from WDTV.COM5 News
from Huffington Post
MarketWatch | By Quentin Fottrell
Posted: 11/14/2012 9:12 am EST
Mark Twain is said to have remarked that a gold rush is a good time to be in the pick and shovel business. Investors may be able to apply that same bit of wisdom to the growing number of U.S. states that have legalized pot.
Although federal law prohibits the sale or possession of marijuana, Massachusetts last week joined the ranks of states — 18 plus Washington, D.C. — that allow its use for people suffering from chronic illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. In Washington and Colorado, meanwhile, voters passed an initiative to allow pot for recreational use. . . . Read Complete Report
from Smell the Truth
Posted on November 8, 2012 at 10:42 am by David Downs in Legal, Politics
How are the authorities reacting to pot legalization in Washington and Colorado? Well, Attorney General Eric Holder says “I don’t know [if I’ll be coming back for four more years]“, according to a newly released video of Mr. Holder speaking at a law school. Many see that as the warm-up before the departure of the embattled AG, who oversaw a largely ineffective crackdown on medical marijuana.
Kristen Gwynne at AlterNet does a great round-up of all other responses today, noting that the governor of Colorado said, “The voters have spoken and we have to respect their will. This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don’t break out the Cheetos or goldfish too quickly.” . . . Read Complete Report
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from Christian Science Monitor
By Dan Murphy, Staff writer / November 8, 2012
A look at the numbers.
It has long been a popular argument among campaigners for reform of America‘s marijuana laws that legalization would strike a major blow against the violent Mexican drug gangs that have brought so much misery to parts of that country and, increasingly, along the US border.
The logic is simple. Marijuana smuggling is a major earner for drug gangs, so a legal crop in the US would have a dramatic impact on their operations, lowering the amount of money available to them to bribe cops and hire killers south of the border. . . . Read Complete Report
Published on Nov 7, 2012
Democrats may be high on President Obama’s re-election victory today, but constituents in Colorado and Washington state are feeling the buzz a little stronger than everyone else. The western states have become the first ever in America to legalize pot for recreational use. . . . posted with video on youtube
from NORML
Thursday, 01 November 2012
Historic Propositions to Legalize Personal Use Amounts of Cannabis For All Adults Hold Double Digit Leads In Colorado and Washington
Washington, DC: Millions of voters will decide on Election Day in favor of ballot measures to legalize and regulate the use of cannabis by adults. Voters in three states – Colorado, Oregon, and Washington – will decide on statewide ballot measures to legalize the possession and distribution of cannabis for those over 21 years of age. Voters in three additional states –Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Montana – will decide on measures to allow for the therapeutic use of cannabis by patients with qualifying ailments. In Michigan, voters in four cities – totaling over a million people – will decide on municipal measures to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis.
Ballot measures in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Washington hold double digit leads, according to the latest statewide polls. . . . Read Complete Report
from The Seattle Times
October 1, 2012 at 7:46 PM
Posted by Jonathan Martin
he campaign to legalize recreational marijuana has received two new boosts: another $1 million in donations, and a vote of approval from King County Sheriff Steve Strachan.
The biggest donation to Initiative 502 came from Progressive Insurance founder and marijuana-legalization advocate Peter Lewis. His $670,000 donation last week brings his total contribution to $1.55 million, more than a third of I-502′s total contribution of nearly $4 million.
Those contributions allowed I-502 to buy about $700,000 in TV airtime the last week before the election, said campaign manager Alison Holcomb. Those ads will differ from I-502′s first round of TV ads, which featured a middle-aged woman who declared she “didn’t really like” marijuana, but that it was time for “a conversation” about legalizing it.
Strachan, who is running for election, said Monday he would vote for I-502, which would “bring clarity” to the conflicting state and federal laws regarding marijuana. “I think the current situation is bad for the rule of law, bad for the criminal justice system and and it sends a bad message to our kids.” . . . Read Complete Report
from NORML
by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator
September 7, 2012
Judge Richard Posner serves on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, he also wants marijuana to be legalized.
During a September 6th speech at Elmhurst College, the federal judge lambasted the war on cannabis. “I don’t think we should have a fraction of the drug laws that we have,” proclaimed Posner to loud applause, “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana.” . . . Read Complete Report
You can view the entirety of his speech below:
Published on Sep 7, 2012 by ECvids
The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy
Judge Richard A. Posner
WOW! First time I’ve heard a major candidate even mention States Rights in this election, except of course Ron Paul . . . EDITOR
from NORML
by Allen St. Pierre, NORML
Executive Director
September 7, 2012
In a clear departure from his more socially conservative top-of-the-ticket running mate Mitt Romney, vice presidential candidate Congressman Paul Ryan, in an interview this afternoon on KRDO in Colorado Springs, when confronted with a question about whether or not he supported patients in Colorado having legal access to cannabis for medical purposes, Ryan said that although he personally opposes medical cannabis use he would defer to the judgement of each state to make up its own mind on the issue.
Of course, Representative Ryan’s public policy position, as articulated here, is not much different in scope or tone from what George W. Bush and President Barack Obama claimed too when running for president, only to commit significant Department of Justice resources in closing down hundreds of otherwise lawful, state-compliant medical cannabis dispensaries. . . . Read Complete Report
from Denver Post.com
By John Ingold
The Denver Post
Posted: 08/23/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT
Updated: 08/23/2012 09:09:07 AM MDT
A Colorado ballot initiative to legalize limited possession of marijuana for adults is set to pick up an endorsement from a civil rights organization Thursday.
At a morning press event, the head of the Colorado, Wyoming and Montana conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is expected to announce the conference’s support for the initiative, Amendment 64. The conference’s president, Rosemary Harris Lytle, said Wednesday the endorsement comes not out of an interest in marijuana use but instead from a concern over the lopsided numbers of African-Americans arrested for marijuana offenses. . . . Read Complete Report
from CBS Denver
Photo: Hemp products for sale in Amsterdam. CREDIT: Petr Kratochvil SOURCE: publicdomainpictures.net
from Reuters
By Alex Dobuzinskis
Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:41pm IST
Aug 25 (Reuters) – Campaigns to become the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Washington and Colorado have raised $3 million ahead of a November vote, far outpacing the opposition.
Proponents of pot legalization in Washington state have raised nearly $2 million since the initiative qualified for the ballot in January, and about $1 million in Colorado since its measure earned a place on the ballot the following month, according to the most recent state campaign figures. . . . Read Complete Report
from youtube
Published on Aug 7, 2012 by MOXNEWSd0tC0M
August 06, 2012 KOMO 4 News
http://MOXNews.com
Published on Mar 19, 2012 by aleksandr2006
READ DESCRIPTION! 2012 is shaping up to be a crazy year in pot reform, as two states are trying to legalize some aspects of Marijuana use which have never been successfully legalized to this extent in the US before. Washington with Initiative 502 and Colorado with Amendment 64. Today we’ll be discussing Colorado’s Initiative, which I feel is closer to outright legalization than Washington’s proposal and we’ll be discussing the odds it will pass.
Amendment 64 Campaign Website: http://regulatemarijuana.org/
Photo Legalize Pot, Red, White and Blue. CREDIT Jay Selthefner. SOURCE
From Toke of the Town
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Global, Legislation, News
