kevin Wong, an intelligence analyst with the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, who had some news for Jersey that would have come as a surprise to colleagues back in Colorado.

Thanks to weed, Wong is no longer proud of his home state.

“I have to apologize for what Colorado has done, because it has now affected all of you in other states,” he told lawmakers at an annual breakfast event attended by lawmakers from several cities in the Jersey Shore area. He “ruefully noted that visitors flying to Colorado can arrange to be picked up directly at the airport for special tours of the state’s bumper crop of marijuana dispensaries.” In case the prospect of tourists didn’t quite shake the Jersey crew, Wong had more.

As OCNJDaily.com recounted:

Labeling Colorado as a drug experiment gone wrong, Wong cited a litany of social ills allegedly exacerbated by the state’s 2014 foray into legal pot.

Among them, more young people in Colorado are now using marijuana, drug-related traffic fatalities are up, the number of hospital emergency room visits caused by pot overdoses has climbed and drug-related school expulsion rates have jumped, according to Wong.
Sounds horrible. And it would be, if any of it were true. (cont and I think you may really want to read about this arsehole and his false testimony. By the by, the Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area appears to be a small private think tank/consultancy, clearly one with an agenda, check it out: http://www.cadca.org/kevin-wong).

 

[CuckFumbustion]

Haven't even watched it myself yet. JANUARY 9, 2013 | CLIP OF NEW YORK STATE OF THE STATE ADDRESS
Cuomo: Marijuana Decriminalization Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls on the New York Legislature to decriminalzie personal amounts of marijuana
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4294749/cuomo-marijuana-decriminalization

 

[CuckFumbustion]

Two bills—A3506 and S3040

NYS bill edit. I scrolled further down and both bills are in committee according to how the website reads. So, People can vote for it in some manner. click the hyperlink for either. A3506 and S3040
New York Governor Pushes for Farther-Reaching Decriminalization Law

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

Senate confirms Jeff Sessions for attorney general

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-sess...ons-attorney-general-085118500--politics.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-sess...ons-attorney-general-085118500--politics.html
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced." - Obi Wan Kenobi

 

[Baron23]

Peru’s government proposes to legalize medicinal marijuana

LIMA, Peru — Peru’s government says it will present to the opposition-dominated legislature a plan to legalize the medical use of marijuana “for the treatment of serious and terminal illnesses.”

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s administration said Wednesday the plan was developed after police raided a house in a Lima neighborhood where a group of parents grew marijuana to make oil for treating their children suffering from epilepsy and other diseases.

Officials say that trafficking and use of marijuana for other purposes would remain a crime under the proposal.

For our South American friends and board members


New Bill Would End Federal War on Marijuana

A bipartisan group of seven Republicans and six Democrats filed new Congressional legislation that would protect people who are acting in compliance with state marijuana laws from federal prosecution and punishment.

Titled the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2017," the bill adds a new provision to the Controlled Substances Act that reads:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this subchapter related to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State laws relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marihuana."

In a lengthy floor speech announcing the bill, chief sponsor Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) argued that the legislation falls in line with the principles of limited government and states' rights that so many in his party profess to value:

"My bill would then make sure that Federal law is aligned with the States' and the people in those States' desires so that the residents and businesses wouldn't have to worry about Federal prosecution. For those few States that have thus far maintained a policy of strict prohibition, my bill would change nothing. I think that this is a reasonable compromise that places the primary responsibility of police powers back in the States and the local communities that are most directly affected." (cont)

 

[BD9]

West Coast FC members may want to examine their meds.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/article131391629.html


Is your medical marijuana safe? UC Davis doctors say dangerous bacteria, fungi can lurk in pot

In uneasy news for medical marijuana users, UC Davis researchers have identified potentially lethal bacteria and mold on samples from 20 Northern California pot growers and dispensaries, leading the doctors to warn patients with weakened immune systems to avoid smoking, vaping or inhaling aerosolized cannabis.

“For the vast majority of cannabis users, this is not of great concern,” said Dr. George Thompson, professor in the UC Davis Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology. But those with weakened immune systems – such as from leukemia, lymphoma, AIDS or cancer treatments – could unwittingly be exposing themselves to serious lung infections when they smoke or vape medical marijuana.

“We strongly advise them to avoid it,” Thompson said.
The study’s findings were published online in a research letter in the journal Clinical Microbiology and Infection.

Here's an article from The Cannabist.

More on mold here:

http://www.thecannabist.co/2017/02/08/marijuana-mold-bacteria-california/73294/

Thompson says leukemia, lymphoma, AIDS or cancer patients who use contaminated cannabis could put themselves at risk of lung infections.

Patients with lowered immune systems are typically told to avoid cut flowers and unwashed fruits or vegetables because they may harbor potentially harmful bacteria and mold, or fungi. Thompson says marijuana also belongs in that group.

Researchers say the risk of infection is low for the majority of medical marijuana users.

4 Ways To Tell If You’ve Been Smoking Moldy Weed

http://herb.co/2016/12/27/smoking-moldy-weed/

 

[macbill]

First Participant Enrolled In First-Ever Trial Of Marijuana For Chronic PTSD In Veterans

On February 6, 2017, the first participant in the first-ever clinical trial of smoked marijuana (cannabis) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in U.S. veterans received cannabis at the Scottsdale Research Institute (SRI) in Phoenix, Ariz. This is the first time this investigational drug has been dispensed to a participant in the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)-sponsored clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of four different potencies of marijuana to manage symptoms of PTSD in 76 U.S. veterans.

 

[CarolKing]

This was dated the end of last month. Jan. 2017

The Representatives have one mission: to keep weed legal and make the industry better. THE STRANGER

Our top law-enforcement officer in America—a man with both a racist record and views on pot that are so archaic they make Ronald Reagan look like Rick Steves—will most likely be confirmed this month. Could things for our state's nascent legal pot industry get any worse? Should we all start stockpiling cheap ounces before the Feds shut everything down?

Not so fast. Despite the awfulness at the top of the ticket, November's election was a historic step forward for legal weed. Voters in four states legalized recreational weed, including the world's sixth largest economy:California. Voters in four other states decriminalized medical cannabis. That means a staggering 68 million Americans live in states with recreationally legal cannabis; add in the 135 million Americans with access to medical cannabis and you have 63 percent of the country living under some form of legalized cannabis.

That is a huge practical obstacle against Donald Trump and Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, the anti-pot attorney general nominee. But under the laws of the federal government, cannabis possession and use are still completely illegal. And even if the Feds don't try to shut down legal weed directly, there are plenty of other ways for Sessions to make it more difficult for the legal industry to operate effectively.


If the legal weed industry is going to thrive and start to tackle its many problems—and anyone watching knows there are problems with legal weed—the industry needs some high-powered activists in Washington. Enter the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, the first-ever organization of congressional representatives formally banding together with one mission: to keep weed legal in states where it's legal and make the industry better.

Two representatives—California representative Dana Rohrabacher and Oregon representative Earl Blumenauer—announced the caucus last month and, although the caucus hasn't had its first meeting yet, Seattle congressman Adam Smith says he is already in.

"I am deeply concerned, and we need Congress to do everything we can to try to protect states' rights," Smith said. "I am concerned [about] Sessions in particular, given what he thinks—there is certainly concern with what Sessions could do."


Blumenauer, speaking by phone with The Stranger, couldn't give a date for when the caucus would be formally announced but said he expects it to be early in this congressional session. Blumenauer said representatives from both sides of the aisle have already expressed interest in joining.

"I don't know if it's 10 or 100 [representatives], but I think there's interest and it will grow throughout this Congress as there is more momentum and marijuana businesses and advocates continue to be more organized," Blumenauer said.

If every representative followed the will of their state laws concerning cannabis, the Cannabis Caucus would have a membership in the hundreds—276 members of Congress come from states with some form of legalized cannabis. That's a hugely optimistic number, but there are signs that Congress is warming up to legal pot. The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, a budgetary amendment that prevents the Department of Justice from spending money to interfere with state medical cannabis laws, failed when it was first introduced in 2003, with only 152 yes votes, compared to 273 no votes. The amendment passed for the first time in 2014, with 219 yes votes, and support for the amendment increased by another 23 votes in 2015.


Blumenauer said that one of the most effective ways to petition Congress on cannabis policy is by small-business owners meeting in person with representatives in Washington, DC.

Kevin Oliver, owner of the farm Washington's Finest Cannabis and executive director of NORML Washington, said he plans to travel to DC to visit members of Congress and lobby on behalf of legal cannabis. Oliver said he worries a fight from the Feds will only delay the solutions to existing problems in the market.

"If [Sessions] goes ahead and sues the states [that have legal weed], you are looking at a very long and drawn-out battle that will be very unpopular," Oliver explained. "I don't see any great changes coming, as far as positives for the industry or the consumer."

If Sessions does go after Washington's legal cannabis, there is still the nuclear option, which The Stranger reported on recently. In a nutshell, Alison Holcomb, the architect of legal weed in Washington State, floated the idea that the state could bring the regulated market down, while also erasing any mention of marijuana from state law, to create the federal government's worst nightmare—because any crackdown on legal weed here would require local law enforcement's help. And if there were no laws about cannabis on the books, local law enforcement would not be able to help. But there are huge downsides to going nuclear. Let's hope it doesn't get to that.

 

[CarolKing]

February 10, 2017 from the U.S News and World Report
Attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions softened the tone of his at-times strident opposition to legalizing marijuana Tuesday during Senate confirmation proceedings.

But the GOP senator from Alabama – who in April said "good people don't smoke marijuana" – hinted that the status quo of broad state autonomy may change under his leadership of the Justice Department.

"I won't commit to never enforcing federal law," Sessions said Tuesday in response to a question about whether he would use the department's resources to investigate and prosecute "sick people" using cannabis in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

Sessions has been viewed with alarm by marijuana reform advocates who fear he could take a wrecking ball to the emerging multibillion-dollar, state-legal cannabis market by simply going to court and pointing out the businesses are illegal under federal law.

The senator's staff has been tight-lipped about how he would act as attorney general to President-elect Donald Trump, who has endorsed state cannabis autonomy while expressing personal opposition to legalization.


One enforcement option for Sessions would be withdrawing the Justice Department's 2013 Cole Memo that allowed recreational pot stores to open in Colorado and Washington state, followed by Alaska and Oregon and soon four more states.

Marijuana Is Harder Than Ever for Younger Teens to Find
Another option is vigorous enforcement of the Cole Memo's guidelines, which say federal authorities may intervene in response to triggers such as underage sales, distribution across state lines and increased drugged driving or other public health consequences.

"I think some of them are truly valuable in evaluating cases," Sessions said Tuesday about the guidelines. 'But fundamentally, the criticism I think that was legitimate is that they may not have been followed. And using good judgment about how to handle these cases will be a responsibility of mine. I know it won't be an easy decision, but I will try to do my duty in a fair and just way."


The precise effect of legalization has been hotly debated, though national and statestatistics show stable or declining teen pot use. Pot seizures and intercepts, meanwhile, have decreased for the Colorado-neighboring Kansas Highway Patrol and the national U.S. Postal Inspection Service.