Tag: pot

DC Legalizing Pot, Ignores Warnings From House: CNN

Washington D.C. to defy GOP, implement marijauna law

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser says she’ll defy congressional Republicans and implement D.C.’s new local law allowing its residents to smoke marijuana starting on Thursday, according to CNN.

In implementing the new pot laws, Bowser is rebuffing two influential House Republicans who’d warned her that she’d be breaking federal law — and risking retribution.

Muriel Bowser

“We would encourage the Congress to not be so concerned with overturning what seven out of 10 voters said should be the law in the District of Columbia,” Bowser said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, called the new legal framework “depenalization” since sales were still barred, and said it was unlikely to unseat a thriving black market, according to Yahoo News.

Bowser and Washington police are implementing a measure approved by D.C. voters in November allowing Washington residents to possess up to two ounces of pot.  The allowance applies only to those over 21. In addition, D.C. residents could grow up to six pot plants in their own yards. Buying and selling pot would still be illegal, as would smoking in public places.  People could transfer up to one ounce to another person — just not for money.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said in a letter Tuesday that the city would be violating federal laws if it went forward with Bowser’s plan to implement the new measure Thursday.

“We strongly suggest you reconsider your position,” the two wrote to Bowser in a thinly-veiled suggestion that there would be consequences for ignoring them.  They pointed to House rules that give Chaffetz’s panel broad investigative authority.

Bowser brushed Chaffetz and Meadows back on Wednesday, saying they should worry about bigger problems — like funding the Department of Homeland Security, which is set to shut down at week’s end if Congress doesn’t act.

She took a shot at Republicans who have suggested she could wind up in jail for breaking federal law — and claimed that Congress has no powers to prosecute her.

More:

http://news.yahoo.com/legal-pot-arrives-district-columbia-amid-wrangle-congress-060848259.html

Jeb Bush Was A Stoner, Bully In College

Former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush has a long and well-witnessed history of using marijuana in his youth. He also reportedly had a history of being a violent bullying pothead.

The issue arises from the fact that Bush partook in the drug in the past on a regular basis and now is against marijuana for everything from recreation to medical uses.

If they have not done time and continue to walk free while condemning others for the same behavior, it shows that they don’t have respect for the law and there is unequal enforcement of the law.

When the news media has a habit of brushing it off as “they were just being kids,” but everyone else is a die-hard criminal not worthy of note, it seems a little disingenuous.


TYT Network

More here

Former Federal Judge Regrets Sending Man To Prison For 55-Years Over Marijuana

Do judges ever have a conscience that catches up with them?  Do they ever regret harsh punishments? Are their hands ever tied over sentencing?

Weldon Angelos was just 24 years old when he was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for three marijuana sales, according to Yahoo! News.  He is one of the hundreds of thousands of federal prisoners serving decades-long sentences for non-violent crimes, thanks to mandatory minimum sentencing laws created in the 1980s during America’s war on drugs.

Angelos may not live long enough to experience freedom again.

His case has haunted the federal judge that put him there.

“I do think about Angelos,” said Paul Cassell, a now-retired federal judge in the Utah circuit. “I sometimes drive near the prison where he’s held, and I think, ‘Gosh he shouldn’t be there. Certainly not as long as I had to send him there. … That wasn’t the right thing to do. The system forced me to do it.”

Back in 2002, Angelos was an aspiring music producer and a father of two young boys living in Salt Lake City. Determined to make it big, he founded his own record company, eventually collaborating with big names like Snoop Dogg.

But Angelos told ABC News he also started dealing pot on the side.

Federal authorities caught wind of Angelos’s dealings and set up three stings, using a criminal informant to buy about $1,000 worth of marijuana from him. There was one critical detail in the case – during the deals, the criminal informant claimed Angelos had a gun.

The case went to federal court and Angelos was convicted in federal court of selling narcotics while in possession of a firearm.

These offenses fall under mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and prosecutors treated each of the three marijuana deals as its own individual offense. This is called “stacking” the charges.  It means Angelos was facing three prison terms, stacked on top of each other. All in– 55 years in prison, with no possibility of parole.

When Cassell delivered his ruling in the Angelos case, he was quick to point out how severe the sentence seemed compared to violent crimes.

“If he had been an aircraft hijacker, he would have gotten 24 years in prison. If he’s been a terrorist, he would have gotten 20 years in prison. If he was a child rapist, he would have gotten 11 years in prison. And now I’m supposed to give him a 55-year sentence? I mean, that’s just not right,”

More:

https://gma.yahoo.com/former-federal-judge-regrets-55-marijuana-sentence-012200265–abc-news-topstories.html

Do People Get Arrested For “Marijuana Possession?”

MSNBC / HenryBloggit

According to MSNBC, people can and do get arrested for marijuana possession.

In this clip, Chris Hayes looks at a video of Bill O’Reilly claiming that no one gets arrested for possession of marijuana.

Nancy Grace Stumbles In Marijuana Debate

HNL host Nancy Grace revisited one of her passions: loudly decrying how dangerous pot is to the public based on several isolated incidents.

She ended up sparring with her fellow HLN host, Dr. Drew Pinsky over cases where people ingested pot cookies and then something horrible happened…

Secular Talk

Colorado: Free Marijuana For Vets?

Veterans in Colorado can now add free marijuana to their list of service benefits. The organization Grow4Vets, a Denver-based nonprofit that provides “alternative” treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injury, is having a pot giveaway Saturday in Denver.

Veterans who signed up before noon Friday will receive more than $200 worth of cannabis products, according to the company’s website. Those who miss the RSVP deadline can pay $20 at the door in exchange for $100 worth of weed.

“Operation Grow4Vets events put cannabis in the hands of veterans who need it most,” the organization’s founder and executive director Roger Martin told ABC7 News Denver. “Our events are open to the public to help grow visibility for our cause.”

The organization’s objective is more noble than simply introducing veterans to a better high – its mission, the founders say, is to reduce the “staggering” number of vets in the U.S. who die from suicide and prescription drug overdose.

Every day in the U.S., 22 veterans commit suicide, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs. The suicide rate for veterans is twice as much as the civilian rate, a sobering statistic that underscores the need to better treat veteran PTSD.

While the country moves forward with marijuana legalization, the VA cannot recommend medical weed to veterans. However, vets can take advantage of medical marijuana programs in states where medical weed is legal, but only if they do not disclose their marijuana use to the VA. Telling the VA could mean losing their prescription narcotic painkillers, according to USA Today.

But legalizing weed does not mean that a state has become entirely weed friendly. The marijuana industry in Colorado has started a campaign to de-stigmatize marijuana use after industry leaders perceived some unfriendly criticism.

The campaign is aimed at promoting moderate and safe consumption of marijuana products and educating the public about what they see as misinformation about pot. “So far, every campaign designed to educate the public about marijuana has relied on fear-mongering and insulting marijuana users,” Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s biggest pot-policy advocacy group, told CBS Denver.