Colorado House votes to bar cops from helping with federal marijuana crackdown

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DENVER — Colorado may prohibit law enforcement officers from assisting in a potential federal marijuana crackdown.

The state House voted 56-7 Wednesday to bar public employees from assisting federal agents in “arresting a Colorado citizen for committing an act that is a Colorado constitutional right.”

The Colorado bill doesn’t specifically mention marijuana. But sponsors say it is inspired by threats that federal authorities may try cracking down on the marijuana industry. Federal…

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“Marijuana is not a factor” in war on drugs, Homeland Security Secretary says

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Two high ranking Trump administration officials; two vastly different positions on marijuana.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to revive the war on drugs, and a crackdown on weed appears to be a major part of that. He is expected to pursue harsher punishments for using and distributing marijuana, which were relaxed under President Trump’s predecessor, as The Washington Post’s Sari Horowitz has reported. “Good people don’t smoke marijuana,” Sessions opined last year.

It’s a far cry from…

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Sessions’ right-hand man, Steven Cook, thinks Holder DOJ was “soft on crime”

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When the Obama administration launched a sweeping policy to reduce harsh prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, rave reviews came from across the political spectrum. Civil rights groups and the Koch brothers praised Obama for his efforts, saying he was making the criminal justice system more humane.

But there was one person who watched these developments with some horror. Steven Cook, a former street cop who became a federal prosecutor based in Knoxville, Tennessee, saw nothing…

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Cannabis companies flock to Canada as US laws keep them off stock exchange

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When Hadley Ford created a company for investing in the fast-growing business of legal marijuana, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker left New York and headed north of the border.

While more than half of U.S. states allow marijuana for medical or recreational use, the drug is still outlawed by the federal government, starving pot entrepreneurs of institutional capital. Major stock exchanges won’t accept listings for businesses that Washington deems illegal, and banks and…

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New federal bill would reschedule marijuana as Schedule III

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The latest marijuana-centric bill before Congress would place cannabis as a Schedule III substance, a classification shared by Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and dronabinol.

Two Florida congressmen, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and Democratic Rep. Darren Soto, introduced legislation Thursday that would transfer marijuana to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act from its current standing as a Schedule I substance, the strictest of the classifications.

Read the complete story at The…

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Bipartisan “Path to Marijuana Reform” bills introduced to decriminalize, protect, regulate cannabis industry

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U.S. lawmakers on Thursday introduced a package of marijuana reform bills aimed at protecting and preserving existing state-based programs while laying framework for the federal regulation of cannabis.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, announced the “Path to Marijuana Reform,” a bipartisan package of three marijuana-related bills that address issues such as taxation, banking, civil forfeiture, de-scheduling, decriminalization, research, individual protections—and…

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Colorado Rep. Jared Polis introduces bill to decriminalize marijuana and regulate like alcohol

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Colorado Rep. Jared Polis’ has introduced a bill that would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and regulate it like alcohol.

U.S. Rep. Polis, D-Colorado, on Thursday reintroduced the Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act, a bill that would allow for the federally legal existence of state-based marijuana legalization programs without opening the door for interstate commerce.

The bill — similar in format to Polis’ Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act introduced in 2015 — is part…

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Senator demands docs from big pharma as she probes their role in opioid epidemic

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Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri demanded information Tuesday from five top opioid manufacturers, saying she would investigate their alleged role in the drug epidemic responsible for more than 200,000 overdose deaths since 2000.

“This epidemic is the direct result of a calculated sales and marketing strategy major opioid manufacturers have allegedly pursued over the past 20 years to expand their market share and increase dependency on powerful – and often deadly – painkillers,” McCaskill,…

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Medical pot bill in South Carolina bolstered by conservatives

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Rep. Eric Bedingfield once shunned all marijuana use, but when his eldest son’s six-year struggle with opioid addiction ended with his overdose a year ago, the conservative Republican co-sponsored medical cannabis legislation.

“My mindset has changed from somebody who looked down on it as a negative substance to saying, ‘This has benefits,’” Bedingfield said recently.

The 50-year-old teetotaler believes marijuana may effectively wean addicts from an…

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Colorado congressman says he’ll “fight the Attorney General” if need be on marijuana

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Rep. Mike Coffman is suggesting he might use the power of the purse to protect Colorado’s legal marijuana industry.

During a telephone town hall Wednesday evening the Republican congressman was asked about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ threat to crack down on states like Colorado that have legalized recreational marijuana.

Coffman noted that he opposed the ballot measures that legalized both medical and recreational marijuana in the state. But he added that since voters approved them they…

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Sessions triples down on marijuana as dangerous drug, not opioid crisis solution

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RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday pledged aggressive criminal prosecution of drug dealers and gun-toting felons to combat what he described as a troubling rise in violent crime.

“I am determined that this country will not go backwards,” Sessions said as he addressed law enforcement officials in Richmond. “President Trump gave us a clear directive. It’s the policy of this administration to reduce crime in America, not preside over an increase in crime, but reduce…

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What is the Supremacy Clause and what does it mean for states’ rights to legalize marijuana?

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When it comes to laying down the law on marijuana, it’s a convoluted dispute.

Amid the renewed attention on state legalization by new Department of Justice leader Jeff Sessions, here’s a refresher.

Marijuana in the age of Trump: A Cannabist special report

Part 1 | ‘Something’s going to have to give’: An untenable conflict between feds, states

Part 2 | Federal marijuana law enforcement: What you need to know

The idea of federal preemption of state law is based on the U.S. Constitution’s…

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Marijuana in the age of Trump: An untenable conflict between feds, legalized states

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Legal weed is at a crossroads.

While some cannabis legalization proponents claim their movement has grown too big to fail, it has also proved too significant for the federal government to ignore.

The Trump administration is mulling its approach to the state-regulated systems that conflict with federal law. On Capitol Hill, conversations about legal cannabis have picked up steam.

Amid a time of unknowns surrounding federal marijuana policy, one thing is certain: The status quo is no longer…

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Virginia Republican rep introduces bill to end federal marijuana prohibition

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A freshman Republican representative from Virginia introduced legislation this week that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana use and allow states to fully set their own course on marijuana policy.

The bill seeks to remove marijuana from the federal Controlled Substances Act and resolve the existing conflict between federal and state laws over medical or recreational use of the drug. It would not legalize the sale and use of marijuana in all 50 states – it would simply allow states…

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Colorado AG says she has invited Jeff Sessions’ staff to see the state’s recreational marijuana system

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Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said she has invited U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions — a  vocal marijuana opponent — and his staff to come and see the state’s recreational pot industry.

Coffman told The Denver Post that the invitation was extended during a meeting Wednesday morning in Washington with Sessions’ top staffers.

“I had a meeting there this morning and told them that I thought it was important to come to the states that have legalized marijuana,…

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Sessions: More violence around marijuana than ‘one would think’

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Read the whole story at The Cannabist.

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Donald Trump won’t “turn his back” on Colorado when it comes to legal marijuana, GOP lawmaker says

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A top Republican lawmaker in Colorado is casting doubt on whether Donald Trump’s administration will crack down on the legalization of marijuana, saying the new president wouldn’t “turn his back” on states’ rights.

Colorado Senate President Pro Tem Jerry Sonnenberg, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican and a Trump supporter, reacted after the statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer that recreational pot will face “greater enforcement.”

“I’m not sure I’d put too much…

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Hickenlooper: It’s unclear whether Trump could stop legal marijuana

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Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, as a guest on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, downplayed the possibility that the Trump administration would take aim at Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry, saying legalization’s inclusion in the state Constitution makes it unclear whether the federal government could shut it down.

“Our voters passed it 55-45. It’s in our constitution,” Hickenlooper told “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday.

“You don’t think…

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Sean Spicer seemed to tie marijuana use to opioids. The evidence isn’t on his side.

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By Derek Hawkins, The Washington Post

The epidemic of opioid addiction in the United States has been well documented. A staggering 33,000 people died in 2015 from overdosing on prescription painkillers, heroin or similar drugs, on par with the number killed by firearms and in car accidents.

The epidemic is growing, but its general causes are not in dispute. Nearly all research on the issue shows that excessive and improper prescriptions are what’s causing more people to become addicted.

But…

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Trump administration puts recreational marijuana in crosshairs

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Recreational marijuana is in the sights of the Trump administration, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday.

Spicer, during his daily briefing, gave the first clear glimpse at how the new administration views the burgeoning rise of legal marijuana.

“There’s a big difference between (medical marijuana) and recreational marijuana, and I think when you see something like the opioid addiction crisis blossoming in so many states around this country, the last thing we should be doing…

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What will be AG Jeff Sessions’ first move on marijuana?

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A new lawman has come to town, and the marijuana industry could be in for major upheaval.

But just how much change Attorney General Jeff Sessions might impart — and how quickly he’ll address federal marijuana enforcement — remain the multibillion-dollar question.

“It’s not like you could see agents come into every storefront in the United States tomorrow and deal with this. That’s not a reality,” drug policy expert John Hudak said Wednesday.

But if Sessions rescinds the 2013…

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Boulder DA named to pot advisory group for Trump administration

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Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett has been selected to join a group of prosecutors from across the country who will help advise the Donald Trump administration on policies regarding marijuana.

The National District Attorney’s Association created a policy group featuring 14 district attorneys who will issue advice on possible law or policy changes regarding marijuana as more and more states legalize it.

Garnett said he is the only active prosecutor from Colorado in the group, but said…

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Jeff Sessions vague about marijuana strategy at AG hearing

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Under U.S. law, marijuana possession and distribution is illegal, but just how Sen. Jeff Sessions would enforce that law as the nation’s attorney general was not immediately clear Tuesday when the topic was broached in his Senate confirmation hearing.

“I won’t commit to never enforcing federal law,” Sessions said in response to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s question about conflicting federal and state marijuana laws, adding: “But absolutely, it’s a problem of resources for the…

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Colorado lawmakers plan crackdown on home pot growers

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By Kristen Wyatt, The Associated Press

Hoping to preserve its marijuana law under the next president, Colorado is planning a slate of legislation designed to crack down on pot that is grown legally but then sold on the black market.

The goal is to cut down on complaints that Colorado’s liberal allowances for growing pot without a license has created a thriving network of illegal growers. Colorado allows medical pot patients to grow up to 99 plants, far beyond other marijuana states,…

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Marijuana measures trending favorably in U.S. states

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Tuesday night shaped up to be the “watershed” moment predicted for the marijuana industry.

Voters in five states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — were deciding whether to legalize the recreational use of cannabis; and residents in four other states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota — were weighing medical marijuana measures.

By 10:15 p.m., the vast majority of those measures were headed to passage, notably California’s Proposition 64,…

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California recreational marijuana vote 2016: State approves Proposition 64

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Election 2016: Get updates on the nine states with marijuana ballot measures

Californians have legalized recreational marijuana, according to the Associated Press.

Proposition 64 sailed to an early victory Tuesday night, according to results from the Secretary of State.

The ballot measure had 56 percent of the vote as of 11 p.m. MST on Tuesday night.

The measure, also known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, will allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana or 8…

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Massachusetts the first state in eastern U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana

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Election 2016: Get updates on the nine states with marijuana ballot measures

BOSTON — Voters have approved a ballot measure making Massachusetts the first state in the eastern U.S. to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

Tuesday’s approval marks a major national victory for proponents of legalized marijuana. Currently, using the drug recreationally is legal only in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

The statewide referendum passed despite opposition from top elected…

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Florida legalizes medical marijuana

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Election 2016: Get updates on the nine states with marijuana ballot measures

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida voters approved a state constitutional amendment Tuesday to legalize medical marijuana, broadening access to pot beyond the limited therapeutic uses approved by the legislature two years ago.

Currently, the law allows non-smoked, low-THC pot for patients with cancer or ailments that cause chronic seizures or severe spasms. The ballot measure formally legalizes medical marijuana, and…

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Death penalty, gun control, pot among ballot-measure issues

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NEW YORK (AP) — Voters in some states weighed in Tuesday on several of most volatile issues facing America — gun control, marijuana legalization, the death penalty and the right of a terminally ill person to get a doctor’s help in dying.

Proposals addressing those topics were among more than 150 measures appearing on statewide ballots. California led the pack with 17 ballot questions, including one that would require actors in porn movies to wear condoms during filming of sexual…

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