Medical marijuana for veterans advances in the Senate, Pennsylvania is set to become the 24th medical marijuana state, things are busy in Ohio, and more.
Ted Cruz takes a states' rights line on marijuana policy, a Vermont House committee has amended the pot legalization bill beyond recognition, a counterculture icon dies, a new poll has plurality support for marijuana legalization in Great Britain, and more.
The Donald returns to one of his favorite themes, Arizona legalization initiative organizers have hit the 200,000-signature mark (they need 150,000 valid ones), patients in New York protest that state's restrictive medical marijuana law, Western Australia wants to force meth users into drug treatment without having to convict them of a crime first, and more.
Republican governors seek federal permission to drug test food stamp recipients, a Tennessee marijuana reform bill dies, a pair of New York medical marijuana improvement bills advance, so does the long-awaited Pennsylvania medical marijuana bill, and more.
Global celebrities and political figures call for change at the UN, Maine's pot legalization initiative remains alive, Pennsylvania is now set to become the 24th medical marijuana state, and more.
The United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs is set for UN Headquarters in Manhattan next week, and civil society and some European and Latin American countries are hoping to make limited progress in moving toward more evidence- and public health-based drug policies. But, knowing the glacial pace of change at the UN and well aware of how little of substance is likely to emerge from the UNGASS, some eyes are already turning to the post-UNGASS international arena.
UNGASS is coming... and then what? (Creative Commons)
Hopes for more forward movement at the UNGASS, always tentative and facing opposition from global drug war hardliners such as Russia, China, and Singapore, were effectively dashed at the run-up meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meeting last month in Vienna, whose outcome document was described as "quite awful" by leading Canadian drug policy expert Donald MacPherson.
The outcomes document includes some minor progressive movement, but does not challenge the trio of treaties that form the legal backbone of global drug prohibition, while its embrace of "flexibility" emboldens regressive, repressive measures (the death penalty for drug offenses, forced "treatment," criminalization of drug users) in hard line countries, despite being helpful for progressive reforms around the edges of the treaties' prohibition.
MacPherson was one of a handful of international drug policy experts and elected officials who took part in a teleconference last week organized by StoptheDrugWar.org (publisher of this newsletter), a US-based group that has been deeply involved in civil society organizing around the UNGASS. He wasn't the only one looking beyond 2016.
Mexican Senator Laura Angelica Rojas Hernández, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Organizations, called this year's UNGASS poses "a step" toward examining the objectives of the 2009 Political Declaration and Action Plan on drugs, which will be reviewed in 2019. While the CND outcomes document had good language around the need for embracing multiple approaches, such as public health, human rights, gender, and prevention, it also includes serious shortcomings, she said.
Mexican Senator Laura Angelica Rojas Hernandez (pan.senado.gob.mx)
"There is a lack of recognition of the relative efficacy of demand reduction and harm reduction policies and the absence of an acknowledgement of the high costs that the prohibitionist and punitive approaches have generated," the senator said.
Mexican senators know all too well the high costs of drug prohibition. For the past decade, the country has been battered by brutal prohibition-related violence that has left at least 100,000 dead, tens of thousands more "disappeared," a legacy of human rights abuses by soldiers and police fighting the cartels, and the legitimacy of the state severely weakened.
"The international community should continue to work toward the establishment of indicators that could help measure the impact of drug policies on people's lives and their rights," Rojas said, suggesting this could still happen at the UNGASS.
But she was also looking down the road.
"Something that should be placed on the table in 2019 is a thorough review of the three conventions on drug control that acknowledges the highly detrimental effects of the current approaches," she said. "And we should be more honest about the so-called flexibility of implementation offered by these treaties and acknowledge that there should be a wider range of action for countries to define their own drug policies, taking into consideration their national and cultural context."
Canadian drug policy expert Donald MacPherson (cssdp.org)
Both Rojas and Canada's MacPherson called for some sort of expert mechanism to guide policymakers eyeing the 2019 meeting.
"Organizations and even some governments are beginning to call for a mechanism post-UNGASS to get real with the modernizing of the treaties," MacPherson said, reflecting frustration with the UNGASS process and prospects. "It's really important that UN member states speak strongly for the need for that mechanism, whether it's an expert committee or some other sort of group. And it needs to happen now -- the next three years are critical coming up to 2019. We really do need to have that process in place to [counter] the kind of intransigence of other countries that use the consensus-based model to hold progress ransom."
"The international community should examine the possibility of establishing an analysis mechanism as a working group of experts, for example, with a mandate to formulate recommendations aimed at the modernization of the international system of drugs for the 2019 review process," Rojas added. "And from a longer-term perspective, we need to see the creation of a special office within the UN Human Rights Council, to follow up and monitor the respect of human rights in the context of the enforcement of the drug policies."
The UNGASS hasn't even gotten here yet, and interested observers are already looking past it. Welcome to politics at the United Nations where most things happen at a snail's pace. The global drug prohibition consensus may be crumbling, but it is crumbling very slowly at the level of international conventions and institutions. The work continues.
[A follow-up story on prospects for marijuana legalization in Canada and Mexico will highlight remarks during the teleconference by Canadian Member of Parliament Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, AramBarra of Mexico United Against Crime, and StoptheDrugWar.org executive director David Borden.]
Medical marijuana for veterans advances in the Senate, Pennsylvania is set to become the 24th medical marijuana state, things are busy in Ohio, and more.
National
On Thursday, a Senate committee approved veterans' access to medical marijuana. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bipartisan amendment Thursday, 20 to 10, allowing Veterans Administration (VA) doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. The vote is the second time the U.S. Senate has advanced this issue. The amendment did not make the final appropriations bill last year after narrowly losing in the House.
Colorado
On Monday, a bill to allow medical marijuana at schools advanced. A bill that would require schools to allow students to use medical marijuana on campus has passed its legislative hurdle. House Bill 1373 was approved 10-3 by the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee and now heads for a House floor vote. State law already gives school districts the power to allow the use of medical marijuana under certain circumstances, but no district has done so.
Louisiana
Last Friday, a medical marijuana bill was introduced. State Rep. Ted James (D-Baton Rouge) has filed House Bill 1112, which would expand the scope of medical marijuana in the state. The state passed a restrictive medical marijuana bill last, but there has been little progress made on producing medical marijuana in the state. James' s bill would allow for the commercial production of medical marijuana and allow patients to petition state agencies to expand qualifying conditions for use of the medicine. The bill also seeks to ease the regulatory burden on marijuana by cutting state agencies out of some of the regulatory process.
New York
On Monday, a pair of bills aimed at fixing the state's medical marijuana law advanced. The Assembly Health Committee approved two bills aimed at improving the state's medical marijuana system. The bills, authored by Assemblyman Dick Gottfried (D-Manhattan), chair of the committee and one of the architects of the state's medical marijuana law, would double the number of companies allowed to grow and distribute medical marijuana from four to eight and would end the requirement that they be vertically integrated. The bills now head for an Assembly floor vote.
On Tuesday, patients and families rallied in Albany to demand a fix for the state's medical marijuana law. Dozens of advocates to urge legislators to support a slate of bills that would amend the Compassionate Care Act, New York’s medical marijuana law. The law, which was passed in June of 2014, took eighteen months to implement and has been criticized for being one of the most restrictive and burdensome programs in the country. Launched in January of this year, to date, only 494 of the state’s 79,000 physicians have agreed to participate and only 2,390 patients have been certified by their doctors to enroll in the program. This lackluster start is likely due to a number of barriers and restrictions in the program that make it both difficult and unappealing for physicians and patients to participate.
Ohio
Last Friday,the attorney general okayed a 2nd medical marijuana initiative. Attorney General Mike DeWine has certified the petition summary for a medical marijuana and industrial hemp initiative from Legalize Ohio 2016. Now, the initiative goes to the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether it is one issue or two. Another initiative, backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, has already been approved for signature gathering. Initiatives will need 305,000 valid voter signatures by early July to qualify for the November ballot.
On Tuesday, the legislature was crafting its own medical marijuana plan. Faced with two separate medical marijuana initiative campaigns, legislators are working to craft their own medical marijuana proposal. The bill, which is set to be announced this week, would create a medical marijuana commission to create rules within a year to regulate medical marijuana in the state. Patients with a doctor's recommendation could access raw marijuana, edibles, patches, and oils, but would not be allowed to grow their own.
Pennsylvania
On Tuesday,the Senate passed the medical marijuana bill. For the second time in less than a year, the Senate has approved Senate Bill 3, which would create a medical marijuana system in the state. The House sat on the bill for months after original Senate passage, then approved an amended version of the bill. The Senate then passed that bill, but only after amending the amendments to bring it make closer to the version originally passed by the Senate. Now, it's up to the House to agree to those changes and send the bill to Gov. Tom Wolf (D).
On Wednesday, the bill passed out of the legislature. After months of delay in the House, Senate Bill 3 has finally been approved by the legislature and is headed for the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who supports it. The Keystone State is now set to become the 24th medical marijuana state.
Utah
On Wednesday, patient advocates said they were giving up on an initiative this year. A group calling itself Truce that had called for a medical marijuana initiative this year after the legislature killed medical marijuana bills earlier this year has given up on 2016. The group says it would have had an extremely difficult time of gathering the 102,000 valid voter signatures required to get on the ballot. The group says it is now concentrating on getting a good bill through the legislature next year.
Detroit's dope squad scandal continues to fester, a Louisiana head narc gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and more. Let's get to it:
In Houma, Louisiana, the head of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office narcotics division resigned Monday, just days before he faces a federal court hearing. Major Darryl Stewart is accused of stealing more than $1,000 in federal money between April 2011 and December 2012. The money was for an underage youth drinking prevention program. Stewart appears in federal court on those charges Friday.
three Detroit police officers were indicted Wednesday on federal charges they conspired to bust drug dealers, steal their stashes, and even sell the stolen drugs themselves. Lt. David Hansberry, Officer Bryan Watson and Officer Arthur Leavells are part of a larger group of 11 Detroit Police Narcotics Unit officers named in civil cases alleging similar misconduct. These indictments supersede April 2015 indictments and add more charges. The federal government says the men surveilled big drug deals, then struck, "using their police authority to extort drugs, money and personal property." Hansberry faces 18 felony charges, Watson faces 16, and Leavells faces two, even though he's already copped to conspiracy to distribute drugs and is looking at a four-year mandatory minimum.
In Easton, Pennsylvania, a former East Stroudsburg University police officer pleaded guilty last Thursdayto what are essentially "doctor shopping" charges. Matthew Bill, 42, had faced more than a dozen felony charges for obtaining hundreds of prescription pain pills by visiting at least 19 doctors. He copped to three counts of procurement of a controlled substance by fraud and was sentenced to three years' probation.
Ted Cruz takes a states' rights line on marijuana policy, a Vermont House committee has amended the pot legalization bill beyond recognition, a counterculture icon dies, a new poll has plurality support for marijuana legalization in Great Britain, and more.
Welsh counterculture icon Howard Marks, "Mr. Nice," has died.
Marijuana Policy
In Colorado, Ted Cruz Says He Would Leave State's Pot Law Alone. The Republican presidential contender told the Denver Post ahead of last Saturday's GOP caucus that as president, he would not interfere with Colorado's marijuana legalization even though he personally opposes legalization. "I think on the question of marijuana legalization, we should leave it to the states," he said. "If it were me personally, voting on it in the state of Texas, I would vote against it. The people of Colorado have made a different decision. I respect that decision." Cruz won the Colorado caucus.
Arkansas Attorney General Rejects Legalization Initiative. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize pot. The initiative would legalize the use, possession, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana, but will have to go back to the drawing board to come up with language that is not ambiguous. Any initiative in Arkansas this year will need 85,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
Vermont Legalization Bill Hits Wall in House. The fate of the legalization bill, Senate Bill 241, is at best uncertain after the House Judiciary Committee first refused to pass even a watered-down version of it last Friday, then amended it to delete legalization and expand funding for anti-drug campaigns, provide police with more drugged driving resources, and ban potential dangerous methods of concentrating the drug. While the Judiciary's version of the bill bears little resemblance to the version passed by the Senate, it does leave the door open for Senate supporters to re-insert the deleted language if the amended version passes the House. But it is not at all clear that a majority of House members would vote for that.
Medical Marijuana
Louisiana Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced. State Rep. Ted James (D-Baton Rouge) has filed House Bill 1112, which would expand the scope of medical marijuana in the state. The state passed a restrictive medical marijuana bill last, but there has been little progress made on producing medical marijuana in the state. James' s bill would allow for the commercial production of medical marijuana and allow patients to petition state agencies to expand qualifying conditions for use of the medicine. The bill also seeks to ease the regulatory burden on marijuana by cutting state agencies out of some of the regulatory process.
Ohio Attorney Generals Okays 2nd Medical Marijuana Initiative. Attorney General Mike DeWine has certified the petition summary for a medical marijuana and industrial hemp initiative from Legalize Ohio 2016. Now, the initiative goes to the Ohio Ballot Board to determine whether it is one issue or two. Another initiative, backed by the Marijuana Policy Project, has already been approved for signature gathering. Initiatives will need 305,000 valid voter signatures by early July to qualify for the November ballot.
No More Mr. Nice. Welsh counterculture icon Howard Marks, widely known as "Mr. Nice," has died of stomach cancer at age 70. Marks smuggled marijuana in the 1970s and 1980s before being arrested and imprisoned in the United States. His 1996 memoir, "Mr. Nice," brought him to broader public attention, and he continued to campaign for marijuana legalization until his death.
Guatemala Marijuana Legalization Bill Filed. Deputy Alvaro Velasquez has introduced a bill that would legalize and regulate the use, possession, cultivation, distribution, and commercialization of marijuana. The bill would legalize the weed for people 18 and over and regulation would be in the hands of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance. Velasquez is a member of the National Convergence Front, whose presidential candidate, TV comedian Jimmy Morales, won the 2015 election.
(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org"s lobbying arm, 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.)
The Donald returns to one of his favorite themes, Arizona legalization initiative organizers have hit the 200,000-signature mark (they need 150,000 valid ones), patients in New York protest that state's restrictive medical marijuana law, Western Australia wants to force meth users into drug treatment without having to convict them of a crime first, and more.
Trump accuses Mexico of "poisoning our youth" with drugs. (wikimedia.org)
Arizona Legalization Initiative Signature Drives Passes 200,000 Mark. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuna Like Alcohol in Arizona announced Tuesday that it has collected more than 200,000 raw voter signatures for its legalization initiative. The group needs 150,564 valid voter signatures by July to qualify for the November ballot.Having 200,000 raw signatures at this point means that a full quarter of them would have to be disqualified for the initiative to come up short--and it still has time to gather more.
Medical Marijuana
Colorado Bill to Allow Medical Marijuana at School Moves. A bill that would require schools to allow students to use medical marijuana on campus has passed its legislative hurdle. House Bill 1373 was approved 10-3 by the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee and now heads for a House floor vote. State law already gives school districts the power to allow the use of medical marijuana under certain circumstances, but no district has done so.
New York Patients, Families Rally in Albany to Demand Fixes for State's Medical Marijuana Law. Dozens of advocates gathered in Albany Tuesday to urge legislators to support a slate of bills that would amend the Compassionate Care Act, New York’s medical marijuana law. The law, which was passed in June of 2014, took eighteen months to implement and has been criticized for being one of the most restrictive and burdensome programs in the country. Launched in January of this year, to date, only 494 of the state’s 79,000 physicians have agreed to participate and only 2,390 patients have been certified by their doctors to enroll in the program. This lackluster start is likely due to a number of barriers and restrictions in the program that make it both difficult and unappealing for physicians and patients to participate.
Drug Policy
Trump Blames Mexico for America's Drug Problems. Returning to one of his favorite themes—Mexico bashing—GOP presidential contender Donald Trump Monday warned that drugs from Mexico are "pouring into the country" and "poisoning our youth." His comments came as he defended his plan to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. The US trade deficit with Mexico is $58 billion a year. "And that doesn’t include the drugs that are pouring into the country poisoning our youth," Trump added. "They’re poisoned with this crap. People won’t be driving their pick-up trucks through the wall or over the wall, he added. Did you ever see that? The trucks go over, they unload the drugs and then they go back. So we get the drugs and they get the money. Not very good folks. That’s going to all change."
International
French Minister Reignites Marijuana Legalization Debate. A French junior minister, Jean-Marie Le Guen, secretary of state for relations with parliament (and an MD) has reignited discussion of marijuana law reform there by saying "prohibition is not effective" and that a public health approach was needed. Le Guen clarified that he was not speaking for the government, but said the subject should be debated by the next president. His remarks did not go over well with drug reform-averse French politicians, including his fellow governing Socialists. "And what will we do tomorrow? Will we legalise cocaine and weapons because we cannot stem the flow of weapons? That's not serious!" retorted Socialist Senator Samia Ghali. A spokesman for the government added that the Socialist Party was free to debate the issue, but the government isn't interested "neither in work nor thought."
Victoria Becomes First Australian State to Legalize Medical Marijuana. The state Parliament has passed the Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill, making Victoria the first state in the country to approve medical marijuana. State Health Minister Jill Hennessey said children with severe epilepsy will be the first to be able to access the medications next year. The state government will set up an Office of Medicinal Cannabis to regulate the industry and educate patients and doctors about their roles and eligibility to prescribe or use medical marijuana.
Western Australia Wants to Subject Meth Users to Forced Detention, Treatment. The state's Mental Health Minister, Andrea Mitchell, said forcing meth users into drug rehab was the way to deal with the state's growing number of them. "I've got a responsibility to balance the rights of the individual with also protecting the community, and I need to do that with the burglary and the assaults and the other side of things that do tend to happen with people with a meth problem," she said. "And I also have a duty of care to protect that individual and give that individual the best possible chance of coming out of that and being a responsible citizen." The scheme would require legislative changes to allow the state to hold against their will people who have not been convicted of any crime.
(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org"s lobbying arm, 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.)
Republican governors seek federal permission to drug test food stamp recipients, a Tennessee marijuana reform bill dies, a pair of New York medical marijuana improvement bills advance, so does the long-awaited Pennsylvania medical marijuana bill, and more.
Medical marijuana is keeping statehouses busy. (wikimedia.org)
Marijuana Policy
Tennessee Decriminalization Referendum Bill Dies. A bill that would have let state voters weigh-in on whether the state should decriminalize pot possession is dead. The bill, which would have authorized a non-binding referendum, was killed in the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
Medical Marijuana
New York Medical Marijuana Fix Bills Advance. The Assembly Health Committee Monday approved two bills aimed at improving the state's medical marijuana system. The bills, authored by Assemblyman Dick Gottfried (D-Manhattan), chair of the committee and one of the architects of the state's medical marijuana law, would double the number of companies allowed to grow and distribute medical marijuana from four to eight and would end the requirement that they be vertically integrated. The bills now head for an Assembly floor vote.
Ohio Legislature Crafts Medical Marijuana Plan. Faced with two separate medical marijuana initiative campaigns, legislators are working to craft their own medical marijuana proposal. The bill, which is set to be announced this week, would create a medical marijuana commission to create rules within a year to regulate medical marijuana in the state. Patients with a doctor's recommendation could access raw marijuana, edibles, patches, and oils, but would not be allowed to grow their own.
Pennsylvania Senate Passes Medical Marijuana Bill. For the second time in less than a year, the Senate has approved Senate Bill 3, which would create a medical marijuana system in the state. The House sat on the bill for months after original Senate passage, then approved an amended version of the bill. The Senate then passed that bill, but only after amending the amendments to bring it make closer to the version originally passed by the Senate. Now, it's up to the House to agree to those changes and send the bill to Gov. Tom Wolf (D).
Utah Patient Advocates Give Up on 2016 Initiative. A group calling itself Truce that had called for a medical marijuana initiative this year after the legislature killed medical marijuana bills earlier this year has given up on 2016. The group says it would have had an extremely difficult time of gathering the 102,000 valid voter signatures required to get on the ballot. The group says it is now concentrating on getting a good bill through the legislature next year.
Asset Forfeiture
Poll: Nearly Nine Out of 10 Mississippians Want to End Civil Asset Forfeiture. A poll from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy has 88% opposed to allowing police to seize and permanently forfeit property taken from people not convicted of a crime. The poll comes as House Bill 1410, which would have increased asset forfeiture transparency, was passed by the House, but gutted by the Senate, which turned it into a study bill. The House is asking for a conference committee to hash out the differences.
Drug Testing
A Dozen GOP Governors Ask Congress to Let Them Drug Test Food Stamp Recipients. The governors have sent a letter to Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), head of the House Agriculture Committee , which administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP—food stamps), urging him to change federal law to allow states to test program recipients. In a statement accompanying the governors' letter, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker characterized the drug testing proposal as a "common-sense reform" that will make it easier "for recipients with substance abuse to move from government dependence to true independence," but in the states that have actually done welfare drug testing, less than 1% of recipients have tested positive for drugs.
International
Poll: Iceland Far From Supporting Marijuana Legalization. Fewer than 25% of Icelanders support legalizing marijuana, according to a new MMR poll. Some 76.8% said they opposed legalization. The good news is that opposition figure is declining; five years ago, 87.3% were opposed. Older age groups were the least likely to support legalization, while young people were most likely to.
Global celebrities and political figures call for change at the UN, Maine's pot legalization initiative remains alive, Pennsylvania is now set to become the 24th medical marijuana state, and more.
Medical marijuana is coming to Pennsylvania. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy
Maine Won't Appeal Judge's Ruling to Recount Invalidated Signatures. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Wednesday he won't appeal a judge's ruling that overturned his decision to invalidate a marijuana legalization initiative. This doesn't mean that the initiative from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is now qualified for the ballot, but it does mean that state officials will have to review thousands of signatures in threw out last month, including some 17,000 invalidated because they came from a notary whose signature on petition sheets supposedly didn't match his signature on file. If those signatures are found to be valid, the initiative qualifies. It handed in 99,000 and only needs 61,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot.
Top Massachusetts Politicians Form Anti-Legalization Committee. Governor Charlie Baker (R), Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D), Speaker Robert DeLeo (D), and a number of other political figures and health care professionals have formed a bipartisan committee, A Campaign For A Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, to oppose the marijuana legalization initiative there. "I’ve met far too many families in Boston and elsewhere where kids have lost their way in school and been shut out of success in the workplace due to addiction and abuse of marijuana," Mayor Walsh said in a release. "Where marijuana is legal, young people are more likely to use it and a vote against legalizing the commercial marijuana industry is a vote to protect our kids and communities."
NORML Endorses Michigan Legalization Initiative. "The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is pleased to announce our endorsement of the MI Legalize initiative to regulate the adult use, production and retail sale of marijuana in Michigan. MI Legalize, also known as the Michigan Comprehensive Cannabis Law Reform Committee, has collected more than 270,000 signatures in its effort to legalize marijuana via the petitioning process. The grass-roots effort has been collecting signatures from registered voters since June, 2015, and represents the best opportunity to enact a regulatory system in Michigan, a state where it is highly unlikely the state legislature will take any similar action."
Champaign/Urbana to Vote on Legalization Advisory Referendum. The Illinois cities will vote on the advisory measure in the November election. The advisory question will ask voters "Should the state of Illinois legalize and regulate the sale and use of marijuana in a similar fashion to the state of Colorado?"
Medical Marijuana
Senate Committee Approves Veterans Access to Medical Marijuana. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bipartisan amendment Thursday, 20 to 10, allowing Veterans Administration (VA) doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. The vote is the second time the U.S. Senate has advanced this issue. The amendment did not make the final appropriations bill last year after narrowly losing in the House.
Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Bill Heads to Governor's Desk. After months of delay in the House, Senate Bill 3 has finally been approved by the legislature and is headed for the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who supports it. The Keystone State is now set to become the 24th medical marijuana state.
Harm Reduction
Hawaii House Approves Opioid Overdose Reversal Drug Bill. The House has approved a bill to increase access to overdose reversal drugs such as naloxone (Narcan) and provide immunity to those who administer them. The measure is Senate Bill 2392, which has already passed the Senate and now heads for the governor's desk.
International
Open Letter to UN Head Calls for Shift in Global Drug Policy. Over a thousand people, including financier Warren Buffett, US Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), rock star Sting, and the former presidents of Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Switzerland, among others, have signed an open letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon saying the drug war has failed and calling for a shift in global drug policy away from criminalization and force and toward health and human rights. The letter comes ahead of next week's UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs.
Mexican Senator Laura Angelica Rojas Hernandez (pan.senado.gob.mx)
Canadian drug policy expert Donald MacPherson (cssdp.org)
