Green Art Rocks  -  Available at:  http://www.Green Art Rocks.com

Art Studio located at Karma Konnections Boutique – 1123 E. Douglas, Wichita, Kansas  (Gorilla on roof of building to the east of KK Boutique.)  Karma Konnections also sells Les Balm in .05 oz Trial Twist Tube, 2 oz Jar or Tin, & 2.65 oz. Twist Tube.
xxx
Newshawk: The GCW
Pubdate: Sat, 18 Apr 2015
Source: Sherwood Park News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2015 Osprey Media
Contact: http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.sherwoodparknews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1730
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n199/a08.html
Author: Stan White

IT’S GOD’S PLANT
Another important reason to end cannabis (marijuana) prohibition that doesn’t get mentioned (“Legalize Marijuana,” Tuesday, April 7 News) is because it is biblically correct since God (The Ecologician) created all the seed bearing plants saying they’re all good on literally the very first page.
The only biblical restriction to using cannabis is to use it with thankfulness (see 1 Tim. 4:1-5).
A sane or moral argument to continue cannabis prohibition doesn’t exist.
Truthfully,

Stan White

Dillon, Colorado
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
XXX
ENDING MARIJUANA PROHIBITION IS HUMANE, SENSIBLE

Public, religious groups, law enforcement coalition support ending marijuana prohibition.
H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as, “The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” We may think that is something from the distant past but then we are reminded of it from time to time, even in 21st century Kansas
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 16 Apr 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Maura Dolan

POT LEGALIZATION IS DEALT A BLOW
A Judge Upholds a 1970 Federal Law Classifying Marijuana As a Dangerous Drug.
SAN FRANCISCO - Efforts to legalize marijuana suffered a defeat in court Wednesday when a judge upheld the constitutionality of a 1970 federal law that classifies cannabis as a dangerous drug akin to LSD and heroin.
U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, announcing her decision at a hearing in Sacramento, said she could not lightly overturn a law passed by Congress.
Mueller agreed last year to hold an extensive fact-finding hearing on the issue, raising the hopes of activists seeking to legalize marijuana and worrying opponents who consider the drug a threat to health and public safety. The hearing marked the first time in decades that a judge was willing to examine the classification of marijuana under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
The Schedule 1 classification is for drugs that have no medicinal purpose, are unsafe even under medical supervision and contain a high potential for abuse. In addition to marijuana, heroin and LSD, other Schedule 1 drugs include Ecstasy and mescaline.
Mueller, an Obama appointee, announced her decision before issuing a written ruling, which is still pending.
She considered the constitutionality of the classification in response to a pretrial motion brought by lawyers defending accused marijuana growers.
“At some point in time, a court may decide this status to be unconstitutional,” Mueller was quoted as saying on leafonline.com, a pro-marijuana blog that has been covering the case. “But this is not the court and not the time.”
Dale Gieringer, director of the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said Mueller’s decision could not be appealed until after the criminal case against the growers was resolved. A trial is not expected until late this year or early next year.
“This is on a very slow train,” Gieringer said.
He said Mueller remarked that much has changed since marijuana’s classification but “a lower court judge has to follow the law.” He said last year’s hearing “showed the dysfunctionality of the current drug laws.”
Because of marijuana’s Schedule 1 status, federal restrictions make it difficult for researchers to obtain legal cannabis for study, advocates say.
NORML’s national office praised Mueller for “having the courage to hear this issue and provide it the careful consideration it deserves.”
“While we are disappointed with this ruling, it changes little,” said Paul Armentano, NORML’s deputy director. “We always felt this had to ultimately be decided by the 9th Circuit and we have an unprecedented record for the court to consider.”
Scott Chipman, Southern California chairman of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana, said he was pleased with the ruling but found it “disturbing “ that Mueller had even conducted a fact-finding hearing on the issue.
“There is a false sense that marijuana legalization is on the move, when we are seeing a huge pushback against legalization, particularly in small towns across the country,” Chipman said. “It is a seriously harmful drug that is much stronger than it was in the ‘70s and is getting stronger by the month.”
U.S. Atty. Benjamin B. Wagner, whose office is prosecuting the marijuana growers, said he was pleased with Mueller’s decision.
The question before the judge, he said, “was not whether marijuana should be legalized for medical or recreational use, but whether decisions concerning the status of marijuana under federal law should properly be made in accordance with the science-based scheduling process set forth in the Controlled Substances Act passed by Congress.”
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2015
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Cassidy Olivier
Page: 3

20,000 TIPPED TO ROLL UP FOR POT FEST
20th Anniversary: Mass toke-up called “beautiful” celebration, but others say normalization a ‘real threat’
In the small back courtyard of his marijuana dispensary on East Hastings Street, Dana Larsen, a well-known pot activist, talks candidly about a subject he knows well: B.C. bud.
It’s four days out from one of the premier local events for marijuana enthusiasts and Larsen, the author of several pot-themed books whose past political involvement includes a run for the B.C. NDP leadership, sketches out some of the preparations for the annual massive toke up known as 4/20.
Monday’s event outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, which marks the 20th anniversary of the smoke-out, is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000.
There will be bands, DJs, speeches, lots grass to buy from an expected 200 or so vendors, and, of course, an incredible amount of pot smoking.
It’s a far cry from the first organized puff-up held at Victory Square in 1995 that drew a few dozen local activists, said Larsen, a dedicated attendee.
The event has become so popular that organizers have started thinking about moving to a larger space to accommodate the growing crowds - a reflection of the prevailing attitudes toward pot use.
“For me, it is amazing to see how it has grown from this small thing to one of the city’s biggest events - I think it is really beautiful,” said Larsen, who believes he is the only person to have attended every single 4/20 event.
“It is an extremely safe and positive event. It is not so much a protest as a celebration of cannabis culture.”
It’s certainly an interesting time for the local pot legalization movement.
South of the border, in Washington state and Colorado, marijuana is being sold legally. And more recently, Alaska voted to legalize pot.
Local activists, politicians and anti-drug groups agree the impacts of this push have been felt here.
Kerry Jang, a Vancouver councillor, said legalization in Washington was quickly followed by an explosion of medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city.
Within the last year, the number of these outlets, which operate illegally and without licences, has jumped from about 60 to 80, he said.
“I think many of them opened up, not so much to serve need, but really they are trying to make a political statement and literally force the federal government to change the pot laws,” he said, adding the dispensaries have proved a “regulatory nightmare” for the city.
“I think the federal government will eventually have to deal with it.  Their current laws aren’t working and they are being challenged in court.”
Jodie Emery, who is married to Marc Emery, the so-called Prince of Pot, believes the proliferation of local dispensaries is tied to a glut of B.C.-grown bud as a result of a drop in cross-border demand.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, she noted.
“There are so many people left with so much pot that has no demand in Washington, so they are funnelling it through dispensaries to a market that is willing and eager to peacefully make that transaction,” she said.
“But there is no harm caused by it in the sense that nobody in the community is seeing any negative effect of it.”
Others, however, disagree. Pamela McColl, director of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada, said events such as 4/20 and the lack of strict enforcement on the dispensaries “says something about the normalization of marijuana,” which she said is the “real threat.”
“I think that the fact that we have 81 illegal stores operating in our city with not that much pushback from the public and certainly not much coming back from city hall or the VPD, says something to the normalization process that is going on here,” she said.
“It sends a really bad message to the youth of Vancouver. We either have laws and rules and regulations or we don’t.
“And if you can openly flout the law in the face of public officials and law enforcement, what does that say? For some reason, marijuana gets this free pass. And it shouldn’t. It’s a very destructive drug.”
Const. Brian Montague of the Vancouver Police Department said dispensaries remain a low priority for police, who are more focused on high-profile and violent crimes.
Their proliferation, meanwhile, hasn’t resulted in any corresponding spike in crime, he said.
As for the 4/20 event, Montague said it will be up to each officer’s discretion to enforce the law.
Jang said city staff are looking into the regulatory issues surrounding dispensaries. One of the things they will consider is whether the city has the power to limit where they set up.
Surprisingly, Jang said there have been very few complaints to date.
“We do get calls about the odd dispensary that is probably dealing out the back door or marketing to children, and those are the ones our staff and police go down to take care of,” he said.
“We have raided a number of shops and closed a few. But by and large, they’ve been fairly well run.”
Larsen, meanwhile, has a simple answer for the criticism that has been levelled at the 4/20 event for being a place that not only facilitates but encourages pot use among teens. He said people are encouraged not to sell to teens and to ask for ID. But given the sheer abundance of pot being openly passed around, the odds are that teens will get some.
“If you want to eliminate that, legalize marijuana,” he
said.

“If teens want to get marijuana they can get it anyway. They don’t have to go to 4/20.”
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

TIME TO RESCHEDULE
Last year we scored a historic victory that bans the Department of Justice from undermining state medical marijuana laws for one year.  But the department recently declared that it will ignore the Congressional mandate and continue prosecuting people for medical marijuana. Do you think medical marijuana will never be safe unless we change federal law permanently? Is the CARERS Act the big chance to do it?
? Lickity Split

Good question. I suppose we’ll find out. The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act, originally sponsored by senators Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, is picking up steam. According to a tweet from Senator Booker (yes, Twitter is a legitimate way of gathering information, so hush), the bill now has 14 co-sponsors, seven Dems and seven Repubs. That’s pretty sweet. Not only that, this bill is really nice. The CARERS Act allows banks to handle medical cannabis money, amends the Controlled Substances Act so states can have legal medical cannabis and reschedules marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, meaning it would no longer be classified as a “dangerous narcotic.” (I always giggle when someone calls cannabis a “narcotic.”) By the way, United States District Court Judge Kimberly Mueller decided to allow cannabis to remain listed as Schedule 1 in a hearing last week. The defense’s lawyers are, of course, planning an appeal. It would probably be easier to get this bill passed.
The CARERS Act would go a long way toward creating positive change.  Call your representatives and senators and tell them to support this bill. Senator Barbara Boxer is already listed as a co-sponsor; can we get Senator Dianne Feinstein to come aboard? I know she hates marijuana, but maybe she could do her job and follow the will of the people just this once. Send her an email. Thank you.
I saw the stoner movie story in last week’s issue and I’m looking for some good, trippy cinema for when I’m couch locked. Got any recommendations for movies, shows or anything else?
? Les Thargic

I do indeed! If you want some stunning visuals, check out the film Baraka. It’s a trippy journey around the world. Curse of The Golden Flower is also visually stunning, with a great story of intrigue. And kung fu. I also really really like concert films. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is fantastic, so are Woodstock and Stop Making Sense, which may be the best concert film of all time. Be aware: Stop Making Sense may cure your couch lock, because it’s hard not to get up and dance when the Talking Heads get into full party mode. Find this book: Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide. It will help.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2015 Boulder Weekly
Contact: letters@boulderweekly.com
Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

CANNABIS CUP ENCAPSULATES THE MARIJUANA CULTURE CLASH
There was plenty of weed at the Cannabis Cup celebration last weekend in Denver. Billed as the biggest marijuana party in the world, the Cup is a three-day psychedelic mash-up of counter culture, high technology and entrepreneurship, equal parts Woodstock, SXSW, Comic-Con and Gold Rush.
After the state Marijuana Enforcement Division announced a couple days before the event that businesses with Colorado licenses wouldn’t be allowed to offer free samples, I wondered what the effect might be on the party, since freebies are at least part of the reason more than 40,000 people, many from out of state, are willing to pay $40 a day for tickets and wait for more than an hour just to get in the place.
The freebie ban didn’t apply to out-of-state businesses, so the dab and shatter booths immediately attracted long lines. There was no shortage of product and sharing was common. I attended the trade show; elsewhere, there were concerts, 4/20 celebrations, plant and strain competitions and shuttles to take you where you needed to go.
I hadn’t been in the building more than 10 minutes before I found myself staring into the familiar countenance of Keith Stroup, the founder of NORML and one of the most recognizable voices for marijuana reform in the U.S. over the last decades. Stroup was one of those people in the 1970s publicly questioning the “facts” as presented in the wake of the Controlled Substances Act. The Justice Department, for instance, was telling us that cannabis use made people apathetic, unable to concentrate or work, unreliable and stupid. My experience being completely the opposite, watching people like Stroup ask the questions I was seeking answers to was important to helping me begin to understand the travesty that comprises the War on Drugs.
Surprised, the first thing I could blurt out was, “Did you ever actually believe that you would be standing at something called the Cannabis Cup in a state where marijuana is legal in your lifetime?” He smiled and allowed that he did, but wasn’t sure he would live long enough to see it.
We talked a bit about the growing acceptance and continued stigma of marijuana today. “There are now a majority of people in the United States who support marijuana legalization,” he said. “But many of them have a bad opinion of pot smokers themselves. I couldn’t believe the large numbers of people who have a negative impression of people like us.”
I thought about that the rest of the time I was at the Cup, which in itself encapsulates the dichotomy of the marijuana movement in loud, bright colors and bold strokes. Tens of thousands of attendees of every age, stripe and color, almost every one of them smoking joints or vaping, strolled past hundreds of display booths for products and services like Bong Beauties, Magical Butter Bus, Dope Ass Glass, Rare Dankness, Scapegoat Genetics, Gorilla Extracts, Super Smacked, Freakies Smokeshop, Vape Genies, Med Max Nutrients, Ganja Gold, Smoked Out Clothing, Weed Wipes, Fryed and Dyed and Get Shnockered.  There were booths of growers, investors, CO2 extractors, herbalists, arborists, mechanical trimmers, plant systems, branding companies, bakers, health products, ointments, lotions, salves, cleaning products, genetics, clothing, social media sites, magazines, even a company offering canine protection.
Every aspect of cannabis culture was on display. Some of the products, like stylish bags and clothes made from hemp, wouldn’t look out of place in any high-end tourist outlet. Still, the ambience reeked of the counter culture from whence NORML and the legalization movement came. Watching Cup antics on television news probably won’t do much to convince the more than 40 percent of Americans who still oppose legalization to change their minds about marijuana users.
There are plenty of people, myself included, who would like to see the image people have of marijuana users move beyond Cheech and Chong comedy sketches, stoner movies and dumbed-down TV characters. The National Cannabis Industry Association, which is lobbying Congress on medical marijuana and banking bills in committee, last month fired Tommy Chong as a celebrity activist for this very reason.
But in the long run, as we have with alcohol, we’ll have to get used to the extremes. Events like last year’s Classically Cannabis series, which paired marijuana with chamber music, certainly helped people see this drug, and its users, in a different light. The Drug Policy Alliance recently released a series of photos through a Creative Commons license that depicts people using cannabis in their homes.  Attractive displays of marijuana merchandise - potholders, mugs, cookbooks, flasks, tote bags, coasters and Blundt Cakes - are now requisite in every store on the Pearl Street Mall right alongside the CU and state logo merch.
The Boulder campus was open Monday on April 20 for the first time in three years, and more than 125,000 people attended the Cup and other 4/20 events. Denver police issued 160 pot-related tickets over the weekend, mostly for public-consumption violations.
But perhaps the most positive sign of change came on Sunday night, when @ DenverPolice tweeted this message about the coming 4/20 celebration: “We see you rollin, but we ain’t hatin’ HAHA...  Seriously though, #Denver, please remember to #ConsumeResponsibly this 4/20 weekend.”
The reference is to a song by rapper Chamillionaire. But what came through was the attitude: Friendly, not confrontational. And that pretty much defines the weekend of the biggest marijuana party in the world 2015.
You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado
cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http:// news.kgnu.org/weed
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Contact: letters@csindy.com
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Website: http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford
Column: CannaBiz

NEW MARIJUANA SOCIAL-MEDIA APP DEBUTS, AND MORE
Mobile marijuana musings
A new social-media iTunes app wants all your pot posts to live on its network. Meet Duby, a Denver-based company there for your sharing needs.
“Cannabis is one of the top themes on social media, yet most social media outlets restrict marijuana-related posts,” says co-founder Alec Rochford in a press release. “Duby is a viral social network that allows the cannabis community to discover the latest marijuana trends and conversations.”
The company says all sharing is both location-based and completely anonymous. “The concept is not to collect friends, but to increase your influence by posting content that is passed around among users,” it says. Basically, users participate in a voting system, passing the Duby on posts they like, or putting the Duby out on those they don’t.
State cracks down
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has released its new policy for identifying doctors outside “compliance with the state constitution, statutes and regulations involving physician recommendations for medical marijuana.”
There will be three key signs: A caseload of 3,521 or more patient recommendations in one year, which is tied to the national average; plant-count recommendations higher than the standard six plants and two ounces; and a practice where more than a third of patients are under the age of 30, since most chronic conditions occur in older adults.
Possible penalties, if referred to the Colorado Department of
Regulatory Agencies, include revocation of the ability to recommend cannabis.
Keef crumbs
Mayoral voting advice from the Southern Colorado Cannabis Council:
“If you live in Colorado Springs, and are a registered voter, you will receive a ballot in the US Mail,” the organization writes in an April 19 newsletter. “You could ignore it. Then kick yourself when the Policeman-like Prosecuting Attorney wins. Or you can open it and vote for the Grandmother who frequently speaks loudly and strongly about upholding Cannabis rights. Mary lou [sic] Make peace is that kind of gal.”
As of press time, the Colorado Springs Police Department did not have any stats related to tickets or DUIs charged over the 4/20 weekend.  Writes spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley in an email: “This has traditionally been a very non-event in the Colorado Springs area.”
On Monday, the Colorado Health Institute released a study (bit.ly/1K0goq5) of Colorado’s marijuana public policy since legalization. “While predictions centered on crime waves, an epidemic of overdoses, skyrocketing drug use among kids and a tax windfall for schools, none of this has happened,” reads a release from CHI.  “Instead, more than a year later, the most pressing issues are how to label edible marijuana products, how to deal with unpredictable tax revenues and how the state’s marijuana merchants can safely bank their money.”
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Westword (Denver, CO)
Column: Ask A Stoner
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.westword.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.westword.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1616
Author: William Breathes

WHICH KIND OF VAPE PEN IS BEST?
Dear Stoner: I’m curious about buying a vape pen and wondering what brand or type you recommend and which is the most popular.
Tokin’ Tom
Dear Tom: It depends on how you plan to use your vape pen. Are you a flower guy? Do you want to smoke oils? If so, do you want to load them yourself, or do you want something more “plug and play”? Some like the ease and function of the pre-loaded vape pens and refills like O. pen, while others want to load oils and waxes into the pens themselves. Others just want to be able to vape buds. The O.pen Vape-style pens are great for stealth usage, as the vapor exhaled doesn’t have much of a smell, and the cartridges look like the ones that tobacco users puff on. They’re also relatively cheap ($15 for the pen and around $30 for a cartridge), but they aren’t favored by connoisseurs because they tend to be made with lower-quality oils that don’t have much flavor. O.pen will be releasing a new line of cartridges soon that it says have a much greater flavor profile, thanks to new extraction methods that preserve the flavor-containing oils and terpenes.
Our preference is for the Cloud-style pens that let us load pea-sized chunks of hash wax or shatter. They’re available through different companies, but almost all of them look like oval-shaped USB drives or tubes of lipstick. I’ve had one for about three years, and though I’ve had to replace the heat element a few times at $15 a pop, it’s been really good to me. The benefit is that I can put in high-potency, high-flavor oils and change out strains as I see fit.  The downside is that the “vapor” exhaled is actually more like smoke, and that and the smell make it less discreet.
Cloud also makes a pen dubbed the Phantom for vaping flowers, and for the size and function, it’s among the tops we’ve tried. We’ve also recently been suggesting the PAX 2 vaporizer, though you’d better have a thick wallet, as a new one will run you around $250.
Dear Stoner: What type of insurance coverage is needed on an MMJ dispensary? Also, what type of coverage does a grower need?
JP
Dear JP: We did some digging and were somewhat surprised to find that there are no state laws requiring marijuana dispensaries or grows to be insured. That doesn’t mean there aren’t insurers out there, though. Companies like Cannasure and Greenpoint offer general business insurance for dispensaries and landlords, as well as crop insurance for growers that covers everything from theft to hail damage to flooding. It seems like a good investment if you’ve got several million dollars’ worth of finicky greenery flowering under your roof.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: The GCW
Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122

CHRIS CHRISTIE SHOULD BACK OFF ON COLORADO
Chris Christie seems to have evolved from being a potentially formidable presidential candidate when his prospects were first  mentioned a few years ago to a vanity candidate today.
The only reason for the New Jersey governor to run for the Republican nomination now is to gratify his outsized ego - assuming that ego doesn’t mind a few swift drubbings at the polls.
Christie solidified his long-shot status this week with a couple of numbskull moves, from both a political and policy standpoint.
One of his pratfalls has direct bearing on Colorado. As president, Christie told radio host Hugh Hewitt, he “would crack down and not permit it” - “it” being the retail sale of marijuana in any state.
It’s one thing to oppose legalization of marijuana and deplore its retail sale. Most Republicans, polls show, agree with Christie on that point. But many Republicans also espouse a principled commitment to federalism - and it shows in their attitude toward a possible federal crackdown against outlier states like Colorado and Washington.
According to a Pew Research Center poll this month, a majority of Republicans say the federal government “should not” enforce its marijuana laws in states that allow its use. Indeed, Republican opposition to a federal crackdown, at 54 percent, was only slightly less than the percentage of Democrats holding that view, which was 58 percent.
So Christie’s hardline stance is a political loser in his own party.  And it’s a loser from a policy point of view, too, since the federal government can’t force a state to criminalize possession of a drug.  All it could do is shut down marijuana stores and grow centers and drive sales of a drug that is legal to possess under state law into the black market. Brilliant.
Christie’s approach to Social Security is too complex to dissect here in detail. And he deserves credit for offering a specific proposal to solve its long-term funding shortfall rather than resort to the sort of platitudes many candidates espouse.
Suffice it to say, however, that his proposal is ham-handed, and could be political poison.
Most prudent reform proposals have sought to slow the inflation-adjusted growth of benefits in a way that protects low-income earners - thus making the benefits system more progressive than today - while raising the earnings cap a bit and kicking the retirement age up a year.
But Christie wants to transform the system into a form of social welfare by cutting the well-to-do off completely, which could erode support for the program itself. And he not only would advance the full retirement age by two years, to 69, but also move early retirement - when reduced benefits are available - from 62 to 64.
We worry about the impact of the early retirement proposal on people who do physical labor all their lives and who sometimes need an option for leaving the workforce early. And these blue-collar workers are the sort of voters that should be among Republican targets.
On both marijuana and Social Security, Christie apparently wants to appear forceful and decisive. Well, he does. And also way out of step.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: The GCW
Pubdate: Tue, 21 Apr 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122

DEA CHIEF MICHELE LEONHART WASN’T UP TO THE JOB
Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, seems to have finally encountered a public scandal capable of bringing her down - revelations about agents’ “sex parties.” So the DEA chief is reportedly resigning.
Her tenure since 2007 has been marked not only by questionable enforcement tactics but also by a closeminded refusal to draw useful distinctions among illegal drugs.
In an amusing but damning exchange with Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., three years ago, Leonhart resisted describing methamphetamines or heroin as worse for someone’s health than marijuana.
“All illegal drugs are bad,” she repeated like a third-grade mantra.
Now the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has announced it no longer has confidence in her leadership.
What took it so long?
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: www.flcan.org
Pubdate: Tue, 21 Apr 2015
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2015 The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/submit/
Website: http://tbo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author: Cerise Naylor
Page: A6
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n199/a04.html

STATE’S MEDICAL POT LAW TAKES A HIT
Since June 2014 medical marijuana has been legal in Florida thanks to the Florida Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1030 that year.  Unfortunately, Florida patients still wait for the law to become a reality in their medical treatment due to continuing delays in implementation of the statute.
Floridians suffering from debilitating conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, ALS, MS and Parkinson’s are left wondering what, if any, relief will come to them via Tallahassee this year. SB 1030 has been faced with setback after setback, and Florida’s frustrated patients deserve answers.
So where are we and just how far away is that from where we need to be?
After the state Department of Health rewrote the proposed rule in January - a rule that enjoyed wide approval from patients, industry professionals and legislators alike - it received three new administrative challenges, which brought weeks of progress to a grinding halt.
In an effort to fast-track the implementation of SB 1030 and make good on the promise made to Florida’s most vulnerable, the Legislature put forward a handful of bills that would expand the language of the existing statute.
These have received little attention to date. Recently, the Senate introduced a new bill, SB 7066, which makes several important changes to SB 1030 and provides an almost immediate implementation mechanism for the cannabis law.
This latter effort was provided to prevent the continuing superfluous lawsuits based on individual self-interest. The bill intends to make certain the cannabis industry is regulated within the limits and spirit of the new and old law and stresses patient safety and affordability.
If it weren’t for the current administrative law challenges, the DOH would have been in a position to open up bids for licenses in early April and the Legislature would not have been placed in the precarious position of having to intervene with this necessary fix.
If the administrative law judge decides these challenges hold no legal ground or the challengers themselves do not have legal standing - that is, ‘skin in the game’ - we could see the implementation of low-THC cannabis by mid-May.
Should this occur, one can count on many of the current bills in the Legislature to be all but abandoned.
But, should the remaining two challenges hold up in court, the fate of Florida’s medical marijuana will remain in the hands of the 2015 Legislature and finally, the governor.
Let us hope that reason and compassion prevail. Cerise Naylor is executive director of the Florida Medical Cannabis Association.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sat, 25 Apr 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Jacob Sullum, Creators Syndicate

‘ANALOG DRUG’ LAW VIOLATES DUE PROCESS REQUIREMENT
Back in 1986, Congress passed the Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act, a law aimed at “designer drugs” that were similar to illegal compounds but different enough to escape prohibition.
Nearly three decades later, the government is still scrambling to keep up with the output of creative underground chemists, banning one psychoactive substance after another, only to find substitutes already on the market.
As a case the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday illustrates, the analog drug law failed because it tried to do the impossible.
It tried to stop people from achieving unsanctioned states of consciousness by banning chemicals based on criteria vague enough to cover unknown substances yet specific enough to give fair notice of which actions would lead to prosecution.
The Supreme Court case involves Stephen McFadden, a Staten Island entrepreneur who was indicted in 2012 for supplying synthetic stimulants to retailers who sold them as “bath salts.”
McFadden had been careful to avoid chemicals that were listed as controlled substances, and the stimulants he was charged with distributing - 4-MEC, MDPV and methylone - were not explicitly banned by federal law when he sold them.

McFadden nevertheless was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in prison under the analog drug act, which applies to compounds sold for human consumption that are “substantially similar” to forbidden substances in chemical structure and actual or intended effects.
The law says such “controlled substance analogues” should be treated like the drugs they resemble.
Still, to be convicted of selling a controlled substance, you have to do so “knowingly or intentionally,” and it’s not clear what that means in this context.
McFadden’s lawyers argue, reasonably enough, that you shouldn’t be convicted of selling an analog drug unless you knew you were selling an analog drug.
The problem is that the analog drug statute does not define “substantial similarity,” a crucial yet subjective feature on which a chemical’s legal status hinges.
Experts will disagree, as they did during McFadden’s trial, about whether a given compound is substantially similar to a listed substance and therefore qualifies as an analog - a legal question disguised as a scientific one.
As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit observed in 2005, “a substance’s legal status as a controlled substance analogue is not a fact that a defendant can know conclusively ex ante; it is a fact that the jury must find at trial.”
That situation hardly seems consistent with the due process requirement that a criminal law be clear enough for ordinary people to understand what it prohibits.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which upheld McFadden’s conviction, was untroubled by the fact that he had no way of knowing in advance whether he was committing a crime. The court said it was enough to show he knew people would consume the substances he was selling - a reading of the law that would make felons out of innocent individuals who distribute vitamins, cocktails or cookies without realizing they contain analog drugs.
The Justice Department, which is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the 4th Circuit’s ruling, nevertheless concedes that the appeals court was wrong about the knowledge requirement.
But the DOJ argues that someone can be convicted of selling an analog drug if his behavior and comments suggest he knows the product is “a regulated or illegal substance,” even if he does not know why.
The government complains that McFadden’s reading of the analog drug act makes prosecutions harder, but that is beside the point. If Congress insists on telling grownups what substances they may not consume, the least it can do is specify the substances.
In this case, legislators had no particular drugs in mind. They merely anticipated that no matter what substances they banned, new ones would take their place.
Perhaps it is time to reconsider this never-ending game of catch-up, which drives producers and consumers away from familiar intoxicants and toward exotic ones that may prove more dangerous.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Mon, 20 Apr 2015
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2015 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Phil Kadner

A ‘GOOD DAY’ FOR LAWYER WHO FOUGHT AGAINST DRUG WAR
Would Al Capone have loved drug prohibition? This man thinks so
James Gierach sounded almost giddy when I telephoned him Monday to get his reaction to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s announcement that she would no longer prosecute misdemeanor marijuana cases and would refer non-violent felony drug offenders for treatment.
“It’s wonderful,” Gierach said. “It’s progress. It’s almost like the sun is shining. It’s not yet. But maybe we’re moving out of the Dark Ages toward enlightenment. It’s something to be happy about.”
In 1992, Gierach, a Palos Park lawyer, announced he was running for Cook County state’s attorney and would campaign to get drug addicts treatment instead of prison terms.
A member of a respected legal family (his father Will Gierach was a Cook County judge and had launched one of the most respected municipal law firms in the south suburbs) there were longtime business associates who wondered if Gierach had lost his marbles and newspaper pundits who thought he was just wacko.
Gierach lost the Democratic Party primary election that year, but has spent the 23 years since that time attending seminars, workshops and hearings on drug policy throughout the world.
“If Al Capone were alive today, he would be an advocate of drug prohibition, just like all the politicians who have supported it,” Gierach said, referencing the notorious gangster who capitalized off of alcohol prohibition. “By prohibiting marijuana you’ve turned a plant people can grow almost anywhere into one of the most valuable commodities on Earth.”
Gierach noted that, in her news conference, Alvarez said that felony drug possession cases represented almost one-fourth of the 40,000 felony cases prosecuted by her office.
“Law enforcement agencies aren’t out there solving violent crimes because they’re out there arresting people for possession of marijuana,” Gierach said. “Resources that could be used to hire more police officers, better train detectives, are being used to prosecute people for the possession of marijuana.
“Our policy on drugs has killed people. That’s a fact. People are being murdered every day in Chicago and throughout the country in crimes involving drugs because of our national policy. The costs of prisons have increased because our prisons are full of people who have been put there because of drug-related crimes.
“You want to know why Alvarez is doing this now? Because (Cook County Board President) Toni Preckwinkle doesn’t have the money to keep all these people in the Cook County Jail. It’s because Alvarez no longer has the money or the attorneys to keep prosecuting people for drug crimes.
“That’s why things are finally changing,” Gierach said. “We’re just running out of money.
“And you want to know something else? You can solve the massive pension problem in this state by legalizing marijuana. You reduce the number of people in prison and tax the drugs and treat the people with drug problems and you save hundreds of millions, maybe billions, of dollars.”
I’ve known Gierach for nearly 30 years and told him that I still don’t think the general public is ready for the legalization of illegal drugs.
“I ask people all the time what they think is worse, drugs or the war on drugs?” Gierach said. “I ask people that in grocery store lines, in banks, hotels, wherever I go. And you know what they always answer, whether they’re rich or poor, no matter if they’re living in a high-crime or low-crime neighborhood? They answer the war on drugs is worse than the drug problem itself.”
Gierach, 70, is the executive board vice chairman of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) an international organization of former law enforcement and criminal justice officials who speak out against the failures of existing drug policies throughout the world.
As one of the leaders of the organization, Gierach has been attending annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Geneva for the last four years.
“There’s a list of something like 119 narcotics that are illegal,” Gierach said. “They are on something called a yellow list. But you know what the cartels have done, they have been creating substitute drugs, that mimic these illegal drugs, but they’re not illegal.
“The first year I went to Geneva, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs listed 50 new synthetic drugs they had found on the market. The next year, it was about 50. The year after that it was 100. And last year it was 300 new synthetic drugs.”
“These drugs sell for a higher profit than the old drugs. The cartels are making a fortune off of them. And none of them are banned because they’re different types of narcotics than the ones on the list.
“The drug war is a joke. It has cost everyone a fortune. It has wasted billions of dollars that could have been used for social programs that actually help people. And, as I said, it has actually caused the violent deaths of people all across the world because we’ve made it such a profitable industry.
“Prohibition only does one thing and that’s increase the value of the drugs that you’re prohibiting. It certainly doesn’t stop anyone from getting drugs. That’s just a fact.”
Gierach said he recalls arguing against expanding the Cook County Jail from a capacity of 9,000 to 10,000 many years ago, claiming that the county would be better off decreasing the size of the jail population than increasing the size of the jail itself.
“But we went ahead and did it and doubled the bonded-indebtedness of Cook County at the time,” Gierach said. “It’s just crazy. Now, we’re finally running out of money so we’re starting to adopt the approach that we should have taken decades ago.”
In fact, Alvarez said pretty much the same thing at her press conference.
“Traditional methods of prosecution are not working,” Alvarez said.  “We want to create a sea change in dealing with low-level drug crimes for nonviolent repeat offenders.”
There will be no prosecutions for misdemeanor charges for possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana for those with less than three arrests or citations for similar charges, Alvarez said,
People who have been arrested three or more times will be sent to an existing drug school program and have their charges dismissed if they complete the program.
Even class 4 felony drug possession cases will be referred to drug treatment programs and social service agencies unless they have significant criminal histories of violence.
“Drugs are bad, and I am not promoting any drug use,” Alvarez said, obviously trying to placate the anti-drug crowd. “This is not being soft on crime at all. This is being smart.”
Gierach laughs when he hears that kind of rhetoric.
“I understand why people still don’t want to use the words ‘decriminalize’ or ‘legalize’ when it comes to drugs and I really don’t care what words they do use,” he said.
“Eighty percent of our violent crime is related to drug crimes. The police chief of Chicago said that.
“Take the profit out of drugs,” Gierach continued. “Give drug addicts an alternative an access to health care. Reduce the profit motive that spurs the increase in violent crime. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.
“This is a return to sanity. This is a good day. Let’s just leave it at that.”
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact: letters@metrotimes.com
Website: http://www.metrotimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1381
Author: Larry Gabriel

WHY AFRICAN-AMERICANS ARE LARGELY ABSENT FROM THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA MOVEMENT
When I was at the breakfast for Tommy Chong a couple of weeks ago, I talked with another African- American at the event. Actually, he was the only brother at this gathering of activists and dispensary owners aside from me.
As we spoke, I noted that brothers are few and far between when it comes to marijuana activism. His comment was: “And you know why.”
Indeed I do. Brothers are afraid to stick their necks out on this issue because when the powers that be decide to start chopping heads off they know which heads are going to roll first. Given the history of the war on drugs and the fact that African-Americans get arrested for marijuana at more than three times the rate of whites, it makes sense to be paranoid.
When I later asked if he wanted to be interviewed for this column he said: “I’m still flying under the radar right now.”
On the down low. Creepin’. Slipping through the shadows.
It’s a familiar place. That’s how a lot of brothers have learned to operate in the marijuana culture. Or around anything else for that matter. When police pull you over for a traffic stop and end up dragging you out of your car, beating you mercilessly, and planting cocaine in your car, as Floyd Dent says Inkster police did to him recently, you might think twice about giving them extra reason to mess with you.
Let’s just say that blacks have not been at the forefront of the marijuana revolution. There have been few prominent blacks in the marijuana movement nationally. Maj. Neill Franklin, a retired police officer and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is one. Franklin was on the team that convinced the national NAACP to oppose the war on drugs a few years ago. But Franklin is a rare one.
Beyond activism, we’re also not participating in the “green rush” of business opportunities that have popped up. Instead of trying to fight dispensaries, as some community groups have been doing, they should be trying to foster some folks in the community to own some of these, in addition to grow supply stores or testing facilities or packaging plants. That would go a whole lot further in protecting the community than trying to keep them out.
“I know some guys that work in dispensaries but they’re not the owners of facilities,” says Joe White, a black Detroiter who sits on the board of the Michigan Chapter of NORML. White has lobbied at the state Capitol on marijuana issues, but now he’s focusing on educational outreach in Detroit.
“People in the city need to sit down and talk about this,” says White. “That includes church leaders. Rev. Alonzo Bell agrees that this is something that needs to be discussed in the African-American community regarding marijuana. Things just need to be talked about, and we need to clear the air on this discussion.”
Statistics show that among all ethnicities the older you get the less support there is for loosening marijuana laws. When I attended a meeting of the Metropolitan Detroit Community Action Coalition (which seeks rules restricting dispensaries) a couple of months ago, I guessed that the average age of the attendees was about 70. It could have been a little lower but they were clearly alarmed about marijuana stores in the neighborhoods.
“The group that’s most resistant to any of these marijuana issues is the African-American senior population,” says White. “There were a couple of studies done on that. The African-American senior population is fighting against it when issues come up. Most of it is a lack of knowledge, fear, misguided information, and so forth. Fear sometimes drives us backward instead of forward.”
It’s hard to blame them when they have seen their city and their neighborhoods ravaged and believe drugs are to blame for why that happened. But at this point marijuana won’t be stopped. There are three different petition drives to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Michigan, and Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) intends to submit a legalization bill to the legislature this year. Polls show a majority of Michiganders support recreational legalization.  Legalization could very well come to Michigan very soon, and when that happens the financial floodgates will be flung open.
In 2014 Colorado had medical and recreational marijuana sales of $700 million. Michigan’s population is close to twice that of Colorado so it’s easy guess that sales would quickly go over the billion-dollar mark. Any industry that comes in and makes that big a mark on the economy is huge. And that doesn’t include what could happen with industrial hemp, although it will take a while for the impact of that to be felt.
It’s coming. There is so much money to be made that even if the petition drives are unsuccessful some major corporate entity will woo enough legislators to make it happen. Marketing executives have already profiled marijuana users and everything else they like: clothes, shoes, beer, dining choices, sports activities, vacation spots. They’re ready to go. If legalization somehow doesn’t come to Michigan by next year, it could very well happen in any of several other states, including Ohio.
So African-Americans need to get over their fears - whether it’s the fear getting arrested or the fear of the scourge of marijuana. There is a coming new industry and unless some folks start investing more than the cost of a bag at the local dispensary, we will again be left behind.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 23 Apr 2015
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Column: Passing the Joint
Copyright: 2015 The Trentonian
Contact: letters@trentonian.com
Website: http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Edward Forchion, NJWeedman.com For The Trentonian

SIGN OF THE TIMES
I have a dilemma: Good Troopers
In these times of altercations recorded on cell phone cameras and Internet hashtag campaigns against police abuse, I have a different dilemma: I can’t commend the good officers for fear of getting them in trouble. I’m now being treated very well by New Jersey police - and I can’t really write about it because I don’t want to screw them up. I want good cops to prosper and weed out (pun intended) the bad ones.
Everyone knows I’ve been abused in the past simply for publicly telling the truth about marijuana. In the past I have complained bitterly about troopers, in particular in 1999 it was NJ State Trooper Thornton (#5411) who seemed to take my mere “NJWEEDMAN” existence as a personal affront to him and his badge. He harassed me for weeks, actually forcing me to flee him once. I successfully outran his cruiser, evading him at a high rate of speed in my Jaguar.  I drove directly to the Winslow Township Police Station and ran inside to surrender to the local police before he could arrest me. I later filed an Internal Affairs complaint against him that was probably thrown in the trash moments after I left. And then in 2005 an unnamed State House trooper kicked me in the crotch and then insisted on arresting me because I refused to leave the State House building when Trooper Robert Attendees gather at a protest supporting marijuana and listen to speakers at the event on Saturday March 21, 2015.
“Rowdy Rob” Rasinsky (#5773) objected to my T-shirt, which said “legalize cannabis.” I was maced by Gloucester Township Police Officer Edward Bryant and unlawfully arrested in Seaside Heights by Officer Fraas (#3404) for lawfully passing out “NJWeedman for Congress” literature. The list goes on and on, but now I’m experiencing something different.
I’ve complained about police officers plenty of times, and it’s no secret that I’ve bitched about the “war on drugs” being blindly enforced by these officers.
But now I’m getting breaks from officers and even from the unlikeliest of unlikelies: state troopers. None of them are arresting me now and while I think this is great, I feel constrained to report on these sign-of-the-times encounters out of concern that their kindness or respect toward me will cause harm to their jobs and careers. I can’t write about the details of how an officer recently used his discretion to let me go when he smelled marijuana and told me so but didn’t search me even though at that point probable cause existed for a search and arrest. Nor could I provide the particulars of how last month I pulled over on I-295 to talk on the phone and didn’t notice the state police car that pulled in behind me. When I opened my glove box to retrieve my documents for the trooper, I had close to an ounce sitting in plain sight. I was personally happy I didn’t get a new charge; the officer acted like he didn’t see it, to my delight. But I couldn’t tell anyone my “good officer” stories.  They have remained in my head-until now.
On Sunday 4/19, “’Twas the night before 4/20” -
I accepted an invite to come celebrate 4/20 at an event called the “Secret Sesh” in Newark. The event has been publicized on Facebook for weeks, with the actual location not being revealed until 7 p.m.  on 4/19. This event was basically a ganja party in a nightclub to celebrate the 420 Stoner Day, like it was a New Year’s Eve party. The music was mostly reggae and the marijuana-themed rap had me really thinking 4/20 has already become a holiday, as HBO’s BILL Maher is now petitioning the government to establish. I’ve been a marijuana activist for close to 20 years, and just this event taking place in New Jersey was historically epic to me.
On the way to the event in the smoke-filled WEEDMOBIL, I and my four other pothead passengers were actually in the process of hot-boxing on the NJ Turnpike when we were pulled over by a New Jersey State Trooper at exit 6.
Flashback-style I panicked, and seconds after the trooper turned on his lights I dumped my bottle of weed out the window and continued to drive for another ¼ mile, a cloud of smoke emerging as I opened the window to do so.
My fellow potheads in the back scrambled to put out spliffs, hide pipes, and pull out cameras. Yet when the smiling officer approached (yes, he was smiling - I didn’t think that was even possible for troopers), he never mentioned smelling anything, which was a huge departure from the norm. In the past troopers have looked at me and claimed they smelled marijuana and used that as probable cause to handcuff me and search me and my vehicle.
Now maybe this trooper didn’t have the K-9 nose many claim they do or times have changed. I got the sneaking suspicion he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw a WEEDMOBIL and had to see it for himself. He didn’t call for backup or demand to search the vehicle. Ultimately I was given a warning ticket for a “dim light”; the trooper treated us with respect, and we went on our merry way to the “Secret Sesh” with a story to tell.
The actual location was kept hush-hush by the organizers, obviously to prevent law enforcement from interfering. But just to take that chance to promote and host such a marijuana event shows how emboldened the potheads of New Jersey have become despite Christie, our state politicians, and the current marijuana laws. I hadn’t seen that much weed at a party since my days in Hollywood. The host, a Newark rapper and Brick City legend named Marley Sheen  “Sucio is his rap name”, handed out high-grade marijuana at midnight, as well as THC concentrates and edibles in defiance of Governor Christie’s brownie ban. Potheads from around the state converged on the “SECRET SESH” smoking, dabbing, and dancing. We had a HIGH time.
Now 20 years ago, not only did very few even know about the term “420” (it was secret stoner lingo at the time), but to have such a party, and to invite me as the celebrity guest, was unthinkable. For those who don’t know what “sesh” means, it’s pothead slang for “smoke session.” Even with my creative THC-enhanced mind, I couldn’t have written a better script for the most recent mainstreaming of marijuana. CNN has even become the Cannabis News Network!
At the last three protests I’ve participated in at the State House, including this past Monday 4/20, hundreds of NJ potheads have openly smoked weed at the very seat of power in this state and no one has been arrested by the state police - times have changed.
Now only if I could convince the president of the NJ State Municipal Prosecutors Association, Mr. JonHenry Barr, to exercise his discretion like these troopers and stop prosecuting the potheads.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Contact:
http://www.seattleweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Website: http://www.seattleweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Michael A. Stusser
Column: Higher Ground

EDUCATING JANE
Shooting Down a Few Anti-Legalization Arguments.
“They’re talking about opening a weed stand, or whatever, right next to my kids’ school,” the woman began, reaching for a plastic cup of wine during ArtWalk. “I mean, they’re already getting drunk. Now this will make a second thing we’re allowing for!”
I gently reminded her that both of those things were illegal for minors, but she would have none of it.
“Seriously. The parties they go to are beyond,” she said, gazing at an out-of-this-world painting on the gallery wall. “From eighth grade on, there is alcohol at most of their socials. That’s already happening. So to add another drug that can mess up their minds . . . “
I understood the fear she was experiencing. Parenting is terrifying.  I get it; I had a teenage daughter once. (Good lord.) But one way to alleviate some of the fear about our kids having sex or smoking dope or getting shot on the playground is by clarifying some of the misinformation and having open dialogue. (That’s the theory.)
“To be honest, I’d rather have my kid on weed than alcohol, ma’am.” She was only a few years older than me, but we hadn’t been properly introduced. “I mean, alcohol kills 46,000 people a year, prescription drug ODs kill another 17,000. And let’s not forget cigarettes!” (440,000 deaths a year.) “And so when it comes to these kids drinking and driving or smoking and driving . . . I’d prefer they had cannabis.”
Jesus. I’d wanted to come off as even-handed and open-minded, and now I was advocating that the youngsters hotbox in their daddy’s Chevrolet.
“Do you have kids!?” she inquired. “It’s hard enough. I mean, the store is going to be right there. At the foot of the school!”
I didn’t want to get into the specifics of her increasingly incoherent argument-in Washington state, recreational shops must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, playgrounds, libraries, game arcades, public-transit centers, or parks. But I did feel the need to make one point.
“I’m sorry, miss-what was your name?”
“Jane.”
“Hi, Jane. Can I call you Mary Jane?” (Blank stare.) “I’m kidding.  Listen, I totally agree that we should try to keep drugs away from young people.” I felt myself go into talking-points mode, but I couldn’t stop. “And I know this seems counterintuitive, but teen drug use has gone down in the states where it’s legal. That’s just a fact.”
I knew right when it came out of my mouth that it was too preachy, but I’ve learned a few things writing this column. One is that kids don’t know shit about cannabis, other than that it is, and always has been, easy to get. A new 2014 Health Use Survey shows that a significant number of 10th and 12th graders don’t believe there are risks in weekly marijuana use. (On this, they’re obviously pinheads-pot is not great for the developing brain.) It also found that parents were also clueless: Only 57 percent knew the legal age of recreational weed (as compared to 71 percent of kids), and only 63 percent understood you’re not allowed to grow it at home.
“Why make matters worse?” she railed, spilling chardonnay on my shoes. “There are already so many drugs: They take Ecstasy and prescription pills! I’m telling you-what I heard is that they walk right in and order, like a Starbucks or something.”
“Thing is, Jane, recreational-marijuana stores are not selling to high-school kids. They’re just like bars-they don’t want to get shut down for not checking IDs. Besides, whoever is selling your kid a bag of weed behind the Port-a-Pottys at Lakeside is not going to be asking if they’re 21, and there won’t be a warning label listing the THC levels.”
We stared at a painting that could have been a giant bong or a lovely vase-it kind of depended on your perspective.
“The new stuff is just so much stronger, you can OD on it,” she said with a smile-ish smirk that made me want to hug-strangle her. “I read something in the paper about synthetic marijuana killing these kids at a party in Florida.”
“Yes, and they should stop calling it marijuana. AstroTurf would be a better name, because it’s not really marijuana. Jane, there are all kinds of deadly drugs out there, but pot’s never killed anyone. Not one person.”
I was going to ask her if she’d ever tried cannabis, but could tell I’d already pushed her personal boundaries. “Have you talked to your . . . daughter, is it? About weed?” I asked meekly. “About marijuana?”
Her eyebrows would have gone higher if they could have. “Talked? To her about pot?! What would we say? I mean, she knows we don’t approve.”
“That’s great! A recent study from the UW showed that kids listen to their parents more than anyone else-even their own friends. And the ones who know their parents disapprove are way less likely to try pot.”
“Well that’s good, I guess,” she replied, looking me in the eye for the first time.
“The other thing is that talking to kids about weed works better than punishment.” A raised eyebrow. “In this study [from the UW’s School of Social Work], students who got suspended after smoking pot kept smoking pot. But if the kid gets sent to a counselor, they’re 50 percent less likely to smoke!”
“I assume you get stoned.”
I pulled the wine bottle out of the tub of ice. “I use all kinds of legal drugs, Jane,” I said, topping us off. “Takes the edge off of being a grown-up . . . “
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sat, 25 Apr 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Website: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Authors: Rachel La Corte and Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

LAX MEDICAL-POT RULES TO GO AS INSLEE SIGNS OVERHAUL BILL
Recreational Shops to Sell Medical Products Cooperative Grows Limited to No More Than 4 Patients
OLYMPIA (AP) - Nearly two decades after voters passed a medical-marijuana law that often left police, prosecutors and even patients confused about what was allowed, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Friday attempting to clean up that largely unregulated system and harmonize it with Washington’s new market for recreational pot.
Among the law’s many provisions, it creates a voluntary registry of patients and, beginning next year, eliminates what have become in some cases large, legally dubious “collective gardens” providing cannabis to thousands of people.
Instead, those patients will be able to purchase medical-grade products at legal recreational marijuana stores that obtain an endorsement to sell medical marijuana, or they’ll be able to participate in much-smaller cooperative grows of up to just four patients.
And those big medical-marijuana gardens will be given what lawmakers describe as a path to legitimacy: The state will grant priority in licensing to those that have been good actors, such as by paying business taxes.
“I am committed to ensuring a system that serves patients well and makes medicine available in a safe and accessible manner, just like we would do for any medicine,” Inslee wrote in his signing message to the Legislature.
The proliferation of greencross medical dispensaries has long been a concern for police and other officials who decry them as a masquerade for black-market sales. Some proprietors of new, state-licensed recreational pot businesses - saddled with higher taxes - called them unfair competitors.
Washington in 1998 became one of the first states to approve the use of marijuana for medical purposes, but the initiative passed by voters did not allow commercial sales. Instead, patients had to grow the marijuana for themselves or designate someone to grow it for them. The measure did not prohibit patients from pooling their resources to have large collective gardens on a single property, but the size of some made law enforcement queasy, and raids sometimes resulted.
Medical-marijuana growers repeatedly sought legislation that would validate their business model, coming closest in 2011, when the Legislature approved a bill to create a licensing framework for medical dispensaries. But then-Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed much of the measure.
This time, with the state seeking to support its nascent recreational-pot industry after the passage of Initiative 502 in 2012, there was a financial impetus to pull the medical users into the recreational system. The recreational businesses pressed for a tight rein on the medical industry with newfound lobbying muscle, and the medical businesses countered with some of their own.
That left advocates concerned that the people who are actually sick were the ones losing out. Under the new system, patients will be buying more heavily taxed marijuana, and they’ll be allowed to grow fewer plants at home.
“This is pejorative to patients while being friendly to those who are in the business of patients,” said Muraco Kyashna-tocha, who operated a Seattle medical dispensary. “There are sincere patients who don’t have any money. They’re cancer patients who are being bankrupted by their treatment.”
Under the new law, patients who join the voluntary registry will be allowed to possess three times as much marijuana as is allowed under the recreational law: 3 ounces dry, 48 ounces of marijuana-infused solids, 216 ounces liquid and 21 grams of concentrates. Such a patient could also grow up to six plants at home, unless authorized to receive more.
Patients who don’t join the registry can possess the same as the recreational limit of 1 ounce, and grow up to four plants at home - which recreational users can’t.
State Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center and the sponsor of the measure, said part of the reason the registry is so important is to find out if there are enough stores providing medical products to patients.
“We have no idea how many patients we have in this state,” she said.
Inslee, who vetoed some minor sections of the bill, was joined during the signing by Ryan Day and his epileptic 6-year-old son, Haiden. The boy’s seizures have been managed with an extracted liquid form of marijuana.
Day said the new law gives his family more certainty.
“We were under the threat every single year that the system was going to change in a way that was going to take away my ability to help my son,” he said.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
XXX
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sat, 25 Apr 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser
Contact:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Note: New York Times

The Science Why
CANCER RISKS FROM POT REMAIN UNCLEAR
QUESTION: Leaving aside questions of addiction and brain effects, what is known about the effects of marijuana on things like the lungs and digestive tract?
ANSWER: The limited formal studies that have been done on marijuana and cancer have yielded complex and often conflicting results, according to a summary of research updated last year and published by the National Cancer Institute for health professionals.
For example, a large study reviewing the medical records of 64,855 men in the United States found that use of cannabis was not associated with tobacco-related cancers and a number of others, but was linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer. But a smaller study in North Africa, involving 430 cases and 773 controls, did find an increased risk of lung cancer in those who also smoked tobacco.
A recent survey of large cross sections of adults in the United States found that daily smoking of marijuana for up to 20 years did not harm lung function as measured by airflow on exhalation. As for the digestive tract, marijuana and its derivatives have been used to improve appetite and fight nausea in cancer patients, but inhaled marijuana has been subject to only three small formal anti-nausea studies, and the results were inconclusive, the NCI said.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Devlin Barrett

DEA CHIEF MICHELE LEONHART TO STEP DOWN
Resignation comes amid disagreements with Obama administration on drug
and criminal-justice policy
The head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has decided to resign amid mounting disagreements with the Obama administration on drug and criminal-justice policy, and intense criticism of her handling of a sex-party scandal involving DEA agents.
Michele Leonhart, who has led the agency since 2007, has been under growing pressure to depart. Her hold on the job has been precarious for more than a year following her apparent discomfort with the Obama administration’s acceptance of laws in some states decriminalizing marijuana.
She also distanced herself from the Justice Department’s effort to scale back some prison sentences for nonviolent drug crimes.
Outgoing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Tuesday that Ms.  Leonhart, a career law-enforcement officer who worked on the Baltimore police force before becoming a DEA agent, would retire next month.
He called Ms. Leonhart a “trailblazer for equality and an inspiration to countless others,” noting she was a female agent who rose through the ranks during a 35-year career. “She has devoted her life and her professional career to the defense of our nation and the protection of our citizens, and for that, I am deeply grateful,” Mr. Holder said.
Ms. Leonhart couldn’t be reached for comment.
A former DEA chief, Peter Bensinger, criticized the Obama administration for forcing her out. The sex-party scandal, he said, “is not what is causing her departure. This is about her courage to enforce the law.  It’s about marijuana which is illegal in all 50 states under federal law, it’s about our international treaty obligations, it’s about the asset forfeiture law, and minimum sentencing for serious drug offenses.  It’s about politics.”
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Bensinger’s criticism.
Ms. Leonhart’s time as the nation’s top drug enforcement officer saw major changes in government policy toward drugs, particularly marijuana.  Those changes left her increasingly at odds with her bosses in the Obama administration, but neither she nor the White House seemed willing to have a public confrontation on the issue.
Public criticism of Ms. Leonhart intensified this month after a Justice Department inspector general report found that DEA agents had engaged in sex parties in Colombia, where prostitution is legal in certain zones.  The agents received what lawmakers of both parties called light punishment-suspensions without pay ranging from two to 10 days.
At a congressional hearing last week, legislators questioned whether Ms.  Leonhart should continue to lead the agency. She defended herself by saying she had little direct control over the DEA’s disciplinary process, and was trying to improve it.
After the hearing, nearly two dozen lawmakers signed a letter saying they had no confidence in her continuing in the job because they didn’t believe she could change what they called the “good old boy” culture at the agency. A White House spokesman declined at the time to say if she still had the confidence of President Barack Obama.
Ms. Leonhart is leaving at a time of shake-ups in the top ranks of the Justice Department. The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently left his position, and Attorney General Eric Holder is likely to leave his job any day, as lawmakers said Tuesday they had ended a deadlock over a piece of legislation that had been holding up a floor vote on the nomination of his intended successor, Loretta Lynch.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Time Magazine (US)
Copyright: 2015 Time Inc
Contact: letters@time.com
Website: http://www.time.com/time/magazine
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/451
Author: Maya Rhodan

MARIJUANA REFORM ACTIVISTS PUSH FOR CHANGE WITH DEA HEAD
And the resignation of Chief of Administration Michele Leonhart offers
the chance for change
Marijuana legalization advocates are excited about the departure of Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, whom they long considered an obstruction in their goal of reforming the nation’s drug laws.
“We are happy to see her go,” says Dan Riffle, the director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. “She’s a career drug warrior at a time when we’ve decided the ‘War on Drugs’ is an abject failure.”
Leonhart has been at the DEA for 35 years and served as the top dog since 2007. Though the recent scandal involving agents soliciting sex from prostitutes is what will likely most clearly tarnish her reputation, her position on drug policy has led marijuana reform activists to call for her resignation, says says Neill Franklin of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Franklin, a veteran of the Maryland state police, calls her position on marijuana reform “archaic.”
Marijuana legalization advocates are excited about the departure of Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, whom they long considered an obstruction in their goal of reforming the nation’s drug laws.
“We are happy to see her go,” says Dan Riffle, the director of federal policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. “She’s a career drug warrior at a time when we’ve decided the ‘War on Drugs’ is an abject failure.”
Leonhart has been at the DEA for 35 years and served as the top dog since 2007. Though the recent scandal involving agents soliciting sex from prostitutes is what will likely most clearly tarnish her reputation, her position on drug policy has led marijuana reform activists to call for her resignation, says says Neill Franklin of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Franklin, a veteran of the Maryland state police, calls her position on marijuana reform “archaic.”
Sign up for and more view example
Leonhart has been a major hurdle in the effort to reconsider marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance, which could pave the way for more research into the health benefits of the drug. In 2011, the agency again rejected a petition to reschedule marijuana. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, the agency spent about $100 million in 2012 alone on enforcement regarding medical marijuana laws.
More
Vancouver’s 4/20 Marijuana Smoke Fest Sees 64 Taken to Hospital  - Willie
Nelson to Launch His Own Brand of Marijuana
Bruce Jenner Comes Out as Transgender Woman NBC NewsDad’s Photos of ‘Flying’ Toddler Inspire Many NBC News Playing With Fire: 1 Million American Homes at Risk NBC News
“Leonhart opposed medical marijuana, she opposed sentencing reform, she opposed pretty much everything that Obama was doing and for that matter everything Congress was doing,” says Bill Piper, the director of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance.
The Drug Policy Alliance is one of several drug and marijuana policy organizations that have previously called for Leonhart’s removal.  Following a speech in which Leonhart was critical of Obama’s assertion that smoking marijuana was no more harmful that drinking alcohol, the Marijuana Policy Project and over 47,000 citizens called for her to resign. A Drug Policy Alliance petition called for her removal following revelations that the DEA had been tracking citizens’ phone calls for decades. Organizations including Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws have also called for her resignation.
Though who will be filling in for Leonhart isn’t yet clear, activists say her replacement should be more supportive of ongoing reform initiatives, including reducing mass incarceration and taking the health impact of drugs into consideration when formulating policy. What’s more, Piper says, her removal could lead the Obama administration to reschedule marijuana before the President leaves office.
“This offers a good opportunity for marijuana reform to move forward quicker than it has been moving,” Piper says.
More than that, though, it could signal and even steeper change to policy regarding the enforcement of drug laws. As more states consider legalizing marijuana in some form-23 states have legalized medical use and four have given the green light to toking up recreationally. Six additional states could consider legalization during the 2016 election.  As the nation’s stance on that shifts, so too should its approach to drug enforcement, advocates say.
“Within the next 10 years, I see massive drug policy reform and therefore really an end to the DEA,” Franklin says. The new leader, he says, should approach the role as if he or she is “dismantling a decommissioned battleship and selling the pieces for scrap metal.”
“For most part, the DEA exists because they’re enforcing prohibition,” he adds. “I believe we’re moving away from prohibition and more toward health.”
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Fri, 24 Apr 2015
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Gordon D. McAllister Jr.

In 2013, 31% of all federal criminal cases were drug cases, and 21% of those cases involved marijuana.
As a retired state court trial judge and member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, I read with some interest Record Backlog Jams Courts (page one, April 7) about cases in federal courts. These delays often amount to justice denied for litigants who don’t get the relief they seek in a timely manner.
The article doesn’t mention the elephant in the courtroom: the explosion of drug cases in both federal and state court and their effect on our criminal system. Rather than debate the issue of how and where to put more courtrooms, it is time to have a serious and adult discussion about drug use and the criminal justice system. Statistics from the U.S. Sentencing Commission for 2013 reveal that 31% of all federal criminal cases were drug cases, and 21% of those cases involved marijuana. This is our war on drugs in action. If in fact there is a war, it seems to me we are losing. In my 28 years on the bench, my criminal docket contained a greater percentage of drug cases than the average federal court docket, and if you factored in the crimes committed by drug users to help support their habit, the number was much closer to 50%. The war on drugs has been a decades long failed experiment in treating drug use as criminal behavior. The cost of this folly to the judicial system goes beyond the court system and takes valuable man hours from law-enforcement personnel and is the major cause of jail and prison overcrowding. Treatment of drug use as a medical and not criminal issue would benefit not only the individual user, but the court system and society as well.
Gordon D. McAllister Jr.
Queenstown, Md.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
Newshawk: chip
Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2015
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Jess Baravin

SUPREME COURT CURBS DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS DURING TRAFFIC STOPS
Justices continue on path of strengthening constitutional protections
against ‘unreasonable search and seizure’
WASHINGTON-The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday police can’t prolong a routine traffic stop to allow a drug-sniffing dog to search the vehicle unless they have a reasonable suspicion of uncovering contraband.
The case is the latest to see the justices reinvigorate constitutional protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” following recent decisions that rejected warrantless cell phone searches and installation of GPS trackers.
Tuesday’s ruling tightens the parameters police should follow when using drug-sniffing dogs during a traffic stop, building on a 2005 precedent allowing the drug searches while stressing such procedures become unlawful if a motorist is detained solely to conduct the search.
“We hold that a police stop exceeding the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made violates the Constitution’s shield against unreasonable seizures,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. She was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
The case came from Valley, Neb., where in March 2012 a K-9 officer, Morgan Struble, stopped a Mercury Mountaineer carrying two people after it briefly veered onto a highway shoulder.
It took Mr. Struble about 22 minutes to make his routine checks of the driver’s license, auto registration and proof of insurance, pulling up no outstanding warrants or other reason to delay the vehicle. After giving the driver, Dennys Rodriguez, a warning ticket, Mr. Struble asked permission to walk his drug-sniffing dog, Floyd, around the vehicle.
When Mr. Rodriquez declined, Mr. Struble ordered him out of the car and had him wait until a backup officer arrived. On a walk around the Mountaineer, the dog led the officers to a bag of methamphetamine.
A federal magistrate judge found that Mr. Struble had nothing more than a “large hunch” to justify the search, but admitted the evidence anyway because the procedure imposed only a minimal delay on Mr. Rodriguez.
Federal district and appellate courts upheld that decision. The Supreme Court faulted lower courts.
“A seizure for a traffic violation justifies a police investigation of that violation,” Justice Ginsburg wrote. While the court has allowed police to take certain actions in a traffic stop that go beyond its narrow purpose, such as requiring motorists to exit their vehicles, those have been closely tied to officer safety or other practical needs, she said.
The decision returns the case to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in St. Louis, to consider whether Mr. Struble had a reasonable suspicion that justified use of a drug-sniffing dog.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented, joined in part or whole by Justices Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito.
Twenty-nine minutes “is hardly out of the ordinary for a traffic stop by a single officer of a vehicle containing multiple occupants even when no dog sniff is involved,” Justice Thomas wrote.
In 2013, the court ruled that police conducted an unlawful search when they brought a narcotics dog to the porch of a private home without a warrant.
Police have won some recent Fourth Amendment cases, however. In December, the court unanimously upheld a search conducted after an officer stopped a car on the mistaken belief that it was unlawful to drive with a broken brake light. The justices found that to be a reasonable mistake.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx