Tag: Marijuana Reform (page 5)

Above: Mitt Romney on marijuana in May, 2012

Below is a clip of Romney in 2007, "I believe marijuana should be illegal in our country." He says cancer patients don't need marijuana, "there are other sources of pain management that work entirely effectively. He says marijuana legalization "is the wrong way to go. We need less drugs in our society" and "I would oppose the legalization of marijuana." [More...]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a legislative proposal that would make marijuana possession in public a violation punishable by a fine, and enforced via a summons in lieu of arrest. That's the current law in New York for personal possession of small amounts of marijuana (up to an ounce) not in public view.

Smoking marijuana in public would remain a misdemeanor. But Cuomo endorsed the police department's use of stop and frisk.

“Stop-and-frisk is a well-accepted police strategy all across the country,” the governor said in announcing his legislative proposal yesterday.

Mayor Bloomberg is supporting Cuomo's bill. Why go halfway? Neither public nor private possession of marijuana should be a violation or a crime. [More...]

Reuters reports the ballot initiative in Colorado to legalize marijuana could make or break Obama's chances in the state. Colorado is considered a swing-state for Obama.

At issue is whether Obama will get a boost from young voters expected to be among the most enthusiastic backers of a Colorado ballot initiative that would legalize possession of up to an ounce of pot for recreational use - and give the state the most liberal marijuana law in the nation.

Young voters are not the only Coloradans who believe the initiative should be passed: [More...]

The Colorado Secretary of State confirmed today that the initiative to legalize adult personal possession and use of marijuana has obtained enough signatures to be on the November ballot.

The measure would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 years and older. It would also allow for people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their home. Special stores would be allowed to sell marijuana, but communities would also have the option of banning those businesses.

More here. The taxed proceeds will go to benefit education.

The full text of the initiative is here.

President Obama held an online forum last night organized by You Tube and Google+. Readers submitted questions via You Tube and text. They also voted on the questions submitted by others. Obama took questions from five people via You Tube.

Those were five lucky people: According to the White House' YouTube channel, almost 230,000 people submitted 133,183 questions, and 1.6 million people gave those questions an up or down vote.

Here's how it worked: [More...}

Starting at 6:00 am this morning, the DEA and other agencies began raiding 25 residences in Denver and nearby cities for marijuana. It's part of Operation Sweet Leaf. So far, more than 1,000 plants have been seized. A dozen people have been arrested, and 7 children have been turned over to Social Services. More arrests are expected.

Authorities say this has nothing to do with medical marijuana.

Investigators say the raids were on a single organization growing marijuana in Colorado and then shipping it to as many as eight other states. The DEA, U.S. Postal Service and IRS are all involved in the investigation as well. The investigation does not involved marijuana grown for alleged medicinal uses.

Update: The cases are being brought in state, not federal court. Charges include racketeering, money laundering and drugs.

Agencies involved:

The joint investigation included the North Metro Drug Task Force, Drug Enforcement Agency, Internal Revenue Service, United States Postal Service, South Metro Drug Task Force, Boulder County Drug Task Force, Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Weld County Sheriff’s Office, Denver Police Department Narcotics Unit and Summit County Sheriff’s Office.

More than 159,000 signatures were delivered to the Colorado Secretary of State today for the statewide legalization of marijuana initiative. Only 86,500 signatures are needed to get the initiative on the 2012 ballot.

The initiative is the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012, available here.

In a nutshell,

The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 makes the adult use of marijuana legal, establishes a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol, and allows for the cultivation of industrial hemp.

If enacted, Colorado will be the first state to legalize adult marijuana use and possession. For more, go to Regulate Marijuana.

The IRS has now jumped into the fray of medical marijuana businesses -- including dispensaries operating legally under the laws of their states.

The IRS is asserting that dispensaries cannot deduct ordinary business expenses like salaries, rent and security costs.

Here are the letters the IRS has sent. Its position: [More...]

Medical marijuana is legal in Colorado, as the result of a constitutional amendment passed in 2000. In 2005, Denver passed an ordinance legalizing adult possession of up to an ounce of medical marijuana. Because the state has not followed suit, and still criminalizes non-medical possession by a $100 fine, in 2007, Denver passed an ordinance designating private adult marijuana possession the city's "lowest law enforcement priority." A city panel was to be created to ensure the ordinance was implemented "to the greatest extent possible."

Papa John's is a local pizza delivery company. On Friday night, a customer who lived in Aurora, a city next to Denver, ordered a pizza from Papa Johns. The delivery guy called the police after dropping off the pizza because he smelled marijuana at the house. The delivery guy said he was concerned because the man's daughter was in the house.

The customer had a valid medical marijuana card. The Aurora police came to his house on a child welfare check. They searched his house. No charges were filed. Papa John's says their delivery guy did the right thing. [More...]

There are lots of newspapers reporting that today the DEA denied a petition to reclassify Marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance (like Heroin)to a lesser schedule. I wish they had taken the time (or figured out how) to access the actual ruling. Nor did the DEA or DOJ put out a news release that I could find.

Here it is, published in today's Federal Register. (Text version here, a faster loading pdf version here.) On the finding that marijuana has no accepted medical use: [More...]

Colorado marijuana activists officially launched a petition drive yesterday to get an initiative on the 2012 ballot to amend the Colorado Constitution to legalize adult possession of marijuana for personal use.

The initiative is called The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012 and you can read the text here.

86,000 valid signatures are needed to make the ballot, a relatively small number. In 2006, Colorado voters rejected a similar initiative. Will the growth and acceptance of medical marijuana in the state change the result this time around?

Key provisions in the initiative: [More...]

The Department of Justice issued a new memo (available here) to federal prosecutors yesterday further "clarifying" its 2009 Ogden Memorandum. The Odgen memorandum (available here) said federal resources should not be used to prosecute those in "clear and unambiguous" compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

Sorry, the new memo says, that's not what we meant. We only meant federal resources shouldn't be used to prosecute cancer patients and other seriously ill people who used marijuana in compliance with state law. We never meant to provide a shield for those who supply medical marijuana to those in full compliance with state law.[More...]