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By. James Raider

 

With California heading to a decision on marijuana legalization later this year, the debate is gaining some well deserved exposure in Canada. A reversal of archaic thinking should prevail on reversing prohibition, and Canada should lead down this path.

 

Here are 11 powerful reasons to end prohibition of cannabis:

 

1. Legalization would eliminate the estimated $10 billion collected each year in B.C. alone, by gangs ranging from the H.A. to U.N.

 

2. Gangs exchange marijuana for harder drugs such as cocaine from South of the border, which come into Canada in large quantities, and feed the drug distribution “pushing” system.

By. Joe Klare

 

Claudia Cowan – a “reporter” for Fox News and therefore supposedly impartial when it comes to news stories – took to the Foxnews.com blog today to spew her anti-marijuana propaganda.

 

Commenting on the proposal to tax and regulate marijuana on California’s ballot this fall, she had this to say:

 

The initiative is sponsored by Richard Lee, the founder of the Bay Area’s Oaksterdam University, a marijuana trade school. “We see this as a first step, and it does leave it open for the legislature to expand upon it, and to establish a statewide regulation system,” Lee says.

 

He spent $1.4 million dollars to collect signatures and qualify the measure for the November ballot. It’s central argument: that legalization will generate revenue for cash-strapped California. NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is also endorsing the measure as a revenue raiser. “The Board of Equalization estimated that up to $1.4 billion dollars could be raised in California annually if marijuana were taxed in a manner similar to alcohol,” says Paul Armentano, a NORML spokesman in Northern California.

By. NORML

 

This past January, after years of debate, outgoing Democrat Governor Jon Corzine signed legislation making New Jersey the fourteenth state in the nation to allow for the state-authorized use of medical cannabis by qualified patients. The measure, known as The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, authorizes patients with a physician’s recommendation to possess and obtain medical cannabis from state-authorized “alternative treatment centers” (aka dispensaries). As signed, the measure was to take effect next month.

 

But that won’t happen if Republican Gov. Chris Christie has his way. Christie is seeking, and legislation has been introduced, to delay implementation of New Jersey’s long-awaited medical cannabis law by at least 90 days. Gov. Christie has also called on legislators to amend the law — which, as written, is already the most restrictive in the nation — so that patients would only be eligible to obtain medical cannabis in state hospitals. The Governor has also proposed limiting the cultivation of marijuana so that it could only legally be grown at Rutgers University. NORML opposes these amendments, which if enacted, would make New Jersey’s law totally unworkable for patients.

By. New Jersey Courier Post

 

Look at other states and use the best model to get New Jersey's program running this year.

 

In January, New Jersey became the 14th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. It was an affirmation of what thousands of sufferers of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other conditions already know -- that marijuana is one of the few substances, for some, the only substance, that can take away their daily pain and mask some of their symptoms.

 

New Jersey's law is restrictive, probably more so than all other states that have legalized medical marijuana. Patients certified by a doctor and registered with the state won't be allowed to grow the plant themselves. Rather, they'll have to purchase marijuana from one of a handful of dispensaries around New Jersey that will be created to provide small, strictly governed amounts of marijuana.

 

The dispensation of medical marijuana to patients was supposed to begin in October, but now the Christie administration wants a delay to fine tune the rules and parameters of the program. One thing Christie's Health and Senior Services commissioner is looking to do is create a single site for growing all the marijuana that would be available to patients who qualify to use medical marijuana.

by Scott Morgan, Chronicle Blog

 

Last month, we saw teachers suspended for teaching students about their rights during police encounters. Now, another school is sending the message that the drug war is more important than education:

 

 

The idea that discussing marijuana legalization somehow encourages illegal drug use is impressively stupid and wrong. It's the sort of thing you might believe if you go around destroying legalization editorials instead of reading them and trying to understand the arguments.

By Ben Marshall

 

I never thought I would say this, but it is high time for the state of Kansas to consider legalizing marijuana.

 

Since graduating from the D.A.R.E. program in elementary school, my train of thought has always been this: drugs are bad, marijuana is a drug, marijuana ought to be illegal. End of story.

 

My right-of-center political ideology, which developed as I matured, closed my mind further. I saw marijuana users as hippie, peace-loving liberals. Reggae fans. Potheads.

 

I hear news stories about people getting arrested for possessing bricks upon bricks of weed and think justice was served.

 

That was me a few months ago. That was before I really got a chance to investigate the legalization of marijuana. I was ignorant on the issue, and I don't like being uneducated on hot-button news items. So I decided to do some research.

By MINDELLE JACOBS, QMI Agency

Supporters of Marc Emery may be outraged that the so-called Prince of Pot faces imminent extradition to the U.S., but you’ve got to wonder if Emery isn’t secretly pleased.

 

The Vancouver-based pro-marijuana activist deliberately poked Uncle Sam in the eye by selling marijuana seeds over the Internet — practically daring the U.S. authorities to go after him.

 

They did and Emery could be behind bars in the U.S. within days, now that Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has given the green light for his extradition.

 

“I’m proud of what I’ve done and I have no regrets,” Emery told reporters Monday before surrendering to sheriffs in Vancouver.

 

This doesn’t sound like a man who’s particularly unhappy about the way things turned out. Emery’s been yearning to be a martyr for the cause for years and it looks like he’ll finally get his wish.

By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town

There's a disquieting trend lately in the medical marijuana arena. To this close observer of the rhetoric and results surrounding state (and District of Columbia) restrictions on medicinal use of cannabis, every law seems a little tighter than the one before.

 

It seems it's become de rigueur for politicians to announce "this would be the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation" every time legislation is introduced, as if the states are in some sort of twisted competition to see who can be the meanest to sick people.

 

Since when is making safe access to marijuana difficult or impossible for patients something to brag about?

 

For instance, the new medical marijuana law in New Jersey, and, apparently the one to be voted on this week in D.C., prohibit cannabis cultivation by qualified patients. For many low income patients, this represents the only realistic chance of obtaining quality medicine.

By. The Province

 

A new study is providing fresh ammunition for those, including this newspaper, who have argued that policy-makers should be giving more serious consideration to ending the war on drugs.

 

The findings released Tuesday by the Vancouver-based International Centre for Science in Drug Policy flowed from a review of dozens of academic papers over several decades that examined the impact of increased policing on the drug trade. The conclusions? Our current approach is a failure.

By Jacob Sullum, Opposing Views

 

Over at The Huffington Post, Reason contributor Ryan Grim argues that press coverage of a recent Roper/CNBC poll understated the public's support for marijuana legalization. The news stories highlighted the fact that 55 percent of respondents said they opposed "the complete legalization of the use of marijuana for any purpose," while only 33 percent said they supported that policy. But when the respondents were asked to think about the legal treatment of alcohol, 56 percent said the regulations for marijuana should either be the same or less strict. Coincidentally, that's the same as the percentage of Californians who recently told SurveyUSA they support an initiative on the November ballot that would legalize pot.