As opposed to say, Xanax? Gotta be better for you, right? Eat a rice krispie treat or brownie and sleep like a baby...
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I'm curious - what's everyone's opinions on edibles?
As opposed to say, Xanax? Gotta be better for you, right? Eat a rice krispie treat or brownie and sleep like a baby...
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Meanwhile, in bass ackwards dirty vegina they're busting weed dealers like mad! Grrrr......Leave a comment:
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Maryland Senate Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession
By Thomas H. Clarke on March 19, 2013
ANNAPOLIS, MD — The Maryland Senate voted 30-16 on Tuesday on a bill that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill will now be considered by the House of Delegates.
If passed, Senate Bill 297, would make the penalties for possession of less than ten grams of marijuana (approximately one-third of an ounce) a civil offense punishable by up to a $100 fine with no time in jail.
Currently, possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana in Maryland is punishable by a fine of up to $500 and 90 days in jail.
The bill was approved for passage by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee earlier this month after passing the first reading in the Senate, and passed a second reading in the Senate last week.
“We don’t want to wrap people up in the criminal jail system for this,” the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D- Baltimore County), said at last week’s hearing, where the bill met little resistance or opposition.
The bill now proceeds to the House, where it has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee. If it successfully passes out of committee, it would be sent a House floor vote before being sent to Gov. Martin O’Malley (D).
The House of Delagates, meanwhile, is hearing testimony today on a bill that would legalize the possession of marijuana by adults 21 or older, and establish a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed like alcohol. The bill would remove all penalties for private possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up to three plants.
Maryland lawmakers are also considering three separate medical marijuana bills, which received hearings at the earlier this month.
During hearing on the medical marijuana bills, Maryland Health Secretary Joshua Sharfstein told lawmakers thatGov. Martin O’Malley’s administration supports passing medical marijuana legislation, a reversal in position from last year, when medical marijuana bills were defeated in the General Assembly.
A Democratic stronghold, Maryland has legalized same-sex marriage and abolished the death penalty. Marijuana law reform, at some level, is not far behind.
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Bill Ending Marijuana Prohibition in Oregon Scheduled for a Hearing
by Anthony Johnson • March 19, 2013
We recently broke the story that a bill to legalize cannabis had been introduced in the Oregon Legislature and some mainstream media outlets are now picking up the story as the bill has been scheduled for a hearing before the Oregon House Judiciary Committee. We here at NCC helped craft this bill, along with both Oregon grassroots and national activists. I am the director of a new PAC established to help promote this bill during the 2013 Oregon legislative session. If Oregon legislators won’t pass a bill this session, we will transition to a legislative referral for 2014. If the legislators ultimately fail to act, then we are preparing for a possible initiative petition drive to place the measure before Oregon voters in November of 2014.
From The Oregonian:
State lawmakers scrounging for money for schools, mental health and public safety could find the solution to their funding woes to be green.
No, not more cold, hard cash, but pot. Legalize it and tax it. That’s the plan under House Bill 3371, which is scheduled for an April 2 public hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.
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“Soon, we may have our neighbor to the north collecting tax revenue from Oregon residents, when Oregon should be collecting that revenue,” said Anthony Johnson, director of New Approach Oregon, a new political action committee formed by a coalition of groups seeking legalization of marijuana and hemp in Oregon. “Marijuana is safer than alcohol, and it makes sense to regulate it like alcohol.”
House Bill 3371, as currently written, would allow adults over 21 to grow up to 6 mature cannabis plants and posses up to 24 ounces, the current limits imposed upon Oregon medical marijuana cardholders. Only sales regulated by the state will be allowed as the bill establishes the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) as the government agency tasked with regulating commercial producers, processors and retailers. A $35 tax on each ounce will be imposed, providing the state with millions of dollars of additional revenue. Forty percent of the revenue raised will go towards schools, 20% to public safety, 20% to mental health services and 20% towards the state’s General Fund. The bill doesn’t impact the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), driving under the influence laws or employer/employee relations. The bill will also fully legalize hemp production in Oregon as it removes federal interference as a reason for the state Department of Agriculture from issuing hemp production licenses.
The Oregonian Editorial Board has already called upon the Oregon Legislature to enact a common-sense legalization measure and House Bill 3371 provides legislators that very opportunity. Cannabis legalization is inevitable. Every arrest, prosecution and jail sentence is such a tragic waste, as is every violent crime that could be prevented if our law enforcement resources were better prioritized. Workers remain unemployed, revenue goes uncollected and our schools are underfunded, but House Bill 3371 can help. Let’s hope that the Oregon Legislature will do what is best for their constituents and join Washington and Colorado in ending the harmful policy of cannabis prohibition.Leave a comment:
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Marijuana Improves Mental Sharpness In Middle-Aged Men: Study
By Steve Elliott On March 17, 2013 at 11:07 am
Not only does smoking marijuana not “burn you out,” but it’s downright good for your brain. It actually appears to improve cognitive functioning among middle-aged men, according to a 2011 medical study.
Researchers looked at a large sample of 8,992 men who “used drugs,” mostly cannabis, at age 42 and then again at age 50, reported Dennis Romero at LA Weekly. The men were tested to measure their level of brain functioning.
Surprise, surprise — the Brits who had used illegal drugs did just as well — or slightly better! — than the chaps who had never “used drugs” at all.
When current and past drug users were lumped together as one group, their scores tended to be better than those of non-users. That advantage was small, researchers said, and might be due to the fact that people who have tried drugs tend to be better educated than those who haven’t.
“A positive association was observed between ever (past or current) illicit drug use and cognitive functioning,” the study’s authors concluded in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Marijuana was by far the most commonly used substance among participants of the study — performed by Alex Dregan of King’s College London, reported Amy Norton at Reuters.
”At the population level, it does not appear that current illicit drug use is associated with impaired cognitive functioning in early middle age,” an abstract of the study concludes.
Other drugs that were asked about included amphetamines, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine and ecstasy, but only three to eight percent of study participants said they’d ever tried those.
A small subset of participants who claimed they had been treated for their drug use — which could suggest heavy or addicted drug use, or perhaps harder drugs of choice — did not fare as well cognitively at 50, but there were so few of them, it was impossible to draw meaningful conclusions, the study’s authors said.
“In a Western population of occasional drug users, this is what you’d expect to see,” said John Halpern, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who has studied the potential cognitive effects of drugs.
“In some ways, this is not surprising,” Dr. Halpern said. “The brain is resilient.”
The study’s findings support the idea that the effects of marijuana and perhaps other drugs are only temporary, and that cognition isn’t damaged once the effects wear off.
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Colorado's Marijuana Task Force Issues 58 Recommendations For How Pot Should Be Regulated
Posted: 03/13/2013 7:33 pm EDT
Colorado's Marijuana Task Force issued its final recommendations for how the state ought to implement Amendment 64, though the actual regulations will be made by state lawmakers.
The 165-page report released Wednesday included 58 recommendations to be reviewed by the governor and state legislators.
Task Force Co-Chair Jack Finlaw, the Governor's Chief Legal Counsel, called the report "very comprehensive" and said that it laid the groundwork for regulation.
"The Task Force recommendations will now need to be perfected through the legislative process and rulemakings by various state agencies," Finlaw said in a statement.
(Click here to read the report in full)
Task force leaders agreed that legislators will have to put a "Marijuana Products Sales Tax" initiative on the November ballot, but left the taxation rate to legislators.
According to a 7News report, some in the task force recommended a 25 percent sales tax, but others were concerned that it would continue to perpetuate the underground market for cheap pot.
The task force also recommended that during the first year of licensing "only entities with valid medical marijuana licenses should be able to obtain licenses to grow, process and sell adult-use cannabis."
Smoking marijuana in bars should be banned in establishments covered by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act as well as other places where tabacco smoke is tolerated, the report says.
Consistent with alcohol rules, the task force also recommends that the Legislature prohibit open packages of marijuana in vehicles.
"This was ground-breaking work and the Task Force process went very well," task force co-chair Barbara Brohl said. "It was supported by many committed and astute individuals who took the Governor's charge very seriously. Task force members represented differing viewpoints, they addressed all issues in a well-thought-out manner and worked hard to develop sound solutions. The Task Force did all the 'heavy lifting," but now a lot of follow up work has to be done in the coming months."
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Pot vending machines coming to SD?
SAN DIEGO — Could San Diegans soon be getting their medical marijuana from vending machines?
Los Angeles-based Medbox Inc. is securing leases to put its automated dispensing machines in up to 30 locations around the city in anticipation that the City Council could approve a dispensary ordinance later this month.
For $150,000, the company assists would-be operators in getting their dispensary up and running with its technology, which Medbox says provides carefully managed access and reduces theft.
More than 100 Medbox machines now operate in California, Colorado and Canada. Previous plans to bring them to San Diego were nixed when the U.S. Attorney’s Office cracked down on dispensaries here in 2011.
Now the company has received deposits to set up its shops in more than a dozen locations in San Diego in the hope that Mayor Bob Filner succeeds in getting new regulations in place.
Medbox CEO Bruce Bedrick said the company’s patented technology has turned it into a consultant for medical marijuana startups that want to run their operations securely and within the law.
“We help people get into the business of medical marijuana by taking them from a ground zero all the way up and through turnkey dispensary,” he said.
Bedrick added, “It is a detractor of crime. ... It’s a lot easier to go in and rob a dispensary that has pot all over the place and cash all over the place compared to some place that uses an 800-pound machine, or two, that’s armor-plated.”
One of the biggest criticisms facing dispensaries — especially from federal prosecutors — is that they are engaged in a for-profit drug-selling operation rather than servicing needy patients as nonprofits. Dispensaries have also been frequent targets for robberies.
Medbox facilities look much like a doctor’s office, although with armored dispensing machines located in a secure area. Medical marijuana patients must provide a state-issued ID card and a fingerprint to gain access and the machines won’t dispense more than has been prescribed by a doctor. Each transaction is recorded.
The City Council is slated to discuss the medical marijuana issue at its March 25 meeting, although council President Todd Gloria’s office said it is unclear if a proposed ordinance from Filner will be under consideration at that time.
In late January, Filner promised to deliver a new ordinance within 30 days that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate legally within city limits. That deadline has passed, but he continues to work with advocates on crafting it.
Filner told San Diego CityBeat that he’s considering a $10,000 permit fee for dispensaries and a 2 percent excise tax on the sale of marijuana products. A mayoral spokeswoman confirmed the ordinance would likely include those provisions but said Filner didn’t have an opinion yet on Medbox’s technology and a TV report that he supports the machines was incorrect.
Filner renewed the dispensary debate Jan. 8 when he told a group of medical marijuana advocates that he would intimidate the city attorney into backing off prosecutions. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith responded the next day by informing Filner that he could halt prosecutions by using his strong-mayor powers to direct police and code enforcement officers to stop forwarding cases to the City Attorney’s Office. Filner issued that decree the next day.
At the time, Goldsmith said about 100 prosecutions had already been completed against dispensaries and 11 were still active and would be dropped at Filner’s direction. The council later voted in closed session — with Filner’s consent — to proceed with enforcement actions until a new ordinance is enacted because of fears that dispensaries would begin opening again before rules were in place.
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Wow. That is awesome!
Last edited by Hardrock69; 02-28-2013, 05:02 PM.Leave a comment:
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