cannabisnews.com: What's Next for Marijuana Reform?

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  What's Next for Marijuana Reform?

Posted by CN Staff on January 07, 2010 at 08:30:02 PT
By Richard Evans and Steven Epstein 
Source: Metrowest Daily News 

Massachusetts -- New Year's Day marked the first anniversary of marijuana decriminalization in the Commonwealth. The statistics aren't in yet, and when they emerge different spins will be put on the impact of the new law. However, a glance out the window assures us that the sky hasn't fallen, despite the warnings of the 2008 initiative's shrillest critics, mostly self-serving career "public servants."To their great credit, 65 percent of our fellow citizens saw through the old bromides and found the courage to declare that we gain nothing by wrecking people's lives for small amounts of pot, and we can't afford to waste scarce law enforcement resources that ought to be focused on real, predatory, crime.
But that was last year. What's next?Nationally, all eyes are on California, where an initiative is headed to the November 2010 ballot that would allow localities to control, tax and regulate marijuana cultivation, distribution and sales. Organizers have collected well over the required signatures, assuring them of a place on the ballot. The most recent Field poll puts voter support at 56 percent.If the initiative passes, it will not legalize marijuana; rather, it will merely repeal the state prohibition laws, leaving marijuana illegal under federal law. Thus California voters will have deftly ceded sole responsibility and burden of suppressing marijuana to federal authorities.A splendid kerfuffle will erupt. Prohibitionists will howl about a federal-state "conflict," and maybe even a "constitutional crisis,' but it will be no such thing. There's very solid historical and legal precedent for this state of affairs.In 1923, three years after alcohol prohibition went into effect under both federal law and the law of most states, New York repealed its prohibition laws, and for the remaining 10 years of Prohibition, only the "feds" pounded on speakeasy doors. Notably, New York City escaped much of the prohibition-related crime and violence that plagued other large cities, like Chicago and Detroit.Bills to legalize, regulate and tax the cannabis industry at the statewide level have been introduced in California, Washington and New Hampshire (and Massachusetts, if you include a petition from one of the authors). A special commission of the Rhode Island Senate is now studying the efficacy of marijuana prohibition and the options for significant reform. Expect a bill to be introduced there too.As three-quarters of the states now face a serious fiscal crisis, and the search for new taxes and economic opportunities intensifies, turning our collective back on the revenue prospect of a taxed, regulated cannabis market, and the jobs that it and a liberated hemp industry would produce, seems imprudent and irresponsible.Marijuana prohibition, in short, is a luxury taxpayers can no longer afford.In Massachusetts, there is no expectation that the legislature will join the mix, as marijuana law reform has long been perceived as the third rail of politics: touch it and you're dead. Why that perception endures after fully 65 percent of voters declared their support for decriminalization, representing 349 cities and towns out of 351, is baffling.When politicians shrink from an issue, citizens must lead, as they proudly did in the abolition of slavery, ending the Vietnam war, and, in Massachusetts, with marijuana in 2008. By passing the initiative, voters not only protected families from unnecessary entanglement in the criminal justice system, and stopped wasting law enforcement resources, but legitimized debate on this subject.No living person is responsible for inventing marijuana prohibition. It was conceived almost 100 years ago in a cultural and racial climate very different from our own, and very different from that to which we aspire. Prohibition's collapse is unstoppable. Preparing to replace it will be the test of leadership in the new decade.Richard Evans practices law in Northampton and maintains the website, www.cantaxreg.com. Steven Epstein practices in Georgetown, and is active with the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)Author: Steven S. Epstein and Dr. Keith SaundersPublished: January 7, 2010Copyright: 2010 MetroWest Daily NewsContact: mdnletters cnc.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/ZxKFOKGkWebsite: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #10 posted by josephlacerenza on January 25, 2010 at 18:28:14 PT

oops, Sorry MMGA!
FoM, I posted a piece on the 7th January 2010 11:01:06 PT and was asked to state that I am not testing for MMGA, that they are only brokers in the cannabis industry. If you could delete my post it would help me a bunch!!Joe
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Comment #9 posted by Sam Adams on January 07, 2010 at 23:17:44 PT

3rd rail
"touch it and you're dead" is becuase Big Pharma is paying thousands to the legislators.  the police unions too.who would want to take money from the police unions & then change your mind? 
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Comment #8 posted by EAH on January 07, 2010 at 21:38:38 PT:

Send the politicians MONEY
"In Massachusetts, there is no expectation that the legislature will join the mix, as marijuana law reform has long been perceived as the third rail of politics: touch it and you're dead. Why that perception endures after fully 65 percent of voters declared their support for decriminalization, representing 349 cities and towns out of 351, is baffling."The downside may be fading, but no upside has emerged. At least not one the our dumb politicians can grasp. Upside to politicians is money. In the the form of campaign contributions. Or lavish parties, etc.To end prohibition advocates are going to have to started sending fat wads of cash to politicians. They will suddenly understand, I guarantee it.
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on January 07, 2010 at 17:15:41 PT

US CO: Legislators: Pot law needed
Legislators: Pot law neededBoulder County legislators seem to agree that there is a need for legislation to bring more order to the medical marijuana industry in Colorado.But they also told Boulder Weekly that they have not examined the issue closely, so they stop short of offering an opinion on exactly how that should be done.“I think it’s here to stay, and we have to deal with it,” Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, says. “To the extent that we can make it safer and more honest, we should do what we can.”Pommer says the industry needs more structure, explaining that there is a process for legally pursuing someone who sells a faulty prescription drug, but not someone who sells bad marijuana.Webpage: http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-1003-police-leave-ransom-note-for-pot-plants-nab-alleged-grower.html
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on January 07, 2010 at 17:07:58 PT

What's Next for Marijuana Prohibitionists?
US FL: Police leave ransom note for pot plants, nab alleged grower  
 
Webpage: http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-1003-police-leave-ransom-note-for-pot-plants-nab-alleged-grower.htmlPubdate: 7 Jan 2009Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)MARATHON, Fla. — After a citizen's tip led undercover detectives to six large marijuana plants growing in a wooded lot in the Florida Keys, police half-jokingly left a phone number and ransom note. 
"Thanks for the grow! You want them back? Call for the price ... We'll talk."Ten minutes later, the phone rang.Steven Locascio, 48, negotiated $200 to get his six-foot-tall plants back and arranged a meeting place, authorities say."He's got to win one of America's dumbest criminal awards," said Monroe County, Fla., Sheriff's Col. Rick Ramsay. "The plants were worth about $1,000 each. So he probably thought it was a good deal."The undercover detectives loaded the plants into a pickup truck and met Locascio, who handed over the cash — and was arrested.Cont:
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on January 07, 2010 at 16:41:32 PT:

The Knights of Ni...a.k.a the prohibs
...Prohibitionists will howl about a federal-state "conflict," and maybe even a "constitutional crisis,' but it will be no such thing. There's very solid historical and legal precedent for this state of affairs. (Emphasis mine - k.)Oh, how I love that word! 'Prohibitionists'...as in 'prohibition'...as in an historically verifiable abject failure in social engineering. At once it b*tch-slaps both policy and supporters of it as fools incapable of learning from history.And as to the reaction the word prompts among prohibs? I offer this humorous little gem: http://tinyurl.com/3bbmukNo, prohibs don't like to be called 'prohibitionists' at all...and their reaction can be equally humorous to observe.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 07, 2010 at 16:02:52 PT

Book of The Times: The Harvard Psychedelic Club
January 7, 2010URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/books/08book.html
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Comment #3 posted by Cheebs1 on January 07, 2010 at 11:33:39 PT:

Not Hard to Understand
In Massachusetts, there is no expectation that the legislature will join the mix, as marijuana law reform has long been perceived as the third rail of politics: touch it and you're dead. Why that perception endures after fully 65 percent of voters declared their support for decriminalization, representing 349 cities and towns out of 351, is baffling.The only thing that is hard to understand about this is why journalism and main stream media end their observations with this statement. The will of the people doesn't matter with politicians what matters with them is the corporate fascism they propagate. They only worry what the corporate masters and other higher ranking politicians will think of them. All any reporter should have to do is take off the blinders and look at around at reality and ask this question, "Is the America that shows it's face to the world and the America that carries out it's day to day business the same"? Ask that question and answer it honestly and you will start to understand.Peace, Love, and Pot
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on January 07, 2010 at 08:46:54 PT

"Why that perception endures.... "
Where there are payoffs there will be enduring perceptions!
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