Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Alcohol causes violent behavior and deaths by liver cirrhosis and alcohol poisoning. People die every day from overdoses of heroin, cocaine, meth, and even legal prescription drugs. Nonetheless, Rep. David Howard (R-Park City), Chairman of the Montana House Human Services Committee, thinks marijuana — a substance that has never caused an overdose fatality — is “the most dangerous drug there is.”

That’s right folks, it’s 2013 and reefer madness is still alive and well in big sky country. Fortunately, science is still alive and well too and begs to differ with Rep. Howard. Here’s what a study published in Britain’s most prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, had to say about the relative harms of various popular intoxicants:

As you can see, marijuana (cannabis) is hardly the most dangerous and pales in comparison to alcohol and tobacco, two drugs we’ve had success reducing teen use of lately without throwing tens of thousands of adults in jail.

Unsurprisingly, Howard’s committee blocked four bills that would have rolled back recently passed restrictions on Montana’s medical marijuana law. For now, despite Rep. Howard’s obfuscation, a judge has issued an injunction preventing the worst parts of that law from taking effect. Patients in Montana are awaiting the state attorney general’s decision as to whether or not to appeal that ruling.

UPDATE: Commenter Nathan Pierce points out that Montana Attorney General Tim Fox announced Friday he will not appeal the preliminary injunction. Patients and providers are not out of the woods yet though. The constitutionality of Montana's restrictive law will now be the subject of a full trial, where Fox pledges to "vigorously defend" the law.

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Velký – that’s ‘great’ in Czech.

[caption id="attachment_5863" align="alignright" width="285"] Pres. Vaclav Klaus[/caption]

On January 30, by a 67-2 vote, the Czech Senate approved a bill allowing for the medical use of marijuana. The measure affirms the decision reached by the country’s lower house of parliament. On Friday, the bill was signed into law by President Vaclav Klaus. The Czech Republic now joins a number of other European countries that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

The new law received strong support from all parliament-represented political parties and represents an improvement on the country’s already relaxed stance on marijuana prohibition. The Czech Republic decriminalized cultivation (five plants or less) and possession (half an ounce or less) of marijuana by individuals in 2010. The only EU countries with more lenient marijuana laws are the Netherlands and Portugal.

While this is definitely a move in the right direction, some lawmakers were concerned that some parts of the law are too restrictive. Importation of medical marijuana is permitted for distribution in pharmacies, but cultivation by licensed organizations is not currently permitted. Home cultivation by patients is also not permitted, and treatment will not be covered by health insurance.

Parliament may revisit the provisions of the law following a year of implementation and expand it to include registered, domestic production that is strictly monitored.

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In the wake of the introduction of federal marijuana reform bills on February 5, the national media has started paying closer attention to the possibility of change in the coming years. One example is this interview with MPP’s director of government relations, Steve Fox:

Such bills have come before Congress in the past with less fanfare, but it seems like this time they are being taken more seriously. Perhaps the fact that voters in Colorado and Washington decided they were sick of marijuana prohibition had something to do with it:

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Last week, Delegate Mike Manypanny (D-Taylor) introduced a medical marijuana bill for the third time in the West Virginia Legislature, and this time it looks like people are taking a lot more notice.

It is certainly positive to see the media covering both sides of the issue, including MPP communications director Mason Tvert being quoted in the Charleston Gazette:

"There is no reason this should not be discussed. It is an issue taken up in dozens of states. It is time for it to be discussed in West Virginia.

"This is part of a nationwide increase in momentum. We've seen medical marijuana bills introduced throughout the country, including states many people might think would not be supportive," Tvert said during a telephone interview.

A majority of West Virginia voters believe the state should enact a law allowing seriously ill patients to use medical marijuana, according to a January 2013 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.

Stay tuned for updates and coverage from the Mountain State!

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Like a lot of people, my morning routine involves clicking around a few major news sites to see what people are talking about that day. Disgusting cruise ships and exploding Russian meteorites aside, one of the stories that caught my eye today was a CNN.com story about Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the head of the notorious Sinaloa cartel in Mexico. Yesterday, the Chicago Crime Commission named Guzman “Public Enemy Number One,” a title CNN notes was created for bootlegger and gangster Al Capone.

Not since Capone "has any criminal deserved this title more than Joaquin Guzman," commission President J.R. Davis said in a news release. "Guzman is the major supplier of narcotics to Chicago. His agents are working in the Chicago area importing vast quantities of drugs for sale throughout the Chicago region and collecting and sending to Mexico tens of millions of dollars in drug money."

The distinction isn’t surprising. Guzman’s syndicate is the single largest supplier of marijuana and other drugs that come into the U.S. It’s a lucrative gig — according to Forbes, Guzman’s net worth exceeds $1 billion — which explains why Guzman so ruthlessly protects his turf. Estimates of the death toll in Mexico’s drug war are now over 60,000.

What is surprising is that neither CNN’s story nor most of America’s elected officials have connected the dots between Capone and Guzman and how prohibition was the source of their power and wealth. Whether it’s the 1920's or 2013, ceding control of a lucrative market to criminals enriches thugs like Capone and Guzman. Conversely, just as ending alcohol prohibition put bootleggers out of business, ending marijuana prohibition would deal a significant blow to drug trafficking cartels like Guzman’s.

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Rep. Diane Russell (D-Portland) is seeking to make Maine the third state in the country to legalize and regulate the adult use of marijuana. The measure would allow anyone 21 or older to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana from a licensed retailer. Sen. Russell discussed the bill and its advantages on MPBN’s Maine Watch:

State lawmakers will debate the bill this spring. If the measure makes it through the legislature, it’ll be sent to referendum. MPP's Maine Political Director, David Boyer, has worked closely with Sen. Russell on her push to put the decision of marijuana reform into voters’ hands:

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Pennsylvania state Sen. Daylin Leach, a long-time supporter of marijuana reform and previous sponsor of several medical marijuana bills, announced Monday that he will introduce a bill that would make adult possession of up to an ounce of marijuana legal and would tax and regulate the substance. According to The Times Herald, the latter policy is what may eventually swing lawmakers in his state:

But money, more than moral appeals or anything else, might talk the loudest in the drive to decriminalize marijuana in Pennsylvania, particularly in the current era of budget shortfalls and lingering economic uncertainty. And with financial concerns helping to fuel the passage of historic pot legalization laws in Colorado and Washington State in November — as well as the introduction of a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday that would legalize and levy an excise tax on the sale of the drug — perhaps now is a better time than ever to convince skeptical state lawmakers of the cash benefits of getting into the marijuana business.

Sen. Leach truly believes in this issue, and he wants people to start talking about it more. He tells Raw Story:

“This is inevitable. This will pass. It may take two, it may take four years,” Leach added. “A majority of people don’t support marijuana legalization simply because they haven’t really had cause to revisit the issue in their minds. Once you sit down with people and explain the harm it does in a wide variety of ways, and the be[ne]fits(sic) we can accrue through legalization, I think that people will very quickly change their minds.

…

… So there’s many who won’t put their name out front on an issue until it gets [mainstream] in their minds. If there was a secret ballot, I predict legalization would pass.”

If you want to help start this conversation with your members of Congress, it has never been easier.

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The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4-1 decision, ruled that medical marijuana cannot be sold through private dispensaries, affirming the state’s Court of Appeals’ finding.

"This is the end of the road," said Matthew Abel, a Detroit attorney with the firm Cannabis Counsel PLC. "It will be a mess until the Legislature clarifies what kinds of business entities are allowed to exist."

Michigan became the 13^th state to legalize medical marijuana in 2008. There are currently more than 124,000 registered medical marijuana users living in the state.

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At a press conference Wednesday, Rhode Island State Rep. Edith Ajello (pictured at right) and State Sen. Donna Nesselbush announced the introduction of a bill to make marijuana legal for adults 21 and older and establish a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. So far the bill has 19 sponsors, including Republican House Minority Leader Brian Newberry.

RIFuture.org reports:

Under the Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act, criminal penalties for the private possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and for the home growing of up to three mature marijuana plants would be removed; a tightly regulated system of marijuana retail stores, cultivation and research facilities would be established; and the Department of Business Regulation would establish rules regulating security, labeling, health and safety requirements.

A story about the event in the Pawtucket Times conveyed Sen. Nesselbush's strong case for the bill:

"Marijuana, like alcohol, has long been with us and is widely used,” Nesselbush told reporters at an afternoon news conference. “The question is: how are we going to deal with it?

"Will the state determine the time, place and manner or will we leave it up to criminals to sell it anywhere at any time to anyone? Will the state act boldly to create a legitimate industry that creates jobs and generates legitimate tax revenue or will we continue to unwittingly support gangs and cartels? Are we going to spend the hard-earned tax dollars from hard-working taxpayers to punish and incarcerate individuals for consuming a substance that appears to be less harmful than alcohol?”

The Rhode Island bill was rolled out just one day after members of Congress introduced historic legislation to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol at the federal level. If you have yet to do so, please contact your represenative totday and encourage them to support an end to federal marijuana prohibition.

(Photo courtesy of Rebecca McGoldrick, Coalition for Marijuana Regulation)

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There’s some big news coming out of Washington, D.C.: On Tuesday, congressmen from Oregon and Colorado introduced two historic federal marijuana reform bills to Congress.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013. If passed, the bill would remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and institute a system similar to the alcohol regulatory structure that federally regulates marijuana. It would also transfer jurisdiction over marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to a newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana, Firearms, and Explosives.

Please take a minute to contact your representative today and encourage them to support the bill to regulate marijuana like alcohol at the federal level.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the Marijuana Tax Equity Act, which calls for an excise tax of marijuana at the federal level. It also requires the IRS to develop a steady understanding of the industry. After the first two years, and every five years following, the IRS would produce a study of the trade, offering recommendations to Congress so as to improve upon the administration of the tax. Who ever thought that the words “IRS” and “taxes” would be cause for celebration?

The introduction of these bills was largely inspired by the passage of legalization initiatives last November in Colorado – where MPP provided most of the funding for the campaign – and in Washington state.

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