Marijuana Blog

As marijuana legalization becomes more mainstream and goes from protests to policy, decision-makers will have to figure out how and what to regulate in this burgeoning industry. Brian Milam is one of the first individuals to have a run-in with unclear marijuana laws: he was fired from his job as a pilot at Horizon Air in 2011 for failing a drug test.

 

The central issue should be whether or not Milam was fit to operate a plane when he failed the drug test. When marijuana is legal, how will we determine safe amounts that do not “impair judgment?” The Seattle Pi reports that Milam failed the drug test after flying a safe round trip flight from Seattle, Washington, to Redmond, Oregon. Here, we see a paradox: he piloted a plane safely for approximately two hours, claims he “never used marijuana while on duty and refrained from smoking the night before an early shift,” yet he failed his test. Would he have been fired had marijuana been legal?  

 

Firstly, let’s look at science. The active ingredient that most drug tests screen for, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), exits the body slowly than other substances, such as alcohol or caffeine. For habitual drug users, a standard drug test can pick up traces of THC for days or even weeks after past use. A habitual user, like Milam (he claimed to use medical marijuana for back pain one to three times per week) could fail a drug test long after the effects of the marijuana, or the “high,” had worn off. As marijuana becomes legal in more states and, eventually, at the federal level, drug screenings should be read with this in mind, not exactly like an alcohol screening.

 

Read more: http://www.policymic.com

DENVER (AP) -- Recreational pot taxes above 25 percent have won final approval in the House and await action in the Senate.

 

The tax vote was a party-line 37-27 without debate Tuesday. The taxes would be a 15 percent excise tax, with the money used for school construction, and a new 10 marijuana sales tax, to pay for regulation and enforcement. Those would be in addition to a statewide 2.9 percent sales tax and any local sales taxes.

 

Republicans say that the pot tax rate may be too high, and voters may reject the taxes on ballots this fall. Democrats argue that Coloradans want marijuana taxed steeply, and that the high tax rate is in line with other sin taxes such as tobacco taxes and gaming taxes.

 

Retail pot sales begin in January.

 

Read more:http://www.fox21news.com

Court Brief Argues Law Is Unconstitutional And Invalid

 

Burlington County, New Jersey — A prolific New Jersey Marijuana Activist, Robert Edward “NJ Weedman” Forchion has released a legal brief challenging the constitutionality of New Jersey’s marijuana laws designed to be used by anyone charged with violating the personal possession law that has caught the attention of major NJ Media.

 

The brief was written by Robert Edward “NJ Weedman” Forchion and Eric Hafner who acted as co-counsel on the brief.

 

Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com