rated colleges for marijunana

Higher Education: Top 20 & Bottom 20 Colleges For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Culture

Wednesday, August 3, 2011, at 12:20 pm

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Photo: Little Eddy

A mass exhale of marijuana smoke at the Unibversity of Colorado Boulder campus at 4:20 p.m., April 20, 2010. UC-Boulder came in fourth on the list.

​California and Colorado dominated the The Princeton Review‘s Top 5 colleges for marijuana use this year, with two entries each.

In the rankings — part of the Review’s “The Best 376 Colleges” survey — Colorado College in Colorado Springs ranked as the #1 pot-smoking school in the United States.

The small private school blazed past the competition in the annual rankings, which The Princeton Review released on Monday.

Colorado College has been a “usual suspect” on the marijuana list for the past few years, said Rob Franek, vice president and publisher of the Review.

Photo: Santa Cruz IMC

A comely reveler at the 4-20 celebration at University of California – Santa Cruz

​Franek said Colorado College, like others on the list, has strong academic standards, reports Brittany Anas of the Boulder Daily Camera.

The Princeton Review surveyed 122,000 students nationwide to come up with the rankings.

“We go directly to whom we think would be experts, and that’s current college students,” Franek said.’

University of Colorado-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard was unimpressed with his school’s #4 showing, saying the rankings are subjective and have no scientific backing.

“The media is way more interested in the rankings than we are,” he sniffed.

Photo: Santa Cruz IMC

University of California at Santa Cruz, April 20, 2010

​ Pacific Northwest favorite Evergreen College, long known as a countercultural haven, just missed the Top 11, coming in at number 11.

The Princeton Review , which a college test prep company with no connection to Princeton University, released the Top 20 standings to garner publicity for its annual guidebook, The Best 376 Colleges: 2012 Edition, which went on sale Monday.

The lists, besides more academically oriented rankings, also include “party school” standings (Ohio University ranked #1) and one called “Got Milk? (beer usage reported low).” Other rankings include “Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians,” “class discussions encouraged,” “great college towns” and “most politically active students.”

As for the Bottom 20 Colleges when it comes to marijuana use, it’s no surprise that schools associated with the U.S. military show up near the top of the list, along with places like Mormon stronghold Brigham Young University in Utah and the Catholic school Thomas Aquinas College in California.

Top 20 Colleges: How Widely Used Is Marijuana?

(The “Reefer Madness” List)

1. Colorado College, Colorado Springs

2. University of California – Santa Cruz

3. University of California – Santa Barbara

4. University of Colorado – Boulder

5. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

6. Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon

7. Warren Wilson College, Asheville, North Carolina

8. Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida

9. New College of Florida, Sarasota

10. University of Vermont, Burlington

11. The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington

12. New York University, New York City

13. Reed College, Portland, Oregon

14. Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

15. Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York

16. Pitzer College, Claremont, California

17. Arizona State University, Tempe

18. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

19. Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York

20. Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa

Bottom 20 Colleges: How Widely Used Is Marijuana?

(The “Don’t Inhale” List)

1. U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado

2. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Connecticut

3. Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, California

4. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

5. College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Missouri

6. U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland

7. U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York

8. Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois

9. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York

10. The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma

11. Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio

12. Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan

13. Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska

14. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana

15. Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan

16. Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama

17. Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport

18. University of Louisiana at Lafayette

19. City University of New York – Baruch College, New York City

20. City University of New York – Queens College, Flushing, New York

Medical Marijuana Clubs Pop Up As Arizona Law is Debated

by Emily Holden

Medical-marijuana dispensaries can’t yet operate in Arizona pending a judge’s ruling on Proposition 203. But that doesn’t necessarily keep cardholders from finding pot.

At least a handful of clubs that provide patients with medical marijuana have opened up in the Valley to fill that void.

Because the new state law allows most medical-marijuana cardholders to grow their own pot and share it with each other – as long as there are no dispensaries near – these clubs have developed as a go-between.

Joe Yuhas, a spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, which led the campaign for Prop. 203, said the law was meant to create a “regulated industry” of dispensaries. Instead, Yuhas said, the pot clubs are an unintended consequence of the state and federal dispute over whether Arizona’s new law conflicts with federal statutes banning marijuana.

“We’re going to see more and more developments like this,” Yuhas said.

The development of marijuana clubs has raised questions about their legality in two areas: the payment for the product and local zoning of the clubs.

The state Department of Health Services said it has “serious concerns about the legality of so-called cannabis clubs.” Health officials have asked the Attorney General’s Office to determine if the clubs are legal.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery agreed the clubs are an “untested area” but said he will prosecute anyone trying to operate outside the narrow provisions of the law.

However, club owners said they’re operating legally.

Dispensaries stalled

In November, voters approved Prop. 203, which legalized medical-marijuana use for people with certain debilitating conditions. The law allowed patients – as long as they don’t live within 25 miles of a dispensary – and caregivers to grow marijuana.

The state was expected to issue up to 126 dispensary permits by August.

But U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, following the lead of other federal prosecutors, warned prospective pot growers and sellers that they could be prosecuted under federal drug-trafficking laws.

Gov. Jan Brewer

In response to the warning, Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed a lawsuit in late May asking a federal judge to determine whether compliance with the law would leave state employees, dispensary owners and patients vulnerable to prosecution for violating federal drug statutes.

The ADHS then halted its dispensary-licensing process.

Meanwhile, the state has licensed 5,697 patients with medical-marijuana cards to grow their own.

The department also has approved 270 caregivers to grow marijuana for their patients.

Under the law, medical-marijuana patients can grow up to 12 plants of their own. Patients and caregivers can share it with other cardholders “if nothing of value is transferred in return.”

Patients can pay caregivers for the costs and materials they use to grow pot but not for their work.

Inside the clubs

Caregivers can grow up to 72 plants total for themselves and five others. Some have given excess marijuana to these new clubs.

Since the clubs aren’t regulated, there is no way to say for sure how many operate in the Valley.

But at least seven advertise and operate openly. Others are underground and recruit patients by word of mouth.

Owners of the 2811 Club in Phoenix have heavily promoted their club. Founder Al Sobol said hundreds of people have visited.

Tucked away in a shopping center off Bell Road, members of the 2811 Club lounge on plush-leather couches and gather around small coffee tables to read about strains of marijuana. Smoking is not allowed in the club.

In a back room, an instructor demonstrates how to make Italian salad dressing with pot. And, at a glass display counter, a volunteer hands out 3-gram samples of marijuana to cardholders.

The club scans the cards and verifies the patients’ identity with a thumb-print machine. An armed security guard stands by.

Sobol said that most members are older than 50 and that only a few are in their 20s. Members can consult with volunteers to find the best sample for insomnia or chronic pain.

Mike Miller said he spends his days at the 2811 Club so he can be around people who understand his health problems.

Miller, a diabetic, had to have a leg amputated five years ago after a wound in his foot never healed. He said he has been on painkillers and other medications since then. Miller said he hardly left his house until he got his medical-marijuana card and found the 2811 Club.

“I’m hoping that the only time I would ever need a pain pill again is aspirin,” Miller said.

Donating for pot

There is no set payment arrangement for the various clubs.

The 2811 Club charges members an initial application fee of $25 and a $75 entry fee each visit to attend classes and get a free sample.

The club offers marijuana through the Arizona Compassion Association, a co-op of patients and legal caregivers that has a display in the club. Sobol said the 2811 Club makes donations to the growers to help with expenses of growing marijuana.

Sobol said as long as patients aren’t directly paying for pot, the 2811 Club and the Arizona Compassion Association aren’t acting as dispensaries.

“We don’t sell marijuana here,” Sobol said, adding that clubs that do sell are “absolutely wrong” in their interpretation of Prop. 203.

Yoki A Má, another club in Mesa, has a similar payment arrangement, charging a $65 visit fee and giving members an eighth of an ounce of pot.

Club President Craig Scherf also said he is confident that his club is operating within the confines of the law.

But state and local authorities have not yet determined whether this arrangement constitutes transferring something of value.

Montgomery, the county attorney, said he hasn’t received any cases about medical-marijuana clubs, but he wouldn’t be surprised to get some soon. He said he can’t determine whether they’re all illegal because each case is unique.

“It sounds to me like someone is asking for something of value in order to participate,” Montgomery said. “The closer you get to asking someone to provide money to receive marijuana sounds like a salient violation of the statute.”

Ryan Hurley, an attorney who represents potential dispensary owners for Rose Law Group, said he would advise the potential medical-marijuana dispensary owners he represents against opening clubs.

“At best, it’s a stretch under the law,” Hurley said. “I think it’s very, very risky.”

Local zoning

Aside from the legality of payment issues, there are also some questions about where medical-marijuana clubs can operate.

Because clubs aren’t dispensaries, zoning regulations don’t apply to them.

Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, worked with localities earlier this year to set up dispensary-zoning laws. Strobeck said he hasn’t heard of anyone trying to zone a medical-marijuana club.

Scherf said he is trying to open a second Yoki A Má club in Tempe.

Tempe Planning Manager Lisa Collins said she isn’t sure how local law enforcement would react to a medical-marijuana club, but the club would not need special approval to open.

She said a club might need a sales-tax license to operate as a retail business, but it wouldn’t need one if it was only providing a service for a fee.

A club would need to get construction plans approved, but it probably wouldn’t need to disclose the nature of its business, she said.

Because clubs aren’t regulated like dispensaries, they’re easier to open and run.

Sobol said he initially meant for the 2811 Club to someday become a dispensary, but he has changed his mind, in part, because there are no zoning laws about clubs.

Still, Scherf said clubs are setting up far from residential areas, schools, churches and parks to avoid trouble. His club in Mesa is surrounded by industrial businesses.

Enforcing the laws

Because there’s so much ambiguity, Phoenix police said it’s still too premature to determine whether the clubs are operating legally.

Sgt. Steve Martos, a police spokesman, said his agency hasn’t made any arrests relating to medical-marijuana clubs.

“We are looking into whether or not they are covered by the new law,” Martos said.

Gilbert police have arrested several cardholders for possession but said those arrests involved other crimes.

Robbie Sherwood, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona, recently reiterated his agency’s stance on medical marijuana: Nobody is safe from prosecution.

 

Article From The Arizona Republic

Arizona Commissioner Pushes Drug Tests And Illegal Searches On Co-workers After Marijuana Found On Site

The chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday asked fellow commissioners to submit to drug tests because a small amount of marijuana was found in the utility regulating panel’s offices.

Chairman Gary Pierce made the request during a staff meeting Tuesday. The Republican said he’ll be tested and wants commissioners’ offices swept by a drug-sniffing dog. He also asked his colleagues to be tested.

“I feel the need to prove to the best of my ability that my decisions at the commission are not made under the influence of marijuana, and that I am not responsible for its presence … ,” Pierce said.

A commission staffer found a small amount of a leafy substance in a bathroom located in a secured part of the building on July 7. Police verified it was marijuana.

Republican Commissioners Brenda Burns and Bob Stump volunteered to let their offices be searched.

Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman didn’t comment on Pierce’s proposals during the meeting, but Newman later issued a statement saying he refused a search.

“This is a gross violation of legal process, good sense and the constitutional and privacy rights of everyone,” Newman said. “It is excessive beyond reason.”

While Newman was a Cochise County supervisor in 2004, Border Patrol agents found marijuana residue in his county car at a checkpoint. He was not prosecuted.

From – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ACLU Asks Federal Judge To Throw Out Arizona Governor’s Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed in May by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that seeks to have her state’s medical marijuana law struck down.

In a motion filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the ACLU charges that the lawsuit should be dismissed because, among other reasons, there has been no threat that state employees charged with carrying out the state’s law would be prosecuted by federal authorities.

“On the pretext of protecting her state employees, Gov. Brewer is simply seeking to thwart the will of Arizona’s voters and unconscionably block sick people from accessing their vital medicine,” said Scott Michelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project. “People should have the freedom to choose the medicine their doctors believe will be most effective for them.”

In May, Brewer filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke and potential dispensary applicants seeking a ruling from a federal court that the law is preempted by federal law and should be struck down. The ACLU, along with the Phoenix law firm Gammage & Burnham, represents the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association (AzMMA), a non-profit, membership-based professional association that seeks to advance the interests of Arizona’s medical marijuana profession and the patients it serves, and that is a named defendant in Brewer’s lawsuit.

Brewer’s lawsuit claims that Arizona officials fear federal prosecution for implementing the law, even though Burke said in the days leading up to Brewer filing the lawsuit that the federal government has “no intention of targeting or going after people who are implementing or who are in compliance with state law.”

Brewer’s lawsuit also claims that Arizona’s medical marijuana law is in conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act. But three appellate court decisions in California have previously rejected claims that California’s medical marijuana law is preempted by federal law. And the Oregon Supreme Court in May backed away from its previous ruling that a part of Oregon’s medical marijuana law is preempted by federal law.

A majority of Arizona voters in 2010 passed Proposition 203, which allows terminally and seriously ill patients in Arizona who find relief from marijuana to use it with a doctor’s recommendation. The law allows marijuana to be distributed by tightly regulated clinics to patients with state-issued registry cards and creates penalties for false statements and fraudulent cards.

“Gov. Brewer’s efforts to derail Prop 203 are bad for patients and bad for public safety,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. “This law received broad public support because it was thoughtfully written to give patients access to vital medicine, while at the same time creating a well-regulated system of distribution. By preventing state health officials from doing their jobs, Brewer is actually doing more harm than good and creating chaos in a system sanctioned by Arizona voters.”

Along with Michelman, attorneys on the case are Daniel J. Pochoda of the ACLU of Arizona, Lisa T. Hauser and Cameron C. Artigue of Gammage & Burnham, Flagstaff, Ariz. attorney Thomas W. Deene, who represents the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, Inc. and attorneys from the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Rose Law Group PC, who represent the remainder of the named non-federal defendants in Brewer’s lawsuit.

A copy of today’s motion is available online at: download

Arizona v. U.S. – Motion to Dismiss

Arizona Officials Continue To Stall Medical Marijuana Programs Full Implementation

By Paul Davenport, Associated Press

Arizona officials said a new federal memo they reviewed Friday on possible medical marijuana-related criminal prosecutions leaves unanswered questions as to whether state-licensed dispensaries and state employees who administer a fledgling medical marijuana program are at risk of prosecution.

Like a similar memo issued by the Justice Department in 2009, the new document said users of marijuana for medical purposes and individuals who provide care to other individuals shouldn’t be prosecution priorities. However, significant drug trafficking “remains a core priority” and commercial dispensaries and growers “and those who knowingly facilitate such janactivities” would still be violating federal drug laws regardless of state law, it said.

Expressing disappointment and frustration, Attorney General Tom Horne said Friday that memo states there’s no shield from prosecution for those who “knowingly facilitate” marijuana commercial cultivation and distribution even if purportedly complying with state laws on medical marijuana.

“The federal government knew there was broad concern about whether ‘facilitate’ sale was a term that could endanger state employees,” Horne said.

That means Arizona will continue to press the lawsuit it filed May 27 against the federal government and other parties.

The state’s suit asked a judge to rule on whether Arizona can implement its medical marijuana law despite the apparent conflict with federal law.

Gov. Jan Brewer

While Gov. Jan Brewer and Horne expressed concern that state employees could face legal jeopardy, a League of Arizona Cities and Towns official said Friday he doesn’t see any impact on cities or their workers.

“Cities are not engaged in any level of commerce regarding marijuana,” said Ken Strobeck, the league’s executive director. “They are simply complying with state law regarding local zoning regulations should someone set up a dispensary in their city or town” under the state’s medical marijuana law and state regulations to implement it.

Ryan Hurley, an attorney for would-be dispensary operators, said the department’s stance is consistent both with the 2009 department memo and recent letters from U.S. attorneys.

Hurley said prospective dispensary operators remain at risk of federal prosecution. However, patients and individual caregivers apparently still won’t be prosecution targets, he said.

On June 14, prospective dispensary operators filed two lawsuits challenging the state’s decision to not accept dispensary applications. One of those cases has been dismissed by an appellate court, but it can be refiled with a trial court.

11 Things Holder Could Say About Pot That Would Make Me Happy

Photo: The Troubled Patriot

​​​

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he will “work with states” to clarify the Department of Justice’s position on medical marijuana. This is what I’d like him to say…

11. Marijuana is no longer a Schedule I drug.

The Good News: Marijuana will finally be reclassified as having medical value.

Bad News: Big Pharma doesn’t like to share…

​10. Everyone can grow!

For states that have Medical Marijuana, patients will be allowed to grow six plants each. Why not?

Most everyone is doing it already. That way, the Man (and Woman) can’t control our stash.

9. Arizona, you have medical marijuana, get over it!

It would be great if the highest attorney in the land, Eric Holder reaffirmed that if the highest voters passed medical marijuana, they have spoken. This goes for any state that doesn’t like democracy and the right of voters.

I’m also looking at you, Big Sky.

8. We’re only busting deals over 50 pounds.

Until legalization happens, commerce shall continue. Fifty elbows can be divvied up pretty quick, especially if it’s the amazing Purps or some of that Solar Diesel making the rounds.

I think 50 pounds and under is a fair amount that one should be able to travel with for commercial purposes, within state lines of course.

​7. There won’t be any lists of medical marijuana patients or growers recorded anywhere.

Doctors don’t give the State or the Feds lists of their patients who are on Viagra or Ritalin, (and who wouldn’t want to know who gets a little sketchy if they’re not on their meds?)

Why should they give the medi-jane patients up? In the Time of Grey Markets, we’ll come out, but don’t make us tell you where we live.

6. States need to get their acts together.

There are 58 counties and a whole lot of unincorporated towns (think Deadwood) in California. Unless two adjoining counties have the same laws, ordinances and restrictions, you’re going to have graft, corruption and more of the same.

We need consistent and common-sense regulations within the states, left up to each state what that would be, but for the love of all that is sane, let’s have cultivation, commerce and transportation laws that make sense and work.

5. Amsterdam is over.

The Dutch no longer want the sounds of the Grateful Dead gracing their canals. For some crazy reason (actually, the Flemish blew it for everyone) foreigners will not be allowed entry into the hash bars without a visitor’s permit.

This is the United States’ chance for a big toe into the lucrative world of the ganja-turistas. For Las Vegas whose fountains suck the blood of a vanishing economy everyday and then spit it out in a multicolor symmetry five times a day to a couple of tourists dressed in cut-offs, and other destination cities that are having hard times. Here’s your chance!

It’s time for these sinkholes to reinvest in the American Dream and open our own hash bars. Once Las Vegas discovers marijuana, munchies, and cotton-mouth, food and beverage directors everywhere will have a new lease on life. This model could be replicated everywhere.

=

​4. If you’re in jail because of cannabis, pack your bags…

It is just time to stop. As correctional officials nationally figure out ways to release the least violent and aggressive inmates into our society. Why are non-violent, first-time marijuana offenders going to prison at all?

Because somebody says it is illegal.

3. Users are immune from federal prosecution. 

From this point on, it will be left up to the state you’re in for the rules and regulations governing marijuana. One of the reasons it is easy to get a job in Oklahoma City is because people are leaving there because of draconian weed laws. You took a chance on gambling and casinos, alcohol and guns.

Trust me, after all of that, you’re going to love marijuana. We’re a lot less hard to handle.

​2. Movies are better when you’re stoned.

I don’t know, I just think it would be cool if the Attorney General of the United States came out and said, “You know, I saw Ghostbusters straight the first time, then I saw it high.

“Man, it’s a lot funnier when you’re baked. I’ll take your questions now if you have any.”

1. I am sorry.

These last few weeks have been very tense for many of us in the medical marijuana movement. Dispensaries have been threatened with closures. Banks that do business with the cannabis industry have been told to open their drawers. Proposition 19 in 2010 had a pretty good chance of passing until Eric Holder came out the week before the vote and said, “no matter what happens with the vote, the Feds will still bust pot smokers.”

In fact, Eric Holder and then candidate Obama pledged to back off medical marijuana patients and make marijuana a low priority in terms of prosecution. At a time when Big Pharma seems to be making strides and advancements, patients and medical marijuana doctors are being deterred, harassed and even jailed.

Some days it is like a bad game of ganja musical chairs. We’re never sure where to sit.

It would be nice to hear someone say, “Sorry for the inconvenience. We hear you. We won’t smile nor smirk when asked if marijuana has medicinal value. We will take medical marijuana patients and their input seriously, realizing that they’ve been the only true governing body that has driven the medical marijuana movement since it started.

“I am sorry.”

The Top 5 Worst States To Get Busted With Pot

The 5 Worst States to Get Busted With Pot

Even a minor pot bust can be life-altering for people unlucky enough to be arrested in one of these five states.

Police prosecute over 800,000 Americans annually for violating state marijuana laws. The penalties for those busted and convicted vary greatly, ranging from the imposition of small fines to license revocation to potential incarceration. But for the citizens arrested in these five states, the ramifications of even a minor pot bust are likely to be exceptionally severe.

1. Oklahoma. Lawmakers in the Sooner State made headlines this spring when legislators voted 119 to 20 in favor of House Bill 1798, which enhances the state sentencing guidelines for hash manufacturing to a minimum of two years in jail and a maximum penalty of life in prison. (Mary Fallin, the state’s first-ever female governor, signed the measure into law in April; it takes effect on November 1, 2011.) But longtime Oklahoma observers were hardly surprised at lawmakers’ latest “life for pot” plan. After all, state law already allows judges to hand out life sentences for those convicted of cannabis cultivation or for the sale of a single dime-bag.

Patricia Marilyn Spottedcow, 25, learned the truth about Oklahoma’s excessive pot penalties the hard way in February when a judge sentenced the mother of four to 12 years in prison for her role in the sale of $39 worth of herb to an undercover informant. Spottedcow’s sentence sparked national media attention – and public outrage – but neither result has led the judge in the case to reconsider the terms of her confinement.

Similarly harsh sentences for pot are par for the course in the Sooner State. Paraplegic Jimmy Montgomery was sentenced to life in prison – later reduced to 10 years – after being caught with two ounces of medical pot in his wheelchair. After considerable public outcry, Montgomery was eventually granted early release on medical parole – though he later lost a leg from an ulcerated bed sore he developed while in prison. Rheumatoid arthritis patient Will Foster – convicted of marijuana cultivation in 1997 – received a similarly draconian 93-year sentence, later reduced to 20 years on appeal. Foster was eventually paroled and moved to California, where he quickly registered as a legal medi-pot patient. However, in 2009 he was extradited back to Oklahoma to serve additional time behind bars.

Overall, some 13,000 Oklahomans are busted for pot annually. Only 12 other states arrest a greater percentage of their population for weed, and arguably no state sentences those convicted more harshly.

2. Texas. On an annual basis, no state arrests and criminally prosecutes more of its citizens for pot than does Texas. Marijuana arrests comprise over half of all annual arrests in the Lone Star State. It is easy to see why. In 2009, more than 97 percent of all Texas marijuana arrests — over 77,000 people — were for possession only. Those convicted face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, even upon a first conviction.

Despite Texas’ dubious distinction as the #1 pot prosecuting state in America, police and lawmakers have little interest in exploring alternatives. In 2007, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation (HB 2391) into law granting police the option of issuing a summons in lieu of an arrest in minor marijuana possession cases. Yet aside from police in Austin, long considered to be the state’s lone bastion of liberalism, law enforcement have continued to fervently make arrests in even the most trivial of pot cases.

In 2011, Houston Democrat Harold Dutton introduced House Bill 458, which sought to reduce penalties for the adult possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 and no criminal record. Within weeks, over 2,500 Texans contacted their House members in support of the measure. Nonetheless, House lawmakers refused to even consider bringing the measure to a vote.

3. Florida. According to a 2009 state-by-state analysis by researcher and former NORML Director Jon Gettman, no other state routinely punishes minor marijuana more severely than does the Sunshine State. Under Florida law, marijuana possession of 20 grams or less (about two-thirds of an ounce) is a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. Marijuana possession over 20 grams, as well as the cultivation of even a single pot plant, are defined by law as felony offenses – punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. In recent years, state lawmakers have revisited the state’s marijuana penalties – in each case electing to enhanceFlorida’s already toughest-in-the-nation criminal punishments.

Ironically, despite the Sunshine State’s long history as one of the nation’s stiffest pot prosecutors, law enforcement have steadfastly refused to report their annual marijuana arrest data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Illinois is the only other state that elects to withhold this information from federal statisticians.

4. Louisiana. On May 6 the Associated Press reported on the case of Cornell Hood II, who received a life sentence for possessing two pounds of pot. Hood received the maximum sentence under Louisiana’s habitual drug offender law because he had three prior marijuana convictions, although none of them were significant enough to result in even a single day of jail time.

Multi-decade sentences for repeat pot offenders are hardly a rare occurrence. Under Louisiana law, a second pot possession conviction is classified as a felony offense, punishable by up to five years in prison. Three-time offenders face up to 20 years in prison. According to a 2008 expose published in the New Orleans City Business online, district attorneys are not hesitant to “target small-time marijuana users, sometimes caught with less than a gram of pot, and threaten them with lengthy prison sentences.”

Each year, cops make nearly 19,000 pot busts in the Bayou State – some 91 percent for simple possession – and according to Gettman, only three other states routinely punish minor offenders so severely.

5. Arizona. Forty years ago virtually every state in the nation defined marijuana possession as a felony offense. Today, only one state, Arizona, treats first-time pot possession in such an archaic and punitive manner.

Under Arizona law, even minor marijuana possession offenses may be prosecuted as felony crimes, punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $150,000 fine. According to Jon Gettman’s 2009 analysis only Florida consistently treats minor marijuana possession cases more severely.

Annually, some 22,000 Arizonans are busted for pot and 92 percent of those arrested are charged with possession only. Citing the rising costs of these prosecutions at a time of shrinking state budgets, first-term GOP House lawmaker John Fillmore (Apache Junction) recently introduced legislation, HB 2228, to reduce pot possession to a non-criminal petty offense, punishable by no more than a $100 fine. So how did his supposedly “small government, no nanny state” colleagues respond to his proposal? With “a lot of smiles and laughs,” Fillmore told the Phoenix New Times. Predictably, HB 2228 failed to even receive a legislative hearing from his fellow lawmakers.

Marijuana Regulations Finalized in Washington D.C. & Arizona!

Regulations have been finalized to allow for the sanctioned-use and dispensing of medical cannabis in two more regions of the country: Arizona and in the nation’s capitol, Washington, DC.

In Arizona, representatives from the Arizona Department of Health Services have approved rules governing the state’s soon-to-be-implemented Arizona Medical Marijuana Program. Voters directed the state to approve regulations regarding the use and distribution of medicinal marijuana in November when they decided in favor of Proposition 203 — making Arizona the fifteenth state since 1996 to legalize the physician-authorized use of cannabis. Program rules, physician certification forms, and answers to frequently asked questions are all available online from the Arizona Department of Health Services here.

Arizona patients may begin qualifying for the program next week, and dispensary applications will be accepted beginning June 1. All patients initially approved by the state will have the option to cultivate their own marijuana. However, patients who reside within 25 miles of a state-licensed dispensary will lose this option once such facilities are up and running later this fall.

In the District of Columbia, city leaders have finally signed off on long-awaited rules regulating patients’ use and access to cannabis. Those rules are expected to take effect April 15. The just-finalized regulations will permit D.C. officials to allow as many as ten cultivation centers and five dispensaries in the District. Permit applications are anticipated to be available by April 17.

The forthcoming rules implement facets of I-59, the Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative, a 1998 municipal ballot measure which garnered 69 percent of the vote yet was never implemented. Under the new regulations, qualifying D.C. patients will be able to obtain medical cannabis at licensed dispensaries, but will not be permitted under the law to grow their own medicine.

Washington DC’s forthcoming program is limited to residents of the District of Columbia and is not reflective of any broader change in federal policy.

Additional information on these and other state medical marijuana programs is available from the NORML website here.

States That Allow Medical Marijuana in 2011.

With the new year comes new laws, including those that apply to medical marijuana in the United States. With the rapidly changing social and political landscape more and more states are passing pro-marijuana legislation.

States that approved of marijuana friendly ballot initiatives (orange on the map), but who may not have officially approved marijuana for medical use include Arizona (Prop 203), Vermont (Governor Shumlin helped pass existing MMJ laws), Connecticut (Governor Malloy supports decriminalizing pot), and Massachusetts (all 9 jurisdictions in which the question was asked support taxing and regulating marijuana like cigarettes and alcohol).

On the other side of the table, states failing to move forward in support of marijuana law reform (in gray on the map) include South Dakota, which failed to pass Measure 13, allowing medical marijuana in the state. Similarly, Oregon did not expand their existing laws with lack of support for Measure 74. New Mexico elected a stated anti-marijuana advocate to to post of governor, and in California Proposition 19 did not pass, preventing the legalization of pot in the state.

States that do allow medical marijuana are listed below, and are shown in beige on the map.

As always it is important to remember that marijuana remains illegal federally, and if you use medical marijuana in your state, it is best to consult an attorney who is familiar with the most up to date legal standings. Below you can find the current states that allow medical use of cannabis and what the current law permits.

• Alaska – Nov 3, 1998.
  

  Initiative 8 passed with 58% of the vote and took effect Mar 4, 1999.

  Allows 1 oz usable; 6 plants (3 mature, 3 immature)

  Approved for: Cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, epilepsy and other disorders characterized by seizures, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other disorders characterized by muscle spasticity, and nausea.

• Arizona – Nov 2, 2010.
  

  Proposition 203 passed, just barely, with 50.15% of the vote.

  Allows 2.5 oz usable; 0-12 plants

  Approved for: Cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms.

• California – Nov 5, 1996.
  

  Proposition 215 was the first in the country to allow medical marijuana and took effect Nov 6, 1996. SB1449 was signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger in October and took effect Jan 1, 2011 decriminalizing possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Proposition 19 failed to pass, and would have legalized marijuana for personal use.

  The current law allows: 8 oz usable; 18 plants (6 mature, 12 immature).

  Approved for: AIDS, anorexia, arthritis, cachexia, cancer, chronic pain, glaucoma, migraine, persistent muscle spasms, including spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, seizures, including seizures associated with epilepsy, severe nausea; Other chronic or persistent medical symptoms.

• Colorado – Nov 7, 2000.
  

  Ballot Amendment 20 garnered 54% support, and took effect Jun 1, 2001.

  Allows 2 oz usable; 6 plants (3 mature, 3 immature).

  Approved for: Cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS positive, cachexia; severe pain; severe nausea; seizures, or persistent muscle spasms.

• Hawaii – Jun 14, 2000.
  

  Senate Bill 862 passed the House 32-18, and more narrowly in the Senate 13-12. It took effect Dec 28, 2000.

  Allows 3 oz usable; 7 plants (3 mature, 4 immature).

  Approved for: Cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, conditions producing cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, or severe and persistent muscle spasms (multiple sclerosis & Crohn’s disease.)

• Maine – Nov 2, 1999.
  

  Ballot Question 2 legalized medical marijuana, taking effect Dec 22, 1999.

  Allows 2.5 oz usable; 6 plants.

  Approved for: cancer, glaucoma, HIV, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s, nail-patella syndrome, chronic intractable pain, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe nausea, seizures (epilepsy), severe and persistent muscle spasms, and multiple sclerosis.

• Maryland – 2003.
  

  While technically illegal, the Medical Marijuana Affirmative Defense Law has been in place since 2003. Medical marijuana is considered a mitigating factor in state trials, and the maximum penalty for medical use is a $100 fine.

• Michigan – Nov 4, 2008.
  

  Proposal 1 passed with 63% of the vote and took effect Dec 1, 2008.

  Allows 2.5 oz usable; 12 plants.

  Approved for: “debilitating medical conditions” – cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, nail patella, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, epilepsy, muscle spasms, and multiple sclerosis.

• Montana – Nov 2, 2004.
  

  Initiative 148 legalized medical marijuana with 65% approval and took effect that day.

  Allows for 1 oz useable and 6 plants.

  Approved for: Cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, conditions which produce cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms, (multiple sclerosis or Chrohn’s disease)

• Nevada – Nov 7, 2000.
  

  Ballot Question 9/Assembly Bill 453 legalizing medical marijuana passed with 65% of the vote, and took effect Oct 1, 2001.

  Allows 1 oz usable; 7 plants (3 mature, 4 immature).

  Approved for: AIDS; cancer; glaucoma; and any medical condition or treatment to a medical condition that produces cachexia, persistent muscle spasms or seizures, severe nausea or pain

• New Jersey - Jan 18, 2010.
  

  The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act took effect Oct 1, 2010.

  Allows 2 oz usable.

  Approved for: Seizures, intractable skeletal muscular spasticity, glaucoma; severe or chronic pain, severe nausea or vomiting, cachexia, or wasting syndrome resulting from HIV/AIDS or cancer; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, or inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease. Maybe prescribed for any condition which leaves the patient less than one year to live.

• New Mexico - Apr 2, 2007.
  

  Senate Bill 523 took effect on Jul 1, 2007.

  Allows 6 oz usable; 16 plants (4 mature, 12 immature).

  Approved for: severe chronic pain, painful peripheral neuropathy, intractable nausea/vomiting, severe anorexia/cachexia, hepatitis C infection, Crohn’s disease, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with intractable spasticity, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, and hospice patients.

• Oregon – Nov 3, 1998.
  

  Measure 67 legalized medical marijuana and passed with 55% of the vote and took effect Dec 3, 1998. Measure 74 would have expanded the scope of the existing laws, but failed to pass.

  Current law allows: 24 oz usable; 24 plants (6 mature, 18 immature).

  Approved for: cancer, glaucoma, positive status for HIV/AIDS. Any medical condition or treatment for a medical condition that produces cachexia, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures (epilepsy), or persistent muscle spasms (multiple sclerosis)

• Rhode Island – Jan 3, 2006.
  

  The Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act passed the state House (52-10) and Senate (33-1) with a super majority, enough to override the governor’s veto. Another super majority vote (House 51-12, Senate 28-5) gave the amendment permanent status as state law Jul 21, 2007.

  Allows 2.5 oz usable; 12 plants.

  Approved for: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C, any ailment that produces cachexia or wasting syndrome, chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures (epilepsy), or severe and persistent muscle spasms

• Vermont – May 26, 2004.
  

  Senate Bill 76 (passed 22-7) and House Bill 645 (passed 82-59) went into effect Jul 1, 2004.

  Allows 2 oz usable; 9 plants (2 mature, 7 immature).

  Approved for: Cancer, AIDS, HIV, multiple sclerosis, or a disease, medical condition, or its treatment that is chronic, debilitating and produces severe, persistent.

• Washington – Nov 3, 1998.
  

  Measure 692 legalized medical marijuana passed with 59% of the vote and took effect immediately.

  Allows 24 oz usable; 15 plants.

  Approved for: Cachexia, cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, glaucoma, intractable pain, and multiple sclerosis.

• Washington, DC – 1998.
  

  Medical marijuana was first passed in the federal district in 1998 with a record high vote of a approval coming in at 69%, however funding for the program was blocked by an act of Congress. A new measure was passed in May, 2010 and with the Democratically controlled Congress failing to intervene within 30 days, plans for 8 approved dispensaries are now in progress.

  Allows for 2 oz useable, other forms TBD.

  Approved for: HIV, AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, cancer, other chronic conditions, or medical conditions for which the use of medical marijuana is beneficial (chemotherapy)