420 Policies and Laws

[Nuusku]

Oh you!

[Faylool]

I knew it!

[BadAxe]

Not sure if this link ever got posted in this thread. But the National Cancer Society has finally admitted to MJ helping heal certain types of cancer. Should help make some believers out of those that will only believe it from official sources.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/51148243/n...-reports-adsi/

[Crow]

The Federal government appears to be preparing for a transition (rescheduling perhaps?). I could be wrong, but I certainly hope that's the case. It appears promising at face-value.

Thanks for sharing the link

[Crow]

I forgot to post this one... Another significant piece:

Most Americans Want Legal Marijuana



by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director

For the first time since they began polling the question four decades ago, Pew Research Polling has released new survey data that reveals 52% of Americans want marijuana to be legalized. Only 45% were opposed.

This support is spread across demographics. The Baby Boomers (50%), Generation X (54%), and Millenials (65%) all have majority support for legalization. The only age demographic that remains opposed is the Silent Generation, those born before 1942, though support in this age group has also significantly increased. 32% of this age group now support legalization, up from 17% in 2002.

According to this polling data, most Americans have also tried marijuana personally. 48% of respondents answered affirmatively when asked if they consume marijuana, up from 38% about a decade ago.

Not only are Americans becoming more supportive of legalization, but there has been a dramatic change in how Americans view marijuana use. In 2006, Pew Research found that 50% of Americans believed smoking marijuana was “morally wrong” and only 35% did not think it was a moral issue. Today these numbers have completely flipped, 50% of Americans responded in this latest survey that using marijuana is not a moral issue and only 32% stated it was morally wrong.

60% of Americans across all political orientations also believe the federal government should not enforce federal marijuana laws in states that legalize it. 57% of Republicans, 59% of Democrats, and 64% of Independents believe the federal government should leave states like Washington and Colorado alone.

You can view the full results of this survey here.

[Crow]

"With new momentum to legalize, pot backers aim high"

This one made the front page of the Windows 8 Start screen



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From McClatchy:



WASHINGTON — As one of the nation’s top marijuana lobbyists, Allen St. Pierre has come to believe in his product, which is why he tries to smoke high-potency, one-toke weed every night if possible.

It’s an experience that St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, commonly known as NORML, hopes more Americans will soon enjoy, with no fear of prosecution.

After working for marijuana legalization for 23 years, St. Pierre said he pinches himself every day as he watches events unfold across the United States.

Since 1996, 18 states have approved marijuana for use as medicine. But lobbyists scored their top achievement in a generation in November, when voters in Washington state and Colorado approved the recreational use by adults. Thirteen states have decriminalized the possession of marijuana, removing the possibility of jail time.

Now, in a flurry of new momentum, pro-marijuana bills have been introduced in 27 statehouses this year. Nine would tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol, while the others would allow more states to lessen penalties or to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

On the recreational front, lobbyists expect to prevail at the ballot box again, possibly first with Alaska voters next year. And they’re eyeing the biggest prize of all: California, along with others, in 2016.

On Thursday, a new poll by the Pew Research Center showed that for the first time a majority of Americans now favor legal pot. On Capitol Hill, a few dozen Democrats send representatives to study-group meetings to figure out how to move pro-legalization bills introduced in February. And with spring here, the One-Hitters, a team of marijuana reformers, are ready for another season in Washington’s Congressional Softball League, where they’ll play ball against elected leaders.

For St. Pierre, who recalls when he felt like an outcast in Washington, it adds up to one indisputable fact: Marijuana has gone mainstream, and the legalization push has grown so powerful that it will be hard to stop.


“The genie’s out of the bottle,” he said, sitting at his desk next to a plastic pot plant, just two blocks from the White House.

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Source (Continued)

[Crow]

From yesterday...

Kentucky Industrial Hemp Legislation Becomes Law Without Governor’s Signature

by Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director

On Friday, April 5th, Governor Steve Beshear of Kentucky stated that he will let Kentucky’s industrial hemp measure become law without his signature. Gov. Beshear had expressed concerns that marijuana growers could hide their illegal growing operations with hemp plants. Despite his concerns, he allowed the measure to become law without his signature and did not veto the legislation.

House and Senate lawmakers passed an amended version of Senate Bill 50, “An Act relating to industrial hemp”, in March during the final hours of the 2013 legislative session. Noting that “public pressure to pass the bill helped achieve the last-minute deal.”

After the bills approval by the state legislature, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer stated that “by passing this bill, the General Assembly has signaled that Kentucky is serious about restoring industrial hemp production to the commonwealth and doing it in the right way. That will give Kentucky’s congressional delegation more leverage when they seek a federal waiver allowing Kentucky farmers to grow hemp.”

Kentucky is now the ninth state to have passed a law allowing for farmers to cultivate industrial hemp. Hemp cultivation is still prohibited by the federal government, so until the feds alter their current policy, it is unlikely that Kentucky farmers will begin to grow this crop. Of the eight states who previously approved industrial hemp legislation, only Hawaii has received a federal waiver allowing them to grow an acre of hemp for research purposes.

Federal legislation, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana is currently pending in the US Senate and House of Representatives and has been sponsored by prominent politicians such as Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. You can click here to write your federal officials in support of this legislation.

[Burnsey]

I had forgotten about the industrial application of the plant....we used to refer to "smoking rope" back in the day. lol

[Crow]

I had forgotten about the industrial application of the plant....we used to refer to "smoking rope" back in the day. lol

Practical: Like our regular Civita Day Pack, it's surprisingly roomy (13" x 10" x 7", over 900 cubic inches), featuring three zippered compartments, a pair of padded straps, and two side water bottle pockets (hemp, not mesh)

Innocent: Take care, this bag is not the least bit waterproof. And don’t try smoking one. It's not that kind of hemp.

Available at RickSteves.com

[phantom]

Back in my day we bought Lids and Match boxes.

[wa3zrm]

(It's Come to This ...) Vet Wants to Legalize Pot for Dogs


Vet Wants to Legalize Pot for Dogs
Polls show the majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, but should dogs have it too? It sounds crackpot, but Veterinarian Doug Kramer thinks that the THC in marijuana could help dogs and other pets with painful conditions that don't respond to other treatments. VICE chatted with Kramer about his pot-for-pets campaign.
"A client first brought it to my attention," Kramer told VICE. "She had a pet that was not responding well to any of the pain medications or the steroids that we were giving it, and she wanted to talk about getting medical marijuana."
Some vets dismissed the idea, but Kramer was open to trying it.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...

[Crow]

(It's Come to This ...) Vet Wants to Legalize Pot for Dogs


Vet Wants to Legalize Pot for Dogs
Polls show the majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, but should dogs have it too? It sounds crackpot, but Veterinarian Doug Kramer thinks that the THC in marijuana could help dogs and other pets with painful conditions that don't respond to other treatments. VICE chatted with Kramer about his pot-for-pets campaign.
"A client first brought it to my attention," Kramer told VICE. "She had a pet that was not responding well to any of the pain medications or the steroids that we were giving it, and she wanted to talk about getting medical marijuana."
Some vets dismissed the idea, but Kramer was open to trying it.

(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...

Snusdog approves (and the crow approves too).

Love the GIF! .............and the bit you added, "It's Come To This..."

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From the source posted:

VICE: How did you first think to treat sick pups with pot?

Dr. Kramer: A client first brought it to my attention. She was a bit eccentric, but she was a very intelligent woman. She had a pet that was not responding well to any of the pain medications or the steroids that we were giving it, and she wanted to talk about getting medical marijuana. The other vets at the practice were pretty dismissive, but she saw that I was willing to listen.

I read somewhere that at some point your dog, Nikita, was diagnosed with untreatable cancer. You had tried pretty much everything, right?
She had gone through all of the traditional pain medications, even steroids. When it became clear that she was nearing the end, that’s when she had nothing to lose, as long as it didn’t hurt her. At the first dosage, she was up and around. I didn’t cure her. It was just a question of increasing her quality of life and putting off inevitably euthanizing her.

What’s your preferred method of administering THC to dogs?
A glycerin tincture is, to me, by far the optimal way to do it because it offers the greatest accuracy in dosing. It’s also sweet tasting. Obviously you can make it into butter or oil, so anything that you can cook or make with butter or oil would work, like homemade dog biscuits.

Would you recommend the use of medical-marijuana by-products on other pets, like cats?
We’re using it on cats as much, if not more [than on dogs], as an appetite stimulant. Cats are finicky, especially when they’re really sick. Any animal that has the cannabinoid receptors would respond [to THC] the same way we do. There are studies out there that show that pigs, chickens, monkeys, and rats all have those same receptors.

I’ve known people who have blown smoke in their dogs’ faces to get them high. That’s not cool, right?
To me, it’s animal abuse, really. It kills me because it devalues what I’m trying to do. Especially in the early stages, starting the dialogue with veterinary medicine, the last thing you want is for people to do that. The dog doesn’t need the medication in that situation.

[BadAxe]

Hey Crow, a question occurred to me over the weekend that I had not thought about. Not sure if you know the answer. In the 2 states that went recreationally legal, what are the advertising rules. Will it be like cigs, legal but not legal to advertise on TV or in print, or will it be treated like alcohol, with advertising being legal? I think weed commercials would be freaking cool. lol.

[Crow]

Hey Crow, a question occurred to me over the weekend that I had not thought about. Not sure if you know the answer. In the 2 states that went recreationally legal, what are the advertising rules. Will it be like cigs, legal but not legal to advertise on TV or in print, or will it be treated like alcohol, with advertising being legal? I think weed commercials would be freaking cool. lol.

No advertising.

There will be state-licenced stores that sell cannabis, but no, they can't advertise their "Purple Candy". It will be very discreet.

[BadAxe]

No advertising.

There will be state-licenced stores that sell cannabis, but no, they can't advertise their "Purple Candy". It will be very discreet.

Thats not right. If Alcohol can be advertised, weed should be too. Will be interesting when it becomes federally legal, how they handle the advertising aspect of it. I mean, I can see people jumping to the "It needs to be treated like cigs" because of the smoking aspect of it. But since facts are facts, and there are very little health detriments to it, I can't see why, if legal in all states, how they could prevent advertising. Every other legal product can advertise.