Category: Law & Politics

(3,816 posts)

News and commentary on cannabis law and politics

July 22, 2013
07/22/2013
States Require Testing Marijuana for Safety, Potency

States Require Testing Marijuana for Safety, Potency

Just as marijuana reform advocates predicted, marijuana in a legal market will be safer for users. In response to Colorado and Washington’s legalization laws, laboratories are springing...
July 22, 2013
07/22/2013
Chronicle Book Review: Too High to Fail

Chronicle Book Review: Too High to Fail

Doug Fine, Too High to Fail: Cannabis and the New Green Economic Revolution (2012, Gotham Books, 319 pp., $11.20 HB, $12.39 PB Amazon) [Ed: This review was based on...
July 22, 2013
07/22/2013
Nevada Medical Marijuana Users Still Worry About DUI

Nevada Medical Marijuana Users Still Worry About DUI

Nevada medical marijuana users are concerned as the state’s dispensaries open for business in 2014 that they could easily violate Nevada’s DUI standard; driving with more than 2...
July 22, 2013
07/22/2013
NYT: As a Religion, Marijuana-Infused Faith Pushes Limits

NYT: As a Religion, Marijuana-Infused Faith Pushes Limits

In an article in New York Times, Mark Oppenheimer reports the imprisonment of Roger Christie, and describes Hawaii’s THC Ministry founded by Mr. Christie. He points out...
July 22, 2013
07/22/2013
With Legalization Looming, Lessons from the Netherlands

With Legalization Looming, Lessons from the Netherlands

The US states of Colorado and Washington voted last year to legalize marijuana and are moving forward toward implementing legalization. Activists in several states are lining up...
July 19, 2013
07/19/2013
MI Patients Deserve Access to All Forms of Medical Marijuana

MI Patients Deserve Access to All Forms of Medical Marijuana

Many of Michigan’s medical marijuana patients have conditions that limit their ability to smoke marijuana. Often, doctors prefer that patients avoid smoking entirely. However, a recent decision by the...
July 19, 2013
07/19/2013
Former President of Mexico: End Marijuana Prohibition Now

Former President of Mexico: End Marijuana Prohibition Now

Our friends at High Times scored a really provocative and informative interview with Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, where Mr. Fox demonstrates both a wide range of knowledge about...
July 19, 2013
07/19/2013
How Much Marijuana Prohibition Costs You, the Taxpayer

How Much Marijuana Prohibition Costs You, the Taxpayer

In a great article on policymic, Anthony Papastrat examines the number of people incarcerated for marijuana during 2011 and the costs associated with housing them. The punch...
July 19, 2013
07/19/2013
Chronicle Book Review Essay: Murder and Mayhem in Mexico

Chronicle Book Review Essay: Murder and Mayhem in Mexico

The Executioner’s Men: Los Zetas, Rogue Soldiers, Criminal Entrepreneurs, and the Shadow State They Created, by George Grayson and Samuel Logan (2013, Transaction Publishers, 338 pp., $28.89...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Medical Marijuana Update (2013.07.17)

Medical Marijuana Update (2013.07.17)

A dispensary opens in Arizona as more get shut down in California and more California communities move to shut them down or keep them out. There’s more...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Boulder City Council Comes to Its Senses on Marijuana Tax

Boulder City Council Comes to Its Senses on Marijuana Tax

Boulder’s city council voted down a proposed additional 10% sales tax, because the city will receive funds from the state marijuana tax. A proposed 15% excise tax...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Reality Check for Anti-Marijuana Group: Legalization Coming

Reality Check for Anti-Marijuana Group: Legalization Coming

The so-called Partnership for a Drug-Free America (PDFA) has been a prolific, yet impotent, anti-marijuana propaganda machine since its inception in the mid 1980′s under President...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Medical Marijuana Ballot Title Submitted in Arkansas, Again

Medical Marijuana Ballot Title Submitted in Arkansas, Again

Arkansans for Compassionate Care submitted a ballot title, the “Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act”, to Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. McDaniel has already rejected medical marijuana legislation five times,...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Arizona Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Thriving

Arizona Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Thriving

Since August 2012, Arizona has seen 98 registration certificates awarded for those wanting to open medical marijuana dispensaries. Last December saw the opening of the first dispensary,...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
Denver Officials Want Legal Marijuana to Pay for Everything

Denver Officials Want Legal Marijuana to Pay for Everything

In an excellent article on the Denver Post, Vincent Carrol explains that officials are waiting to pounce on the marijuana industry like a cash cow, and points...
July 18, 2013
07/18/2013
This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories (2013.07.16)

This Week’s Corrupt Cops Stories (2013.07.16)

Two Virginia top cops copped to drug corruption offenses this past week, and that’s just for starters. There is more as well. Let’s get to it: In...
July 17, 2013
07/17/2013
Seattle Limits Marijuana Grows, WA Adviser Considers THC Cap

Seattle Limits Marijuana Grows, WA Adviser Considers THC Cap

In an article on seattlepi.com, Jake Ellison notes that Washington’s Liquor Control Board has set no limits on the size of recreational marijuana grows. As far as...
July 17, 2013
07/17/2013
Will Cartel Leader’s Capture Reduce Violence or Drug Abuse?

Will Cartel Leader’s Capture Reduce Violence or Drug Abuse?

The leader of Mexico’s brutal Zetas organization has been captured in northern Mexico, authorities announced. According to the Associated Press: Trevino Morales, 40, was captured by Mexican Marines...
July 17, 2013
07/17/2013
Michigan House Approves Welfare Drug Test Bill

Michigan House Approves Welfare Drug Test Bill

The Republican-controlled Michigan House Friday approved a bill that would allow for the suspicion-based drug testing of welfare recipients. The bill, House Bill 4118, now heads to the...
July 17, 2013
07/17/2013
Seattle to Ticket for Smoking Marijuana in Public. Sometime

Seattle to Ticket for Smoking Marijuana in Public. Sometime

Since the passage of I-502, Seattle residents caught smoking marijuana in public have received only warnings from police. The city is expected to enact an ordinance to...