Archive for the ‘Legalization’ Category

B.C. Wants Legalized Pot; Rest of Canada Agrees

by Evilpig on November 30, 2010   |   1 Comment


More than half of British Columbians support the legalization of marijuana, but the prairie provinces are even more pot-friendly, according to a new poll.

In the latest Angus Reid Public Opinion poll on drugs, 50 per cent of Canadians said they want to see marijuana legalized, while 44 per cent oppose decriminalization.

People in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were most likely to want legal pot, with 61 per cent of those polled expressing their support. Fifty-four per cent of British Columbians surveyed said they want to see marijuana legalized.

Albertans were the least likely to support legalizing pot, with only 45 per cent in support.

Only 33 per cent of Canadians said they want to toss the decriminalization legislation introduced by the previous Liberal government. But the majority said they support the federal government’s proposal for a national anti-drug strategy and mandatory minimum jail sentences for grow operators and drug dealers.

Despite the strong support countrywide for legal marijuana, about 90 per cent of Canadians opposed legalizing harder drugs like ecstasy, heroin and cocaine.

Still, about half of respondents said they disagreed with the Conservative government’s efforts to end harm reduction programs like supervised injection sites and needle-exchange programs.

People in B.C. were much more likely than most Canadians to say that the country has a serious drug abuse problem affecting the entire country, with 46 per cent agreeing compared to a national average of 37 per cent.

The results of the latest poll are consistent with similar surveys conducted in April of this year and in May 2008.

The latest survey was conducted online and polled 1,000 randomly selected people. The margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

What do you think? Should marijuana be legal?

Source

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Driving High on Cannabis Not an Impairment, Study Says

by Evilpig on November 24, 2010   |   1 Comment

Despite what the nation’s “Drug Czar” Gil Kerlikowske might say and what his office might promote, it’s being proven that driving under the influence of marijuana does not make you a dangerous driver. In fact, a new study shows that it makes virtually no difference in the driving abilities of most drivers.

Of course, that may not be saying much given the state of some highways in this nation, but at least the road hogs and blind spot lurkers don’t drive any worse while high.

Most of the studies for stoned and drunk driving were conducted in the 1970s. Driving simulators, measurement tools, and even drug potency were different then. Although studies into drunk driving have continued to the present, studies of marijuana’s effects on driving have not. A new study from researchers at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center has found that marijuana’s effects on driving – including separating data between men and women – is negligible.1

The research is legitimate, double-blind, placebo-controlled and used 85 subjects (50 men, 35 women) on driving simulators. Subjects were tested sober and then shortly after having smoked either a 2.9% THC marijuana joint or an identical placebo.

The only measurable difference in driving between those who were sober when stoned was that they tended to slow down and drive slower than otherwise. Which any safety advocate will tell you is almost always a good thing.

Other studies conducted overseas, including one in Israel published in 2008,2 showed similar results.

These studies and their findings should call into question every “impaired driving” law in which marijuana is treated the same as alcohol and hard drugs.

Of course, as marijuana becomes more and more socially acceptable and laws regarding its use loosen or are eliminated, a review of laws that lump it in with other, much more impairing drugs should be conducted as well.

References:
1 – Sex differences in the effects of marijuana on simulated driving performance. by BM Anderson, M Rizzo, et al, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, March 2010

2 – Effects of THC on driving performance, physiological state and subjective feelings relative to alcohol. by A Ronen, P Gershon, et al, Accident; analysis and prevention, May 2008

Posted in Legalization, News, Police Tags: , , , 1 Comment »
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Prince of Pot transferred to Georgia

by Evilpig on November 21, 2010   |   No Comments

Vancouver’s Prince of Pot Marc Emery has been transferred to a low-security federal prison in Georgia for non-U.S. “deportable aliens.”

Emery, who had expected to be transferred to a California facility, is now at the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in Folkston, Ga.

The facility, which had been a state prison known for violent incidents among inmates, was changed in October to an Immigration & Naturalization Services low-security federal prison for “deportable aliens,” according to a blog entry by Emery.

In the entry, addressed to his wife Jodie on the Cannabis Culture website, Emery said the move was made to “send me as far away from you as possible.”

Jodie said Sunday that Emery is doing all right and “trying to keep his spirits up” as he continues to apply for a transfer to serve his time in Canada.

Emery, 52, was sentenced by a U.S. judge to five years in prison for selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers through his business, Marc Emery Direct.

Emery has been a political activist for three decades.

Norman Grant Smith, a marijuana activist, is urging Emery’s supporters to write to the federal public safety minister to petition for his immediate transfer to Canada.

Source

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Strong Signs Massachusetts Voters Are Ready to Embrace Marijuana Legalization

by kush on November 9, 2010   |   1 Comment

Are the voters in Massachusetts ready to embrace marijuana legalization in 2012? Analysis of the vote on local marijuana legalization advisory ballot question strongly points to yes.

Massachusetts allows for citizens to place non-binding local “public policy questions” on the ballot. This year, in several precincts, voters weighed in on whether their local representatives should “vote in favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate and tax marijuana in the same manner as alcohol.” On Tuesday, over 150,000 votes were cast on the issue across the state in districts containing around 8.5 percent of the total vote.

In the districts where it was on the ballot, the advisory question passed with an impressive 61 percent of the vote, but these districts were on the whole slightly more liberal and pro-reform than the rest of the state. To determine how these results might translate to a statewide marijuana legalization ballot question, I used two different metrics. Continue reading for the results. Continue reading

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New Zealand Legalizes Medical Marijuana

by Evilpig on November 6, 2010   |   4 Comments

The Government has legalised medicinal cannabis, but many multiple sclerosis patients allowed to use the commercial form of the drug will have difficulty paying for it, says Multiple Sclerosis Society national director Rosie Gallagher.

“It’s something we’ve been watching for a while, and it’s exciting to hear that its been approved we’d just love to see it subsidised.”

British drug manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals has been given approval to distribute cannabis extracts in New Zealand as a branded drug, Sativex.

In its application to Medsafe, GW Pharmaceuticals said that in therapeutic doses, Sativex sprayed under the tongue may produce side-effects “interpreted as a euphoria or cannabis-like high”.

But Government drug funding agency Pharmac said nobody had applied to have the drug subsidised.

Ms Gallagher said patients would normally expect the manufacturer to approach Pharmac, as the maker had key information on aspects such as the medicine’s efficacy in clinical trials.

“We’d expect the drugs company to make the initial contact, but we’d be quite happy to back them up,” she said.

“There’s so little available in the way of MS medications, and they’re so very expensive that we’re happy to see anything new that comes on the market that has been shown to improve symptoms.”

The main MS drugs – hugely expensive pharmaceuticals such as interferon beta – tended to be aimed at reducing the rate at which patients suffered relapses, but the Sativex cannabis extracts approved for the relief of spasticity were slightly different.

Two cannabis extracts in the drug can help MS patients control continuous or repeated muscle contractions, spasticity which interferes with movements, speech, and walking and may include severe, painful, and uncontrollable muscle spasms.

Even before the medicinal cannabis was legalised, four patients were given special approvals by the Health Minister to use Sativex, two for chronic pain conditions, one for multiple sclerosis and one for muscle spasm, chronic pain and nausea.

Ms Gallagher said there were 4000 people diagnosed with MS in New Zealand – usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40 years – and spasticity was one of the most common symptoms.

A cannabis campaigner, NORML spokesman Chris Fowlie, of Auckland, told NZPA that a small spray which could last one week to a month – depending on the dosage rates for an individual patient – cost about $300, and some patients found they could buy illicit cannabis at a lower cost.

“But growing their own or buying it illegally brings significant risks.”

Source

Posted in Legalization, Medicinal Marijuana, News Tags: , , 4 Comments »
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Proposition 19 loss gives CO chance to be first state to legalize marijuana

by kush on November 4, 2010   |   1 Comment

The state of CO is planning a launch of Legalize2012.com, a drive to legalize marijuana for adult use in Colorado — and noted that organizers planned to move forward even if Proposition 19, a similar measure in California, failed at the ballot box — which it did. But advocates Mason Tvert and Brian Vicente, while downcast about the Prop. 19 results, see the opportunity to now cast Colorado in the history-making role.

Shortly after the die was cast last night, Tvert, of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, aka SAFER, and Vicente, who heads Sensible Colorado, jointly released statements expressing confidence that the Prop. 19 vote won’t doom legalization efforts in Colorado. To the contrary, they suggest that the “no” vote in Cali will energize their push over the next two years.

Here’s their release:

Prop. 19 Loss in California Means Colorado Could Be First State to Legalize Marijuana
State’s largest marijuana reform organizations — SAFER and Sensible Colorado — planning 2012 statewide initiative to make marijuana legal and regulate it like alcohol

Colorado groups not deterred by California results — point to polls that show Coloradans are ready for legalization

DENVER — The state’s two largest marijuana policy reform organizations are not deterred by the results of Proposition 19 in California and will move forward with a similar 2012 statewide ballot initiative in Colorado. Prop. 19 was trailing 56-44 at the time of this release.

Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and Sensible Colorado are working to place a measure on the 2012 ballot that would remove penalties for adult marijuana use and establish a system of regulation for marijuana similar to that of alcohol.

According to a 9 News/Denver Post poll released last week, 46 percent of likely 2010 voters would support such a measure, while just 43 percent would oppose it. The poll echoes previous and recent internal polls showing support for regulating marijuana around 50 percent among 2010 likely voters.The 2012 electorate should be even more favorably inclined toward supporting such a measure.

“California started the race toward legalization but Colorado is going to finish it,” said Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER, which coordinated the successful citywide marijuana initiatives in Denver in 2005 and 2007, and the statewide marijuana initiative in 2006. “Coloradans are ready to move forward and bring about a safer, more sensible approach to marijuana.

“For too long our government and the Arrest and Prosecution Industry have been playing a game to keep marijuana illegal for adults,” Tvert said. “That game will soon be over — we’re playing to win in 2012.”

SAFER and its close ally, Sensible Colorado, have been working on plans for a 2012 initiative while closely following the fight over Prop. 19 in California this year.

“Over the past five years we have built a large coalition of organizations, elected officials, and citizens across the state,” said Sensible Colorado Executive Director Brian Vicente. “Now that the 2010 election is over we are moving full-steam ahead with a plan to organize, mobilize, and energize our coalition and potential voters throughout Colorado.

“The campaign for legalization in Colorado begins today and will not end until we become the first — or one of the first — in the nation to establish a legal marijuana market for all adults.”

Source

 

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