cannabisnews.com: Legal Marijuana on Its Way in Some States

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  Legal Marijuana on Its Way in Some States

Posted by CN Staff on December 03, 2012 at 19:59:43 PT
By John Keilman 
Source: Chicago Tribune 

Colorado -- I got a whiff of the future the other day, and it smelled like fertilizer.That was the scent drifting from the doorway of a hydroponic gardening store in my hometown of Fort Collins, Colo. I had returned there for a Thanksgiving visit just two weeks after the state became one of the first in the nation to legalize the cultivation, sale and recreational use of small amounts of marijuana. What I found was an entire community that seemed ready for the harvest.
It wasn't just the hydroponic outlet that, amusingly enough, was located next to a health club. It was the proliferation of head shops, the clothing stores conspicuously advertising hemp wear, the news stories about prosecutors dropping marijuana possession cases.Most of all, it was the feeling I got that few of my former neighbors saw the change as a big deal. Everyone I talked to about legalized pot just shrugged. A proposal to build an on-campus football stadium at the local university was much more controversial.Now, the Rocky Mountain state is not exactly Middle America when it comes to cannabis. It has a highly visible, deeply rooted weed culture that entices thousands of people to public "smokeouts" each year. Medical marijuana dispensaries are so numerous that Denver's alternative newspaper employs a critic to review them.But my guess is that Colorado and Washington (the other state that approved legalization this past month) are simply leading a trend that is bound to spread elsewhere — including Illinois.The signs are already here. Chicago authorities this year began to issue tickets instead of criminal charges to those caught with small amounts of pot, joining dozens of municipalities with similar ordinances. The Illinois Legislature failed — barely — to approve medical marijuana in the spring but will likely vote again soon.And as far as public opinion goes, a nationwide Washington Post-ABC News poll this past month found that while a slight majority of Americans do not favor legal weed, that is due mostly to the 2-to-1 opposition of people 65 and older. The bulk of people in every other age group supports legalization.A state as blue as Illinois surely won't swim against that tide for long, so it's worth imagining what life would be like if marijuana came out of the florescent-lit closet.This involves more speculation than you might think, since no country on earth has fully legalized pot. Even the Netherlands, home to those groovy coffee shops, has quite a few restrictions, including bans on the production and wholesale distribution of cannabis.But the convincing case laid out by the authors of a recently published book, "Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know," is that things probably wouldn't change all that much.Take law enforcement. Few people today get locked up on simple pot possession charges, so legalization would barely dent the jail and prison populations. It wouldn't eliminate the mayhem caused by drug-selling street gangs, since that generally stems from more lucrative substances such as heroin and cocaine.Legal marijuana also wouldn't solve government budget problems. The retail price would likely plummet once the costs associated with smuggling go away, and if taxes grew too steep, a black market would undoubtedly form, just as it has in areas with high cigarette taxes.While overall marijuana use would probably rise if we could buy a few joints at the corner store, it's hard to say how much social harm would ensue. Co-author Jonathan Caulkins, a Carnegie Mellon University researcher, said most pot aficionados light up only occasionally, and even those who are dependent on the drug tend to manage their lives better than people hooked on alcohol or harder substances.The biggest potential downside, he said, is that some new users would likely add booze, cigarettes or more extreme narcotics to their drug diets, producing negative consequences for health and public order. And if marijuana dealers were allowed to push their products through advertising, look out."I don't look at consumers' decisions in the face of aggressively marketed alcohol and see an entirely happy story," Caulkins said.Still, he thinks life with legal marijuana would be more or less the same as it is today, and based on the vibe I got in Colorado, I agree. The drug is readily available right now — 70 percent of Illinois high school seniors in a 2010 survey said it's easy to get — so a change in the law won't automatically turn Muffy and Biff into Cheech and Chong.I don't smoke pot, and I would flip out if I discovered that my kids were doing it, but the best defense against that is to instill them with common sense and personal responsibility. No matter what happens with the law, that's one thing that definitely won't change. Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)Author: John KeilmanPublished: December 5, 2012Copyright: 2012 Chicago Tribune CompanyWebsite: http://www.chicagotribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/jtwlDWCWContact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 

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Comment #11 posted by Had Enough on December 04, 2012 at 23:06:21 PT
Comments in this day in time…
I remember the comments on prohibition issues in the past were 2 sometimes 3 to 1…In that one there is only 1 speaking out against prohibition…Peggy… times are changin'We have come a very long way…but we still have a row to hoe…though not as tough as it once was…In Florida there has even been bills introduced at the state level…they didn’t get very far but the issue is now wide-open…people are still pushing…Yes…Duane R. Olson is doing his thing all right…and I love it…I hope that Chris Williams sentence gets overturned…or something…maybe sanity will prevail and the good people of Montana will make it happen…Peace…It is Time…************Time Has Come Today(long version) Chambers Brothershttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxpcZrQQM-4
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on December 04, 2012 at 21:23:18 PT
Thanks for the heads up, Had Enough.
That is very disturbing and the comments are very interesting.
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on December 04, 2012 at 21:16:08 PT
Comment 7
Still reading the comments on that article, Had Enough, but I had to say, I love the post made made by Duane R. Olson called STATUTORILY EXEMPT!
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Comment #8 posted by Had Enough on December 04, 2012 at 19:05:12 PT
Hope comment #4
I wish you could have made that jury too…
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Comment #7 posted by Had Enough on December 04, 2012 at 19:01:55 PT
Outrage at Potential Sentence for Montana Medical 
Chris Williams is sitting in a private federal prison on the Montana prairie these days awaiting sentencing. If the federal government has its way, he won't be a free man again for three-quarters of a century, an effective life sentence for a middle-aged man like Williams. (80yrs)So, what did he do that merits such a harsh sentence? Did he murder someone? Did he rape, pillage, and plunder? No. He grew medical marijuana. And, as is not uncommon in Montana, he had guns around as he did so. Standing on firm conviction, he steadfastly refused repeated plea bargain offers from federal prosecutors, which could have seen him serving "only" 10 years or so.Williams is one of the more than two dozen Montana medical marijuana providers caught up in the federal dragnet after mass raids in March 2011 savaged the state's medical marijuana community, including Montana Cannabis, one of the state's largest providers, where he was a partner. A true believer in the cause, Williams is the only one of those indicted after the federal raids to not cop a plea, and he was convicted on eight federal marijuana and weapons charges in September after being blocked from mentioning the state's medical marijuana laws during his trial.And…"The sentence shocks the conscience," said Chris Lindsey, a former business partner of Williams who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal marijuana conspiracy charge. "Look at (former Penn State assistant football coach) Jerry Sandusky. For 45 counts of child sexual abuse, he gets 30 years. Chris Williams is going to get three times that for being a medical marijuana provider. It doesn't make any logical sense," he told the Missoulian.And…Williams supporters have created a Free Chris Williams Facebook page and are petitioning the White House through its We the People online petition program for a full pardon for him. The White House responds to petitions that achieve over 25,000 signatures; the Williams petition has managed to generate slightly more than 20,000 signatures in less than two weeks. Other petitions seeking clemency for Williams are at SignOn.org and Care2.com.And...Ironically, as Williams languishes behind bars contemplating spending the rest of his life in prison, Montana could become the next state to legalize marijuana. Medical marijuana activists there, frustrated by the legislature's gutting of their program last year and their inability to get that overturned this year, have filed papers to put a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2014. Even that wouldn't directly help Williams, but it would serve to further underline the senselessness of his sentence.The whole thing found here…interesting comment section too..http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/nov/28/outrage_potential_sentence_monta
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on December 04, 2012 at 18:15:34 PT
Hope
How very sad. That is why I want the Federal law changed so all states will have to loosen up not just liberal leaning states.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on December 04, 2012 at 17:49:23 PT
"Amusingly enough"?
I wonder what he thought was so amusing. "It wasn't just the hydroponic outlet that, amusingly enough, was located next to a health club."
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 04, 2012 at 17:32:19 PT
I was called for jury duty Monday.
Complicated Possession. Real complicated. "Enhanced" all over the place. They wanted to send him to prison. Big strapping black kid about nineteen years old, looked like. Totally screwed. Prison meat. It was so sad. The trial may be over already. They said it would likely only take a day or two. Up the river. Voir Dire seemed to about striking anyone from the jury pool that might be inclined to have mercy on him. At one point I hoped enough people were going to say they couldn't send him to prison for that little pot that it was going to be one of those situations where they couldn't get a jury. I could barely hide my joy when I hoped that was going to happen. But it didn't. Probably fifteen or more out of sixty or so people said they couldn't consider prison for his "crime"... no matter what the circumstances, testimony, or evidence showed.They spent an hour and a half or more telling us over and over and over again how some people thought it should be legal and it was legal in Colorado and Washington, but not in Texas. The prosecutor talked all that last time I was called for jury duty a year or so ago... except the part about Colorado and Washington. Whoo hoo! God bless Colorado and Washington, please!It was disgusting and it was hard to keep my anger from showing. Some people, as I mentioned above, said they couldn't consider the harsh penalty... two to ten years in the state penitentiary for Delivery of more than a quarter ounce but less than five pounds in a drug free zone (someone was keeping kids in a house, apparently, within a thousand feet of the house where he made the delivery... so it was a "day care", so it was like a school zone enhancement and blah blah blah... enhanced all over the place...) because they felt it way too harsh for the so called offense, and of course, it was. Way. Some people said they could sentence him to ten years in prison. One man said he likely could kill him if he'd been trying to sell it to his kids or grand-kids. Another just about agreed with that. Most people laughed at that killing/murder statement. Like it was kind of stupid... not funny. But they laughed.I kept quiet so as not to be eliminated from the pool... but it was so hard. I told myself... "I can consider it." They kept asking us, if we couldn't consider it... to eliminate ourselves. Considering it doesn't mean I'd do it. I consider it outrageous. But I would consider it. Then nullify, I thought.Anyway. I didn't get picked. Poor kid. It's like they are sending him, state sponsored scholarship, to a hellish criminal college. It's possible that they could give him probation. I hope they will. I would nullify or stand on not guilty... I think. I hope I would.Maybe he was a sorry human being. Maybe he was destined and doomed to even worse criminality. But worse criminality sending him up the river wouldn't be as unfair as messing with weed being why he was forced, bound and shackled, into the man made hell of the penitentiary system. It was so sad... and I think... so very wrong. And I couldn't help. I couldn't stop and injustice from happening. Actually...it was already happening before I was ever on the scene. Had been happening for I don't know how long. I hadn't heard any dates of the actual offense. I do know he was being escorted by a deputy to and from the county jail... so he hadn't been able to bail out.Over marijuana. Cannabis.We walk around with injustice happening all around us. Right in front of us and apparently can do nothing about or so little about it. I guess I could have had a fit and got myself thrown in jail. I would have liked to join the others that spoke against the injustice of it. Inside, spiritually, I was like a green colt caught on the end of a rope. Fighting with myself. But I didn't want to do it at the expense of being eliminated from the pool... in hopes that I could help him. I'm learning that where they seat you can be a good indicator of whether you might as well speak out or not... because you are so far down the list you likely won't be chosen. Hopefully, before I get called again, it will be legal in Texas. 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 04, 2012 at 16:05:38 PT
Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter Slam War On Drugs
Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter Slam War On Drugs In New Documentary***A new documentary takes viewers through 40 years of what it calls a failed drug war, featuring the voices of two former presidents who say America's drug policies are all wrong.URL: http://drugsense.org/url/kKXkHfBV
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Comment #2 posted by Had Enough on December 03, 2012 at 23:29:04 PT
To add…
“”Take law enforcement. Few people today get locked up on simple pot possession charges, so legalization would barely dent the jail and prison populations.””That differs from the fact that…every 42 seconds someone is arrested in America for what is referred to as “simple possession”Click too see…Marijuana: Half Of All American Drug Arrests Are For Pot, Says FBIhttp://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/10/marijuana_arrests_fbi_possession_stats.php“”But my guess is that Colorado and Washington (the other state that approved legalization this past month) are simply leading a trend that is bound to spread elsewhere — including Illinois.””Gasp…Oh No Mr. Bill…Not my sweet home Chicago…Don’t worry Mr. Author: John Keilman…be happy…the state of Illinois won’t fall off the face of the earth with the end of prohibition…I’m wonderin’…if he has studied Al Capone while he were supposed to be learning objective journalism…???“”Legal marijuana also wouldn't solve government budget problems.”” The retail price would likely plummet once the costs associated with smuggling go away, and if taxes grew too steep, a black market would undoubtedly form, just as it has in areas with high cigarette taxes.Some would beg to differ with that ‘opinion’…and next to that…prohibition is what drive the prices above lettuce and tomatoes…the price it really should be at…yep…the price of lettuce and tomatoes…“”The biggest potential downside, he said, is that some new users would likely add booze, cigarettes or more extreme narcotics to their drug diets, producing negative consequences for health and public order. And if marijuana dealers were allowed to push their products through advertising, look out.””Look out!!!!…Refer to the above…including the part that includes Al Capone…“”Colorado -- I got a whiff of the future the other day, and it smelled like fertilizer.”"I smell something too…in this author’s writings/spew…************"Sweet Home Chicago" (Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin & Jimmie Vaughan) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEmvBdRLg4kBlues Brothers - 'Sweet Home Chicago'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlou_2lMLAc
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Comment #1 posted by Had Enough on December 03, 2012 at 22:27:39 PT
Author: John Keilman
“”Take law enforcement. Few people today get locked up on simple pot possession charges, so legalization would barely dent the jail and prison populations.””Tell that to the people who have had their lives turned upside down…physically harmed and even killed by these unjust laws…tell that to their survivors…To further counterpoint that…tell us all why is it that mostly all law enforcement…industrial prison complex…attorney generals…sheriff department heads…police chiefs…Drug Enforcement Agency…current and former Drug Czars…and all the other ilk of their kind (Calvina Fay)…oppose any cannabis reform…Mr. John Keilman…Listen up…************Grand Funk Railroad - Inside Looking Out 1969http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6chChxzV0
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