Marijuana Blog

Florida has a massive problem with its “Oxycontin Express”.  The state is home to more “pill mills” where addicts get their “hillbilly heroin” than any other.  Walgreen’s, the national pharmacy chain, has been under DEA investigation for distribution of millions of Oxycontin sales where thousands of sales should be expected.  Yet the drug Florida’s legislature can’t stop trying to control isn’t Oxycontin, it’s cannabis.

 

Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law the “bong ban” bill this weekend. Under this statute, someone caught owning or selling a pot pipe twice in the state is a felon, which in Florida means losing the right to vote virtually for life.  Drug convicts must wait seven years after fulfillment of all prison, probation, and parole to apply to a clemency board to consider restoring voting rights in Florida.  This has meant 10% of all voting-age Floridians – and a shocking 23% of black Floridians – cannot vote.  (Note to bitter Democrats: Those votes would have given us President Gore in 2000.)

 

The law is fairly toothless at the retail level.  You can still sell a corn cob pipe for any purpose, you can still sell hookahs, and you can sell any pipe so long as it is “for tobacco use only” (wink wink, nudge nudge) and 75% of your sales are tobacco-related.  But at the consumer level, if you’re caught with a used marijuana pipe, it’s going to be hard to argue it was for tobacco use.  You’ll get a first degree misdemeanor and face one year in prison the first time you’re caught and a third degree felony and face five years in prison if you’re caught again.

 

Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com

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 filed the measure last week with the secretary of state. It now must gather 259,213 valid voter signatures by July 3, 2014 to qualify for the November 2014 ballot.

 

Organizers there said it would be a grassroots campaign relying on volunteers. The conventional wisdom for initiatives in high signature-count states is that they require paid signature-gathering efforts to succeed at a rough cost of a dollar or more per signature obtained.

 

Arizona voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in 2010, but that initiative squeaked through with barely more than 50% of the vote.

 

Read more: http://www.thedailychronic.net

A group of mothers in wealthy Beverley Hills, California, is trying to change the perception that drugs and parenting don't mix.

 

These 'marijuana moms' meet regularly for lavish cannabis-infused dinners. Many of them smoke marijuana several times a day to relax and cope with chronic pain. 

 

They say the drug, which is legal with a prescription in the state of California, makes them better parents and better wives. 

 

Many of the women in the group are married. Most have young children. Some are wealthy stay-at-home mothers. Others work part-time as bartenders or in the service industry. One is the wife of a police officer.

 

We've all come up against people who say marijuana is for dirty druggies, but we are proof you can be good parents and productive members of society and use it,' Cheryl Shuman, a 53-year-old mother of two, said. 

'I like to think we are bringing some glamor and exclusivity to marijuana use.'

 

She compared ingesting marijuana on a regular basis to mothers in the 1960s who took 'mother's little helper' pills - Valium - to help them cope with the daily strains of motherhood and running a household. 

 

'Taking marijuana is just the same, it helps us get through the day,' she said. 

 

Shuman throws marijuana-themed dinners every month for her friends, most of whom are mothers with children. She even enlisted the help of top Beverly Hills chef David Schanhals to craft menus. 

 

Past meals have included cannabis leaf salad, chicken fried in cannabis oil and marijuana milk shakes.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk