Showing posts with label marijuana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marijuana. Show all posts

Zero Tolerance For Common Sense: Kid Was Expelled And Charged For Bringing Pot To School, Even Though He Didn't

by Robby Soave.  Administrators at a middle school in central Virginia suspended a sixth-grader last September for one-year after discovering a marijuana leaf and a lighter in his backpack. The sheriff's department became involved as well and filed drug possession charges against the 11-year-old boy. Months later, prosecutors had to drop the     ... MORE

How Weed Will Eventually Become Legal In The U.S.

by Josh Voorhees. A trio of high-profile senators this week unveiled a package of drug reforms that would effectively end the federal war on medical marijuana once and for all. The bill, from Republican Rand Paul and Democrats Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, wouldn’t legalize medical weed across the country, but it would remove ... MORE

Marijuana Federalism Is Principled And Popular

by Jacob Sullum.      At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month, Ted Cruz responded to a question about marijuana legalization in Colorado by endorsing a federalist approach to the issue. "I actually think this is a great embodiment of what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called 'the laboratories of democracy,'" the Texas  ... MORE

Historic Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana Introduced

by Niraj Chokshi.     Rand Paul is a co-sponsor. The historic medical marijuana bill a trio of senators plan to unveil on Tuesday has a bit of something for everyone. The bill, which activists describe as a first for the Senate, would end the federal prohibition on medical marijuana and implement a number of critical reforms that advocates of      ... MORE

Ted Cruz & The Political Prudence of Marijuana Federalism

Principles matter.    At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last week, Ted Cruz responded to a question about marijuana legalization in Colorado by endorsing a federalist approach to the issue. “I actually think this is a great embodiment of what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called ‘the laboratories of democracy,’” the    ... MORE

DEA Warns Of Stoned Rabbits If Utah Approves Medical Pot

The new face of marijuana addiction.     Utah is considering a bill that would allow patients with certain debilitating conditions to be treated with edible forms of marijuana. If the bill passes, the state's wildlife may "cultivate a taste" for the plant, lose their fear of humans, and basically be high all the time. That's according to testimony    ... MORE

Top Brits Call On The U.K. To Decriminalize Drugs

by Carly Schwartz.    British businessman Richard Branson and U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have advocated for drug policy reform in the past. But experts say their op-ed calling on the U.K. to end the war on drugs, published Tuesday in The Guardian, is especially noteworthy as British elections near. "Doing this in advance of the election is     ... MORE

VIDEO: Christopher Hitchens - On Drug Decriminalization

A Majority Favors Marijuana Legalization For First time, According To The Nation’s Most Authoritative Survey

by Christopher Ingraham.       For the first time, the General Social Survey -- a large, national survey conducted every two years and widely considered to represent the gold standard for public opinion research -- shows a majority of Americans favoring the legalization of marijuana. In interviews conducted between March and October of last year    ... MORE

Texas Sees First Bill To Fully Repeal Marijuana Prohibition

by Mark Wiggins.   A Northeast Texas lawmaker says it's time to end the state's nearly century-old prohibition on marijuana, and has filed the first bill to do so in at least 50 years. State Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) filed House Bill 2165 Monday, which would strike all references to marijuana from Texas statues. Digital records       ... MORE

Edward Snowden's Libertarian Moment: We "Will Remove From Governments The Ability To Interfere With Rights"

by Nick Gillespie.  Via Mark Sletten comes this thread from yesterday's Ask Me Anything session at Reddit that featured Edward Snowden, Oscar-winning documentarian Laura Poitras, and journalist Glenn Greenwald. The question posed to Snowden: What's the best way to make NSA spying an issue in the 2016 Presidential Election? It seems like while it was  ... MORE

Marijuana May Be Even Safer Than Previously Thought

by Christopher Ingraham.   Compared to other recreational drugs -- including alcohol -- marijuana may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use. Those are the topline findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports, a subsidiary     ... MORE

Jonah Bennett: Legal US Weed Is Killing The Drug Cartels

The free market will always defeat the black market.    The growth of the U.S. marijuana industry has devastated drug cartels in Mexico, evidenced by fewer seizures of cannabis at the border and, according to Mexican security forces, a drop in total homicides and domestic marijuana production rates. Mexican drug cartels     ... MORE

Vermont Could Be Next State To Legalize Recreational Pot

by Matt Ferner.     Vermont could become the first state in history to legalize recreational marijuana via state legislature with a new bill submitted Tuesday that aims to end prohibition of the plant. Senate Bill 95 would legalize the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana in the state for those 21 and older. Adult residents could possess   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: 'Drugged' Drivers Who Aren't

What if the risk ratio is statistically insignificant?   Last year, during a congressional hearing on the threat posed by stoned drivers, a representative of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was asked how many crash fatalities are caused by marijuana each year. "That's difficult to say," replied Jeff Michael, NHTSA's  ... MORE

Bill Bennett's Confusing Defense of Pot Prohibition

by Jacob Sullum.   An old statist looks to defend the status quo. “With marijuana,” declare William J. Bennett and Robert A. White in Going to Pot, their new prohibitionist screed, “we have inexplicably suspended all the normal rules of reasoning and knowledge.” You can’t say they didn’t warn us. The challenge for Bennett, a former drug czar and    ... MORE

Pot Is Making Colorado So Much Money The State May Have To Give Some Of Its $50 Million Windfall To Taxpayers

by David McCormack.   Colorado has generated so much money from recreational pot taxes that the state is bound by law to pass some of the tax money directly on to residents. Voters legalized marijuana in 2012 on the understanding that revenue raised would go to schools, but a 1992 voter-approved constitutional amendment means some of the   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Busted Over $80 Worth of Pot, College Student Turns Police Informant, Then Turns Up Dead

This is the way everybody does it, says police chief. Last week North Dakota's Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) released a report that finds no wrongdoing in the way an anti-drug task force handled a young confidential informant who turned up dead last June. Andrew Sadek, a 20-year-old student at North Dakota State College of Science in   ... MORE
 

Jury Nullification And Why It Matters In The Silk Road Trial

by  Eric Markowitz.  If you happen to be lurking around the Manhattan courthouse where Ross Ulbricht’s trial began on Tuesday, you may notice one of about a dozen signs urging you to Google something called “jury nullification.” Walk a little further, and you may just encounter activists handing out jury nullification leaflets. But if you ask them to    ... MORE