Marijuana legalization

expected to go to ballot in California

Opponents of a plan to legalize marijuana for personal possession in California have conceded that supporters of the measure are likely to get their proposal on a statewide ballot, the New York Times revealed in a longer story about possible legalization Wednesday.

California lawmakers are taking up a bill that would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, a first in the United States. Officials estimate the bill could bring in an additional $1.4 billion a year, a huge sum of money in a state bedeviled by financial woes.

While the “legislature is uncertain, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has indicated he would be open to a “robust debate” on the issue,” the Times wrote.

Perhaps equally important, the paper adds:

California voters are also taking up legalization. Three separate initiatives are being circulated for signatures to appear on the ballot next year, all of which would permit adults to possess marijuana for personal use and allow local governments to tax it. Even opponents of legalization suggest that an initiative is likely to qualify for a statewide vote.

All of us in the movement have had the feeling that we’ve been running into the wind for years,” said James P. Gray, a retired judge in Orange County who has been outspoken in support of legalization. “Now we sense we are running with the wind.”Proponents of the leading ballot initiative have collected nearly 300,000 signatures since late September, supporters say, easily on pace to qualify for the November 2010 general election. Richard Lee, a longtime marijuana activist who is behind the measure, says he has raised nearly $1 million to hire professionals to assist volunteers in gathering the signatures.

“Voters are ripping the petitions out of our hands,” Mr. Lee said.

Despite widespread support, however, the bill would almost certainly run into thorns with federal law, which classifies marijuana as an illegal substance. Some supporters are encouraged, though, by the Obama Administration’s announcement that they will not prosecute those involved in the medical marijuana trade.

Lee, the organizer, says he intends to spend $20 million on a campaign to win passage of the measure.

Numerous states have already decriminalized personal possession of small amounts of marijuana, though none have legalized it.

certified dealer education

California marijuana

legalization debate at Capitol

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// ]]>SACRAMENTO — Marijuana legalization advocates and law enforcement officials duked it out in a three-hour legislative hearing Wednesday on whether making the drug legal under state law would be good public policy.

Advocates said legalization and regulation could bring as much as $1.4 billion in state and local excise and sales tax revenue per year; control the drug’s potency; do more to keep it out of children’s hands; and end a centurylong double standard in which alcohol and tobacco — which they say are more harmful — are legal while marijuana isn’t, leading to a war on drugs particularly destructive to people of color.

Law enforcement officials testified the harms caused by marijuana legalization would far outweigh whatever tax revenue it might bring — more, not less, use by children; more people driving under the influence, causing more injuries and deaths; decreased worker productivity that could hurt the economy; and a still-thriving black market.

The hearing was convened by Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who earlier this year introduced a bill to legalize and tax marijuana under a system not unlike that used for alcohol. Even as several proposed ballot measures for legalization seek to qualify for next year’s ballot, Ammiano is rewriting his bill to bring it forward again in January, and Wednesday’s hearing was supposed to help him gather input for that revamp. First up Wednesday were the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which said state and local law enforcement could save “several tens of millions of dollars each year” by no longer pursuing marijuana cases, and the Board of Equalization, which has estimated $1.4 billion in annual revenue from taxes on legalized marijuana.

Then came the lawyers. Drug Policy Alliance staff attorney Tamar Todd and American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Allen Hopper testified California is free to criminalize or not criminalize whatever it wants, and can and should chart its own course as a laboratory for new social and economic policy.

But Martin Mayer, general counsel to the California Peace Officers’ Association and the California Police Chiefs Association, underscored there would be no protection from federal law enforcement agencies arresting, charging and prosecuting Californians for violating the federal marijuana ban.

California Peace Officers’ Association President John Standish said there’s “no way marijuana legalization could protect or promote society — in fact, it radically diminishes it” by impairing educational ability, worker productivity, traffic safety and drug-related crime rates.

Ammiano asked whether police resources now used to fight marijuana would be better spent fighting harder, more harmful drugs such as methamphetamine.

“That’s like, ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’”‰” Standish replied, calling marijuana and methamphetamine “both equally critical problems our society needs to address.”

Sara Simpson, acting assistant chief of the state Justice Department’s Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, said much of California’s major marijuana cultivation is run by Mexican drug cartels on remote public lands, and she recited a litany of violent and deadly clashes with armed guards at such sites. Such growing operations also are environmentally devastating, she said, and produce marijuana far more potent than that used just years ago. There’s no reason to believe the cartels would adhere to state laws on cultivation, potency and taxation any more than they adhere to prohibition now, she said.

Rosalie Pacula, co-director of the Drug Policy Research Center at renowned think-tank RAND Corp., said prohibition has kept marijuana prices high, and legalization with heavy taxation that elevates marijuana’s price far above the cost of its production will lead to a thriving black market.

But Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice Executive Director Dan Macallair said arrest statistics from the past 20 years show California law enforcement is far more focused on prosecuting simple possession and use than cultivation and sales. Various counties are more or less tolerant of marijuana use, he said, a lack of consistency and continuity that could be solved by regulation.

And retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray said the state can allow and regulate marijuana without condoning its use just like alcohol and tobacco, but any legalization legislation must ban advertising lest marijuana use become glamorized.

green flags rules will bring green flag compliance

 

Now that the Obama administration says it won’t arrest medical marijuana patients and suppliers who are following their own state laws, a Northern California congressman wants the same leeway for those who are already being prosecuted.

Currently, someone who’s charged in federal court with growing or selling marijuana can’t argue that he or she was just doing what’s allowed by the law of California or one of the 13 other states that recognize the medical use of cannabis. A bill introduced Tuesday by Rep. Sam Farr, D-Monterey, would change that.

Farr’s H.R. 3939 wouldn’t legalize medical marijuana under federal law. But it would require a not-guilty verdict if the defendant was complying with state law, even if a future presidential administration repealed the guidelines announced by Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month.

“This bipartisan bill is about compassion and states’ rights,” said Farr.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, a co-sponsor, said, “The federal government should never have overridden state law on this issue to begin with, and this legislation will prevent them from doing it again.”

It’s yet another attempt to get Congress to soften the federal law that prohibits all possession, cultivation and transfer of marijuana and has been used by successive administrations to go after medical pot suppliers in California.

A group of Democrats and libertarian Republicans has been trying for years to get the feds to lay off marijuana dispensaries and growers in states where they operate legally. They’ve been beaten back by law enforcement interests and presidential drug czars who argue that medical pot is a myth and a smokescreen for legalization.

Whether the Obama administration follows the same course remains to be seen.

In Sacramento, meanwhile, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s bill to legalize marijuana for personal use in California in being heard this morning before the Assembly Public Safety Committee. If the San Francisco Democrat’s AB390 becomes law, or voters approve any of the circulating legalization initiatives next November, get ready for another state-federal drug war.

Bob Egelko covers legal issues for The Chronicle. E-mail him at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

Posted By: Michael Collier (Email) | October 28 2009 at 11:33 AM

compliance brings privilege

Click here

to become

the official

marijuana dealer

for the

United States government

August 18, 8:31 AMCannabis Revolution ExaminerDev Meyers

The federal government “is soliciting organizations that can grow marijuana on a large scale, with the capability to prepare marijuana cigarettes and related products, distribute marijuana, marijuana cigarettes and cannabinoids, and other related products not only for research, but also for other government programs.” – reports Rachel Ehrenfeld of Forbes.com.

If you are interested in becoming the official marijuana dealer for the United States Government click here.

Does ObamaCare mean Pot Cigarettes for all of us?

Medical Marijuana Bibliography

My grandson the doctor….. is majoring in medical cannabis management – and he’s handsome too!

compliance brings privilege

A US newspaper says it has received well over 100 applicants for the post of marijuana critic – many of whom have offered to work for free.

The alternative Denver newspaper, Westword, is seeking a writer for its weekly review of Colorado’s booming medical marijuana dispensaries.

But there is a catch – candidates must have a medical ailment allowing them to enter a dispensary and use marijuana.

Fourteen US states now allow the sale of some sort of medical cannabis.

‘Stoned’

Compensation will be meagre – and no, we can’t expense your purchases Westword job posting

“Keep in mind this isn’t about assessing the quality of the medicine on site; it’s about evaluating the quality of the establishment,” says the Westword job posting.

“After all, we can’t have our reviewer be stoned all the time.”

States like Colorado and California, where medical use is legal, have seen an explosion in the number of pot shops – ranging from upmarket clinics to dingy drugs dens.

The dispensaries sell more than a dozen varieties, from White Widow to the less expensive Afghan Gold Seal. Some cost up to $360 (£219) an ounce.

But the writer of Westword’s Mile Highs and Lows column is expected to focus on the dispensaries, not the drugs.

“Compensation will be meagre,” says the posting. It says the paper can’t pay for marijuana purchases, “although that would be pretty cool.”

compliance brings privilege

kamala

make this the green flag rules for california

as the next attorney general

jerry

support these green flag rules

in your unofficial run for govenor

++++++++++++++++++++++++

amend the 2010 california attorney general

compassionate care guidelines to read:

make all compassionate care participants take

green flag rules compliance education training annually

like this dmv list of  schools for car dealer pre-licensing

make all caregivers hold a green flag rules license

like this dmv licensed salesperson required in the car sales industry

make all green flag caregivers post a bond

like this bond requirement for licensed car dealers

make all green flag caregivers submit fingerprints

like this fingerprint requirement for dmv licensed salespersons

make all green flag caregivers obtain local zoning approval

like this property use verification form from the dmv

green flag rules will generate green flag compliance

plus a whole network of folks

to monitor and teach green flag compliance

as a matter of fact

why not just add it to the dmv with special green flag funding

from obama and holder

a model green flag rules compliance program

for the nation to follow

you might need a willis to see which way this wind will blow

gina

green flag compliance = certified dealer

isnt it time for green flag compliance ???

http://www.cafepress.com/+got_weed_wall_clock,114544354

isnt it time for green flag compliance ???

October 21st, 2009 ·

From CalFreedom.net:

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday issued new guidelines telling prosecutors they “should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”  Below is a roundup of reactions from libertarians. At the end is a must-see video from Reason TV in which Drew Carey reports on the ongoing efforts of the Obama Justice Dept. to sentence Californian Charles Lynch to five years in prison for dispensing marijuana to the parents of a teenage cancer victim.

The Libertarian Party: This is a small step in the right direction. The federal government currently wastes tremendous resources in the War on Drugs, creating a huge, vicious, violent black market. This new policy will reduce the damage and destruction, and it will hopefully end some of the unjust prosecution of peaceful medical marijuana providers and patients.  The LP has long called for the repeal of laws that criminalize the medicinal or recreational use of drugs.

Article continues at CalFreedom.net

green flag compliance ++ we make it simple for you

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MARINA DEL REY, CA — 10/21/09 — Medical Marijuana, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) is currently offering Informational Seminars in Mendocino County, CA. These one hour seminars will culminate in an initial series of two day paid seminars beginning November 6 &7, 2009 at the Discovery Inn in Ukiah, California hosted by MMI CEO and King of Pot, Bruce Perlowin, who was featured in CNBC’s most watched television documentary “Marijuana Inc.”Among significant topics to be covered are clarification of State, City and County laws and ordinances governing Medical Marijuana collectives in regard to dispensaries and cultivation. This is tied into Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s transparent patent pending Tax Remittance and Closed Loop Inventory Tracking Systems to ensure total compliance. Also discussed are the cottage industries that will sprout from the core medical marijuana industry beyond cultivation and collectives; cannabis kitchens and bottling companies, testing facilities, distribution and logistics, delivery services, security and more.

REVENUE

The seminar series signals a significant new revenue stream for MMI as schedules will expand to the other 13 states where Medical Marijuana use is legal. In addition to the fees earned initially at the 2 day seminar, MJNA will continue to earn income as these attendees go on to open collectives and use the MJNA tax collection and tracking systems.

An additional revenue stream that MMI will offer is turnkey solutions to those interested in going on to the next step. Paramount to the turn key solution is the ability to cultivate. To that end, MMI will offer grow solutions in part or whole including hydroponic and airponic indoor systems and peripherals. MMI’s paid seminar attendees are likely to take advantage of in-house expertise and materials.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC.’S TURNKEY COLLECTIVE SOLUTION

Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s Turnkey Collective Solution ensures that collectives operate within the guidelines of all laws and regulations regarding the tracking of the marijuana from grow cycle to final distribution. By employing Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s closed loop tracking system, it can be shown to authorities and collectives alike that the source of their supply was an active member of the collective. Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s Regulatory Module provides officials with a comprehensive reporting tool that allows them to remotely audit the industry in real time to ensure regulations are being properly followed. This audit function can be performed online and remotely from the regulators desktop anywhere in the world, making the process more efficient and cost effective for governments to monitor and regulate the industry. Medical Marijuana, Inc. believes that tools to regulate the industry and collect tax revenue are necessary to gain nationwide acceptance and legalization of medical marijuana. Further, Medical Marijuana’s Tax Remittance Platform could not only cost-effectively implement the necessary infrastructure to collect on every sale made within city limits by licensed collectives and collect those taxes on a daily basis, but eliminate the cash problem by using a tax remittance, credit, debit, or proprietary card. The POS system automatically recognizes the collective’s tax ID number, state and local tax rates and then provides Automated Clearing House settlement of the taxes and routes the amount to the City’s appointed financial institution. Taxes can be collected on a daily basis, providing an economic windfall for the city of Los Angeles and any other municipality recognizing the advantages of this model.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System will provide verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The customers of the dispensary are issued a plastic debit card or medical revenue card. The ease of access to certifiably secure transactions lessens the risk of loss at each level of the transaction.

Internal Management

All collectives/dispensaries in the U.S. are cash businesses. This presents a number of challenges. Dispensary owners risk employee theft and possible competition for sales with unsupervised employees. Our stored value system also eliminates the legal and practical risks of carrying cash.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana, Inc. is developing a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. is the first public company to recognize the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

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Medical Pot: Don’t Forget the Pain

My Turn
By Diana L. Chapman

On the marijuana front – it’s so strange to say that because in my lifetime I never thought I’d be defending its use – I received e-mails from Santa Barbara to Arizona.

Defending pot was not one of my priorities – until I got sick.  Now I understand the need and chided two of our Los Angeles attorneys, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and  the County District Attorney Steven Cooley  last week for spending a fortune to start to seize and shut down outlets claiming they were illegal operations under federal law – even though the state has approved it. Those who emailed ran the gamut, complaining that dispensaries handed out marijuana willy-nilly or others contended it should be legalized  to cut down on illegal sales in the brutal drug world.

Both points are valid.

So I need to make this clear – I only defend the herb’s legalization for medicinal reasons which I wrote about in one of my earlier CityWatch column.   I know what it means to be attacked by a chronic illness and why some would want to use the herb to reduce debilitating symptoms that box them around daily.

President Barack Obama last week unofficially told federal prosecutors and agents to back off the dispensaries that are legally dispensing under state laws.

Meanwhile, our local attorneys continue to wage a campaign against the number of pot outlets, somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 plus in Los Angeles County – and are working to shut them down. I argued  that they need to be concerned about those who need it. Santa Barbara resident Sharon Byrne e-mailed that “You missed the point why they are cracking down.”

A few emails later, we realized that somewhere in the middle lies the truth. For Sharon, an endless number of such dispensaries opened in her area and what’s driving her crazy are the youth bringing pot to school, telling administrators that it’s legal. Some are hanging out at dispensaries.

“Clearly, our dispensaries are not all about serving compassionate intent,” she wrote.

“We had a ‘marijuana mile’ march here three weeks ago, and we walked past seven dispensaries within one mile. At one of the dispensaries, the people working there littered the sidewalk with pro-pot flyers, and handed them to the kids and marchers as we passed. I thought it odd that they didn’t mention compassion, or the number of patients with dreaded diseases they’ve helped. No, they were simply pushing pot, and it is this I have a problem with.

“It’s unfortunate, but in the case of Los Angeles, and here in my hometown of Santa Barbara, dispensaries that promote recreational use do bring crime to their area,” she added. “There were 16 armed robberies at dispensaries in Los Angeles last month, and an armed extortion at a dispensary here. Cities are correct in watching out for their residents and nearby businesses if dispensaries opening in their vicinity cause issues.”

My Long Beach friend reported the opposite reaction to two marijuana outlets, that took over run-down liquor stores that often brought crime to her neighborhood. The marijuana dispensaries opened, fixed up the buildings and cleaned up the neighborhood, she said. As far as she concerned, it was refreshing.

The legalization of the drug makes complete sense, if you ask one Los Angeles attorney, who worked as a former probation officer. It’s the only way, he believes, to win against the mafia and gang members who sell these drugs underground – and make a fortune.

He further debated the wasteful spending that goes into prosecuting those caught with marijuana.

The attorney, who asked not to be named, currently represents a homeless man who had less than .06 of an ounce of marijuana – which was prescribed to sooth his mental illness. To prosecute him, the city ran up charges of $10,000, which points out the futility, the attorney said, when the real war is with the illegal drug trade.

“I only have two criminal cases right now,” he emailed. “One is a drug case for .06 ounces  of hash for a schizophrenic homeless person who had a medical Marijuana letter. The city and county has spent over $10,000 on this case if you add up the time of the courts, the Twin Towers, the DA.”

He added he was pleased that Los Angeles Judge James C. Chalfant struck down the city’s ban on new medical marijuana centers last week, citing that the city used an expired ordinance and failed to follow state laws.

“It is nice to hear that some law enforcement officers realize that the income from drugs benefits organized crime,” he continued. “Gangs like MS-13 are no longer mere gangs as we know gangs.  They are international crime syndicates, and Carmen T wants to help them keep their drug profits high.

When push comes to shove, Carmen T places his time and energy into supporting the profits of organized crime and does nothing to help kids. Make no mistake about it.   LA’s new war on pot will have one definite effect  — protecting the profits of organized crime.”

On one side of the coin (Oh, I love clichés), we are in the year 2009 – and conservatives need to accept that this plant has improved the life of those struck down with diseases. On the other side, eager entrepreneurs and those interested in having a free-for all use of the drug for fun need to get their feet planted firmly to the ground.

We need to make it a law that marijuana can only be used with a legal prescription to fix the current blurry lines of the laws that exist. Currently, a person only needs only a letter of recommendation.

Trutanich  and Cooley undergoing this war seems extraordinary considering the scores of much uglier issues that Los Angeles faces, such as foster children being murdered. Where are those attorneys to protect those children? I want to know.

To top it all, one resident in Arizona wrote thanking me for the defense for those who are ill.

”Thanks for such an insightful look into the benefits of marijuana use for medicinal purposes,” the writer emailed, asking not to be identified. “As a two-time cancer treatment patient, (once in 2001 and again in 2007) I don’t think anyone has any idea what we go through with the nausea thing.

“This last time around, surgery was not an option for me so the cancer had to be eradicated solely with chemo and radiation.  It wasn’t pleasant considering the tumor was at the base of my tongue.  My entire mouth, tongue, gums, throat and cheeks were burnt and swollen.  I lost almost 60 lbs.

We don’t have to mention pain, do we?”

(Diana L. Chapman was a journalist for 15 years with the Daily Breeze and the San Diego Union. She can be reached at

hartchap@cox.netorvisit

certified dealer education

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