420 Policies and Laws

[sirloot]

North America’s Largest City Moves to Legalize Pot

The Mexico City bills are part of a wave of marijuana proposals across the Americas in the wake of the American states of Colorado and Washington voting to legalize cannabis last November. The Uruguayan lower house has passed a legalization law, which the senate is expected to vote on this month, and advocates are looking at measures from Brazil to Argentina to Canada. While the United States was long a world leader in drug prohibition, U.S. legalization has now become influential force outside its borders. Alison Holcomb, the chief architect of the Washington state law, has spoken across the continent this year, including at a recent forum in Mexico. “I have seen a sea change in thinking. People are no longer asking if it can be done, but how it can be done,” says Holcomb, who is the drug policy director for the ACLU in Washington state. If the Mexican capital, which is the largest city on the continent, were to legalize marijuana, it would add even momentum to the pro-legalization wave, possibly paving the way for similar measures in other Mexican states and in neighboring Central American nations such as Guatemala. “The war against drugs is a failure. We are not going to win it,” says Assemblyman Vidal Lleranas who is working on the legislation. “We cannot hope for a drug free world. But we can hope to limit the damage and take the profits away from organized crime.”

full story here : http://news.yahoo.com/north-america-...163042830.html

[sirloot]

Majority Of Texas Voters Want To Legalize Marijuana

A majority of Texas voters support marijuana legalization, according to a recent survey.

Public Policy Polling found that 58 percent of Texans "support making marijuana legal for adults and regulating it like alcohol." Even more -- 61 percent -- were in favor of decriminalizing marijuana possession and instead punishing violations with a civil citation.

Texas law currently views possession of marijuana, even on a minute scale, as a criminal offense, punishable by $2,000 in fines and up to a year of jail time.

The PPP survey of 860 randomly selected Texas voters was released by the Marijuana Policy Project.

"Most Texans agree that marijuana sales should be conducted by legitimate businesses instead of drug cartels in the underground market," MPP executive director Rob Kampia said in a release.


full story here
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4064808.html

[Bigblue1]

Seems like getting a marijauna license will be easier than figuring out Obamacare.

[Crow]

Washington: Marijuana Licencing Webpage Now Available

The Marijuana Licensing section of the WSLCB website is now up and running. While you cannot apply for a license until November 18 the page is full of useful information about the licensing process

Apply for a Marijuana Licence

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The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) Marijuana Licensing staff will conduct a series of education seminars across the state. These seminars are an opportunity for our staff to walk potential licensees through the application process and answer any additional questions they might have. A complete listing of the seminars is available online.

Space is limited to between 80-120 attendees at each event (depending on the venue) so reservations are available on a first come/first served basis. After completing the online registration, attendees will receive an electronic confirmation email. Attendees will be required to show their confirmation as proof of registration prior to entry. We look forward to seeing you soon.

[sirloot]

Switzerland Decriminalizes Marijuana, Won't Prosecute For Small Amounts Of Weed

As of Oct. 1, possession of marijuana is decriminalized in Switzerland.

Anyone over the age of 18 caught with 10 grams or less of the drug will no longer have to make a court appearance and will not have offenses entered into their permanent record; instead, violators will have to pay a fine of 100 Swiss Francs (approximately $110), then be on their way.



full story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4037400.html

[Crow]

Californian reboot

60 Percent of Likely Voters Back Legalisation

Six out of ten likely California voters support making cannabis legal, according to survey data released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California. Sixty-eight percent of likely voters also believe that the US government should not enforce federal anti-marijuana laws in states that have approved the plant’s use. The percentages are the highest ever reported by the polling firm in favor of allowing adults to possess and consume cannabis socially.

Support for marijuana law reform fell slightly among all adults. Among all Californians, not just likely voters, 52 percent responded that “marijuana should be made legal,” and 61 percent believed that the federal government should not interfere with statewide marijuana laws.

Men (57 percent), Democrats (64 percent), and Independents (60 percent) were more likely to express support for legalizing marijuana than were women (47 percent) or Republicans (45 percent). Caucasians (63 percent) and African Americans (61 percent) also expressed far greater support for legalization than did Asians (48 percent) or Latinos (36 percent).

Pollsters surveyed 1,703 Californians, including 1,429 registered voters. The PPIC poll possesses a margin of error of between 3.7 percent.

In recent months, polls in several other states — including Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma — have shown majority support for marijuana law reform, as have national polls.

Continued...

[Crow]

District of Columbia Looking To Legalise Marijuana

Today in Washington, DC, At Large City Councilman David Grosso (I) will introduce legislation before the District of Columbia City Council that seeks to eliminate all criminal and civil penalties for possessing small amounts of cannabis by adults over the age of 21, provide the DC Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration with the authority to license and regulate the production and taxable sale of cannabis, and to seal the criminal records for those previously charged with cannabis-related crimes.

The introduction of this legislation proceeds a summer of an ACLU report on the disproportionate number of minorities arrested in the highest in the country per capita cannabis arrest region, a DPA/MPP-funded survey of DC residents supporting legalizing cannabis at 60%, the introduction of a cannabis decriminalization bill by Councilman Tommy Wells (which ten of twelve council members have co-signed) and finally with the Department of Justice memo issued a few weeks ago allowing states greater policy making autonomy regarding developing tolerant and forward-looking cannabis policies at the state level.

Continued...

[Crow]

[Crow]

I'm glad to see Parrot's good humOr not compromised by the recent web attack.

[Premium Parrots]

[Crow]

A slight update since the damn SEA (Syrian Electronic Army) decided to take down this site (What? The New York Times, and the US Marines recruitment
website wasn't enough for you lot?)

I was going through SnusOn Withdrawal for almost a week, you bastards!

... and now back to our regularly scheduled programme:

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Feds Reaffirm That They Will Not Likely Challenge State Legalization Laws

Speaking today before the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Attorney General James Cole reaffirmed that the Justice Department is unlikely to challenge statewide marijuana legalization efforts, provided that these efforts impose “robust regulations” which discourage sales to minors and seek to prevent the diversion of cannabis to states that have not yet legalized its use.

“We will not … seek to preempt state ballot initiatives,” Cole told members of the Committee, adding that state “decriminalization [laws] can co-exist with federal [drug] laws.”

In an August 29 Department of Justice memorandum, Deputy Attorney General Cole previously directed the US Attorneys in all 50 states not to interfere with the implementation of state marijuana regulations, unless such activities specifically undermined eight explicit federal law enforcement priorities.

Continued...

[Crow]

Repost from another thread........... or did I post it in here to begin with..?

[Crow]

Going to be a lot of confused people with the munchies in the med!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...terranean.html

Meanwhile, there are bizarre reports coming in from the Mediterranean where the local birds are frantically trying to reach the heady plume of smoke...

[Skell18]

Going to be a lot of confused people with the munchies in the med!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...terranean.html

[Crow]