Cannabis – Page 153

14 Feb 2013

Hemp Growing Finds Allies in Kentucky

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In 1996 the actor Woody Harrelson, who has a sideline as an activist for legalizing marijuana, was arrested in Kentucky for planting four hemp seeds. Last month Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, announced his support for growing hemp in Kentucky, his home state.

Between those jarringly disparate events lies the evolution of hemp from a countercultural cause to an issue championed by farmers in the heartland and conservative lawmakers.

On Monday, a panel of the Republican-controlled Kentucky State Senate unanimously approved a bill to license hemp growers. It was promoted by the state agriculture commissioner and three members of the state’s Congressional delegation, including Senator Rand Paul, who removed his jacket to testify in a white shirt that he announced was made of hemp fibers.

If the bill is approved by the full Legislature, Kentucky will join eight other states that have adopted laws to allow commercial hemp growing, although the practice is effectively blocked by federal law that makes no distinction between hemp and marijuana.

Mr. Paul, a Republican, said he would seek a waiver from the Obama administration for Kentucky hemp growers, while pressing Congress to delist hemp as a controlled substance, which hemp supporters say is a legacy of antidrug hysteria.

Both plants are the same species, Cannabis sativa, but hemp has only a trace of the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Hemp’s champions see it as a source of agricultural jobs, an alternative for struggling tobacco farmers and a wonder plant with uses from bluejeans to building materials.

Attitudes are changing in surprising places. At a hearing on Monday in Frankfort, the Kentucky capital, the state police commissioner’s opposition to hemp growing was challenged by a former C.I.A. director, R. James Woolsey.

“The specter of people getting high on industrial hemp,” Mr. Woolsey said, “is pretty much exactly like saying you can get drunk on O’Doul’s.”

Hemp supporters say it is only a matter of time before legalization comes as people more fully understand the plant. They also point to states where voters legalized recreational marijuana in November — Colorado and Washington — as inevitably forcing a change in priorities in the Obama administration.

“The demonology of hemp is exposed as being not valid,” said Representative John Yarmuth, Democrat of Kentucky, a sponsor of a bill in the House to allow hemp cultivation. He said the movement to accept hemp has the same inevitability that he attributed to acceptance of same-sex marriage.

Still, the federal government has been unyielding. Farmers in states that allow hemp must seek a waiver from the Drug Enforcement Administration or risk being raided by federal agents and losing their farms.

Dave Monson, a North Dakota wheat farmer and Republican state representative, has held a state hemp license since 2007, when North Dakota legalized cultivation. But he has no plans to plant. “I applied for a D.E.A. license, never got one,” he said.

A spokesman for the drug agency said it did not keep statistics on permits to grow hemp, which it does not distinguish from marijuana under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970.

Mr. Monson knows farmers just north of the Canadian border who profitably grow hemp, and he argues that it can be an economic boon. “The more states that do what we have done in North Dakota, if we can keep the pressure on, I think we’re going to see some movement at the federal level,” he said.

Hemp supporters claim a total retail value of products containing hemp at more than $400 million in the United States. But a Congressional Research Service report last year found that imported hemp raw materials was small, only $11.5 million. All hemp used in United States today — such as in Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps sold at Whole Foods — is imported, mostly from China.

Rodney Brewer, the commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, said that if hemp farming were legal, marijuana growers would hide their plants in hemp fields and the police could not tell them apart.

“They are identical in appearance when it comes to the naked eye,” Mr. Brewer said, predicting that legalizing hemp would create a boom for pot growers.

But Mr. Woolsey, who said he favored hemp because of “my interest in prosperity for rural America,” argued that no pot farmer would hide plants in a hemp field for fear that low-potency hemp would cross-pollinate with marijuana and lower the concentration of THC, its psychoactive ingredient.

Marijuana growers “hate the idea of having industrial hemp anywhere near,” he said.

The Kentucky bill faces resistance from some lawmakers, including the speaker of the State House.

Mr. Paul, after calling attention to his hemp shirt at the hearing in Frankfort, seemed to roll his eyes when he said, “You’d think you’re at a D.E.A. hearing.”

“This is a hearing about a crop,” he said. “It’s a crop that’s legal everywhere else in the world except the United States.”

Mr. Paul, elected in 2010 with Tea Party support, promised to introduce a Senate bill as a companion to the pro-hemp bill in the House, which has 28 co-sponsors. He is following in the family footsteps, since the first House bill allowing hemp was introduced several years ago by his father, Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate. Ron Paul’s embrace of the issue fit his deep libertarian streak, which also at times embraced legalizing marijuana and other drugs.

Those positions placed hemp far outside the mainstream in many lawmakers’ minds, just as the image of its products — soaps, sandals and natural foods sold at co-ops — placed it in a counterculture.

But no better sign exists that hemp’s image is changing than its embrace by Mr. McConnell, the minority leader, who said in a statement last month that his mind had been changed “after long discussions” with Rand Paul and the Kentucky agriculture commissioner, James Comer, a Republican.

“The utilization of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real,” Mr. McConnell said.

A version of this article appeared in print on February 13, 2013, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Hemp Growing Finds Allies of a New Stripe in Kentucky.

Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Trip Gabriel
Published: February 13, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The New York Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/

12 Feb 2013

Doors Swing Open For Marijuana On Capitol Hill

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Advocates for the legalization of marijuana plan to step up their political giving and lobbying efforts now that members of Congress are taking an interest in changing federal drug laws.

The lobbyists say lawmakers who wouldn’t give them the time of day are suddenly interested in meeting with them and introducing legislation following the approval of ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington that legalized recreational use of the drug.

“These were folks who wouldn’t take a call five years ago and now they are calling us and telling us to get up there with our PAC money and our expertise,” said Allen St. Pierre, executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “For those of us who have been at this for the past 20 years, it has been nice to see the warm turn.”

Some pro-legalization groups are increasing their fundraising as lawmakers consider drug legislation. Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said the group is planning more aggressive fundraising through its political action committee.

“Our hope is to exceed what we have done in any previous cycle,” Fox said.

The group is aiming to get more than $150,000 in contributions to its PAC for the 2014 election cycle — topping its previous record of more than $119,000 in donations for the 2006 campaign, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

Further, the PAC is changing its name to the Marijuana Policy Project PAC, dropping a prior reference to medical marijuana. Fox, who also lobbies for the National Cannabis Industry Association, said the name change signals that a broader reform agenda is now on the table.

“The ground has shifted and we now see members of Congress wanting to regulate marijuana like alcohol. The name change reflects that our activity on the federal level is no longer just about medical marijuana,” Fox said.

But strategists looking to reform drug policies are choosing their battles carefully at the state level.

In a Nov. 28, 2012, memo obtained by The Hill, Rob Kampia, MPP’s executive director, said Oregon should wait until 2016 to for a marijuana legalization ballot drive, when another presidential election would boost turnout among young voters.

“Given that an initiative in November 2014 would be almost certain to lose, MPP would contribute no money toward a signature drive, paid staff, or advertising during the 2013-2014 cycle,” Kampia wrote to Oregon activists.

Kampia said MPP is interested in passing an Oregon ballot initiative in 2016 and would contribute $700,000 to the effort.

“There is going to be disagreement at times. That’s par for the course. It’s like any other issue advocacy group. We will agree on the objectives but we might disagree on how to get there,” said Roy Kaufmann, one of the activists who received the memo and is now MPP’s Oregon representative and agrees with waiting until 2016.

Kaufmann was the campaign strategist for Measure 80 in Oregon, the marijuana legalization ballot effort that failed in 2012.

“We can’t tell our funders in good faith that they should fund a 2014 initiative. We are not saying it’s impossible to win. We are just saying it’s a completely unnecessary risk,” Fox said. “The only thing that can keep Oregon from winning this in 2016 is a loss in 2014.”

As the movement for marijuana legalization spreads, competition for fundraising dollars is likely to grow. A number of well-heeled donors have already opened their wallets for the cause.

New Approach Washington, the main group that campaigned for legalization in that state, took in more than $6 million in contributions last election cycle.

The prolific liberal donor Peter Lewis gave more than $2 million to New Approach Washington for their legalization campaign, according to state campaign finance records. Drug Policy Action — the 501(c)(4) affiliate of Drug Policy Alliance — contributed more than $1.6 million. George Soros sits on Drug Policy Alliance’s board of directors and was a major donor to Drug Policy Action in 2012.

Lobbyists say the battle that is brewing over drug laws will be far-reaching and not confined to recreational use of marijuana.

“You going to see reform on federal drug policy in general,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. “It’s not just about marijuana. It’s about racial disparity, over-incarceration and saving money as well.”

Capitol Hill has certainly taken notice.

Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) each introduced separate bills this past week that would regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol. The two lawmakers also released a report on how to rethink federal marijuana policy.

On the other side of the Capitol, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to hold a hearing on marijuana policy this Congress.

Drug laws are also getting a second look from the GOP, with Kentucky Republicans rallying behind industrial hemp. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced legislation this past week to exclude hemp from the Controlled Substances Act’s definition of marijuana.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has backed that effort, saying he became convinced that hemp production would be good for his state after long discussions with the libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Lobbyists don’t expect a marijuana legalization bill will be on President Obama’s desk this Congress, but lawmakers know they will have to reconcile federal policy at some point with the legalization movement sweeping the states.

“I often tell elected officials that if you are going to remain relevant in politics, you are going to have to move towards drug policy reform because that’s where the younger voters are,” Piper said.

One Democrat said he’s made a personal appeal to Obama — who has admitted to smoking marijuana as a teenager — for changes to federal policy.

“I raised the issue myself with the president at the Democratic retreat [on Thursday]. … It should change,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), noting thousands of people are in jail for marijuana use.

Cohen plans to introduce legislation to create a commission to study states where medical marijuana and marijuana have been legalized. Advocates believe the bill could attract White House support.

“The commission gives the president some maneuvering room by affording him time and his administration acknowledges that public attitudes about this have changed,” St. Pierre said.

Source: Hill, The (US DC)
Author: Kevin Bogardus
Published: February 10, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Hill
Website: http://www.hillnews.com/

12 Feb 2013

Senator To Introduce Legislation To Legalize MJ

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If state Sen. Daylin Leach gets his way, Pennsylvania would become the next state to legalize marijuana. The Democratic senator, who represents the 17th District in suburban Philadelphia, is to introduce legislation at a press conference today in Harrisburg to decriminalize the use of marijuana for any purpose in Pennsylvania.

Leach hopes to end what he calls the “prohibition” of marijuana and treat it the same as certain types of alcohol – regulated by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and sold at Wine and Spirits Shops or by licensed beer distributors.

John Tew, Leach’s legislative director, said existing laws are not effective.

“Prohibition doesn’t make sense and hasn’t worked,” Tew said. “Most of the harm of marijuana comes from the prohibition than it does from the smoking of the plant.”

A local drug abuse counselor who supports the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes said Leach’s proposal is well-intended but worries that across-the-board legalization will harm children.

“We’ve succeeded in keeping it out of the hands of physicians, but we can’t keep it out of the hands of 12-year-olds,” said Ed Pane, executive director of Serento Gardens Alcoholism and Drug Services in Hazleton and a board member of Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana.

Under Leach’s plan, approved stores would sell marijuana only to people over the age of 21, who could not resell the drug or use it in public or before driving. Also, employers would be free to prohibit workers from using marijuana.

Other senators, including one serving the Hazleton area, are flatly opposed to legalizing marijuana in any form.

Sen. John Gordner, R-Berwick, said he would oppose Leach’s legislation, noting that it is not yet up for formal consideration.

“There is no support from my senatorial judiciary,” Gordner said.

Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, did not return calls for comment on Leach’s proposal.

Kline Township police Chief John Petrilla believes any benefits of Leach’s proposal are not worth the risk.

“It would be a mistake,” Petrilla said. “There was talk about legalization of marijuana since the 1960s. It hasn’t been done for a reason. It alters the state of mind. I believe it’s a gateway drug. I feel more people might want to try it and they may be more prone to try other things.”

However, Leach said criminalizing marijuana does far more harm than good.

“This policy destroys lives. We want to stop that from happening. We want to stop spending that money” on enforcing the current law, he said.

Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is a retired Baltimore narcotics officer who will attend today’s press conference as an advocate for the legislation.

“Cops see the ineffectiveness and harms of marijuana prohibition up close, every day,” Franklin said. “Keeping marijuana illegal doesn’t significantly reduce use, but it does give tax-free profits to violent gangs and cartels that control the black market.”

According to Leach, Pennsylvania can not only save a significant amount of money by ending the war on marijuana but also can make money by taxing the drug.

“We have spent billions of dollars investigating, prosecuting, incarcerating and monitoring millions of our fellow citizens who have hurt nobody, damaged no property, breached no peace. Their only ‘crime’ was smoking a plant which made them feel a bit giddy,” Leach said in a memorandum to all state senators.

He said Pennsylvania can legalize and regulate marijuana in the same manner as alcohol following Prohibition during the 1920s and the 1930s.

“We already have an infrastructure. We can plug marijuana into that system,” he said.

Leach believes legalizing marijuana will aid the safety of those who choose to use the drug.

“People that want marijuana are forced to purchase it from criminals out on the street, and it can be laced with dangerous chemicals,” he said.

Pane said he favors the Gov. Raymond Shafer Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, which Leach introduced on April 25, 2001, and state Rep. Mark Cohen reintroduced on June 13, 2011. Under this bill, patients could legally use the drug with a doctor’s approval and after registering with Pennsylvania’s departments of State and Health.

Leach said he understands his legislation is a tough sell.

“The short term is a battle. Long term, it’s inevitable,” he said.

Sens. Jim Ferlo, D-Pittsburgh, and Lawrence Farnese, D-Philadelphia, will co-sponsor the legislation, Leach said.

Source: Citizens’ Voice, The (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
Author: Shawn Kellmer, Staff Writer
Published: February 11, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Citizens’ Voice
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.citizensvoice.com/

9 Feb 2013

U.S. Representative Massie Introduces Industrial Hemp Bill

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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Wednesday February 6, 2013
(202) 225-3465

U.S. Representative Massie
Introduces Industrial Hemp Bill

“Industrial hemp is a sustainable crop and could be a great economic opportunity for Kentucky farmers”

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced federal legislation that requires the federal government to respect state laws allowing the growing of industrial hemp. H.R. 525, the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, amends the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) is a co-sponsor of the bill in the U.S. House. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) are supporting a similar bill in the U.S. Senate.
“Industrial hemp is a sustainable crop and could be a great economic opportunity for Kentucky farmers,” said Rep. Massie. “My wife and I are raising our children on the tobacco and cattle farm where my wife grew up. Tobacco is no longer a viable crop for many of us in Kentucky and we understand how hard it is for a family farm to turn a profit. Industrial hemp will give small farmers another opportunity to succeed.”

On the federal level, Rep. Massie is taking the lead in Congress as the original sponsor of industrial hemp legislation. Also, this week Massie will testify before the Kentucky legislature along with other members of Kentucky’s federal delegation and Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer in support of a related state bill.
Kentucky was a leading producer of the world’s industrial hemp supply during America’s early years as a nation. It is used in hundreds of products including paper, lotions, clothing, canvas, rope, and can be converted into renewable bio-fuels more efficiently than corn or switch grass. Critics of industrial hemp mistakenly equate it to marijuana. The plants are cousins in the cannabis family but industrial hemp contains very small amounts of the intoxicant (THC) found in marijuana, making it ineffective as a drug. Hemp is grown in over 30 western nations including Canada, England and France.

H.R. 525 has 28 original co-sponsors in the House, including House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson (D-MN). Massie co-sponsored a similar bill in the 112th Congress.

###

9 Feb 2013

U.S. congressmen, former CIA director to testify in support of Kentucky hemp bill

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Staff report

Industrial hemp is a fiber and oil seed crop

with a wide variety of uses. Hemp fibers

have been used to manufacture hundreds

of products that include twine, paper,

construction materials, carpeting and clothing.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, U.S. Reps. John Yarmuth and Thomas Massie, former Director of Central Intelligence R. James Woolsey (of the Clinton Administration), and Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer will testify next week in support of an industrialized hemp bill.

Industrial hemp is a fiber and oil seed crop with a wide variety of uses. Hemp fibers have been used to manufacture hundreds of products that include twine, paper, construction materials, carpeting and clothing.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will hear the testimony Monday, Feb. 11 at 11 a.m. in Room 131 of the Capitol Annex in Frankfort. Senate Bill 50, sponsored by Sen. Paul Hornback, R-Shelbyville, establishes a framework to re-introduce industrial hemp into Kentucky’s agri-economy if and when the federal government acts to legalize it.

Immediately following the vote on SB 50, the group will move to Room 154 of the Capitol Annex to take questions from the media.

The bill has support from several groups and legislators. Its biggest critics are Operation UNITE, the Kentucky Narcotic Officers’ Association and the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police.

Operation UNITE said industrial hemp production in Kentucky is not economically sound, that it would impose an unnecessary financial burden on the state and could facilitate future efforts to legalize its cousin – marijuana. Police groups also say the legalization and growth of hemp in Kentucky would impede law enforcement officers’ marijuana eradication efforts, because “the plants are indistinguishable to the eye,” said Tommy Loving, executive director of the Kentucky Narcotic Officers’ Association.

The Kentucky Industrialized Hemp Commission says Kentucky has the perfect climate and soil to produce industrial hemp, and the farmers to grow it. Comer believes the crop could be a great economic boon to Kentucky.

The group recently commissioned an economic impact study to be performed by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. It hopes such a study could have an impact on the discussion at the federal level to legalize industrial hemp.

5 Feb 2013

Reform Efforts In Congress Range From Pot To Hemp

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An effort is building in Congress to change U.S. marijuana laws, including moves to legalize the industrial production of hemp and establish a federal pot tax.

While passage this year could be a longshot, lawmakers from both parties have been quietly working on several bills, the first of which Democratic Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jared Polis of Colorado plan to introduce Tuesday, Blumenauer told The Associated Press.

Polis’ measure would regulate marijuana the way the federal government handles alcohol: In states that legalize pot, growers would have to obtain a federal permit. Oversight of marijuana would be removed from the Drug Enforcement Administration and given to the newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms, and it would remain illegal to bring marijuana from a state where it’s legal to one where it isn’t.

The bill is based on a legalization measure previously pushed by former Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Ron Paul of Texas.

Blumenauer’s bill would create a federal marijuana excise tax.

Last fall’s votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize recreational marijuana should push Congress to end the 75-year federal pot prohibition, Blumenauer said.

“You folks in Washington and my friends in Colorado really upset the apple cart,” Blumenauer said. “We’re still arresting two-thirds of a million people for use of a substance that a majority feel should be legal. … It’s past time for us to step in and try to sort this stuff out.”

Advocates who are working with the lawmakers acknowledge it could take years for any changes to get through Congress, but they’re encouraged by recent developments. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last week came out in support of efforts to legalize hemp in his home state of Kentucky, and U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is expected to introduce legislation allowing states to set their own policy on marijuana.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has indicated he plans to hold a hearing on the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws and has urged an end to federal “mandatory minimum” sentences that lead to long prison stints for drug crimes.

“We’re seeing enormous political momentum to undo the drug war failings of the past 40 years,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, who has been working with lawmakers on marijuana-related bills. “For the first time, the wind is behind our back.”

The Justice Department hasn’t said how it plans to respond to the votes in Washington and Colorado. It could sue to block the states from issuing licenses to marijuana growers, processors and retail stores, on the grounds that doing so would conflict with federal drug law.

Blumenauer and Polis are due to release a paper this week urging Congress to make a number of changes, including altering tax codes to let marijuana dispensaries deduct business expenses on federal taxes, and making it easier for marijuana-related businesses to get bank accounts. Many operate on a cash basis because federally insured banks won’t work with them, they noted.

Blumenauer said he expects to introduce the tax-code legislation as well as a bill that would reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, allowing states to enact medical marijuana laws without fear that federal authorities will continue raiding dispensaries or prosecuting providers. It makes no sense that marijuana is a Schedule I drug, in the same category as heroin and a more restrictive category than cocaine, Blumenauer said.

The measures have little chance of passing, said Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy adviser. Sabet recently joined former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy and former President George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum in forming a group called Project SAM – for “smart approaches to marijuana” – to counter the growing legalization movement. Sabet noted that previous federal legalization measures have always failed.

“These are really extreme solutions to the marijuana problem we have in this country,” Sabet said. “The marijuana problem we have is a problem of addiction among kids, and stigma of people who have a criminal record for marijuana crimes.

“There are a lot more people in Congress who think that marijuana should be illegal but treated as a public health problem, than think it should be legal.”

Project SAM suggests people shouldn’t get criminal records for small-time marijuana offenses, but instead could face probation or treatment.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Gene Johnson, Associated Press
Published: February 4, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Associated Press

5 Feb 2013

Marijuana Activists Want Vote On Pot

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Larsen has dedicated his life’s work to cannabis law reform.

On Jan. 23, Dana Larsen spent his afternoon in UVic’s Student Union Building speaking about pot to an audience that no doubt consisted of a few more empty chairs than he would have liked to see. This has become a typical day for Larsen in his capacity as the face of Sensible B.C., a campaign to reform B.C.’s cannabis laws through a provincial referendum. Larsen, 41, has travelled across B.C., speaking at events both large and small as he promotes his campaign.

Larsen has dedicated his life’s work to cannabis law reform. He was politically active as a student at SFU and, upon graduation, worked with Marc Emery, a prominent marijuana activist, at the magazine Cannabis Culture. He was involved with the Marijuana Party until he joined the NDP in 2003. In 2010, he ran for the leadership of the provincial NDP and received 2.7 per cent of the vote.

Sensible B.C. aims to implement something called the sensible policing act. This act would effectively decriminalize possession of cannabis in B.C. by redirecting police personnel and resources away from targeting cannabis possession. Activities like cultivation, trafficking and driving under the influence would remain subject to current policing and penalties. Minors in possession of cannabis would be treated as though they were in possession of alcohol.

The second part of the proposed act calls for the full legalization of marijuana in B.C. while recognizing that to do so would require some level of support from the federal government as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act falls within federal jurisdiction.

For B.C. to legalize marijuana, the federal government would need to either legalize cannabis or create an exception for B.C. According to Larsen, this could be done through Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which allows for a person or “class of persons” to be designated exempt.

Both decriminalization and legalization would prevent people from facing criminal charges for cannabis possession. Legalization would involve the government in the regulation and taxation of the substance, while decriminalization would not.

The sensible policing act would mandate that the provincial government establish a commission that would hold hearings to study how B.C. should implement a taxed and regulated system if allowed to do so by the federal government.

Larsen voices few concerns about whether or not his initiative would pass if B.C. residents vote on the proposal. A 2012 poll by the research firm Forum found that 76 per cent of British Columbians favour either legalization and taxation of marijuana ( 52 per cent ) or decriminalization of small amounts ( 24 per cent ). Eleven per cent of British Columbians are content with the status quo, while 12 per cent support increasing penalties.

What Larsen sees as the real obstacle to implementing the sensible policing act is collecting the required number of signatures to compel the government to hold a referendum. Though eight initiative applications have been approved by Elections B.C. since 1995, only the initiative to repeal the HST has made it through the entire process.

For an initiative to go to referendum, it must be checked by Elections B.C. to ensure that it is clearly written and falls within provincial jurisdiction. Advocates must then collect signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in every provincial electoral district within a 90-day period. Sensible B.C. is planning to collect signatures between September and November of 2013 in the hopes of prompting a referendum in 2014. To gain an advantage, Sensible B.C. is asking supporters to register online so that they can be easily contacted once the campaign begins to collect signatures.

There has been debate about whether or not B.C. has the capacity to decriminalize cannabis without the federal government’s support. In a recent exchange with Cannabis Culture’s Jeremiah Vandermeer, B.C.’s Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond responded, “Police are constitutionally required to enforce the rule of law. Until and unless Canadian law is changed, the production, sale and use of marijuana is currently illegal ( controlled federal legislation ), and our police have a responsibility to enforce criminal laws for the good of all British Columbians.”

However, by approving the sensible policing act as an initiative, Elections B.C. indicated that they felt it fell within provincial jurisdiction. In response to a question from a member of the audience about the controversy, Larsen said, “Stephen Harper could sue British Columbia, go to court and fight us. I say, bring it on.”

In order for any initiative to collect the required number of signatures, the proponents need a sizeable volunteer base. Sam Vekemans, the local volunteer co-ordinator for Sensible B.C., asked that anyone interested in volunteering like the Facebook page Sensible BC – Victoria to stay updated.

Source: Martlet (CN BC Edu)
Copyright: 2013 Martlet Publishing Society
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.martlet.ca/

5 Feb 2013

Court Upholds Canada’s Medical Marijuana Laws

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The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld medical marijuana provisions that require those with serious illnesses to obtain a physician’s approval before they can legally acquire cannabis to alleviate their pain.

The 3-0 decision overturned a lower court decision that had earlier struck down the laws as being impractical and difficult to comply with.

The appellate judges ruled that the case under appeal had failed to establish that patients at the heart of the case were systematically unable to obtain medical marijuana.

“In the absence of admissible evidence as to whether they qualified for exemptions and the reasons for which their requests for declarations were rejected, this court cannot accept that the difficulties faced by these individuals render the entire Marijuana Medical Access Regulations regime unconstitutional,” it said.

The ruling was a major disappointment to civil libertarians and advocates for HIV-AIDS patients, who had argued that it is virtually impossible to obtain the medical approval the law demands.

“Allowing the current regulations to stand unchanged will leave many people with serious health conditions without effective access to legal authorization to use cannabis as medicine, and this means they are exposed to the risk of criminal prosecution,” said Richard Elliott, Executive Director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

“People shouldn’t have to risk going to prison in order to get the medicine they need,” he said.

Medical marijuana has proved helpful in reducing appetite loss, nausea, anxiety and depression associated with some medical conditions.

Created in 2001, the regulatory scheme was intended to help those who need cannabis for medical purposes to avoid criminal prosecution for production or possession of the drug.

The litigant at the centre of the case, Matthew Mernagh, was charged in 2008 with producing marihuana illegally. At the outset of his trial, he applied for a declaration that the law violated his constitutional right to life, liberty and security.

Mr. Mernagh, who suffers from fibromyalgia, scoliosis, epilepsy and depression, claimed that he was unable to obtain a medical marijuana exemption because no physician was willing to sign his medical declaration.

His lawyer also argued that doctors have refused en masse to co-operate with the medical marijuana regime.

However, the court majority concluded today that Mr. Mernagh and several interveners in the case were unable to prove that access to the medical exemption scheme was illusory.

“Further, the evidence in this case fails to prove that the vast majority of physicians in Canada refuse to participate in the MMAR scheme,” the court majority said.

Mr. Elliott criticized the medical regime for leaving many of those afflicted with serious illness in limbo.

“In practice, the requirements of the regulations are often unworkable, meaning people suffering with serious health conditions are unable to overcome the hurdles currently in place,” he said in a release. “As a result, they are treated as criminals under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act , which makes it a crime to produce or possess cannabis without authorization.”

Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Author: Kirk Makin

3 Feb 2013

Doing study on coal-hemp, calls on changes in fed law

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January 31, 2013

Patriot Energy joins state hemp association

CORBIN — By Jeff Noble, Staff Writer

Could industrial hemp be useful in reducing coal emissions and reclaiming mined coal fields in Kentucky?

And could the reclaiming bring a hike in southeastern and eastern Kentucky’s economy?

A bioenergy company with roots in the Tri-County thinks so.

Patriot Bioenergy Corporation recently became the first corporate member of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative Association, a Lexington-based organization that wants to make industrial hemp legal in the state — something that hasn’t been done since it was last grown during World War II as part of the nation’s war effort at home.
Patriot’s CEO Roger Ford said Wednesday industrial hemp can be grown in a variety of areas, including hillsides, which would complement the growing of energy beets for a biofuel on the company’s energy facilities, including those in the Williamsburg-Whitley County area.

“The optimal planting method seeds the plants closely together, which encourages the stalks of the plant to grow while the leaves grow smaller, increasing per-acre yields. That would work hand-in-hand with our Whitley County facilities. The industrial hemp seed can be processed into bio-diesel while the stalks are a cellulosic material, which is useful for a variety of things.”
Ford added Patriot’s focus would be to produce a biomass-coal blend from hemp and coal that would be what he called “torrified” — an energy process producing feedstock for energy production.

“The overall economic impact would be to diversify and improve the local economy by the production of industrial hemp. It would help agriculture and our project in particular.”
Patriot, based in Pikeville, is discussing the potential for using industrial hemp with coal companies. Ford said testing would be done at a laboratory in Magoffin County, with Patriot funding the research, and the results expected to be released in the middle of March. “We are currently conducting a feasibility study that will blend coal and hemp to measure the BTU values, as well as measure the emissions’ reclamation potential to hemp growing forward.”

Ford also brought up the possibility industrial hemp in Kentucky could also be used for energy and horse bedding at horse farms in the state and around the nation. A consultant with Ford on hemp research told Business Lexington magazine earlier this week the use of hemp as horse bedding is “straightforward and has been done.”

“The next step, conversion of the hemp-manure mixture to methane, is certainly viable, has been optimized ad published as recently as 2012 by a Finnish group. … Besides material for co-combustion with coal, we can produce biodiesel from the seed oil, which can be used as is or converted to jet fuel. Likewise, the whole plant can be used as a feedstock for fermentation of ethanol or longer chain fuels — gasoline, jet fuel, the list goes on — with huge markets associated. The ability to capture even small percentages of markets on this scale would be a tremendous boost to Kentucky,” Dr. Katherine Andrews told the magazine.

The state’s Commissioner of Agriculture, James Comer, wholeheartedly supports bringing industrial hemp back to Kentucky. Ford stated Patriot is working with Comer and the state’s Industrial Hemp Commission on the issue. He’s also encouraged with support in Frankfort and Washington from both political parties.

“Thus far, we’re encouraged with the bi-partisan support in Kentucky. Senator Sara Beth Gregory is a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and we are hopeful that the committee will vote to send SB (Senate Bill) 50 to the full Senate in the next couple of weeks. … In addition, we are encouraged by the strong support from Senator Rand Paul, Congressman Barr, Congressman Yarmuth and Congressman Massie. We would hope that Senator McConnell and Congressman Rogers would weigh in and support this issue. Their leadership is needed in Washington and the people of Kentucky need a change in federal law so businesses and farmers can produce this crop and create jobs,” said Ford.
In Frankfort, Senate Bill 50 provides procedures that would allow and facilitate cultivating industrial hemp, if there is a similar change in Washington. While it’s not a drug like marijuana, federal law still says hemp is illegal.

According to an Associated Press story on Monday, Senator Paul Hornback (R – Shelbyville), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, plans to bring the hemp bill up for a vote in his committee at a Feb. 11 hearing. U. S. Senator Paul is scheduled to appear in Frankfort and support the measure.

Ford noted that industrial hemp and marijuana cross-pollinates and diminishes the THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) in marijuana.
“In short, it ruins the narcotic value of marijuana. It would be similar to planting field corn and sweet corn in the same field. For law enforcement to object to the production of industrial hemp on the basis that it poses a risk to narcotics enforcement is disingenuous at best. The fact is the cross-pollination would aid in the eradication of marijuana. Businesses or farmers would not seek to plant industrial hemp and marijuana in the same field, because that would obviously be counterproductive,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this article

29 Jan 2013

The Latest Hemp news in Kentucky…

posted in: Latest Hemp News | 0

Kentucky state senator to bring hemp bill up for vote

By The Associated Press
Posted January 28, 2013 at 3:13 p.m.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee sounded upbeat Monday about prospects for his bill that would regulate industrial hemp production in Kentucky if the federal government lifts its decades-long ban on the crop that once was a Bluegrass state staple.

Republican Sen. Paul Hornback of Shelbyville said Monday he intends to bring the hemp bill up for a vote in his committee, which is expected to review the legislation at a Feb. 11 hearing. Hemp proponent U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is scheduled to appear at the hearing and put his political weight behind the measure.

Don’t call it a ‘Weed;’ Momentum for hemp in Ky

by Joe Arnold

WHAS11.com

Posted on January 28, 2013 at 8:07 AM

Updated yesterday at 10:38 AM

FRANKFORT, Ky (WHAS11) — Reinvigorated after a ten year dormancy, Kentucky’s Industrial Hemp Commission meets Monday morning with an apparent new momentum.
The effort recently gained the endorsement of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and bills that would legalize the crop are expected to be debated when the General Assembly’s "short session" resumes in February.
Sen. Paul Hornback (R-Shelbyville), a sponsor of one of the bills (SB50) and a statutory member of the commission, is scheduled to attend.

Kentucky Narcotic Officer’s Association: No to Legalizing Hemp

By Kevin Willis

The recent talk in Frankfort about legalizing industrial hemp hasn’t convinced the head of the Kentucky Narcotic Officer’s Association. Tommy Loving, who also leads the Warren County Drug Task, says he fears marijuana growers will plant their crops next to hemp, making it difficult for law enforcement to distinguish between the two.

Some agriculture experts say planting the two crops together would destroy the potency of the marijuana over time, but Loving told WKU Public Radio that wouldn’t deter those looking to hide from law enforcement.

"If you plant marijuana with hemp surrounding it, for instance, in one growing season, you’re not going to diminish that much of the THC content in the marijuana. So your marijuana crop is still going to be a sellable commodity,” said Loving.

KSP: Hemp backers ‘naive’ after endorsing Senate bill

by Joe Arnold

WHAS11.com

Posted on January 28, 2013 at 4:32 PM

Updated today at 8:20 AM

FRANKFORT, Ky (WHAS11) — With momentum building for an effort to license hemp farming in Kentucky, law enforcement leaders lashed out on Monday, saying hemp’s supporters are looking at the issue "through rose-colored glasses."
The pushback came as Kentucky’s Industrial Hemp Commission met at the Agriculture Commissioner’s offices and voted to endorse Senate hemp legislation.
All three representatives of law enforcement on the commission were absent, including Operation UNITE’s Dan Smoot who joined in the news release from the Kentucky Narcotic Officers’ Association in opposition to Senate Bill 50 and House Bill 33.

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