Cannabis legislation / legalization

[tone3jaguar]

Will people be allowed to walk around with bongs tied around their necks like yards of beer, LOL

[Fredkc]

T3J;
Whatta weird, yet very interesting question!

I have seen felony convictions here in Cal. lately for "paraphernalia".

The laws not properly adjusted you could wind up with a Meel Of A Hess.
Imagine a traffic ticket for pot, then a felony conviction, and prison for the pipe it was in?

You would presume sanity would require fixing these little snags, but then, we are talking about Gooberment.
Fred

[tone3jaguar]

That is what one hitters where invented for.

[Fredkc]

"One-hitter" unless discarded is still a pipe.

Only difference is the cops laugh at you for thinking you thought there was a difference

[irishspirit]

Posted by Fredkc (here)
"One-hitter" unless discarded is still a pipe.

Only difference is the cops laugh at you for thinking you thought there was a difference

HAHA Fred,

[Ross]

Posted by jack (here)
Do they get to keep the weed?

Nope...sorry, that goes back to the lockup...or is that the smokeup

Ross

[muxfolder]

Here in Finland we're goin backwards in everything. Laws for smoking cigarettes are getting tighter every year. Actually, it is so bad you can't even smoke cigarettes while you're walking in public. Or in bigger cities there are always someone who across the street or at least cough when you come pass with them. But now when I'm drunk I just open my window. But I do like to smoke pot once in a while. I think it was the main thing why I started to realize what this world is all about. Anyways, it's not that bad that something makes someone calm and think about outside the box. Actually it's much better than alcohol.

[Myra]

Posted by jack (here)
Do they get to keep the weed?

Good question. Maybe that's how they get even more revenue lol

[Studeo]

Here is something to remind us of the history of this humble Herb. If true this could be how the hippie movement started. As a covert op to experiment on the general public. I mean, if you read between the lines it's the CIA that may have originally supplied the dealers back in the 50s & 60s. Studeo

The Fraudulent Criminalization of Marijuana

by: William John Cox, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Source: Truthout
http://www.truth-out.org/the-fraudul...marijuana63664

For almost 40 years, the United States has waged a war on its own citizens who have used marijuana as a part of a drug culture originally encouraged by the government. The war was commenced despite the government's own findings that marijuana posed less of a risk to American society than alcohol, and that the greatest harm that would result from criminalization would be the injury caused to those arrested for possession and use. The harm caused by the war extends beyond its 15 million prisoners; its cost has exceeded a trillion dollars, and it has benefitted only those who profit from the illegal cultivation and sale of marijuana.
Government Responsibility for the Drug Culture
Drug use became endemic among U.S. troops serving in Vietnam with more than 80% getting stoned on marijuana and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Many of the secrets are still hidden; however, we now have some information about the extent of the government's responsibility for the development of the drug culture in the military and in communities across America. These are the highlights:
Although the U.S. was a signatory to the Geneva Convention protocols banning the use of chemical weapons, the U.S. Army engaged in extensive testing of marijuana and its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as an incapacitating agent in warfare. A secret research program tested these substances, including highly-concentrated derivatives, on thousands of American GIs without their informed consent.
The CIA engaged in a ten-year secret program to identify and test drugs for use as truth serums during interrogations and as incapacitating agents. Operation Midnight Climax secretly tested LSD on the unwitting patrons of a CIA-financed whorehouse.
The U.S. Army envisioned "driving people crazy for a few hours" by spiking a city's water supply and developed a super hallucinogen known as quinuclidinyl benzilate (BZ), which was tested on thousands of soldiers. Known as "agent buzz," the Army produced more than 100,000 pounds of the chemical in a facility specifically designed for its incorporation into conventional bombs. Allegations in foreign publications that BZ was deployed against North Vietnamese troops have never been confirmed, and all files on the subject remain top secret. However, it is known that the government considered using it for the control of domestic riots.
To facilitate its alliance with the intelligence agencies of Thailand and Nationalist China, the CIA supported the transportation and refining of opium into heroin in Southeast Asia, including the opening of a cluster of heroin laboratories in the Golden Triangle in 1968-1969. The CIA remained silent as its allies, including officers of the Hmong irregular army, routinely supplied heroin to American troops in Vietnam, resulting in the addiction rates as high as 34%. In a secret report in 1972, the CIA Inspector General said: "The past involvement of many of these officers in drugs is well-known."
During classified testimony before a House committee in 1999, CIA Inspector General Britt Snider admitted that the CIA allowed its Nicaraguan Contra allies to smuggle huge quantities of cocaine into the United States during the 1980's, which was refined into "crack" for sale by street gangs. The House report found that "CIA employees did nothing to verify or disprove drug trafficking information, even when they had the opportunity to do so. In some of these, receipt of a drug allegation appeared to provoke no specific response, and business went on as usual."
The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse
In 1971, President Nixon appointed Governor Raymond P. Shafer of Pennsylvania to chair a national commission to "report on the effects of marijuana and other drugs and recommend appropriate drug policies. Governor Shafer was a former prosecutor, who was known as a "law and order" governor.
The "Shafer" Commission conducted the most extensive and comprehensive examination of marijuana ever performed by the US government. More than 50 projects were funded, "ranging from a study of the effects of marihuana on man to a field survey of enforcement of the marihuana laws in six metropolitan jurisdictions . . ."
"Through formal and informal hearings, recorded in thousands of pages of transcripts, we solicited all points of view, including those of public officials, community leaders, professional experts and students. We commissioned a nationwide survey of public beliefs, information and experience... In addition, we conducted separate surveys of opinion among district attorneys, judges, probation officers, clinicians, university health officials and free clinic personnel."
Among the Commissions findings were:
"No significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities could be attributed solely to their marihuana smoking."
"No verification is found of a causal relationship between marihuana use and subsequent heroin use."
"In sum, the weight of the evidence is that marihuana does not cause violent or aggressive behavior; if anything marihuana serves to inhibit the expression of such behavior."
"Neither the marihuana user nor the drug itself can be said to constitute a danger to public safety."
"Marihuana's relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it."
The Commission concluded that, "Society should seek to discourage use, while concentrating its attention on the prevention and treatment of heavy and very heavy use. The Commission feels that the criminalization of possession of marihuana for personal [use] is socially self-defeating as a means of achieving this objective… Considering the range of social concerns in contemporary America, marihuana does not, in our considered judgment, rank very high. We would deemphasize marihuana as a problem."
Busy schedule? Click here to keep up with Truthout with free email updates.
President Nixon called Governor Shafer on the carpet and pressured him to change the Commission's conclusion saying, "You see, the thing that is so terribly important here is that it not appear that the Commission's frankly just a bunch of do-gooders." Governor Shafer declined to change his conclusions, and Nixon declined to appoint him to a pending federal judgeship.
The War on Drugs
White House tapes reveal that Nixon's opinions about marijuana were based on his personal prejudices rather than the evidence. He can be heard to make statements such as: "That's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob, what is the matter with them? I suppose it's because most of them are psychiatrists... By God, we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it right square in the puss..."
When Nixon was talking with Art Linkletter about "radical demonstrators," he said "They're all on drugs.'' On another occasion, Nixon compared marijuana to alcohol use saying that marijuana users smoke it to "get high," while "a person drinks to have fun."
Wanting to be strong "like the Russians," and to "scare" marijuana users, Nixon ordered his administration to come down hard on users and to target them as enemies in his "war on drugs."
The war on marijuana and the false myths associated with its usage have been continued by every president since Nixon. Since 1973, 15 million people, mostly young people who were committing no other crime, have been arrested for marijuana. In just the last ten years, 6.5 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges. Of the 829,625 people who were arrested in 2006, 738,915 of them were in simple possession.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. announced in March 2009 that the administration would discontinue raids on the distributors of medical marijuana, including California - which was the first state to legalize marijuana sales upon a doctor's recommendation.
Although President Obama backed off on arresting medical marijuana users, his 2010 National Drug Control Strategy continues the hard line: "Keeping drugs illegal reduces their availability and lessens willingness to use them. That is why this Administration firmly opposes the legalization of marijuana or any other illicit drug." Contrary to the findings of the Shafer Commission, the only existing comprehensive government study on the subject, Obama goes on to say, "Diagnostic, laboratory, clinical and epidemiological studies clearly indicate that marijuana use is associated with dependence, respiratory and mental illness, poor motor performance, and cognitive impairment, among other negative effects, and legalization would only exacerbate these problems."
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have now followed California in passing laws permitting the use of marijuana for medical purposes; however, no state, thus far, has decriminalized personal possession for recreational use or personal enjoyment.
After spending a trillion dollars in the battle, the war on marijuana has been a complete failure. Although a marijuana user is arrested every 38 seconds, one hundred million people, or about one third of all Americans acknowledge they have used marijuana, and 15 million "criminals" used it in the last month.
The only victors in the war on drugs have been the criminals who have profited from illegal sales. There is an estimated $15 billion in illegal cannabis transactions each year just in California. These transactions are not taxed or regulated.
The cultivation of marijuana in Mexico soared 35% last year to production levels greater than any time in the last 20 years. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in 2006 more than 60% of the revenue generated by Mexican drug cartels came from cannabis sales in the U.S.
Nixon's war has been expensive; it has been a failure; and it has caused great damage to the fabric of America society. The harm has been particularly felt by its young people who suffer up to 80% of the marijuana arrests and who are disproportionately African American and Latino.
California's Initiative to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession
The penalty upon conviction for possession and use of less than an ounce of marijuana in California is now restricted to a maximum of a $100 fine. If California voters approve Proposition 19 on their November ballot, such possession by a person over the age of 21 will no longer be a crime under California law.
Just as California and New York ended criminal sanctions against the possession and sale of alcohol before prohibition was repealed, California voters again have the chance to remedy the evils caused by almost 40 years of a war without foundation or cause.
The initiative "Changes California Law to Legalize Marijuana and Allow It to Be Regulated and Taxed." It includes the following provisions:
Allows people 21 years or older to possess, cultivate, or transport marijuana for personal use.
Permits local governments to regulate and tax commercial production and sale of marijuana to people 21 years or older.
Prohibits people from possession marijuana on school grounds, using it in public, smoking it while minors are present, or providing it to anyone under 21 years old, and;
Maintains current prohibitions against driving while impaired.
The California Legislative Analyst and the Director of Finance estimate there will be savings of up to several tens of millions of dollars annually to state and local governments on the costs of incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders. In addition, there are unknown, but potentially major tax, fee, and benefit assessment revenues to state and local government related to the production and sale of marijuana products.
Conclusion
In 1972, during the same year of the Shafer Commission, I was a sergeant of police in Los Angeles and had just completed a two-year assignment to write and obtain approval of the Department's Policy Manual, which defined the principles and philosophy of policing in the city. I was also attending law school and I was "loaned" to the staff of the Police Task Force of President Nixon's National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals, where I was privileged to draft the introductory chapters defining the role of the police in America.
Following graduation the next year and passing the state bar examination, I moved to Washington, D.C. to work for the Justice Department's Law Enforcement Assistance Administration to implement national criminal justice standards and goals. As a result of these initiatives, the quality of policing in America has been vastly improved over the years, and today, law enforcement is a profession which I am proud to have been a part of.
Several times I had to fight for my life while enforcing the law, and three of my law enforcement friends were murdered in the line of duty. I am not naive. I have walked through too much blood and have seen too much pain and suffering during my career. Everything I have learned during almost 50 years in the justice system compels a conclusion that the criminalization of marijuana was a fraud on the American people from the very inception of the war on drugs.
I am not alone in this conclusion, which has been joined by a large number of active and retired law enforcement officials and judges in the United States and other countries.
Every voter has a duty to honestly consider the issues presented by Proposition 19 and vote as though one of his or her children, a niece or nephew, or a friend's child will be caught experimenting with marijuana in the future. How will you want the matter handled? By creating a criminal, or by using the occasion as an educational opportunity?
We hopefully remember the danger to society caused by the prohibition of alcohol and we have seen how education and reasonable regulation has substantially reduced the use of tobacco in our society.
Let us rely on the true facts, our experience, our best judgment, and our consciences, instead of our prejudices or the misleading myths that continue to be perpetuated by our government. Let us bring an end to the fraudulent war on marijuana.

[noxon medem]

- like it is about
watch the union, an insight into
- that side of life ..
so many potential uses,
wow

¤=[Post Update]=¤

and this:
..

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hoK6NztH3eQ

..

[blackatiam]

As California will be voting on Proposition 19 to Legalize Marijuana on Nov. 2, I ran across this article that lists who stands to lose money if Prop 19 passes. I thought it was interesting:
Follow the money: Who loses it if Marijuana is Legalized? Marijuana: A Renewable Resource
for the Prohibition Industrial Complex
Have you ever wondered about the forces which attempt to keep cannabis under lock and key? Why do they persist, in spite of decades of research, social and medical, which indicate, basically: it's not really that bad, and in fact, used judiciously, and appropriately, cannabis can actually be quite good?
Why do we, as a nation continue this policy of prohibition, which has nothing going for it societally, except the promulgation of misery, suffering, broken lives, broken families and overcrowded prisons; not to mention violence and death, not only in the United States, but beyond our borders.
I say these forces can be characterized as the Prohibition Industrial Complex.
To understand what comprises the Prohibition Industrial Complex, you only have to follow the money. The following list didn't take much research, most of it is pretty obvious, and the rest is common sense. It should also be pointed out that the list is far from complete, and I invite the correction of any omissions.
Here's a quick look at who stands to lose money if marijuana prohibition ends:
1. Alcohol Interests
a. breweries
b. bars
c. ad agencies
d. media ad revenue recipients
e. alcohol interest lobbyists
2. Pharmaceutical Interests
a. FDA-approved-drug peddlers
b. ad agencies
c. media ad revenue recipients
1.) TV broadcast and cable corporations
2.) Radio stations and corporations
3.) Newspapers and magazines
4.) Internet ad providers
d. pharmaceutical interest lobbyists
3. Addiction Industry
a. clinics
b. drug testing complex
1.) kit manufactures
2.) laboratories
c. Partnership for a Drug Free America

4. Prison/Criminal Justice Industry
a. Law enforcement
1.) Federal (DEA, ONDCP, NIDA)local LEO-funding derived from forfeiture and seizures
b. Privatized prison promoters, executives and stockholders
1.) Corrections Corporation of America
2.) GEO group
3.) Cornell Companies
c. Union of Prison Guards
5. Drug Cartels
6. Politicians
7. Armament Industry infrared-detection equipment manufacturers
b. helicopter manufacturers
c. SWAT equipment manufacturers and suppliers
d. military/industrial lobbyists and those who employ them
8. Drug War Mercenary Contractors and Providers
a. Xe (formerly Blackwater)
b. Haliburton
c. Wackenhut
d. Dyncorp
e. AirScan
f. Military Professional Resources, Inc.
g. Aviation Development Corporation
h. Raytheon
i. Arinc Corporation
j. Civilian Police International
k. Science Applications International Corporation
l. ITT Industries,
m. KBR
n. IAP Worldwide Services, Inc.
o. Triple Canopy
p. Lockheed Martin Corporation
q. Sikorsky
r. United Technologies
s. L-3,
t. Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation
u. Al Salam Aircraft Company Ltd.
v. Serco Group Plc.
w. Booz Allen Hamilton
x. CACI International
y. Triple Canopy

[Carmody]

And that's just the surface.

[ktlight]

FYI:

Connecticut lawmakers moments ago voted 90 to 57 in favor of Senate Bill 1014, decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use by adults. Senate lawmakers had narrowly approved an amended version of the measure on Saturday; House lawmakers concurred with the Senate today, sending the measure to Democrat Gov. Dannel Malloy — who will sign it into law.

As amended, SB 1014 reduces the penalties for the adult possession of up to one-half ounce of marijuana from a criminal misdemeanor (punishable by one year in jail and a $1,000 fine) to a non-criminal infraction, punishable by a fine, no jail time, and no criminal record. (This measure would similarly reduce penalties on the possession of marijuana paraphernalia.)

Once signed into law, Connecticut will become the fourteenth state to replace criminal sanctions and arrest for minor marijuana possession with largely non-criminal sanctions. (Seven states pose no criminal sanctions for cannabis possession; six states have eliminated the potential for jail terms for first offenses, but still classify the offense as a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor.)

Connecticut is only the second state to enact decriminalization legislatively in the past decade. (Massachusetts enacted a similar law via ballot initiative in 2009.)

NORML supporters, and Connecticut NORML’s regional organizer and state lobbyist Erik Williams, played a significant role in sheparding this legislation through the State House — generating thousands of phone calls and e-mails to lawmakers at a time when political experts were alleging that the measure lacked the political will for passage. Below is a message from Erik Williams:

Dear CT NORML Friends and Supporters,

We did it! Moments ago, the Connecticut House of Representatives passed SB 1014, Decriminalizing Small Amounts of Marijuana. The Governor has pledged to sign the bill into law.

"Thank you for all of your hard work in making this a reality. Connecticut has taken a first step in addressing the outdated and unworkable War on Drugs, which costs taxpayers $billions every year and ruins individual lives and devastates communities.

While this is clearly a victory for CT NORML and the State of Connecticut, it is bittersweet as the Medical Marijuana bill has yet to be brought for a vote in the Senate. If it were to be brought for a vote, it would easily pass with both Republicans and Democrats supporting the measure. I pledge right now to all of you who have fought so hard with me for the legalization of medical marijuana that I will not give up until nobody stands in the way of you and your doctor making medical decisions. I will not give up until compassion is the main driver of public policy replacing political posturing, demagoguery and fear. I will not stop working until medical marijuana is legalized and I ask you to continue to fight by my side."

Connecticut’s legislative session ends tomorrow, but there is still time to act in favor of medical cannabis. If you live in Connecticut, please contact the office of Sen. Don Williams, President Pro Tempore, and urge him to allow the 2011 medical marijuana bill to receive a floor vote. You can also contact your own individual Senator via NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here.

source
http://blog.norml.org/2011/06/07/con...na-possession/

[Maia Gabrial]

I'd take it a step further: just legalize it PERIOD. It's an herb and we've been lied to about it. Time for everyone to come clean....
Maia

[conk]

Another nail in the coffin of Big Pharma and Big Business. Yahoo.

[firstlook]

Right on. My state also is decriminalized. $100 fine with an ounce or less. Some city's and towns badly want to ignore it. I haven't looked into how this has effected crime or even the money saved spent toward putting offenders through the system. I imagine it is not much of a difference. They really need to just legalize it. Then they will see how it breaks up the real crime and brings other issues of social dependence to more honest debates.

Go Connecticut!

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Oh and they should legalize Medical use before anything.

[ktlight]

FYI:

Mexican soldiers have reportedly uncovered the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in the country in the northwestern state of Baja California.


The huge field, covering almost 300 acres (120 hectares), sheltered under black screen-cloth in a huge square on the floor of the Baja California desert, located more than 241 kilometers (150 miles) south of the border city of Tijuana, Reuters quoted Mexico's Defense Department officials as saying on Thursday.

Army Gen. Alfonso Duarte said the discovery was made on Tuesday after government soldiers on the ground reached the isolated area.

"We estimate that in this area, approximately 60 people were working. When they saw the military personnel, they fled," Duarte said.

Six suspects were arrested later at a military checkpoint. No arrests were made at the scene.

The men tending the pot plants had dug a well at the barren site and pumped water through hoses to irrigate the crop.

It is estimated that drug traffickers could have harvested about 120 tons of marijuana from the plantation, worth about USD 160 million.

The recently found marijuana plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by Mexican authorities at a ranch in northern Chihuahua state in 1984.

source
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189270.html

[ktlight]

FYI:

he US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has finally acknowledged a nine-year-old petition filed by The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis to reclassify marijuana as a schedule III, IV, or V drug, rather than its current, and more-serious, schedule I classification.

The acknowledgment, however, was an official denial of the petition based on claims that there are no studies to prove the medicinal value of marijuana, and that the plant is basically as unsafe as heroin.

Back in May, NaturalNews reported that a group of marijuana advocacy groups had filed a lawsuit against the federal government for failing to even acknowledge their petition to reschedule marijuana, which had been filed roughly nine years earlier.

By ignoring the petition, the federal government was invariably in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act, which requires it to respond to petitions within a reasonable amount of time (http://www.naturalnews.com/032546_m...).

If the agency had complied with the petition, it would have acknowledged that marijuana does, indeed, have legitimate medical use, and that its abuse potential is not as extreme as a schedule I classification deems it to be.

And by rescheduling marijuana to at least a schedule III classification rather than a schedule I, federal policy would have become more in line with those of the 16-and-counting states that have already legalized marijuana for medical purposes (http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/...).

The agency's flat-out denial of the petition, however, shows that it plans to continue willfully ignoring the facts about marijuana, including the hundreds of studies -- many of these are peer-reviewed studies -- that suggest not only that marijuana has medicinal benefits, but also that it is safe.

According to ProCon.org, for instance, there are 33 studies, 17 of which involve humans, that suggest definitive medicinal benefits from using marijuana (http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/...).

There is, however, absolutely no evidence to back the DEA's claim that "marijuana has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision," as DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart falsely stated in her announcement on behalf of the agency's decision in the matter. In fact, a report issued by the US Institute of Medicine (IOM) back in 1999 states the following contradiction to the DEA's claims:

"Scientific data indicate the potential therapeutic value of cannabinoid drugs, primarily THC, for pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation" (http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/...).

More recent studies than this have found that cannabinoids help reduce inflammation, prevent dementia, and even kill cancer cells. Perhaps this is why the federal government -- the very same federal government that has denounced marijuana as dangerous and medically useless -- filed a patent on all medicinal uses of cannabis.

The patent states that cannabinoids are "useful in the treatment of prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases."

The patent goes on to state that marijuana is neuroprotective, and that it limits "neurological damage, such as stroke or trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia" (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...).

A recent report in TIME magazine also explains that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an investigational new drug application (IND) in 2006 for Sativex, an "inhalable marijuana-derived drug" that contains both THC and CBD, the two main active ingredients in marijuana. Apparently a supposedly dangerous drug with no therapeutic value suddenly has potential value once a drug company has found a way to steal and patent it (http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/...).

So much for the idea that marijuana is both medically useless and harmful.

source to read more
http://www.naturalnews.com/033117_ma...ification.html

[Teakai]

So long as corporations rule the world that's the way it will be. DEATH TO CORPORATIONS, say I. DEATH TO CORPORATIONS - and their greedy money grubbing and conscienceless ways!!!!

Everyday I get more and more repulsed by this idea that some people feel they have the right to control others. I despise these mental tethers by which society is bound and marvel that I had no real idea they even existed until quite recently.

I always thought it was pretty sucky that people had to spend 8 hours 5 days a week working - but that was about the extent of it. Now I see it everywhere and it's repugnant.

[etheric underground]

Passionate words TEAKAI... Exactly what is needed.
I am totally on your vibe... With all that is going on and all that I know
I still find it bloody difficult not to give up on the majority and there
power/money zombie stupor. Every day i have to rebalance my energy and intentions
because of the complete ignorance and close minded ways of most.