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Would Obama boost his re-election bid by backing weed?
Apparent public support for marijuana legalisation leads some to suggest Obama may adopt the cause in 2012. It's a pipe dream
The Guardian online (UK)
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The blogosphere has been abuzz in recent weeks over whether President Obama should legalize marijuana. Advocates argue that polls say a majority of Americans are in favor of allowing adults to be in possession of small amounts of marijuana. They further believe that coming out in favor of legalizing cannabis could result in more votes for Obama in the 2012 election. -
Chicago Mayor Emanuel backs marijuana decriminalization
Reuters
Friday, June 15, 2012
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he would back a proposal that would decriminalize possessing small amounts of marijuana, the latest major U.S. political figure to support diminished penalties for the drug's use. Under the proposed ordinance, to be voted on by the city council later this month, police officers in the nation's third-largest city would be able to issue a written violation for possession of 15 grams or less. This is a modified version of an ordinance proposed last fall by a group of Chicago aldermen, who said the measure would help raise revenue for the city, save money and free up police to pursue more serious crimes. -
Pure ecstasy can be 'safe' if consumed responsibly: B.C. health officer
Pure substance is not so 'ominous,' some say
The Canadian Press (Canada)
Thursday, June 14, 2012
B.C.'s top health official says taking pure ecstasy can be "safe" when consumed responsibly by adults, despite warnings by police in Alberta and British Columbia about the dangers of the street drug after a rash of deaths. Dr. Perry Kendall asserts the risks of MDMA — the pure substance originally synonymous with ecstasy — are overblown, and that its lethal dangers only arise when the man-made chemical is polluted by money-hungry gangs who cook it up. That's why the chief provincial health officer is suggesting the risks of black market MDMA could be mitigated, for example if it were legalized and potentially sold through licensed, government-run stores where the product is strictly regulated from assembly line to check-out. -
U.S. targets landlords in fight against medical pot
Federal prosecutors are targeting medical marijuana shops in California, seeking forfeiture of the properties in which they do business
Reuters
Thursday, June 14, 2012The authorities are pressuring landlords to shut down the shops or face possible loss of the real estate through the unconventional and low-key use of a civil statute designed primarily to seize the assets of drug-trafficking organizations. While some states have legalized medical marijuana businesses, the federal government does not recognize their authority to do so and has targeted the shops for violations of the 40-year-old Controlled Substances Act. The goal of the Justice Department's effort is to fight the medical marijuana industry, estimated at $1.7 billion annually, without confronting it head-on with costly and potentially embarrassing criminal prosecutions.
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10 Reasons to Revisit Marijuana Policy Now
Americans Increasingly Favor Legalization of Pot
Maia SzalavitzTime Magazine (US)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
For the first time ever, a solid majority of Americans supports legalizing marijuana for recreational use: 56%, according to the most recent Rasmussen poll. Support for legalization has been growing steadily since the 1990s; in 1994, just 25% were in favor. Culturally, marijuana's become hardly more than a punchline. But in reality, U.S. marijuana policy is no joke; it causes great harm, both directly and indirectly. Here are the 10 most important reasons our marijuana laws deserve serious reconsideration. -
Marijuana could be Barack Obama's secret weapon in this election
With support for legalisation polling at a record 50%, it may be time for the president to reassess his position on drugs policy
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Since his inauguration, drug policy reform advocates have tirelessly petitioned Barack Obama to have his "marijuana moment". And for good reason – during the 2008 presidential campaign Obama said that he would respect states' rights and cease federal prosecution of medical marijuana dispensaries. Four years later, those very states have seen more dispensary raids than they did under the entire Bush presidency. -
Ottawa drags out medical pot reform
The Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Tuesday, June 12, 2012The federal government's plan to revamp Canada's medical marijuana program and address court-raised constitutional concerns seems half-baked. The proposed changes ignore a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling and do little to properly address some of the most contentious issues. In particular, Ottawa intends to continue to permit only dried marijuana to be produced, sold and distributed to medical patients who will use a new document issued by doctors to buy pot from commercial producers. That decision flies in the face of Justice Robert Johnson's ruling in April that patients could make cannabis-infused oils, drink it in their tea or bake it into brownies and cookies, not just smoke it.
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Candidates in Mexico Signal a New Tack in the Drug War
The New York Times (US)
Sunday, June 10, 2012The top three contenders for Mexico’s presidency have all promised a major shift in the country’s drug war strategy, placing a higher priority on reducing the violence in Mexico than on using arrests and seizures to block the flow of drugs to the United States. The candidates, while vowing to continue to fight drug trafficking, say they intend to eventually withdraw the Mexican Army from the drug fight. They are concerned that it has proved unfit for police work and has contributed to the high death toll, which has exceeded 50,000 since the departing president, Felipe Calderón, made the military a cornerstone of his battle against drug traffickers more than five years ago.
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Marijuana Should Be Decriminalized
The loss of human potential for getting caught with a small amount of pot is enormous, and blacks disproportionately pay the price
TouréTime Magazine (US)
Thursday, June 7, 2012New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to change New York’s laws to decriminalize marijuana. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have rushed to agree. Cuomo’s proposed change is a repudiation of Bloomberg’s stop-and-frisk program, which has arrested more than 400,000 people for marijuana crimes — more than were arrested by the three prior Mayors combined — while still not denting marijuana use or availability in New York. It seems that Bloomberg’s previous tactic was doing little besides creating unwilling clients for the prison-industrial complex.
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Feds attack California's medical marijuana trade-again
Reuters
Thursday, June 7, 2012Federal authorities opened the latest front in their war on California's massive medical marijuana industry this week, filing property forfeiture lawsuits in a bid to shut down three dispensaries and sending warning letters to 34 people. The moves by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles are the latest in an ongoing crackdown on what federal prosecutors say is a flourishing network of illegal cannabis suppliers operating across California under the cover of the state's medical marijuana law.
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