420 Policies and Laws

[Crow]

Seattle cops to deal Doritos and information at Hempfest

Seattle police will be handing out bags of Doritos at Hempfest on Saturday. They’ll also be busting people who break the state’s new pot law.



They’re calling it “Operation Orange Fingers.” Really.

Seattle police will hand out bags of Doritos at Hempfest on Saturday.

Police department spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb confirmed the unusual duty, saying he and other officers will distribute one-ounce bags of nacho-cheese chips with educational information affixed to them about the state’s new legal pot law.

The bags also will contain a label with a link to the department’s “Marijwhatnow” FAQ, which explains that, yes, adults are now allowed to possess up to an ounce of weed, and that, no, you can’t get back the pot that cops might have seized before voters legalized recreational weed in last November’s election.

“A lot of people still have questions about the nuances of the law and 2013 is a year very much in transition for people who enjoy pot,” Whitcomb said.

Police are having some fun with the assignment.

“Please ignore maliciously false reports that we’re giving out Bugles at @seattlehempfest. We would never, ever do that,” the department tweeted Wednesday.

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[Crow]

State to postpone final rules for recreational pot

The Washington state Liquor Control Board staff is recommending that rules for a legal recreational pot system be postponed while they take additional time to consider public feedback.

Final rules were scheduled to be issued Wednesday by the agency, after approval by the three appointed board members. Agency spokesman Brian Smith said board members have indicated they’re agreeable to the delay.

“What we’re hearing is that no one is telling us to hurry up,” Smith said of public feedback.

The delay would still allow the board to meet its required deadline of having rules in place by Dec. 1. It would push back licensing of new pot merchants by about two months.

Pot entrepreneur John Davis said he and others want more clarity in the rules for retail store locations, especially around how to measure the 1,000-foot buffer between pot stores and venues, such as parks, frequented by youth. “It’s better to be good than quick,” Davis said of the delay.

Philip Dawdy, representing the Washington Cannabis Association, agreed, noting that the scarcity of potential store locations in Seattle and Tacoma were likely a concern for the legal system, which aims to undercut the black market and collect millions in tax revenues from state-sanctioned pot. ”Ultimately I think we’ll end up with a better quality product,” Dawdy said.

Alison Holcomb, primary author of the law, said the liquor board’s careful approach to rules is consistent with their actions to date.

Clarifying definitions, identifying the number and locations of retail stores, and limiting how much pot a licensee can have – called for by the new law — are some of the main revisions the board is looking at, Smith said.

Holcomb, criminal justice director for the ACLU of Washington, has urged the board to set caps that create different tiers — small, medium and large — for licensees. Holcomb says such caps would allow smaller operations. Without such caps, her concern is that economic forces would tend to favor large operations.

The state agency issued proposed rules July 3. It then took written public comments and held hearings last week around the state.

The revised schedule calls for the staff to come back to the board on Sept. 4 with a new round of rules. If accepted, the board will begin a six-week period of collecting more public input.

It would then vote to adopt the revised rules on Oct. 16 and they would become effective Nov. 16. The board would take license applications for 30 days, starting Nov. 18.

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[Skell18]

Probably, it never ceases to amaze me how many Baby Boomers here "tried it"........ tried it hell, we created an industry!

Its popularity is probably down to the boomers, still wanting to get high.

[Burnsey]

I think he just wants to get high

Probably, it never ceases to amaze me how many Baby Boomers here "tried it"........ tried it hell, we created an industry!

[Crow]

NORML Guest Column On CNN’s Frontpage

(CNN) – Despite decades of propaganda from marijuana prohibitionists, a majority of the American public has indeed said “enough” to the policies of cannabis criminalization. And no amount of fear-mongering is going to change this fact.

Writing in a just-published report by the Brookings Institute, ”The New Politics of Legalization,” authors E.J. Dionne and William Galston conclude, “In less than a decade, public opinion has shifted dramatically toward support for the legalization of marijuana. … Demographic change and widespread public experience using marijuana imply that opposition to legalization will never again return to the levels seen in the 1980s. The strong consensus that formed the foundation for many of today’s stringent marijuana laws has crumbled.”

Read the rest of the essay here.

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[Skell18]

I think he just wants to get high

[Crow]

[sirloot]

Erin Burnett talks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about him changing his mind on medical marijuana.

http://www.rr.com/video.Bi9ddQXX_IoH...L4gknpWQzKvpF8

[Crow]

Marijuana Prohibition Responsible for Death of 2-Year-Old Girl

by Sabrina Fendrick, Director of Women's Outreach (NORML)



"Marijuana prohibition has taken yet another innocent life. In January 2013, two- year-old Alexandra Hill was taken from her home in Round Rock, Texas because her parents had admitted to smoking pot after their child had gone to bed. As a result, she was placed with an abusive foster mother, who subsequently beat her to death.

According to her father, Joshua Hill, who spoke with KVUE, a local ABC affiliate, “She would come to visitation with bruises on her, and mold and mildew in her bag. It got to a point where [he] actually told CPS that they would have to have [him] arrested because [he] wouldn’t let her go back.” A few days later, the Hill family got a call informing them that their daughter was in a coma, and they needed to get to the hospital right away. Two days after that, Alex was taken off life support. Up until she was snatched from her family in January, the 2 year old had never been sick or gone to the hospital.

“When a parent who responsibly consumes marijuana after hours is seen as neglectful in comparison to a parent who responsibly enjoys a glass of wine, then the system isn’t just broken, it’s deadly,” said Sabrina Fendrick, Director of Women’s Outreach at NORML. Little Alex’s fate was sealed the minute the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) determined that such behavior qualifies as “neglectful supervision,” and put her with a foster mother who had not been given a proper background check."

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[Burnsey]

Absolutely... Now, I know that psychological dependency will be brought up (as it should); but how exactly will that be addressed? In-depth? Or just off-the-cuff?

It will be interesting to see how it is all presented.. Thanks for the link!

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/vi...juana.cnn.html

From last night: Dependency/addiction is the point that Samuels tries to make, he is confusing.

[Crow]

With Liberalized Laws, Young Adult Marijuana Use Plummets

"According to polling data released this week by Gallup, 38% of Americans admit to having smoked marijuana in their lives. This rate remains relatively unchanged from Gallup’s previous surveys on this question. 34% responded in the affirmative when asked in 1999 and 33% in 1985.

What is significant about this data is that, while total use had risen very slightly, use among 18-29 year olds has fallen 20% since 1985. In 1985, 56% of 18-29 year olds admitted to having tried marijuana, which dropped to 46% in 1999 and is now down to 36%. This decrease has occurred while twenty states approved medical marijuana legislation, sixteen states have decriminalized possession, and two states have fully legalized marijuana. The threats of skyrocketing young adult use seem incredibly unfounded when it appears the current trajectory towards marijuana legalization has had the opposite effect."

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[Crow]

Absolutely... Now, I know that psychological dependency will be brought up (as it should); but how exactly will that be addressed? In-depth? Or just off-the-cuff?

It will be interesting to see how it is all presented.. Thanks for the link!

[Burnsey]

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/20...11-at-8-pm-et/

Weed, should be a good medical perspective.

[Lambo-fan727]

Epic thread.

[Crow]

..... and a follow-up with respect to Uruguay --

Uruguay votes to legalise marijuana