[caption id="attachment_7623" align="alignright" width="266"] Martin Nickerson, owner of Northern Cross Collective Gardens[/caption]

Martin Nickerson has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Washington, attempting to bar the state from collecting taxes on marijuana sales. Washington state officials are demanding that he pay taxes on those sales to the tune of $62,000. However, since Nickerson is under prosecution for the criminal sale of marijuana as a medical marijuana producer, he claims that forcing him to pay taxes on his sales would violate his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Alison Holcomb, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who was the main author of Washington State's successful ballot initiative, said the lawsuit has a low probability of taking down the state’s legal marijuana system.

Suppliers like Nickerson have already made public their intent to break federal law, Holcomb said, so paying taxes on their proceeds would not do much to further incriminate them.

"Paying taxes on marijuana implicates you, but so does everything else about being engaged in this system," she said.

Ultimately, the case brings into question whether federal laws trump state laws when it comes to collecting tax revenue generated from marijuana sales. The outcome of this case could have a significant impact on medical marijuana businesses around the country.

In a recently released report titled “Ending the Drug Wars,” five previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics have endorsed the London School of Economics' IDEAS center’s findings. The report looked at “the high costs and unintended consequences of drug prohibitions on public health and safety, national security and law enforcement,” according to the Huffington Post.

"The pursuit of a militarized and enforcement-led global ‘war on drugs’ strategy has produced enormous negative outcomes and collateral damage," says the 82-page report. "These include mass incarceration in the US, highly repressive policies in Asia, vast corruption and political destabilization in Afghanistan and West Africa, immense violence in Latin America…and the propagation of systematic human rights abuses around the world."

In short, the report implores world leaders to rework their drug policies to center on treatment and harm reduction rather than prosecution and prison sentencing.

Later on in the report, it calls on the United Nations General Assembly to look beyond its one-size-fits-all approach to drug policy during its special session coming in 2016.

"The UN must recognize its role is to assist states as they pursue best-practice policies based on scientific evidence, not undermine or counteract them," said Danny Quah, a contributor to the report. "If this alignment occurs, a new and effective international regime can emerge that effectively tackles the global drug problem."

Nobel Prize Winners in Economics:
Kenneth Arrow (1972)
Sir Christopher Pissarides (2010)
Thomas Schelling (2005)
Vernon Smith (2002)
Oliver Williamson (2009)

Colorado lawmakers moved the marijuana industry away from its cash-only roots on Wednesday when they approved the world’s first financial system for marijuana businesses. The plan sets up a network of uninsured cooperatives, which gives the industry an avenue to basic banking services.

Even in light of Eric Holder’s comments on banking, marijuana businesses have still had a hard time finding banks to even let them open checking accounts, for fear of committing a federal crime. According to an AP article by Kristen Wyatt, “Shop owners in the state say a small number of credit unions will do business with them, too, though no banks or credit unions have said so publicly.”

Colorado’s new plan for banking would let marijuana business pool money in cooperatives, which would let stores accept credit cards and checks. However, these co-ops would need U.S. Federal Reserve approval first.

The plan has bipartisan support, partially because it gives the state the ability to audit marijuana shops and make sure they are paying taxes. Even Gov. John Hickenlooper supports the plan, and has pledged to sign it into law once he receives the final language of the bill.

Establishing a co-op-based banking system for marijuana businesses reduces the risk of crime by moving large cash reserves out of stores and into banks. It makes the industry more accountable and establishes a system that other states can follow as they begin to tax and regulate marijuana.

[caption id="attachment_7612" align="alignright" width="300"] Jonathan Ogden[/caption]

Jonathan Ogden, retired Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle, has applied for a medical marijuana dispensary license in Nevada, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. There are a limited number of licenses available in Nevada, so it is still unclear whether or not Ogden will own a dispensary.

One hundred and nine other companies have filed applications, and only 66 will be licensed this year, 40 of which will reside in Las Vegas (Clark county) where Ogden has applied. Applicants must also show they have $250,000 in liquid assets and have a licensed physician as the medical director to apply.

Hopefully, the NFL will feel the pressure of having Hall of Fame leaders like Ogden publicly support medical marijuana. The NFL's stance on medical marijuana hasn’t evolved to the same extent as that of the nation at large, and the organization still imposes strict laws on players via steep fines and suspensions. However, with the NBA and NCAA rethinking their marijuana-use policies, perhaps, the NFL will move in the direction of acceptance.

A couple of weeks ago, the New Hampshire Senate refused to consider a bill that would have reduced marijuana penalties in the state, but MPP and its allies are not giving up on the 2014 session. Several representatives in the House are working to keep this issue alive, and we are still making the case that now is the time to stop criminalizing and jailing people for consuming a substance that is safer than alcohol.

Today, MPP released a new report — Marked for Life — that shows how the lifelong stigma associated with a marijuana conviction can derail dreams by making it difficult to obtain jobs, an education, and even housing. If you have experienced any of these collateral consequences of a conviction for simple possession, please let us know.

It’s past time for New Hampshire to catch up with 15 other states — including all five other New England states — by reducing the penalty for marijuana possession to a fine.

On Tuesday evening, the Minnesota Senate approved the medical marijuana bill with a veto-proof majority vote, 48-18. The legislation, authored by Sen. Scott Dibble, now crosses over to the House for consideration. If you are a Minnesota resident, please call and then email your state representative to ask him or her to vote “yes” on compassionate and workable medical marijuana legislation today!

An overwhelming and diverse majority of Minnesotans support polices that allow the terribly ill to use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. Continuing to punish the sick for using marijuana is cruel, and spending millions on a study that would only bring relief for a select few is wasteful.

Missouri lawmakers have passed legislation permitting patients with epilepsy access to “CDB-only” medical marijuana in the form of a “hemp extract.” On May 1, the Senate passed the bill unanimously (32-0), and the House seconded the bill with a vote of 136-12.

The limited bill would permit epileptic patients to take medical marijuana extracts with THC amounts below 0.3%. Patients would have to obtain a medical marijuana registration card from the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services, which requires a signed statement from a neurologist. However, no other conditions have been approved except intractable epilepsy.

The proposal also mandates the state to certify a college to cultivate cannabis for research purposes. The bill now moves on to Governor Jay Nixon’s desk for approval.

This afternoon, the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee approved the medical marijuana bill, authored by Sen. Scott Dibble, 14-7. This was the last committee the bill needed to move through. It now goes to the entire Senate for a floor vote, which could happen as early as tomorrow.

Polling shows that Minnesotans across the state, of all ages and from all political persuasions, think their neighbors should be able to use medical marijuana under the advice of their doctors. However, some lawmakers are hesitant to support the issue, thinking a compassionate vote in support of medical marijuana will leave them politically vulnerable.

Another Quinnipiac poll is out today, this time showing that Floridians want medical marijuana legalized. At a staggering 88% approval rate, Florida lawmakers have a mandate from the people to move forward with bills like SB 1030, which is already on its way to the governor’s desk.

It wasn’t just one age group that steered the numbers so high; over 80 percent of all age groups surveyed approved of medical marijuana, showing that Floridians widely support the drug’s medicinal value.

The breakdown of the polls show 93 percent of Democrats, 80 percent of Republicans, and 84 percent of people 65 and older support changing the law. The poll went further and found that more than half (53 percent) support legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal, adult use.

“If Vegas were giving odds on medical marijuana becoming legal in Florida, the bookies would be betting heavily,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll. “With almost nine in 10 voters favoring legalization for medical purposes, and bills allowing such use advancing in the state Legislature, the odds seem pretty good Florida may join the states which already have done so.”

On Thursday, the Florida House voted 111-7 in support of a bill that will exempt a limited group of very sick people from criminal laws for using marijuana that is low in THC and high in CBD if certain requirements are met. Gov. Rick Scott has stated that he’ll sign the bill if the Senate agrees to the House version today. Please email your lawmakers today and thank them for recognizing marijuana’s medical benefits.

[caption id="attachment_7594" align="alignright" width="200"] Gov. Rick Scott[/caption]

The bill allows patients with cancer and conditions that result in chronic seizures or severe muscle spasms to use marijuana that contains 0.8% THC or lower and 10% CBD or higher. Patients can administer the medicine via pills, oils, or vaporization. Smoking is prohibited. The bill also requires the state to register five dispensing businesses, spread out across the state, to grow and dispense the medical marijuana. Unfortunately, the bill places heavy burdens on physicians who wish to recommend marijuana to their patients, arguably forcing them to violate federal laws in order to do so.

Florida took a small step forward this year, but the law is so incomplete that MPP will not be counting it as a “medical marijuana state.” Voters will have an opportunity to enact a comprehensive, workable medical marijuana law by voting "yes" on Amendment Two this November.