U.S. Marijuana Reform May Have Hit Tipping Point

By Matthew Cardinale


http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/06/u-s-marijuana-reform-may-have-hit-tipping-point/


ATLANTA, Georgia, Jun 26 2012 (IPS) - Over the last several years, many U.S. states have quietly adopted laws decriminalising the possession of marijuana or legalising medical marijuana.


Now, a flurry of activity over the last few weeks appears to signal that – perhaps like same-sex marriage – marijuana policies have also reached a tipping point in the U.S.


On Jun. 1, Connecticut legalised medical marijuana, making it the seventeenth U.S. state, in addition to Washington, D.C., to do so.


On Jun. 12, Washington’s government announced four dispensaries eligible to distribute medical marijuana in the nation’s capital. While medical marijuana was already legal there, the dispensaries are new.


Related IPS Articles


U.S. Allies Call for Drug Legalisation


Three days later, Rhode Island decriminalised small amounts of marijuana, making it the fifteenth U.S. state to do so.


Also in early June, the governor of New York announced his support for decriminalising marijuana in public view (currently it is decriminalised in private view).


Legislation is pending in Illinois and New Hampshire, ballot initiatives have already qualified in Colorado and Washington, and the collection of signatures for additional ballot initiatives is also underway in several states.


Under the Marijuana Policy Project’s “28 by 2014” campaign, the organisation seeks to legalize medical marijuana in more than a majority of U.S. states by 2014 (half of the 50 U.S. states would be 25).


“For medical marijuana, I think the prospects are pretty good” in terms of reaching the goal, Morgan Fox, communications manager for MPP, told IPS.


“If there is the same activity next year, I don’t think it will be a stretch at all to say 28 by 2014,” Fox said.


Fox noted there are important differences between medical marijuana laws and decriminalisation.


“Decriminalisation is far, far different that a medical marijuana law, in which there is a regulated system to provide medical marijuana to patients,” Fox said. “Decriminalisation doesn’t have to do with the supply side, it only deals with small possession. It doesn’t affect the market.”


Colorado and Washington, which both already have medical marijuana laws and decriminalisation of possession of small amounts, are considering legislation to take it a step further, which is to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol or cigarettes, meaning that it could be sold in stores.


“We have reached a tipping point – more than half of Americans think marijuana should be treated similar to alcohol or tobacco. By regulating it, we’ll be able to ensure criminals won’t control the marijuana market,” Fox said.


Indeed, recent polls by Gallup and Rasmussen have found more than a majority of U.S. residents support the taxation and regulation of marijuana.


One-third of the U.S. population currently lives in a state where medical marijuana is legal.


Meanwhile, more legislative initiatives for medical marijuana are still pending in Illinois and New Hampshire.


In New Hampshire, the legislature passed medical marijuana legislation, although the bill was vetoed earlier this month by Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.


Advocates there are currently working to find two more state senators to support the bill; at least two more will be necessary to override the veto.


For one co-sponsor of the bill, the issue is not just political. It’s personal. State Rep. Evalyn Merrick, a Democrat from Lancaster, New Hampshire, who suffers from a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma, credits marijuana with saving her life.


“I was given a short time to live if I didn’t have a bone marrow transplant,” Merrick told IPS.


“I had to take heavy-duty chemotherapy for three straight months in preparation for a transplant. They kill my immune system, they go in and kill as much of the cancer as they can, they harvest clean cells, then they gave me back my cells. The hope is my body will accept and re-grow its immune system,” Merrick said.


“The chemo is so intense. The transplant was successful. But the impact on my digestive system, I couldn’t eat. I started starving to death. I could not eat, I could not drink,” she said.


A family friend suggested that Merrick try smoking marijuana to stimulate her appetite, as no traditional pharmaceuticals were working.


“My husband (a doctor) had everything to lose by introducing marijuana into our home. Within 10 minutes, it seemed almost instantaneous, I asked for something to drink,” she said. “My body was like, hey, we know what this (water) is. We need this.


“It’s time to stop denying our sickest citizens what I feel and other people know is a life-saving medicine. We have recognised since the beginning of time the value of this natural medicine,” Merrick said.


“We have to be able to make it available. We have to look beyond the political issues, because quite honestly, I feel it’s no longer a scientific controversy – I think it’s still, inappropriately, a political controversy.”

 

Hmmm... that's the day after they shut down the ECWC. Why are they bothering us in California when they have Dispensaries right in Washington DC???

 

I know, go figure.

 

I read an article saying that the recent crack down on dispensaries is because they are not working within state laws.


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/10/federal-crackdown-marijuana-california-no-joke/43478/


October 7th 2011


On Thursday, it emerged that the U.S. Department of Justice was warning pot dispensaries there they would have 45 days to shut down, and on Friday, California's four U.S. attorneys announced a full-fledged crackdown on what they called the state's "marijuana industry." The extra enforcement is bad news for medical marijuana users, marijuana dispensary operators, and marijuana activists, though the feds say their goal isn't to eradicate pot from the state, but rather to quell the business that's grown up around it, returning the cultivation and sale to small-scale collectives.


On Friday, the DOJ issued a press release outlining its recent enforcement actions, and it's clear the feds mean business. In addition to the 38 letters they sent out on Thursday giving dispensaries a 45-day ultimatum to close, they've indicted six people for drug trafficking in connection with a now-closed store called NoHo Caregivers in Los Angeles and raided the store's former site (now a dispensary called Green Camel) where they seized 23.5 pounds of marijuana. The NoHo indictment charges the defendants with distributing "approximately 600 to 700 pounds of marijuana per month" at the NoHo store and other stores in California as well as transporting it to New York and Pennsylvania. The feds also filed three forfeiture actions (meaning they moved to seize the property) against three different properties, including one that held eight separate marijuana dispensaries.


The DOJ intended the enforcement actions, which The Bay Citizen described as "highly choreographed," to signal a tough stance against all large-scale marijuana dispensaries in the state, which voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. Since then, 15 more states have followed suit. Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for California's Northern District, said the crackdown was meant to put a stop to high-profit "drug trafficking" of large-scale dispensaries. “One of the reasons we are here today is to try and put to rest the notion that large medical marijuana businesses can shelter themselves under state law and operate without fear of federal enforcement,” she said, according to The Bay Citizen.


But the marijuana advocacy group NORML said in a statement saying the crackdown was a part of a larger, ongoing effort on the part of the Obama administration to block medical marijuana in California:


The DOJ forfeiture threats are the latest in an escalating series of federal attacks on medical marijuana by the Obama administration :


The IRS has assessed crippling penalties on tax-paying dispensaries by denying standard expense deductions.


The Department of Treasury has browbeaten banks into closing accounts of medical marijuana collectives.


The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has warned firearms dealers not to sell guns to medical marijuana users.


The DEA has blocked a 9-year old petition to reschedule marijuana for medical use, ignoring extensive scientific evidence of its medical efficacy.


NIDA has blocked proposed research on medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.


So it seems Californians should be taking this crackdown seriously. Andre Birotte Jr., the U.S. attorney for California's Central District, said in his statement that the crackdown actually upheld California law: "While California law permits collective cultivation of marijuana in limited circumstances, it does not allow commercial distribution through the store-front model we see across California." It's safe to predict California's largest cash crop won't disappear from the state altogether under this federal crackdown. But if the feds have their way, the state will once again see more Starbucks than pot dispensaries, instead of the other way around.


I can see the point to it. IF we want med mj laws then we have to follow those laws...Steel

 

The ECWC in Sacramento was the one I was talking about. In the article that talked about the Raid, they quoted a few government officials saying that it was a model despensary and that they were in compliance of all State, county and city laws (even if there were too expensive for CG).


They can say the crackdown was only on those that are not in compliance of State laws, but they are .


By the way, if they are non-profit, they should not have to pay any federal taxes. If they pay taxes, then the feds can say, "See, they are paying taxes, therefore they are a for-profit organization."

 

California needs to follow Colorado's model. CO has far greater control in a "big brother" sort of way and the dispensary owners are happily paying a lot of money to the state. They have to grow 70% of their product and they have to install cameras all over and allows the government access to view live streaming video any time they want. The state is working with them and reaping the rewards. You can't beat them (marijuana users), period. Might as well use them to your benefit.

 

I think the feds need to just leave it alone, period.

 

:bravo: