Drug War Chronicle #1015 - April 12, 2018

Four Ways Using Even Legal Marijuana Makes You a Second Class Citizen [FEATURE]

Marijuana is now legal in nine states constituting about one-fifth of the US population, and medical marijuana is recognized in a total of 29 states. That means people in those states can possess and use marijuana without fear of criminal prosecutions (if they have a doctor's recommendation in the medical marijuana-only states).

But even in legal marijuana states, pot smokers face restrictions that in effect turn them into second-class citizens, unable to do things non-drug users or users of legally sanctioned drugs, such as alcohol, can do, or somehow punished for doing them. While legalizing marijuana is a giant breakthrough, as long as marijuana users face stigma, discrimination, and worse over their choice of substances, the job is only half-done.

Here are four ways even legal marijuana users get screwed:

1. Employment Rights

You may be able to smoke pot legally, but it can still cost you your job. Even in legal marijuana states, legalization laws generally are careful not to intrude on the rights of employers to conduct drug testing for pot and to fire people who test positive -- even if they're not high or impaired at work.

Legal cases in California, Colorado, Montana, and Washington have all upheld the right of employers to fire or refuse to hire workers who test positive for marijuana even if they have a medical marijuana recommendation. But the law is rapidly evolving, and a recent case from Connecticut, a nursing home that refused to hire a medical marijuana patient after he tested positive for THC was ordered to reinstate the job offer.

A thriving economy and growing social acceptance of marijuana may also bring some solace to pot smokers. As Bloomberg noted just last month, we are now seeing a "slow decline in pre-employment drug screening," with some major employers abandoning the practice in the face of a tight job market. That trend, unsurprisingly, is being led by companies in the marijuana legal states. In Colorado, for instance, the percentage of employers using pre-employment drug tests declined from 77% in 2016 to 66% last year.

But still, if you smoked a joint on Friday night, Walmart still doesn't think you're fit to stock their shelves on Monday morning.

2. Gun Rights

If you smoke pot, you can't legally purchase or own a gun. As more states move toward legalization, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms (ATF) has clarified its Form 4473, the federal Firearms Transaction Record that purchaser must fill out to buy a gun: "Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?" the form asks.

And just so you stoners get it, ATF has added the following language: "Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside."

That means marijuana users who want to legally purchase a weapon have to lie on Form 4473. And that's a federal crime. (Unlikely to be caught and prosecuted, but still.)

In August 2016, a federal appeals court upheld the ban on gun sales to medical marijuana patients. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the federal government's ban on gun sales to medical marijuana cardholders does not violate the 2nd Amendment. The decision came in the case of a Nevada woman turned away from a gun shop after obtaining a medical marijuana card. The ruling sets precedent for all nine states in the circuit, including California, Oregon, and Washington.

There have been proactive efforts by law enforcement in a handful of states to, for example, order registered medical marijuana patients to turn in their guns, but those have so far been aborted in the face of loud opposition. In Pennsylvania, the state Health Department is no longer providing the names of patients to law enforcement after newspapers there reported the patients would not be able to buy firearms; in Illinois, regulators removed a rule that would have barred legal gun owners from becoming patients; and in Hawaii, police had to walk back a plan to force patients to hand in their guns.

Still, as long as the federal government maintains marijuana prohibition and as long as ATF considers marijuana a controlled substance, pot smokers' gun rights are at risk. And the NRA doesn't seem to care.

3. Parental Rights

In both medical marijuana states and full-blown legal pot states, parents have lost custody of their children over their marijuana use. Part of the problem is that marijuana remains federally illegal, turning the pot-using parent into a criminal in the eyes of courts of child protective services workers. Another part of the problem is discrimination and subjectivity about what constitutes "the best interest of the child." If a child protective bureaucracy or even an individual case worker harbors anti-marijuana sentiments, even non-problematic recreational use of pot can be used to take children from the home or deny custody to the offending parent.

Marijuana use is especially likely to pop up in divorces where custody of the child or children is contested. If your spouse griped about your pot-smoking while you were married, be prepared for him or her to try to use it against you in a nasty divorce case. Divorce attorneys warn parents facing this prospect to quit smoking pot now, well ahead of any court dates and court-ordered drug tests.

That's another way pot-smoking parents get hammered. Courts may demand onerous drug testing for months or year or require that visits with children be supervised.

Medical marijuana support groups report hundreds of cases of parents losing custody of their kids, some merely for having registered as medical marijuana patients. But there are small signs of positive change on the horizon: California's Prop 64, for instance, includes a provision saying courts can no longer rescind or restrict a parent's custodial rights solely because they have a medical marijuana recommendation.

That's a start, but we still have a long way to go before pot-smoking parents can rest easy.

4. Housing Rights

You can be kicked out of your home for using marijuana if you are poor and live in HUD, Section 8, or other federally-subsidized housing. Under a 1999 HUD Memorandum Regarding Medical Marijuana in Public Housing still in effect, any activity relating to controlled substances, including even medical marijuana, can get you evicted.

And it doesn't have to be just you. If you live in federally-subsidized housing and your grandson gets caught smoking a joint in the parking lot, you can find yourself tossed out on the street.

Even people who don't live in federally-subsidized housing face problems, especially if they live in rental housing. Landlords can prohibit tenants from using marijuana, and rental apartment industry associations typically counsel their members that "banning the use or possession of marijuana on site does not violate any landlord/tenant or fair housing laws, even when marijuana has been legalized by local ordinance or state statute." Nor, they argue, is allowing the use or cultivation of medical marijuana a "reasonable accommodation" required by law, even if it's been medically recommended.

Marijuana is increasingly legal and accepted, but the progress is uneven, and the battle to be treated like normal citizens remains unfinished.

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Medical Marijuana Update

A Maryland medical marijuana expansion bill aimed at addressing racial inequities is on the governor's desk, there will be no joy in Tennessee this year, the Mormon Church opposes a Utah medical marijuana initiative, and more.

Maryland

On Monday, the legislature gave final approval to a medical marijuana expansion bill. The Senate on Monday gave final approval to a bill that would increase the number of licenses for medical marijuana growers from 15 to 20 and the number of licenses for processors from 15 to 25 -- largely in a bid to increase minority business ownership in the industry. None of the companies licensed so far has a black owner. House Bill 0002 has already passed the House and goes now to the desk of Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

Pennsylvania

On Monday, Pennsylvania regulators recommended allowing the dry leaf and plant forms of medical marijuana. The medical marijuana advisory board voted to allow the use of "dry leaf or plant form for administration by vaporization." The vote is only a recommendation; the final decision is up to state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. The vote was 11-0.

Tennessee

Last Wednesday, a medical marijuana bill died. The sponsor of a medical marijuana bill has pulled it, saying he didn't have the support to move it in the Senate. Senate Bill 1710 sponsor Sen. Steve Dickerson (R-Nashville) was blunt: "Unfortunately, I do not have the votes." A companion measure is still alive in the House, but there will be no medical marijuana in the Volunteer State this year.

Utah

On Tuesday, the Mormon Church came out against the medical marijuana initiative. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency issued a statement Tuesday opposing the medical marijuana initiative, which is still in the signature gathering phase: "We commend the Utah Medical Association for its statement of March 30, 2018, cautioning that the proposed Utah marijuana initiative would compromise the health and safety of Utah communities. We respect the wise counsel of the medical doctors of Utah," the statement reads. "The public interest is best served when all new drugs designed to relieve suffering and illness, and the procedures by which they are made available to the public, undergo the scrutiny of medical scientists and official approval bodies."

[For extensive information about the medical marijuana debate, presented in a neutral format, visit MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org.]

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Chronicle AM: 11K Tainted MA Drug Cases Thrown Out, Chronic Pain Patients to Rally, More... (4/6/18)

Chronic pain patients will be rallying at state capitals Saturday to demand they not be sacrificed on the altar of the war on opioids, Massachusetts throws out 11,000 drug cases linked to a disgraced state lab chemist, and more.

Marijuana Policy

New Jersey Group Pushes for More Minorities in Marijuana Business. The New Jersey Minority Alliance has been in talks with Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D), the lead sponsor of the marijuana legalization bill, Senate Bill 30, about revising it to expand minority inclusion. The group has a Social Equity Program under which communities adversely affected by the drug war would be given special consideration to establish marijuana operations. The plan would also remove barriers to entry related to prior drug arrests. Scutari says he finds the plan "interesting."

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Chronic Pain Patients to Rally on Saturday. Concerned that the crackdown on prescription opioids in the midst of the country's opioid problem is leaving them without sufficient access to pain medications, chronic pain patients will be rallying in 45 state capitals on Saturday. The Don't Punish Pain Rally aims to fight the stigma against people with chronic or intractable pain and bring awareness to the many suffering under new prescription guidelines. "Our government really doesn't belong intruding into the physician-patient relationship and that's what's happening, said Deborah Toucheshawks, one of the senior rally organizers. "When I get a message [that] my family member has end-stage cancer and they won't give him anything for pain and now he wants to kill himself, that's a problem."

Criminal Justice

Massachusetts Court Throws Out 11,000 Drug Convictions Tainted By State Chemist. The state's highest court on Thursday threw out more than 11,000 drug convictions where evidence was tainted by being analyzed by disgraced state chemist Sonja Farak. Farak had worked as a chemist at the state's Amherst drug lab from 2004 until 2013, when she was arrested for stealing cocaine from the facility. She later admitted that during that entire period, she treated the drug lab's evidence supply as her own personal stash and tested seized drugs while under the influence of meth, cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy on a daily basis. Farak isn't the first state lab chemist to flame out and cost the state thousands of convictions. Last year, more than 21,000 convictions were thrown out in cases linked to Annie Dookhan, who admitted doctored the results of about one is six drug cases tried in the state between 2003 and 2012.

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Chronicle AM: Hash Bash Looks to November, Philly Safe Injection Site Proposed, More... (4/9/18)

Marijuana social consumption gets delayed in Alaska and rebuffed in Colorado, Ann Arbor's annual Hash Bash draws politicians this year, the US is ramping up its bombing campaign against Taliban drug labs, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Alaska Regulators Postpone Discussion on Social Consumption. The state's Marijuana Control Board has postponed until June any further discussion of draft rules that would allow people to consume marijuana at authorized pot shops. Although the Alcohol and Marijuana Office had recommended that the board release the draft rules for public comment, the board decided to wait until it was back to full strength. One of the board's five members resigned last month.

Colorado Social Consumption Bill Killed. The General Assembly last week killed Senate Bill 211, which would have allowed businesses to obtain a marijuana consumption club license. The move came after both the Department of Revenue and the Marijuana Enforcement Division lobbied against it because of what they called "significant law enforcement challenges and health and safety risks." But the city of Denver is going ahead with licensing social consumption clubs.

Michigan's Hash Bash Becomes a Campaign Event. The 47^th annual Hash Bash had a slightly different flavor this year: With a legalization initiative poised to appear on the November ballot and with opinion polls showing majority support for legalization, this year's event was all about imminent legalization -- and getting on the right side of the issue. Two Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Gretchen Whitmer and Abdul El-Sayed showed up to support the issue, as did Democratic attorney general candidate Dana Nessel.

Medical Marijuana

Pennsylvania Advisory Board Recommends Allowing Dry Leaf or Plant Form Medical Marijuana. The medical marijuana advisory board voted Monday to allow the use of "dry leaf or plant form for administration by vaporization." The vote is only a recommendation; the final decision is up to state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. The vote was 11-0.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Democratic Senators Want to Know What Happened to Trump's Opioid Commission. Democratic Sens. Patty Murry (WA) and Elizabeth Warren (MA) sent a letter to the White House Monday asking the administration to update on progress made on implementing recommendations made by its opioid commission last November. "We are concerned by reports that in spite of the opioid epidemic's devastating impact on American communities, your Administration has failed to act aggressively to combat it," Warren and Murray wrote. "You declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency on October 26, 2017, but there has been little evidence that your Administration has taken advantage of the supplemental executive branch authorities and resources provided by this designation."

Foreign Policy

US Expands Air Strikes Aimed at Taliban Drug Labs. US and Afghan government forces have expanded their campaign of air strikes aimed at Taliban opium processing labs, hitting 11 sites in the past week. These latest strikes were in Farah and Nimroz provinces in western Afghanistan and were the first in the region. So far this year, the about of bombs dropped is triple the number dropped in the first part of last year. The strikes are aimed at hurting Taliban finances, but analysts warn the could kill or injure civilians and are unlikely to have a major impact on the Taliban.

Harm Reduction

Philadelphia Joins List of Cities Pondering Safe Injection Sites. City officials are moving to make the city one of the first in the country to have a safe injection site. A public hearing to discuss the notion took place last Wednesday. "We have a crisis here in Philadelphia," said Dr. Tom Farley, Philadelphia Health Commissioner. "These facilities look sort of like a clinic. If they're simply there to inject, they bring in their own drugs that they have bought on the street, they're given sterile equipment and they inject at the site. If they were to overdose on site, there are medical staff on site who can revive them." But this is just a first step; actually getting one or more up and running in the city could take months or years. Other US cities pondering the harm reduction move include Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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Chronicle AM: MD MedMJ Bill Passes, Israeli MedMJ Sales to Begin on 4/20, More... (4/10/18)

New Mexico's largest city ends civil asset forfeiture, a Maryland medical marijuana expansion bill has passed the legislature, select Israeli pharmacies will soon begin selling medical marijuana products, and more.

Medical Marijuana

Maryland Legislature Passes Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill. The Senate on Monday gave final approval to a bill that would increase the number of licenses for medical marijuana growers from 15 to 20 and the number of licenses for processors from 15 to 25 -- largely in a bid to increase minority business ownership in the industry. None of the companies licensed so far has a black owner. House Bill 0002 has already passed the House and goes now to the desk of Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

Asset Forfeiture

Albuquerque to End the City's Civil Asset Forfeiture Program. New Mexico's largest city will quit seizing people's property unless there is a criminal conviction first. This decision brings the City in compliance with New Mexico state law and comes on the heels of a decision by a US District Court Judge James Browning that said that "the city's ordinance violated federal due process protections and the 2015 state law which said governments can't seize a person's property unless there is a criminal conviction in the case." The state passed asset forfeiture reform in 2015, but the city of Albuquerque refused to obey the state law -- until now.

International

Canadian Conservative Senators Want to Kill Home Cultivation. As a vote looms in the Senate on the Liberals' marijuana legalization bill, some Conservative senators are talking about filing an amendment to ban home cultivation, as well as other nibbling at the edges of the bill. "Senate Conservative Caucus will be looking at making recommendations on various legislative voids, including: driving under the influence; public consumption; home grow; outdoor grow; detection of high concentration of marijuana; border crossing …," wrote Sen. Larry Smith. Any amendments from the Tories would need support from independent counterparts to pass any amendments. The Senate currently has 12 Liberals, 43 independents, 33 Conservatives and five nonaffiliated members. The vote on the legalization bill is set for June 7.

Israeli Pharmacies to Begin Selling Medical Marijuana Products on 4/20. Surely it's just a coincidence, but select Israeli pharmacies will begin selling prescription medical marijuana products beginning April 20. Some 20 pharmacies will participate in the pilot program for regulated medical marijuana sales. The move is the result of marijuana reforms led by the Ministry of Health and approved by the government in 2016.

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Chronicle AM: DEA Seized $3.2 Billion from People Never Charged With a Crime, More... (4/11/18)

Maine moves a step closer to implementing legal pot sales, the Mormon Church takes a stand against a medical marijuana initiative, the DEA has seized tons of money from people it never charged with a crime, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Maine House Approves New Compromise on Legal Pot Sales. The House voted Tuesday to approve a measure designed to get the state's legal pot sales system up and running, and it did so with a veto-proof majority. Under the compromise legislation, the number of plants that individuals could grow at home would drop from six to three, there would be a 10% sales tax on legal weed, and there would be a $335 per pound tax imposed on growing facilities. The bill is expected to be on the Senate calendar today. An earlier effort to legislate implementation of the voter-approved 2016 law was vetoed by Gov. Paul Le Page.

Tennessee Poll Has Surprising Support for Marijuana. More than eight out of 10 Tennesseans believe marijuana should be legal in some form, a new Middle Tennessee State University poll finds. Some 44% said marijuana should be legal for medicinal use only, while another 37% said it should be legal for personal use. A medical marijuana bill was withdrawn earlier this month after its sponsor said it lacked the support to pass in the legislature.

Medical Marijuana

Utah Medical Marijuana Initiative Officially Opposed by Mormon Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency issued a statement Tuesday opposing the medical marijuana initiative, which is still in the signature gathering phase: "We commend the Utah Medical Association for its statement of March 30, 2018, cautioning that the proposed Utah marijuana initiative would compromise the health and safety of Utah communities. We respect the wise counsel of the medical doctors of Utah," the statement reads. "The public interest is best served when all new drugs designed to relieve suffering and illness, and the procedures by which they are made available to the public, undergo the scrutiny of medical scientists and official approval bodies."

Asset Forfeiture

DEA Has Taken More Than $3 Billion from People Never Charged With a Crime. A March report from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General finds that the DEA has seized more than $4 billion from drug suspects since 2007 --but that four out of five of the seizures were done administratively and did not lead to either civil or criminal charges. That means the DEA seized about $3.2 billion from people never charged with a crime. The report also scolded DEA, noting that it "does not collect or evaluate the data necessary to know whether its seizures and forfeitures are effective, or the extent to which seizures present potential risks to civil liberties." Also, the report warned: "When seizure and administrative forfeitures do not ultimately advance an investigation or prosecution, law enforcement creates the appearance, and risks the reality, that it is more interested in seizing and forfeiting cash than advancing an investigation or prosecution."

International

Colombia Arrests FARC Peace Negotiator on Drug Charges. Colombian federal police agents arrested one of the former rebel group's peace negotiators on Monday, sparking an angry reaction from the FARC. Seuxis Paucis Hernández Solarte, alias "Jesús Santrich," and three others face extradition to the U.S. on charges they conspired to import cocaine. The FARC, which has now transformed itself into a political party -- the Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC, in its Spanish acronym) -- called the arrest "the worst moment" of the peace process. "This is a very delicate and dangerous situation. This, yet again, underscores what we have been complaining about in relation to the legal insecurity and lack of guarantees that we have as members of the FARC political party," former FARC commander Victoria Sandino said in a statement. "This is sabotage and an obstacle for those that have committed wholeheartedly to this process, starting with one of the main negotiators and signatory of the peace accord."

Hondurans Seize Second Coca Plantation, Raising Fears Cocaine Production is Shifting North. Last weekend, Honduran police seized a 70 acre coca plantation, the second one found in the country. Honduran authorities speculated that drug trafficking groups are experimenting with growing there in order to save on smuggling costs from South America. The country has long been a key transit point for cocaine headed north; now it could become a producer, too.

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