Manic, Chill

shortformblog:

Connecticut passes bill to legalize medicinal marijuana

With the state’s Democratic governor expected to sign the bill into law, Connecticut would become the 16th of 50 U.S. states to embrace marijuana as an option for people seeking medical relief, though in Connecticut they’ve approached it with tightened regulation to try to avoid abuse of the system, and trouble with the federal government. In particular, all patients must register with the Department of Consumer Protection in order to receive the drug, which is used for a variety of ailments, glaucoma, cancer and multiple sclerosis being prominent examples. (Photo by the appropriately named Dank Depot) source

Follow ShortFormBlog: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook

Welcome to the medicinal club Connecticut!

Coloradans Will Vote On Marijuana Legalization This November

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol held a press conference Monday morning, to announce that Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s office had certified Amendment 64 for the ballot.

Many advocates were concerned that Amendment 64 wouldn’t make it onto ballots, when Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s office announced that the Campaign had not raised enough signatures earlier this month. Although they had raised nearly double the required signatures, the secretary’s office certified 2500 fewer signatures than were needed, leading many to believe that the fight was lost.

Fortunately, Colorado law required that the group be given an additional two weeks to find more support, during which time they pulled in an additional twelve thousand signatures. The announcement was made during a protest outside of President Obama’s Lakewood, CO campaign office, and featured a speech from Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. It would also appear that, somewhere in those 12,000 signatures, were the 2500 or so needed to place Amendment 64 on ballots this November.

During yesterday’s press conference, former Colorado House Majority Leader Paul Weissmann took some time to share his thoughts on the proposed Amendment, and why he chooses to support it.

“As someone who was once referred to as ‘the Capitol’s best-known bartender,’ it is especially appropriate for me to be endorsing the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. Americans learned long ago that prohibiting a popular, widely used substance is a policy disaster. Alcohol prohibition ended nearly 80 years ago for many good reasons. There are just as many good reasons to end marijuana prohibition and I am proud to be a part of the effort to do that here in Colorado,” he said.

Advocates across the state are certain that the measure will pass. They point to an increased number of sponsors on Rep. Jared Polis‘(D-CO) bill to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, and the fact that another legalization measure might also end up on the ballot alongside Amendment 64.

An advocacy group called Legalize 2012 is currently collecting signatures for an alternate legalization bill, still targeting the November 2012 ballot, but that does not include any limitations on the amount of marijuana possessed by an adult.

“Voters in Colorado are ready to end marijuana prohibition and begin regulating and taxing it like alcohol,” said proponent Betty Aldworth. “By regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol Colorado can tightly control its production and sale, generate tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenue, and redirect our limited law enforcement resources toward serious crimes.”

Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Colorado Independent that he thinks the measure will pass.

“We’ve seen over the last decade or so that marijuana bills do much better in presidential elections than in other years,” he said. Fox said presidential elections typically bring younger voters to the polls.

(image courtesy of Toke of the Town)

| Follow Manic, Chill |     | Subscribe to Manic, Chill(RSS) |     | Subscribe via Email |

(Source: coloradoindependent.com)

Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Raises Additional 12,000 Signatures in Support of Colorado Ballot Initiative 30

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Scott Gessler announced that advocacy groups failed to raise enough signatures to place Ballot Initiative 30, a measure that would legalize the sale of marijuana in Colorado, on ballots this November. The announcement stunned supporters, many of whom were certain that the initial 160,000 signatures submitted would certainly contain the requisite 86,105 certified signatures needed, if not more. Ultimately, the secretary’s office certified 83,696 signatures, at which point Colorado state law guaranteed advocates an additional two weeks to collect an additional 2,409 signatures. 

Now, fast forward to Thursday morning. During a protest outside of President Obama’s Lakewood, Colorado campaign office, a spokesperson for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced that the group has collected an additional 12,000 signatures in support of Ballot Initiative 30. While the signatures must now go through the same verification process as the initially submitted 160,000, advocates are once again certain that they have more than enough support.

The Campaign plans to deliver the newly collected signatures to Scott Gessler’s office this morning, after which they will hold a press conference featuring former Governor of New Mexico and current Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson. Former Gov. Johnson is expected to endorse the initiative, and discuss why he supports regulating marijuana similarly to alcohol.

(image courtesy of Toke of the Town)

| Follow Manic, Chill |     | Subscribe to Manic, Chill(RSS) |     | Subscribe via Email |

Colorado Court of Appeals Says Coloradans On Probation Are Not Eligible For Medical Marijuana Prescriptions

Last week, in their opinion on People vs Watkins, the Colorado Court of Appeals declared that individuals on probation are not eligible for Colorado’s medical marijuana program. The issue at hand, they said, was the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. constitution.

¶39  We therefore conclude that section 18-1.3-204(1), requiring that all probation sentences explicitly include a condition that probationers not commit offenses during the probation period, includes federal offenses and is not limited by Colorado Constitution, article XVIII, section 14.

The decision, unsurprisingly, has marijuana advocates up in arms. Denver attorney Rob Corry, a staunch advocate for medical marijuana and patients’ rights, was quick in condemning the court’s ruling.

from The Colorado Independent:

“If the Legislature had wanted people on probation to be prohibited from using medical marijuana, they would have addressed that,” Corry said. “The Legislature determined which people can and can’t use medical marijuana and they did not prohibit people on probation from using medical marijuana. It is by design that we want people on probation to have some measure of freedom and health,” Corry said, adding that for a lot of people, medical marijuana is an alternative to much more harmful–but legal–narcotics.

Corry said similar cases in Montana and California have been decided in favor of medical marijuana users. While he was not of counsel to the defendant in this case, he says he is working with a group, Sensible Colorado, to appeal for a rehearing of the case.

Corry is far from being the lone voice of discontent in the wake of the ruling. Public policy organizations around the state and country were quick to condemn the court’s decision.

Karen O’ Keefe, state policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project, was quick to express her disappointment saying, and pointed out that there is no precedent for the courts ruling on what is/isn’t acceptable medication for patients. Legalize 2012, a group pushing for full legalization in Colorado, also released an email condemning the court’s ruling.

This ruling is a huge blow to medical marijuana patients statewide, many of whom will be forced off of their safe, effective and natural cannabis medicine and forced to use dangerous and expensive pharmaceutical alternatives. For many patients, cannabis is the only medicine that works for them, especially for patients who are using cannabis as a non-toxic alternative therapy to treat their cancer.

Previously, probation departments across Colorado had wide discretion into whether or not a patient on probation would be allowed to use their medicinal cannabis. With the Court of Appeals ruling, the ability of probation officers to address individual patient situations on a case-by-case basis has been eliminated and replaced with a statewide “Zero Tolerance” policy for medical cannabis use and probation.

As of press time, it seemed that the only person in the state who was not surprised by the court’s decision was Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. In a statement, via spokesperson Mike Saccone, the Attorney General made clear that he believes “probation is a privilege, not a right”, that it comes with restrictions, and that the ruling should not have come as a shock to anyone.

As for the court of public opinion, Karen O’Keefe was quick to highlight that many Americans just aren’t as concerned with marijuana, or its consumers, as they used to be.

“Polling shows that 60 to 80 percent of Americans think medical marijuana should be legal. It is only a matter of time until federal policy catches up with the people.”

(image courtesy of the Michigan Messenger)

| Follow Manic, Chill |     | Subscribe to Manic, Chill(RSS) |     | Subscribe via Email |