Category Archives: Legislation
Poll Reveals 62% of California Voters Want Marijuana Regulated Like Wine
A recent poll reveals that California voters, by a 62% to 35% margin, with 3% unsure, support a ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like wine. The statewide poll, by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, Inc. surveyed 800 likely voters … Continue reading
Posted in Legislation, NEWS UPDATES, Polling Data, RMLW-2012
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FEDs sued by Local California Lawmakers
The lawsuits were filed Friday and Monday against U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, Drug Enforcement Administration head Michele Leonhart and each of the four federal prosecutors, including U.S. Atty. Andre Birotte Jr. in Los Angeles. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for Birotte and the Justice Department, said he could not comment on the lawsuits.
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Posted in BLOG, Federal Crackdown, Legislation, NEWS UPDATES, Opt-OUT Fed War on Drugs
Tagged Blog, FEDS, FEDS Federal Crackdown, Matt Kumin, Post
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OpEd: OC Register: FED Crackdown on Medical Marijuana puzzling, wrong
"We saw this coming," Steve Kubby told us of the tougher stance by the Obama Justice Department.
Mr. Kubby was a co-author of Prop. 215, and has used medical marijuana for more than 25 years to keep in remission an otherwise fatal form of adrenal cancer.
Mr. Kubby disputes a 2005 Supreme Court decision, Gonzales vs. Raich, green-lighting a federal ban on medical marijuana on the basis of the Constitution's interstate commerce clause.
He cites the 10th Amendment, which stipulates, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Given that medical marijuana is not mentioned in the Constitution, therefore, its regulation by the states is permitted, he contends. Continue reading
GOP Presidential Candidate Blasts FEDs CA Dispensary Crackdown
Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson issued the following statement:
"DOJ and the Administration have better things to do than mount an assault on medical marijuana dispensaries in California that are legal under state law.
"Regardless of one’s view of medical marijuana, Americans who believe in states’ rights should be extremely disturbed that the federal government is in the process of shutting down businesses, threatening criminal charges and confiscating the property of small businesses operating under good faith according to state law...
"It’s time for the Feds to just admit that their law is just wrong, and let the states decide for themselves how they want to handle the issue of medical marijuana." Continue reading
OpEd: Appeal Democrat Echos OC Register’s Report | FEDs Crackdown Against 10th Amendment Rights??
in light of the Obama administration's crackdown, the next step in California is to pass an initiative in which the state "opts out of the Controlled Substances Act," the federal law under which the government is acting, effectively legalizing marijuana. He is working on the initiative with attorney Bill McPike and retired Orange County judge Jim Gray.
We mentioned this strategy to Mr. Miron. He said the Supreme Court might have to settle whether a state could opt out of the Controlled Substances Act. Under the initiative, marijuana would be regulated like wine. It would not be complete legalization, as would have happened under Proposition 19, which state voters narrowly defeated last November. Continue reading
Posted in 10th Amendment, AB1300, BLOG, Community Submitted News, Current Thinking, Federal Crackdown, Legislation, Medical Marijuana Program, NEWS UPDATES, Opt-OUT Fed War on Drugs, RMLW-2012
Tagged Auburn California, Bill McPike, Blog, Bush, Cato Institute, controlled Substance Act, Economics of Illegal Drugs, Federal Over-reach, Jeffrey A Miron, Obama, Opt-Out CSA, Post, Steve Kubby
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BREAKING NEWS LINKS: CA Atty Gen Asks FEDS for Restraint on MMJ
CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KAMALA HARRIS - Federal prosecutors should be careful not to overreach in their crackdown on California's pot dispensaries, even though there are ambiguities in the state's medical marijuana laws, the state attorney general said Thursday. Continue reading
KPBS Reports: FEDs Crack-Down on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries | Copy of Duffy’s Letter
Download PDF of Duffy Letter HERE | U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy in San Diego has sent a letter to a dozen local pot dispensaries ordering them to shut down. Meanwhile, San Diego's city attorney has ordered nine of those medical-pot shops to close their doors because they're within 600 feet of schools, a violation of California guidelines. Continue reading
Posted in BLOG, CA Legislation, Collectives, Community Submitted News, Federal Crackdown, Medical Marijuana Program, RMLW-2012, San Diego, Support
Tagged Blog, Cannabis, Collective, DOJ, KPBS Radio, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, News Updates, Peggy Pico, Post, radio, Unlawful Activities
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US Attorney Duffy Says Marijuana Ads Illegal – Not Intent of Prop215
“The good intentions behind that law,” she said, “have almost completely been taken over by people who are trying to use that permission law to get rich, to distribute marijuana and traffic drugs to people who aren’t sick, to our youth and to people who are using drugs on a recreational basis.” US Attorney Laura E Duffy. Continue reading
Posted in BLOG, CA Legislation, Community Submitted News, Federal Crackdown, Legislation, NEWS UPDATES, UPDATES, US legislation
Tagged Alternative News, Bakersfield, Duffy, Jeff vonKaenel, Lauren Horwood, Magazines, Ngaio Bealum, Online Media, Regulate Marijuana, West Coast Cannabis, William G Panzer
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FEDS Focus on Unlawful Manufacturing and Distribution of Pot
While the (Justice) Department does not focus its limited resources on seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment regimen in compliance with state law as stated in the October 2009 Ogden Memorandum, we will enforce the CSA (Controlled Substances Act) vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law. Continue reading
Posted in BLOG, From Kubby, Legislation, NEWS UPDATES, US legislation
Tagged Blog, DOJ, Endorsements, Manufacturing, Post, Regulate Marijuana, Unlawful Activities
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OCT 2011 | DOJ Marijuana Enforcement Actions In The Eastern District Of California
In recent months, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California, together with its federal, state and local law enforcement partners, has taken a wide range of actions to enforce federal law prohibiting the cultivation and distribution of marijuana. These actions, many of which are detailed here, include bringing criminal charges against those responsible for growing marijuana and distributing in our district, searching grow and distribution locations, bringing forfeiture complaints against the properties involved, seizing proceeds of marijuana businesses, and sending notice letters to owners of properties where marijuana is being grown or sold.
As to each of the cases described in the publicly posted release, the charges brought are only allegations, and the individuals involved are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Continue reading
SCALIA: Federal Drugs Law a MISTAKE
“It was a great mistake to put routine drug offenses into the federal courts,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
This isn’t a new problem. Chief Justice William Rehnquist complained as far back as 1989 that the war on drugs was overwhelming the federal judiciary. In 1995, Kathleen F. Brickley, an academic, found that “the Federal system is strained to capacity due, in large part, to the government’s war on drugs.” Continue reading