There are VERY many uses for cannabis.

A man who got a visit from police after a pizza delivery driver smelled marijuana at his home is getting free pizza from a different restaurant.

Police visited Frederick Smith of Aurora after a Papa John’s International Inc. driver reported he smelled marijuana in the home last week and saw a child there. Smith told KUSA-TV in Denver he’s a registered medical marijuana user. He says police searched his house then left.

Papa John’s has said it stands by its employee.

On Thursday, Denver-based Sexy Pizza said it’s offering Smith one free pizza monthly until Colorado voters decide a proposed 2012 ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for recreational use. If voters pass it, Sexy Pizza says, it’ll extend the offer for life.

In addition to “6 Awesome Pro-Marijuana Ads” Rigo14 has sent me another image featuring Kid Cudi.

Check out his site here.

As reported a week ago, The first Congressional marijuana legalization bill is now in Congress — please support it!

H.R. 2306, the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act, would remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act and limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or interstate smuggling. States would be able to legalize and regulate marijuana, or to continue to prohibit it, as they individually choose.

Please use this web form to contact your US Representative and your two US Senators in support of this historic bill. Please follow-up by calling their offices too — if you don’t know their numbers (or aren’t sure who they are), you can reach them by calling the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

One of our fans has created this awesome stop-motion video. I love it and I think you will too.

Check out this awesome video, some nice bowls, tasty weed, and some DUBSTEP

A judge in Grand Rapids has postponed a hearing to determine if the state should cooperate with a federal subpoena seeking medical marijuana records. The delay was due to a last-minute request to intervene by a group called “the Michigan association of compassion clubs.” The Drug Enforcement Administration won’t talk about the Lansing-area probe, but will say they’re not cracking down on medical marijuana users.

More than 45,000 people in Michigan are registered to use marijuana legally. The postponement of that scheduled hearing almost foiled the plans of medical marijuana advocates. Members of “Americans for safe access” coordinated nationwide rallies in Las Vegas, Grand Rapids and Lansing to coincide with the hearing. The Grand Rapids rally was canceled, but the Las Vegas and Lansing ones went off without a hitch.

Medical marijuana advocates from the Lansing area made some noise. They’re raising their voices against what they call increasing federal involvement in states where medical marijuana is legal. Many have personal ties to the issue.

John Roberts, protestor: “I’ve been raided twice. First time they raided me they didn’t even take the plants, they took all the medicine we made for the patients.”

John Roberts is a medical marijuana user, caregiver and advocate. He says the feds need to stay out of the confidential records of medical marijuana users. Americans for safe access spokesperson Robin Schneider says the bigger issue at play here is state’s rights.

Robin Schneider, spkprsn Americans for safe access: “63 percent of Michiganders voted to allow for the use of medicinal marijuana and it’s time for the federal government to take a step back and allow us to engage of the use of medical marijuana peacefully and privately.”

The protestors called on State Attorney General Bill Schuette to stand up for their rights. Schuette could not be reached for comment. There were only a couple of dozen people who attended the rally in Lansing. Organizers attribute that to the cold weather. They expect more people to come to rallies they may hold in the summer months.

Thanks to the GlobalMana Foundation and the design group Northshorecartoon for publishing a very creative, funny and spot-on political commentary in the form of a short cartoon focused on the costly absurdity of the U.S. government banning the domestic production of industrial hemp.

Most all other countries (Canada, France, Great Britain, China, Switzerland, etc…) do not allow the lawful use of cannabis for non-medical purposes, yet, they allow for the production of one of the most utilitarian and environmentally-friendly row crops that humans have been cultivating and prospering from for thousands of years.

Regardless of whatever happens in state and federal governments with ‘marijuana’ laws in future regarding medical access, decriminalization or legalization, the US government must stop trying to enforce a complete and total blanket prohibition on all forms and uses of the amazing cannabis plant—notably, like other major countries have done regarding industrial hemp.

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Snoop Dogg is no stranger to touting his love for marijuana, and he’s not pleased that his weed-toking buddy, Willie Nelson was pinched for possessing the green stuff. The Doggfather recently spoke on the country legend’s arrest after border patrol at Sierra Blanca, Texas detained him for possessing six ounces of the sticky icky.

“They better leave Willie the f— alone!” a heated Snoop told TMZ. “Willie Nelson is a legend, man. Really, sometimes you gotta back off certain people and have a certain amount of respect for your elders. Willie Nelson is our elder. He’s somebody who lived through many decades of music and hard times and whatnot and living good and going up and down. So give him that respect.”

The Cali rapper continued his tirade by going after the police officer who put him behind bars. ‘Who’s the motherf—er that arrested him? I want to know who’s the police officer that said ‘You’re under arrest. You’ve got a right to remain silent.’ You dumb motherf–ker, you. You stupid motherf—er you. What you think you going to gain by arresting Willie Nelson? He got out and he back smoking right now!”

Snoop collaborated with his toke buddy on ‘My Medicine,’ a track dedicated to pot that was included on his 2008 album ‘Ego Trippin’.’ He capped his diatribe by cementing his love for Nelson and issuing a warning: “If you got a problem with Willie Nelson, you got a problem with me!”

Source

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?

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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

Read the full article for the rest.

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Source: Online Degrees

Source:Online Universities

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.

2010 marijuana legalization advisory vote compared to 2008 decriminalization ballot initiative

First, I compared the results in these precincts for legalization to the 2008 results for Question 2, a sweeping marijuana decriminalization measure, which passed overwhelmingly statewide, 65 percent to 35 percent. These districts voted 70 percent for decriminalization, slightly higher than the state average. Assuming this relative level of support held true for legalization, you would expect that if the marijuana legalization question were on the ballot statewide, it would have passed this year with a vote of Yes 56.6 percent to No 44.4 percent.

2010 gubernatorial results compared to local marijuana legalization advisory question

The second metric I used was the total vote in these districts in the 2010 governor’s race–for both incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick and Green Party candidate Jill Stein–to find out how much more “liberal” these districts are than the rest of the state. There is a strong but imperfect correlation between voting for more liberal candidates and voters’ relative support for marijuana reform. In these districts, Patrick and Stein took 58 percent of the vote, compared to only 50 percent of the vote statewide. Using this liberal metric, I project marijuana legalization would have passed statewide with roughly a vote of Yes 53.1 percent to No 46.9 percent.

A small majority of Massachusetts voters likely support legalization

This analysis leads me to believe that a small majority of the individuals who turned out to vote this year in Massachusetts supported legalizing and regulating cannabis in the same way the state does alcohol. That is a good sign for marijuana reform given that midterm elections tend to have much lower turnouts among young voters–who are, in general, more supportive of legalization–and this midterm in particular had a higher than normal turnout among older conservatives, who tend not to support marijuana reform. For these reasons, the 2012 electorate is almost assured to been even more supportive of legalization than the 2010 electorate.

This analysis of the election results, combined with other factors, suggests Massachusetts is a strong candidate for becoming one of the first states to embrace legalization. Massachusetts is a very liberal state, has a huge number of colleges, is demographically relatively young, and contains an existing grassroots marijuana advocacy community. In 2008, the state passed Question 2, a strong marijuana decriminalization initiative, by 30 points. Most importantly, Massachusetts allows for binding statewide citizen-sponsored initiatives. There is strong evidence that if a well-crafted marijuana legalization initiative makes in onto the ballot in 2012, it could pass.

*There are several variables that could cause error in this analysis or make it not exactly apply to a binding statewide initiative. Imperfect Metrics: There is no prefect metric against which to compare the results. I think comparing them to the vote on decriminalization is pretty good, but it is possible more conservative parts of the state were only mildly less supportive than these districts of decriminalization, but would be dramatically less supportive of legalization. Dropoff: For obvious reasons, non-bidding advisory questions are not a top priority for voters, and around 10 percent of voters do not enter a preference. It is possible supporters are more likely to vote Yes, but those weakly opposed are more incline to just skip them, resulting in a slight overstatement of support. Cold Feet: There is probably some small percentage of voters who are fine sending the message they support legalization in general, but might change their minds when their vote might actually make it happen. Actual Ballot Language: Similarly, the actual language of a binding ballot initiative is very important, unlike an advisory question. It is probably impossible to craft a ballot initiative that every supporter of legalization would vote for. The specific design of provisions could cause some people to vote No even if they support the concept.

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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.”

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Photos courtesy of  asylum.com

While the battle to control Congress is getting most of the pre-election ink, voters in several states will also be deciding how to states handle the touchy issue of marijuana’s legal status. Fourteen states already have medical marijuana laws on the books, and more are likely to vote in doctor-approved pot use this year or in 2012. (Watch a Reason Magazine report about legalization’s consequences.) Here are six states that could take a major step down the path toward decriminalization (or even legalization) on Nov. 2:

California
Passage of Proposition 19 by Golden State voters would create by far the most permissive marijuana law in the nation. The ballot measure would legalize — at the state and local level, anyway — recreational amounts of marijuana and allow local goverments to tax and regulate sales of the drug. The contentious battle over Prop 19 is creating some strange political dynamics, says NPR‘s Mandalit del Barco. For instance, many growers and “stoners” are opposed to the new taxes and government oversight, while some cops and mothers’ groups support Prop 19 as a way to take profits out of the hands of drug dealers and Mexican cartels. None of that may matter, says Nate Silver in The New York Times, since support for the measure appears to be “going up in smoke” as the election nears. Today it stands no better than a 50-50 chance of passing.

Oregon
More than one in every 100 Oregonians already smokes marijuana legally for medical purposes, and Measure 74 would let them purchase their pot from state-licensed growers and nonprofit retailers, or dispensaries (under current law, card-carrying smokers have to grow their own marijuana, or designate someone to grow it for them). The problem with the measure, says The Portland Mercury in an editorial, is it has no regulation mechanism to assure “all pot is safe and legal,” like other medicines. Oregon should learn from the mistakes in California and Colorado, “and do ours better.” But Oregon already “took the main step” of legalizing medical marijuana, says the Albany (Ore.) Democrat-Herald in an editorial, and “if something is legal to use — such as liquor and tobacco — it’s not unreasonable to authorize places where it may be sold.”

Arizona
Proposition 203 would allow Arizonans with a host of diseases to possess up to 2.5 ounces of pot with a doctor’s recommendation. They would be allowed to buy medical marijuana from nonprofit, state-licensed dispensaries, or grow it themselves if the nearest outlet is more than 25 miles away. “Opponents worry it will bring more crime, substance abuse, and corruption to our state,” says Lori Jane Gliha at ABC News 15. But with polls showing it the most popular measure on the ballot, with 54 percent support, “we’ll go out on a limb and say [it] will probably pass” anyway, says Ray Stern in the Phoenix New Times.

South Dakota
Measure 13 is a do-over for South Dakota medical-marijuana proponents, after a similar measure in 2006 fell short by about 15,000 votes, or 4 percentage points. Activists “think they can get over the top this time around,” says Phillip Smith in Drug War Chronicle, with restrictions carefully tailored “to win over a skeptical and conservative prairie electorate” — to wit, the proposed law limits people with specific conditions to one ounce and only upon the recommendation of a doctor with whom they have “bona fide relationship.” But not all skeptics are convinced: “I just think it’s a total scam being done by people interested in legalizing marijuana,” says Yankton County (S.D) Sheriff Dave Hunhoff. “If they want to legalize marijuana… they should just stand up and use that argument.”

Vermont
The Democratic candidate for governor of the Green Mountain State, Peter Shumlin, publicly advocates the decriminalization of marijuana, says Ron Kampia in The Huffington Post. And if he beats Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie (R), who is “ultra-hostile to decriminalization,” Vermont — which already has a medical-marijuana law — “has a good chance of decriminalizing the possession of marijuana,” too. But Shumlin can’t count on getting every pro-pot vote, says Brad Sylvester in Yahoo News, since he’s also facing Liberty Union candidate Ben Mitchell, whose platform calls for making Vermont into the “Amsterdam of the U.S.”

Massachusetts
In November, 73 Massachusetts towns and cities will vote on a nonbinding ballot measure instructing state lawmakers “to vote in favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate the taxation, cultivation, and sale of marijuana to adults” — in short, to legalize pot. Although only 13 percent of the state’s voters will see the ballot initiative, its sponsor, the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, says majority approval would lay the foundation for a statewide, binding ballot measure in 2012. State voters have already approved decriminalization, says Michael Cutler in Wicked Local, and “the sky hasn’t fallen.” Full legalization would better limit access to the drug and raise revenue.

Article written by The Week

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International Centre for Science in Drug Policy’s Evan Wood sees promise in California’s bid to legalize pot. (Photo by Martin Dee)

With California gearing up for a vote next month on Proposition 19, a groundbreaking ballot measure that would fully legalize marijuana, a drug-policy expert is disappointed that Canada is moving in the opposite direction.

Dr. Richard Mathias, a professor at UBC’s school of population and public health, said it doesn’t make sense that the Conservative government is continuing to push for mandatory prison sentences for cannabis possession.

The physician was referring to Bill S-10, a Senate legislation that passed second reading on September 29. The bill is a reincarnation of two similar measures that previously died in the House of Commons.

“You have to be completely blind to not realize that truly harmful drugs are tobacco and alcohol,” Mathias told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “We’ve shown from a public-health perspective that we can deal with those harms. When I went to medical school, which is a fair number of years now, we used to smoke in class. Medical students now look at me with wide open eyes—you know, how bad could that be? The culture has changed completely. And we can do the same things for the harms that drugs are causing.”

He said that is the reason why he considers California’s Proposition 19—or the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010—as “extremely enlightened”.

“What prohibition does is it takes away the tools that public health has used so successfully in terms of tobacco and, to a lesser extent, alcohol and completely ties our hands so we cannot use these tools to try to prevent the harms that are associated with drugs,” Mathias, a member of the Health Officers’ Council of B.C., said.

Proposition 19 is one of a number of initiatives that qualified for a vote in the general election to be held in California on November 2.

The proposed legislation seeks to allow persons 21 years old or older to possess one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana for personal use. The substance cannot be consumed in public view. It will also permit the cultivation of small amounts of cannabis in each private residence or parcel of property.

The measure will likewise regulate activities related to the sale and distribution of marijuana. Licensed cannabis distributors will pay all applicable federal, state, and local taxes.

According to the initiative bill, there is an estimated US$15 billion in illegal marijuana transactions in California each year. An official voter information guide noted that cannabis taxes could generate US$1.4 billion annually.

In Canada, there are no mandated prison sentences for drug offences. This could change if the Conservative government succeeds with Bill S-10.

The measure provides a range of penalties. One seeks to impose a minimum of six months’ imprisonment for cultivating at least six marijuana plants.

On October 7 this year, the Vancouver-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy released a report detailing the failure of the U.S. federal government’s cannabis-prohibition policy.

Coauthored by the centre’s founder, Evan Wood, the document showed that even with more money for antidrug campaigns, the potency of cannabis in the U.S. increased by approximately 145 percent from 1990 to 2007. The retail cost of marijuana also decreased from US$37 per gram in 1990 to US$15 per gram in 2007.

Marijuana has also remained almost universally available to American youth, despite the past 30 years of prohibition. The report indicated that cannabis use among Grade 12 students rose from 27 percent in 1990 to 32 percent in 2008. Among 19- to 28-year-olds, use increased from 26 percent to 29 percent in the same period.

The paper noted that the U.S. federal antidrug budget saw a 600-percent inflation-adjusted increase in two decades, from US$1.5 billion in 1981 to US$18 billion in 2002.

In a phone interview, Wood, a UBC medical professor, noted that the California experiment with Proposition 19 has enormous potential.

“If they prove that you can successfully tax and regulate cannabis and the world does not come to an end, I think it’s going to generate interest throughout North America,” Wood told the Straight.

According to Wood, measures like Bill S-10 speak to the “discordance between what we know from a scientific perspective of what we should be doing about the drug problem and what the average citizen thinks”.

“Your average Canadian is frustrated about the drug problem, and that makes it politically popular to propose tough-on-crime measures,” Wood said. “But the reality of the situation is, the $5 billion that they’re proposing to spend on new prisons will do nothing to improve community health and safety.”

He also said that advocates for drug legalization want to counter one myth.

“The alternative to prohibition is not full, free legalization, easy access to drugs, but, rather, strict regulatory tools in a legal framework like age restrictions, operating hours, warning labels on things, taxation,” Wood said.”These are actually compatible with not only increasing or creating tax revenue for governments but also decreasing the availability of drugs to young people.”

- Article from The Georgia Straight.