Going to Pot? The Impact of Dispensary Closures on Crime
"...The idea that marijuana dispensaries attract crime has proved
influential with policymakers. For example, an Oregon state senator
argued that a law allowing cities to ban dispensaries was important to 'empower them to protect our children and families.' In Los Angeles, the
setting for this study, the city council cited crime in its 2010
decision to cap the number of dispensaries in the city. Yet, empirical
evidence to support any link (positive or negative) between marijuana
dispensaries and crime is quite limited."
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Showing posts with label decriminalizing marijuana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decriminalizing marijuana. Show all posts
After California Decriminalized Marijuana, Teen Arrest, Overdose, and Dropout Rates Fell
"A new report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice adds to the growing body of evidence that legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to any number of doomsday scenarios envisioned by legalization opponents. Looking specifically at California, where full marijuana decriminalization went into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, the report finds that 'marijuana decriminalization in California has not resulted in harmful consequences for teenagers, such as increased crime, drug overdose, driving under the influence, or school dropout. In fact, California teenagers showed improvements in all risk areas after reform.'"
View the Report
"A new report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice adds to the growing body of evidence that legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana does not lead to any number of doomsday scenarios envisioned by legalization opponents. Looking specifically at California, where full marijuana decriminalization went into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, the report finds that 'marijuana decriminalization in California has not resulted in harmful consequences for teenagers, such as increased crime, drug overdose, driving under the influence, or school dropout. In fact, California teenagers showed improvements in all risk areas after reform.'"
View the Report
Minnesota Becomes 22nd Medical Marijuana State, But The Only One That Won’t Let You Smoke
Minnesota became the 22nd state
in addition to the District of Columbia with a medical marijuana bill
Thursday, with the signature of Gov. Mark Dayton (D). The new law will
allow the distribution and consumption of marijuana for medical
purposes, with one major caveat: You can’t smoke it, and you can’t
possess the plant in its natural form.
The compromise measure lost the support of many medical marijuana advocates, who say consumption of the plant is the most natural and effective method for managing particular conditions. The law will allow the plant to be distributed only in oil, vapor, or pill forms, after the oil is extracted from the plant through state-licensed manufacturers. While the oil has been particularly value for children suffering from seizures, marijuana is most frequently consumed in its leaf form, particularly because patients can control dosing by taking one puff at a time until they feel relief. Those who utilize this marijuana oil cannot control its potency, and many have reported feeling “zombie-like” after consuming it.
Read on...
The compromise measure lost the support of many medical marijuana advocates, who say consumption of the plant is the most natural and effective method for managing particular conditions. The law will allow the plant to be distributed only in oil, vapor, or pill forms, after the oil is extracted from the plant through state-licensed manufacturers. While the oil has been particularly value for children suffering from seizures, marijuana is most frequently consumed in its leaf form, particularly because patients can control dosing by taking one puff at a time until they feel relief. Those who utilize this marijuana oil cannot control its potency, and many have reported feeling “zombie-like” after consuming it.
Read on...
Marijuana Legalization May Win the West
One week after the nation's first recreational marijuana stores
opened in Colorado, Alaska activists submitted what appear to be enough
signatures to put marijuana legalization before voters. The measure –
which would go up for a vote Aug. 19 – is one of several 2014 efforts
that could yield a good year for pot supporters, particularly in the
West.
So far, voters have been at the vanguard of legalization, blowing past state legislatures. In November 2012, more than 55 percent of Colorado and Washington voters approved initiatives to legalize the drug and open state-licensed stores – and polls suggest those successes may be replicated elsewhere.
Read on....
So far, voters have been at the vanguard of legalization, blowing past state legislatures. In November 2012, more than 55 percent of Colorado and Washington voters approved initiatives to legalize the drug and open state-licensed stores – and polls suggest those successes may be replicated elsewhere.
Read on....
Mark Kleiman, pot's go-to guy
Come New Year's Day,
in Washington state and Colorado, marijuana will be legit, courtesy of
two ballot initiatives. How do you create a legal business out of an
illegal one? After 13 years of Prohibition, the country at least had an
earlier legal liquor market to refer to. That's where Mark Kleiman comes
in, the go-to expert on these matters. A UCLA
professor of public policy and author and coauthor of books like
"Marijuana Legalization," he's heard all the jokes about "hemperor" and
"your serene high-ness." He was consulted by Washington state's liquor
control board, which has to come up with the nuts and bolts for the new
law and which asked him for, well, the straight dope.
Read on...
What did Washington want to know?
They really wanted numbers from us: How big is the market? How do we allocate stores across the counties? What impurities should be tested for? What are the environmental impacts of cannabis production? If we limit the amount produced, what should we use as the basis? Ounces? Grams? Production space?
They really wanted numbers from us: How big is the market? How do we allocate stores across the counties? What impurities should be tested for? What are the environmental impacts of cannabis production? If we limit the amount produced, what should we use as the basis? Ounces? Grams? Production space?
Read on...
Pot Legalization Effort Moves Eastward To Maine
Advocates of recreational marijuana use are
looking to an upcoming vote in Maine as an indicator of whether the
East Coast is ready to follow in the footsteps of Colorado and
Washington by legalizing cannabis.
Voters in Portland are being asked whether they want to make it legal for adults 21 and over to possess -- but not purchase or sell -- up to 2.5 ounces of pot. The Nov. 5 vote is being eyed nationally as momentum grows in favor of legalizing marijuana use.
The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that supports legalization, says it targeted Portland because it's Maine's largest city and because, unlike many other states and cities, it has an initiative process to get the referendum on the ballot. Organizers hope passage of the Portland initiative could spur similar results in other liberal Northeast cities.
"I think there's national implications, keeping the momentum that Washington and Colorado started last November in ending marijuana prohibition," said David Boyer, the organization's political director in Maine. "This is just the next domino."
Read on...
Voters in Portland are being asked whether they want to make it legal for adults 21 and over to possess -- but not purchase or sell -- up to 2.5 ounces of pot. The Nov. 5 vote is being eyed nationally as momentum grows in favor of legalizing marijuana use.
The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that supports legalization, says it targeted Portland because it's Maine's largest city and because, unlike many other states and cities, it has an initiative process to get the referendum on the ballot. Organizers hope passage of the Portland initiative could spur similar results in other liberal Northeast cities.
"I think there's national implications, keeping the momentum that Washington and Colorado started last November in ending marijuana prohibition," said David Boyer, the organization's political director in Maine. "This is just the next domino."
Read on...
These States Are Most Likely To Legalize Pot Next
Attorney General Eric Holder gave a green light
on Thursday to two states whose efforts to legalize marijuana had been
locked in by legal uncertainty for more than nine months. With that
announcement, Colorado and Washington -- both of which passed pro-pot
initiatives at the polls last November -- can now proceed with
establishing a framework for the taxation and regulation of legal weed
for adults.
The administration's decision holds clear and immediate implications for the two states, both of which had been hesitant to act too quickly over concerns that the government might decide to enforce federal law, which still considers marijuana an illegal substance.
But the move also, and perhaps more importantly, throws open the gates for other states to pursue similar pot legalization efforts, so long as they include "strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems." Experts on both sides of the issue have already said they expect to see movement come quickly.
Read on...
The administration's decision holds clear and immediate implications for the two states, both of which had been hesitant to act too quickly over concerns that the government might decide to enforce federal law, which still considers marijuana an illegal substance.
But the move also, and perhaps more importantly, throws open the gates for other states to pursue similar pot legalization efforts, so long as they include "strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems." Experts on both sides of the issue have already said they expect to see movement come quickly.
Read on...
5 Reasons Why This Week Was Historic for Ending America's War on Drugs and Cruel Incarceration Policies
Stop-and-frisk is ruled unconstitutional and Sanjay Gupta changes his opinion about marijuana on national TV.
It happened at a dizzying pace. One big victory for the drug and prison reform community after another. The Attorney General addressed our massive prison problem, the DEA continues to be scrutinized for its shady law enforcement tactics, a federal judge ruled the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactic unconstitutional, a major media personality admitted he was wrong about marijuana's health risks, and New York City's Comptroller released a report explaining why marijuana should be legalized.
All of this is great news for advocates of sensible drug policy, civil rights, privacy rights, and prison reform.
1. Eric Holder Gets "Smarter On Crime"
On Monday, US Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in which he announced a major shift in criminal justice policy aimed at addressing unfairness in the justice system. Although the US has only 5 percent of the world's population, it has 25 percent of its prisoners. Almost half of federal inmates are serving time on drug charges. "The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old," Holder told NPR earlier this month. "There has been a lot of unintended consequences. There's been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color."
Read on...
It happened at a dizzying pace. One big victory for the drug and prison reform community after another. The Attorney General addressed our massive prison problem, the DEA continues to be scrutinized for its shady law enforcement tactics, a federal judge ruled the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactic unconstitutional, a major media personality admitted he was wrong about marijuana's health risks, and New York City's Comptroller released a report explaining why marijuana should be legalized.
All of this is great news for advocates of sensible drug policy, civil rights, privacy rights, and prison reform.
1. Eric Holder Gets "Smarter On Crime"
On Monday, US Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech at the American Bar Association's annual meeting in which he announced a major shift in criminal justice policy aimed at addressing unfairness in the justice system. Although the US has only 5 percent of the world's population, it has 25 percent of its prisoners. Almost half of federal inmates are serving time on drug charges. "The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old," Holder told NPR earlier this month. "There has been a lot of unintended consequences. There's been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color."
Read on...
Police To Hand Out Doritos Instead Of Arrests At Pot Party
On Craigslist, “420 friendly” means a potential housemate welcomes
marijuana use in their place. Nowadays, Seattle could use the label to
describe the whole city: at an annual hemp and marijuana festival, the
Seattle PD will be handing out Doritos to revelers.
Washington State’s voters decriminalized marijuana use by ballot referendum last November. The new law has allowed police to come up with a more creative approach to policing Hempfest, a long-running pro-cannabis extravaganza, than one that has to at least nominally worry about arresting the errant toker.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Seattle police have partnered with Doritos to distribute bags of the snacks emblazoned with descriptions of the new law. Revelers will be able to learn about their rights while enjoying a tasty treat.
Read on...
Washington State’s voters decriminalized marijuana use by ballot referendum last November. The new law has allowed police to come up with a more creative approach to policing Hempfest, a long-running pro-cannabis extravaganza, than one that has to at least nominally worry about arresting the errant toker.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, Seattle police have partnered with Doritos to distribute bags of the snacks emblazoned with descriptions of the new law. Revelers will be able to learn about their rights while enjoying a tasty treat.
Read on...
Police Raid Home of Medicinal Marijuana Multiple Sclerosis Patient, Throw Her Kids in Foster Care
Three prominent advocates for medical marijuana in Idaho had their
children taken away last week after the police investigated them on
charges relating to marijuana trafficking. Their sons were considered to
be in “imminent danger” by law enforcement, and they were all taken
away and put in foster case, local news outlet KTVB reports.
The activists are Lindsey and Josh Rinehart and Sarah
Caldwell. All three of them are leaders in the group Compassionate
Idaho, which advocates for the legalization of medical marijuana in
Idaho. The activists were on a trip, but when they got back to the
Rinehart residence, their sons were gone. While Caldwell’s two sons are
back with her, the Rineharts’ sons remain in foster care.
“They took my children. Due to cannabis being present in
the house,” said Lindsey Rinehart, the executive director of
Compassionate Idaho. “They say their goal is to return our children to
our home once it is deemed safe. They say our children will be in foster
care for 30 days.”
Mexico says marijuana legalization in U.S. could change anti-drug strategies
The decision by voters in Colorado and Washington state to legalize
the recreational use of marijuana has left Mexican President-elect
Enrique Peña Nieto and his team scrambling to reformulate their
anti-drug strategies in light of what one senior aide said was a
referendum that “changes the rules of the game.”
It is too early to know what Mexico’s response to the successful ballot measures will be, but a top aide said Peña Nieto and members of his incoming administration will discuss the issue with President Obama and congressional leaders in Washington this month. The legalization votes, however, are expected to spark a broad debate in Mexico about the direction and costs of the U.S.-backed drug war here.
Mexico spends billions of dollars each year confronting violent trafficking organizations that threaten the security of the country but whose main market is the United States, the largest consumer of drugs in the world.
Read on...
It is too early to know what Mexico’s response to the successful ballot measures will be, but a top aide said Peña Nieto and members of his incoming administration will discuss the issue with President Obama and congressional leaders in Washington this month. The legalization votes, however, are expected to spark a broad debate in Mexico about the direction and costs of the U.S.-backed drug war here.
Mexico spends billions of dollars each year confronting violent trafficking organizations that threaten the security of the country but whose main market is the United States, the largest consumer of drugs in the world.
Read on...
‘The Fight Over Medical Marijuana’
Our federal marijuana policy is increasingly out of step with both the
values of American citizens and with state law. The result is a system
of justice that is schizophrenic and at times appalling.
This is an op-ed from the NY Times. Tom
Though the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule I
Controlled Substance and bans its use for medical purposes, a growing
number of states feel differently. Today, 18 states and Washington,
D.C., have legalized medical marijuana for people suffering from
debilitating medical conditions like cancer, epilepsy, severe nausea,
multiple sclerosis and chronic pain. And on Tuesday, Colorado and
Washington State voted to legalize marijuana for adult use, regardless
of medical condition. But these states cannot stop the federal
government from enforcing its own laws.
And federal drug laws are unjustifiably extreme. Consider the case of
Chris Williams, the subject of this Op-Doc video, who opened a marijuana
grow house in Montana after the state legalized medical cannabis. Mr.
Williams was eventually arrested by federal agents despite Montana’s
medical marijuana law, and he may spend the rest of his life behind
bars. While Jerry Sandusky got a 30-year minimum sentence for raping
young boys, Mr. Williams is looking at a mandatory minimum of more than
80 years for marijuana charges and for possessing firearms during a
drug-trafficking offense.
This is an op-ed from the NY Times. Tom
11 Enemies of Marijuana Legalization
From President Obama to NYC Mayor Bloomberg, the authorities are still bent on keeping pot illegal.
In 1990, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates told a Senate committee that people who smoked pot occasionally “ought to be taken out and shot.” That kind of fanaticism, which dominated the debate on drugs 20 years ago, seems to have faded. Today’s politicians are more likely to dismiss cannabis concerns as “not serious” than to rail against the demons of dope—but the powers that be are still bent on keeping pot illegal. U.S. cops bust an average of almost 100 people every hour for pot, and an array of think tanks and nonprofit groups continues to pump out prohibitionist propaganda.
Here are 11 of the worst—the most powerful and the most vehement.
1. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart
A holdover from the Bush administration, Leonhart was formally appointed to head the Drug Enforcement Administration by Barack Obama in 2010. The antiprohibitionist movement strongly opposed her, citing the DEA’s raids on medical-marijuana growers in California—including one on a 69-year-old woman who had been the first grower to register with the Mendocino County Sheriff.
As the DEA’s acting director in January 2009, she overruled a DEA administrative-law judge’s recommendation and denied the University of Massachusetts a license to cultivate marijuana for FDA-approved research. “This single act has blocked privately funded medical marijuana research in this country,” NORML head Allen St. Pierre said in July 2010.
Leonhart often carries hardline views to absurd extremes. In 2011, asked about the drug-cartel carnage in Mexico, she told the Washington Post that “It may seem contradictory, but the unfortunate level of violence is a sign of success in the fight against drugs,” because the cartels were fighting each other “like caged animals.” In June 2012, asked by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) if crack, heroin and methamphetamine were worse for your health than marijuana, she repeatedly answered, “I believe all illegal drugs are bad.” Asked if opioid painkillers like OxyContin were more addictive than marijuana, she answered, “All illegal drugs in Schedule I are addictive.”
Read on...
In 1990, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates told a Senate committee that people who smoked pot occasionally “ought to be taken out and shot.” That kind of fanaticism, which dominated the debate on drugs 20 years ago, seems to have faded. Today’s politicians are more likely to dismiss cannabis concerns as “not serious” than to rail against the demons of dope—but the powers that be are still bent on keeping pot illegal. U.S. cops bust an average of almost 100 people every hour for pot, and an array of think tanks and nonprofit groups continues to pump out prohibitionist propaganda.
Here are 11 of the worst—the most powerful and the most vehement.
1. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart
A holdover from the Bush administration, Leonhart was formally appointed to head the Drug Enforcement Administration by Barack Obama in 2010. The antiprohibitionist movement strongly opposed her, citing the DEA’s raids on medical-marijuana growers in California—including one on a 69-year-old woman who had been the first grower to register with the Mendocino County Sheriff.
As the DEA’s acting director in January 2009, she overruled a DEA administrative-law judge’s recommendation and denied the University of Massachusetts a license to cultivate marijuana for FDA-approved research. “This single act has blocked privately funded medical marijuana research in this country,” NORML head Allen St. Pierre said in July 2010.
Leonhart often carries hardline views to absurd extremes. In 2011, asked about the drug-cartel carnage in Mexico, she told the Washington Post that “It may seem contradictory, but the unfortunate level of violence is a sign of success in the fight against drugs,” because the cartels were fighting each other “like caged animals.” In June 2012, asked by Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) if crack, heroin and methamphetamine were worse for your health than marijuana, she repeatedly answered, “I believe all illegal drugs are bad.” Asked if opioid painkillers like OxyContin were more addictive than marijuana, she answered, “All illegal drugs in Schedule I are addictive.”
Read on...
New Study Finds No Correlation Between Medical Marijuana Shops And Crime Rates
Medical marijuana is already legal in 17 states and the District of Columbia, and seven more states will decide whether to legalize it by the end of this year. As public support for medical marijuana grows,
however, some misconceptions about marijuana remain — as illustrated in
a recent exchange with a Drug Enforcement Agent official who refused to admit that marijuana is less harmful than crack cocaine.
A new UCLA study helps to ease some of the misguided fears about the danger of medical marijuana, pointing out that medical marijuana dispensaries don’t lead to any increase in crime rates in the areas where they’re located. Although other environmental factors like unemployment are clear contributors to rising crime rates, the study concludes that medical marijuana shops are not linked to violent or property crime:
Read on....
A new UCLA study helps to ease some of the misguided fears about the danger of medical marijuana, pointing out that medical marijuana dispensaries don’t lead to any increase in crime rates in the areas where they’re located. Although other environmental factors like unemployment are clear contributors to rising crime rates, the study concludes that medical marijuana shops are not linked to violent or property crime:
Read on....
Life Without Parole for Pot? 10 Worst Cases of Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Our government spends more than $7 billion annually to enforce marijuana
prohibition in shockingly cruel ways, but the efforts have not deterred
marijuana use.
Cannabis is one of the most innocuous substances known to humans. Safer than Advil, a little (or a lot) of weed has never killed anybody, nor is it known to induce the kind of violent behavior linked to, say, alcohol. What's more, marijuana shows great therapeutic promise. It has been proven to reduce nausea associated with several ailments and chemotherapy, help cure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), slow the progression of multiple sclerosis, and protect eyesight from glaucoma, among other medical benefits.
Cannabis is one of the most innocuous substances known to humans. Safer than Advil, a little (or a lot) of weed has never killed anybody, nor is it known to induce the kind of violent behavior linked to, say, alcohol. What's more, marijuana shows great therapeutic promise. It has been proven to reduce nausea associated with several ailments and chemotherapy, help cure post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), slow the progression of multiple sclerosis, and protect eyesight from glaucoma, among other medical benefits.
The side-effects of pot are
minimal, especially when compared to legal, often lethal drugs like
OxyContin or Xanax. The consequences of a marijuana arrest, however, can
be far more damaging than the drug itself.
America’s legal system continues to treat the plant as if the 1920s propaganda film Reefer Madness were
true. In the United States -- where a marijuana arrest occurs every 42
seconds, on average -- the war on pot has disastrous consequences for
its victims. Here are 10 of the most shameful examples in which the
crime – related to weed -- does not even come close to matching the
punishment.
Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs
Why we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses.
John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.
John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.
At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law.
Some of the groups who want to keep the drug illegal are police unions that want more members to pay more dues. One of the primary sources for cash for more policing activities are Federal grants for penalizing illegal drug use, which help pay for overtime, additional police officers, and equipment for the force. That’s what Lovell does, he gets those grants. He also fights against democratic mechanisms to legalize drugs.
Majority of Canadians support legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana, new poll suggests
Canadians have green on their minds, but not in the environmental sense, according to a new poll.
Released on Tuesday, the poll suggests 66% of Canadians are in favour of the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, with just 20% supporting leaving the laws as they are now.
The poll, conducted by Toronto-based Forum Research Inc., showed that residents of British Columbia were the most likely to support marijuana laws reform, with 73% of respondents indicating laws should be changed. Quebec had the lowest support for reforms, though the majority of respondents, 61%, supported changing marijuana legislation.
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