Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York City Comptroller John Liu is proposing a historic overhaul of the city’s marijuana laws, believing that legalizing medical marijuana and allowing adults to possess an ounce of pot for recreational use would pump more than $400 million into the city’s coffers.
The sweeping change, which would put New York at the forefront of a growing national debate over use of the drug, calls for recreational marijuana to be regulated and taxed like alcohol and tobacco.
Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/APbf5563883a774f6f94ad71f2449837f4.html
Category: Cannabis News Corner
Roger Christie allowed to use religious defense
By JOHN BURNETT – Tribune-Herald staff writer
A Hilo cannabis minister who’s been jailed for three years without bail while awaiting trial will be able to use religion as a defense to federal marijuana distribution charges.
U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi ruled during a July 31 status conference that Roger Christie and his wife, Share, “may rely upon their religious beliefs to counter the element of ‘intent to distribute’ in … charges alleged against them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara wrote in a motion requesting reconsideration or clarification of that ruling.
Full Article:
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/christie-allowed-use-religious-defense.html
Eric Holder unveils new reforms aimed at curbing US prison population
Dan Roberts in Washington and Karen McVeigh in New York
Holder said mandatory minimum sentences “breed disrespect for the system … they do not serve public safety. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP
The US government took the first tentative steps toward tackling its 1.5m-strong prison population on Monday by announcing that minor drug dealers would be spared the mandatory minimum sentences that have previously locked up many for a decade or more.
Reversing years of toughening political rhetoric in Washington, attorney general Eric Holder declared that levels of incarceration at federal, state and local levels had become both “ineffective and unsustainable.”
The Department of Justice will now instruct prosecutors to side-step federal sentencing rules by not recording the amount of drugs found on non-violent dealers not associated with larger gangs or cartels.
“Our system is in many ways broken,” Holder told the American Bar Association in San Francisco. “As the so-called war on drugs enters its fifth decade we need to ask whether it has been fully effective and usher in a new approach.”
“Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no truly good law enforcement reason,” he said, adding later: “We cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer country.”
Full Article:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/12/eric-holder-smart-crime-reform-us-prisons
Reversing years of toughening political rhetoric in Washington, attorney general Eric Holder declared that levels of incarceration at federal, state and local levels had become both “ineffective and unsustainable.”
The Department of Justice will now instruct prosecutors to side-step federal sentencing rules by not recording the amount of drugs found on non-violent dealers not associated with larger gangs or cartels.
“Our system is in many ways broken,” Holder told the American Bar Association in San Francisco. “As the so-called war on drugs enters its fifth decade we need to ask whether it has been fully effective and usher in a new approach.”
“Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long and for no truly good law enforcement reason,” he said, adding later: “We cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer country.”
Full Article:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/12/eric-holder-smart-crime-reform-us-prisons
” WEED ” – Dr. Sanjay Gupta Special – Full Episode
This is the Google Hangout that followed Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s documentary, “Weed”, last night.
Granny Storm Crow Lists 1000 Pages of Cannabis Research Links
Granny Storm Crow is a remarkable lady who has been single-handedly compiling a vast annotated database of hyperlinks to medical studies and reports on cannabis for years, carefully saving it in PDF form, and giving it all away.
Full Article:
http://beyondchronic.com/2013/03/granny-storm-crow-lists-1000-pages-cannabis-research-links/
Holder vows to end war on drugs, cites racial imbalance in ‘unintended consequences’
BY Herbert Dyer, Jr.
In a recent interview with NPR , Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to having finally seen the light: America is locking up too many of its citizens, especially its black and brown citizens. Holder is set to announce what he described as “major changes” in the entire incarceration process within a week’s time. His special focus and emphasis is on the putative “War on Drugs.”
From the interview: “The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old. There have been a lot of unintended consequences. There’s been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color.” (Emphasis added).
Holder’s sudden shift in attitude, approach, and drug policy follows several meetings with prison and drug reform groups. Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University and YourBlackWorld.com, together with entertainment mogul Russell Simmons, recently presented an open letter to the Obama Admistration signed by 175 celebrities, activists and scholars demanding an end to the so-called war on drugs.
Full Article:
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/15158608-attorney-general-holder-vows-to-end-racist-war-on-drugs
Crooked Judges Want Your Kids for Cash
Diane Fornbacher
While Ed was out on quads with his friends, they came upon a fawn who was lost. The only one who could pick it up was Ed.
Edward “Ed” Kenzakoski was a strong guy. He was an all-star wrestler going into his senior year at James M. Coughlin High School in Wilkes-Barre, PA and was actively scouted since 9th grade. He was expecting to take the state title and hopefully the scholarships would follow. He had a fair amount of friends, and was a thoughtful young man who had a bit of a tough guy reputation because he was quiet and muscular in stature. Although he rarely let people in, he was very affected by the world and other people’s feelings. Though he had some close friends from childhood, he cherished hiking with his dog and often told his mother he wanted to have his own island. His favorite outdoor sport was ice fishing, and when it was cold enough, that’s where one would most likely find him.
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2013/04/18/crooked-judges-want-your-kids-for-cash/
CNN’s Sanjay Gupta: Americans ‘terribly and systematically misled’ about marijuana
By Eric W. Dolan
CNN’s Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, apologized on Wednesday for publicly opposing marijuana legalization, saying science was clearly on the side of the drug.
“I think we have been terribly and systematically misled in this country for some time, and I did part of that misleading,” he told CNN host Piers Morgan.
Full Article:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/07/cnns-sanjay-gupta-americans-terribly-and-systematically-misled-about-marijuana/
Marijuana stops child’s severe seizures
By Saundra Young
Charlotte Figi had her first seizure when she was 3 months old. Over the next few months, the girl, affectionately called Charlie, had frequent seizures lasting two to four hours, and she was hospitalized repeatedly.
Is marijuana bad, or could it be good for some? CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta spent a year traveling around the world to shed light on the debate. Catch his groundbreaking documentary “WEED” at 8 p.m. ET August 11 on CNN.
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html?hpt=hp_t1