Showing posts with label cannabis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cannabis. Show all posts

Pot Legalization Likely To Be On Michigan's 2016 Ballot

by Mara MacDonald.     It looks like Michigan voters will be deciding whether they want to legalize marijuana in 2016. Nearly 40,000 signatures have been collected in just 12 days as part of a push to get the issue on the ballot. There are two ballot proposals which have seen language approved by the state board of canvassers, but only one has   ... MORE

Cautious Effort To Legalize Marijuana In California In 2016

by Steven Greenhut.   By ballot initiative. Regardless of one's take on the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on Friday forbidding states from banning same-sex marriage, it's clear the ruling didn't come in a vacuum. Analysts said the court "created" a new civil right, but public attitudes have shifted dramatically in recent years. The court simply gave its blessing  ... MORE

Marijuana Legalization: Bad For The Cartels, Better For All

by Hillary Bricken.        Marijuana legalization has already led to many benefits in the United States, ranging from increased tax revenues to decreased cannabis use by minors. Marijuana legalization is also putting a dent into what the Department of Justice calls the “greatest organized crime threat to the United States,” the Mexican drug cartels.    ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Shona Banda Faces Decades in Prison Because Her Son Questioned Anti-Pot Propaganda

Childs comments may lead to prison for mom.   In Live Free or Die, a 2010 memoir recounting how cannabis oil saved her life, Shona Banda emphasizes the importance of "self-taught knowledge," acquired by constantly asking questions and "looking at all of the angles of any information given." Her son may have learned that lesson too  ... MORE

Government Study Confirms Marijuana Impairs Drivers Less Than Alcohol, Casts Doubt on Stoned Driving Definitions

by Jacob Sullum.   A new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) confirms that marijuana has a less dramatic effect on driving than alcohol does and casts further doubt on the standard that Colorado and Washington use for determining when someone is too stoned to drive. In the double-blind study, 18 occasional cannabis   ... MORE

Police Raid A Marijuana Dispensary, Destroy Equipment, Eat Pot Brownies, And Joke About Assaulting Amputee

by Ed Krayewski.   Public service is a noble pursuit. Cops in Santa Ana, California, donned ski masks to break and enter into a local medical marijuana dispensary, raiding it with guns drawn in a May 27 police action. They then proceeded to remove surveillance cameras and recording equipment, but they didn't remove it all. Video from a camera   ... MORE

The Government Is Not Us: Mother Faces 30 Year Prison Sentence For Using Cannabis To Treat Crohn’s Disease

by Carey Wedler.     A prime candidate for jury nullification. Last month, Kansas mother Shona Banda made headlines when her son was removed from her custody after he defended her use of medical marijuana to treat Crohn’s Disease. He had spoken up about her use at an anti-drug presentation at his school. This prompted the school to call to ... MORE

David Downs: Seeking To Prove The Opposite, Scientist Finds Smoking Marijuana Decreases Lung Cancer Risk

An inconvenient truth for drug warriors.    As more and more Americans consider the pros and cons of cannabis legalization, many points are worth repeating, and chief among them: cannabis actually decreases the risk of lung cancer. It’s a counter-intuitive notion, since tobacco smoking causes cancer, marijuana smoking must as well. But as    ... MORE

Chris Ingraham: Portugal Decriminalized Drugs 14 years Ago – And Now Hardly Anyone Dies From Overdosing

The result of ending the drug war are in. Portugal decriminalised the use of all drugs in 2001. Weed, cocaine, heroin, you name it — Portugal decided to treat possession and use of small quantities of these drugs as a public health issue, not a criminal one. The drugs were still illegal, of course. But now getting caught with them meant a small fine    ... MORE

Pot Prohibition: Unscientific, Unconstitutional & Unjust

by Jacob Sullum.       A few days before the House of Representatives passed a federal ban on marijuana in June 1937, the Republican minority leader, Bertrand Snell of New York, confessed, “I do not know anything about the bill.” The Democratic majority leader, Sam Rayburn of Texas, educated him. “It has something to do with something that is   ... MORE

Kelly McLauglin: Morgan Freeman Makes Impassioned Plea For Legalization Of Cannabis While Discussing His Habit

'I'll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it' Hollywood's favorite narrator Morgan Freeman opened up about being an advocate for legalizing marijuana last week, claiming that 'pot is very useful'.  Freeman, 77, is a longtime user who was turned on to the drug by his first wife 'many years ago'.  'I'll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it! This movement is    ... MORE

In Surprise Move, Puerto Rico Legalizes Medical Marijuana

by Daniel Kreps.   In a surprise move, Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro GarcĂ­a Padilla signed an executive order legalizing the use of medical marijuana in the U.S. territory. The order, which was heavily debated in Puerto Rico since 2013 but never put to a public vote, went into immediate effect. The Caribbean island joins 23 other U.S.   ... MORE

Donald Bradley: After State Takes Her Child, A Kansas Woman Is At The Center Of National Marijuana Debate

Treat your disease or raise your child.   You can't do both. Shona Banda says she had a clear choice: Live in misery or use medical marijuana to ease her Crohn’s disease and risk going to jail. Turned out to be an easy call for the Garden City, Kan., woman. She said her symptoms eased to the point where she could return to work and once again play with   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Obama Frees Drug War Prisoners

Credit where credit is due.  On October 31, 1996, the Sanilac County Sheriff's Office, which serves a largely rural area in Michigan's thumb, got a call from a local resident who said he was concerned about his neighbor, Darrell Hayden. No one had heard from Hayden for several days, the man said, and his horses were wandering down Argyle Road. The       ... MORE

Tom Knapp: J-U-R-Y does not spell 'rubber stamp'

It's getting harder to prosecute victimless crimes. Break out the world’s smallest violin for prosecutors in Alachua County, Fla. They’re having problems finding citizens who will jail other citizens for marijuana possession. In one recent case it took hours to weed out (pun intended) prospective jurors who didn’t think marijuana should be illegal.  ... MORE

These 8 States Could Be Next For Marijuana Legalization

by Andrew Meola.      The times, they are a-changin' for marijuana, as longtime prohibition laws risk going up in flames. The New York Times advocated for legalization of pot at a national level last year, arguing that the "social costs" of the current prohibition laws are vast -- unreasonable prison sentences, a judicial system skewed against minority    ... MORE