The Australian parliament will vote on a marijuana legalization bill this month, and more.

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Marijuana Policy

New York Pot Farmers Sue State Claiming Policies Are Driving Them to Bankruptcy. A group of licensed marijuana farmers represented by the Cannabis Farmers Alliance has filed a lawsuit against the state's marijuana regulators charging that state policies have left them facing financial ruin.

Filed in Onondaga County Court last week, the lawsuit says the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the Cannabis Control Board violated their statutes by failing to create a stable market for small growers and not doing enough to prevent unlicensed marijuana products from being sold throughout the state. 

"Really what New York has created is two classes of operators, an unlawful one that's taking advantage of the market and the people who are trying to follow the law, but are getting left behind," said Dean DiPilato, a partner at Centolella Law.

The litigious farmers say licensing regulations limit how much they can grow, effectively limiting their access to the legal market. The Cannabis Farmers Alliance claims that 97 percent of small pot farmers are currently operating at a loss. They seek a declaratory judgment binding regulators to heed their interests. 

"It's fine to keep opening up retail stores to create demand, but the law says you need to look at the impact on the small player OCM when you're making your decisions and they're not doing that," DiPilato said.

Foreign Policy

Texas GOP Congressman to File Bill Allowing Military Force Against Mexican Drug Cartels. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) is planning to file a bill that would authorize the use of military force against Mexican drug trafficking groups and create a select committee aimed at combating them. 

The bill would specifically authorize the use of force against the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels (the Gulf cartel, the Beltran Leyva organization, and Los Viagras say thank you very much), although not against the Mexican state. It would also give President-elect Trump expanded intelligence, surveillance, and cyber capabilities to target cartel operations. 

"The cartels are the greatest near-term threat. Full stop. President Trump agrees," said Crenshaw, who already leads the House Cartel Task Force. "I lead the House Cartel Task Force. We have solutions. But we don’t have any authority. A select committee will have a better chance of moving these bills to the House floor and to a president who will sign them," he added.

Any move to authorize the use of US military force on Mexican territory would understandably face intense opposition from Mexican authorities, who value their national sovereignty. The Mexicans have long chafed at US drug war prerogatives impacting their country. They are currently peeved over a US operation that led to the kidnapping and arrest of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, which in turn has led to bitter factional fighting within the Sinaloa cartel that has left at least 400 dead since September. 

International

Australian Parliament Will Vote on Marijuana Legalization This Month. The parliament will vote this month on a marijuana legalization bill filed by the Green Party. 

"Epic news, cannabis crew," Sen. David Shoebridge, a Greens party member who is leading the legalization effort, announced last week "I’ve finally had it confirmed that Parliament will vote on the Greens legalizing cannabis bill on 27 November this year!"

The Greens' bill would federally legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana and create the Cannabis Australia National Agency to license and regulate marijuana commerce. The bill would also allow for home cultivation and the creation of cannabis cafes, where consumers could smoke their goodies. 

In a report written while the bill was being drafted, the Greens said there was "strong agreement that cannabis growing and sales should not be overly corporatized and agreement that big alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical industries should not control the industry."

It is time to act now, the Greens said. 

"The world is rapidly moving away from the damaging criminal and policing approach to cannabis," the report said. "Australia risks being left behind if we wait for piecemeal reform through the states and territories."

But the bill's success is by no means certain. In May, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee recommended that it be rejected. And the Greens hold only four of 151 House seats and 11 of 76 Senate seats.