Overwhelming, near 60% U.S. majority favors legal marijuana, new Gallup poll @NBCNews
"Clear majority favors legal marijuana, new Gallup poll shows - U.S. News: For the first time ever in a Gallup poll, an [overwhelming] majority of the country – 58 percent – say that pot should be legalized."
Heard it All Before? Holder promises to ease enforcement in states where pot is legal
When asked what this could mean in terms of dispensaries that have been targeted by the federal government and are currently embroiled in legal action, Reiman said,
“What it should mean is that dispensaries in California that are operating within the the confines of state law and their local law should not be subject to federal interference.”
Prohibition's Tipping Point: federal judge sees marijuana following same path as alcohol in the 1930's
BigThink: The Tipping Point
A string of high-profile legal events suggests that government institutions are beginning to bend to public opinion, which increasingly supports relaxing laws that categorically ban marijuana. Just this week, "Attorney General Eric Holder announced an initiative to curb mandatory minimum drug sentences and a federal judge called New York City's stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional." New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has strongly opposed legalization in the past, said he will make concessions on a new bill that favors medical marijuana.
Last week, a Gallup reported that almost four in ten Americans supported outright pot legalization. John Kane, a federal judge in Colorado, said he sees marijuana following the same path as alcohol in the 1930s. Toward the end of Prohibition, judges routinely dismissed violations or levied fines so trivial that prosecutors quit filing cases.
Stonehead Loser Gupta Pivots on Weed
We're VC's on Dope: How to Invest in Dope, er, the "Cannabis Space" @NYTimes
How to Invest in Dope:
Kennedy, 41, is the former chief operating officer of SVB Analytics, an offshoot of Silicon Valley Bank. Blue, 35, learned his trade at the investment-banking firm de Visscher & Co. in Greenwich, Conn. Two years ago they quit comfortable posts to form Privateer Holdings, a firm that operates on the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts model: they buy companies using other people’s money and try to increase their value. What sets them apart is the industry in which they invest. Privateer Holdings is the first private-equity firm to openly risk capital in the world of weed. Or as the Privateer partners prefer to call it, “the cannabis space” (@NYTimes).
Vermont Marijuana Decriminalization Signed Into Law, Reduces Penalties For Possession Up To An Ounce
Huffington Post:
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signed a bill on Thursday decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, will remove criminal penalties on possession of up to an ounce of cannabis and replace them with civil fines. “I applaud the Legislature’s action to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana," Shumlin said last month, announcing his support for the bill. "Vermonters support sensible drug policies. This legislation allows our courts and law enforcement to focus their limited resources more effectively to fight highly addictive opiates such as heroin and prescription drugs that are tearing apart families and communities." According to the new measure, first-time offenders will not get more than a $200 fine for possession. The fine will increase for repeat offenders. Under the law, marijuana possession will no longer result in the creation of a criminal record.
Have We Lost the War on Drugs? by @WSJ #tcot Stop this insane wasteful government #deficit #spending
Wall Street Journal:
"After more than four decades of a failed experiment, the human cost has become too high. It is time to consider the decriminalization of drug use and the drug market. President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs" in 1971. The expectation then was that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short time through federal policing—and yet the war on drugs continues to this day. Total current spending is estimated at over $40 billion a year."
Stigma Fading, Marijuana Common
New York Times:
“It’s shocking, from my perspective, the number of people that we all know who are recreational marijuana users,” said Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor. “These are incredibly upstanding citizens: Leaders in our community, and exceptional people. Increasingly, people are willing to share how they use it and not be ashamed of it.”
Google This: The War On Drugs Has Failed
Via Big Think:
"Consider the example of Baltimore, one of the cities mentioned in Jarecki’s film, thanks to the participation of "The Wire" creator David Simon, himself a veteran of the War on Drugs. After years on the Baltimore drug beat, Simon found that all of the tactics used so far – such as Three Strikes and You’re Out and minimum sentencing laws – lead to only one outcome: an all-out war on our city’s poorest communities and the demonization of individuals from lower-income brackets. As Simon pointed out in an interview with NPR earlier this year:" "We are the jailingest country on the planet, beyond Saudi Arabia, North Korea and China. Nobody jails the population like we do. And yet, drugs are pure than ever before. They're more available. There are younger and younger kids willing to sell them. It'd be one thing if it's draconian and it worked. But it's draconian, and it doesn't work, and it just leads to war" (BigThink).
“It goes in the category of parking tickets; not even a petty offense" - Criminal Court Judge Bolan
Rahm says pot plan isn’t ‘decriminalization’ — ex-federal drug czar disagrees - Chicago Sun-Times
Former Criminal Court Judge Michael Bolan said he used to have to waste too much time and resources on cases involving small amounts of drugs and the cases often were tossed. “This is an absolute waste of our taxpayers’ money: You criminalize a whole segment of our society unnecessarily, same as at the turn of the century for alcohol,” Bolan said. “It goes in the category of parking tickets. It’s quasi-criminal. This is not even a petty offense. He doesn’t want that word [decriminalize] attached to it. He’s looking to save money and make money.”
G.O.P. Senators in New York Oppose Cuomo’s Marijuana Plan
Senator Dean G. Skelos, who is the majority leader, suggested that the proposal, which would reduce the open possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana to a violation from a misdemeanor, was overly broad and would effectively condone the practice of carrying around marijuana.Acts 9:3-6 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Hence, thou shalt obey the Lord your God and immediately cease arresting His people for communing with Him, opening their hearts, minds, and souls to His Spirit, His Word, and His Way through His herb yielding seed.
NYC to Chill out on Under 25 Grams. After hypocrisy of Oaksterdam raids, will believe it when we see it.
Bloomberg Backs Plan to Limit Arrests for Marijuana - NYTimes.com
The New York Police Department, the mayor and the city’s top prosecutors on Monday endorsed a proposal to decriminalize the open possession of small amounts of marijuana, giving an unexpected lift to an effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to cut down on the number of people arrested as a result of police stops.
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