Sorry about the lack of updates for the past couple days, I’ve been pretty sick and unwilling to keep on a computer for too long. Although, I have made a new bangin electro/breaks mix I will be releasing later tonight… so stay tuned!
A campaign for a system of medical marijuana supply systems in Oregon turned in enough signatures to put the measure on the November ballot – if the signatures are valid. According to an early turn-in, the initiative for a medical marijuana supply system has gathered 115,404 signatures. It needs 82,769 verified names of registered voters to make the ballot.
The preliminary total only reflects the signatures gathered by paid petitioners through May. The campaign will continue to gather signatures up to the July 2 deadline to give them a cushion for names that have to be thrown out.
Also, a Detroit City Council committee passed today on amending a city ordinance to allow adults in the city to legally possess a small amount of marijuana. Instead voters will get to decide in November.
Brought to you by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit – the same group that successfully got medical marijuana placed on the ballot in 2004 which passed – the ordinance amendment would allow anyone 21-years-old or older to legally possess less than an ounce of marijuana on private property, amending Chapter 38 of the city code regulating controlled substances.
Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana user who filed the petitions, says the amended ordinance would “free up the police department to pursue crimes with actual victims.”
Dennis Mazurek, assistant corporation counsel with the city Law Department, told the council’s Internal Operations Committee that the ordinance amendment violates state law, specifically, the Michigan Public Health Code, and cannot be enacted. The state only allows registered medical marijuana use.
According to the City Clerk’s Office, the Coalition submitted 5,750 signatures in May; 3,895 were required and 4,598 were validated.
Beck is confident voters will pass the ordinance, as they passed the medical marijuana ordinance in 2004.
“It’s going to win,” he said. “I have no doubt about that.”
Written by: The Weed Blog
Posted in Legalization, Medicinal Marijuana, News 
Tags: ballot, detroit, legalize, november, oregon, vote 
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An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation’s debate over whether to soften drug laws.
The number of valid signatures reported by Los Angeles County, submitted minutes before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline, put the measure well beyond the 433,971 it needed to be certified. Supporters turned in 694,248 signatures, collecting them in every county except Alpine. County election officials estimated that 523,531 were valid.
The measure’s main advocate, Richard Lee, an Oakland marijuana entrepreneur, savored the chance to press his case with voters that the state’s decades-old ban on marijuana is a failed policy.
“We’re one step closer to ending cannabis prohibition and the unjust laws that lock people up for cannabis while alcohol is not only sold openly but advertised on television to kids every day,” he said. Continue reading
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Loading ...To clarify, “Whenever I get a chance” means your will smoke whenever the opportunity is presented to you, whether it’s every couple weeks, every few hours, and so forth…
It’s official. Tax Cannabis 2010, the most far-reaching state effort ever, which would legalize the consumption of cannabis for all adults over 21 — and would finally take the industry that serves those consumers out of a legal gray area — will qualify for the November mid-term ballot later today.
The Tax Cannabis campaign gathered just under 700,000 signatures, well over the 434,000 needed to qualify for the California ballot.
For background on the initiative, read my extensive analysis of the campaign, spearheaded by Richard Lee, the pot entrepreneur behind Oaksterdam University in Oakland.
From that article, here’s a primer on what this measure would change, if it were to pass:
The measure does not actually legalize pot as much as it absolutely decriminalizes certain marijuana offenses. (Marijuana has been “decriminalized” in California since 1975, but it still can generate a fine, an arrest and a misdemeanor charge on your record.) Tax Cannabis institutes a one-ounce personal possession limit and allows for limited personal cultivation.
Interestingly, the ballot initiative refers to local control, meaning that cities and counties can decide whether to allow regulated marijuana sales at all, and if so, how that would work. Tax Cannabis allows for the personal consumption, possession and cultivation of cannabis by any adult over 21 throughout the state, but the business of it would be left to local jurisdictions. (A few people suggested Lee was inspired by his home state of Texas’ dry-county, wet-county policy regarding alcohol sales.)
Polling shows that a growing number of people here in California think legalization is the right solution to this particular segment of the drug war. A poll in April showed 56 percent support for legalization. And Tax Cannabis’ internal polling in March found 44 percent support among likely California voters in non-presidential elections. This was followed by an August internal poll that found 52 percent support by likely November 2010 voters.
These slim majorities are not ideal, but that’s why Tax Cannabis is focused on a public-education campaign, and will be targeting their message to fit the different concerns and needs of all kinds of voters across the state.
I still stand behind what I wrote back in January: This is the best chance for marijuana legalization on a state-level yet. And as 13 states have followed California in legalizing medical marijuana, other states could similarly follow it if legalizes cannabis this year. In other words, as goes California, so could go many others.
Posted in Legalization, Medicinal Marijuana, News Tags: ballot, california, Legalization, vote No Comments »
Stoners around the world should roll one up in celebration today.
California state lawmakers have just passed the “first formal consideration of marijuana legalization in American history.” Assemblymember Tom Ammanio’s Assembly Bill 390 – the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act – was heard and voted on in the Committee for Public Safety. The bill passed 4-3, and will next be heard by the Committee for Public Health.
But the vote was only a minor victory for the pro-legalization lobby. (AB 390 may very well die in the health committee.) The real test will come in November, when voters will consider the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, which, in a nutshell, will legalize pot for personal and agricultural use. (Recent polls show about 56 percent support the bill.)
It’s hard to argue that progress isn’t being made for the movement. As the old “Reefer Madness” stereotypes die away, several states are seriously considering marijuana legalization. Check out the headlines from the last few days: “Stiletto Stoners,” “It’s High Time for Debate,” and “Pot Town, USA.”
Clearly, marijuana prohibition has been a failure. Every U.S. citizen can get his or her hands on a baggie of marijuana if they want to, usually within 24 hours. The plant itself can be grown outside or inside by novices – because, frankly, it grows like a weed. A casual smoker is no different than a fan of Budweiser or Coors.
The pro-pot movement looks to California as the first battleground state, where medical marijuana is already generating millions of dollars a year in taxes. As Assemblymember Ammanio’s bill works its way through the red tape, more news is sure to come out about marijuana legalization. Stay informed!
SEE RESULTS OF COMMITTEE VOTE HERE
In a move proponents are billing the “first formal consideration of marijuana legalization in American history,” the public safety committee of the state assembly will today vote on Tom Ammiano’s ganja bill.
The San Francisco assemblyman last year earned his place in the pot pantheon by authoring “AB 390,” a bill that proposed for the regulation and taxation of marijuana in a manner similar to what is already the case with alcohol. This, he claimed, would reap the state more than $1 billion a year.
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, AB 390 will come up for a yea or nay committee vote. Ammiano himself is chairman of the public safety committee — and, purportedly, his colleagues like him. The assemblyman’s staff and allies predict the bill will receive the four votes needed to pass. Continue reading
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