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Patent a Plant?

June 3rd

As Sativex, and other cannabis-based medicines become available, it is imperative that home gardens are still allowed.

As Sativex, and other cannabis-based medicines become available, it is imperative that home gardens are still allowed.

I missed out on an $8,000 one-day profit several weeks ago when I declined an opportunity to invest in British-based GW Pharmaceuticals, which subsequently went public as GWPH on NASDAQ. I could’ve got in at $1. The stock ended its first day of trading around $9, which is about where it’s trading today. (Pause while I absorb a feeling in my gut that I hope is pride but might be fiscal pain.) The purpose of this column is not to speak for or against GW Pharmaceuticals or its cannabis-based products, but rather to elucidate the issues that caused me to err, for now, on the side of whole plant versus concentrated cannabis prescription.

In Too High to Failmy recent exploration of the post-Drug War economy, I had only nice things to say about . . . . . READ MORE

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Drug Czar Tries to Link Marijuana and Crime, Fails

May 31st

Gil Kerlikowske

The nation’s so-called ‘drug czar’, Gil Kerlikowske, convened a press conference last week to release new government data on drug use in America.

The major talking points for the presentation were two fold:

  • Insist that cannabis is linked to crime
  • The public sentiment in favor of legalization is an unfortunate attraction to ‘bumper sticker solutions’

One could write a doctoral thesis on Mr.Kerlikowske’s supposition and claims, but suffice for space and time, let’s let the now much more watchdog media on the issue of ending cannabis prohibition better describe what they’ve figured out about ONDCP propaganda, data and the intellectual crime of omission. (Boy, do I have a book recommendation for them…)

Slate reported on the ONDCP’s well established proclivity to throw out data and insinuate. . . . . READ MORE

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Colorado Law Enforcement Applauds Historic Marijuana Regulations

May 29th

DENVER – A group of law enforcement officials is celebrating today after Colorado’s governor John Hickenlooper signed six bills establishing a regulatory framework for the state’s newly legalized marijuana market into law Tuesday.

LEAPThe bills are the result of months of work of a specially appointed task force that looked into the issue and made recommendations for how to implement the proposition legalizing marijuana voters overwhelmingly approved last November.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs, while not endorsing all measures called for in the bills, was optimistic about the future of legalized regulation in Colorado.

“Yesterday Colorado became the first place in history to implement full taxation and regulation of marijuana,” said former judge Leonard Frieling, a LEAP speaker. “Taxpayers win under this system. Courts win und. . . . . READ MORE

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Oregon Medical Marijuana Raids: A Higher Police Priority than Stopping Rapes?

May 25th

While many of us are gearing up for our Memorial Holiday weekend filled with fun, friends and family, I can’t help but think about my friend Lori Duckworth and an Oregon woman whose cries for help on a 911 call might as well have fallen on deaf ears.

More than 70 law enforcement officers participated in raids against Lori Duckworth and other medical marijuana providers, but no officer could assist a woman who called 911 begging for help.

More than 70 law enforcement officers participated in raids against Lori Duckworth and other medical marijuana providers, but no officer could assist a woman who called 911 begging for help.

Lori won’t be enjoying her holiday weekend as she sits in a jail cell because she has provided medicine to Oregon medical marijuana patients that can legally possess up to 24 ounces of medical cannabis.  I only hope that the woman that suffered a horrible attack because no law enforcement officer could come to her aid is doing well and has recuperated as much as possible from such a harrowing ordeal.

While these two matters may seem unrelated, I think that they are completely intertwined and they help demonstrate the society we currently live in and provide us with a pi. . . . . READ MORE

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No Crystal Ball Needed: Ending the Drug War Is Field Tested

May 23rd

The key law of physics that keeps all pundits employed is “no one can time travel.” In a classic Bloom County cartoon from the ‘80s, one economist exclaims, “The key, of course, is the deficit,” to which the other forcefully retorts, “The deficit, my fanny.” It’s one or the other, but both fellows get paid.

The drug policy arena, into which I’ve been drawn as a pundit whenever a television producer Googles “Ending the Drug War,” would seem to be no exception. The last few taxpayer-funded Drug Warriors – people with so little concern about the facts, let alone America’s public health and economy, that they’re still willing to make a career of pushing a 40-year failed Just Say No argument – might go to sleep every night thanking physics for this “no one can be 100% sure about the future” loophole. Their whole mortgage payment depends on it.

But there’s a problem with the usual punditry gravy train model when it comes to drug policy. We do know what happens when the Drug War ends in America. I just wrote a book about it. What happens is the economy improves, cartels are hurt, and public safety takes an immediate turn for the better. The Drug Peace Era is quantifiably good for America and her families.

<. . . . . READ MORE

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Poll: Essentially No One Believes Marijuana Users Should Go to Jail

May 17th

man smoking joint

Reason-Rupe has just released new polling data that revealed only a minuscule percentage of Americans believe that marijuana use and possession should result in jail time. When asked which approach they thought the government and law enforcement should take toward someone found smoking marijuana or in possession of a small amount of marijuana, only 6% responded that they should be sent to jail. 35% of respondents said that these individuals shouldn’t be punished at all, 32% responded they should pay a fine, and 20% said they should have to attended substance abuse courses.

The survey also found that 52% of Americans favor federal legislation that would prevent the federal government from prosecuting people who grow, possess, or sell marijuana in the states that have legalized it. Recently, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced the “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act” which would do exactly that.

You can click here to easily contact your Representative and urge him or her to support this measure.

Full results of this poll are available READ MORE

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Despite Much Progress, Cannabis Users Still Face Unnecessary Risks

May 17th

In September, 2011, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms banned state law-abiding medical cannabis patients from owning firearms. A bureaucratic decider simply swiped away hundreds of thousands of Americans’ Second Amendment rights by way of an added item on a pre-sale questionnaire.

Using an ancient herb as recommended by your doctor, one that any law enforcer will tell you makes people less aggressive? Sorry. Whacked on Oxycontin? Fire away.

My friend Carl, a Vietnam veteran, concealed handgun permit holder, political conservative of the John Wayne school and New Mexico medical cannabis patient, is apoplectic about the policy. “I can’t believe I lose my rights because I’m receiving treatment. I defended this country’s freedoms.”

This is just one example of key ancillary details that need to be fixed as America’s Longest War limps to its federal demise. Another is arbitrary limits on or zero tolerance of bloodstream THC when driving, even by locally-Kosher cannabis fans: if you legally used cannabis three weeks ago at the Ziggy Marley concert in Washington, you can, absurdly, be found to be impaired today.

In addition to the mining of the harbor that such unacceptably policy represents among those sore losers, the retreating Drug Warriors, this again shows the risk that any cannabis enjoyer faces. These unscientif. . . . . READ MORE

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Stoned Driving Limits: You Asked to “Treat it like Alcohol”

May 11th

sobriety test

With Washington State’s I-502 legalization came a 5ng/ml limit of active THC in blood.  This is now per se evidence to convict on a DUI charge.

In Colorado, the governor is poised to sign a bill creating a 5ng/ml limit that has failed to pass in six previous attempts.  This would set a permissible inference of guilt on a DUI charge.

To my fellow supporters of marijuana legalization, I’m reminded of the saying, “Be careful what you wish for because you might get it.”

Before I explain that, let’s make sure everyone reading is familiar with the concepts:

  • These limits in Colorado and Washington refer to active THC in the blood, not the inactive metabolites you get busted for on a workplace pee test, sometimes days or weeks after cannabis use.
  • per se limit means you’re automatically guilty and have no defense.  You could be driving absolutely perfectly and still be guilty of a DUI if your blood is >5ng/ml.
  • permissible inference means that you’re presumed to be guilty, but you can defend yourself if you can prove you weren’t driving impaired, even if your blood is >5ng/ml.

Now, back to our wishes.  For years now, we have been lobbying . . . . . READ MORE

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