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

Marijuana Legalization: Disaster or Catastrophe?

by Jacob Sullum.    Drug warriors are desperate to make repeal of pot prohibition look like a mistake. In 2012 Coloradans approved Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use, by avote of 55 percent to 45 percent. Last February a Quinnipiac University poll found that 58 percent of Colorado voters supported that decision, while 38   ... MORE

Learn About Jury Nullification: Medical Marijuana Patient Could Spend Close To 100 Years In Prison For Pot Charges

by Maria Ines Taracena.    The thought of possibly spending close to 100 years in prison terrifies Kyle Catlin. But he's mostly concerned about his mom. She's not in the best of health. If something were to happen to her, "I may not even be allowed to leave prison to go to my mom's funeral, and that's super fucked up," he says. "I'm probably not gonna   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Where Can You Smoke Legal Pot?

Out from the shadows.     When the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts unveiled the text of its 2016 legalization initiative this month, the group highlighted several features of the measure but omitted the most interesting one. The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act would allow consumption of cannabis  ... MORE

These 17 States Could Have Legalized Marijuana Soon

by Kyle Jaeger.      A marijuana legalization initiative in Ohio received enough signatures to get on the November 2015 ballot, Secretary of State Jon Husted announced on Tuesday, much to the excitement of the measure's pro-pot supporters. If it passes, Ohio will become the fifth state (plus the District of Columbia) to allow people 21 or older to   ... MORE

Anti-Pot Hard-Liner Chris Christie Admits The Drug War Is A 'Failure,' Even Though He More Or Less Wants To Restart It

by Matt Ferner.  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Monday that the war on drugs has been a "failure" -- even though he has vowed to enact a federal crackdown on marijuana, a substance that has been a primary target of the drug war for decades. "This is a disease and the war on drugs has been a failure -- well-intentioned, but a failure," Christie  ... MORE

How Marijuana Taxes & Restrictions Recreate Prohibition

by J D Tucille.   Are you a government official who yearns for the good old days of marijuana prohibition? Do you feel out of place in an era of voter-approved legalization, grow clubs, and pot shops? My, how the world has changed! But you can feed your nostalgia for busts and streetcorner deals even while "respecting" the public's desire to legalize       ... MORE

D.A.R.E. Published An Op-ed Calling For Pot Legalization

by Claire Landsbaum.    It must unanimous now. The war on drugs is over, and weed won. D.A.R.E., the organization designed to plant a deep-seated fear of drugs in the minds of every late-20th-century middle schooler, published an op-ed calling for marijuana legalization. Written by former deputy sheriff Carlis McDerment in response to a letter  ... MORE

NatGeo: Science Seeks To Unlock Marijuana’s Secrets

by Hampton Sides. As the once-vilified drug becomes more accepted, researchers around the world are trying to understand how it works and how it might fight disease. There’s nothing new about cannabis, of course. It’s been around humankind pretty much forever. In Siberia charred seeds have been found inside burial mounds dating back to 3000 B.C.  ... MORE

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