Friday 31 October 2014
Chef stands up for cannabis users in court
A HEAD chef at a Michellin-starred restaurant grew cannabis alongside his fruit and vegetables.
Richard Leonard, 43, grew the plant in a greenhouse alongside his tomatoes at his home in West Hoathly, near Cuckfield.
Mr Leonard, who worked at the lauded Catt Inn in West Hoathly, said he worked up to 70 hours a week and used the cannabis to unwind.
He said everything he did was “organic and self-sufficient, including the home-grown cannabis” and he wanted to stand up and represent the “tens of thousands” of cannabis users.
He added: “I can’t see that I’m causing any harm to anyone else buying it.”
Police raided his home on October 2 and discovered seven plants inside a rear-garden plastic greenhouse. Mr Leonard was arrested at a nearby pub and provided police with a front door key to the home, where a further 13 plants, heat lamps and blackout blinds were found.
He handed in his notice at the Catt Inn before being arrested.
Christos Christou, defending, said: “The defendant is a chef, but is due to commence employment at a charity establishment to work with children with learning difficulties.
“In his 30s he was drinking heavily every night – often consuming half a bottle of gin but he has since turned to cannabis to deal with stress and anxiety.
“The reason he grew cannabis at home is because he didn’t want to involve himself in the criminal activity of going out on to the streets to buy it.
“The plants were grown in his home and in the soil in the garden alongside tomatoes and other vegetables.
“He is now due to go to his doctor to seek alternative medication.
“His career up to now has been very good – this was simply a minor blip.”
Mr Leonard admitted a charge of producing the class B drug at Crawley Magistrates’ Court. He was fined £340 and ordered to pay £119 costs.
Chef stands up for cannabis users in court
Getting the straight dope on marijuana use
South Glens Falls >> With marijuana now legal in several states, information and misinformation about the drug are swirling like smoke; so the Community Coalition for Family Wellness hopes to provide resources that promote safety and health, especially for youth. The school district’s Oct. 29 Parent University night, called “Marijuana, What’s the Big Deal?”, gave families, students, faculty and community partners a look at current medical, sociological and legal aspects of cannabis use in teenagers.
The evening’s presenters stressed that although nationwide attitudes towards marijuana use are shifting toward acceptance, concerns remain due to its effect on the developing brain.
Community Coalition for Family Wellness Coordinator Jenn Wood shared results from 2011 and 2014 drug-use surveys of South Glens Falls High School students. Alcohol was the most highly used substance in the past month from the survey date, with 19 percent of students from 7th to 12th grade drinking. Marijuana came next, with 13 percent of those students using it in the past month. Most other drugs, from tobacco to Ecstacy, were used by 1 percent to 4 percent of the students in the past month. No students reported using cocaine, methamphetamines or heroin in that past month.
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“Tonight, we will focus on marijuana’s impact on youth,” Wood said. “Altering one’s perception of reality can increase the risk of harm. Also, teen brains are more vulnerable to addiction than adult brains. We want students to be able to make evidence-based decisions.”
The survey results showed that eighth-graders are especially prone to using alcohol and marijuana at a stage in adolescence where they have more responsibilities and where their peer group has great influence.
“That’s a risky time for kids,” Wood said.
Looking at the district’s older students, the coalition found 33 percent of 11th-graders say their friends think it’s fine to smoke marijuana. Some 63 percent of 12th-graders say it’s easy to get pot, and 47 percent of 12th-graders know at least one adult who smokes marijuana.
To get a real teenager’s-eye view of marijuana, the coalition assembled its South Glens Falls High School Youth Panel, comprising seniors Ryan Hay and Teyler Nassivera; juniors Brittany Kenny and Jake Kerr; and freshman Brianna Harrington, for the Parent University event. These students spoke about their brushes with marijuana and thoughts on drug use.
In response to a question on how they reacted to the possibility of using marijuana, Harrington replied that her long-term life goals for college, a job and sports kept her away from pot.
Nassivera said, “I don’t want to fall short of the person I wish to be.”
Hay is living up to his parents’ standards and high expectations for him, as well as setting a good example for younger children.
The students praised the school’s sports programs, coaches and teachers as strong support. Disrespect for those coaches and teachers, as well as peer pressure and teasing, could make staying away from pot a challenge.
When asked whether their parents spoke to them about drugs, the students said both yes and no.
“I think it was more me finding out about things and coming home to tell my parents about drugs,” Harrington said.
Nassivera said her own parents hadn’t talked with her, but a family friend had.
When asked how to tell that someone was getting into drugs, the students responded readily. Harrington said the transitions into middle school and then high school could prompt a switch into a new group of friends. If the student is closed off from old friends, Kenny said, that’s a sign of change.
An audience member said, “Look out for excessive use of Febreeze. If a student’s car starts smelling very floral, that could be a sign.”
The event’s three professional presenters agreed that marijuana can have ill effects on young people.
Saratoga County Sheriff’s Dept. Deputy Nic Denno of the K9 Unit said, “We’re out on the street, involved with the sellers and users of the drug. Marijuana is dangerous; it has an impact on decision-making.”
He discussed possession, constructive possession and driving while under the influence of drugs, an issue he sees too often.
Saratoga County Assistant District Attorney John Leggett spoke about felony crimes involving marijuana sales and possession. His office becomes involves after an arrest, as the second stage in the criminal justice process.
“A drug felony conviction can lead to jail time and probation,” he said. “Marijuana use is also often a nexus with other crimes, such as larcenies and burglaries to get funds to support the habit. Impaired driving is another serious issue.”
St. Peter’s Addiction Recovery Center Program Manager Bill Bean, who has worked in substance abuse counseling for 30 years, spoke about the average age at which people begin to use marijuana: 12. Predisposition, challenging family situations and difficult social situations can lead to this first use and can continue to overuse and abuse.
“Some kids have found their way through the door of the recovery center here with their heels dragging in the dirt,” he said.
Since marijuana’s main mind-altering ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, is fat-soluable, it stays in the body for a long while, especially in the myelin of nerves, he said. Long-term pot users can’t handle stress, emotions or decisions.
“We tell kids to be good consumers, to do the research,” he said. “Read a lot of articles from many publications.”
Kristen Chilson and her brother, Eric Bain, attended the Parent University event along with about 50 other people. The siblings both have middle-schoolers and had come to learn more about marijuana issues at that age.
“My kid doesn’t tell me anything,” Bain said, smiling.
They agreed that the evening was informative and planned to talk with their kids at home.
Patty Kilgore, director of counseling services at the Prevention Council, a member of the coalition, also attended. She said she was pleased at the turnout, which she attributed to word of mouth from parent to parent.
“The panel of kids was helpful,” she said. “People could see that these students weren’t using marijuana and that they were happy. I wish more parents would hear that message. We’re being flooded with information on legalization, but the impact of marijuana in terms of learning lasts. It’s harmful for teenagers.”
Getting the straight dope on marijuana use
Police seize marijuana-infused candy in Prince George's
Prince George’s County police said Friday the department had seized several boxes of candy infused with marijuana, and wanted to alert the public to be on the lookout for such items at Halloween.
Police said the candy included taffy, mint chocolate bars, blueberry chocolate bars and banana-walnut chocolate bars. Officials said each piece of the candy contained 100 milligrams of THC — a principal ingredient found in the Cannabis plant.
“This is the first time we’ve seen … this type of marijuana-infused product in Prince George’s County,” said Captain Chuck Hamby, assistant commander of the county’s Narcotic Enforcement Division.
The boxes came to the county from the west coast and Colorado, according to officials with the narcotic division and the Maryland Area Drug Task Force.
Hamby did not give details of how the items were seized, saying it was the subject of an ongoing investigation
Hamby said there was no indication the candy was intended to be handed out at Halloween, but given the holiday, police wanted to make the public aware.
“We felt it important to let our community know that products like this exist, so parents and guardians ensure the candy doesn’t somehow wind up in their children’s Halloween candy bag,” he said.
Copyright © 2014, The Baltimore Sun
Police seize marijuana-infused candy in Prince George's
CHP Finds Marijuana Plants, Rifle In Home Of Wheelie-Popping Brentwood Motorcyclist
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SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — A Brentwood man who was arrested on Wednesday in a stunt motorcycle riding event on a state freeway was arrested on separate charges on Thursday after officers found 90 marijuana plants and rifle in his home, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said Friday.
CHP officers located the marijuana and the loaded rifle on Thursday when they served a search warrant at the Brentwood home of 32-year-old Guruardas Singh Khalsa, Officer Ross Lee said.
The CHP arrested Khalsa on Wednesday in an incident on Oct. 11 when about 50 motorcyclists drove recklessly, some doing wheelies, and failed to obey an officer’s order to stop on Interstate Highway 680 from Milpitas to San Jose, Lee said.
Officers will ask the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to charge Khalsa with felony counts of illegal marijuana cultivation and possession of a loaded firearm, Officer Ross Lee said.
Khalsa, who allegedly filmed a video of the Oct. 11 ride and posted it on YouTube, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of felony being an accessory after the fact in the stunt driving and for misdemeanor obstructing a police officer, the CHP said.
On Thursday, officers from CHP’s Investigative Services Unit obtained a search warrant looking for evidence of the video taken of the ride. While they were looking inside Khalsa’s home, officers discovered the estimated 90 cannabis plants growing in a portion of the house and the rifle, Lee said.
Investigators learned that Khalsa allegedly had GoPro video cameras, one mounted on the windshield of his motorcycle and another on his helmet, when the video of the ride was taken on I-680, according to Lee.
The CHP also learned, based on postings Khalsa made online, that GoPro had provided him with a “sponsorship” for his performance of stunt riding activities, the CHP said.
In the YouTube video, Khalsa is seen waving off and taunting a CHP motorcycle officer and then the suspect rears and drives on the back wheel of his motorcycle.
On Oct. 11, a CHP motorcycle officer noticed the approximately 50 riders on the highway driving fast southbound on I-680 from Montague Expressway in Milpitas and watched them perform wheelies while ignoring his commands to stop them, the CHP reported.
The officer opted to pull over to the shoulder and call for a backup officer. The group of riders exited the freeway at McKee Road about three miles south of Montague in East San Jose.
The CHP used what Khalsa wrote about himself on social media, as well as tips from the public and other information, to identify him as the person who took the video and tie him to his residence in Brentwood.
CHP officials said Khalsa and the other riders were not part of an organized group and had agreed to meet up for the ride based on messages posted online.
The CHP claimed the riders drove recklessly and with disregard for public safety while on the freeway.
Khalsa was bailed out of the Martinez Detention Facility following his arrest in Contra Costa County on Wednesday, Lee said.
The investigation into the Oct. 11 stunt-riding event is ongoing and the CHP expects other search warrants to be issued and arrests made, Lee said.
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CHP Finds Marijuana Plants, Rifle In Home Of Wheelie-Popping Brentwood Motorcyclist
Vote yes on Ballot Measure 2; end Alaska's failed prohibition of marijuana
Ballot Measure 2 is an initiative that would tax and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana in Alaska. Adults over age 21 could possess up to an ounce of marijuana, and constitutional protections allowing home cultivation would be preserved.
Most Alaskans recognize it’s irrational to continue spending precious law enforcement resources prohibiting adults from using marijuana, a substance far safer than alcohol both to the individual and society, but some are under the false impression that marijuana is already legal here. Nothing could be further from the truth. According to the ACLU, 81 percent of all drug arrests in Alaska are for marijuana possession, the highest rate in the country. The Anchorage Police Department alone conducts marijuana seizures at a rate of two to three per day (roughly 1,000 every year) and 78 percent of those seizures are for less than one ounce. That’s time and money spent processing marijuana seizures and arrests that could be spent going after violent criminals.
Since Alaska has the highest marijuana use rates in the country already, it makes far more sense to put responsible businesses in charge of this multimillion-dollar market rather than leave it in the hands of criminals. Health and safety regulations, with reasonable restrictions on product sizes and advertising, are all part of the plan.
Much of what we’ve heard from opponents in recent weeks has been rehashed language taken from one medical journal article that summarizes the same supposed adverse health effects of marijuana use that prohibitionists have been touting for generations. As a medical educator and scientist who has followed this field for many years, I noticed that all those writers avoided a balanced, rational discussion, instead cherry-picking questionable studies and out-of-context statistics that support their cause.
I’ve also noticed that some commentators opposing marijuana have deep connections to the alcohol industry, despite its being a far more harmful substance than marijuana by any objective measure. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, for example, is the co-chair of the “Small Brewers Caucus” in Washington, D.C., which she described in a May Anchorage Press interview as “educating Members of Congress and their staff about legislation, regulations, and other unique issues faced by small American breweries. We have our brewpubs and little breweries giving us identity and local pride aspects to their communities. I think it’s great to build community or regional pride in something that’s truly Alaska grown.”
If our senior senator feels that a legal, regulated alcohol industry should remain a cherished part of the Alaska economy, then why can’t we learn to look at marijuana the same way? I hope the audacity of her writing a biased commentary to try and convince voters to keep marijuana illegal, while working in an official capacity to grow the market for a much more harmful substance, was as striking to other readers as it was to me.
Medical research is just one area where our opponents distort the facts. Regulation is another. They would have you believe that without providing all the regulatory details now, before the election, Alaska will end up with inadequate safeguards. They say that once approved, the initiative and its regulations can’t be modified. This is simply fear-mongering. The initiative functions to enable legislation, and all Alaskans will have a chance to shape the state’s regulatory system, much as Alaska small towns have done with local-option alcohol regulation.
Opponents of Ballot Measure 2 insist that the sky is falling in Colorado after voters there adopted regulation of marijuana. However, the statistics they offer on Colorado’s motor vehicle accidents, teen use, crime, homelessness, etc., have all been presented with intentionally misleading lack of context, or are just plain wrong. Find someone who’s been to Colorado lately and ask if they saw any real problems. Both Colorado and Washington state are responding nimbly to their citizens’ concerns over legal marijuana. By the time sales would begin here, a year after Ballot Measure 2 passes, Alaska would have extensive experience to draw on.
So instead of arguing over statistics and trivialities, let’s start with a big-picture fact we can all agree on: Marijuana isn’t going away. Whether we regulate it or not, marijuana and concentrates will be available in Alaska from somebody. Ballot Measure 2 will put all Alaskans in charge of it and generate more than $72.5 million in tax revenue in the first five years. That’s money currently enriching the underground market that could instead improve infrastructure and education, including honest drug awareness and prevention programs.
We reach consensus on public policy issues like marijuana not by reading newspaper op-eds full of misleading statements and insufficient context but by letting experts dispassionately examine the evidence in its entirety. Since the 1970s, more than a dozen government-appointed commissions have examined the effects of marijuana and made policy recommendations. Overwhelmingly, the conclusions have been the same: marijuana prohibition causes more social damage than marijuana use, and possession for personal use should no longer be a criminal offense. It makes far more sense to look at marijuana as a public health issue and to ask: How do we define marijuana abuse, as opposed to use? Under current law, all marijuana use constitutes abuse — a standard we don’t impose on people who use tobacco or alcohol.
Perhaps the greatest harm of prohibition is the disregard for all laws that it creates. A 1982 National Research Council report emphasized: “Alienation from the rule of law in democratic society may be the most serious cost of current marijuana laws… Young people who see no rational basis for the legal distinction between alcohol and marijuana may become cynical about America’s political institutions and democratic process.” This is equally true 30 years later.
Marijuana prohibition carries heavy costs to the individual and to society. When Alaskans go to the polls Nov. 4, we’ll be deciding whether more harm would be done, overall, by retaining ineffective, harmful prohibition, or by overcoming our fear of change, and moving to a system of regulation and taxation.
Dr. Tim Hinterberger is a professor in the School of Medical Education at University of Alaska Anchorage, with teaching responsibilities in anatomy and neuroscience and a research program in molecular embryology. He chairs the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
The views expressed here are the writer’s own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.
Vote yes on Ballot Measure 2; end Alaska's failed prohibition of marijuana
With Alaska marijuana vote near, the result appears to be anyone's guess
Independent Alaskans, known for their libertarian streak, were a key reason activists threw their support behind Alaska’s effort to legalize recreational marijuana in 2014. But with only days until the vote, it’s anyone’s guess whether those live-and-let-live folks will go to the polls and which way they’ll vote.
Polls have been inconsistent, with wildly different results, in the weeks leading up to Nov. 4. Some show that support — nationally and in Alaska — has been above 50 percent. But whether that will mean success for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska remains to be seen.
“I think it’s going to be real close,” said Tim Hinterberger, co-sponsor of the initiative. “I don’t think anyone can say anything other than that.”
Hinterberger, who has been involved in Alaska marijuana reform for decades, thinks the measure will do better than in previous votes and leans toward the initiative passing. But he’s not making any predictions.
“We’ve been holding our breath all along, especially after 10 years,” he said, referring to a similar initiative in 2004 that failed, 56 percent against to 44 percent in favor.
Deborah Williams, treasurer with Big Marijuana. Big Mistake. Vote No on 2, the campaign that formed in April to oppose the initiative, believes the measure will fail Tuesday night.
She said the campaign’s grassroots effort across the state to tell people what they believe Ballot Measure 2 does will ultimately lead them to success.
“Once people had the opportunity to learn about it, they said, ‘No, this is not the right initiative for Alaska now,’ ” she said.
Hinterberger counters that that sort of thinking was the biggest obstacle the campaign has faced, one rooted in a stigma against marijuana.
“For a lot of undecided voters, the argument that ‘let’s just wait, let’s just keep waiting and keep prohibition going’ ” has had resonance, he said. “That’s an easy way to rationalizing voting no without being opposed to it.”
What it’s all about
At its core, Ballot Measure 2 asks Alaskans to approve “an act to tax and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana.” But there’s much more to it.
Proponents of the measure say the eight-page initiative — too short, according to opponents — allows the state to set up a basic framework for regulating marijuana. They expect the rulemaking process and any amendments to the law following its passage to be strict.
The initiative, if passed, would legalize recreational use of marijuana for those 21 and older. Beyond the age range, there are similarities to how the state controls alcohol. The initiative would allow the state to set up a marijuana control board, similar to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board currently housed under the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The initiative would also tax marijuana at $50 per ounce wholesale.
The initiative allows that board to take nine months to formulate regulations. Within that period it will set up a process for issuing growing and retail licenses, outline security requirements, labeling issues, restrictions on advertising, and health and safety regulations for marijuana products, among other things.
It also allows a provision for communities to opt out of allowing commercial operations or retail stores.
Already semi-legal
The Yes campaign says Ballot Measure 2 would reconcile already confusing Alaska laws regarding marijuana.
In 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in Ravin v. State that the right to privacy protects a small amount of marijuana in the home. However, per state statute, it is a misdemeanor to use or display a small amount of marijuana.
Also adding confusion is Alaska’s medical marijuana laws, approved by voters in 1998. Under those laws, patients registered with the state (or their proxy) can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and six plants, three of which can be mature.
However, no system was ever set up for dispensing marijuana, and the only way patients can access the drug is by obtaining it through the black market.
If Ballot Measure 2 passes, Alaska would follow Colorado and Washington in legalization of recreational marijuana, with Oregon and Washington, D.C., also both considering such measures on Tuesday’s ballot. The eight-page Alaska initiative is modeled after Colorado’s, passed in 2012. Washington state voters passed a legalization measure the same year, though its measure was outlined in dozens of pages of law.
During Alaska’s debate over Ballot Measure 2, much has been made of Colorado’s and Washington’s experiences so far, which couldn’t have been more different.
Colorado allowed its well-established medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling recreational marijuana at the beginning of this year following a rulemaking process that resulted in 136 pages of law, with no limits as to how many businesses could open.
Washington, which also had medical marijuana dispensaries in place, opted for a different approach. Essentially starting from scratch, the Washington Liquor Control Board strictly limited the number of licenses a grower or retailer could hold. That’s resulted in a slow rollout process, with the first marijuana retail stores opening in July. A total of 334 businesses are allowed in the state. In Seattle, population 650,000, only 21 businesses are allowed. As of October, only two had opened.
Concerns over commercialization
The No campaign has run a fierce ground game in Alaska, pulling support from across the state. The No campaign points to a long list of organizations opposing the measure. Big help has come from Alaska Native leaders, law enforcement, Alaska mayors and political leaders on both sides of the aisle, among other groups.
They championed that support by delivering their message across the state. The campaign has voiced numerous concerns over how the regulatory process will work.
Alaska statutes allow initiatives to be amended by the state constitution as long as they do not constitute a repeal of the measure. The No campaign has argued that limiting things like the production of butane hash oil, advertising restrictions and issues related to communities’ “local option” — laws that prohibit the sale and possession of alcohol — would add up, essentially causing a repeal of the measure.
According to attorneys unaffiliated with the campaign, adding amendments dealing with public safety issues is unlikely to be a repeal, since the measure specifically outlines regulation. It’s a point proponents of the measure have tried to champion.
The No campaign also argued that the measure goes beyond just allowing recreational marijuana, and that it would in effect create an entire commercial industry.
Those concerns about commercialization tie into what they believe will be increases in youth use, public health and public safety problems, and fiscal irresponsibility.
They’ve often pointed to Colorado as a lesson on how not to do things, citing increases in stoned driving, hash oil explosions, concerns over potent marijuana concentrates and edible overdoses, and a lack of tax revenue, among others.
They’ve also sharply criticized the Yes side for its Outside funding sources, noting that their campaign is funded solely from Alaskans’ donations. To date, the No campaign has received more than $148,000 in contributions, all from in-state. In comparison, the Yes campaign has received more than $866,000, with big donations coming from the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance.
Reconciling illogical laws
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska has not shied away from its association with the Marijuana Policy Project, which has been the primary funder behind the initiative. Hinterberger, one of the co-sponsors, said marijuana prohibition was forced on Alaskans by the federal government, and there’s no reason why a national group shouldn’t step in to help repeal that effort.
“The propaganda against marijuana has been going on for decades; it’s an effort of the federal government,” Hinterberger said. “It’s impossible for us to have an effective (local) campaign against all of that.”
The Yes campaign has pointed to support from the 45,000 people who signed the petition to get it on the ballot, well over the 30,000 needed, as well as thousands of volunteers across the state.
But they’ve courted few endorsements from public figures, in striking contrast to the opposition. With the exception of Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat running for U.S. Congress, all candidates for statewide office have opposed Ballot Measure 2.
Hinterberger and others in the campaign have said they’ve heard privately from many who support the measure but who fear reprisal for speaking out against it.
The campaign also argues that marijuana is already in Alaska and that it’s not going to create the massive industry opponents argue the law will produce, citing the slow rollout in Washington state as an example.
They have argued that legalizing marijuana would keep marijuana from youths through strict regulation, eliminate the black market over time — keeping money away from drug dealers and directing dollars toward prevention, public health and public safety — and stop needless arrests of people for using a substance they consider safer than alcohol.
Campaign backlash
Hinterberger said when the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana in Alaska began advocating for the measure, organizers wondered who could possibly oppose it.
“We thought, ‘No one believes reefer madness.’ Yet that’s what we ended up facing,” Hinterberger said.
People involved with the No campaign counter that they have never tried to fear-monger, though at times their arguments have not been taken well by proponents of the measure.
Williams noted numerous incivilities coming from proponents of legalization. The apex came when Charlo Greene, a KTVA-TV reporter, used an obscenity and quit live on air to focus on her own marijuana business.
In debates and hearings that followed, the campaign found itself fighting sharply personal criticism. Williams called the ad hominem attacks “un-Alaskan” and thinks that reaction hasn’t played well with undecided voters.
“I think Alaskans have reacted against that,” Williams said. “That’s not how we treat Alaskans.”
Williams said she’s had three magnetic bumper stickers supporting the No campaign disappear from her car. They even intercepted someone at the Bear Tooth marijuana debate attempting to take the same sticker off Kristina Woolston’s car. Signs have been spray-painted (a green Y over the No to create a “Yo on 2” sign), knocked over and bashed in.
The Yes campaign has dealt with its own negative reactions. Spokesman Taylor Bickford said nearly 50 signs disappeared from the Kenai Peninsula and others have been knocked over across the state.
Bickford also argued that part of the reactions stemmed from deeply personal feelings over the issue. He noted that the No side often condemned people for using the substance they feel is a safe, adult choice.
“People are frustrated with current policies and sometimes you see that manifest itself in ways that are counterproductive,” Bickford said after a contentious Anchorage ballot measure hearing in September. “But these people are all coming from the same place.”
What this means for the future
For the most part, Alaska followed a similar path to legalization seen in other states, according to Erik Altieri, communication director for NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He said the arguments, on both sides, were not all that different from arguments presented in Colorado and Washington.
What surprised him was the lack of partisanship in the election. Typically the lines are split more closely, with Republicans against the measure and Democrats for it. But that didn’t happen in Alaska. Campaign spokesman Bickford has a long history in Republican politics, and the campaign focused some of its efforts on getting out the vote to conservatives. In contrast, Williams, with the No campaign, is the former head of the Alaska Democratic Party.
Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which donated $100,000 to the Yes campaign in July, said marijuana wins in Alaska and Oregon will undoubtedly lead to wins in other, larger states during the 2016 election.
Nadelmann said Thursday he wasn’t sure how Alaska would turn out. What had seemed an easy win earlier in the year was clearly in “roll the dice mode” now.
That’s happened in Oregon too, he said. While either a loss or win in Alaska will likely affect national momentum, Nadelmann said other states will still move forward in 2016, including California. The ultimate goal? To put pressure on the federal government to decriminalize the drug at the highest level.
If it loses, local activists could come back but Nadelmann said Alaskans shouldn’t expect to see national organizations making the same donations they did before.
“If either state loses by a small amount, and it’s because young people don’t turn out, two years from now it’ll be an easy win,” he said. “But enthusiasm will be less.”
With Alaska marijuana vote near, the result appears to be anyone's guess
Oklahoman's invention to aid medical marijuana use
Oklahoma is known for having some of the toughest marijuana laws in the country.
It’s no small irony that when it comes to the medical use of marijuana a Tulsa man has invented a process that could be a breakthrough.
It all began with a few experiments.
“We’ve got a bottle that’s got some glycerin in it in both instances and a little shot glass with some hemp oil. And what we’re going to do is add a little bit of our Secret sauce. Just a little bit said Chip Paul.
At this point, he can’t reveal what’s in the brown bottle.
Paul is the head of Oklahomans for Health.
He was frequently in the public eye this year, pushing the petition effort to put medical marijuana to a statewide vote.
While that fell short he’s done anything but throw in the towel.
He’s also the CEO of Palm Beach Vapors, based in Tulsa, with stores in multiple states.
He started experimenting with ways to create a healthier base for the juices that go into e-cigarettes, a base without propylene glycol.
“Propylene glycol is far healthier than smoking, but it’s still kind of the bad guy in the base, so we’re always trying to look at ways to get rid of the propylene glycol,” said Paul.
And now he’s done it with a patent-pending recipe of glycerin, hemp oil and his secret sauce.
It turns out his invention could be a game changer in a state with a governor adamantly opposed to pot.
“As governor, I am not for legalizing marijuana in Oklahoma, nor am I for legalizing medical marijuana in the state of Oklahoma,” said Gov. Mary Fallin previously.
However Fallin is for legalizing the medical use of a type of marijuana oil, rich in a chemical called cannabidiol or CBD. That’s because the main psychoactive ingredient in pot, THC, can be kept so low it could never make anyone high.
Meantime, with the election just a few days away Fallin’s opponent, Joe Dorman told FOX23 he’s willing to allow a broader use of medical marijuana if the science convinces him it could help people.
“My dad was in constant pain from a back injury that left him permanently disabled. We have to look at those opportunities. I’m willing to listen,” said Dorman.
In any case, the level of THC is key.
While the medical marijuana industry is rapidly growing outside of Oklahoma this Tulsan is convinced his creation, a food-safe, long-lasting cannabis suspension with the consistency of cough syrup, provides a better way to fine-tune the concentration of THC depending on the patient’s needs.
You could drink it or vape it. Either way Chip Paul believes this will give Oklahoma’s political leaders the comfort level to move in this direction.
“It’s very clear this is a needed thing and it has huge implications in the market,” said Paul.
Oklahoman's invention to aid medical marijuana use
Former goalkeeper goes on trial over €3.4m cannabis seizure
Eimear Cotter
Published 01/11/2014 | 02:30
Eddie Van Boxtel in action for Dundalk in 1995
A FORMER Leeds United goalkeeper charged over a €3.4m cannabis seizure was allegedly offered the chance to “make a few bob” by a man he picked up in his taxi.
Eddie van Boxtel (41) claimed he was simply employed by another man to “drive from A to B” after he complained “the taxi game is dead”.
The accused allegedly told detectives he never saw the cannabis resin, but admitted he knew “it wasn’t marshmallows” in the back of a van.
A court heard the street value of the drug was €3.45m.
The former soccer star has pleaded not guilty before Kildare Circuit Court to possession of cannabis as well as having the drug for sale or supply on February 6, 2008.
Detective Garda Tom Barber alleged Mr van Boxtel met another man at a garage just outside Newbridge at 6.25am on February 6, 2008.
Gda Barber claimed the pair then drove off in the other man’s Audi A6 towards Rathangan Road, where Mr van Boxtel got into a silver Ford Transit van, which was parked in a lay-by.
Sergeant David Kennedy claimed Mr van Boxtel drove the van to a house at Clongorey, Naas, where he backed it into a shed at the back.
He allegedly drove off a few minutes later towards Rathangan Road and left the van in the same lay-by. It is alleged two other men came along a short time later in a Ford Fiesta, one got into the van, and they drove off in convey towards Dublin.
The van was stopped at the M7 Castlewarden, near Kill, and a pallet containing cannabis was found in the back.
Interviewed by Sgt Kennedy, Mr van Boxtel, of Sillogue Avenue in Ballymun, said he started working as a taxi driver when his football career ended.
One day he complained to a passenger the “taxi game was dead”, and this man took his mobile phone number, telling him he could earn a few extra bob as a driver.
During interview, Mr van Boxtel told to Sgt Kennedy he simply “drove from A to B”.
He said he did not see who dropped off the Ford Transit or who collected the drugs.
He said he did not put the cannabis into the van at Clongorey, and did “not have a clue” what the drug was worth.
A former goalkeeper, Mr van Boxtel played with several League of Ireland clubs, helping Dundalk to win the league in 1995.
His most famous sporting moment came when he saved a penalty from Eric Cantona, who was then playing for Manchester United.
The trial continues before Judge Gerard Griffin.
Irish Independent
Former goalkeeper goes on trial over €3.4m cannabis seizure
Cannabis Science COO Chad Steven Johnson Unloads 750000 Shares (CBIS)
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Cannabis Science COO Chad Steven Johnson Unloads 750000 Shares (CBIS)
Cannabis seized from car, woman appears in court
A WOMAN was arrested and charged after police seized an amount of cannabis from a car at Pine Creek.
Officers stopped a Ford sedan on the Pacific Hwy on Friday just after 2pm.
It’s alleged the vehicle was travelling in excess of the speed limit.
Officers spoke to the driver, a 37-year-old woman, before conducting a search of her car.
Police allegedly found and seized two large bags of cannabis, weighing 940grams, with an estimated potential street value of $20,000.
The woman was arrested and taken to Coffs Harbour Police Station where she was charged with supply prohibited drug and possess prohibited drug.
The Coffs Harbour woman has since been given bail to appear in the Coffs Harbour Local Court on November 24.
Traffic and Highway Patrol Command’s Assistant Commissioner John Hartley said the seizure could be partly attributed to the specialised training undertaken by Traffic and Highway Patrol officers.
“Our training is called the CATCH (Crime and Traffic Connecting on Highways) program, which is based on a scheme used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” Assistant Commissioner Hartley said.
“The observation based training program has been running in NSW and Victoria since 2009 and has had an impact on drug supply and crime.
“The harm that is caused to individuals, families and communities by illicit drugs is well documented.
“My message to drug couriers is simple – you are on our radar, you will be stopped and put before the courts.”
Cannabis seized from car, woman appears in court
Clintonville drug bust uncovers 56 pounds of marijuana
Three people were arrested Wednesday following the bust.
Police uncovered more than 50 pounds of marijuana in two Clintonville area residences Wednesday following a months-long investigation.(Photo: File)
CLINTONVILLE – Police uncovered more than 50 pounds of marijuana in two Clintonville area residences Wednesday following a months-long investigation.
Three people had 56 pounds of harvested marijuana plants and buds drying in outbuildings in the two Behnke Road properties, the state Division of Criminal Investigation said Friday.
The estimated value of the seized drugs is about $140,000, or around $2,500 per pound, the Department of Justice said.
Additional plants, computers, cellphones and paraphernalia were also found. The Central Wisconsin Drug Task Force, the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team and New London and Clintonville police assisted in the search.
A 53-year-old man, a 47-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man were arrested and are awaiting criminal charges. Police are recommending charges of manufacturing more than 10,000 grams of THC, possession with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a drug trafficking place.
— Ariel Cheung: 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or acheung@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @arielfab.
Read or Share this story: http://post.cr/1tInIRd
Clintonville drug bust uncovers 56 pounds of marijuana
Is marijuana revitalizing Eagle-Vail?
EAGLE-VAIL — Can marijuana revitalize Eagle-Vail’s commercial district? Whatever the answer ultimately is, the marijuana business is growing — and bringing more people to — a stretch of U.S. Highway 6 some are already calling the “Green Mile.”
By Nov. 8, there will be three medical and three recreational marijuana businesses in the mile or so east of the stoplight at U.S. Highway 6 and Eagle Road. Two of the medical businesses have been in the valley since about 2009. The recreational businesses have all opened just this year.
Native Roots, in the back of the former Route 6 Cafe building, was the first to open. There, general manager Grant Troeger said business has been anywhere from good to crazy. After the store opened in early August, as many as 500 people per day would come in.
Four people came in during a 10-minute visit to the store on a recent early evening.
Just to the west, a new store, Rocky Road, is set to open Nov. 8. Both Native Roots and Rocky Road are parts of larger companies — the third shop, Roots Rx, is locally owned. But Native Roots and Rocky Road seem to reflect two approaches to the business.
Native Roots is in a more bare-bones space. The employees are friendly and the shelves are well-stocked, but the decor is simple.
Rocky Road seems aimed at destination guests, with plenty of wood and stone on the walls and floors. About half the store can also be shut off from the other half. The idea is if a well-heeled guests calls ahead and asks to stay out of sight of other clients, he or she can be ushered in through the back door for a discrete visit.
More to come?
The three current recreational businesses in Eagle-Vail could be joined soon by another two. In all, Eagle County will make eight recreational licenses available — five in Eagle-Vail, one in Edwards and another two in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Is that too much?
Putnam Pierman, of Rocky Road, doesn’t think so.
“There’s actually very little competition when you think of all the bars and liquor stores around,” Pierman said.
While Rocky Road has taken an upscale approach, Pierman said that business intends to rely on local customers. Those are the people who will recommend the business to concierges and visitors. Troeger added that local residents will keep businesses running between tourist seasons.
Greg Honan has operated the Herbal Elements medical marijuana dispensary since 2009. Herbal Elements’ recreational license is still in the lengthy, expensive approval process, but Honan said that’s a part of the business his shop needs to get into soon.
Asked about the growth of the business in Eagle-Vail, Honan said there are both opportunities and challenges for his business.
The opportunities include being able to work with, and share ideas with, other operators. For Honan, opportunity also exists in his growing business, which is based in Eagle-Vail, and is able to expand as state regulations evolve.
Honan noted there are several advantages to keeping a medical license, as well as a permit to buy medical marijuana.
Medical customers can be as young as 18, while recreational marijuana is limited to those 21 and older. Medical marijuana purchasers also are exempt from the 25 percent state tax on recreational products.
Honan said state and local officials at some point will have to re-evaluate the level of taxation on recreational marijuana. Taxes, and the difficulty and expense of applying for permits and licenses have kept many black-market growers and sellers from going into the legal-marijuana business, he said.
Some of those requirements include plenty of education. Troeger and Rocky Road manager Suzannah Tarpey both said educating customers is a crucial part of their jobs, especially when it comes to visitors.
That education includes a lot of talking to people about the need to take it easy with edible products — which can take an hour or more to take effect.
Tarpey, a longtime veteran of the Vail restaurant and bar business, said she’s seen people on the floor after eating too much.
Good neighbors?
Longtime Eagle-Vail business Thurston Kitchen and Bath is two doors down from Rocky Road. There, designer Ken Jones said the new neighbors have created a clean, efficient space.
“They’re handling it well,” Jones said. “And anything that puts more people on our sidewalk is good.”
At the Route 6 Cafe, owner Ollie Holdstock said he’s been happy with what he’s seen so far.
Holdstock said marijuana has been a part of life in the Vail Valley in the 30-plus years he’s lived here. The sales taxes — the state’s portion of which are dedicated to school construction — are also nice to have, he said.
Holdstock said his business is up in the last six months, although whether that has anything to do with the marijuana business isn’t clear.
“But Eagle-Vail was a dying entity before they came,” Holdstock said. “Businesses are moving in again.”
And, he said, people who come to buy marijuana products might just stop in for a burger and a beer while they’re in the neighborhood.
At Native Roots, the old business area seems to be going through a burst of activity. In addition to the deli and gas station out front, a brewery is being established right next door, and a Crossfit studio has opened up across the parking lot.
“Every single company here has come in to tell us, ‘People know where we are now,’” Troeger said.
“There’s actually very little competition when you think of all the bars and liquor stores around.”
Putnam Pierman
Rocky Road associate
Is marijuana revitalizing Eagle-Vail?
Colorado Congressman Urges Oregon To Follow His State's 'Excellent Example' On Marijuana
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said in an op-ed on Friday that marijuana legalization is “sound policy,” and he urged Oregonians to follow in Colorado’s footsteps and vote yes on recreational marijuana in next week’s election.
“Colorado is approaching the first anniversary of legally regulated recreational marijuana for adults,” Polis wrote in the Bend Bulletin. “The implementation of our new laws has gone smoothly overall, providing an excellent example for other states to follow. Our success has made it clear that when marijuana is regulated like alcohol, it can decrease crime, help fund schools and drug education programs, and keep money out of the hands of criminals and cartels.”
Oregon voters are considering Measure 91, which would allow adults to possess up to eight ounces of marijuana at home and up to one ounce in public. Taxes on marijuana sales would fund schools, law enforcement, and drug prevention and education programs, while the Oregon Liquor Control Commission would regulate and monitor the industry.
“I’m excited Oregon will soon decide whether to join Colorado and Washington in regulating marijuana like alcohol,” wrote Polis, who previously sponsored legislation that would do just that at the federal level. “More than ever, I believe it’s time to change course on decades of failed marijuana prohibition and demonstrate viable, effective alternatives to address the realities of marijuana today.”
Read Polis’ entire commentary here.
Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, with the first sales beginning on New Year’s Day 2014. While the rollout of the new regulatory regime has not been perfect, it has largely been deemed a success. Voters supported the end of marijuana prohibition by a 10 percentage point margin in 2012 and have continued to support it. Within the regulated marketplace, teens appear to have been prevented from making illegal purchases.
The legal sale of recreational and medical marijuana has been lucrative for the state, generating about $30 million in taxes and fees. The Colorado Legislative Council forecasts that in the first full fiscal year of legal recreational sales, the state will rake in $47.7 million.
If Oregon passes Measure 91, the state’s financial estimate committee projects that additional tax revenues could range from $17 million to $40 million annually. A recent study from the personal finance site NerdWallet placed the forecast range for Oregon between $50 million and $100 million in annual tax revenue.
Voters in Alaska and the District of Columbia will also decide whether to legalize recreational cannabis on Nov. 4.
Colorado Congressman Urges Oregon To Follow His State's 'Excellent Example' On Marijuana
Defense attorneys question deputies' use of marijuana citations
When an Orange County deputy sheriff pulled over a University of Central Florida student not far from campus early July 26 and found a small bit of marijuana in the car he was driving, the deputy offered a potentially enticing option.
The deputy told Luis Cruz he was facing a misdemeanor charge, but could fix it by paying a fine to the Clerk of Courts Office, similar to a traffic ticket, the student recalled Friday.
“He said it would turn into a civil citation and that it would be nothing,” said Cruz, 28. He was handed a document that looked like a traffic ticket. “In my mind, it just didn’t sound correct.”
The young man’s lawyer, Orlando attorney Lyle Mazin, says that’s because it wasn’t.
Though it’s unclear how long the practice has been in use, some defense attorneys in Central Florida say they weren’t aware of it until recently.
Rather than making arrests, deputies in some cases have been issuing citations for misdemeanor marijuana possession charges and telling accused offenders that they can resolve their cases by paying a fine.
But by doing so, the defense lawyers say, they admit wrongdoing without ever speaking to an attorney.
On Thursday, Winter Park lawyer Donald Lykkebak sent a letter to Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Frederick Lauten, expressing concern that the use of no-appearance-required citations “discourages the exercise of due process.”
Lykkebak, a lawyer in Florida since 1970 who was certified as an expert in criminal trial law in 1987, wrote that he was unaware this was going on until he was approached by a potential client who said she had been told she could “just pay a fine” without appearing in court.
“I told her the charge was a criminal misdemeanor and she could not ‘just pay a fine’…. Foolish me,” Lykkebak said in his letter to Lauten.
Amy Carter, Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers president-elect and a former assistant public defender, also wasn’t familiar with the practice. In a warning email to the association’s members Thursday afternoon, she said she was “alarmed and outraged.”
While a citation may seem like a perk — you get to avoid a trip to jail, after all — the defense lawyers say there are serious downsides in conceding a misdemeanor pot charge, such as difficulty getting a job if an employer conducts a background check.
Lykkebak and Carter said it also could prevent someone, for example, from getting into medical school, or could affect a non-citizen’s immigration status.
Steve Foster, a former prosecutor for the State Attorney’s Office who now works for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, said the practice is nothing new.
“I can only tell you, anecdotally, that this procedure has been in effect for at least, I’d say… since 2003, and maybe even before,” Foster said.
He cited an administrative order signed by former Chief Judge Belvin Perry in 2003 and last amended last year, which authorizes the practice. It says an officer opting to issue a citation should explain that paying the fine “shall result in the withholding of the adjudication of guilt,” which lawyers say is not the same as the charge being dropped.
It was unclear Friday how long the Sheriff’s Office has been issuing the citations. A spokesman did not reply to emailed questions Friday.
State Attorney Jeff Ashton was in trial and unavailable, as was his top misdemeanor prosecutor, officials said. Chief Judge Frederick Lauten was out of the office Friday, a spokeswoman said.
The defense lawyers also noted that some of the accused have legitimate defenses to their charge.
In Mazin’s case, for example, so little marijuana was found in the car his client was driving that the arresting deputy wrote in his report he had to use it all in his test kit, and had none left to submit as evidence.
“Meanwhile, Cruz is left standing with what he thinks might just be the equivalent of a traffic ticket, but what in reality is a criminal charge,” Mazin said, adding: “These things are wolves in sheep’s clothing.”
The charge against Cruz was dropped after he hired his attorney.
On Friday, Lykkebak said he worries that young people are more likely to face a minor pot charge, and therefore more likely to be affected by the procedure.
“And they’re also the ones that would like to choose the easy way out rather than have to call dad and tell him, ‘I have to hire a lawyer. I got in trouble up here at school,'” he added.
Carter said an unchallenged marijuana charge may seem minor, but its impacts are lasting and hard to foresee.
“There’s just so many things that could happen down the road that you’re not aware of,” she said.
jeweiner@tribune.com or 407-420-5171
Copyright © 2014, Orlando Sentinel
Defense attorneys question deputies' use of marijuana citations
Salvia and synthetic cannabis in decline in Guelph
GUELPH—One year after a local teenager was acquitted of criminal wrongdoing over a violent episode after getting high on something other than what he thought he was smoking, the substance he purchased at a south-end variety store no longer appears readily available in the city.
Inquiries at several shops this week about the product salvia, an herb in the mint family, found that none were selling it. Some shopkeepers were under the impression the herb was now illegal and two said they used to sell it but no longer do.
Guelph Police have also done their own canvassing.
“We went out and checked some stores for salvia and synthetic cannabinoids and we were unsuccessful,” said Det. Sgt. Ben Bair, head of the Guelph Police drug unit. “But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find, and different stores at different times may come up with different options.”
He said synthetic cannabinoid availability has “shut down considerably” in Guelph. There was a recent police seizure of it at one store in the city, and the owner was cautioned, he said. Several versions of the drug with names such as Satan, K2, Spice and Mr. Nice Guy have been marketed in Canada. They are now considered illegal.
“All you have to do is look on YouTube to see what salvia does to people, and you would be concerned,” Bair said, adding that locally there appears to be little use of either salvia or synthetic cannabinoids at this time. That perspective comes, in part, from surveying local students about it, he said.
Dried and crumpled salvia looks like a number of dark green herbs, or synthetic cannabinoids. It is difficult to identify and isolate, Bair said.
That identification problem appeared to have played a role in a July 2012 incident in which a 16-year-old youth in Guelph got high and delirious on what he believed was salvia, but which turned out to be an illegal synthetic cannabinoid. The boy smoked a package of Mr. Nice Guy. At his trial, court heard the boy suffered extreme paranoia and hallucinations, believing someone was out to kill him. He sought refuge in two south-side residences, leading to situations where a homeowner was punched and another was barred from allowing police into a residence.
Last Nov. 1, Ontario Court Justice Matthew Graham dismissed charges of assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement. Graham said the boy was deceived in what he was buying that evening. “You expected one thing and got another,” he told the youth.
Graham was highly critical of the packaging of the substance sold to the youth, noting its cheerful, innocuous messaging was “the antithesis of truth in advertising.” He wasn’t sure, he said, a youth of 16 was experienced enough to be skeptical.
The owner of the store where the teen purchased the Mr. Nice Guy later told the Mercury he didn’t know what the packet contained and that it had been obtained from a Toronto-area distributor. The store owner stopped selling the product.
Traditionally salvia was chewed and used in vision quests. Its hallucinogenic effects are more gradual when chewed. Smoking hastens the effects. Online videos depict significant mood alteration from smoking the herb.
Salvia (salvia divinorum) is native to southern Mexico. Last year, Guelph Police began warning local merchants that the sale of the product could result in legal sanctions, but it is not a controlled substance.
Bair said salvia is now regulated by Health Canada as a medicinal product. As such, vendors must be licensed to sell it.
Police do, however, remain concerned about it.
“These things go in waves, and all it takes is one person in a school to gain an interest in it and start to deal, and suddenly a school can be ravaged with it,” Bair said. “We are keeping our eye on it.”
Salvia and synthetic cannabis in decline in Guelph
Cannabis Time Capsule, 2014 1935: Pot Hater Claims Kids Are Consuming Weed Tablets
For this extra-scary edition of Colorado Cannabis Time Capsule, we bring you a story that is strangely similar to one we’re living right now: the fear that kids are sneaking pot edibles and getting intoxicated right under our noses!
Then, like now, the story was largely the product of a prohibitionist’s imagination. Namely, Denver’s Alva A. Swain, owner of the Eagle Valley Enterprise and author of this March 22, 1935 column.
See also: “Medical Marijuana Dispensary Review: Doctor’s Orders in Denver“
 |
| Alva A. Swain. |
Swain was a newspaperman (a title one could still actually hold back in the 1920s), and a prominent one at that. According to his biography in an old Colorado history book, Swain was a lunger who came out to Denver in an effort to save his own life. Once here, he became entrenched in society and eventually owned numerous papers around the state from which he could wield his influence. He was also apparently on a “secret advisory board” for every Colorado governor from 1900 until at least the 1920s, when the biography was penned.
He was also a raving teetotaler who hated booze and any other intoxicating substance, judging by his 1935 rant against the Colorado Liquor Control Board. It seems Swain was still sore from prohibition being recalled in 1932. Fun fact: Colorado was the first state to say to hell with prohibition. We were also the first to implement it, so it kind of balances out, I guess. (We were also among the first states to start the prohibition of cannabis and the first to end it by legalizing limited amounts in 2012, but you all know that by now.)
 |
Back to our story: Swain was clearly very upset about what he saw as the moral breakdown of Denver by means of the bottle — and he wasn’t above a few tall tales to further his cause. Sadly, his gripes mimic a lot of the crap that cannabis prohibitionists claim today — like that the booze they legalized in 1935 was much stronger than the “light wines and beers” of days gone by and that “wets” (drinkers) sneaked in whiskey, gin and spirits under everyone’s noses. Sort of like how SMART Colorado loves to claim that people voted to legalize marijuana, not high-strength concentrates, edibles and bud in the 20 percent THC range.
In fact, Swain claims that our anti-saloon laws were meant to prevent the sale of hard liquors by banning saloons. Instead (as we all know today), bars started serving food to get around it and Colorado became a “wet” state again. It’s why even the dive-iest of dive bars in Denver has a rack of chips behind the bar to sell to customers. (We’re pretty sure everyone who voted knew that would happen except him.)
It also meant the downfall of the local druggists, who apparently gave into temptation and began selling booze as well. And bartenders with licenses to only serve beer were apparently taking liberties and serving “rotgut” whisky.
And not just serving, but serving it to kids.
And those kids weren’t just drinking it. Oh no.
They were putting the marijuanas in it!
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Yes, apparently the same mythical edibles makers that are marketing to children were already in business in Denver back in 1935 and had figured out a way to make a dissolving marijuana tablet for kids. Or, at least that happened in Swain’s mind.
His answer to all of this was to revert back to prohibition, allowing only “light” wine and 3.2 percent beer to be sold so that the “sixty-five percent” of the state that he said didn’t drink could go back to living their peaceful lives. In fact, he claimed that the state would be dry again by 1938.
Especially if he could help it with columns like his.
We’d say Swain’s ideas and propaganda went to the grave with him in Fairmount circa 1953 — though Colorado was left with some pretty strange blue laws because of people like him that still endure today. Yes, Swain’s legacy can be found in each and every single 3.2 percent beer still being sold in Colorado grocery stores and the fear-mongering of the Denver Police and SMART Colorado.
Cannabis Time Capsule, 2014 1935: Pot Hater Claims Kids Are Consuming Weed Tablets
Criminal Case Reopens the Issue of Marijuana's Legal Status
While marijuana’s legal status is certainly irrational as that term is usually understood, that does not mean courts will recognize it as such for constitutional purposes. To pass the rational basis test, a law must be rationally related to a legitimate government interest. But in practice, courts will accept pretty much any justification that a government lawyer can offer with a straight face. Furthermore, the courts so far have upheld the DEA’s refusal to reclassify marijuana. Given the DEA’s legal track record in this area, it is all the more remarkable that U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller, against the prosecution’s objections, agreed to a hearing on whether marijuana belongs in Schedule I, which is supposedly reserved for drugs with “a high potential for abuse” that have “no currently accepted medical use” and are so dangerous that they cannot be used safely even under a doctor’s supervision.
Although marijuana is supposed to meet all three of those criteria, it is doubtful whether it meets any of them. Like any psychoactive substance, marijuana has some potential for abuse, but it seems absurd to assert, as its placement in Schedule I signifies, that it has a higher potential for abuse than methamphetamine, morphine, and cocaine, all of which are Schedule II drugs, the barbiturates in Schedule III, or the benodiazepines in Schedule IV. In his motion to dismiss the charges against him, Pickard notes that marijuana has a stronger safety profile than many prescription drugs in lower schedules as well as several over-the-counter medications. To rebut the DEA’s claim that marijuana has no accepted medical use, he cites the substantial body of research on marijuana’s medical applications, its acceptance as a medicine by nearly half of the states, the willingness of doctors in those states to recommend it for patients, and survey data indicating that most doctors think medical use of marijuana is appropriate in some cases.
Defense witnesses elaborated on these points in their testimony this week, highlighting marijuana’s long history of use, its remarkable safety, and the evidence of its medical utility. Philip Denney, a California physician specializing in cannabis recommendations, noted that the federal government implicitly recognizes marijuana as a medicine by shipping it to patients under the so-called Investigational New Drug program, which has been closed to new applicants since 1992 but still supplies several patients. The Leaf Online reports that Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Bender objected to that testimony, but Judge Mueller allowed it because Bender was not quick enough with his objection. Bender also helped the defense by noting, while questioning Denney about a study of marijuana as a treatment for chronic pain, that “both smoked marijuana and oral THC were effective.”
According to The Leaf, another assistant U.S. attorney, Gregory Broderick, “stumbled badly” while cross-examining Columbia neuropsychopharmacologist Carl Hart. Trying to highlight marijuana’s potential for abuse, Broderick cited an estimate, based on data from the National Comorbidity Survey, that 9 percent of cannabis consumers qualify for a diagnosis of “substance dependence” at some point in their lives, based on the criteria laid out in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Hart noted that the latest edition of the DSM says tolerance and withdrawal—two indicators of what the DSM now calls “substance use disorders”—are “normal symptoms to be expected of legitimate medical cannabis use.” That point “appeared to stun Broderick,” The Leaf says.
Hart also might have noted that the study from which Broderick drew the estimated addiction rate for marijuana found that the rates for cocaine and heroin were substantially higher. Yet cocaine and morphine (which is what heroin becomes after injection) are both in Schedule II, which means they supposedly have a lower potential for abuse than marijuana.
The problem is that key terms in the CSA are undefined, leaving the DEA with a great deal of discretion in applying them. If you define “potential for abuse” based on a drug’s appeal to recreational consumers (all of whom are, from the DEA’s perspective, drug abusers), putting marijuana higher on the list than oxycodone makes sense, because it’s a lot more popular. If you define “accepted medical use” as approval by the Food and Drug Administration (or completion of all the research that would be necessary for FDA approval), it follows that marijuana (as opposed to synthetic THC) is not an accepted medicine, which may also imply that it lacks “accepted safety for use…under medical supervision,” especially if you consider the risk of recreational use (a.k.a. “abuse”) an intolerable danger. The DEA does not have to define these terms in a way tailored to keeping marijuana in Schedule I, but so far the courts have said it can.
“It’s earth-shattering to even have this hearing,” Adam Levine, an adjunct professor at Stetson University College of Law in Florida, told The Christian Science Monitor. “The fact that the judge is willing to hear this case means she is willing to question if the DEA’s original classification is constitutional.”
Criminal Case Reopens the Issue of Marijuana's Legal Status
John Morgan vows to try again if Florida's medical marijuana amendment fails
Florida medical marijuana honcho John Morgan hopes for a victory on Amendment 2 when polls close on Tuesday. But a loss may not end the campaign, Morgan told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday. As long as the vote is close to the required 60 percent approval threshold, Morgan said, he will try again in 2016.
“I plan to win this,” he said, saying his internal polls show it winning by a thin margin. “But if I lose a battle, I can damn sure still win the war.”
Most of the $5 million or so that Morgan or his Orlando law firm spent on the amendment campaign went toward collecting more than 700,000 signatures to put the question on the 2014 general election ballot.
Until this week, Morgan said, he would not have considered another medical marijuana campaign.
“I had always told myself I wouldn’t spend this kind of money again,” Morgan said. But early this week, “I got to thinking I wouldn’t have to. I have 900,000 signatures and addresses” of people who signed the current petition. “I have 400,000 people who have communicated with us. This time I had to collect signatures in five months, next time I would have two years.”
Next time would also be a presidential year, which should energize the youth vote, Morgan said. Younger voters — the strongest advocates for medical marijuana — typically turn out in higher numbers during presidential elections.
“This would be a day in the park,” he said.
Under Florida law, any group sponsoring a constitutional amendment designates a general election date, then must gather hundreds of thousands of signatures from registered voters to put it on the ballot. Then the Supreme Court must approve the ballot language.
To initiate another medical marijuana campaign, Morgan’s United for Care organization would have to repeat those steps.
Under Amendment 2, doctors would certify that patients with debilitating conditions could benefit from marijuana. Licensed dispensaries would sell it.
Recent polling on the amendment has been mixed. A poll commissioned by the Tampa Bay Times and other media partners this week put medical marijuana approval at only 46 percent. SurveyUSA, a national robo-calling firm, reported support this month in the 51 to 52 percent range.
But a University of North Florida poll taken a few weeks ago measured 67 percent approval and Morgan said his organization has been tracking approval at 61 to 62 percent for the last few weeks.
If the vote “comes in the low 50s or high 40s, I’ll say, “Okay, I’ll never go down that road again,’ ” Morgan said.
But if the vote is within a few points of the required 60 percent, he said, he will crank up again in January.
One decision would be whether keep the present ballot language or alter it for strategic reasons, he said.
Opponents contend the qualifying conditions Amendment 2 describes are too loosely written. They say that minor ailments could be called “debilitating” conditions by unscrupulous physicians and pot mills like the infamous Florida prescription pill mills could result.
“Amendment 2 places no restrictions on the location of seedy pot shops,” Vote No On 2 says on its website. “Look for “pot docs” to spring up next to restaurants, schools, churches and supermarkets.”
The Florida Supreme Court ruled in January that “debilitating” conditions would be of a serious nature similar to cancer, chronic pain and other specific conditions listed in the ballot language. But the pill mill argument still resonated with many voters.
Likewise, opponents took the amendment to task for protecting doctors against civil suits or regulatory sanctions related to recommending pot — necessary because pot would remain illegal under federal law.
The court said that was a narrow protection covering only the act of recommending marijuana, and that doctors who also committed fraud or negligence could still be sanctioned.
Without such civil immunity, the court said, a medical marijuana system could not function.
Still, legal protections frequently put amendment supporters on the defensive. Morgan, a personal injury attorney whose firm sometimes sues physicians, joked Friday about the irony of him defending legal protections for doctors.
“I’ve wanted to lift every immunity the Legislature has ever given them,” he said.
Morgan said he would consult the amendment’s author — University of Florida law professor Jon Mills — about any ballot language changes.
But maybe the amendment would be best left as is, Morgan said. The Supreme Court has already validated the ballot language and would be unlikely to reverse that ruling.
Another strategic issue is how the Legislature might react to another marijuana amendment campaign, he said. Just as the Legislature approved the use of a noneuphoric strain of pot known as Charlotte’s Web for seizures this year, it might further widen the use of medical marijuana if faced with a 2016 amendment campaign, Morgan said.
Young voters turning out for medical pot would tend to favor the Democratic presidential candidate, Morgan said. Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature might try to defuse that by passing a medical marijuana law.
“There are two ways to win wars,” Morgan said. “By atom bombs, or Trojan horses. As long as you win, it doesn’t matter.”
Contact Stephen Nohlgren at snohlgren@tampabay.com
John Morgan vows to try again if Florida's medical marijuana amendment fails
DC Preps for $130m Marijuana Industry Ahead of Voter Approval
Residents of Washington, D.C. began early voting on October 25. One of the choices on their ballots is whether to approve Initiative 71. The ballot initiative would legalize marijuana for recreational use. With less than a week left to vote, however, the city isn’t waiting for the results to begin planning the next step.
The D.C. City Council held a hearing Thursday on the taxation and regulation of marijuana in the District. Unlike Colorado and Washington — states that legalized recreational marijuana sales in 2012 — District voters cannot use a ballot initiative to regulate and tax marijuana. Initiative 71 would decriminalize the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and allow for cultivation of up to six plants, but sale would still be illegal. Regulation and taxation of the industry, valued by District financial officials at $130 million a year, is up to the Council.
“If the referendum passes on Tuesday, which I hope it does, the council will be in the position of having to set up a regulatory framework and taxing it will be part of that framework,” said D.C. Council member Jack Evans, a Democrat, who also oversaw Thursday’s hearing on the bill. [The Washington Times]
“When I introduced the Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act in September of 2013, none of my colleagues were willing to be co-introducers [sic] or co-sponsors,” Council member David Grasso said at the hearing. Times have changed with council members now supporting marijuana legalization. The 2014 Legalization and Regulation Act proposes a 6 percent sales tax on medical marijuana and a 15 percent sales tax on marijuana “for all other purposes.” That 15 percent would bring in $19.5 million a year.
The $130-million valuation came from the District’s Director of Financial and Legislative Analysis, Yesim Sayin Taylor. He based it on an assumed 122,000 marijuana users buying three ounces of marijuana per year at $350 per ounce. It’s easy to see that possibility with D.C. being the only legal recreational marijuana market East of Colorado. With low application fees of $350 each for producer and retailer licenses, the market would be very open.
The Council has good reason to prepare themselves for Initiative 71’s passage. Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of D.C. voters between October 20 and 22. A majority of 52 percent said that if the election were help today, they would vote yes. Even if the 13 percent still undecided join the 35 percent against, it would still lead to a 52 percent to 48 percent victory for recreational marijuana.
A separate question asked whether selling less than an ounce of marijuana should be permitted and taxed. With 43 percent in favor and only 12 percent against selling marijuana in any amount, it looks like the marijuana industry is coming to D.C. in a big way.
DC Preps for $130m Marijuana Industry Ahead of Voter Approval
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