Drug War Chronicle, Issue #862 -- 11/28/14 - Table of Contents with URL plus lead article

[Bobbie Sellers]

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #862 -- 11/28/14
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psm...@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/862

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, bor...@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. THE MARCH TOWARD MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: 2016 AND BEYOND [FEATURE]
Four states and DC have now legalized marijuana. More are lining up to
join the club in 2016, while in others, the plans are more long-term.
Here's an overview.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/25/march_toward_marijuana_legalization


2. CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: MEXICO ON THE BRINK
Journalist and Mexico resident has Robert Joe Stout has written a new
book about the "landmines" facing Mexico, including the drug war and
official corruption. It couldn't be more timely.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/20/chronicle_book_review_mexico_bri


3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Help for veterans could be on the way, plans for 2016 initiatives are
getting underway, Arizona doctors win a court case, existing programs in
the Northeast expand, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/26/med_marijuana_update

4. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
More jail guards with contraband issues, another cop with a serious pill
problem. It never ends.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/26/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

5. CHRONICLE AM: USA TODAY SLAMS ASSET FORFEITURE, NY TIMES ON AFT DRUG
STASH HOUSE STINGS, MORE (11/20/14)
A new Maine legalization group lays out its vision, take your medical
marijuana card when you go to Nevada next year, asset forfeiture gets
ripped by USA Today, the New York Times takes a look at a questionable
law enforcement practice, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/20/chronicle_am_usa_today_slams_forfeiture


6. CHRONICLE AM: FEDERAL VA MEDMJ BILL, CRS REPORT ON FEDERAL POT TAX,
SWISS CANNABIS CLUBS, MORE (11/21/2014)
Some Alaska officials are proving recalcitrant when it comes to legal
marijuana, there could be a Senate hearing on pot legalization with DC
in the cross hairs, congressional researchers release a report on a
federal pot excise tax, asset forfeiture could play a role in hearings
for the new attorney general nominee, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/21/chronicle_am_federal_va_medmj_bi


7. CHRONICLE AM: US AGENTS ON MEXICO DRUG RAIDS, NEW FEDERAL CASH
SEIZURE GUIDANCE, NEW PAIN PILL, MORE (11/24/14)
Some House Republicans still want to mess with DC legalization, a key
Washington state solon is planning a bill that would fold medical
marijuana into the legal regulation system, federal officials issue a
new code of conduct for highway asset seizures, US Marshals are
reportedly going on drug raids in Mexico, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/24/chronicle_am_us_agents_mexico_dr


8. CHRONICLE AM: DC POT BILL MOVES, SEATTLE MEDMJ PLAN, BC PRESCRIPTION
HEROIN, MALTA DRUG DECRIM, MORE (11/25/14)
A marijuana tax and regulate bill advances in DC, a legalization bill
gets filed in Georgia, Seattle's mayor has a plan to regulate medical
marijuana, prescription heroin is coming to Vancouver, Malta is ready to
decriminalize drug possession, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/25/chronicle_am_dc_pot_bill_moves_s


9. CHRONICLE AM: BAD COPS IN CO, CT MEDMJ, VA DECRIM BILL, WA DRUG
DEFELONIZATION BILL, MORE (11/26/14)
We have a couple of disturbing Colorado police stories, a marijuana
decrim bill will be filed in Virginia, and a drug decrim one in
Washington state, Connecticut patients seek to expand the list of
conditions, Florida will try again on medical marijuana, and more.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/26/chronicle_am_bad_cops_co_ct_medm


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================

1. THE MARCH TOWARD MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION: 2016 AND BEYOND [FEATURE]
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/nov/25/march_toward_marijuana_legalization


State-level marijuana law reform won big in this month's elections, with
legalization initiatives triumphing convincingly in Alaska, Oregon, and
Washington, DC. The Florida medical marijuana initiative lost, but only
because it had a higher bar of 60% of the popular vote. It ended up with
57%, a clear sign of solid majority support. And don't forget Guam --
the US territory approved medical marijuana with 56% of the vote.

Local marijuana reform initiatives also fared well. In Maine,
Massachusetts, and Michigan, activists built on earlier successes to win
more victories this year, while in New Mexico, voters in Albuquerque and
Santa Fe voted in favor of decriminalizing pot possession.

All in all, a good year for marijuana law reform, the second good
election year in a row. Since 2012, voters in four states and DC have
been asked to legalize marijuana. They've now said yes in all of them.

And now, eyes to turn to 2016 and beyond. There are excellent prospects
for more victories in the West, as well as in the Northeast. And there
could be some surprises lurking out there in the middle of the country.

California, of course, is the big prize, and efforts are already well
underway to ensure that legalization is on the ballot in 2016 -- and
that it actually wins this time. Arizona and Nevada are also on the
radar, and the Nevada initiative campaign has already turned in twice
the number of signatures needed to make the 2016 ballot.

In the Northeast, both Maine and Massachusetts are initiative states,
and legalization appears headed for the ballot in both. In Rhode Island
and Vermont, the push will come in the state legislatures.

"Things are clearly headed in the right direction," said Marijuana
Policy Project (http://www.mpp.org) (MPP) communications director Mason
Tvert, scanning the post-election terrain. "Even in a midterm where we
saw large Republican gains, we also saw large gains for marijuana policy
reform. A lot of people would say the turnout was smaller and more
conservative, yet we still saw strong majorities approving measures
making marijuana legal in various states and cities."

MPP will be backing 2016 initiatives in five states, Tvert said,
although the Nevada legislature could ease its burden by just approving
an initiative rather than punting to the voters.

"In Nevada, the petition drive has just wrapped up. At this point, our
goal there is to pass the ballot initiative
(http://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=3294); if the
legislature chooses to take an objective look and give it some real
consideration, that would be excellent, too," he said.

"We also have committees filed to support initiatives in Arizona,
California, Maine, and Massachusetts," Tvert said. "In California, we
want to begin to raise money to support that effort, but it's pretty
early in the process. We expect to see very solid support for such a
measure in California, especially running in a presidential election
year when support for legalizing marijuana has been growing nationwide.
Prop 19 got 47% in 2010; that will be six years ago come 2016."

"We have a pretty comprehensive statewide coalition working on this,"
said Dale Gieringer, executive director of California NORML
(http://www.canorml.org), which is a key part of that grouping, the
California Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform
(http://www.cannabispolicyreform.org). "The coalition includes us, the
Prop 19 people, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(http://www.leap.cc), MPP, the Emerald Growers Association
(http://www.emeraldgrowers.org), and the Drug Policy Alliance
(http://www.emeraldgrowers.org) (DPA) has been a partner in this, too."

A little less than two years out, it's a work in progress, said Gieringer.

"Pretty much all the leading groups interested in drug reform are
interested in collaborating, but exactly how that will work hasn't been
settled yet," he said.

Now that four states and the District of Columbia have legalized
marijuana, Gieringer sees some political space for pushing the envelope.

"Home cultivation will be in it," he said. "They have that in Oregon and
Colorado, and we're going to have it in California. I also want to
provide for on-site consumption; we're working to get that instituted
here in Oakland. In Colorado, they banned public use, which is one thing
if you mean smoking pot on the street, but governments tend to have an
expansive view of what constitutes public use, like a public
accommodation under the Civil Rights Act. I think we can provide for
licensed on-site consumption, at least by local option."

And no reason to make what he called "unnecessary concessions."

"We have a DUID law, and we don't need to change that," he said. "They
didn't do that in Colorado and Oregon, and we don't need to do it. We
learned a lesson in Washington -- that lack of an express DUID provision
didn't make a difference -- and we're not going to repeat that."

Although more than any other group in the coalition, CANORML represents
the interests of marijuana consumers, Gieringer said it's not pot
smokers or growers who are going to make an initiative victorious.

"Marijuana users are 12% to 15% of the population here; we really have
to depend on more than that," he said. "The users and growers will not
determine this campaign. And I'm sure there will be people discontented
with however the initiative turns out; there always are. But there
aren't that many growers in the state, anyhow. Some growers didn't like
Prop 19, but it failed for other reasons. It didn't win in Los Angeles
County, and that's not because of the growers."

In some states, such as Massachusetts, activists have been piling up
marijuana reform victories for years. MassCANN/NORML
(http://masscann.org) and the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts
(http://www.dpfma.org) have an unbroken record of winning non-binding
public policy questions on marijuana reform issues going back seven
election cycles. Voters in the Bay State have also signaled their
approval of marijuana law reform by passing statewide medical marijuana
(2008) and decriminalization initiatives (2012).

Now, Bay State Repeal (http://baystaterepeal.org) has formed to free the
weed in 2016, and it has a pot populist tinge to it. The group wants
home cultivation, not just to keep prices down, but "to keep the cops
from busting through the door just because there is marijuana growing
there" and it wants taxation and regulation, but only "moderate," not
"cash-cow taxation or giant licensing fees."

In Maine, where MPP has been active, putting successful municipal
legalization initiatives on the ballot in Portland and South Portland
(but losing one in Lewiston), there could be not one but two
legalization initiatives unless differing actors come together. In
addition to the MPP effort, a new group, Legalize Maine
(http://legalizemaine.net/about), is also moving forward with plans for
an initiative.

As with Bay State Repeal, there is a pot populist tinge. Legalize Maine
couches its argument not only in terms of justice and common sense, but
also talks about jobs and economic development. And it wants marijuana
regulated in a way that "focuses on people instead of large economic
interests that seeks to dominate the marijuana industry."

Legalization could also pop up in some unexpected places, too. While the
major movement organizations already have selected targets for 2016 and
have plans well afoot, things could break faster than the big players
anticipate, and local activists in some states -- Arkansas and Missouri,
for example -- may manage to get initiatives on the ballot without
significant outside support.

In Missouri, Show Me Cannabis (http://show-mecannabis.com) has been
undertaking a vigorous and energetic campaign to put an initiative on
the ballot in 2016. It submitted its initiative to state officials
earlier this month; the first step in getting the measure before the
voters. Similar efforts by different groups are also underway next door
in Arkansas.

Those Ozark-area efforts don't have the backing of big national
organization behind them, but that could change.

"If these initiatives are well-drafted and the polling is strong, we'll
help as best we can, but we're not making any financial commitments,"
said DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann. "We have a major commitment
in California, and we're helping MPP draft initiatives in other states.
In Missouri, let's make sure there's a solid draft initiative, and if
the polling is there, well, a victory in Missouri would be very
compelling."

Seeing marijuana legalization creep along the West Coast, make inroads
on the East Coast, and maybe even in the Ozarks would make for a very
impressive 2016, but some Midwestern activists are looking further down
the road.

Led by indefatigable Tim Beck, Michigan activists have managed to pass
municipal personal legalization initiatives in all the state's largest
cities in the past few years. This year, they went eight for 13 with
similar initiatives in smaller Michigan communities.

Michigan voters also approved marijuana in a statewide initiative in
2008, but, for Beck, getting the state's dispensary situation settled --
not legalization -- is the first order of business.

"Although the state legislature is totally controlled by the GOP, we've
been working with them, and they've kind of seen the light on a
regulated system with a lot of local control, which is big with
Republicans," he said. "We have one of the best medical marijuana laws
in the country, and it's going to get better with a regulated dispensary
system, as well as ingestibles. We won 95-14 in the House, and it's
going through the Senate now," he said.

"We have over 1.5 million people now living in cities that have
decriminalized," Beck said. "And we liberated 140,000 this year -- on
the cheap. This has an impact. When we have dispensaries and when we
have decriminalization, local officials won't be able to say 'Oh, we
don't want marijuana here,' because the voters do."

Legalization may not be the first order of business, but it is the
ultimate goal, Beck said.

"My philosophy has never been that the solution is medical, but
straight-out, unadorned legalization, but we're -having to do it on our
own," he explained. "Michigan is fly-over country for the big players.
It's a large state with a population of more than 10 million, so it's
expensive to win a campaign, and it's a bit more conservative than the
East or West coasts."

That means Michigan needs to be patient.

"Our realistic priority for the next couple of years is to work with the
legislature," Beck said. "We have a new class of entrepreneurs who have
come out of the closet, and we've been able to fund our own lobbyist to
the tune of about $150,000. Once we get dispensaries, then we'll turn to
decriminalization at the statehouse. We had a decriminalization bill
this year, but it was introduced by a Democrat and went nowhere."

Beck is also waiting for the opinion polls to move further in the right
direction.

"There's a weird dichotomy in our polling," the veteran activist
explained. "We get well over 60% saying yes to reallocating police
resources away from small-time marijuana users, but when it comes to
legalization, that number drops dramatically. We might be at 50%; we'll
do another poll at year's end, but I don't think much will change. It's
hard to demand that anyone open their checkbook when you're only running
50%. We have to just keep going on an incremental basis. Maybe by 2018
or 2020, we'll be ready."

While Beck counsels patience, Nadelmann is counseling prudence. And
while he is of course happy that all the legalization initiatives
passed, he doesn't want people to think it's going to be a walk in the
park from here on in.

"The downside is a sense of overconfidence, a feeling that marijuana
will legalize itself," he said. "That could make it more difficult to
fundraise if there's a sense that you can put anything on the ballot and
not anticipate serious opposition. There could be a sense in the
industry that you can be free riders while the activists raise the money."

There are other potential pitfalls. Entrepreneurs trying to push the
envelope could push too far, Nadelmann said.

"Don't forget the Montana disaster," he warned, referring the wide open
medical marijuana expansion there that created a backlash that drove the
industry back into the ground. "Don't be short-sighted and greedy, and
contribute and support the organizations working on this."

And don't forget federal pot prohibition.

It's one thing for a handful of states -- or even more -- to legalize
marijuana, but as long as federal marijuana prohibition remains on the
books, even the legal marijuana states could theoretically face a
concerted federal effort to roll back the clock. Using federal marijuana
prohibition as a hammer, a hostile Congress and president could wreak
havoc with state-level regulation and taxation. (Ironically, a move to
do that could result in marijuana being legal to smoke and possess in
those states, but not to sell or be taxed or regulated.)

But if repealing federal pot prohibition is the Holy Grail, reformers
still have a ways to go.

"A lot more states are going to have to approve this before it gets to
the point where repeal can pass," said Nadelmann. "When you look at
medical marijuana and how slowly that moves on Capitol Hill, you see
that it wasn't until this year that we actually got something passed,
and that was just to stop federal interference in medical marijuana
states. I'm more optimistic about winning votes like that next year, to
get the federal government out of the way."

Congress has not been especially responsive to growing support for
marijuana legalization, and there's no reason to expect that to change
anytime soon, Nadelmann said.

"It's hard to imagine Congress playing any sort of leadership role on
this stuff," he explained.

Maybe when we have 24 legal marijuana states, not just four of them.
That means there's still plenty of work to be done at the state house
and the ballot box.

================ ...


___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out
why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.