Pubdate: Tue, 29 Jun 2010
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Webpage: http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_15395193
Copyright: 2010 Bay Area News Group
Contact: http://www.insidebayarea.com/feedback/tribune
Author: Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
Cited: California NAACP http://www.californianaacp.org/
Cited: Proposition 19 http://www.taxcannabis.org/
Referenced: Targeting Blacks for Marijuana http://mapinc.org/url/btjAQH1v
Referenced: Marijuana Arrests and California’s Drug War
http://mapinc.org/url/gf9Qvr0S
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act

NAACP SIGNS ONTO POT LEGALIZATION MEASURE

The state NAACP is expressing “unconditional support” for the
November ballot measure to legalize marijuana, continuing proponents’
framing of it as a civil rights issue.

“We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor
organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities, and
approximately 56 percent of the public, in saying that it is time to
decriminalize the use of marijuana,” state NAACP President Alice
Huffman said in a news release Monday. “There is a strong racial
component that must be considered when we investigate how the
marijuana laws are applied to people of color.”

The measure, Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative 2010, was designated
Monday as Proposition 19.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n499.a04.html

Owners, customers and neighbors of marijuana dispensaries are wary in the wake of two slayings.

By Joel Rubin and Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times

June 26, 2010

The killings of two pot dispensary workers just five hours and five miles apart — one shot in Echo Park, the other apparently stabbed in Hollywood — triggered a police investigation Friday to determine whether they were linked and rattled medical marijuana advocates.

Two senior Los Angeles Police officials who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation said Thursday’s slayings appear to be unrelated. But the sheriff and district attorney said their brutality suggests the work of violent gangs.

The homicides could revive the debate over whether dispensaries make their neighborhoods unsafe, but police could recall only one other slaying at a dispensary. Thursday’s killings occurred as the city is trying to shut down about 400 illegal dispensaries and exert control over approved outlets.

Police said dispensaries are lucrative targets. “They have a lot of cash,” LAPD Deputy Chief David Doan said at a news conference. “That’s what’s attractive. Any business that does a lot of cash business has that risk.”

Newshawk: Is My Medicine Legal YET? www.immly.org
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 2010
Source: Isthmus (WI)
Copyright: 2010 Isthmus
Webpage: http://www.isthmus.com/isthmus/article.php?article=29634
Contact: [email protected]
Author: Gary Storck
Video: TV commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRB1ppPRJ0M
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jacki+Rickert

LAWMAKERS TO SICK PEOPLE: WE DON’T CARE

Rejection of Wisconsin Medical Marijuana Bill Was a Profile in Cowardice

Jason Glaspie did everything he could. The former Marine, a veteran
of the first Iraq war, has endured numerous treatments for brain and
spinal cancer that left him disabled and often in terrible pain. One
thing that alleviates his suffering is smoking marijuana.

And so when it looked as though Wisconsin might join the 14 other
states (and the District of Columbia) that allow the medicinal use of
cannabis, Glaspie became an activist for the cause.

The Fitchburg resident attended hearings and events held in support
of the proposed bill. He starred in a TV commercial on the issue and
let his story be told in the press. And, in the end, like hundreds of
other people in Wisconsin, he was bitterly disappointed. The bill
died in the just-ended legislative session after state lawmakers
failed to bring it forward for a vote.

“The bill’s failure to pass forces patients to make the horrible
choice between [enduring pain] and being a criminal,” says Glaspie.
“I should not have to fear prosecution just because I want to move
around without my cane. People with chronic health issues have enough
on their plates without adding more fear.”

But fear is what they are left with. The political structure of the
state of Wisconsin has given them the back of their hand. Again.

Just ask former Marine Sgt. Erin Silbaugh (videos here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ2-q5q3zTk and here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQw7P0Jkcns ), who served three tours
in the current Iraq war, returning with severe post-traumatic stress
disorder. The Lodi resident recalls a conversation with his
Assemblyman, Rep. Keith Ripp (R-Lodi). He asked if Ripp cared that
Silbaugh had to risk arrest and jail to treat his service-related
disability. Ripp, he says, responded by shrugging his shoulders.

“I’ve been on over 10 different prescriptions provided by the VA to
control my PTSD since returning from Iraq, each with its own list of
side effects,” says Silbaugh. “Why won’t the Legislature allow me to
use something less harmful and more helpful?”

Why indeed?

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n485.a01.html

Newshawk: Citizen Advocacy www.mapinc.org/resource/#activism
Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jun 2010
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Webpage: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hawes-254821-norml-marijuana.html
Copyright: 2010 The Orange County Register
Contact: [email protected]
Author: David Whiting
Cited: Orange County NORML http://orangecountynorml.org/
Cited: The State Referendum http://www.taxcannabis.org/
Referenced: Attorney General Jerry Brown’s guidelines
http://mapinc.org/url/kKMJR2lu
Referenced: Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It
http://www.judgejimgray.com/whyourdruglawshavefailed.php
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/NORML (NORML)

ARREST SPARKS HER FIGHT AGAINST POT LAWS

Sitting across the table, at a Starbucks in San Clemente, Kandice
Hawes is all business in black Capri pants, a fashionable top and a
demure gray sweater.

“Of course I smoke pot,” she says in a loud voice that expresses both
surprise and amusement at the question.

Holy smoke! I look around, worried someone might hear. After all, I
lived through Nancy Reagan’s America when smoking marijuana was
pretty much the same as shooting heroin, when all drugs were lumped
together under the “Just Say No” campaign.

But Hawes, 28, is a generation younger. She came of age after 1996,
when California voters approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate
Use Act allowing medical marijuana.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n484.a02.html

Pubdate: Mon, 28 Jun 2010
Source: Time Magazine (US)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/STjpe80L
Copyright: 2010 Time Inc
Contact: [email protected]
Author: Steven Gray
Cited: Michigan’s department of community health
http://drugsense.org/url/nDFeNDPs
Cited: Coalition for a Safer Detroit http://www.saferdetroit.net/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis – United States)

GROWTH INDUSTRY: LEARNING HOW TO GROW MEDICAL MARIJUANA

This is what a medical-marijuana class looks like. Twenty-five or so
students – men, women, young, middle-aged – listen attentively as an
instructor holds up a leafy green plant and runs down the list of
nutrients it needs. Nitrogen: stimulates leaf and stem growth.
Magnesium: helps leaf structure. Phosphorous: aids in the germination
of seeds. Michigan’s Med Grow Cannabis College is one of several
unaccredited schools to have sprung up in the 14 states and the
District of Columbia that have legalized medical use of marijuana.
Many of its students suffer from chronic pain. Others are looking to
supply those in need of relief.

[snip]

Fear of violent crime is one reason recreational use of marijuana is
still illegal almost everywhere. And yet, ironically, the reason
Detroit may follow Philadelphia’s lead and liberalize restrictions on
possession of small amounts of marijuana is to alleviate the strain
on the local criminal-justice system.

In November, Californians will vote on a measure that would legalize
marijuana for recreational use – and allow the drug to be taxed. Tom
Ammiano, a Democratic assemblyman from San Francisco, estimates such
a tax could generate up to $2 billion in annual revenue for
California. “When I speak about this issue, there’s always a line of
people with a business angle – an idea for a dispensary or a new grow
light,” he says. “We’re a capitalistic society, and realistically,
the tax will push people over the edge [to] realize, ‘There’s gold in
them thar hills.'” And Nick Tennant will have his pickax at the ready.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n483.a07.html