Archive for June, 2010
Yes on Prop 19: Marijuana Legalization Gets its Number in California
June 30th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
by: Michael Whitney, Monday June 28 (elections.firedoglake.com)
Yes on 19 Marijuana Legalization Campaign Poster from 1972. (Bolerium Books/LA Weekly)
While California confirmed its state’s marijuana legalization initiative would be on the November ballot months ago, today the state assigned proposition numbers to this year’s slate of initiatives. Get used to hearing about Proposition 19, which is where you’ll get to vote to legalize marijuana in California.
The state restarts the counter for proposition numbers every ten years, last doing so in 2008 (hence why gay marriage was Prop 8 in 2009). While it’s inevitable proposition numbers will be reused, the LA Weekly notes a strange coincidence in the legalization initiative’s number. When pot legalization was on the ballot in 1972, it was also Proposition 19. Read the rest of this entry »
Washington State Democratic Party Endorses Marijuana Legalization
June 29th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
At yesterday’s Washington State Democratic Convention, party delegates overwhelmingly voted to endorse I-1068, a potential ballot measure to legalize cannabis in the state. From Publicola.net:
Bucking the recommendation of their executive board, delegates to the Washington State Democratic Convention endorsed I-1068 (the marijuana legalization initiative) with 62 percent “yes” vote (314 to 185). The executive board had given no recommendation on the initiative because “the committee was even more split than the delegates,” according to State Vice Chair Sharon Smith.
The endorsement of the State Democratic Party may be too late to ensure marijuana legalization is on the ballot this November. A petition with signatures from at least 241,153 registered voters must be submitted by July 2nd, just five days from now in order to put I-1068 on the ballot. Read the rest of this entry »
Oregon Board of Pharmacy vote a marijuana milestone
June 25th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
reposted from www.katu.com
SALEM, Ore. – The State of Oregon has re-classified how it views marijuana.
The State Board of Pharmacy voted Wednesday to recognize pot as a drug that has medical use.
The move came because of a law passed last year that ordered marijuana to be removed from a list of drugs that have “high abuse potential and no acceptable medical use.”
Marijuana will now be what is known as a “Schedule II controlled substance.” That’s a drug that has medical use but still has “high abuse potential.”
Oregon becomes the first state in the nation to make marijuana anything less serious than a Schedule I drug.
Secret Docs Show Police and Censor Lied about Cannabis Magazine Ban
June 21st, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
via Julian Crawford
A request by NORML under the Official Information Act has revealed police had a secret meeting with Internal Affairs departmental heads, and asked them to try to get marijuana law reform magazine Norml News completely banned.
Three issues of Norml News were referred to the censors on 7 May (no decision has been made yet) after massive raids on indoor gardening stores across the country, code named Operation Lime.
The documents reveal Police hope to have Norml News completely banned, as well as High Times and Cannabis Culture magazines.
Police had previously denied being involved with sending the publication to the censors, and a spokesperson for the Censorship unit told media at the time that there was nothing to suggest the request for a ban had come from the police. The Secretary of Internal Affairs said he was just “seeking guidance”. Read the rest of this entry »
Oregon and Detroit Both to have Marijuana on the Ballot in Fall
June 17th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
A campaign for a system of medical marijuana supply systems in Oregon turned in enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot – if the signatures are valid. According to an early turn-in, the initiative for a medical marijuana supply system has gathered 115,404 signatures. It needs 82,769 verified names of registered voters to make the ballot.
The preliminary total only reflects the signatures gathered by paid petitioners through May. The campaign will continue to gather signatures up to the July 2 deadline to give them a cushion for names that have to be thrown out.
Also, a Detroit City Council committee passed today on amending a city ordinance to allow adults in the city to legally possess a small amount of marijuana. Instead voters will get to decide in November. Read the rest of this entry »
POLICE BRUTALITY – Cops Shoot Student For Smoking Weed
June 14th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Marc Emery has been locked up in solitary confinement since Thursday!
June 10th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
by Jodie Emery – Tuesday, June 8 2010
On Thursday night, June 3rd, Marc was put into solitary confinement, or “SHU”, (Security Housing Unit) at SeaTac Federal Detention Centre (SeaTac FDC) while he awaits his sentencing in September. The reason? For unknowingly breaking an unwritten rule. I haven’t heard from him since… Here’s what happened.
On Thursday afternoon, Marc had me record a phone call that was meant as his first US Prison Podcast, similar to the ones he did last fall while imprisoned here in BC and posted on iTunes and our website. That evening, as he was writing me an “email” through the Corrlinks prison messaging system, he mentioned that a guard had just given him a citation, said his phone access was suspended for “at least three days” and that there would be a disciplinary hearing in “a few days”. Read the rest of this entry »
Cannabis fines to pay for dope DVD
June 5th, 2010
Dakta Green
By FELICITY ROSS – Taranaki Daily News
A New Plymouth man convicted of drug possession has been ordered to help fund a DVD on the dangers of smoking cannabis.
In the New Plymouth District Court yesterday, Reuben William Wade, 25, was ordered to pay $1500 to Waves towards the production of a Youth Horizons Trust video informing youth about the drug.
Wade was convicted and discharged on possession of cannabis plant, cannabis resin and cannabis seeds, and cultivating cannabis.
On April 27 police searched Guru Gardener, where Wade is a retail assistant, and following his arrest for supplying equipment for cultivation of cannabis, he was searched, police persecutor Lewis Sutton said. Read the rest of this entry »
Marijuana Does Not Impair Driving Ability
June 4th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Smoking marijuana barely affects driving performance.
Researchers from Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the University of Iowa had 85 subjects participate in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial where they were tested on a driving simulator before and 30 minutes after smoking a marijuana cigarette.
The researchers found there were no differences between the performance of marijuana smokers and those who were given a placebo in either the simulator’s baseline driving segment or its collision-avoidance scenarios. In fact, the only difference between the two groups was that the subjects who got the real stuff were more likely to decrease their speed during certain parts of the simulation.
Nevertheless, this study didn’t address the vicious way marijuana smokers have been known to attack their roommates’ bottles of Nuttella. Which is the real reason why the ancient herb must remain illegal.
Source asylum.com