Marijuana Blog

What are you smoking on?

After their great success in states like Montana and California, the federal government is now targeting another large medical marijuana state: Colorado. As in CA, the letters were sent out, the threats made, and this past weekend saw 25 dispensaries in Colorado close. As we also saw in CA, this is just the beginning.

Even though Colorado has extensive regulations concerning medical cannabis and cities have their own rules concerning the proximity of dispensaries to schools, the feds have decreed that any dispensary within 1,000 feet of a school has to go.

Many rightly wonder what business the federal government has undermining Colorado’s medical marijuana laws. "I can see no legitimate basis in this judicial district to focus the resources of the United States government on the medical marijuana dispensaries that are otherwise compliant with Colorado law or local regulation," Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett recently told U.S. Attorney John Walsh in a letter. "The people of Boulder County do not need Washington, D.C., or the federal government dictating how far dispensaries should be from schools, or other fine points of local land use law.”

U.S. Attorney Walsh was likely unmoved by Garnett’s logic as the crackdown continues. So far 47 dispensaries have closed in Colorado during the Obama Administration’s sweep through the state.

And while California may be a foregone conclusion when it comes to this fall’s Presidential election, Colorado is certainly not. A large swing state, CO could be a determining factor in who is President in this country for the next 4 years.

Who in the President’s campaign thinks it’s a good idea to alienate large swaths of people in a swing state in an election year? Does Obama think he can win without Colorado? Or does he think that those who care about medical marijuana are so small in number that he can still win in Colorado while crippling functioning businesses in the state?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

The folks at The Montana Cannabis Industry Association are currently in a battle to repeal the restrictive medical marijuana rules enacted in their state in 2011, rules that ban the commercial sale of cannabis and place tougher restrictions on patients and doctors, and that have practically wiped out medical marijuana in Montana. The number of medical marijuana providers is down a whopping 91% since last year.

The MCIA is suing for a repeal of the law and say they have enough money to get the case to the state Supreme Court hearing later this month, but after that the money is gone. They say they need a better rate of fundraising to see the case through to the end and are urging those who would benefit the most from a restoration of medical marijuana rights to give what they can.

The MCIA says it has already spent about $150,000 on the lawsuit, and will need another $100,000.

The fact that the medical cannabis industry in Montana has been wiped out cannot be helping the fundraising situation as all those revenues are now going to the black market or into thin air. It’s an uphill battle to say the least.

And if things go south in Montana for medical marijuana advocates, the federal government will be able to use the resources focused there to intimidate another state into submission. If the battle is lost in Montana, someone else is going to feel the hammer as well.

As the numbers stand now, medical marijuana advocates have the momentum In terms of states passing and considering medicinal cannabis bills, but if even one state is forced to backtrack can we still call it “momentum?”

In the end can anyone really consider themselves free as long as those in even one state have had their rights stripped from them?

Source: http://www.greatfallstribune.com

Not those kind for those of you with the Dirty Mind ; ) . Blunts of Joints tokers?

A recent op-ed in The Huffington Post by a Drug Policy Alliance staff lawyer who lives near the recently closed Berkeley Patient’s Group in west Berkeley, California is such a great piece that it needs to be read far and wide.

Author Tamar Todd not only points out that medical marijuana dispensaries are no more likely to be robbed than banks or pharmacies (yet those are all around the school her children go to), but also another point that gets lost in all the talk about “saving the children.”

What about all the crime around schools associated with drug prohibition? What about the kids and other innocent people who get hit with stray bullets as rival drug lords battle for massive, prohibition-induced profits? What are the feds doing about real crime? Why are they wasting so much time and resources on dispensaries when kids can buy crack on the corner or in the alley? Why are they punishing sick people and enriching drug dealers?

But what about the kids?? Medical marijuana makes it easier for kids to get it, right? “The reality is that between 1996 (when California passed its medical marijuana law) and 2008 there was an overall decrease in teens' marijuana use,” Tamar says. “An analysis commissioned by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs found ‘no evidence’ to support the claim that legalization of medical marijuana in California increased marijuana use during this period.”

The bottom line is the recent crackdown in CA has nothing to do with kids. In fact, the only way kids could possibly benefit from the MMJ crackdown is if they own stock in pharmaceutical companies. Big Pharma pays big money to make sure their biggest competition – medicinal cannabis – doesn’t thrive.

So far it looks like they are getting their money’s worth.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamar-todd/why-i-want-a-medical-marijuana-dispensary-near-school_b_1497917.html

Source: http://www.mpp.org/assets/pdfs/library/Teen-Use-FINAL.pdf