Legalization Battle In Colorado Already Showing Signs Of What Killed CA Prop 19

http://the420times.com/2011/05/legalization-battle-in-colorado-already-showing-signs-of-what-killed-ca-prop-19/

The420TimesStaff | May 20, 2011 | Comments 0

You would think a bunch of cannabis users would be able to come together and cooperate with level heads; after all, isn’t that one of the stereotypes of “stoners?” We don’t fight among ourselves, and we pull together for the common good of ending cannabis prohibition.

In a perfect world that would be the case, but if California Prop 19 showed us anything, it’s that cannabis law reformers can in-fight with the best of them.

A few days ago several initiatives were filed in Colorado asking voters to approve the legalization of cannabis for those over the age of 21 – possession of less than an once at a time – and allow the state to set up a regulatory framework for the retail sales of marijuana. All the initiatives would allow people to grow up to 6 plants, and all ban the public use of cannabis. Some set up a 15% excise tax on wholesale marijuana sales.

Sounds reasonable, but hold on. From Laura Kriho of Colorado’s Cannabis Therapy Institute comes a shot across the bow of the initiative filers.

Sad to see that your divisive tactics from the 1997/98 campaign are alive and well in Colorado today. You couldn’t even release your initiative to the public and get public input before you filed it. You only gave us a few days to look at it. You never even asked us once for our own initiative language, which we have been working on for over a year. You never met with any of the other groups working on legalization initiatives in the state. You agreed to participate in a debate on the issues in June, never once indicating that you were on the verge of filing your initiative. So much for trust, but I guess I was foolish to hope for anything better, after our experiences with you in 1997/98.

It just shows that your only interest is in your own self-interest, not in actually working to create meaningful reform in Colorado.

Not a great start, but obviously not crippling. Yet we saw in California how infighting can infect a movement and bring a legalization bill to its knees. If we are serious about marijuana law reform, we must find a way to work together; otherwise it’s very easy for our opponents to point to us and say “see, even they can’t agree on legalization.”

We simply cannot give the opponents of marijuana legalization ammunition to use against us. We have enough difficulty countering the constant lies they feed the mainstream press. This fighting in CO needs to be nipped in the bud now, before permanent damage is done.

Highdeas.com

We found this website during a stoned blur one night and it left us hilariously belly laughing all night long. Check out this website after you smoke some of our Charlie Sheen OG, we promise you’ll be belly laughing too! Here’s a couple of our favorite “Highdeas” here:

• “I lost all of my weed, in a series of small fires.”
• “Laptop backwards is ‘potpal’”
• “Dear Californians, We envy you. Sincerely, Any stoner who doesn’t live in California”
• “ok bear with me on this one…im gunna bury a school bus in my back yard.ill make a ladder coming down from the exit hatch on top. ill take out the seats and put in couches, a big ass tv, lights, sick sound system, music, record player, fridge, and a bed(for passin out if needed), ps3 and xbox 360, computer, lava lamps and to top it all off im gunna add a periscope. ittl be called the last stop (cuz its a bus) best highdea ever”
• “Don’t you wish that you could google anything? Like, “where is my cellphone?” and google would be like “under the couch, dumbass”
• “Have you ever been so high that you just stop, stop dead in your tracks, pat down all your pockets, realize you have everything, then move on?”

Seriously you have to check out this website, http://www.highdeas.com, we promise you’ll be belly laughing.

Billionaire May Try to Legalize Weed in Ohio

One of the biggest backers of medical marijuana in the country, Peter Lewis is seeking proposals to conduct a ballot initiative campaign to legalize marijuana for medical use in Ohio.

Fifteen states, according to the request for proposals, have made marijuana legal for qualified patients, most through the passage of similar voter initiatives. The first was California in 1996.

Now Lewis is considering pushing it through in his home state of Ohio. That’s where Progressive (nyse: PGR), the auto insurer founded by his father and run by Lewis for many years, is headquartered. Lewis, who now spends much of his time in Florida, gave up his CEO role in 2000 but remains chairman. About 90% of his net worth is held in shares of Progressive.

“Of the states that continue to prohibit medical use of marijuana, Ohio stands out as having particularly high levels of voter support,” stated the RFP, “This provides an opportunity to enact a new law that will directly help patients and to do so in a manner that will serve as a model for other states.” The goal of the proposals, due May 15, is not just to pass a voter initiative legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio but to design a campaign that could create a model for future campaigns in other states. Funding will be based on whether someone can make a convincing case that Ohio is the best state in which to win.

“You shouldn’t take it as a given that there will be a ballot initiative this campaign,” said Graham Boyd, Lewis’ lawyer and adviser, “But we want to see proposals.” He would not comment on whether Lewis is considering conducting similar ballot initiatives in other states.

Lewis has already given millions to the reform group, Marijuana Policy Project including $900,000 in 2010. He also gave $200,000 in support of California’s  Proposition 19, the bill that sought unsuccessfully last November to legalize marijuana in California.  Other billionaires who gave money in support of that bill include George Soros and Facebook billionaires Dustin Moskovitz and Sean Parker.

Lewis may have personal reasons for being so passionate about medical marijuana. He was once arrested for cannabis possession in New Zealand; his lawyer told the court he uses the drug to combat pain from a partial leg amputation.

Thanks to  Alan Johnson, a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch, who first tipped me off to this story. Here is his piece.

http://blogs.forbes.com/luisakroll/2011/05/03/billionaire-may-try-to-legalize-medical-marijuana-in-ohio/

DEA Legalizes THC for Pharmacies, but Keeps Marijuana Illegal for Everyone Else

 

 

“This would be the equivalent of allowing Vitamin C to be legal and to be marketed, while prohibiting and incarcerating those who actually possess an orange, It doesn’t make any sense” ~Paul Armentano (Deputy Director, NORML)
The DEA plans to reschedule THC so that it can be prescribed by pharmaceutical companies in the form of “natural Marinol” …. They’re admitting THC (the natural substance in marijuana) has medicinal value, but continue to argue that marijuana still has no medicinal value. Sound contradicting?