In a groundbreaking move, Colorado and Washington voters have passed referendums legalizing marijuana for recreational use. The drug is still banned under federal law.
Colorado’s Proposition 64 to the state’s constitution makes it legal for anyone over the age of 21 to possess marijuana and for businesses to sell it.
 
Complete article:
http://gma.yahoo.com/colorado–washington-become-first-states-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana.html

Patricia Spottedcrow sold $31 in marijuana to an informant and received 12 years in prison.
She was one of women profiled in the series that investigated why Oklahoma is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the number of women in prison.
The state incarcerates 134 women per 100,000 residents, compared to the national average of 69 per 100,000, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. While the number of women entering Oklahoma’s prisons each year has remained somewhat stable in recent years – 1,284 in 2009 – the number of women in the system has grown to a high for the decade as tougher sentencing laws have passed.
The cost to taxpayers is high, up to $43 per inmate per day at one facility. Meanwhile, experts say the children of female prisoners are at risk to continue the cycle.
In 2011, the Tulsa World partnered with Oklahoma Watch — an independent, non-profit investigative reporting team — to explore the issue of female incarceration.
 
Complete  article:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/continuingcoverage/default.aspx/Women_In_Prison/15

John Cotter, 

By John Froehling
Here’s an issue that will not appear on the ballot Tuesday as a referendum question but involves legislation that passed the Illinois Senate and stalled in the House: medical marijuana. Consider:
–An Illinois man in hospice care seven years ago now looks forward to walking his daughter down the aisle for her wedding. Diagnosed with six months or less to live for hospice care, he tried smoking marijuana. It relieved nausea and vomiting, as well as stimulated his appetite. He began to eat more and was able keep the food down. He regained his strength and stopped taking medications with awful side effects.
–A businessman moved to Canton from another state that had legalized marijuana for medical purposes. His wife uses cannabis for relief from Crohn’s disease, and he uses it for cramps and anxiety. They thought Illinois would pass a law soon legalizing marijuana for medical purposes like 17 other states have done. They are still waiting.
–A reverend who formerly directed Protestants for a Common Good, a faith-based advocacy group for the legalization of medical marijuana in Illinois, notes a restrictive bill passed by the Illinois Senate over two years ago awaits House action. If nothing is done, House Bill 30 sunsets after three years. The faith-based group supports HB 30 as “a matter of compassion and mercy,” he says.
 
Complete article:
http://www.geneseorepublic.com/article/20121105/NEWS/121109652

By Hunter Holliman, Americans for Safe Access
 
Just 2 days until election night and there are still ways you can help make safe access a reality in Arkansas! Below is a list of 5 things you can do (not including voting of course) …
1. Be Visible: Polling outreach

• On Monday Nov 5th, take your signs and flyers and display them with pride 150 feet from your local court house, either from 8:30-10:30 am or 12:30-1:30 and/or 4:30 to 6:30 pm
• On Tuesday Nov 6th, bring out your signs and banners to hold them 150 feet from your local polling location

2. Public outreach:  College Campus or Public places (shopping centers etc)

• Download flyers here, grab a friend and take them to your local college campus  or public space and hand them out on Monday.

3. Be Heard: Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Click here to send a letter to local paper!
4. Phone outreach: Help us reach likely voters by signing up to phone bank starting Saturday.

• It’s uper easy to sign up! Click here and get started right away!

5. Tell all your friends to vote: Email, call, post on Facebook on Monday and Tuesday. Don’t forget to vote!
Yellow Cab will give you a free ride to and from polls by calling 501-222-2222 on election day
Thanks for helping Get Out the Voye on Issue 5, and please email me if you’re interested in signs, banners, or phone banking … hunter@safeaccessnow.org
 
http://www.theweedblog.com/how-you-can-help-bring-medical-marijuana-to-arkansas-in-the-next-3-days/

HELENA – Since Lori Burnam’s medical marijuana supply dried up, her weight has dropped from 74 to 69 pounds and her glaucoma has worsened to the point where she has undergone emergency treatment to relieve the pressure on her eyes.
The marijuana had kept the glaucoma in check for the 66-year-old Hamilton resident with lung cancer. It helped her appetite and stopped her nausea. But her supply has been rationed for much of this year because of the uncertainty brought by a restrictive medical marijuana law and the back-and-forth court rulings dealing with it.
The fate of that law is now in the hands of voters, who will be asked Tuesday to ratify or repeal the new restrictions. Their decision may determine how Burnam lives out her last days, she said.
“They’ll write me out morphine and Oxycontin (prescriptions), but I don’t want to be a zombie,” Burnam said. “There will be a point of time where I will be like that, but now I want to enjoy the time I have left.”
 
Complete article:
http://www.ravallirepublic.com/news/state-and-regional/article_947aae61-eff7-5571-b29d-2906fcf941c7.html

In November 2007, Eureka Springs voters passed an ordinance directing police and prosecutors to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a low law-enforcement priority. Under Arkansas law, such possession is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
At that time this ordinance made the news everywhere, even though it had no effect in actual law or practice and was basically a symbolic gesture by the people of the city toward law enforcement — a way of saying, “Enforcement of this law is not as important to us as many other things you might be spending your law-enforcement monies on. Please do those things instead.”
In the ensuing years, both city and county law enforcement have gone on about their work against the evils of pot, on foot and by helicopter, busting those involved in the distribution and use of a plant that grows out of the ground like tomatoes or summer squash. Last weekend’s sting operation that landed a number of our residents in jail is the most recent case.
There are those situations in life where one’s vices are not worth the price they cost: Smoke cigarettes and you end up dying from cancer or emphysema, all in exchange for the pleasure of a smoke. Drink too much too often and your health is ruined, not to mention the rest of your life. Gamble, fornicate, cheat, lie — it all catches up with you.
The medical statistics on marijuana use are readily available and will not be repeated here yet again. To be blunt, marijuana use is not in the same category as anything else mentioned in this editorial — which is to say, it won’t destroy your health. Only your finances and police record, if they catch you and put you into the System. It’s a money-maker and not just for the people selling it.
The fact medical marijuana is on the November ballot is a good thing, a step in the right direction on the continuum of “weed as devil” to “weed as harmless recreation.” But the November ballot won’t help those who genuinely feel that use of this plant — far less harmful than any of the other vices listed above (if at all) — ought to be as accessible as anything else we buy every day at the corner store.
 
Complete article:
http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1896137.html

Dr. John Schwarz – Harold Brown Professor of Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology
 
Being a physicist, not a physician, I don’t usually comment on issues in medical science. But I can no longer remain silent while people in my family and profession run the risk of federal arrest so that they can follow the recommendations of their doctors. Medical marijuana offers relief to people I care about, yet it remains illegal in the view of the United States government.
Aside from my personal stake in this issue, my professional experience has led me to ask the most obvious question a scientist could ask: Why hasn’t the long-running controversy over medical marijuana been resolved using science?
 
Complete article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-john-schwarz/medical-marijuana_b_2050358.html

 
What is Lady Gaga‘s Halloween costume this year??? Well it appears she’s dressing up as some sort of Marijuana Queen. Check out her gold crown, complete with pot leaves and everything.
Lady Gaga openly expresses her love for Marijuana. Just last month Gaga smoked a joint on stage in front of thousands at her concert in Amsterdam.
 
Complete article:
http://www.starzuncut.com/2012/10/31/lady-gagas-halloween-costume-the-marijuana-queen/

 
WHAT? Rihanna dresses up in a (creative?) marijuana costume for this years Halloween, I guess people are trying to push as hard as they can to legalize weed.
 
Complete article:
http://trillerthanmost.com/rihanna-dresses-as-a-marijuana-plant-for-halloween/