Rory Carroll

A woman holds a sign at a pro-marijuana rally at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters
 
Another glass facade among a string of restaurants, boutiques and offices in downtown Denver, there is little to distinguish the premises save the logo with a green cross. The reception is bright and neat and, at first glance, non-descript. Community event notices on the walls, orchids on a desk, a visitor on a sofa filling in a form.
Copies of National Geographic adorn the coffee table but the eye is drawn to colourful hardbacks: The Big Book of Buds: Marijuana Varieties from the World’s Great Seed Breeders, volumes I to III. Beside them, another catchy title: The Cannabible.
Ean Seeb, the co-owner, offers a warm smile and handshake. “Other places put up Bob Marley posters and palm trees, but if you didn’t know us, this could be a doctor’s office.”
We pass a hallway display case filled with elaborate bongs, waterpipes and glass pipes and enter a sanctum where two employees in black T-shirts serve customers weed from glass jars labelled with names such as Bio-Diesel, Ultimate ’91 ChemDawg and DJ Short’s Flo. They chat about Barack Obama’s victory, check ID, swipe credit cards. It’s all rather routine, even banal.
That is the point. Denver Relief, one of 500 medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, offers itself as testament to the fact you can openly, legally sell the drug without the sky falling or drugged zombies rampaging.
Which is just as well, because on the same day that Obama won another term, Colorado and Washington voted to legalise marijuana for recreational use, landmark decisions with profound implications for the decades-old, US-led “war on drugs“.
 
Complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/11/colorado-marijuana-law

 
“U.S. servicemen and women have been asked to bear an unthinkable burden in the past decade —  and the military has prescribed them whatever drugs they need to keep fighting. But it’s a different story when veterans come home,” said Daniel Robelo, research coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We arrest too many veterans for drug law violations and incarcerate them for too long, leaving them with criminal records that make it all but impossible to get a job, housing, education, and other services – often creating a vicious cycle of addiction and incarceration. We fail to take simple measures to prevent fatal overdoses, we deny proven treatments for addiction and dependence, and we allow the drug war to stand in the way of new and promising treatments for PTSD and other service-related conditions.”
 
Complete article:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/military-casualties/38218-drug-policy-alliance-releases-report-on-veterans-and-the-war-on-drugs-as-nation-commemorates-veterans-day.html

BY LENA BUTLER

 
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who opposed the medical marijuana proposal, said he was surprised by the amount of people supporting marijuana legalization. More than 500,000 residents voted for the legalization of marijuana and only about 390,000 votes cast for Obama, according to the Associated Press.
 
Complete article:
http://hometestingblog.testcountry.com/?p=22786

By FOX 12 Webstaff – email
 
VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) –
Washington voters approved an initiative to legalize marijuana and it’s going to get some drug possession suspects off the hook.
Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik said Friday that all misdemeanor marijuana charges involving suspects at least 21 years old will be dropped in the county.
The cases will be dropped when the new law is scheduled to take effect Dec. 6.
Clark County is following the lead of King County, where lawmakers announced 175 such cases would be called off.
The cases that will be canceled involve the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Charges against suspects under the age of 21 will still go forward, because the new law does not apply to them.
Initiative 502 passed 55 percent to 44 percent on Election Day.
Under the law, adults 21 years and older would be allowed to have up to an ounce of marijuana starting on Dec. 6, but you still aren’t allowed to light up in public.
 
Complete article:
http://www.kptv.com/story/20058679/clark-county-to-drop-marijuana-cases-due-to-new-law

NEW DELHI
 
What two American states, Washington and Colorado, have decided to do – legalize recreational use of marijuana – was the norm in India until 1985. All cannabisderivatives – marijuana (grass or ganja), hashish (charas) and bhang – were legally sold in this country. As a matter of fact, most state governments had their own retail shops to sell these drugs. India has known, consumed and celebrated ganja, charas and bhang for millennia.
Their consumption was never regarded as socially deviant behaviour any more than drinking alcohol was. If there was any bias against ganja or charas, it was that these were often viewed as the poor man’s intoxicant by the upper classes. But come Holi, these prejudices would melt away as rich and poor savoured the joyous high of bhang. Even now, despite a legal ban, recreational use of these drugs is widespread in India.
 
Complete article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/The-joint-campaign-Should-we-not-legalize-recreational-use-of-Cannabis/articleshow/17165613.cms
 

by Harry Dole
 
The countries of Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands have decriminalized the possession and personal use of cannabis in one way or another.  What effect has this had on their professional soccer organizations, which are the equivalent of American sports leagues?  Let’s take a closer look.
Since implementing decriminalization legislation, all three of the aforementioned European countries have had few, if any, high profile incidents involving professional athletes and marijuana use.  In fact, compared to narcotic incidents involving American professional and college athletes, marijuana is a non-issue in these European countries.  Certainly, from this perspective, it would appear that cannabis prohibition may lead to more problems than decriminalization.  European soccer is notorious for scandals involving game fixing.  There are very few scandals which involve illicit drug use by athletes.
Furthermore, all three European nations have had very successful national soccer programs.  Spain, who is the cream of the crop, won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro Cup.  Cristiano Ronaldo, who is arguably the best soccer player in the world, is Portuguese.  As for the Netherlands, their national team has been a perennial fixture on the international scene since Johan Cruyff was named the top player of the 1974 World Cup.
Relaxation of marijuana laws in Spain, Portugal and Holland has in no way hindered the performance of their athletes on the national and international stage.  In addition, the more permissive drug laws have not led to any noticeable increase in criminal activity by athletes from these nations.  By using the European model as a frame of reference, it can be surmised that legalization of marijuana would have no adverse affects on American athletes from a performance standpoint.
Complete article:
http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2012/11/09/how-will-the-legalization-of-marijuana-affect-the-sports-world/

Subodh Varma
 
NEW DELHI: The relationship betweenmankind and this graceful plant stretches back 5,000 years or more. Most ancient cultures have recorded its magical properties, ancient languages have names for it. Yet, cannabis is officially counted as a villain, its use banned in most countries.
Cannabis use is recorded in at least 163 countries comprising 90% of the world’s population. “It remains the most widely used illicit substance globally,” a UN report says. It estimates that 119 million-224 million adults used cannabis across the world, 2.6-5 % of the adult population, in 2010. The UN data underlines another aspect: Cannabis use is prevalent everywhere, from the South Pacific islands to Russian steppes, mining communities in the Canadian wilds to Brazilian favelas and from the Himalayas to the Congolese Blue Mountains. Oceania reported some of the highest cannabis use, between 9.1 and 14.6% of the adult population, followed by North America (10.8%), Western and Central Europe (7%) and West and Central Africa (5.2-13.5%). In Latin America, about 2.5% of the adult population used cannabis, while in Asia it was between 1 and 3.4%, an underestimate with China barely counted.
 
Complete article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Mankind-and-grass-go-back-5000-years/articleshow/17165592.cms

BOB ERB, left, seen here working on the Sportsplex construction in July 2007 says he’ll still continue working even though he’s now a $25 million lottery winner.
 
LOCAL MARIJUANA advocate Bob Erb can now boast another claim to fame: lottery winner.
Erb won $25 million of the $50 million Lotto Max drawn Nov. 2 and says it’s his first huge win after 43 years of buying tickets.
“It absolutely is [true]. And friggin’ unbelievable,” said Erb when called Nov. 9.
On his way down and back to  his dad’s funeral in Calgary, he stopped to gas up at several places including the Hazelton Chevron where he believes he bought the ticket.
He heard that one winner was in north central B.C. and thought it may be his ticket, he said.
It was an $11 ticket and he always buys a quick pick and an extra and he gets two draws for two weeks in a row, he said.
“In Hazelton, I got my mini dips as well. I take two consecutive draws and the extra on Lotto Max,” he said.
The price was $11 and the ticket wasn’t what he asked for, but he decided to keep it.
“He (cashier) was going to delete that one. I said ‘I might as well take it, it might be the one,’” said Erb.
Erb plans to give away money to the Hazelton Chevron where he thinks he bought his ticket and to Terrace soup kitchens, homeless shelters and others.
Erb, who ran for the BC Marijuana Party here in 2001 and for city council in that year’s municipal election, says the party will also get some money.
 
Complete article:
http://www.terracestandard.com/news/178184891.html

BY STEPHANIE KLEIN

The King County Prosecutor’s Office says it’ll dismiss all its misdemeanor marijuana possession cases because of the passage of I-502. (AP Photo)
 
The King County Prosecutor’s Office says it’ll immediately dismiss all of its misdemeanor marijuana possession cases because of the passage of I-502, legalizing marijuana possession of one ounce or less.
There are currently 175 cases currently filed or referred for filing with the county prosecutor’s office that involve someone who is 21-years-old or older, and who had an ounce or less.
Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg says it’s the right thing to do in light of the voters’ decision.
“Although the effective date of I-502 is not until December 6, there is no point in continuing to seek criminal penalties for conduct that will be legal next month,” Satterberg said.
Possessing an ounce or less of marijuana will become legal in Washington on Dec. 6.
 
Complete article:
http://mynorthwest.com/11/2124852/King-County-dropping-misdemeanor-marijuana-possession-cases
 

CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana is a long way from considering legalizing recreational marijuana as Colorado and Washington did this week, but key lawmakers from both parties plan to introduce measures next year that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug.
Democratic state Sen. Karen Tallian of Portage said Friday that she will again introduce a bill that would decriminalize possession of up to three ounces — about 85 grams — of marijuana. The bill received a Senate hearing this year but was not brought up for a vote. Tallian, however, said attitudes are changing even among her fellow lawmakers.
“Two or three years ago when I started talking about that it was, ‘You’re crazy,'” she said. “Now, it’s like: ‘I’m all right with that.’ I’ve gotten that from a lot of people. ‘I wouldn’t put my name on it but I’ll support you.'”
Complete article:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/2-Indiana-lawmakers-consider-pot-decriminalization-4024316.php