Saturday, April 16, 2005

University Colorado Students Pass Referendum Via Cannabis News: Colorado -- University of Colorado students this week approved a measure that asks officials to ease up on marijuana penalties. The referendum, put forth by the Boulder-based group Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, asks that university officials make sanctions for marijuana use no more severe than they are for comparable alcohol violations. The students have put their finger on an essential question that has been unanswered by prohibitionists -- "Why are penalties for marijuana harsher than those for alcohol, when alcohol is the more dangerous substance?" School officials say they won't be bound by the outcome. That's going to cause a conflict. 8:56:04 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

A new job for Andrea? Libby at Last One Speaks scooped me big time with the rumor that Andrea Barthwell has been hired by G.W. Pharmaceuticals to lobby for approval of its cannabis-plant extracts in the U.S. No problem for Andrea's new-found flexible viewpoints. Libby's got the right idea when she says: I have a feeling the prohibitionists are brewing this new strategy of keeping the plant illegal by vilifying the innocuous buzz so they can control the market with derivatives and chemical synthetics. They've known for decades the plant is safe but they couldn't figure out how to keep people from obtaining the drug on their own by growing it. This lets them work both sides of the fence. That's certainly been the plan for the pharmaceutical companies -- keep medical marijuana illegal while they patent every possible derivitive. 8:21:42 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Texas Tidings Lots has been happening in Texas, all covered extremely well by Scott at Grits for Breakfast, including some remarkable efforts towards restructuring low-level marijuana penalties, an attempt to ban so-called "consent searches", going after rogue task forces and lots more. Could this be a sign that a historical independent streak in Texans is re-surfacing? It is a conflicted state - conservative, but with libertarian underpinning - home of both Tom Delay and Ron Paul. It'll be interesting to watch. And Grits is the place to watch it. 7:59:41 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []