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Soros' Donation Triples Marijuana Campaign Purse

Posted by CN Staff on October 27, 2010 at 13:06:34 PT By John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times  Source: Los Angeles Times CA -- California's marijuana legalization campaign, which has struggled to raise money despite the intense nationwide focus on the issue, was jolted Tuesday when a multibillionaire investor with a long interest in loosening drug laws endorsed Proposition 19 and donated $1 million.The contribution triples the amount of money that legalization advocates have to spend in the final week before the Nov. 2 election and dwarfs the $317,500 that the California Chamber of Commerce has spent on radio ads in Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego against the initiative. Read More... (1 Comment)

Soros Gives $1 Million To CA Legalization Measure

Posted by CN Staff on October 26, 2010 at 11:58:20 PT By The Associated Press   Source: Associated Press  California -- Billionaire financier George Soros has thrown his money behind California's marijuana legalization measure with a $1 million donation a week before the vote.The contribution reported Tuesday by The Sacramento Bee is the single biggest donation from an individual other than Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee, the main sponsor of Proposition 19. Read More... (24 Comments)

Denver Council Limits Number Plants in a Residence

Posted by CN Staff on October 26, 2010 at 05:19:28 PT By Christopher N. Osher, The Denver Post  Source: Denver Post Colorado -- The Denver City Council, responding to complaints from homeowners, on Monday limited the number of medical-marijuana plants that can be grown in a residence to six per patient, with a limit of 12 per residence. The council on a 12-1 vote, with Doug Linkhart dissenting, passed the new restriction.The new rule was pushed by Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, who said the limits were needed to protect residential areas. She moved for the restrictions after a constituent living in Congress Park complained of a neighbor who had more than 60 medical-marijuana plants. Read More... (7 Comments)

Restore Sanity To Drug Laws at Stewart Rally

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 17:44:49 PT By Yair Tygiel   Source: AlterNet Washington, D.C. -- The Daily Show’s Rally to Restore Sanity presents us with an enormous opportunity to unite with friends, family and allies in the name of sensibility and reasonableness. One of the least sane American policies is the war on drugs – and especially marijuana prohibition. As Californians prepare to vote on Proposition 19, we have an opportunity to take a great leap forward on this momentous issue. Read More... (10 Comments)

Why I Support Legal Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 17:07:30 PT By George Soros  Source: Wall Street Journal California -- Our marijuana laws are clearly doing more harm than good. The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.Law enforcement agencies today spend many billions of taxpayer dollars annually trying to enforce this unenforceable prohibition. The roughly 750,000 arrests they make each year for possession of small amounts of marijuana represent more than 40% of all drug arrests. Read More... (4 Comments)

What The Feds Can Do About Prop 19

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 07:24:17 PT By Ryan Tracy  Source: Newsweek California -- Assume for a moment that California voters approve Proposition 19 on Nov. 2. The state will have just enacted a process for legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana use that no one else in the world has ever attempted. But Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama’s top law-enforcement officer, has said the administration will “vigorously enforce” federal drug laws in the country’s most populous state regardless of the vote. For all the trails that approving Prop 19 would blaze, much of its impact would depend on the extent to which Holder follows through on that threat. Read More... (18 Comments)

Welcome To Potopia, California

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 07:07:51 PT By Jessica Bennett  Source: Newsweek California -- When it comes to legalizing pot, it's easy to imagine the kind of radical scenarios Californians are conjuring in their heads. Perhaps they own a business, and worry about high-as-a-kite employees stumbling into work—submitting psychedelic Power Point presentations to drowsy bosses. Maybe they're parents, wondering how their kids will react when they come home from school to find mom and dad sprawled out on the couch, surrounded by cookie crumbs. Or perhaps they're entrepreneurs, their eyes bulging over the idea of commercializing pot for good: imagining billboards, popup bars, and everything in between. Read More... (3 Comments)

Medical Marijuana Advocates Speak Out on Prop. 19

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 06:33:09 PT By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer  Source: Contra Costa Times  Calif. -- On a cloudy Friday morning, medical marijuana patients from all walks of life are pouring through the doors of the Inland Empire Patients Group in Bloomington.Once inside, they select what is appropriate for their illnesses. The choices range from cannabis strains named Jupiter, Trainwreck and Afghani to baked goods such as lime cheesecake and pecan pie. It is a similar story at such facilities up and down the state. Read More...

Marketing Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 06:16:15 PT By Ashley Bailey, The Times-Standard  Source: Times-Standard California -- When it comes to marketing marijuana, there are already foreseeable roadblocks -- not the least of which is whether it becomes legal in California after November's election. Funding, community acceptance and regulation are all unknown factors at this point. But, that hasn't stopped people like Liz Davidson from leading marketing efforts to create a “Humboldt Brand” for marijuana.Organic, sustainable, grown-in-the-sun are the ideals she is marketing through the not-for-profit Tea House Collective. It's a cooperative based out of Berkeley that educates medical marijuana patients -- currently 500 of them -- about where their marijuana comes from. Read More...

MJ Law Would Propel CA Into Unknown Territory

Posted by CN Staff on October 25, 2010 at 05:41:13 PT By John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times  Source: Los Angeles Times California -- Vote yes on Proposition 19, the measure to legalize marijuana, and the unofficial state weed and largest cash crop will be controlled like alcohol, police will focus on serious crimes and California will get billions of dollars in new taxes. That's the pitch proponents make."It's a jumbled legal nightmare," opponents retort, disputing those claims and insisting that the measure would lead to stoned nurses in hospitals, drugged motorists on the road and more high teenagers. Read More... (1 Comment)

Pot Cops a Possible Side Effect of Med Marijuana

Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 12:09:58 PT By Jacob Rodgers, The Gazette  Source: Gazette Colorado Springs -- Colorado’s booming medical marijuana businesses have been a lifesaver in a sea of red ink for state and local governments struggling to find new sources of revenues amid an historic recession.In Colorado Springs, sales tax revenue from medical marijuana has risen to about $50,000 a month, allowing the city to mow grass medians and consider restoring some Saturday bus service. Read More... (4 Comments)

Voting Yes on Prop. 19 Only Way To Regulate

Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 11:12:09 PT By Nate Bradley  Source: Reporter CA -- California voters this November will decide on Proposition 19, which legalizes the private-adult possession and use of limited quantities of marijuana, and allows local governments to regulate its commercial production and retail distribution.Proposition 19 is endorsed by a broad range of leading criminal justice, civil rights and religious organizations. These include the National Black Police Association, the California Council of Churches IMPACT, the California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the California League of United Latin American Citizens, the Latino Voters League, the Progressive Jewish Alliance and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Western States Council. Read More... (2 Comments)

Law Enforcement Worries as Iowa, Illinois Mull MMJ

Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 06:35:54 PT By Dustin Lemmon  Source: Quad-City Times  Iowa -- With a note from a shady doctor, anyone could have quick access to numerous marijuana dispensaries, including some operated by street gangs. That is what Chris Endress foresees and fears if medical marijuana is legalized in Illinois or Iowa.Endress, director of the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group, or MEG, which investigates drug crimes in both states, is campaigning against medical marijuana’s legalization. The Illinois House could vote on a medical marijuana bill in December. Iowa officials are discussing a possible medical marijuana law, but no legislation is pending. Read More... (11 Comments)

Prop. 19: Fight Over Pot Starts To Heat Up

Posted by CN Staff on October 24, 2010 at 05:02:30 PT By Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer  Source: San Francisco Chronicle California -- No TV ads. No billboards. Just a lot of news conferences, endorsement announcements, mailings by special-interest groups and phone calls to voters.That's what the battle has consisted of so far in the campaigns around the lowest-key, highest-interest election issue on the Nov. 2 ballot - Proposition 19, which would legalize personal marijuana use for adults. And that's pretty much the game plan from here to the end. Read More... (2 Comments)

Interested Parties Await Outcome of MJ Measure

Posted by CN Staff on October 23, 2010 at 18:05:52 PT By Zusha Elinson  Source: New York Times California -- Leslie Hennessy, owner of Hennessy’s Wines & Specialty Foods in San Francisco, waved his hand over a glass case that sits next to his cash register, across from the deli section where he sells cheeses, gourmet salads and olives.Inside the case were colorful boxes of Macanudo and Romeo y Julieta cigars. But Mr. Hennessy imagines that the case will soon contain another smokable product — marijuana, packaged attractively because “a rolled up joint in a baggy isn’t going to do it,” he said. Read More... (1 Comment)

Smoke and Horrors

Posted by CN Staff on October 23, 2010 at 14:35:56 PT By Charles M. Blow, Op-Ed Columnist  Source: New York Times USA -- Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.’s recent chest-thumping against the California ballot initiative that seeks to legalize marijuana underscores how the war on drugs in this country has become a war focused on marijuana, one being waged primarily against minorities and promoted, fueled and financed primarily by Democratic politicians.According to a report released Friday by the Marijuana Arrest Research Project for the Drug Policy Alliance and the N.A.A.C.P. and led by Prof. Harry Levine, a sociologist at the City University of New York: “In the last 20 years, California made 850,000 arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and half-a-million arrests in the last 10 years. The people arrested were disproportionately African-Americans and Latinos, overwhelmingly young people, especially men.” Read More... (8 Comments)

Calif. Cities Ask Voters To Tax Pot To Ease Gaps

Posted by CN Staff on October 23, 2010 at 10:29:43 PT By Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press   Source: Associated Press  Berkeley, Calif. -- As Californians weigh whether to legalize marijuana statewide, many cash-strapped cities across the state will also consider ballot measures to tax on the drug. Even if voters don't legalize pot for recreational use, cities from Sacramento to San Jose could still come away from Election Day with a hefty new source of revenue from taxes on medical marijuana.Backers of Proposition 19 have pushed legalization as a moneymaker for cities, since the statewide measure gives local governments the power to decide whether to allow and tax sales of the drug. Read More... (2 Comments)

Prop. 19 Could Flicker Out

Posted by CN Staff on October 23, 2010 at 05:26:47 PT By Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune  Source: Oakland Tribune California -- Come Nov. 3, California will either have become the first state to allow legal, regulated, taxed marijuana, or -- more likely, some political experts say -- it will have created a lot of heat and light without any smoke. A couple of recent polls show flagging support for the pot measure.The Public Policy Institute of California reported Wednesday only 44 percent of likely voters polled Oct. 10-17 intend to vote for Proposition 19 -- down 8 percentage points since September. -- with 49 percent opposed and 7 percent undecided. Read More... (6 Comments)

Merger of Art and Pot

Posted by CN Staff on October 22, 2010 at 15:16:45 PT By Dan Taylor, The Press Democrat  Source: Press Democrat Santa Rosa, CA -- On a hillside just outside Santa Rosa, a small band of artists cultivates marijuana plants and assembles artwork side by side. They claim the pot is grown legitimately for medicinal purposes and the proceeds are used to underwrite their nonprofit art organization.The 120-acre site near Hood Mountain is home to twin registered nonprofit organizations, American Medicinals and the Life is Art Foundation. The property owners say they created American Medicinals, which grows medical marijuana for member patients, to support the non-profit foundation Life Is Art and provide artists a place to create artwork. Read More... (21 Comments)

Let California Voters Lead The Way

Posted by CN Staff on October 22, 2010 at 06:28:38 PT By Edward Schumacher-Matos  Source: Washington Post California -- Another federal-state showdown is brewing, but this one has nothing to do with immigrants. It has to do with pot. Californians may very well vote in November to legalize recreational marijuana, though the Obama administration, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others in the political establishment are trying to scare them off by warning that legalization violates federal law.While late-night comedians have been having a field day with the pot measure, it arguably would have more profound effects on the nation's social and criminal policy than will who wins the midterms, an election that certainly has more genuine elements of looniness. Read More... (8 Comments)

Celebs Stir The Pot for Proposition 19

Posted by CN Staff on October 22, 2010 at 05:53:16 PT By Ted Johnson  Source: Variety California -- It was just past 10 a.m. on Thursday as a trio of celebrities, a politician and several activists took their spots on a press conference panel before a dozen cameras, ready to announce their support for Prop. 19, the California ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. They each had glasses of water, but an aide working on the event just couldn't resist. "OK, anybody want anything stronger?"The smattering of quips were inevitable -- and probably perfectly fitting. Read More... (5 Comments)

Colorado OKs Medical-Pot Help for Poor

Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2010 at 09:12:26 PT By John Ingold, The Denver Post  Source: Denver Post  Denver -- The Colorado State Board of Health on Wednesday approved a program through which poor medical-marijuana patients can apply to the state registry for free and not have to pay sales tax on their cannabis purchases.But the standard the board approved for determining who is poor enough to qualify for the program upset medical-marijuana advocates, who said some indigent patients will still be stuck with a bill. And even some board members expressed frustration that the health department — which has received millions of dollars in application fees since the medical-marijuana program began — couldn't put together a program that includes more patients. Read More... (24 Comments)

U.S. Drug Czar Criticizes Prop. 19

Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2010 at 05:32:29 PT By John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times  Source: Los Angeles Times California -- The nation's drug czar traveled to California to highlight his contention that legalizing marijuana is not the answer to a drug war he acknowledged has not succeeded. Instead, Gil Kerlikowske stressed what he called a middle way: increased prevention and treatment.Kerlikowske's stated reason for the drop-in visit Wednesday was an invitation from the Pasadena Recovery Center to participate in a round-table with drug treatment specialists that lasted less than half an hour. Before the event, he spoke to the media about his opposition to Proposition 19. Read More... (14 Comments)

He's a Train Wreck Behind The Wheel

Posted by CN Staff on October 20, 2010 at 10:19:55 PT By Steve Lopez  Source: Los Angeles Times California -- The man in the uniform had a question for me. "How do you feel?" CHP Sgt. David Nelms asked. His interest in my health was probably prompted by the fact that I was at that moment toking a joint stuffed with a bud called Train Wreck. Pretty good, I said, already buzzed enough to wonder if this was really happening.In my youth, I spent more than a few evenings hoping the police weren't keeping close tabs on my activities. So it felt a bit strange last week to have a group of cops paw my marijuana stash and then ask me to get high. Read More... (17 Comments)

Drug Czar: Calif. Pot Law Could Spark Court Action

Posted by CN Staff on October 20, 2010 at 09:44:47 PT By Lisa Leff, The Associated Press   Source: Associated Press  San Francisco -- Federal officials haven't ruled out taking legal action if California voters approve a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational medical use in the state, President Barack Obama's drug czar said Wednesday.In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Director of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske said Justice Department officials are "looking at all their options" for responding to the measure, which would conflict with federal laws classifying marijuana as an illegal drug. Read More... (5 Comments)

Humboldt County Supervisors Support Prop. 19

Posted by CN Staff on October 20, 2010 at 08:29:49 PT By Donna Tam, The Times-Standard  Source: Times-Standard  California -- The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to support Proposition 19, despite some members' hesitation over the measure to legalize marijuana.Although 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace had originally recommended the board take a “no position,” 4th District Supervisor Bonnie Neely said she supported Proposition 19 and she thinks the board should as well because of marijuana's ties to Humboldt's economy and public safety. Read More... (1 Comment)

The Feds Say No Way

Posted by CN Staff on October 19, 2010 at 18:15:08 PT Editorial  Source: Los Angeles Times  Calif. -- If California voters were still under the illusion that Proposition 19 would legalize marijuana, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. sought to disabuse them of the notion last week. "We will vigorously enforce the [federal Controlled Substances Act] against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote in a letter to nine former heads of the Drug Enforcement Administration who had lobbied the Obama administration to forcefully oppose California's overreaching ballot initiative. Read More... (20 Comments)

Our View on Marijuana: If California Goes To Pot

Posted by CN Staff on October 19, 2010 at 17:51:15 PT Editorial  Source: USA Today California -- Supporters of legalizing marijuana make interesting arguments about respecting adults' personal liberty, choking off a major source of drug cartel profits, and saving law enforcement resources for higher priorities.Interesting, but not enough, in our view, to offset the even more compelling reasons why voters in trend-setting California would be wise to reject legalization when they go to the polls Nov. 2. Read More... (13 Comments)

15 Million Americans Have Been Arrested

Posted by CN Staff on October 19, 2010 at 06:36:24 PT By Kevin Zeese   Source: AlterNet  USA -- Criminal laws are not an effective way to control marijuana; removing criminal penalties does not lead to increased use; decriminalization creates savings in law enforcement.The great divide between politicians and the people is showing itself in California where polls show the voters support Proposition 19 and where the mainstream politicians mostly oppose it. Read More... (8 Comments)

LA Sheriff Pledges To Bust People for Pot

Posted by CN Staff on October 18, 2010 at 12:47:30 PT By Steve Elliott  Source: AlterNet California -- Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said on Friday that the voters don’t matter. His deputies’ enforcement of marijuana laws would not change even if voters approved Proposition 19, which would legalize cannabis in California, on November 2, according to the Sheriff.“Proposition 19 is not going to pass, even if it passes,” Baca said in a news conference Friday at sheriff’s headquarters in Monterey Park, reports Robert Faturechi in The Los Angeles Times.