Time for Marijuana To Be Legalized, Regulated

Aurora, CO -- While a proposal to track medical marijuana sales is far from being the unreasonable intrusion critics are making it out to be, the notion certainly points out how arcane the country’s anti-marijuana laws are.
An Associated Press story on Wednesday spelled out how state officials hope to monitor who’s buying medical marijuana and just how much. Some officials say they believe that some patients are buying up large quantities of pot and then selling it on the black market.
At this point, there’s really no way of knowing that. With the prolific number of medical marijuana dispensaries, it would be difficult to track such sales even with a control system.
Such regulated sales aren’t the beginning of some new era of Big Brother snooping. Registry of guns and other controlled substances and devices are long standing.
Medical patients currently can’t drag a single prescription for Vicodin from pharmacy to pharmacy, collecting huge quantities of the narcotic for personal use or to sell on the black market. There should be no expectation from medical marijuana users that their medicine should be treated any differently.


But since there is no agreed upon way of how to prescribe marijuana, it’s difficult to find an easy way to control and limit its sale to individual patients.
While video taping would do little to halt unscrupulous sales but only allow for prosecution after the fact, it makes more sense to use some kind of database that records the amount of medical marijuana purchased by a cardholder.


More to the point, this and other problems medical marijuana programs keep turning up make it clear that the age of marijuana prohibition needs to come to an end.
Each week, this burgeoning industry and the horrific news coming out of Mexico, where drug gangs continue to slaughter endless number of people over illegal marijuana sales to the United States, only highlight the obvious: it’s time to legalize and regulate the substance.
The United States spends more than $40 billion a year on uselessly trying to stop drugs from entering the country, stop people here from using them and warehousing those that are caught with them. Meanwhile, the illegal $400-billion-a-year industry grows each year as thousands of people die from thug fights in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
It’s a scourge unlike any other in our part of the world.


No one is asking for the United States to stand back and allow for a free-for-all in drug trade, but, clearly, current U.S. drug policy is beyond dysfunctional; it’s a major part of the problem.
Regulate these medicinal sales now, and then follow California’s lead toward decriminalization after that.


Source: Aurora Sentinel (CO)
Published: September 29, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Aurora Sentinel
Website: www.aurorasentinel.com

Marijuana Tracking on The Way in Colorado

Denver -- Colorado wants to set up a first-in-the-nation tracking system of medical marijuana purchases to deter people from buying vast amounts of pot and selling it on the black market.
Patients and marijuana advocates fear they will be harassed by a Big Brother-type intrusion as computers and video cameras monitor every ounce of pot sold in the state. Officials are also considering fingerprinting marijuana patients and keeping tabs on pot with radio-frequency devices.
"This is a matter of my functioning daily living," said Diane Bilyeu, a 49-year-old woman who sometimes consumes up to 2 grams of pot in a day to treat her chronic pain since losing her right arm and leg in a 1997 car accident. "Some days I need more or less. I don't know what business it is of the government's."
Officials say the regulations will provide basic protections to ensure that the system isn't being abused by drug dealers and users.
Medical marijuana has been legal in Colorado since 2000, but the recent proliferation of marijuana dispensaries prompted state lawmakers this year to pass a series of new regulations.
It is an issue playing out around the country with 14 states allowing medical marijuana and possibly more to come under November ballot measures.
No state has gone so far to track pot purchases from seed to sale like Colorado is proposing, and regulators say their tracking plans could be a model for other states.
Montana lawmakers are expected to consider medical marijuana tracking in that state when they convene next year.
Specifics of Colorado's tracking plans haven't yet been drafted. Regulators say they'll have a plan by January to use video surveillance and a central computer system to flag multiple purchases.
Other ideas include using biometrics to track patients, requiring a fingerprint scan before each sale to make sure the customer matches the marijuana card. They are also considering mandating that medical pot include radio-frequency identification devices, somewhat like coded tags on library books, to keep track of who's getting what.
In addition, tracking could include requiring dispensaries to capture patient driver's licenses on camera to record their purchases.
"It's akin to the protections that are in place for pharmacies, or a wagering line at a horse or dog track," said Matt Cook, the senior director for medical marijuana enforcement for the Colorado Department of Revenue. "You need to maintain the public confidence in what is going on, and the only way to do that is through these systems."
Cook said the state has no clue how much medical marijuana now is ending up on the black market because it lacks central tracking. An unscrupulous buyer could shop at several dispensaries and stock up on large quantities of pot, with no way to notice that Patient X is buying marijuana from multiple businesses.
Cook described a scenario where a patient card is used to buy marijuana several times in one day from dispensaries located far apart. Under the tracking system, the state would be alerted of possible fraud and would notify all dispensaries not to sell to that patient until the state can verify that it is indeed the same person buying all the pot, which would be done through video surveillance soon to be required at pot shops.
But patients are vowing to fight tracking plans. They're especially alarmed that state regulators have yet to issue specifics on how the tracking would work.
"It seems like there could be an ulterior motive here," said Randy James Martinez of Commerce City, 42, who uses medical marijuana for diabetic neuropathy. "Why do they need to keep such close track? Opiate abuse is far more prevalent and far more destructive than any marijuana use or abuse."
A public hearing is planned on the tracking rules in January, but the tracking wouldn't require lawmaker approval because it would be considered an agency regulation.
A marijuana activist who sits on the rulemaking panel, Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado, said patients and dispensaries fear an onerous intrusion and are still waiting to hear how tracking would work.
"Right now I'd say there's a lot of fear and a lot of confusion out there," Vicente said.
Associated Press Writer Amy Hanson in Helena, Mont., contributed to this report.


Source: Associated Press 
Author: Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press

Marijuana law in hands of voters

Next month, California voters will consider the biggest change in drug policy since Congress made marijuana possession a criminal offense in 1937.

Proposition 19, if passed, will not just legalize marijuana possession, it will empower municipalities to regulate and tax it. The state Legislature won't be able to stop it. Any community looking to avoid a property tax hike could open up its own cannabis revenue stream.

Marijuana would still be against federal law, which would put the Obama administration in a quandary: Should they send an army of federal agents to enforce a law state and local police won't, or turn their backs and let Californians choose their own intoxicants?

That conflict is not without precedent. Back in the 1920s, New York gave up on Prohibition before the rest of the country. While manufacturing and distribution of alcohol remained against federal law, it was legal under New York law. The feds mostly looked the other way and New Yorkers kept drinking, which is one reason the Prohibition-era crime wars were waged in Chicago and not New York.

Proposition 19 is no sure thing in California. Its opponents include the usual - establishment politicians, law enforcement and some religious groups - and the unexpected. Some entrepreneurs who have profited from the state's medical marijuana industry oppose it, and major funding for the opposition campaign is coming from California beer and liquor distributors.

Meanwhile, some Massachusetts voters will have their own say on the Bay State's marijuana policy. Question 5 on the Nov. 2 ballot in Wayland, Sudbury and Lincoln will ask voters' opinions on whether the Legislature should consider legalizing and regulating marijuana like it now regulates liquor.

Similar questions will face voters in several other state House and Senate districts across the state, including Wellesley, Hudson, Stow, Newton, Maynard and Medfield. Voters in other districts will be asked to weigh in on legalizing medical marijuana.

Those questions are all non-binding, of course, and if past history holds, even the legislators in those districts will ignore the results. The Massachusetts Legislature has for many years refused to even discuss marijuana policy. Two years ago, voters took the issue out of the Legislature's hands, approving the decriminalizing of marijuana. Question 2 passed with 65 percent of the vote.

If California leads the way, we wouldn't be surprised to see a binding legalization measure on the Massachusetts ballot in 2012.

Copyright 2010 The MetroWest Daily News

Marijuana Legalization Measure Gets Big Lift

By John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer 
Source: San Francisco Chronicle 

California -- In a dramatic shift of sentiment, nearly half of California's likely voters now want to legalize marijuana use in the state, according to a new Field Poll. "The numbers have flipped (on Proposition 19) since our July poll," said Mark DiCamillo, the poll's director. "That's a major change in the direction of public feelings on legalizing marijuana."
The survey results being released today are especially meaningful since the first ballots for the Nov. 2 election will be cast in a little more than a week from now, starting Oct. 4.
The poll also found that voters remain strongly opposed to Proposition 23, which would suspend AB32, the state law limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Proposition 25, which would end the two-thirds requirement to pass a state budget, holds a solid lead, but the race appears to be rapidly tightening.
But it's California's effort to become the first state in the nation to legalize the sale and use of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older that's being watched across the country.
Forty-nine percent of those likely voters now support Prop. 19, with 42 percent opposed. In a July poll, 48 percent of those surveyed planned to vote against the ballot initiative, with 44 percent backing legalization.
The reversal came despite a total absence of paid advertising for either side. Neither supporters nor opponents of the measure have raised much money for the Prop. 19 campaign, so far relying on word-of-mouth and media coverage to get their stories out.
That hasn't kept California voters from paying attention to the race, however. The poll found that 84 percent had seen or heard about the effort to legalize marijuana. By contrast, fewer than 40 percent of the voters had heard anything about the other two ballot measures in the survey.
Nine percent of voters are undecided on Prop. 19, which DiCamillo said isn't much of a surprise.
"Everyone knows about it, and it isn't that complicated an issue," he added.
For supporters, the bump in the numbers shows that their message is getting through.

California Measure Shows State’s Conflicted Link To Pot

San Francisco, CA -- It's the land of hippies, Humboldt County and Cheech and Chong. But in the state more closely associated with marijuana than any other, the ballot measure to legalize pot has exposed California's conflicted relationship with the drug.
Pot growers have opposed it. Some police have favored it. Polls show the public is deeply divided. Only politicians have lined up as expected: Nearly all major party candidates oppose the measure.
Meanwhile, hanging over the whole debate: the federal law banning marijuana, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled still applies regardless of how Californians vote.
As the Nov. 2 election nears, Proposition 19 has become about much more than the pros and cons of the drug itself. The campaigns for and against have framed the vote as a referendum on everything from jobs and taxes to crime and the environment.
The measure gained ground in a Field Poll released Sunday, pulling ahead 49 percent to 42 percent among likely voters. The poll also found that Californians have become steadily more permissive toward the drug since pollsters began quizzing state residents about their attitudes 40 years ago.
Proponents of say the measure is a way for the struggling state and its cities to raise badly needed funds. A legal pot industry, they say, would create jobs while undercutting violent criminals who profit off the illegal trade in the drug.
"I think it's a golden opportunity for California voters to strike a real blow against the (Mexican) drug cartels and drug gangs," said Joseph McNamara, who served as San Jose's police chief for about 15 years. "... That would be a greater blow than we ever struck during my 35 years in law enforcement."
Supporters, including a group of former and current law enforcement officials, have called attention to the failure of the so-called "War on Drugs" to put a dent in pot production in California, and they say police need to pursue more dangerous crimes.
To pull ahead, opponents will have to convince voters that legalized marijuana will create a greater public safety threat than keeping it illegal.
"If the price drops, more people are going to buy it. Low income people are going to buy marijuana instead of buying food, which happens with substance abusers," said Pleasant Hill police Chief Pete Dunbar, who also speaks for the California Police Chiefs' Association, one of many law enforcement groups against the measure.
As a result, he said, legalizing marijuana would only encourage the cycle of theft and violence driven by people who need money to buy drugs. They argue that the wording of the proposed law would compromise public safety by gutting restrictions on driving and going to work while high.
The state district attorneys' group has come out publicly against Proposition 19, as have many county governments, the editorial boards of the state's biggest newspapers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said the law would make California a "laughingstock."
Under the proposed law, adults 21 and older could possess up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use and grow gardens up to 25 square feet.
The proposal would allow cities and governments to decide for themselves whether to tax and allow pot sales. Opponents say a vague, disorganized patchwork of regulations would ensue and lead to chaos for police and courts.
Proposition 19 is the brainchild of Richard Lee, an Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur who spent more than $1 million to get the measure on the ballot. Also the founder of a trade school for aspiring marijuana growers and retailers, Lee has pushed legal marijuana as a boon to the state's economy and an important source of tax revenue to help close the state's massive budget deficit. The Service Employees International Union, the state's biggest union, has endorsed the measure as an economic booster.
But analysts have said the economic consequences of a legalized pot trade are difficult to predict. The state Board of Equalization last year said a marijuana legalization measure proposed in the state legislature could have brought California up to $1.4 billion in tax revenue. On Friday, the agency said Proposition 19, which leaves marijuana taxing decisions to local governments, contained too many unknowns for its analysts to estimate how much the measure might generate.
In July, the nonpartisan RAND Drug Policy Research Center forecast that legalizing marijuana could send prices plunging by as much as 90 percent. Lower prices could mean less tax revenue even as pot consumption rose, the group said.
The potential price drop has brought unexpected opposition, or at least suspicion, from rural pot farmers who fear the loss of their traditional, though legally risky, way of life.
Marijuana has become so crucial to rural economies along the state's North Coast that even some local government officials are working on plans for coping with a pot downturn.
The state's medical marijuana economy is thriving as hundreds of retail dispensaries across California sell pot to hundreds of thousands of qualified patients. And some medical marijuana supporters have said Proposition 19 could undermine the credibility of the drug as a medical treatment.
"I'm just against the whole concept of the recreational use of marijuana," said Dennis Peron, the San Francisco activist who was the driving force behind the 1996 ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Marcus Wohlsen,

Proposition 19: California's marijuana legalization debate

Source latimes


For the first time in almost four decades, Californians will vote on an initiative that would legalize possession and cultivation of marijuana. The measure, on the Nov. 2 ballot, would make it legal for anyone 21 or older to possess, share or transport up to an ounce of marijuana for personal use and to grow up to 25 square feet per residence or parcel. Cities and counties would be authorized to regulate and tax commercial marijuana production and sales.

California Action Alert: Schwarzenegger Must Decide Marijuana Infraction Measure Next Week!

 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

Outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has until Thursday, September 30, to decide the fate ofSenate Bill 1449 — which would reduce adult marijuana possession charges from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction.That gives reformers one final week to lobby for this sensible reform. If you have not yet contacted the Governor in support of this historic legislation, please do so today.

Senate Bill 1449 amends the California Health and Safety Code so that the adult possession of up to 28.5 grams of marijuana is classified as an infraction, punishable by no more than a $100 fine — no court appearance, no court costs, and no criminal record.

Passage of bill would save the state millions of dollars in court costs by keeping minor marijuana offenders out of court. The number of misdemeanor pot prosecutions has surged in recent years, reaching 61,388 in 2008. Adults who consume marijuana responsibly are not part of the crime problem, and the state should stop treating them like criminals.

Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has vetoed several different marijuana law reform bills in the past. Therefore, if you live in California, it is vital that you please e-mail or call Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office and urge him to sign SB 1449 into law. For your convenience, a pre-written letter will be e-mailed to the Governor when you visit NORML’s ‘Take Action’ Center here.


Source NORML

WAMMfest Celebrates 7th Year at San Lorenzo Park

Santa Cruz -- Yes, it's a party, but not that kind of party. The Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, or WAMM, has been around long enough that only the most clueless of locals mention its name in the same breath as Cheech & Chong.


The organization's annual public celebration, known as WAMMfest, will mark its seventh year on Saturday at San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz. And while WAMM becomes more and more a familiar part of the Santa Cruz landscape, the message that the event is not an excuse for weekend stoners to burn a blunt in public is still something the group feels compelled to repeat.
"It's not a smoke-out in the park," said WAMM's executive director and co-founder Valerie Corral. "We have a general rap that we give, that we have a cordoned-off area where patients can go to medicate, but you have to have your medical marijuana permit card."
The event takes place noon to 5 p.m. with several food and information booths. Live music from the Duck Island Stage includes well-known Santa Cruz musicians Keith Greeninger, Sherry Austin and Sharon Allen and the bands Wooster and Jason Bond & the Committee. The live entertainment will be hosted by KPIG's "Sleepy John" Sandidge.


WAMMfest represents the organization's most prominent opportunity to interact with the public. Corral said the collective's guiding motto is, "It's not about pot, it's about people." In that respect, WAMM offers health care services for people with chronic and terminal illnesses, including not only access to a safe supply of medicinal marijuana but the Design for Dying project that provides 24-hour service for patients facing death.


Corral stressed that the WAMMfest is a day devoted to fun and relaxation -- "We'll also have poetry and politics and games for everyone." But she said, the organization has to be mindful of security, and works to ensure recreational marijuana use is not part of the festivities.
"We keep it clear what our intentions are," she said, adding that WAMM has a security team on hand to keep things safe and stress-free for everyone. "But really, in recent years, we haven't had much problems with unauthorized marijuana smoking. We have more trouble with cigarette smokers."


If you go:
Wammfest 2010: the Life in Green
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: San Lorenzo Park, Santa Cruz
Cost: Donations requested
Details: http://www.wamm.org or 425-0580


Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Author: Wallace Baine
Copyright: 2010 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Website: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com

What Pot Legalization Campaign Really Threatens

By David Sirota, Creators Syndicate 


California -- Here's a fact that even drug policy reform advocates can acknowledge: California's 2010 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana does, indeed, pose a  real threat, as conservative culture warriors insist. But not to public health, as those conservatives claim.
According to most physicians, pot is less toxic -- and has more medicinal applications -- than a legal and more pervasive drug like alcohol. Whereas alcohol causes hundreds of annual overdose deaths, contributes to untold numbers of illnesses and is a major factor in violent crime, marijuana has never resulted in a fatal overdose and has not been systemically linked to major illness or violent crime.


So this ballot measure is no public health threat. If anything, it would give the millions of citizens who want to use inebriating substances a safer alternative to alcohol. Which, of course, gets to what this ballot initiative really endangers: alcohol industry profits.
That truth is underscored by news this week that the California Beer and Beverage Distributors is financing the campaign against the legalization initiative. This is the same group that bankrolled opposition to a 2008 ballot measure, which would have reduced penalties for marijuana possession.


By these actions, alcohol companies are admitting that more sensible drug policies could cut into their government-created monopoly on mind-altering substances.
Thus, they are fighting back -- and not just defensively. Unsatisfied with protecting turf in California, the alcohol industry is going on offense, as evidenced by a recent article inadvertently highlighting America’s inane double standards.
Apparently oblivious to the issues the California campaign is now raising, Businessweek just published an elated puff piece headlined "Keeping Pabst Blue Ribbon Cool." Touting the beer’s loyal following, the magazine quoted one PBR executive effusively praising a rate of alcohol consumption that would pickle the average liver.


"A lot of blue-collar workers I've talked to say 'I've been drinking a six-pack of Pabst, every single day, seven days a week, for 25 years,’" he gushed, while another executive added "It's, like, habitual -- it's part of their life. It's their lifestyle."
Discussing possible plans to "develop a whole beer brand around troops" -- one that devotes some proceeds to military organizations -- the executives said their vision is "that when you see Red White & Blue (beer) at your barbecue, you know that money's supporting people who have died for our country."


Imagine marijuana substituted for alcohol in this story. The article would be presented as a scary expose about workers smoking a daily dime-bag and marijuana growers' linking pot with the Army. Undoubtedly, such an article would be on the front page of every newspaper as cause for outrage. Yet, because this was about alcohol -- remember, a substance more toxic than marijuana -- it was buried in a financial magazine and depicted as something to extol.
Couple that absurd hypocrisy with the vociferous opposition to California's initiative, and we see the meta-message.


We are asked to believe that people drinking a daily six-pack for a quarter-century is not a lamentable sign of a health crisis, but instead a "lifestyle" triumph worthy of flag-colored celebration -- and we are expected to think that legalizing a safer alternative to this "lifestyle" is dangerous. Likewise, as laws obstruct veterans from obtaining doctor-prescribed marijuana for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, we are asked to believe that shotgunning cans of lager is the real way to "support our troops."
These are the delusions that a liquor-drenched culture prevents us from reconsidering. In a society drunk off of alcohol propaganda -- a society of presidential "beer summits" and sports stadiums named after beer companies -- we've had trouble separating fact from fiction. Should California pass its ballot initiative, perhaps a more sober and productive drug policy might finally become a reality.


David Sirota is the author of the best-selling books Hostile Takeover and The Uprising.
He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado and blogs at: http://www.OpenLeft.com/


Source: AlterNet (US)
Author: David Sirota, Creators Syndicate
Copyright: 2010 Independent Media Institute
Website: http://www.alternet.org/

Thousands Attend Marijuana Rally

By Christopher J. Girard, Globe Correspondent 

Boston, MA -- Thousands swarmed Boston Common yesterday afternoon, participating — to various degrees — in a rally advocating legalization of marijuana that featured live music and speakers, including Green-Rainbow gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein.

The 21st Annual Boston Freedom Rally, sponsored by MassCann, the state’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, was the second since the loosening of Massachusetts marijuana laws in January 2009.

The new law makes possession of up to an ounce of the drug punishable only by confiscation and a $100 fine. Under the former law, violators faced up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $500, and the listing of the offense on their criminal record.

MassCann and some attendees said yesterday that the relaxed penalties, approved by voters in 2008, are a step in the right direction, but that the state’s laws still demonize what they see as a benign and healing substance.

Park rangers and Boston police were on the scene, with much of the Charles Street side of the Common reserved for police parking.

Two people were arrested for possession with intent to distribute Class D marijuana and 34 civil citations were issued for possession of marijuana, said police spokesman Eddy Chrispin. Otherwise, there were no other reported crimes and the rally was orderly, Chrispin said.

Frank Capone of Medford, a member of MassCann’s board of directors, said the crowds at the rally were diverse.

“There are businesspeople here today, and there are moms and dads,’’ said Capone, 25, who was registering people to vote. “They’re all saying they don’t want to be called criminals anymore.’’

Cher Kore, who was roaming the Common collecting donations for MassCann, said legalizing and taxing marijuana can benefit smokers and nonsmokers alike.

“It’s about getting marijuana into the right hands to keep people safe,’’ Kore said. “We don’t have the money to afford universal health care right now, but if we taxed marijuana, we would.’’

In an interview behind the main stage after her speech, Stein said she agreed.

“We have a terrible problem with violence resulting from the black market of marijuana,’’ she said. “We are allowing millions to flow into the criminal economy. By bringing it into a legal framework, we can stop that money and use it in our communities.’’

Some posed for pictures with a 6-foot-long joint, held by Adam Fithian, who had made it from tomato cages and tape. Fithian is a singer for the band Prospect Hill, which was getting ready to perform at the rally for the third straight year.

Fithian supports legalization and said the movement needs to work hard to convince skeptics.

Nick Murray, a political science major at the University of New Hampshire, who drove to Boston to attend the rally, said civic engagement is crucial to the cause.

“Young people don’t vote enough,’’ Murray said. “That’s the way to change things.’’

Though the rally advocated ideas, many used it to further commerce. Dozens of vendors sold wares ranging from T-shirts to peanut butter sandwiches to hemp, pipes, and bongs.

Greg Berry and Ray Agrinzone of printer SmartyPrintz.com drove from Waterbury, Conn., to sell T-shirts reading: “Grassachusetts Welcomes You. Governor Deval Passit.’’ Berry and Agrinzone said they sold 400 shirts out of backpacks last year, but yesterday they paid MassCann $350 for a booth.

Some were on the Common mainly to soak up the scene and the late-summer sun.

“I don’t smoke,’’ said Stacy, an Emerson College sophomore who asked that her last name not be used. “I’m here for the jewelry and to take some good photos.’’

Globe correspondent Laura Krantz contributed to this report. 

Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Author: Christopher J. Girard, Globe Correspondent
Published: September 19, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Globe Newspaper Company
Website: boston.com

Phoenix Cardinals Give $10K Against Arizona Medical Marijuana Initiative

 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director 


My eyes rolled after reading about the NFL franchise Arizona Cardinals donating $10,000 to maintain the prohibition against physicians recommending medical cannabis based on the bizarre and dishonest excuse that they want a ‘Drug-Free Arizona’. Really? Drug-free?!
Does this mean that this ownership group, which owns other professional sport franchises in Phoenix, is against profiting from the sales of one of the most deadly and addictive ‘drugs’ called beer? I think not…
Also, one would think that the Arizona Cardinal’s ownership would be greater students of recent history and more respectful of the citizen’s will in Arizona, who’ve already twice passed medical cannabis initiatives in 1996 and 1998 (which the legislature recklessly disregarded and never implemented).


Phoenix Business Journal
The Arizona Cardinals are opposing Proposition 203 which could make medical marijuana legal in the state and let chronically ill or severe pain patients buy small amounts of pot from state licensed clinics with a doctor’s approval.
The Cardinals gave $10,000 to Keep AZ Drug Free today, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office.
That group opposes 203 saying it could lead to more illegal drug use.
Cardinals team President Michael Bidwill is listed by the anti-203 group as one of the main Valley leaders opposed to medical marijuana legalization. USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo also is part of the Keep AZ Drug Free group’s efforts.
Arizona voters will decide Prop. 203’s fate in November Arizona would be the 15th state to allow for medical marijuana.
The Cardinals were not able to provide comment on their $10,000 contribution Wednesday evening. 


Souce NORML 

Marijuana dispensaries targeted by county

Medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated Orange County could be banned under a proposed 45-day moratorium as the county prepares for the possible legalization of marijuana by voters in November’s statewide election.

The county ordinance, which would ban new dispensaries and dispensaries without permits, must be approved by 4/5 of the board of supervisors. The board meets Tuesday to debate the issue.

Currently, Orange County does not have any laws on the books for regulating the permitting or establishment of medical marijuana collectives, but the California Attorney General set up guidelines which require dispensaries register as a non-profit, obtain a seller’s permit, and supply security among other conditions.

According to county staffers, an estimated 11 medical marijuana dispensaries are operating in unincorporated Orange County. None of the cooperatives are permitted under California Attorney General guidelines, according to a county staff report, which would make them illegal under the moratorium, and subject to code enforcement and criminal prosecution.

If approved, the county’s moratorium – which includes medical marijuana delivery services – would run at least past California’s Nov. 2 election, which will put Prop. 19 – and its proposed legalization of marijuana – up to a vote by California voters.

Prop. 19 would legalize the use and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use for people over the age of 21 – and allow local governments to regulate and tax businesses that sell marijuana.

Using and growing marijuana in non-public places would also be allowed under Prop. 19.

The idea of a temporary moratorium, according to county staffers, is to give the county time to study the issue and come up with a plan on how to regulate medical marijuana cooperatives. The ordinance could be extended up to an additional ten months and 15 days beyond the original 45 days.

Still at issue, however, is how the inherent conflict with federal law – which bans the use, possession, and sale of marijuana – will be resolved.

California voters legalized medical marijuana in 1996, making it the first medical marijuana state, but the law did not police dispensaries or set up a system to hand out the drugs.

In 2003, the state Legislature passed the Medical Marijuana Program Act, which set up an identification system for medical marijuana users which allowed qualified patients and their primary caregivers to obtain medical marijuana.

The law, however, does not allow dispensaries to sell marijuana.

“It’s a battle between the implied interpretation of the law and the direct interpretation of the law,” said Anthony Curiale, a Brea-based attorney for medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in America, with 16.7 million Americans using marijuana at least once in the past month, according to a 2009 report by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Marijuana use in the United States is up eight percent from 2008, a trend which the report says may be to blame by legalization campaigns, so called “medical marijuana” and a flood of pro-drug messages in pop culture.

Law enforcement officials accuse many dispensaries of hiding behind the guise of providing medicine to patients to operate highly profitable businesses that can pull in millions of dollars of profit a year.

Dispensaries, according to the California Police Chiefs Association, have been tied to organized criminal gangs and their inventory of cash and drugs have made them attractive targets for armed robbers and burglars.

Last month, a triple murder in West Hollywood was blamed on a marijuana heist. A La Habra woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale. Her boyfriend was arrested on suspicion of gunning down three men because he didn’t want to pay for the marijuana they had bought from a local collective.

Other dispensaries owners have been attacked and murdered at their storefronts and homes, according to the police chiefs association.

Curiale, the medical marijuana dispensaries attorney, said medical marijuana collectives aren’t any different from banks, liquor stores and pharmacies which regularly get held up by robbers after money.

Sheriff’s officials declined through a spokesman to comment for this article.

Medical marijuana access has been growing since the Obama administration last year said people complying with state medical marijuana laws would no longer be subjected to federal drug raids and prosecution.

With no state oversight, cities and other local jurisdictions have been forced to police it themselves.

How that is done, and the logic behind it, has run the gamut. In Oakland, lawmakers commanded strict oversight of dispensaries, telling them where and how they can operate. The city of Los Angeles took a much more laisser-faire approach. The result – dispensaries popped up in mind-blowing numbers.

Then, the Los Angeles City Council had second thoughts, limiting the number of dispensaries to 70 and laying down the law on where and how they can operate.

With the new strict rules in place, Los Angeles city officials announced last month that only 41 marijuana dispensaries are eligible to stay in business.

“The problem with the cities is they take a bludgeon approach when what should be used is a scalpel,” said Curiale. “The answer is not to ban medical marijuana. The answer is to regulate medical marijuana.”

Any violation of Orange County’s emergency marijuana collective ordinance would be a misdemeanor.

The Board of Supervisors meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hall of Administration at 333 W. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana.

Source: totalbuzz.ocregister

Marijuana's future has an upscale look

By Phil Bronstein 

When it comes to legalizing pot, there's no stemming the inevitable. Whatever happens this November with California's Proposition 19, which essentially would decriminalize the drug, marijuana will end up being legit.
Whether you like it or not.


Jerry Brown and Barack Obama are against it - improbably, given their histories. Financier George Soros and Men's Wearhouse thread peddler George Zimmer are for it. Libertarians, a colleague reminded me, "are just Republicans who smoke pot."


But politics often are irrelevant when cultural tectonic plates are shifting.
Walk into the chic, slickly modern shop at Eighth and Mission, past the doorwoman. Eugene, a personal shopper consultant, waves at you from behind the counter. The white oak cabinetry looks as comfy and rich as caramel.
Merchandise is stored in apothecary jars with scripted labels. Data about the day's best offerings scroll across high-tech LED displays.
Inside the stylishly lit custom display cases, you'd expect Prada, Cartier or Hermes. But it's just clumps of pot - medical marijuana, in this case, cosseted up like exotic eggs.


This is SPARC (San Francisco Patient and Resource Center), a nonprofit, community-minded medical marijuana dispensary. But in the reflection of the slightly smoked windows, with a design that mimics the cannabis gene, you can also see weed's upscale commercial future.
"Venture capitalists are certainly reaching out, trying to figure out what the world will look like in six months," SPARC lawyer and consultant David Owen told me. "I have no doubt if and when recreational cannabis becomes legal that business will attract people with money."
Pot derivatives could be the new plastics. Everyone ends up loaded.
"I had to take a cash (cultivation) business and make it legitimate after George Bush left office," says SPARC co-owner and longtime grower Erich Pearson, who also runs an Oakland group that pairs local pot dispensaries with "socially conscious" investors.


The earth is moving in rural areas as well. "Serious people trying to start a niche market as brokers" approached Kathleen Archer, a TV producer who spent a year outside Healdsburg growing product for medical outlets. One was a woman who had worked 20 years for Brooks Bros. clothiers.
Nothing says unavoidable like a trend that has become truly trendy.
Down in Soquel, outside Santa Cruz, a dispensary is offering pot-infused ice cream. Crème de Canna. Really. There are now ganja yoga classes with joints to help limber up your joints before class.
And any modern trend needs a social media component. Seshroulette is a new, anonymous, live video-chatting service that allows you to talk with a stream of other stoned people. PriceofWeed.com is a website that crowdsources the going prices of pot in cities everywhere and charts them on a Google map.


This is a fun trip. But if California is first to have a crime-free sativa tea party all its own, "We'll have to go back to the drawing board," says SPARC's Peterson. That recalculation includes billions in potential tax revenues to a strangling state budget.
Ironically, the people who will get most hosed by legal pot are the poor who really need it for serious pain and suffering, not for recreational gelato. Those down-and-outers will still be taxed on what they pay for.
What's the '60s saying? Pot will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no pot.


Source: sfgate

'Cannabis Car' maker has high hopes

The vehicle is nicknamed the "Cannabis Car." Its body panels are composed of an impact-resistant composite material produced hemp of the cannabis family.

Calgary-based Motive Industries unveiled the official design for the car officially named the Kestrel.

If someone asks what these drivers have been smoking they can say nothing because the four-passenger Kestrel is an electric car. It is being produced for corporate and government fleets in Canada, but Motive is seeking manufacturing partners to license the technology.

Read more: The vehicle is nicknamed the "Cannabis Car." Its body panels are composed of an impact-resistant composite material produced hemp of the cannabis family.

Calgary-based Motive Industries unveiled the official design for the car officially named the Kestrel.

If someone asks what these drivers have been smoking they can say nothing because the four-passenger Kestrel is an electric car. It is being produced for corporate and government fleets in Canada, but Motive is seeking manufacturing partners to license the technology.

Read more: newsobserver