A landmark bill to tax and regulate marijuana, authored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), was reintroduced in the California legislature today. The proposal would make personal possession and cultivation of marijuana legal for adults over 21 and would institute a regulatory system for marijuana sales modeled after the one that already exists for alcoholic beverages. Asm. Ammiano’s 2009 marijuana reform bill, A.B. 390, was approved in the Assembly Public Safety Committee last month but…

The Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR), based at the University of California, San Diego, published a report today summarizing the results of clinical trials studying medical marijuana’s efficacy in treating pain. The studies, funded by CMCR under the mandate of a 1999 legislative action, found that marijuana is particularly helpful in relieving pain associated with nerve damage and in treating the muscle spasticity from multiple sclerosis. The summary CMCR presented to the California…

Great news from the great state of Iowa: Today the state’s Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 to recommend to lawmakers that the state reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug and create a task force to study the possible implementation of medical marijuana in the state. This recommendation puts Iowa one step closer to enacting a medical marijuana law, as its own officials have now definitively recognized marijuana as a medicine. The Iowa House and Senate are each considering bills that would protect…

Chris Bartkowicz was conducting a medical marijuana growing operation in his suburban Denver basement and was so confident that he was complying with state law that he decided to talk to the media, boasting to Denver’s NBC affiliate about the size and success of his operation, saying that he’s “living the dream.” The next day his dream ended when DEA agents entered his home, placed him under arrest and carried off dozens of black bags full of marijuana plants and growing lights. While some details…

Authorities around the nation are expressing concern over the rising popularity of a legal marijuana knockoff called “Spice,” also known as K2. Spice is a mixture of organic and synthetic ingredients and apparently, when smoked, it produces a euphoria similar to marijuana. Spice is sold legally as a marijuana alternative in stores across the country but some are suggesting that it's more dangerous that the real thing. We’ve known for a long time that our marijuana laws are leading people to use more…

Utah’s lawmakers are getting a little desperate in their search to alleviate the state’s $700 million budget shortfall. One in particular, state Sen. Chris Buttars, is now proposing that Utah cut costs by eliminating the 12th grade, or at least giving students the option of skipping their senior year of high school. Well, I have a better idea for how Utah could bring in new revenue and keep kids in the classroom at the same time. If Utah really wants to rake in the big bucks, the state should tax…

California has had legal medical marijuana for over 13 years, and more than 80% of Americans support patients' rights to use it. But none of that mattered to Christian Hughes’ employer, who fired him for testing positive for marijuana that he uses under his doctor’s recommendation to treat injuries related to an auto accident. Hughes, 33, was the on-site manager for a senior apartment complex in Anderson, California until his recent termination by MCA Housing Partners. The resident senior citizens…

I posted the story a couple weeks ago about a medical marijuana lab in Denver being raided by the DEA, but it turns out the lab inadvertently led agents to their doors. According to Betty Aldworth, the lab’s director of outreach, employees were caught off guard by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s visit because they did everything they could to be in compliance with DEA requirements, even formally applying for an analytical lab license. "We didn't need to do that, but we thought it was the right…

This is just ridiculous. Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested 74-year old Canadian citizen, grandmother, and healthcare support worker Homenella Cole. The charge? Possession of marijuana. Twenty-nine years ago. Cole was in her mid-forties at the time. Is this really the most important thing border patrol agents could be doing with their time?

Ongoing efforts to reform marijuana laws in Rhode Island received a huge endorsement today from the state’s largest newspaper. In this editorial, the Providence Journal calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, writing that “[t]he pursuit of nonviolent marijuana users puts enormous strain on the justice system, feeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars that could have been used more effectively elsewhere.” This call for sensible marijuana reform comes just days before public hearings will…