Marijuana Legalization

8 Things That Happen When We Legalize Marijuana

February 1, 2018 By Phillip Smith, AlterNet.org Create! Drug Policy, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

The great social experiment that is marijuana legalization is now five years old, with six states already allowing legal marijuana sales, two more where legal sales will begin within months, and yet another that, along with the District of Columbia, has legalized personal possession and cultivation of the herb. As a number of state legislatures—including Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York—seriously contemplate joining the parade this year, it's more important than ever to be able to assess just what impact marijuana legalization has had on those states that have led the way. The prophets of doom warned of all manner of social ills that would arise if marijuana were legalized. From hordes of dope-addled youths aimlessly wandering the streets to red-eyed carnage on the highway, the divinations were dire.

Recriminalizing Cannabis Is Worse Than 1930s “Reefer Madness”

January 20, 2018 By Miriam Boeri, Truth-out.org Educate! Criminalization, History, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

In the 1930s, parents across the US were panicked. A new documentary, "Reefer Madness," suggested that evil marijuana dealers lurked in public schools, waiting to entice their children into a life of crime and degeneracy. The documentary captured the essence of the anti-marijuana campaign started by Harry Anslinger, a government employee eager to make a name for himself after Prohibition ended. Ansligner's campaign demonized marijuana as a dangerous drug, playing on the racist attitudes of white Americans in the early 20th century and stoking fears of marijuana as an "assassin of youth." Over the decades, there's been a general trend toward greater social acceptance of marijuana by a more educated society, seeing the harm caused by the prohibition of marijuana. But then, on Jan. 4...

Movement Against Sessions On Marijuana Growing

January 10, 2018 Staff, The Cannabist Educate! Jeff Sessions, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

There is still no one in Congress who has come out in support of Attorney General Jeff Sessions backward steps on marijuana in either chamber of Congress. He stands alone. In addition, support for positive congressional action is growing but it remains to be seen what US Attorneys will do in states that have legal adult use of marijuana, see the link below to Massachusetts where the federal prosecutor is making no promises that would allow legal adult use. Below is the daily newsletter of the Cannabist from January 9. We will not be publishing these regularly but at this critical moment it is a good snapshot of the immediate trends on marijuana policy after Sessions actions.

Impacts Of Sessions’ Reversal Of DOJ Marijuana Policy

January 7, 2018 By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Educate! Jeff Sessions, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

The article below by Alicia Wallace a Denver, CO reporter for the Cannabist, describes the decisions by Attorney General Sessions to re-state the Department of Justice policy on marijuana law enforcement in states that have legalized marijuana and examines the legal, investment and business impacts of the decision. Essentially, Sessions has moved decison making to US Attorneys responsible for states that have put in place legal marijuana systems. Each US Attorney in those areas will need to evaluate the situation and decide how to proceed. No doubt they will meet with federal drug enforcement officials as well as state officials before deciding what to do. At this point, prosecutors are being vague in their pronouncements, as seen in Massachusetts.

Sessions Reverses DOJ Policy, Allows Marijuana Prosecutions In Legal States

January 5, 2018 Sadie Gurman, Apnews.com Educate! Criminalization, DOJ, Jeff Sessions, Legislation, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration threw the burgeoning movement to legalize marijuana into uncertainty Thursday as it lifted an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will now leave it up to federal prosecutors to decide what to do when state rules collide with federal drug law. Sessions’ action, just three days after a legalization law went into effect in California, threatened the future of the young industry, created confusion in states where the drug is legal and outraged both marijuana advocates and some members of Congress, including Sessions’ fellow Republicans. Many conservatives are wary of what they see as federal intrusion in areas they believe must be left to the states.

Serving Life In Prison For $5 Worth Of Marijuana

November 2, 2017 Tana Ganeva, alternet.org Educate! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Prison

By Tana Ganeva for AlterNet - Deedee Kirkwood is a hippie housewife in Camarillo, a scenic beach town in California outside of Los Angeles. When she was younger, she followed the Grateful Dead on tour and says she smoked copious amounts of pot “before and after." But her youthful indiscretions had no legal consequences. “I did a lot of stupid stuff, but as a white lady I got lucky,” she tells me over the phone. Kirkwood often writes letters to Fate Vincent Winslow, an inmate in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He’s not as lucky as she was. In 2008, Winslow was homeless on the streets of Shreveport, Louisiana. One night, an undercover cop approached and asked him for “a girl” and some pot. Winslow got two dime bags of weed from a white dealer he knew and sold them to the officer. In all, he made five bucks from the sale, money he needed to buy food, he says. Police arrested Winslow, but not the dealer, even though he’d profited more handsomely from the sale; the marked $20 bill was found on him. During Winslow's trial, prosecutors pointed to his long criminal history as a reason to put him away. But court records show he was far from a criminal mastermind. He had two nonviolent priors and a drug charge, which is not uncommon for poor people living on and off the streets. Still, after the predominantly white jury voted guilty, he was deemed a habitual offender. Under Louisiana law, that meant an automatic sentence of hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Massachusetts Governor Signs Bill To Allow Recreational Pot

August 1, 2017 Reid Wilson, www.thehill.com Create! Legislation, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Massachusetts

By Reid Wilson for The Hill - Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) has signed a new measure that sets in motion a nearly yearlong process to legalize marijuana for recreational use, after months of negotiations with the state legislature. The law comes nine months after voters in Massachusetts and three other states approved ballot measures to allow recreational marijuana. The first recreational pot shops are set to open in July 2018. “We appreciate the careful consideration the legislature took to balance input from lawmakers, educators, public safety officials and public health professionals, while honoring the will of the voters regarding the adult use of marijuana,” Baker said in a statement. The new legislation makes significant changes to the initiative Bay State voters passed last year, increasing sales taxes on legal marijuana from 12 percent to 20 percent. The state will levy a 17 percent tax, while municipalities will issue their own 3 percent tax. Massachusetts anticipates generating as much as $83 million in tax revenue from marijuana sales during the first year of legalization alone, the state Department of Revenue estimated earlier this year. Sales during the second year are expected to top out at more than $1 billion, generating tax revenue of up to $200 million.

Marijuana Legalization Is Decreasing Violent Crime In Border States

July 8, 2017 W. E. Messamore, www.ivn.us Educate! Border, Crime, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

By W. E. Messamore for IVN - In a paper published by The Economic Journal last month, a study by the Norwegian School of Economics in partnership with the Pennsylvania State University Department of Sociology and Criminology, found that marijuana legalization has led to a decrease in violent crime in U.S. states that border Mexico. Over the past several years, sweeping reforms to marijuana policies have reached a tipping point with legal medical marijuana now in more states (currently 29) than those that continue to prohibit the sale and consumption of the plant for medical or recreational purposes. The paper‘s authors say that not only is there a strong reduction in violent crime related to illegal drug trafficking in states and counties that border Mexico, but that when an inland state legalizes medical marijuana, there is a measurable reduction in violent drug trafficking crimes in the nearest border state: “We show that the introduction of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) leads to a decrease in violent crime in states that border Mexico. The reduction in crime is strongest for counties close to the border (less than 350km), and for crimes that relate to drug trafficking. In addition, we find that MMLs in inland states lead to a reduction in crime in the nearest border state.”

Small Marijuana Growers Create Marijuana Coops To Scale Up

June 30, 2017 Paul Roberts, www.leafly.com Create! Cooperatives, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

By Paul Roberts for Leafly - Markets, like ecosystems, respond to massive disruption with a wave of experimentation and adaptation—and that’s certainly been the story in California’s cannabis sector. Ever since legalization upended the decades-old status quo, players have scrambled to develop new business strategies to exploit the chaos—or simply survive it. By coordinating harvests and pooling crops, co-op members can deliver the bulk shipments that wholesalers increasingly demand. Some, like Jai Malloy, have scaled up. Others, like Sam Edwards in Sonoma, have moved to the other end of the scale continuum with a “craft” strategy. Yet the reality is that many existing cannabis farmers lack the resources or expertise to carry off either of these strategies—or, at least, carry it off all on their own. For many of these growers, the solution has been a strategy that borrows from both large- and small-scale producers—the cannabis co-operative. A case in point is Emerald Grown, a forty-member co-operative located in the town of Laytonville, in the Emerald Triangle’s Mendocino County. Founded three years ago by farmers Amber and Casey O’Neill, the co-operative follows a strategy of adaptive mimicry: using collective action to achieve the scale efficiencies of larger operators. By sharing seeds, expertise, and other resources, for example, co-op members can significantly boost their individual yields.

Mexico Legalizes Medical Marijuana

June 22, 2017 Lisa Rough, www.leafly.com Create! Marijuana Legalization, Medical Marijuana, Mexico

By Lisa Rough for Leafly - A decree issued by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today confirmed that Mexico has legalized cannabis for medicinal use after overwhelming support from Mexico’s Lower House of Congress. Peña Nieto was once a vehement opponent of cannabis legalization, but has since called for a re-examination of global drug policy after a nationwide public debate on legalization in early 2016. “So far, the solutions [to control drugs and crime] implemented by the international community have been frankly insufficient,” Peña Nieto told the 2016 United Nations General Assembly Special Sessions in April 2016. “We must move beyond prohibition to effective prevention.” Last year, Peña Nieto even went so far as to introduce a measure that would allow Mexican citizens to possess up to an ounce of cannabis without repercussions, but the bill stalled in Congress. The medical marijuana bill sailed through the Senate with ease in December 2016, and Mexico’s lower house in parliament passed the bill in April with a vote of 347-7 in favor of approval. Mexico’s Secretary of Health, Dr. José Narro Robles, voiced his support for the measure, saying, “I welcome the approval of the therapeutic use of cannabis in Mexico.”

It’s Time To Legalize Marijuana And Abolish The Drug Czar

April 24, 2017 Mike Ludwig, www.truth-out.org Create! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

By Mike Ludwig for Truthout - With its lengthy name and familiar acronym, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is one of the oldest pro-legalization lobbies on Capitol Hill, and the group is tired of waiting for a good drug czar to come around. So, NORML is asking the White House to abolish the position altogether, just as President Trump is reportedly preparing to appoint Rep. Tom Marino of Pennsylvania to the office. Marijuana legalization proponents have plenty of problems with Marino becoming the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the position informally known as "drug czar," but that's not the only reason NORML wants the entire "anti-science" agency closed. The ONDCP has long been a center of command for the war on drugs, a bloody and chaotic conflict that is widely seen as a costly failure. Unfortunately for NORML and anyone who cares about personal freedom or public health, top Trump administration officials -- most notably Jeff Sessions, Trump's cannabis-loathing attorney general -- do not appear to agree. Just this week, Department of Homeland Security Chief John Kelly said that minor marijuana charges would be used as a reason to deport immigrants...

Jeff Sessions Issues Ominous Warning On State Marijuana Legalization

March 1, 2017 Ryan J. Reilly and Matt Ferner, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Trump Administration

By Ryan J. Reilly and Matt Ferner for The Huffington Post - WASHINGTON ― Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday restated his opposition to marijuana use and offered an ominous warning about state-level marijuana legalization efforts, suggesting that such policies would open states to “violence,” as well as potential repercussions from the federal government. “I don’t think America is going to be a better place when people of all ages, and particularly young people, are smoking pot,” Sessions said to reporters Monday at the Department of Justice. “I believe it’s an unhealthy practice, and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago, and we’re seeing real violence around that.” Sessions said he had a meeting on Monday with the attorney general of Nebraska, who is very concerned about marijuana flowing in from Colorado, which legalized weed in 2012. “Experts are telling me there’s more violence around marijuana than one would think and there’s big money involved,” he said.

Legal Pot Sales Top $1 Billion In 2 States

February 12, 2017 Reid Wilson, www.thehill.com Create! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization

By Reid Wilson for the Hill. Residents and visitors to the two states at the vanguard of the marijuana legalization movement spent about $1 billion on pot and pot products last year, according to state data. Marijuana producers and retailers in Colorado generated more than $1.3 billion in revenue in 2016, the state Department of Revenue said Thursday. In Washington, the state Liquor and Cannabis Board said retailers have sold $984 million in pot products during fiscal year 2017 — which does not end until June. Voters in four states — California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine — opted to legalize marijuana for recreational use in November’s elections. They join Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia, where ballot measures passed in 2014. Several state legislatures, including New Jersey, Vermont and Rhode Island, are expected to debate legalization measures in their current sessions. The legal marijuana industry generated almost $7 billion in sales in 2016, according to Arcview Market Research, which keeps tabs on the industry. Arcview expects more than $21 billion in revenue by 2021.

Canadian Government Task Force Recommends Legal Sales Of Marijuana

December 14, 2016 John Paul Tasker, www.cbc.ca Create! Canada, Marijuana Legalization

By John Paul Tasker for CBC News - A task force appointed by the Canadian government to study the legalization of marijuana determined Tuesday that sales should be restricted to those 18 and older, with a personal possession limit of 30 grams. The Canadian Medical Association had recommended setting the age at 21, with strict limits on quantity and potency until 25. But the task force said higher age limits would simply drive young consumers into the hands of the black market, something the government hopes to actively discourage with its push to legalize pot.

Political Elites Are Trying To Wreck Massachusetts’ New Marijuana Law

December 10, 2016 Mike Crawford, www.alternet.org Resist! Marijuana Legalization, Massachusetts, Ruling Class

By Mike Crawford for AlterNet - Immediately after Massachusetts voters passed Question 4 to legalize marijuana, the top office-holder tasked with leading the implementation and regulation of the law, Treasurer Deb Goldberg, was already asking to change it. She wasn’t alone. Within a week of people passing the initiative to tax and regulate cannabis, many other influential Bay State politicians—and at least one hack scribe, Boston Globe pro-business siren Shirley Leung—were advocating to repeal parts of the law that 1,745,945 heads pulled for.

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