According to the Tucson Weekly, Arizona Rep. Ethan Orr is looking at Colorado’s recent marijuana venture and the taxes, licenses, and fees that have brought the state more than $7 million so far.

As reported by the Arizona Republic, the Arizona revenue projections released last Tuesday to the legislature’s Finance Advisory Committee predict that the state will end this budget year with a $520 million deficit and possibly up to a $1 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year of 2016.

[caption id="attachment_8187" align="alignright" width="259"] Ethan Orr[/caption]

“Given the massive budget shortfall we’re facing, we need to look at revenue and I think this is a logical place we need to look,” Orr said. “I think it’s time to have an intelligent conversation about it (legalization).”

Orr also said that lawmakers should consider his proposal before supporters in the effort to make marijuana legal take their measure before voters in 2016.

Mason Tvert, director of communications at the Marijuana Policy Project, commends Rep. Orr for demonstrating leadership on the issue.

“While we are not yet familiar with the details of Rep. Orr’s bill, we would likely support any well-written proposal to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol,” Tvert stated.

According to 9news.com, marijuana product manufacturers in Colorado are making an effort to accommodate inexperienced adult marijuana consumers.

Several companies have begun offering edible products with very small dosages of THC in order to allow people who have low tolerance or little experience with the substance to be able to use it without the potential for becoming overly impaired. This move comes following the launch of MPP’s “Consume Responsibly” campaign, which urges caution when consuming marijuana edibles and other products in order to avoid an unpleasant experience.

The paradigm shift in the marijuana industry is comparable to the alcohol industry’s selling of beer and wine alongside higher content alcoholic options like spirits or liqueurs.

The new low potency edible options include a low-dose marijuana-infused soda — Dixie One — that is 15 times weaker than the Dixie Elixirs company’s best-known soda. There are also light-dose “Rookie Cookies” for people who are not experienced in eating medical-grade marijuana.

“For a long time, the medical market was a race to the strongest edibles. Now it’s a new market, and people want something that won’t get them so inebriated they’re not functional,” said Holden Sproul of the Growing Kitchen, which makes the “Rookie Cookie” and is phasing out some if its stronger offerings.

According to a University of North Florida press release, a new statewide poll reveals that 67 percent of likely voters responded that they would vote “yes” for Amendment 2, which would allow the medical use of marijuana for individuals with debilitating illnesses or diseases, if recommended by a licensed physician.

However, as reported by the Jacksonville Business Journal, Floridians are not yet ready to fully end marijuana prohibition. Although they are more open to allowing the use of medical marijuana, they are more or less opposed to allowing the recreational use of the substance. The poll demonstrates that the percentage of likely voters who are against allowing adults in Florida to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use is at 53 percent.

Below are the full results:

Amendment 2 on the statewide ballot in November is called “Use of Marijuana for Certain Medical Conditions.” This amendment allows the medical use of marijuana for individuals with debilitating diseases as determined by a licensed Florida physician. If the election were held today, would you vote yes or no for this proposition?

Do you support or oppose allowing adults in Florida to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use?

Myfoxdc.com reported on a business seminar sponsored by the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Cannabis Industry Association yesterday to educate entrepreneurs about Maryland’s new medical marijuana law and growing industry.

The law allows state residents suffering from certain qualifying conditions to use marijuana, if recommended by a doctor. It also authorizes 15 licensed marijuana cultivators to operate in the state.

“For many patients we know that this is the best treatment for their conditions,” stated Rachelle Yeung, legislative analyst at the Marijuana Policy Project. “Since Maryland is only issuing 15 growing licenses, competition is fierce. This is a serious business,” she said.

Maryland has rules in place covering banking, product safety, and where dispensaries can be located. Put simply, the medical marijuana business industry will be well regulated and efficient. However, for those looking to operate, it will not be an inexpensive business venture. The overall price — including the $125,000 to get in the business, $40,000 to run a dispensary, and up to $6,000 in application fees — amounts to a little less than $200,000.

[caption id="attachment_8178" align="alignright" width="300"] Jamie Raskin[/caption]

According to Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, the high cost helps determine who is serious about entering the medical marijuana industry and financially able to maintain the strictest professional standards. Such requirements were designed by lawmakers to ensure a safe and tightly controlled medical marijuana system, yet there are valid criticisms that they create barriers of entry for poor communities or people who have previously been victimized by the war on marijuana.

Medical marijuana applications for the 15 growing licenses are expected to be collected at the beginning of 2015, and the first patients could start receiving their medication by early 2016.

According to the Washington Post, residents of the nation’s capital who have been convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses could apply to have those criminal records sealed under a bill granted initial approval by the D.C. City Council yesterday.

[caption id="attachment_8171" align="alignright" width="300"] David Grosso[/caption]

D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) introduced the record-sealing bill. He believes it is a matter of fairness to give prior offenders some ability to rid their records of nonviolent offenses now that marijuana possession has been decriminalized in the District and both voters and City Council are considering making marijuana legal for adults.

“People who have had these issues in the past, it never leaves them,” Grosso said. “They have to check the box [indicating a prior conviction]. They can’t get a job. They can’t get public housing. They can’t get financial aid for college.”

Under the terms of the bill, D.C. residents could file a motion to seal their records in the D.C. Superior Court. The motion should be granted unless prosecutors demonstrate that the offense in question remains a crime. If the motion is granted, prosecutors and courts would have to remove public records related to the resident’s arrest, charge, trial, or conviction.

The measure passed 12 to 0 and is up for a second vote set for later this month. According to Grosso and data compiled by the Drug Policy Alliance, it is among the broadest efforts to allow marijuana records to be sealed within the country.

The Portland Press Herald reported that advocates of making marijuana legal kicked off a campaign yesterday in support of upcoming votes on the issue in Lewiston and South Portland.

The advocates, led by the Marijuana Policy Project, held a rally at Kennedy Park for those in favor of Lewiston’s Question 2, which would make the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana legal for adults 21 years of age and older.

“Every day more and more people support making marijuana legal,” said David Boyer, Maine political director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “They see it makes more sense to have marijuana regulated instead of keeping it legal.”

Boyer also said the campaign in Lewiston is hoping to mobilize young voters, especially Bates College students, to the cause.

“Younger folks see that marijuana prohibition hasn’t worked. It’s done nothing to stop the flow of marijuana into our communities. They see the effects of marijuana and alcohol firsthand and they realize that marijuana is safer than alcohol,” Boyer stated.

[caption id="attachment_8167" align="alignright" width="250"] Scott Thistle/Sun Journal[/caption]

Alexandra Gwillim, a Bates College freshman, joined Boyer at the campaign yesterday.

[S]he said she supports the campaign because, “I think the prohibition of marijuana perpetuates the binge-drinking culture of college. Legalizing marijuana is a good way to end that.”

The campaign intends to increase its presence in Lewiston during the next month as part of an ongoing effort to educate voters about the advantages of ending marijuana prohibition.

According to a New York Times editorial, this November, voters in Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia will decide whether to make recreational marijuana legal and regulated — effectively disregarding the misguided federal ban on a substance that is far less dangerous than alcohol.

Alaska’s Ballot Measure 2 would make the use and purchase of marijuana legal for those 21 and older, create a marijuana control board and tax the drug at $50 per ounce wholesale. It is already legal for Alaskans to possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes, and surveys indicate that 18 percent of Alaskans smoke marijuana. Ballot Measure 2 would mean that Alaskans could buy it from a store instead of resorting to the black market.

This is not the first time the newspaper of record has supported sensible marijuana policy reform, and it is indicative of increasing national support for ending marijuana prohibition.

According to DNAinfo Chicago, the percentage of people fined for the possession of marijuana in Chicago has greatly increased over the past year. However, an activist group is questioning why more than 60 percent of those found in possession of marijuana are still arrested.

[caption id="attachment_8159" align="alignright" width="256"] Charlene Carruthers[/caption]

The national coordinator for Black Youth Project 100, Charlene Carruthers, says that Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy “has said over and over again we should be ticketing, not arresting, but it still happens.”

Yesterday at Chicago City Hall, Carruthers cited figures demonstrating that the city spends $80 million a year processing marijuana arrests, despite the fact that both McCarthy and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proclaimed reforms intended to replace marijuana arrests with revenue-producing ticket citations.

Additionally, building on reports published in the Chicago Reader, Roosevelt University issued a study earlier this year demonstrating that arrest rates were too high and that Chicago was among the areas not making sufficient use of the reform legislation.

Carruthers stated that those arrested rather than ticketed were “primarily black Chicagoans,” adding, “It’s absolutely an unjust and racially biased policy…and it doesn’t keep us safer.”

The racial disparity demonstrated in marijuana arrest rates drove Carruthers to push for a meeting with McCarthy. McCarthy has yet to respond.

As reported by the Houston Chronicle, a move to replace criminal penalties with civil penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana surfaced Wednesday as a major issue in the contentious race for Houston’s Harris County District Attorney, with both candidates claiming ownership of the idea.

However, the details, purposes, and primary goal of the plan, claimed by both candidates, are fundamentally different.

Republican incumbent candidate, Devon Anderson, said that starting Monday, non-violent first offenders in possession of less than two ounces of marijuana will be able to avoid prosecution by performing eight hours of community service or by participating in a drug awareness class.

[caption id="attachment_8156" align="alignright" width="173"] Devon Anderson[/caption]

“We are targeting the people we believe are self-correcting and will be ‘scared straight’ by being handcuffed and transported. Our goal is to keep these individuals from entering the revolving door of the criminal justice system,” stated Anderson.

Anderson’s recent announcement, a month away from November’s election, sparked political discourse from his challenger, Democrat Kim Ogg, who in August announced her own idea for handling misdemeanor marijuana possession. Her plan, if elected, is to have police officers fine misdemeanor marijuana suspects, even repeat offenders, and require them to spend two days cleaning up around Houston’s bayous. Her program is said to save an average of $10 million a year in jail, court, and prosecution costs by diverting around 12,000 offenders annually.

[caption id="attachment_8152" align="alignright" width="220"] Mayor Michael Nutter[/caption]

Phillymag.com reported today that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter signed Jim Kenney’s bill that replaces criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana with a civil fine, similar to a traffic ticket. The bill is set to go into effect on October 20, 2014.

The initial version of the bill approved by the city council on June 19 makes possession of up to one ounce of marijuana a civil offense, punishable by a $25 fine. After negotiations between the mayor and members of the city council, the final version of the bill was amended to include a $100 fine for public consumption, or a nine-hour community service requirement.

“Philadelphia voters and their elected officials are fed up with laws that criminalize people for possessing a substance that is less harmful than alcohol,” said Rachelle Yeung, legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project. “They disproportionately impact communities of color and do nothing to make people safer. We applaud city officials for taking this important step toward a more sensible marijuana policy. It is time for the rest of the state to follow its lead.”

Possession of over 30 grams, as well as distribution irrespective of weight, however, still registers as a criminal offense. A tweet from the city of Philadelphia says you are also still subject to arrest for failing to show proper identification to a police officer if caught with marijuana under the new law.