Category: Law & Politics

(3,816 posts)

News and commentary on cannabis law and politics

April 23, 2014
04/23/2014
Minnesota: African Americans Six Times More Likely Than Whites to Be Arrested for Marijuana Possession

Minnesota: African Americans Six Times More Likely Than Whites to Be Arrested for Marijuana Possession

African Americans are arrested for marijuana possession offenses in Minnesota at a rate that is more than six-times higher than that of Caucasians, according to an analysis of 2011...
April 23, 2014
04/23/2014
Arizona Court Rules on DUI Law for Marijuana Users

Arizona Court Rules on DUI Law for Marijuana Users

Authorities can’t prosecute Arizona motorists for driving under the influence of marijuana, unless the person is impaired at the time of the stop, the state Supreme Court...
April 23, 2014
04/23/2014
German Law Professors Support Legalization

German Law Professors Support Legalization

A coalition of 122 German law professors, led by Lorenz Böllinger, professor of criminal law at Bremen University, are strongly pushing for the national legalization of cannabis...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
Washington State Marijuana Retail Licenses Lottery Rolls Out This Week

Washington State Marijuana Retail Licenses Lottery Rolls Out This Week

The Washington State Marijuana Retail Licenses Lottery begins today with a total of 334 retail licenses to be awarded. Washington State University’s Social and Economic Sciences Research Center will...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
How a Marijuana Derivative Stormed the Alabama State House

How a Marijuana Derivative Stormed the Alabama State House

A state historically as conservative as Alabama just legalized a marijuana derivative for medical research. The law authorizes the University of Alabama at Birmingham to begin researching CBD. The...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
Five Medical Marijuana Patients From Washington State Proceed to Trial in Federal Court

Five Medical Marijuana Patients From Washington State Proceed to Trial in Federal Court

Family members from a rural area of eastern Washington are expected to go to trial next month on federal marijuana charges, despite the Obama Administration’s repeated claims...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
Restrictions on Pot Edibles Clear Colorado House

Restrictions on Pot Edibles Clear Colorado House

Bills setting restrictions on marijuana edibles in Colorado have cleared the state House unanimously. The bills approved Monday would set possession limits for concentrated forms of marijuana such...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
Colorado Abandons Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Colorado Abandons Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Colorado appears to be giving up on its effort to crackdown on medical marijuana growers using a legal loophole to grow high numbers of pot plants without...
April 22, 2014
04/22/2014
State Senate Panel Advances Medical Marijuana Regulations

State Senate Panel Advances Medical Marijuana Regulations

Medical marijuana dispensaries in California would have to get state Public Health Department licenses, and doctors who recommend pot would face new standards for examining patients under...
April 21, 2014
04/21/2014
Marijuana Has Come a Long Way Since Last 4/20

Marijuana Has Come a Long Way Since Last 4/20

What a difference a year makes. From 4/20, 2013, to 4/20, 2014, marijuana has taken big steps out of the shadows of the black market and into...
April 21, 2014
04/21/2014
‘We’re Not Amsterdam’: Is Marijuana Tourism in Colorado a Myth?

‘We’re Not Amsterdam’: Is Marijuana Tourism in Colorado a Myth?

America’s most mammoth party this weekend may well be Denver’s 420 rally on Sunday, but Colorado’s legal pot law, so far, has not lured a sustained surge...
April 21, 2014
04/21/2014
Time to Take the High Road and Legalize Medical Cannabis at the Federal Level

Time to Take the High Road and Legalize Medical Cannabis at the Federal Level

Washington US Attorney Jenny Durkan assessed the state’s poorly-regulated medical cannabis program in 2013. “Not tenable“. Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC...
April 21, 2014
04/21/2014
Probation Department Ordered to Allow Probationer the Use of Medical Marijuana

Probation Department Ordered to Allow Probationer the Use of Medical Marijuana

I wrote about medical marijuana patient defendant Alexander Ayres last month as he took a very good plea – when balanced with the consequences of a trial...
April 18, 2014
04/18/2014
Nebraska in Top 10 Marijuana Strict States

Nebraska in Top 10 Marijuana Strict States

A list compiled by an addiction treatment organization lists Nebraska as one of the nation’s most strict when it comes to marijuana arrests. According to the data, Nebraska...
April 18, 2014
04/18/2014
Medical Marijuana Referendum Supporters Mobilize

Medical Marijuana Referendum Supporters Mobilize

Even though Election Day is more than six months away, Ben Pollara, a veteran of Florida political campaigns and manger for the pro-marijuana referendum group, said there...
April 18, 2014
04/18/2014
Canada’s New Marijuana Laws Set Stage for Growth

Canada’s New Marijuana Laws Set Stage for Growth

A change this month in Canada’s production and distribution laws made it legal for any licensed company to grow and ship medical marijuana to patients, and illegal...
April 18, 2014
04/18/2014
Update: Victory for Defendants in Two Medical Marijuana Cases – Americans for Safe Access

Update: Victory for Defendants in Two Medical Marijuana Cases – Americans for Safe Access

Over a handful of weeks three state legal medical cannabis patient defendants have had charges dropped against them in two different courts. Congratulations to Andrew Turner and...
April 17, 2014
04/17/2014
81% of Iowa Voters Support Medical Marijuana

81% of Iowa Voters Support Medical Marijuana

The Des Moines Register reports on a recent Quinnipiac Poll, 81 percent of Iowa voters said they would support medical marijuana should a patient need it per a doctor’s...
April 17, 2014
04/17/2014
Reno Takes Another Step Forward With Medical Marijuana Issue

Reno Takes Another Step Forward With Medical Marijuana Issue

Reno City Council unanimously approved the concept of the medical marijuana business Wednesday, directing city staff to come up with ordinances and zoning requirements to oversee dispensaries,...
April 17, 2014
04/17/2014
Medical Marijuana Update (2014.04.16)

Medical Marijuana Update (2014.04.16)

With a stroke of the governor’s pen, Maryland becomes the 21st medical marijuana state. Meanwhile, those CBD medical marijuana bills continue to move. And more. Let’s get...