Law & Politics
The 2016 Marijuana Votes You Haven’t Heard About
Lots of headlines are being generated by this week’s announcement that marijuana law reform advocates in California have collected enough signatures to qualify a legalization initiative for November’s ballot. Many news outlets have taken note of similar measures that have already qualified in Maine and Nevada, and well-funded efforts to do the same in Arizona and […]
Vermont House Rejects Marijuana Reforms
The effort to make Vermont the next state to legalize marijuana was soundly defeated on the floor of the state’s House of Representatives on Tuesday. By a vote of 121 – 28, representatives rejected a proposal to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana sales which the Senate passed in February. The House also voted 70 – 77 against a separate measure to allow Vermonters to grow […]
Hawaii Senate Approves Drug Decriminalization Study
Both chambers of the Hawaii Legislature have now voted in favor of the state examining decriminalization of all drugs. On Monday, the Senate approved a resolution requesting that the state’s Legislative Reference Bureau “conduct a study on the potential impact on state government of decriminalizing the illegal possession of drugs for personal use in Hawaii” so that […]
Does Bernie Sanders Want to Ban Cigarettes?
Bernie Sanders has gone much further than any major presidential candidate in history in articulating the abysmal failure of marijuana prohibition. He is the only such serious contender for the Oval Office ever to say that he would not only respect states that legalize cannabis but would personally vote for an end to marijuana prohibition if it […]
Pennsylvania Gov: Let Patients Import Medical Marijuana Now
Fresh off signing a bill making his state the 24th in the U.S with a comprehensive medical marijuana program, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) implied in a radio interview that people who need cannabis should be immediately able to import it from other states while the new law is being implemented. “People should be able to […]
Vermont House Committee Passes Marijuana Bill
After a mixed series of victories, setbacks and complications, the effort to pass marijuana legislation in Vermont took another step forward on Friday. The House Ways and Means Committee, by a vote of 6-3, passed a bill allowing Vermonters to grow up to two cannabis plants at home. The legislation also removes fines for possessing […]
Ohio Lawmakers Propose Medical Marijuana Bill
A group of Ohio lawmakers on Wednesday announced they would seek to pass medical marijuana legislation this year. The move, which follows the conclusion of a task force the legislators set up to study the issue, comes as advocates are collecting signatures to place a medical cannabis initiative on the state’s November ballot. The bill, […]
Vermont Marijuana Legalization Still Has a Chance This Year
The effort to legalize marijuana in Vermont this year has hit a snag, but don’t count the Green Mountain State out just yet. Less than two months ago, the state’s Senate approved a bill to legalize and regulate marijuana sales. Gov. Peter Shumlin, who called for an end to cannabis prohibition in his State of the State address, announced […]
It’s Time to Move Beyond Street Theater
I cringed last weekend when I saw news photos of a protest and demonstration in front of the White House in which the most notable image was a 51-foot inflatable “joint.” That’s right. Here we are in 2016 on the verge of finally ending marijuana prohibition, and some activists seem caught in a time warp, […]
Maine Judge Reverses State Decision to Keep Marijuana Legalization Off Ballot
The effort to legalize marijuana in Maine appears to be back from the dead. On Friday, a judge reversed Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap’s decision to invalidate thousands of signatures needed to qualify a legalization initiative for the November ballot. Last month Dunlap threw out a large batch of voter signatures because, he said, the signatures of a single notary […]