Oakland voters OK tax increase on medical marijuana dispensaries
Jul 30, 2009 Online Issue
Four measures supported by city voters could generate $7 million to $8 million a year for cash-strapped Oakland.
OAKLAND — A 15-fold increase in the tax on Oakland’s medical marijuana dispensaries won an easy victory Tuesday night, election returns showed.
Voters also strongly supported an increase in the city’s hotel tax; a decrease in the amount of money mandated for youth programs; and an amendment to the city’s tax code to ensure transfers through corporate mergers and acquisitions are taxable. Together, the measures could generate about $7 million or $8 million a year for cash-strapped Oakland.
The tax on marijuana dispensaries could have the smallest budgetary impact for Oakland, but it garnered attention across the region because people believe it could help legitimize medical marijuana and possibly adult cannabis use in general.
“Hopefully it is a sign of things to come,” said Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam University.
California Senate Health Committee Urges New Federal Policy on Medical Marijuana
Jul 17, 2009 Online Issue
Sacramento, CA — The California Senate Health Committee voted 7-3 late yesterday on a joint resolution that urges the federal government to end medical marijuana raids in the state and to “create a comprehensive federal medical marijuana policy that ensures safe and legal access to any patient that would benefit from it.” Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 14, introduced in June by State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), comes at a time when the Obama Administration has signaled a willingness to change federal policy, but has yet to come forward with an actual implementation plan.
In a previous statement, Senator Leno said “Patients and providers in California remain at risk of arrest and prosecution by federal law enforcement and legally established medical marijuana cooperatives continue to be the subjects of federal raids.” Once passed, “this resolution will clearly state the Legislature’s opposition to federal interference with California’s medical marijuana law and support for expanded federal reform and medical research,” continued Leno.
‘Harry Potter’ Star Pleads Guilty to Growing Marijuana Farm, Could Face 14 Years
Jul 17, 2009 Online Issue
LONDON — A teenage cast member of the “Harry Potter” movies has appeared in a London court and admitted to growing marijuana.
Jamie Waylett pleaded guilty to growing the drug during a hearing Thursday at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The 19-year-old Waylett plays school bully Vincent Crabbe in all six installments of the film franchise.
Police found eight bags of cannabis and a knife during a search of a car Waylett was riding in. They then searched his mother’s house and found 10 marijuana plants.
Waylett pleaded guilty to producing cannabis, which carries a maximum 14-year sentence. His friend John Innis pleaded guilty to drug possession.
Judge Timothy Workman said the pair would be sentenced Tuesday.
SOURCE: FOXNEWS
Tags: Crabbe, Harry Potter, Marijuana Farm
Pot No Longer Focus of Anti-Drug Campaigns
Jul 16, 2009 Online Issue
Over the last several years, without many people realizing it, the U.S. government has changed the focus of its anti-drug efforts, deemphasizing marijuana in favor of prescription drugs.
A CBS News survey of government and nonprofit anti-drug groups has found a retreat from anti-marijuana campaigns over the past several years as prescription and over the counter drug abuse has grown amongst teens.
In fact, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the nation’s largest creator of anti-drug messages, hasn’t produced a single anti-marijuana public service advertisement since 2005.
F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana
Jul 15, 2009 Online Issue
WASHINGTON, April 20 — The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday that “no sound scientific studies” supported the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists.
The announcement inserts the health agency into yet another fierce political fight.
Susan Bro, an agency spokeswoman, said Thursday’s statement resulted from a past combined review by federal drug enforcement, regulatory and research agencies that concluded “smoked marijuana has no currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment.”
Ms. Bro said the agency issued the statement in response to numerous inquiries from Capitol Hill but would probably do nothing to enforce it.
“Any enforcement based on this finding would need to be by D.E.A. since this falls outside of F.D.A.’s regulatory authority,” she said.
Tags: Dr. Daniele Piomelli, F.D.A., Susan Bro
Melissa Etheridge: Medical marijuana should be legal
Jul 15, 2009 Online Issue
(CNN) – Each day an estimated 6,000 Americans will try marijuana for the first time. It’s the most common illicit drug in the United States with nearly 15 million people using it at least once a month.
All this week, “Anderson Cooper 360″ is taking a close look at the deeply divisive issue of drug legalization in a series of reports. It’s a special “360″ investigation called “America’s High: The case for and against pot.”
The topic of medical marijuana inspires particular controversy. As of right now, 13 states have laws that permit marijuana, also know as cannabis, to be taken for medical conditions. There is no prescription for cannabis; instead doctors issue a recommendation in these states.
But is it safe? Is it effective? Does it actually work?
Read the rest of this entry »
America’s Love-Hate History with Pot
Jul 15, 2009 Online Issue
Norm Stamper still remembers the day, nearly six decades ago, when a police detective visited his elementary school class to warn of the dangers of smoking the “devil weed.”
“That was the term he used — and he even brought along a bag of marijuana to show us,” said Stamper, 65, who would later become Seattle’s police chief. “I remember him saying something to the effect that, ‘If you smoke this, it will rot the membrane in your nose.’ He was an authority figure, and so I figured he could tell me something about the dangers of this drug. That was my early education about marijuana.”
By today’s standards, such a warning might sound as dated as the bug-eyed, morally-depraved pot fiends portrayed in the 1936 movie Reefer Madness.
But it was in line with the prevailing view of the 1950s, which considered marijuana to be not just a dangerous drug, but a stepping stone to the use of heroin or even more dangerous controlled substances. In 1979, 27 percent of Americans favored legalization, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll at the time.
Tags: america, Pot history
