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Crosscurrents

Cannabis News Roundup: 07.04.14

M.W. Benutzer

Cannabis news from another week in the land of the free and the home of the brave…

LEGALIZATION

Legalization petitions submitted by New Approach Oregon // The Oregonian       Boxes with 145,000 signatures delivered to Oregon Secretary of State’s office. (Also see next item.)

Portland’s main paper endorses approach of New Approach //  The Oregonian      “Sooner or later…Oregonians will realize that legalization isn’t such a big step after all.”

Talk of cannabis reclassification is “misleadingly optimistic”: Gieringer

Our lead story last week was headlined “Could cannabis be downgraded from a Schedule 1 drug?” with a link to this Bloomberg News report. Dale Gieringer responds, in effect, “Not likely.”

            That idea, Gieringer tells CNR in an email,  “comes from superficial, summary comments” from Congressman John Mica, chair of the House Oversight Committee’s government operations panel. 

        Gieringer, a historian, and director of the California chapter of advocacy group NORML, says witnesses avoided important questions - such as why it’s harder to get approval to study marijuana than it is cocaine.

           No time frame was announced as to when any reclassification of cannabis might occur. Several committees have to comment before the Drug Enforcement Administration can consider a reclassification. Previous reviews have taken years and have focused on the negatives of the plant.

       “In short,” Gieringer says, “the testimony indicated no departure whatsoever from business as usual at FDA, which will presumably review the pending rescheduling petition with its customary bureaucratic sloth and bias.”

COPS & COURTS

Police advised not to destroy plants in “legal states” // AP      "The same evidence that two or three years ago would have given police probable cause today doesn't," says law professor.

BUSINESS

Prediction: long lines and high prices for legal pot in Washington // MSN Money       Only 79 grow licenses have been approved, and most are not ready to harvest. Recreational sales are set to start on Tuesday, July 8.

Free cannabis in Berkeley –it’s the law // KPIX-TV    Berkeley’s City Council says that dispensaries there must set aside some free cannabis for people who are very low income. This appears to be a first in the U.S.

Colorado announces rule changes for recreational suppliers // MJ Business Daily        Entrepreneurs can now decide to be either growers or retailers. 

Former New Mexico governor named CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc. // Las Vegas Sun      He plans “ to help develop products that are legal in states like Colorado and Washington.”

EVENTS

Cannabis Cup winners named at Sonoma event // SFGate      Roughly 10,000 attended the Cannabis Cup last weekend.

OPINION

Leave it to the states: Bill Clinton // NBC   The former president tells “Meet the Press” that states should be “laboratories of democracy.” [Comment is near the end of the video, about 11:00.]

NIDA head thinks legalization is still a bad idea // The Oregonian              "I think that what we are seeing is a little bit of wishful thinking in the sense that we want to have a drug that will make us all feel good and believe that there are no harmful consequences," says National Institute of Drug Abuse chief.

Decriminalization isn’t the answer; legalization is //       The Economist          “Money saved on policing weed can be spent on chasing real criminals, or on treatment for addicts.”

“CBD-only” legislation is producing “separate but unequal” rules // The Weed Blog    Author calls it “a disaster both politically and medically.”

IN OTHER NEWS…

Seeking hook ups with a hookah? //Alternet.org     Dating site claims, ”Everyone you meet in our community is guaranteed to be accepting of the 420 lifestyle.”

                                                         #

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