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Weed's Legal in CA, but Activists Fear Battle 
Posted by CN Staff on December 01, 2016 at 09:29:42 PT
By Patrick McGreevy
Source: Los Angeles Times
California -- Backers of laws allowing marijuana use in California are girding for a possible political and legal battle against President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, a staunch foe of pot legalization.Marijuana industry leaders in the state and around the U.S. have launched an opposition campaign to the Senate confirmation of the Republican senator from Alabama and are appealing to the Trump camp to make sure the president-elect’s policies are consistent with his campaign comments that he favors allowing states to decide how to enforce marijuana laws.
“We are very concerned, because Sen. Sessions has a strong record of opposition to marijuana reform,” said Bill Piper, a senior director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national legalization group that supported California’s Proposition 64, which legalizes recreational use of marijuana.Sessions said at a legislative hearing in April that “good people don’t smoke marijuana,” a drug that he said is “dangerous.” He went on to say, “We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized.” Such talk has Garden Grove pot dispensary operator Christopher Kim uneasy.“It bothers me quite a bit,” Kim said of Trump’s selection of Sessions. “I believed Trump when he said he was going to leave everything to the states. Now appointing the senator as attorney general is a huge, huge step backwards.”Six hundred miles north in Humboldt County, Beth Allen, who runs a small marijuana farm, said she too is nervous about Trump’s choice and is uncertain about the future.“It’s not good,” she said of the pick. “When you start taking away liberties that are already in place, there will be pushback.”Marijuana remains an illegal drug under federal law, and industry leaders and some elected officials fear Sessions might repeal a policy directive from the Department of Justice that has prevented enforcement in the states, or take California to court and argue that federal law preempts state legalization measures.If that happens, there will be a fight, supporters say."California voters supported legalization by a historic and overwhelming margin, and their elected leaders are not going to stand aside and allow the senator from Alabama to turn back California’s clock,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a leading proponent of Proposition 64.Besides California, recreational use of marijuana has been legalized by state voters in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine, with the last three states approving it Nov. 8.Opponents of Proposition 64 are encouraging Sessions to reverse the federal policy that has allowed states to legalize and regulate recreational use without federal enforcement.“The issue is really as simple as stating that federal law is, in fact, the law of the land and will be enforced across the entire nation,” said Kevin Sabet, president of the opposition group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.Sabet’s group has urged Sessions to send a letter to the governors of states that have legalized pot use and notify them that issuing licenses for marijuana sales is a violation of the Controlled Substances Act. Sabet suggested the states be given six months to roll back their regulations before enforcement begins.California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris is moving soon to the U.S. Senate, but her state staff is keeping an eye on the issue.“The office will monitor the situation and any potential changes to federal enforcement policy,” said David Beltran, a spokesman for the attorney general.However, supporters of Proposition 64 said they believe the state would be obliged to defend the measure if it is challenged in court.“We would expect a very, very strong pushback from the state, because the reality is it’s a public safety issue,” said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn. “They have decriminalized a product, so if you don’t allow any sort of regulation in place for people to access that product, the underground market is only going to grow.”Bob Hoban, an attorney and marijuana industry consultant, said Trump’s selection of Sessions is “alarming,” but he is hopeful that Trump will keep the federal government’s hands off the states.A series of court challenges to Colorado’s law have been dismissed, and the Supreme Court in March declined to hear a lawsuit by neighboring states Oklahoma and Nebraska, Hoban said. The two states argued that Colorado’s legalization regulations are unconstitutional and have a negative impact on them because marijuana is flowing across state lines.Hoban also said it is “a very positive sign” that Trump’s transition team includes PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, whose investment firm has a $75-million stake in the marijuana industry.Even so, Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), a leading legislative proponent of decriminalization, said California officials are “preparing to dig in” to defend the state’s values if there is a federal challenge.Among its options, the state could mount a defense of its marijuana laws in court if the federal government challenges Propositions 64 and 215, the 1996 medical marijuana initiative, experts say.California can also wield political clout given that the state has the largest delegation in Congress. That power was exercised when Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) and Sam Farr (D-Carmel) coauthored a rider to the federal budget that has for the last two years prohibited federal funds from being used to prosecute medical marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws.Bonta noted that more than 7.5 million California voters, 56.9% of those who cast ballots, approved the initiative.“Despite Senator Sessions’s ill-informed and ill-advised comments of the past, President-elect Trump should recognize the growing national support for ending the costly and ineffective war on cannabis and stand by his promises during the campaign to respect states’ rights on the issue,” Bonta said in a statement. Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Author: Patrick McGreevyPublished: December 1, 2016Copyright: 2016 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/sGYY9l5qCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #25 posted by Hope on December 05, 2016 at 18:24:02 PT
Trump and Duterte
I was wondering about news sources that any Republicans I know would even read if I asked them to. I thought of Fox. I was stunned the Fox news network's coverage of the Trump/Duterte phone call. Philippines President Duterte phones Trumphttp://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/12/02/philippines-president-duterte-phones-trump.htmlI read one woman's comments over at BreitBart about the Duterte connection that wouldn't it be fine if the government, Trump government, let them, as hunter/helpers have a bag like on hunting deer, on those they suspected of being drug dealers, or users, and maybe even get a per pound reward. How sick is that? *sigh* That's the kind of people we have been resisting. The killer prohibitionists, and they are reacting like blood thirsty savages to the possibility that a Duterte like pogrom could open up for them. They have no shame or conscience and talk like they aren't insane. They want to kill others for consuming or selling substances. Substances NOT the flesh and blood of other humans. And none of their co-horts admonish them in any way. They have been so thoroughly and deeply indoctrinated with lies and hatred, they may never see true human reality and reason again. We already know that people like that are deaf to reason.Why hasn't Trump denied Duterte's statements? It's been days now, and not one word of denial from the Trump camp.
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Comment #24 posted by Hope on December 05, 2016 at 13:20:58 PT
Prohibitionist imaginings.
Legalization of marijuana will cause chaoshttps://www.abqjournal.com/901973/legalization-of-marijuana-will-cause-chaos.html
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Comment #23 posted by afterburner on December 05, 2016 at 10:47:24 PT
Science Refutes Feds AntiMedicine Cannabis Claims 
Study shows THC value to kill tumor cells. Biologist explains how marijuana causes tumor cells to commit suicide – NaturalNews.comhttp://www.naturalnews.com/2016-11-17-biologist-explains-how-marijuana-causes-tumor-cells-to-commit-suicide.html
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Comment #22 posted by The GCW on December 05, 2016 at 07:47:00 PT
Everyone,
About, "Jeff Sessions’ Coming War on Legal Marijuana"Of all the states; Alabama. One of the states which least represents what the USA is, Alabama has got to be on everyone's list.Pleased to say, Polis is My Congressman.Again, I understand the implications and they are real, however, the cannabis movement can only be slowed down. It can not be stopped. U.S. citizens have expressed contempt for cannabis prohibition My entire life.The fight to end cannabis prohibition will not diminish and can only increase. Opposing atoms will knock anyone attempting to stop the force of cannabis, off their feet.Cannabis is the KING of the plant kingdom.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on December 05, 2016 at 05:54:57 PT
Jeff Sessions’ Coming War on Legal Marijuana
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/jeff-sessions-coming-war-on-legal-marijuana-214501
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Comment #20 posted by Hope on December 04, 2016 at 18:14:25 PT
Since Saturday morning
I've been totally bummed. Talk about ruining a weekend. The Duterte connection. I keep thinking of lines for poems. Dark poems. Death poems.Death squads? Human-Rights Defenders Are Now in the Philippine President’s Crosshairshttp://time.com/4584478/dutere-threatens-to-kill-human-rights-activists/
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 04, 2016 at 11:11:30 PT
The GCW
I understand what you mean. This election turned everything upside down. I know I will miss Obama's well balanced and thoughtful way of dealing with being our President. What a flip!
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Comment #18 posted by The GCW on December 04, 2016 at 10:21:01 PT
FoM,
"I don't believe in my lifetime there has been so many people for different reasons dislike a president like they do Trump. "That's right. Trying to find some positive, it may not be politics as usual, which I'm tired of but it's not politics as usual yet very much still bums. Still crappy politicians, Only the bums are a lump of the worst of the worst.When You empty a trash can, there can be that sticky crap that sticks to the bottom that doesn't empty and it's the worst of the garbage and then it starts to stink ;;; that's what We have, old sticky stinkin' garbage.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on December 04, 2016 at 09:56:53 PT
Hope
I don't believe in my lifetime there has been so many people for different reasons dislike a president like they do Trump. We have fought our way from the bottom up like the way Obama said change comes and we will not let them make us climb under a rock or just disappear. We have the Internet and it will not happen. Not now. We have a powerful voice full of smart and caring people.
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on December 04, 2016 at 09:14:44 PT
Prison or concentration camps called Rehab Centers
Giant ones... owned and operated by China. Tycoon who built mega drug rehab center is real friend: Dutertehttp://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/29/16/tycoon-who-built-mega-drug-rehab-center-is-real-friend-duterteMaybe, the glow on the horizon we hoped we saw is really the fires of destruction and these places over the horizon.Be brave and have hope and courage. I'm not feeling very brave right now. I'm afraid of Trump, but even moreso, the people that elected him... the ones who had some idea of what he was and still voted for him. When he comes for their neighbors, their spouses, and their children... I guess they'll thank him. Or worse, help him. Blood in the streets. Civil war. I've never been a conspiracy theorist and thankfully, I'm not gifted with the gift of prophecy or knowing the future. I haven't got a clue, well I have a clue, and it's not a good clue. I know a lot of people. More of them are Trump fans than not. Even in my own family. Will they really stand by or help him in a Duterte like purge? Will our police really do that? I don't have much faith in most of them, their goodness, or their love.Trying not to panic here. Panic tells me I'm surrounded by prohibitionist murderers and punishers and they are itching to kill and punish. Dear God, I so hoped, I thought, we were past this.
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Comment #15 posted by rchandar on December 04, 2016 at 08:03:25 PT:
Duterte
I don't think Mr. Trump knows anything about the Phillipines and probably is looking for any friends against China.Asia is famous for bad drug policies and human rights abuses. We support draconian states like UAE--our young spend millions of dollars on them, why? No legalization movement has gotten off the ground there.What, exactly, can he do about it? Scha pelle Corby served 14 years, the Aussies did nothing for her. Trump is repeating what all US Presidents have managed with Asia's drug policy: No discussion, period.Remember when Dubya's team reported that 70% of the world's weed came from the Phillipines? Americans usually go to Asians for one reason-partying. Slum tourism. The governments of Asia have never understood drug policy reform and there is no published information about the law.At your own risk...
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Comment #14 posted by The GCW on December 04, 2016 at 07:23:55 PT
Which state is next & more about jobs.
The Next 5 States to Legalize MarijuanaSomebody's got to be the first state to free the weed through the legislature. Here are the most likely prospects.http://www.alternet.org/drugs/next-5-states-legalize-marijuana-0-One of the comments includes: "They have visions of brand new prisons dancing in their heads: preferably, the private ones they own stock in."(So MINORITY cannabis prohibition ignoids will turn that around in their heads as a way to increase jobs...)-0-Another aspect regarding this issue is realizing some of the states mentioned have the initiative process available to them. So politicians who might complain about the wording in a potential election bid have some time to make a bill they can live with and if they don't, they really will not be taken seriously when the people make one which they may not want to live with.
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on December 03, 2016 at 10:31:46 PT
And finally,
It is murder/killing they can get away with, completely, under color of law. At least apparently so in the Philippines. It's hard to believe prohibitionists want bodies in the streets, Duterte style, but it's beginning to look like they do.Our enemies in this effort to reform unjust laws are licking their lips.
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on December 03, 2016 at 10:21:22 PT
Bot sees 
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/dea/mj2014/Every thief I ever met had his or her excuses or boasts for why it was alright for them to take from others.The list above lists reasons why it's ok to kill others.If they do that here, there will be an uncivil war. The Filipino people are mostly unarmed. Often from photographs, barely clothed. That's not true of The United States.Duterte is a monster. What he's doing is not right. Not right at all, unless it's right to dehumanize "Illegal" plant or substance users. 
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on December 03, 2016 at 09:00:19 PT
My peace is shaken... big time. 
This truly frightens me.Could all of us that have spoken out against the atrocities of the drug war be on a not too distant future death list? Is it possible in this country? I fear it is. My disappointment in many of my prohibitions loving fellow citizens and our government is looking at a new low. Treating people that disagree with them like non-humans? We already know they can do that. Over what they consume? And, I feel sure we would all be on the list for standing up to all this ungodly injustice that we've seen, whether we use drugs or not. Rodrigo Duterte Says Donald Trump Endorses His Violent Antidrug Campaignhttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/world/asia/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-donald-trump.html?_r=0Philippines' deadly drug war praised by Donald Trump, says Rodrigo Dutertehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-donald-trump-white-house-invite
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Comment #10 posted by John Tyler on December 03, 2016 at 07:06:44 PT
Lasting Peace
If I could mention one more thing, off topic.A Dose of a Hallucinogen From a ‘Magic Mushroom,’ and Then Lasting PeacePsilocybin therapy
 
Did any of you catch this article?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/01/health/hallucinogenic-mushrooms-psilocybin-cancer-anxiety-depression.html?_r=0It opens your mind to peace, love and understanding. (It is all around, if we could but perceive.) Of course it is good. This has been known for centuries. People have been suffering because these guys could not figure it out.
Patients say it was a wonderful experience. 
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Comment #9 posted by John Tyler on December 03, 2016 at 06:40:37 PT
28 states
28 states with recreational and/or medical cannabis laws on the book equals 56 Democratic and Republican Senators, not mention all of the Representatives in the House. Legal cannabis now means jobs, lots of jobs. Jobs means money and money is power, political power. What politician in their right mind would vote against that? Nothing gets politicians more interested and excited than money and power.
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on December 02, 2016 at 23:01:09 PT
jobs; both sides
Cannabis RE-legalization will create regulated job markets, yes.Keep in mind, that is at the expense of lost prohibitionist jobs.In the end will there be more jobs overall or an equal amount of jobs lost compared to jobs gained. And who controls and loses control of those jobs and profits and what influence do they have in powerful places and and and.-0-Is legal pot flattening beer sales?http://www.denverpost.com/2016/12/02/is-legal-pot-flattening-beer-sales/-0-Aren't the people who stand the most to lose generally more powerful with more influence to perpetuate cannabis prohibition and all that?Jobs and also taxes, may play an important and significant part of helping to further the end of cannabis prohibition and they should and will, however, the sickness needs to end for the sake of getting well.We just need to realize cheerleading jobs has 2 sides. Poor unemployed cannabis prohibitionists. -and related...
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 01, 2016 at 18:20:55 PT
Sam Adams
Thank you so much!
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on December 01, 2016 at 18:09:48 PT
jobs
This estimate says that cannabis added 18,000 jobs to the Colorado economy just in the year 2015 alone - the total number added by legalization could eclipse 200,000:https://thinkprogress.org/5-states-weighing-marijuana-legalization-would-reap-enormous-economic-benefits-study-suggests-cb06831d154b#.ssk5y4ck9http://dailycaller.com/2015/01/16/job-growth-in-the-cannabis-industry-continues-200000-positions-expected/
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 01, 2016 at 17:52:59 PT
One More Thing
I would like to see more on how many people are employed in the states with medical or medical and recreation use. Trump wants jobs in the USA. If his administration messes with us how many people would lose legal jobs in the industry? 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 01, 2016 at 17:44:25 PT
My Thought
The pen is mightier then the sword.
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on December 01, 2016 at 14:36:55 PT
Vincent,
If You're insinuating to disrupt their comfort by forcing them out of office by way of elections, everyone's on board for that. There have been concerted efforts in that regard on many different levels through the years and that will no doubt continue.If You are speaking about any form of physical threat, I believe I speak for everyone here. You are in the wrong forum.The GCW
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Comment #2 posted by Vincent on December 01, 2016 at 13:27:14 PT:
Militancy
I know that most of you guys don't agree with me about our response to the "Redneck General", Sessions, but sometimes militancy is the answer.If these feds feel that their "war" against us would be protracted, and a threat to their security, they will back down.         
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on December 01, 2016 at 09:55:11 PT
Prediction
>>>California can also wield political clout given that the state has the largest delegation in Congress. That power was exercised when Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) and Sam Farr (D-Carmel) coauthored a rider to the federal budget that has for the last two years prohibited federal funds from being used to prosecute medical marijuana businesses that are in compliance with state laws.Congress will extend this law to all state-legal cannabis, and banking will be allowed, BEFORE Sessions is even confirmed as AG....if he's confirmed at all.
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