Marijuana Blog

Senator Liz Krueger has announced that she intends to file legislation in New York aimed at legalizing the recreational use, possession, private cultivation and state-licensed sales of marijuana for adults. The measure comes as New York’s Legislature continues to push forward a measure to legalize medical marijuana – a proposal that’s already been approved by the state’s House, and is expected to pass the Senate.

 

“It is my intention as a New York State senator to soon introduce a law that would actually decriminalize, regulate and tax marijuana in New York,” stated Krueger last week.

 

The measure, which will be titled theMarijuana, Regulation, and Taxation Act, would authorize adults to legally cultivate up to 6 plants and possess up to 2 ounces. The proposal would establish state-licensed retail outlets, which would be regulated through the New York State Liquor Authority.

 

Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com

Most of you want to limit the number of marijuana dispensaries in town to 135 or less. So says a USC Sol Price School of Public Policy/Los Angeles Times poll of 500 likely voters conducted last week and released over the weekend.

That means that you're probably favoring the City Hall-sponsored Measure D, which would do just that and shut down as many as 9 out of 10 pot shops in town. The poll, however, is flawed:

 

It asks which statement voters agree with, putting a "cap" on the number of dispensaries or "no limits" on pot shops.

 

That's not really how it's going to work on the ballot. Measure D would indeed impose a cap; it would also shut down most shops in town. Measure F, its main competition, does impose regulations, including an increase in city tax, background checks for operators, business hours and maintaining distances from schools.

 

As its backers would argue, that's not "no limits;" They also say shops would be shut down under the ordinance, just not as many as would under D.

 

Read more: http://blogs.laweekly.com

Washington’s proposed marijuana rules weren't even 24-hours old when critics began finding things not to like. The 46-pages of draft regulations released Thursday cover everything from where marijuana can be grown to the criminal backgrounds of license applicants. But it’s the section on marijuana concentrates that’s getting some negative buzz.

 

Let’s start with the criminal background part of this. Under the proposed rules, anyone who wants a piece of the legal marijuana business would have to submit to a background check - even the financial backers of a marijuana start-up. A felony conviction in the last 10 years would likely disqualify someone. But a couple of misdemeanor pot convictions would not count against an applicant. Brian Smith, spokesman for the Liquor Control Board, says that rule was written with black market operators in mind.

 

"They want to get into the recreational marijuana market. They want to be legit. The board wants them to get out the black market and to come into the recreational market and be legitimate and so that’s the thinking that the board had," Smith said. 

 

License applicants would be scored based on their criminal background. Where marijuana can be grown has been a topic of much discussion. The board proposes to limit grows to secure indoor buildings or greenhouses; no emerald waves of marijuana plants out in the open. But it’s another limitation in the proposed rules having to do with a very specific marijuana product that getting a lot of attention. It’s a ban on hash and other forms of concentrated THC extracted from marijuana plants – unless it’s infused into a product. 

 

“I believe that the products that we’re producing have received a bad rap because of the nickname BHO, Butane-extracted hash oil," said Jim Andersen with a company called XTracted. 

 

Andersen says Butane is often used to extract the THC, but if done right, it leaves no chemical trace. He plans to fight the ban on raw marijuana extracts.

 

Smith said the Liquor Control Board was inclined to allow concentrates, but got some legal advice to the contrary.

 

"The law says the usable marijuana is the buds or the flowers of a marijuana plant, and an extract doesn’t meet that criteria of being the bud," he said.

 

Read more: http://www.kplu.org