Skip to main content

Chronicle AM -- November 25, 2013

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #811)

Drug reform funder Peter Lewis dies, the Oregon legislature will consider a legalization initiative bill, medical marijuana patients are suing Health Canada, and more. Let's get to it:

"Warning! Your Family is in Danger!" anti-legalization poster courtesy of the Mexican government (cij.gob.mx)
Marijuana Policy

Oregon Legislature to Consider Voter-Approved Marijuana Legalization Bill. State Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, unveiled a draft bill Friday that would ask voters in the November 2014 election to approve marijuana legalization. If they did, the legislature would be charging with coming up with regulations in 2015. If the draft bill fails to move in the legislature, activists are already working on a separate 2014 legalization initiative.

Outdoor Anniversary Pot Party Approved for Seattle Center.The city of Seattle has approved a permit for a multi-hundred person pot party to mark the first anniversary of legal weed in the state. The event will take place at Seattle Center on December 6 and will include a permitted outdoor marijuana-smoking area.

Denver City Council Debating Marijuana Smoking Restrictions. The Denver city council is today holding a public hearing on an ordinance regulating marijuana smoking on private property. The council is about evenly divided between members who want to ban pot-smoking visible from the street or sidewalks and those who don't. Marijuana Policy Project spokesman and Amendment 64 proponent Mason Tvert held a protest on his balcony this morning where he publicly -- and legally -- consumed "a more dangerous substance."

Medical Marijuana

Medical Marijuana States are Complying with Federal Enforcement Guidelines, Report Says. The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access Monday released a report finding that medical marijuana states have enacted regulations that address federal enforcement concerns and calling on legislators and state rulemakers to keep the August 2013 Justice Department memo on enforcement guidelines in mind as they craft new laws and regulations. But DOJ memos aren't a solution, just a stop-gap until appropriate federal legislation is passed, the report said.

Public Hearings on Medical Marijuana Coming in New York State. Democratic lawmakers trying to push a medical marijuana bill through the legislature plan to hold public hearings next month in Buffalo and Mineola. For the past several years, bills have passed the Assembly, only to die in the more conservative Senate. Another bill is moving this year. Click on the link for hearing details.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Philanthropist, Drug Reform Funder Peter Lewis Dies. Peter Lewis, the man who took Progressive Insurance into the auto insurance big leagues, died Saturday in Florida. Over the past 30 years, Lewis gave millions of dollars to efforts to legalize marijuana, as well as other drug reform efforts, including a recent contribution to a proposed 2014 initiative in Oregon. He was 80 years old.

Pregnancy

Feticide Charge Dismissed Against Drug-Using Louisiana Woman. A Louisiana judge has ruled that a woman who allegedly snorted cocaine days before giving birth to a stillborn fetus cannot be charged under the state's feticide law. That law only applies to people other than the expectant mother, District Judge Trudy White ruled. The woman was charged after a parish coroner ruled the stillbirth a homicide, saying the mother's drug use "led to a normally healthy baby ending up dying." Prosecutors could still bring other charges against the woman, they said.

International

Medical Marijuana Patients to Sue Health Canada over Being Outed. Medical marijuana patients furious and frightened after Health Canada outed them by sending each one of them documents in a white envelope with "Medical Marijuana Access Program" written across the top, followed by the patients' names and addresses are planning a class-action lawsuit. Health Canada said last week the mailing was the result of administrative error, but that is not assuaging unhappy patients.

Government Sponsored Anti-Marijuana Legalization Marchers take to the Streets in Mexico. Organized by the National Social Leaders of Mexico (CONAL), and with the support of a federal government children's development program, anti-marijuana legalization marchers in small numbers took to the streets of at least 15 Mexican cities over the weekend. They oppose growing talk of legalization, which has occurred in the Mexico City city council and the national congress, among other places.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.