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Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

• Colorado Legalization Effort Comes up 2400 Valid Signatures Short
• Washington State Bill Asking Government To Reclassify Marijuana Moves Forward
• Ballot Measures Competing for Funds from Big Backers
• Firefighters Mistake Butane Hash Oil Extraction Equipment for Pipe Bomb
• “Fast and Furious” Program Sparks Lawsuit and House Hearing for the Attorney General

Daily Toker Tunes

Rockin’ Friday: Brought to you by Urb Thrasher from Urb Age Designs

• Lionize – “Superczar”

Legislative Update with NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano

• ALABAMA: The Michael Phillips Compassionate Care Act (HB 25) which seeks to enact legal protections for authorized medical marijuana patients, has been marked for reintroduction in the Alabama Legislature for the session starting on February 7th. It is currently assigned to the House Committee on Health. A separate medical cannabis bill, House Bill 66, has also been prefiled in the House and is also before to the House Committee on Health, while a third measure that seeks to reduce penalties on adult cannabis possession is anticipated to be introduced shortly. You can learn more about these efforts via NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here.
• INDIANA: Senate lawmakers heard testimony on Tuesday, January 24, in favor of legislation, SB 347, to decriminalize marijuana possession penalties in Indiana. Lawmakers on Senate Committee on Corrections, Criminal, and Civil Matters did not vote on the measure. Therefore, there is still time for constituents to contact their Senate members and encourage them to support marijuana law reform. You can do so via NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here. A separate House measure, HB 1370, that seeks to legalize the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes, is pending before the House Committee on Public Policy.
• KANSAS: House Bill 2330, which seeks to enact legal protections for authorized medical marijuana patients, was heard by the House Committee on Health and Human Services on Tuesday, January 24th. You can read media coverage of the hearing here and here. You can track the progress of this measure and contact your state elected officials regarding HB 2330here.
• NEW HAMPSHIRE: Members of the House Criminal Justice Committee heard testimony on Thursday, January 25, in favor of House Bill 1705, which seeks to allow adults age 21 or over to use marijuana legally in their home. The measure also seeks to establish a regulated cannabis market governing the wholesale production and sale of marijuana. Non-commercial transactions involving less than one ounce of cannabis would not be subject to state taxation or regulation under the measure. You can watch clips from the hearing here and you can contact your elected officials in support of the measure here.
• The House Criminal Justice Committee is also scheduled to hear testimony this Thursday in favor of separate legislation, HB 1526, which seeks reduce the penalties on minor marijuana possession offenses (up to one ounce) from a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine to a nominal monetary penalty of no more than $100.00. To contact your House representative regarding HB 1526, please visit NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here.
• VIRGINIA: Legislation seeking to establish a joint study committee to investigate the fiscal impact of regulating the production and sale of marijuana to adults 21 and over is anticipated to be heard by the Virginia House Committee on Rules as soon as this Thursday. You can read NORML’s published op/eds in support of this measure here and here. To learn more aboutHouse Joint Resolution 140, please visit Virginia NORML or contact your state officials here.

NORML Newsmakers

• Mark Pedersen from Sensible Missouri and Show-Me Cannabis Regulation

"Ah. no problem. I'll just show him my marshal badge..."

A state marshal was pulled over in Norwalk yesterday afternoon and arrested for drug charges.

58-year-old Alan Freedman of Norwalk, Virginia, was pulled over for running a red light. Even though he flashed his State Marshal badge, the police on the scene called his dog to check Freedman’s vehicle. The dog hit on the trunk and that lead to a search of Freedman’s car.

A search of the State Marshal’s car turned up two bags of marijuana and an additional small plastic container also containing marijuana, some digital weighing scales, nine different pipes with marijuana residue on them, an assortment of empty plastic baggies and a bag of marijuana seeds. The marijuana totaled 138 grams, or over a quarter pound.

State Marshals can be hired by citizens, courts, attorneys, the state or others to serve notices of civil court proceedings and to enforce judgements. They are governed by the State Marshall Commission and not actual state employees. The administrator for the Commission of State Marshals said that they will look into the matter before making a statement, but that nothing happens within hours.

External Links:

http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/State-marshal-arrested-2685146.php

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1. Montana Judge Rules On States Protection for Providers
2. Virginia Lawmaker Would Like to Look at the Revenue Impact of Legalization
3. Supreme Court rules cops need warrant to put GPS tracking on your car
4. Rhode Island Rep. who mocked marijuana busted again on marijuana charges (UPDATED)

Daily Toker Tunes

Roots Monday: Brought to you by “Radical” Russ

• Richard M. Jones & His Jazz Wizards – Blue Reefer Blues

Cannabis Conversations

• Dr. Michael Reznicek MD, author of “Blowing Smoke: Rethinking the War on Drugs without Prohibition or Rehab”

NORML Newsmakers

• Imiel Visser from NORML South Africa on the South African NORML Documentary Tour

A proposal by a Virginian lawmaker would fund a study into the potential revenue stream of marijuana if it were sold in liquor stores. Democrat Virginia Delegate David Englin has also filed a resolution with the Governor to petition the DEA to change the scheduling of marijuana, a move that some governors have already made.

Del. Englin would like Virginia to consider the impact if Virginia’s 330 liquor stores joined the growing list of recommendations across the nation to reform the drug laws concerning the most commonly used illegal substance in the US. He would like to see Virginia bring in more money revenues for the state so they don’t have to cut funding for core services across cash-strapped Virginia. Englin says he has not and is not a marijuana user, but says that everyone knows there are respectable members of society secretly smoking marijuana and giving all that money to criminals.  He would like to see that money go to the commonwealth instead.

Under the proposed resolution, eight members of the Virginia General Assembly would head a study on the practicality and feasibility of legalizing the use and sale of marijuana under strict conditions through the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The findings would be due to the legislature for consideration by the first day of the 2013 legislative session.

But even through all of the feedback that Englin has received from fellow legislators and constituents, he doesn’t actually expect the proposal to survive the House Rules Committee. He thinks that proposals like this face a steep hill to climb and he wants to take the first few steps and get this conversation going. We told you about Republican Del. Harvey Morgan a few years back introducing a decrim bill to the the house and was mocked and laughed at. The 81-year-old lawmaker has been serving the delegation since 1980. Del. Morgan has also tried unsuccessfully tried to broaden the never-used late 1970’s Virginia law that allows medical use of cannabis for cancer and glaucoma, but only with a prescription, making it an impotent law.

External Links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/va-lawmaker-urges-study-on-revenue-impact-of-marijuana-sales-at-state-controlled-liquor-stores/2012/01/23/gIQAGdAGLQ_story.html

This K2 will only hurt you if you try to climb it.

The proven dangerous chemical compound of synthetic marijuana that is sprayed on potpourri and marketed as a legal drug has been outlawed in many states, much of that legislation passing in 2011. Some form of synthetic marijuana, sometimes marketed as incense called “Spice” or “K2″, is outlawed in 38 states now. This drug that was created due to the limit on research allowed on actual marijuana has made thousands sickened nationwide after consuming the substance sold in smoke shops and truck stops in grams with a label on it warning it is not for human consumption.

The latest data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse says that synthetic marijuana is now the number two most frequently used illicit substance among high school seniors behind actual marijuana. The adverse affects reported to hospitals after smoking synthetic marijuana have been seizures, vomiting, anxiety and accelerated heart rate and a handful of deaths have been linked to the substance.

However, the problem with the law is that it cant keep up with science. The state of Virginia made it illegal to sell or possess 10 different compounds that were marketed as the synthetic drug. One of the largest busts in the nation was in Virginia where they confiscated almost a million dollars worth of the product, packaged and ready for sell, but after testing the product, it turns out it didn’t contain one of the banned products listed in state law.

Authorities in other states that have went through the arduous task of outlawing these products have had similar stories. Cases in states where Spice and K2 are illegal have also confiscated products that have outpaced the laws. Authorities in Florida, Indiana, Illinois and Alaska have confiscated legal products they thought they had banned. Savvy Spice manufacturers have been altering their recipes enough to skirt the state bans and are now marketing the latest generations of chemicals as more potent than original formulas.

Web sites are also opening, marketing the new formulas, letting those in restricted states know that new formulas are legal for about $10 to $25 a gram. To those who fought to get the products off the market, it is frustrating to see they are still there. The case in Virginia, where almost 2000 packets of Spice was seized at a tobacco shop near a school in a raid-style fashion, is set to go to court next month. But now that samples have been tested to show only non-restrictive active ingredients, prosecutors aren’t saying whether they will go forward with the case.

External Links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070903554.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/spice-makers-alter-recipes-to-sidestep-state-laws-banning-synthetic-marijuana/2011/11/30/gIQA6gpHNP_story.html

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Hemp Headlines

1. Kentucky lawmakers proposing drug testing for state assistance benefits like welfare and unemployment
2. Illinois lawmakers propose another medical marijuana bill
3. Virginia decriminalization bill tabled after only four days
4. Video of Utah police shooting of cannabis consumer armed with golf club

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Grateful Dread Public Radio at http://gdreadradio.net, a 24-hour community service Internet radio station proud to carry NORML SHOW LIVE

• Irie Wednesday: Kidd Rasta and the Peacemakers – “420 Ganja Song”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

Grassroots Activism

• Alison Holcomb from ACLU of Washington on HB 1100 / SB 5073 efforts to protect medical marijuana patients

On Monday, January 17, lawmakers on the House Courts of Justice, Criminal Subcommittee decided on a voice vote to “pass by indefinitely” legislation, HB 1443, which sought to reduce criminal marijuana penalties for first-time offenders. It is possible that the Committee could reconsider the measure later this year, though this outcome is unlikely. Del. Morgan, the sponsor of HB 1443, has already vowed to reintroduce a similar measure next year.

Virginia NORML, which backed HB 1443, co-organized a Lobby Day to coincide with Monday’s hearing and vote. An estimated 75 citizens participated in the day-long event, about a dozen of whom testified in favor of HB 1443. (You can read NORML’s testimony in favor of the measure here.). Unlike in past years, no one, including representatives of law enforcement or the state prosecutors office, testified publically against the measure.

Representatives of Virginia NORML did have the opportunity to meet privately with members of the Committee prior to the days’ vote. Though many members of the Committee expressed reservations regarding the bill, as evidenced by their vote, several members did express less staunch opposition than in years pass. Ultimately however, Delegates Albo, Bell, who chairs the subcommittee, and Gilbert continue to be hurdles in the effort to enact sensible marijuana law reform in Virginia.

If you live in Virginia, please consider contacting the abovementioned Delegates, stating:

“I am disappointed with your failure to support HB 1443, which would have reallocated criminal justice costs and benefited public safety. I hope that you will reconsider your position when this measure is reintroduced in a future legislative session.”

Please also become a member of Virginia NORML. You can contact the organization at: http://www.virginianorml.org, or follow the group on Facebook here. Additional information on marijuana law reform efforts in Virginia is available from: Sabrina@norml.org.

Read the original post:
Virginia Lawmakers Quash Marijuana Decriminalization Measure

Passage of HB 1443 will spare thousands of Virginians from criminal arrest and incarceration, as well as the emotional and financial hardships that follow — including the loss of certain jobs and student loans. The measure would also have allowed the law enforcement and court systems to reallocate resources toward activities that will more effectively target serious criminal behavior and keep the public safe.

You can read more about this pending legislation here.

You can contact your state Delegate in favor of HB 1443 by entering your zip code below. *NOTE: The upcoming 2011 Virginia General Assembly session convenes on January 12.

For more information on what you can do to reform Virginia’s marijuana laws, please visit Virginia NORML at: virginanorml.org, or follow Virginia NORML on Facebook.

Virginia Lawmaker To Reintroduce Marijuana Decriminalization Measure In 2011

Dear ******,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me about marijuana policy reform. I appreciate hearing from you and value your input in developing sound policies that benefit the citizens of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District and our country as a whole.

The Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act was introduced by Representative Barney Frank (MA-4) on June 18, 2009. The bill seeks to prohibit the penalties for the possession of marijuana in cases of personal use or for free transfer of marijuana between adults for personal use. It defines personal use as the possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana and would limit the fines for public use to no more than $100.

Marijuana, like any narcotic, carries serious implications for public health and safety. While I am open to considering new approaches to our national drug policy due to its many failures, I fear that this bill does not move us forward. The secondary and tertiary impacts of this approach would be negative; for example, I am concerned that this bill will not limit the crime associated with large-scale drug dealing that will continue to exist on the black market. However, I also believe that the status quo is not working and that we as a nation need to have a conversation about how we confront the issue of drug abuse. The most successful programs in this area have focused on treating addiction and preventing teen drug use, and I will support efforts to those ends while examining innovative approaches to our national drug policy. Should I have the opportunity to vote on measures relating to marijuana or the “War on Drugs,” I will keep your views in mind.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact my office. To keep informed of the work I do, please visit my website at
www.perriello.house.gov and sign up for my newsletter. If I may be of assistance on this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Tom Perriello
Member of Congress