Yesterday, the New Jersey state legislature passed a bill allowing seriously ill patients with certain qualifying conditions to use medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he will sign the bill into law before he leaves office Jan. 19, at which point New Jersey will become the 14th state in the nation to stop treating sick and dying patients as criminals, simply because they try to relieve their conditions through marijuana. This vote is the latest victory…

Tomorrow, I’ll be testifying before the California Assembly’s Committee on Public Safety during a hearing on A.B. 390 – legislation that would remove criminal penalties for personal adult marijuana use and tax and regulate its sales comparably to alcohol. After hearing testimony, the committee is very likely to vote on this landmark bill, which has been introduced by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), the committee's chair. Regardless of the outcome, tomorrow’s hearing will mark a historic…

MPP Director of Communications Kurt A. Gardinier appears on Press TV to discuss changing attitudes in the general public regarding marijuana and the rising support for reform of marijuana laws. Apologies for the poor video quality. 01/03/2010

Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws chairman Dave Schwartz discusses the petition to put a measure that taxes and regulates marijuana like alcohol on the Nevada ballot in 2012. This initiative would allow persons 21 and over to possess and transport up to an ounce of marijuana, and would allow for commercial sales at licensed outlets. 01/06/2010

MPP Nevada's Dave Schwartz appears on KTVN 2 CBS to speak about the benefits of taxing and regulating marijuana in N evada and the new ballot initiative introduced to treat marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. 01/06/2010

Today, on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Carson City, Nevada, the group Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws unveiled the details of a proposed 2012 ballot initiative that would establish a taxed and regulated marijuana market in that state. The campaign will need to collect 97,002 valid signatures by November 2010 in order to qualify for the November 2012 ballot. If the initiative were adopted, it would, in the words of NSML campaign manager Dave Schwartz, “give Nevada the best marijuana…

A new report by the NHS Confederation and Royal College of Physicians says the United Kingdom’s drinking culture is straining their health care system. The U.K.'s taxpayer-funded medical system, the National Health Service, now spends 2.7 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) a year treating patients for alcohol-related problems—double the amount five years ago, the report said. Any strain on the U.K.'s health care system caused by marijuana users was not mentioned. Maybe it’s because they’re not straining…

The new year brought new, sensible marijuana laws to the vibrant ski town of Breckenridge, Colorado.  In November, citizens voted by nearly a 3 to 1 margin to remove criminal and civil penalties for adults over 21 carrying up to an ounce of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia. The law takes effect today, January 1, 2010. "There is no sense in criminalizing a substance that is far less toxic, less addictive, and less problematic than alcohol," said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado.…

It is unfortunately quite common for members of our military to return from the battlefield suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “Charlie,” who asked the news service AlterNet not to use his real name in a recent interview, is one of them. On top of a 100 percent disability rating with PTSD, Charlie returned home from Afghanistan with a traumatic brain injury, a back injury, and gastrointestinal problems. Veterans Affairs did everything it could to treat him and to ease his pain,…

The romantic comedy “It’s Complicated,” which stars Steve Martin, Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, was recently given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).  The rating was not due to explicit language, graphic violence, sex or nudity (many acts often seen in PG-13 movies), but because of a scene in which Martin's and Streep’s characters smoke marijuana, something over 100 million Americans have done, and nearly 15 million do at least monthly. The most alarming aspect of this…