Marijuana Legalization

The Growth of Corporate Cannabis

January 27, 2019 Doug McVay, iBudtender Educate! Corporatism, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

Legalization of adult social use marijuana only began in 2012, yet it’s already a multi-billion dollar industry. As 2018 came to a close, a handful of large business deals point to the industry’s possible future. Legalization is inevitable. The shape it’s taking is still being determined. It’s like a boxing match, with cannabis culture in one corner and corporate capitalism in the other. It all depends on who can go the distance.

Here Are 5 Key Facts About How Legal Weed Is Transforming Colorado

January 14, 2019 By Phillip Smith, Drug Reporter Create! Colorado, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

It’s been five years since the era of legal marijuana sales began in Colorado, and that’s been enough time to begin to be able see what sorts of impact the freeing of the weed has had on the Rocky Mountain State. From the economy and the fiscal health of the state government to law enforcement and public safety, legalizing marijuana has consequences. Thanks to marijuana sales reports and tax revenue reports from the state Department of Revenue, as well as a legislatively mandated biennial report from the Division of Criminal Justice, we can see what some of those consequences are.

Marijuana Law Reform Continues To Make Progress

January 5, 2019 Staff, NORML Create! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

A lot of progress continues to be made on marijuana and other drug policy. Of course, there continues to be opposition, but even when an anti-marijuana zealot, Jeff Sessions, was attorney general, the country continued to make progress with a 20% decline in federal prosecutions and five more states legalizing in one way or another. If the marijuana reform tide cannot be reversed with someone like Sessions in charge, it is hard to see how the momentum toward legal marijuana for adults can be stopped.

Federal Marijuana Prosecutions Down 20% Since Sessions Allowed Prosecutions of ‘Legal’ Marijuana

January 5, 2019 By Kyle Jaeger, Marijuanamoment.net Educate! Electoral Politics, Jeff Sessions, Marijuana Legalization, Reform

Exactly one year ago, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions stoked fears in the marijuana industry by rescinding an Obama-era Justice Department memo that encouraged federal prosecutors to generally not interfere with state cannabis legalization laws. But in the year since, the government has not launched a crackdown, five more states legalized cannabis in some form—with Vermont lawmakers voting to do so on the very same day Sessions made his move—and federal prosecutions for marijuana-related offenses during the 2018 fiscal year, which ended in September, declined by almost a fifth. While the Obama guidance, known as the Cole memo, provided the legal industry with some sense of comfort, advising U.S. attorneys to exercise discretion and enforce federal law in a limited number of circumstances...

Michigan First Midwest State To Legalize Recreational Use Of Marijuana

December 9, 2018 Aaron Kesel, Activist Post. Create! Marijuana Legalization

Michigan has become the first state in the Midwest to legalize recreational use of marijuana, allowing citizens at least 21 years of age to light up and toke. The law is set to take effect on December 6th this week. In the Nov. 6th election, voters endorsed legalizing the use of recreational cannabis (Proposal One) by adults who are at least 21 years old, similar to current alcohol laws. So far, eleven states including California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington and the District of Columbia have legalized the use of recreational marijuana.

More Americans Than Ever Want Marijuana Legalized. Lawmakers Should Listen.

October 27, 2018 By Paul Armentano, Otherwords.org Create! Legislation, Marijuana Legalization, Reform

Over 60 percent of Americans — including majorities of Republicans, independents, and Democrats — believe that the adult use of marijuana ought to be legal. And an estimated 20 percent of Americans now live in a state where cannabis use by those over the age of 21 is permitted. Nonetheless, newly released FBI data reports that, nationwide, marijuana arrests rose for the second consecutive year — and significantly outpace the total number of annual arrests for all violent offenses. Of the nearly 660,000 marijuana-related arrests made by law enforcement in 2017, the last year for which data is available, 91 percent (599,000) of them were for possession violations—– not trafficking, cultivation, or sales.

Oh, Canada! Marijuana Is Now Legal In Great White North

October 18, 2018 Phillip Smith, The Drug Reporter at Independent Media Institute - Independentmediainstitute.org Create! Canada, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

As of Wednesday, October 17, marijuana is legal in Canada. Our northern neighbor becomes the second country to fully legalize weed (after Uruguay led the way in 2013), and the first major industrial power to do so. While the Liberal-dominated federal parliament passed the C-45 legalization bill earlier this year, October 17 marks the beginning of legal marijuana sales and commerce. Under Canada's federal legalization, there will now be an overarching national regulatory framework, but each province establishes its own system of licensing and regulating marijuana businesses. Like liquor laws in the U.S., Canada's provincial marijuana laws will have some variation. In some provinces, such as Alberta and British Columbia...

Pew Poll: 62 Percent Of Americans Say Marijuana Should Be Legal

October 13, 2018 Staff, Norml.org Educate! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

Washington, DC: Sixty-two percent of US adults believe that "the use of marijuana should be made legal," according to national survey data compiled by the Pew Research Center and released on Monday. The percentage is the highest ever reported by Pew, which has been tracking Americans' views on the subject of marijuana legalization since 1969. Support was strongest among Millennials (74 percent), Democrats (69 percent), and Independents (68 percent). Support for legalization was weakest among Republicans (45 percent) and those born between the years 1928 and 1945 (39 percent). Since 2000, public support in favor of legalization has nearly doubled, Pew reported.

U.S. Border Patrol Official Says Canadian Pot Users Face Lifetime Ban

September 18, 2018 Naomi LaChance, Truthdig.com Educate! Canada, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

As Canada prepares to legalize marijuana on Oct. 17, a U.S. official has warned that Canadians involved in the cannabis industry could face a lifetime ban from entering the country. While some U.S. states and cities have loosened restrictions on or have legalized marijuana, the Border Patrol considers the drug an illegal substance and will classify those who work in the marijuana industry as drug traffickers. Todd Owen, executive assistant commissioner for the Office of Field Operations at the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, told Politico on Thursday that investors in the pot industry will be banned as well. “If you work for the industry, that is grounds for inadmissibility,” he said. Owen added that those who have invested in the industry in other countries, including Israel, have also been barred. “We don’t recognize that as a legal business,” he said.

Caribbean Nations Agree To Consider Marijuana Legalization

July 13, 2018 By Tom Angell, Marijuanamoment.net Create! Caribbean, Marijuana Legalization

The heads of Caribbean nations have agreed to “review marijuana’s current status with a view to reclassification,” noting “human and religious rights” issues stemming from criminalization as well as “the economic benefits to be derived” from legalization. The move, which was announced by The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), an organization of nations including Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica and others, comes after a committee formed by the group recommended replacing cannabis criminalization with legal regulation. “The medical and scientific evidence is clear that marijuana has substantial value,” commission Chair Rose-Marie Belle Antoine said. “Thousands of people are being imprisoned especially the most vulnerable and most marginalised in the region.”

Russia Says Canadian Cannabis Legalization Breaks International Law

July 12, 2018 Rob Hoffman, Herb.co Educate! International Law, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Russia

Russia is calling on other G-7 nations to voice concern for Canada’s “high-handedness” following its decision to legalize recreational cannabis. Russia has issued an official statement accusing Canada of breaking international legal obligations by legalizing recreational cannabis. The country is calling on the other G-7 nations to respond. The international agreements that Russian officials are referring to include the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 and, most recently, the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. The agreements were created to reduce the global supply, consumption, and sale of illegal drugs. As Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs points out, these agreements require that its signatories ban the use of specified drugs like cannabis, other than for medical or scientific ends.

Marijuana Legalization Making Major Progress

July 2, 2018 By Jenn Michelle, NORML Educate! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Medical Marijuana

At a time when news comes fast and furious, sometimes it’s hard to keep track of it all. So we’d like to take a moment to remind you of some of the amazing events that have transpired over just the past two weeks. June 16 The Texas GOP added marijuana decriminalization and medical cannabis planks to their party’s platform. June 19 A new nationwide poll reported that 68 percent of US voters back legalizing marijuana — the highest percentage of support ever recorded! June 20 Canada became the second country in the world to formally approve adult marijuana use, production, and sales and announced October 17, 2018, as the effective legalization date. June 23 The Texas Democratic party added marijuana legalization as a plank to their party’s platform. . . .

Jeff Sessions Marijuana Rolling Papers Are A Thing

March 9, 2018 By Phillip Smith, AlterNet.org Resist! Jeff Sessions, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

A group supporting the legalization of marijuana has come up with a nifty fundraising scheme: Rolling papers with the attorney general's image on the packaging. Who better to poke fun at than the cluelessly anti-marijuana Sessions—the man who claims "good people" don't smoke pot, that marijuana is a gateway drug, and who once said he liked the local Ku Klux Klan boys until he found out they smoked weed? The folks at #JeffSesh apparently agreed, selecting the attorney general's visage to grace the packages of "General Jeff's Old Rebel Session Papers," replete with the warning to "Don't Beauregard That Joint My Friend."

States Mull “Sanctuary” Status For Marijuana Businesses

March 8, 2018 By Becky Bohrer, AP.org Create! Legislation, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

JUNEAU, Alaska — Taking a cue from the fight over immigration, some states that have legalized marijuana are considering providing so-called sanctuary status for licensed pot businesses, hoping to protect the fledgling industry from a shift in federal enforcement policy. Just hours after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Jan. 4 that federal prosecutors would be free to crack down on marijuana operations as they see fit, Jesse Arreguin, the mayor in Berkeley, California, summoned city councilman Ben Bartlett to his office with a novel idea. Berkeley was already the first city in the nation to formally declare itself a sanctuary city on immigration, barring city officials from cooperating with federal authorities. Why not do the same thing with marijuana? Last month, it did. “We knew we had to do something,” Bartlett said. “This is a new engine of a healthy economy.”

Mixed Reactions In Legal Marijuana States By US Attorneys To New DOJ Policy

February 7, 2018 By Bruce Kennedy and Alex Pasquariello, Thecannabist.co Educate! DOJ, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Policy

It’s been a month since U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Cole Memo, Obama-era Department of Justice guidance on enforcement of federal law in states that legalized marijuana in some form. Sessions’ marijuana policy shift didn’t just inject uncertainty into the legal cannabis industry — it empowered the Justice Department’s U.S. attorneys to enforce — or ignore — federal marijuana laws. U.S. attorneys are the chief federal law enforcement officers within 93 districts throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. They’re nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. U.S. attorneys have three primary duties, according to the Justice Department’s website.

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