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

Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/PRmIjMrf
Copyright: 2010 Bay Area News Group
Contact: http://www.insidebayarea.com/feedback/tribune
Author: Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
Cited: Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act http://www.taxcannabis.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

THE COLOR OF POT CAMPAIGN IS GREEN, AND BASED IN OAKLAND

Win or lose, the marijuana legalization measure on November’s ballot
proves one thing: The pot industry has arrived in California politics.

Oakland’s most prominent purveyor of medical cannabis has almost
single-handedly financed the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign – a
once-unthinkable occurrence. Election experts say it’s a sign that
the pot industry has reached a rarefied political pinnacle: Pot can
afford to buy its way into voter-approved legitimacy.

Just as PG&E spent $46.4 million to push Proposition 16 and Mercury
Insurance spent $15.9 million to push Proposition 17 to further their
own interests this spring, so too is Oaksterdam University in Oakland
shelling out millions to invest in its own economic future.

And Oaksterdam’s owner, Richard Lee, could arguably make a mint if
the measure passes.

By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

No, Sarah Palin doesn’t favor legalization of pot. But in a recent appearance with Rep. Ron Paul on the Fox Business Network, the half-term former governor of Alaska sounded … sensible. She said that while she opposes legalization–we don’t want to encourage kids to try it–she thinks that the police probably have more important things to do than bust adults who quietly toking up in the privacy of their own homes.

Here’s what she said (h/t Hot Air’s Allahpundit):

Well, if we’re talking about pot, I’m not for the legalization of pot because I think that that would just encourage, especially, our young people to think that it was OK to go ahead and use it. And I’m not an advocate for that. However, I think that we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts. And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else any harm, then perhaps there are other things that our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society that are appropriate for law enforcement to do and not concentrate on such a, relatively speaking, minimal problem that we have in the country.

Pot as a minimal problem? But ambivalent about legalization? Is it possible Sarah Palin and I agree on something? Talk about feeling like I’m in an altered state.

Of course as Allahpundit notes, Palin’s drug policy–it’s OK for adults but not for kids–is essentially how we treat alcohol. “If she’s going to go this far and basically call for cops to look the other way at non-violent adult users, why not go the whole nine yards and embrace legalization with age limits?” the blogger writes. “Or is that the next step once social conservatives acclimate themselves to her current position?” Good question.

One final thought: We had a pretty good debate on the legalization issue. Former Drug Czar Lee Brown argued against it while former cop Peter Moskos made a strong argument in favor of legalization and regulation. Both pieces are worth reading.

found @: http://mapinc.org/url/WJoTb2dD

Newshawk: Taking the Initiative http://www.drugsense.org/caip#take
Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jun 2010
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Page: 7A, top of page, four column banner headline
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/i5kHhmhl
Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
Author: Naomi R. Patton, Free Press Staff Writer
Cited: Coalition for a Safer Detroit http://www.saferdetroit.net/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis – United States)

MARIJUANA VOTE IS 1 STEP AWAY

Detroit Commission Must OK Language

Detroiters are one step away from a November vote on whether to allow
possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The Detroit City Council’s Internal Operations Committee declined
Wednesday to vote on amending a city ordinance that would allow
anyone 21 and older to legally possess less than 1 ounce of marijuana
on private property. The issue is now headed to the Detroit Election
Commission for approval of the ballot language.

Advocated by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit — the group that
successfully got medical marijuana placed on the ballot in 2004,
which passed — the ordinance would amend Chapter 38 of the city code
regulating controlled substances.

Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana user who filed the
petitions, says the amended ordinance would “free up the Police
Department to pursue crimes with actual victims.”

In 2009, Beck said, there were 1,500 arrests for misdemeanor
marijuana possession in Detroit.

Detroit police spokesman John Roach said the department’s legal staff
is still researching the impact of legalized recreational marijuana.

The City of Denver and the State of Alaska have similar laws.
Legislation in Seattle and California has been proposed.

[snip]

Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jun 2010
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A – 1, Front Page
Webpage: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/13/MN3N1DPDS1.DTL
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Cited: Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act http://www.taxcannabis.org/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Richard+Lee
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

AN UNLIKELY EVANGELIST FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA

At first glance, Richard Lee looks nothing like a man who regularly
smokes dope and spent his youth working with rock ‘n’ rap gods from
Aerosmith to LL Cool J. Or who gunned his Harley up and down Texas
highways as a young man, and has a will as stubborn as iron.

He looks like, well, a quiet business yuppie. In a wheelchair. With
tidy slacks and button-down shirt, short-cropped hair and a shy smile.

Even cops trained to assess people are surprised – especially once
they learn that this quiet guy is the champion for one of the most
revolutionary social-change movements of our time, the legitimizing
of marijuana.

Lee’s latest effort is the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act on
the Nov. 2 ballot, which would make California the first state to
legalize recreational marijuana use. Its passage would notch the
47-year-old Oakland man a spot in the annals of pot.

Such notice wouldn’t be all that new for him. From hemp activism in
Texas to building a cannabis university empire in Oakland, Lee has
been a pioneer in the marijuana movement for 20 years – something
that neither he nor his conservative Republican parents could have foreseen.