Archive for the ‘Legalization’ Category
Why are Democrats Standing in the Way of Marijuana Legalization?
April 12th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Opinion by Reason Foundation
(9 Hours Ago) in Society / Drug Law
The most illuminating ride-along I’ve ever gone on was a three-hour bus tour of South Los Angeles with City Councilman Bernard Parks, who represents the area that before two deadly riots was known as South-Central L.A. and Watts.
Parks is not exactly my favorite public official. He draws a combined taxpayer-funded salary/pension of more than $400,000 a year, and as L.A.’s police chief in the 1990s he stonewalled corruption probes while alienating good officers with petty penalties for minor internal violations. But Parks is far more willing than his colleagues on the city council to deviate from the local Democratic consensus on issues from rent control to eminent domain. Above all, he’s a blunt-spoken fellow, providing a rare warts-and-all glimpse into a certain governing mind-set.
Read the full article at www.opposingviews.com
Public Meeting with Dakta Green and the NZ Law Commission
April 9th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
NORML NZ (National Organisation for Reform of Marijuana Laws New Zealand Inc.) is hosting the only AUCKLAND PUBLIC MEETING to discuss the current review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 by the New Zealand Law Commission.
Date: Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Time: 19:00 – 21:00
Location: Western Springs Garden Hall
Street: 956 Great North Road, Western Springs
Town/City: Auckland, New Zealand
Hosted by Dakta Green, Auckland Norml Rep, this meeting will provide the Public with the only opportunity in Auckland to meet personally with Dr Warren Young Deputy President NZ Law Commission on this issue before written submissions to the Law Commission close later this month. Read the rest of this entry »
San Francisco pot-farm case goes up in smoke
April 6th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
San Francisco’s effort to snuff out the budding indoor pot-growing trade took a bit of a hit, shall we say, when a father-and-son team of marijuana growers beat the rap.
It seemed like a pretty good haul for police and a good case for prosecutors: About 70 marijuana plants in various stages of development inside a 32nd Avenue home near Pacheco Street in the Sunset, two guns, scales, baggies and an illegal power-sapping hookup — all the characteristics of the pot farms sprouting up in the avenues.
The three-room pot farm’s father-and-son proprietors were charged with marijuana cultivation for sale. They could have been sentenced to as much as three years in state prison apiece if convicted.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=59261#ixzz0kHKQR3sz
Image: San Francisco police
A Message from my Friend
April 3rd, 2010
Dakta Green
My friend Dakta Grower (Brian Borland) is serving a sentence of 2 years 4 months in prison for cultivation and selling of cannabis. After serving one third of his sentence he has been denied early release when recently he appeared before the New Zealand Parole Board.
Would somebody in charge please explain why my friend is in jail.
I have received the following message from Dakta Grower;
“When a man is refused the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.” Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Read the rest of this entry »
Sting: Let’s End the War on Drugs
April 1st, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Whether it’s music, activism or daily life, the one ideal to which I have always aspired is constant challenge — taking risks, stepping out of my comfort zone, exploring new ideas.
I am writing because I believe the United States must do precisely that — and so, therefore, must all of us — in the case of what has been the most unsuccessful, unjust yet untouchable issue in politics: the War on Drugs.
Read the full article at huffingtonpost.com
Noam Chomsky On Pot
March 29th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
NORML’s Deputy Director Debates The Drug Czar
March 28th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
NORML.org: Well, the ex-Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey that is. (As a rule, acting Drug Czar’s do not debate marijuana law reformers in public forums.)
Below is the clip from this afternoon’s edition of the Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC
CA Marijuana Legalization Initiative to Qualify for Ballot Today
March 25th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Today, an initiative that would legalize personal marijuana possession and allow regulated sales of marijuana to adults will qualify for California’s November general election ballot. A win at the ballot would be a first of its kind in U.S. history. This is a remarkable moment in the struggle to change our decades-old marijuana policies.
Marijuana was prohibited in 1937 before most Americans had ever heard of it. Today the U.S. leads the world in marijuana consumption. Nearly 26 million Americans used marijuana last year and more than 100 million have tried it in their lifetimes. A huge commodity of the underground economy, marijuana is the nation’s top cash crop, valued at $14 billion in California alone. Our state Board of Equalization has estimated we would generate $1.4 billion a year by taxing marijuana like alcohol.
State Dems want to legalize medical marijuana to help plug budget gap
March 24th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
ALBANY – Senate Democrats are counting on a pot of gold!
They want to legalize medical marijuana as a way to generate nearly $15 million in licensing fees to help plug the state’s $9 billion budget gap.
“It is the right thing to do and there is revenue attached to it,” said state Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan). Duane and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) are behind the plan to make it legal for folks with serious medical woes to score limited amounts of weed from state-certified distributors – or grow it themselves.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/
Image: Sullivan/Getty/Getty Images
Legalizing Marijuana Is America’s Top Political Issue — Again
March 23rd, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
To the surprise of virtually no one who has been following public opinion polls for the past 18 months, the call to “legalize the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana” placed #1 in the 2010 Change.org online vote for the “Top 10 Ideas for Change in America.”
Open voting at the Change.org website took place for six weeks — during which time citizens voted nearly 210,000 times on over 2,500 different ideas. This morning the website released the top 10 results here.