National and local advocates for marijuana policy reform are using a new poll to kick off a major push for the legalization or decriminalization of cannabis in the District — one that could include the pursuit of a ballot initiative in 2014.

The poll was sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance and financed by Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, a company that had backed legalization referendums in four states. Public Policy Polling conducted the automated telephone poll on April 10 and 11, reaching 1,621 registered voters.

It showed two-thirds of D.C. registered voters would at least partially support a legalization referendum similar to the ones passed last year in Colorado and Washington state. Three-quarters of poll respondents favored the decriminalization approach adopted by several states and municipalities, which would turn the possession of small amounts of marijuana from a criminal offense to something more akin to a traffic ticket.

A January 2010 Washington Post survey found residents more closely split when asked whether they favored legalizing the possession of marijuana for personal use, with 46 percent in favor to 48 percent opposed. The Post poll, which carried a three-point margin of error, showed white residents were much more likely to favor legalization (60-35) than black residents (37-55).

The new poll, which did not report a margin of error, found a racial disparity, but a less dramatic one. Both white and black residents favored Colorado/Washington-style legalization, though by different degrees — 77-19 for whites, 53-38 for blacks. Same goes for the decriminalization question, which was supported by 85 percent of white residents and 69 percent of black residents.

There is evidence that national attitudes on marijuana policy have changed in recent years. A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this month found a majority of Americans favored legalization, marking a dramatic shift from even a decade ago, when closer to two-thirds of national poll respondents opposed legalization.

Adam Eidinger, a longtime local activist who is employed by Dr. Bronner’s, said the time has come for city leaders to change District law to reflect popular opinion. ”It’s a popular issue, and up until now the council has ignored it,” he said. “Maybe now they’ll realize the citizens want to to decriminalize at the very least.”

Officials with the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance said they will be lobbying the D.C. Council in the coming months to pursue legislative changes. Mason Tvert, MPP’s communications director, said his group “will be talking to community leaders and elected officials about various options for adopting a more sensible marijuana policy in the District.” Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said decriminalization would be a “no-brainer” but legislators “should do more.”

“There is an opportunity to make a clean break from the past and treat drug use as a health issue instead of a criminal justice issue,” Piper said.

The new push comes just as the city’s first medical marijuana dispensary is set to open. But city legislators, most notably Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, have been wary of pursuing wide scale decriminalization or legalization — or even a more liberal medical marijuana regime — citing the likelihood that federal marijuana laws will remain in effect and the potential response from the city’s congressional overseers.

“There is a good argument for decriminalizing a drug that is widely used and that results in a lot of arrest records and not having an effect on violent crime,” Mendelson said in December, but “I don’t think this is the time for the District to be discussing that.”

Eidinger said Tuesday that he is prepared to mount a ballot initiative should the council fail to act. He has founded DCMJ — a skeleton organization consisting, he says, “basically me and a few other people in the city who are interested in advancing the issue.”

“The idea is that we need to create a grassroots organization in the city that is going to advance this ballot initiative if we have to do it,” Eidinger said. “Meanwhile, [MPP and DPA] will be accelerating their lobbying. I think it’s unnecessary if the council does their jobs.”

Piper, of the Drug Policy Alliance, acknowledged “internal and external discussions about doing a ballot measure” but “our preference is to work with the council on a set of reforms to reduce incarceration, racial disparities, and drug overdoses.”

Source: Washington Post (DC)
Author: Mike DeBonis
Published: April 17, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Washington Post Company
Contact: letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The Illinois House today approved a measure to let people use marijuana for medical purposes, giving the proposal its best chance of becoming law in recent years. The House sent the bill to the Senate on a 61-57 vote. The Senate previously has passed similar legislation. Proponents say the legislation, which would set up a four-year pilot program, would be the most restrictive in the nation. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have approved some form of marijuana use for medical purposes.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, had come close in the House but previously fallen short. Passing the House was viewed as the biggest hurdle in the legislature because the Senate previously has passed a similar bill, though not this year.

At the Capitol earlier today, Gov. Pat Quinn said he is “open-minded” on the issue. Quinn said he heard a story from a military veteran during a meeting in the governor’s statehouse office that provided compelling reasons to use cannabis for relief of pain.

“He was suffering from war wounds and found definite help by medical use of marijuana,” Quinn said. “I was quite impressed by his heartfelt feeling. I’m certainly open-minded to it.”

Marijuana, despite drawing questions and controversy, is seen by supporters as a progressive and safer alternative to harsh medication in treatments of various chronic illnesses like cancer, HIV or multiple sclerosis.

Under this bill, an individual could be prescribed no more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana during a two-week period. A doctor who prescribes marijuana must have had a prior and ongoing relationship with the patient—a move to lessen the chance that doctors could give out prescription weed willy-nilly.

Additional restrictions and regulations create numerous other hurdles before a person could get cannabis. The prescribing doctor must be licensed to practice in Illinois.

The House action comes after Cook County, the city of Chicago and some other cities have decriminalized possession of marijuana, allowing violators to be ticketed rather than booked into the jail.

Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Author: Ray Long and Rafael Guerrero, Tribune Reporters
Published: April 17, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/

On Tuesday, the Anchorage Daily News reported, marijuana policy reform activists in Alaska presented a drafted ballot initiative that calls for taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol along will 100 signatures to the state lieutenant governor’s office. It’s the first of many steps needed to put marijuana on the 2014 primary ballot.

The measure, which would allow adults 21 and older to use and cultivate marijuana, will now undergo a 60-day review. If state officials allow the initiative to move forward, 30,169 more signatures will need to be acquired by mid-January in order to force a vote.

A similar initiative in 2004 failed to pass; however, unlike the past measure, the new initiative would not include amnesty for past marijuana offenses.

On Wednesday, in a 61-57 vote, the Illinois House of Representatives passed legislation that would remove criminal penalties for the medical use of marijuana by patients with serious illnesses whose doctors recommend it. This marks the first time the House has approved such a measure.

House Bill 1, sponsored by Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), would allow Illinois residents with certain medical conditions to possess up to two-and-a-half ounces of marijuana, which they would be able to access from one of up to 60 dispensing centers regulated by the Illinois Department of Licensing and Professional Regulation. Marijuana would be grown by one of up to 22 cultivation centers, one per state police district, regulated by the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

We’re very excited about today’s victory, but the fight is far from over. The bill now heads to the state Senate. If you live in Illinois, please contact your senator now and urge him or her to vote “yes” on HB 1.

Three out of four Washington, D.C. voters would support changing District law to replace criminal penalties for possession of limited amounts of marijuana with a civil fine similar to a traffic ticket, according to a survey conducted last week by Public Policy Polling. Two-thirds (67%) said they believe law enforcement resources currently being used by District police to arrest individuals for marijuana possession should be directed toward other crimes.

The poll also found that nearly two-thirds (63%) of District voters would support a ballot measure similar to those approved by voters in Colorado and Washington in November, which made marijuana legal for adults and directed state officials to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol. A solid majority (54%) said drug use should be treated as a public health issue, and people should no longer be arrested and locked up for possession of a small amount of any drug for personal use.

The survey of 1,621 randomly selected District voters was conducted April 10-11. The full results and crosstabs are available at http://www.mpp.org/DCpoll.

A national survey, released by the Pew Research Center on April 4, found that for the first time in its 40 years of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans (52%) support making marijuana legal. Just 45% said they think marijuana should remain illegal. Its report on the survey notes that a Gallup poll conducted in 1969 found just 12% supported making marijuana legal and 84% were opposed.

Given such strong support, MPP and our allies will be talking to community leaders and elected officials about various options for adopting a more sensible marijuana policy in D.C., including the possibility of a ballot initiative campaign as early as 2014.

Alaska voters may get the chance next year to make their state the third in the country to approve the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 and older.

Backers of the move on Tuesday took the first step toward getting the measure on the August 2014 primary ballot. Three prime sponsors of the effort filed their application for an initiative petition along with signatures from what they say are at least 100 other supporters with the state lieutenant governor’s office.

The group is led by Tim Hinterberger, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The other two prime sponsors are Bill Parker and Mary Reff, according to Gail Fenumiai, state elections director.

The measure would tax and regulate marijuana sales and allow Alaskans to cultivate marijuana for personal use. Among other things, it would allow the Legislature to create a Marijuana Control Board, though until then, the Alcohol Beverage Control Board would regulate marijuana sales. Alaskans age 21 and older could legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana under the proposal, or six marijuana plants, three of which could be mature.

If state officials decide everything’s in order after a 60-day review, backers will have until mid-January to get signatures from another 30,169 people — 10 percent of the number who voted in the last general election — to force a vote, said Steve Fox, the national political director of the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group in Washington. The Marijuana Policy Project is working with the local committee.

The signatures would have to be gathered from at least 30 of the state’s 40 House districts, under procedures specified in the state constitution.

Alaskans rejected a legalization initiative in 2004, with only 44 percent of the state’s voters backing the idea. But Alaska’s marijuana laws are among the most liberal in the nation. In 1975, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that a person’s privacy included the right to possess up to 4 ounces of marijuana in his or her home — which is more than the new proposal would allow.

Snipped

Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/RX7AcJSi

Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Author: Rob Hotakainen and Lisa Demers, Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 16, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Anchorage Daily News
Contact: letters@adn.com
Website: http://www.adn.com/

Today, the City of San Diego published Mayor Filner’s proposal for
medical cannabis regulation in the City of San Diego.  The proposal is
based on the recommendations of the medical marijuana taskforce,
organized by City Council President Todd Gloria in 2010.

It allows medical cannabis dispensaries to exist in designated
commercial and industrial areas of the city with large buffers from
sensitive areas, including a 600 foot buffer from schools and parks and a
1,000 foot buffer between dispensaries.  The proposal also contains
additional strict operating requirements including security systems,
restriction on hours of operations and signage.  

"We want there to be access in San Diego City," stated Ken Cole, a
cancer patient and president of the United Patients

SB 281, a bill adding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a qualifying condition for the use of medical marijuana, has cleared its last hurdle and is headed to the floor of the Oregon State Senate for a vote tomorrow.

SB 281 is an important bill that adds another tool in treating traumatic stress not just for veterans but for first responders and victims of domestic violence alike.

Numerous studies have found that marijuana can be an effective treatment for severe PTSD symptoms — a condition suffered by 20 percent of soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to 2008 RAND Corporation study.

We have an opportunity to make a long-needed change in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. Help pass SB 281 out of the Senate and into the House.

If you are an Oregon resident, please contact your senator now to ask him or her to support SB 281!

In a 21 to 4 vote, the New York State Assembly Health Committee approved the use, production, and sale of medical marijuana.

Sen. Diane Savino

Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) and Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) introduced the medical marijuana bill (A.6357/S.4406) and are optimistic about its chances in the Senate, where it has failed in the past, due to the bill’s tight stipulations.

“We’re picking up support member by member,” stated Savino, following the committee’s decision. “My count now is we have 38 yes votes, solid yes votes, (and) six leaning yes. We only need 32 in the Senate: We’re going to get this bill done this year.”

The bill has been endorsed by dozens of organizations including the New York State Nurses Association, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State, and the New York State AIDS Advisory Council.

The bill will now head to the Assembly’s Code Committee.

After several days of discussion, the Vermont House overwhelmingly voted this afternoon in favor of H. 200, a bill that would reduce the penalty for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana to a violation, making it a civil, rather than criminal, offense. Ninety-two representatives voted in favor, and only 49 were opposed.

The bill will now move forward to the Senate, which has already held hearings on the issue.

If you live in Vermont, please contact your senator today and urge them to support this legislation.

As amended by the House Judiciary Committee and approved in a 9-2 vote, H. 200 would reduce the penalty for possessing up to an ounce to a fine of up to $300. With support from Gov. Peter Shumlin and top law enforcement officials, the bill appears to have a very strong chance of passing into law.