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NAACP Endorses Pennsylvania Marijuana Legalization Bill

June 27th

HARRISBURG, PA — A bill introduced in Harrisburg to legalize and regulate marijuana similar to alcohol received an endorsement by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the NAACP Tuesday.

Senate Bill 528, the Regulate Marijuana Act, was  was introduced earlier this year by State Senator Daylin Leach.

The bill would allow adults 21 and over to grow up to six plants and possess the resulting harvest. It would also allow adults to transfer up to an ounce to other adults.

The proposed bill would also direct the state to come up with a system to regulate and tax marijuana commerce.  The bill includes safeguards to protect against driving under the influence of cannabis, and youth awareness and prevention measures.

aclu report - minoritiesLeach and other sponsors of his bill hope to see a committee hearing on the measure in the fall.

Sen. Leach, who is currentlyREAD MORE

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Washington State Moving Towards Allowing Outdoor Marijuana Cultivation

June 21st

OLYMPIA, WA – The regulatory board overseeing marijuana legalization in Washington State is leaning toward allowing licensed growers to cultivate marijuana outdoors, citing the much higher carbon footprint of indoor and greenhouse cultivation, board members said.

The view, which all three members of the Washington State Liquor Control Board told Reuters they shared, represents a reversal from the draft retail marijuana industry rules the body issued last month.

Indoor marijuana grows have a higher carbon footprint, even in hydro-electric powered Oregon.

Indoor marijuana grows have a higher carbon footprint, even in hydro-electric powered Oregon.

“If they can provide the security parameters that we require for indoor or greenhouse, if they can provide for that outdoors, then it’s OK with me,” board member Ruthann Kurose said, after a public meeting on Wednesday.

Washington and Colorado became the first U.S. states to legalize recreational pot after approval by voters last November, although the use and sale of marijuana remains. . . . . READ MORE

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Efforts Underway in Several States to Nullify Federal Laws

June 21st

JEFFERSON CITY, MO — Imagine the scenario: A federal agent attempts to arrest someone for illegally selling a machine gun. Instead, the federal agent is arrested – charged in a state court with the crime of enforcing federal gun laws.

Farfetched? Not as much as you might think.

The scenario would become conceivable if legislation passed by Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

The Missouri legislation is perhaps the most extreme example of a states’ rights movement that has been spreading across the nation. States are increasingly adopting laws that purport to nullify federal laws – setting up intentional legal conflicts, directing local police not to enforce federal laws and, in rare cases, even threatening criminal charges for federal agents who dare to do their jobs.

An Associated Press analysis found that about four-fifths of the states now have enacted local laws that directly reject or ignore federal laws on marijuana use, gun control, health insurance requirements and identification standards for driver’s licenses. The recent trend began in Democratic leaning California with a 1996 medical marijuana law and has proliferated lately in Republican strongholds like Kansas, where Gov. Sam Brownback this spring became the first to sign a measure threatening felony charges against federal agents who enforce certain firearms laws in his state.

Some states, such as Montana and Ari. . . . . READ MORE

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Washington LCB Reconsiders Allowing Outdoor Marijuana Growing, Hash & Dabs

June 20th

OLYMPIA, WA — When the initial proposed regulations for Washington’s forthcoming recreational marijuana market were released in May, outdoor growing of marijuana was not permitted.  Neither were hash, hash oils, and concentrates such as dabs, unless incorporated into edible marijuana products.

Now, regulators at the state’s Liquor Control Board said Wednesday that they are reconsidering those prohibitions following a briefing on over 1,000 pages of comments sent by members of the community.

In Wednesdays briefing, three major changes to the proposed regulations were expressed to the board.

The biggest change would be allowing outdoor cultivation of marijuana, which would require a smaller carbon footprint than indoor growing.  In the first draft of the proposed rules, all marijuana would have been required to be grown indoors, or in green houses with rigid walls.

“With the proper security, we feel that outdoor grows would work as well as indoor grows,” acknowledged Liquor Control Board rules coordinator Karen McCall.

The Liquor Control Board also had proposed banning hash oils and concentrates, unless they were incorporated into edible food products.  With the majority of the feedback from the community overwhelmingly in favor of allowing concentrates, the LCB is looking to see how they can be allowed th. . . . . READ MORE

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ME: Portland City Council to Hold Marijuana Legalization Hearings July 15

June 18th

PORTLAND, ME — The Portland City Council voted unanimously Monday to hold a public hearing on the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana by adults.

The hearing will be held Monday, July 15 in response to a citizen-proposed ordinance that would allow adults to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana.

After the hearing is held, the city council will have to either decide whether to adopt the ordinance as written, send the referendum to the voters, or offer an alternative proposal alongside the ordinance proposed by residents.

If the council elects to send the proposal to voters, a vote would have to be scheduled on the referendum within 90 days.

If approved by voters, the initiative would allow adults aged 21 and over to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana with city limits.

The proposal would prohibit smoking of marijuana in public spaces, such as schools and on public transportation,and allow landlords to prohibit it in their apartments.

Proponents of the ordinance gathered over 3,200 signatures to place the proposal on the ballot this year, far more than the 1,500 signatures that were required.

It’s unclear what effect the ordinance would have as it would contradict both state and federal law, although the possession of up to 2.5 ounces has been decriminal. . . . . READ MORE

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2014 Marijuana Legalization Initiatives Underway in Three States

June 18th

The race to be the next state to legalize marijuana at the ballot box is on. Activists in three states — Alaska, Arizona, and Oregon — have taken initial steps to get the issue before the voters during the 2014 general election.

In Alaska, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell last Friday certified a ballot initiative application that would legalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults. Backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, the initiative would also set up a system of taxed and regulated marijuana commerce. Adults could grow up to six marijuana plants for their personal use.

Proponents will have one year to gather 30,169 valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. But they have to wait a week or so for the state elections division to begin printing the petition booklets.

Alaska already allows for adults to possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes under the state Supreme Court’s interpretation of the state constitution’s privacy provisions.

In Arizona, Safer Arizona is sponsoring an initiative to amend the state constitution to allow for legal, taxed, and regulated marijuana use and commerce. The group READ MORE

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Alaska Certifies 2014 Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative Application

June 15th

ANCHORAGE, AK — Alaska’s Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell has certified ballot initiative application that would make it legal for adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana in the state.

Activists now have one year to collect 30,169 signatures from qualified voters across the state to get the question on the ballot.

The proposed ballot question would legalize marijuana for adults 21 or older, who would be allowed to possess up to one ounce.  The initiative would also establish a system of regulated marijuana retail sales, legal growing, and establish an excise tax on recreational marijuana.

The proposal would create state-regulated marijuana stores, cultivation facilities, marijuana infused-product manufacturers, and marijuana testing facilities.  It would also allow adults to have up to six marijuana plants.

Also included in the proposed initiative is  a $100 fine for anyone caught smoking marijuana in public, which is currently a class B misdemeanor.

The retail marijuana industry in Alaska would be overseen by the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, but the state legislature would have the option of creating a separate Marijuana Control Board to oversee the industry.

The state elections division will now begin printing petition booklets, which will take about a week.  Once the booklets are ready. . . . . READ MORE

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Moving Toward Legal Marijuana Commerce in Washington State

June 13th

OLYMPIA, WA — Voters approved the marijuana legalization initiative I-502 in Washington state last November, and it is now legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, but a full-blown marijuana commerce industry doesn’t just happen overnight. The state is still months away from having a functioning system of state-taxed and -regulated marijuana cultivators, processors, and retailers, but the process is well underway, and by most accounts, it is going relatively smoothly.

Washington-State-Liqour-Control-Marijuana-LogoLast month, the Washington Liquor Control Board (LCB), the state agency charged with setting up the state’s marijuana industry, issued its initial draft rules. It took written comments on the initial draft rules through Monday and will issue revised draft rules later this month.

The LCB will hold public hearings on the rules for all three envisaged licenses — grower, processor, and retailer — in late July, promulgate final rules in August, begin accepting license app. . . . . READ MORE

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OAS Releases Historic Report on Drug Policy Alternatives

May 18th

OAS 3

BOGOTA, COLUMBIA – The Organization of American States (OAS) Friday released a ground-breaking report on hemispheric drug control that includes not only an assessment of the current state of affairs, but also looks at a number of alternate scenarios for future directions in drug policy, including explicit analysis of possible regulation and legalization regimes.

The report comes even as the US military is expanding its drug war in Latin America.The military is deploying assets to Central and South America, and US military assistance in Latin America has quadrupled in the last decade — even as the region faces no external and diminishing internal threats.

The report, The Drug Problem in the Americas, was commissioned at last year’s Cartagena Summit of the Americas, where a number of Latin American leaders led by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos criticized existing drug policies and called for a discussion of alternatives. On Friday, OAS head Jose Miguel Insulza hand-delivered the report to Santos in Bogota.

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Poll: 56% Support Legalizing Marijuana in Arizona

May 15th

marijuana bud and joint

PHOENIX, AZ —  A new study released this week by the Behavior Research Center has concluded that marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage have strong support in Arizona.

While recent nationwide polls have shown that a majority of all all Americans support marijuana legalization, the survey data released this week  shows even stronger support at the state level in Arizona.

Behavior Research Center asked respondents whether or not they favored or opposed legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, 56% responded they favored the idea and only 37% were opposed.

Marijuana legalization had support from all age groups, across all counties and with both Democrats and Independents.

More men (62%) than women (50%) are supportive of marijuana legalization, and decriminalization also enjoys majority support in all age groups, across all counties and among both Democrats and Independent voters.

Independent voters are the most supportive of marijuana legalization at a very strong 72 percent, with only one in five opposed.

“It is perhaps ironic that as support for same-sex marriage and defelonization of marijuana have long been albatrosses which conservative candidates could hang around t. . . . . READ MORE

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