The Political Pot Thread

[Undermind]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/patrick-leahy-marijuana_n_2293601.html

[emay]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/patrick-leahy-marijuana_n_2293601.html

Shit makes sense....dont see it happening anytime soon though. There is also a lot of political opposition to doing this, and a lot of lobbying against it.
Basically let the states decide what to do with it.

[sls.stormyrider]

tangentially related
they just instituted a zero tolerance, random drug screening policy where I work. the disaster in Exeter, NH probably triggered it
doesn't affect me directly, but interesting if the laws continue to progress.

eta- a 94 year old lady just asked for some medical mj

[runawayjimbo]

eta- a 94 year old lady just asked for some medical mj

Awesome. Good thing she doesn't live in MA.

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2012/12/dea_warns_no_free_pass_medical_pot

DEA warns: No free pass for medical pot

Prospective pot shop owners be warned: New England's top narcotics cop says federal agents won't hesitate to come down on dispensaries that pop up next year under the Bay State's medical marijuana law.

John J. Arvanitis, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's New England Division, told the Herald in an exclusive interview that the feds will probe pot pharmacies as they see fit.

"Marijuana is still a controlled substance," Arvanitis said. "DEA is committed to investigating individuals who are involved in the distribution of marijuana. DEA goes to where the information and evidence take it. If we become aware that individuals are involved in marijuana distribution, we'll investigate it."

Arvanitis' comments during a wide-ranging interview about his new position reflect the official position of the DEA, which has long opposed medical marijuana and has worked to shut down hundreds of dispensaries out West.

His tough talk comes as Massachusetts rolls out a new law allowing doctors to prescribe pot for patients with cancer, AIDS, Parkinson's disease and other illnesses. Up to 35 pot shops, regulated by state health officials, will open in 2013.

But making the law work won't be easy.

California's 1996 law is criticized as vague even by pro-pot activists, who say federal prosecution has been "chaotic, unpredictable and capricious."

"We need clear direction from the Department of Justice, and the Obama administration has utterly failed to give that," said Dale Gieringer, director of California's division of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Federal authorities have been on a prescription pot crackdown for the better part of a year, shutting down large dispensaries and threatening to shutter others, saying they were raking in big bucks and serving as fronts for drug runners. In September, for example, prosecutors in Los Angeles sued to seize the assets of three shops and sent warning letters to 68 others, essentially ordering them to close by giving them two weeks to comply with federal law.

In Colorado, authorities in 2010 raided a Denver-area medical marijuana provider who showed off his grow operation on a local TV newscast. He is serving a five-year sentence in federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan.

In Maine, the feds have so far stayed away from the eight state-licensed dispensaries allowed under a 2009 prescription pot law.

"It's certainly always something we're aware of," said Becky DeKeuster, executive director of the Wellness Connection of Maine, which runs four dispensaries. Arvanitis' comment, she said, "puts us all in an interesting position."

Arvanitis' warning didn't seem to worry John Napoli, who is hoping to open a dispensary at his downtown hydroponics shop, Boston Gardener.

"Before it was banned in the 1930s, cannabis was available at every pharmacy in Massachusetts," he said. "I think we're headed back in that direction. The DEA will eventually follow the people's lead."

[kellerb]

Can we put the NRA in charge of legalizing marijuana?

[mbw]

Can we put the NRA in charge of legalizing marijuana?

From my warm, tingly hands!

[runawayjimbo]

CO task force finalizes recommendations for the state's new marijuana  regulatory regime . Notably, pot added to state smoking ban (effectively outlawing coffee shops) and high wholesale and retail taxes that could push price close to black market levels. Coupled with the 70-30 law recommended last week (stores must grow 70% of what they sell), it seems fairly onerous, which could have a serious impact on consumer welfare. On the plus side, out if state residents would be allowed to purchase legal pot.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22689447/tax-legal-issues-tap-at-last-colorado-marijuana

Colorado pot task force recommends special sales and excise taxes

What Colorado will look like with legal marijuana became significantly clearer Thursday when the state task force proposing rules for that new world finished its work.

Under proposals endorsed by the Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force, recreational marijuana in Colorado would be heavily taxed. It would be grown only indoors. It would not be allowed to be smoked at bars, restaurants or even social clubs.

It could be sold to people visiting from out of state, though. It could be given away to adults an ounce at a time but not in pot-for-donation swaps. Its sale would be watched over by a small army of state regulators.

During 80 days of poking and pulling at roughly 100 issues affected by marijuana legalization, the task force endorsed dozens of new policies on such topics as criminal enforcement, taxes, child protection and product labeling. Taken together, the recommendations represent a comprehensive set of ideas to regulate a recreational-marijuana regime unlike any in history.

The recommendations will now be put to state lawmakers, who will fashion them into a bill and then debate the issues anew.

"The first thing I have to say is, 'Thank you,' " Gov. John Hickenlooper told task-force members Thursday during a visit to their meeting.

Hardly a benedictory session, Thursday's meeting was more of a last-second cram for the task force to get through its work. During a five-hour hearing, the task force considered proposals on funding, changes to criminal laws and labeling of serving sizes in marijuana-infused goodies.

Tax discussions, particularly, stood out.

The task force recommended that Colorado lawmakers refer to voters two ballot measures on marijuana taxes. One would impose a 15 percent excise tax on recreational marijuana — a rate that could increase over time — that stores would have to pay at the wholesale level. The other would create a special marijuana sales tax that customers would pay. Though the task force did not endorse a specific amount for the sales tax, it gave a 25 percent rate as an example.

Recreational marijuana would also be subject to standard state and local sales taxes.

The taxes — if the legislature puts them before voters and they are approved — could add several dollars to the average pot purchase of one-eighth of an ounce.

Supporters of the taxing proposals, including Department of Revenue Executive Director Barbara Brohl, said the money is needed to regulate marijuana stores. Brohl, whose department oversees medical-marijuana businesses, said a lack of money has hindered regulation of that industry.

"The funding model just didn't work," Brohl said. "And as a result, the division wasn't able to perform the regulatory and oversight functions it was created to do."

Opponents of the taxing proposals said that imposing too high of a rate will keep marijuana sellers in the black market.

The task force's work rubbed some marijuana advocates the wrong way.

"I feel like so much time has been spent on flat-earth concerns that we've missed the boat to the new world," said medical-marijuana business owner Jessica LeRoux, who said overregulation of recreational marijuana will allow the black market to continue to flourish.

Meanwhile, Hickenlooper — while complimentary of the task force's effort — was hardly upbeat about the future of Colorado with legal marijuana. During his brief remarks to the task force, for instance, he predicted that the state would see more homeless teenagers because of marijuana.

"I think that world is going to have consequences that, no matter how thoughtful we are, we will not be able to anticipate," he said. "But I'm not saying the sky is falling. ... Obviously, we have to be pragmatic."


Task force proposals for recreational marijuana in Colorado

-- Create an excise tax of 15 percent paid by marijuana stores at wholesale level
-- Create a special marijuana sales tax paid by consumers
-- Allow employers to fire employees for off-the-job marijuana use
-- Allow marijuana sales to out-of-state residents visiting Colorado
-- Restrict where and how marijuana stores can advertise
-- Require marijuana to be sold in child-proof packaging
-- Clarify that marijuana given away in exchange for a donation is illegal
-- Include marijuana in smoking ban at bar and restaurants, effectively barring cannabis clubs
-- Require marijuana grown at home to be in a room with walls and a ceiling. No outdoor marijuana growing.
-- Require state and local approval for marijuana stores
-- Create a seed-to-sale regulatory system for recreational marijuana businesses similar to medical-marijuana dispensaries.
--Require marijuana products to have labels of potency

[UncleEbinezer]

This one is bothersome.

-- Allow employers to fire employees for off-the-job marijuana use

Why should it be treated any differently than alcohol or tobacco?  I kind of feel like you're either in or your out.  This still makes it pretty much "illegal."

And this is kind of ridiculous

-- Require marijuana to be sold in child-proof packaging

[VDB]

-- Create an excise tax of 15 percent paid by marijuana stores at wholesale level
-- Create a special marijuana sales tax paid by consumers

I really hate excise taxes. And "sin taxes" in general. Are revenues from pot taxes going to be used exclusively for pot-related activities, such as enforcement or (joke alert) marijuana-abuse treatment programs?

-- Allow employers to fire employees for off-the-job marijuana use

Seems they could already do this under the concept of at-will employment.

-- Allow marijuana sales to out-of-state residents visiting Colorado

I imagine there's some kind of equal protection clause in the Colorado constitution, which does not exclusively apply to residents, that one could argue already makes this a fact.

-- Require marijuana grown at home to be in a room with walls and a ceiling. No outdoor marijuana growing.

I wonder if there are any other examples of a plant being legal to own and grow, but banning you from actually growing it outside in nature where, you know, it's supposed to grow.

[DoW]

This one is bothersome.

-- Allow employers to fire employees for off-the-job marijuana use

Why should it be treated any differently than alcohol or tobacco?  I kind of feel like you're either in or your out.  This still makes it pretty much "illegal."

And this is kind of ridiculous

-- Require marijuana to be sold in child-proof packaging

fwiw, some companies do not hire tobacco smokers and do fire people who smoke tobacco.
theoretically, they can do the same with alcohol.

tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers and alcohol drinkers are not protected classes.  you can't use the defense of discrimination without being in a protected class.
if your argument is to make marijuana smokers a protected class, good luck with that movement.

[emay]

Are these taxes going to apply to medical marijuana patients as well? How will they tell the difference if you go to a dispensary that sells to medical and recreational patients? maybe bud will be cheaper for the medical patients?

So you cant even toke in a bar? People always light up in bars when I was in CO. I didnt think it was allowed, but no one stopped them, or cared. I wonder if this "official ban" on blazing in bars n stuff will stop that. So at shows, are they gonna be cracking down on people blazing like they do if someone lights up a cig?

[sls.stormyrider]

personally, I don't care what people do, as long as it doesn't affect me.
If I'm at a show (or a bar) and a person near me is smoking anything, it bothers me.
no smoking is no smoking, imo.

(ducks)

[DoW]

personally, I don't care what people do, as long as it doesn't affect me.
If I'm at a show (or a bar) and a person near me is smoking anything, it bothers me.
no smoking is no smoking, imo.

(ducks)

the only thing that bothers me is people next to me drinking cheap beer.  they should be ousted.

people smoking pot near me at a show doesn;t bother me at all. 
I do hate the smell of cigarette smoke, but I deal with it if it happens.

[mbw]

i feel like such an old man.... but there is some kid who lives a few doors down who constantly smokes weed and it smells up the entire floor and seeps into my apartment.  i used to love the smell back when i was an asshole just like him, but now when i am trying to watch my stories in peace it really bugs me.  think i am going to write him a stern letter soon.  sorry duder, this ain't your college dorm.

/get off my lawn

[UncleEbinezer]

This one is bothersome.

-- Allow employers to fire employees for off-the-job marijuana use

Why should it be treated any differently than alcohol or tobacco?  I kind of feel like you're either in or your out.  This still makes it pretty much "illegal."

And this is kind of ridiculous

-- Require marijuana to be sold in child-proof packaging

fwiw, some companies do not hire tobacco smokers and do fire people who smoke tobacco.
theoretically, they can do the same with alcohol.

tobacco smokers, marijuana smokers and alcohol drinkers are not protected classes.  you can't use the defense of discrimination without being in a protected class.
if your argument is to make marijuana smokers a protected class, good luck with that movement.

I wasn't really taking it as a discrimination thing, just a flaw in logic (imo).