Lax Rules Let City Go To Pot

We’ve all been there.  With the best of intentions, we do something and then discover our actions were a bad idea.  It takes courage, maturity and humility to admit one’s mistakes and try to correct the situation. That’s what Redding faces with its medical-marijuana cooperatives.  The Redding police chief, city attorney and City Council tried [...]

Medical Marijuana Ban Hearing Draws Big Crowd

A proposed ban on dispensing medical marijuana without explicit federal approval drew medical marijuana users, legalization activists and residents from across the North Shore into the District of North Vancouver’s council chambers Tuesday night for a standing-room-only public hearing. The draft bylaw comes in response to an abortive attempt by the Re-Leaf Dispensary Society to [...]

The Record: Time To Exhale

Former Gov. Jon Corzine signed the medical marijuana law on his last day in office. Governor Christie has fiddled with the legislation for a year-and-a-half, making it the strictest medical marijuana law in the country. Still he hasn’t implemented it. Then last week the governor said the law goes nowhere until the federal government assures [...]

Call Off The Global Drug War

In an extraordinary new initiative announced earlier this month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy has made some courageous and profoundly important recommendations in a report on how to bring more effective control over the illicit drug trade. The commission includes the former presidents or prime ministers of five countries, a former secretary general of [...]

Looking Into The Political Horizon

For years, there have been regular pushes in the Legislature and at the ballot box to legalize or decriminalize marijuana consumption, possession and cultivation. This year was no exception: Earlier this month, legislation aimed at allowing local authorities to decide whether to prosecute growers for misdemeanors or felonies was rejected in the Assembly.  It was [...]

Ottawa Cracks Down On Medical Pot

The federal government is expected to announce new rules for growing medical marijuana that would only allow licensed growers to cultivate and distribute it. The move would eliminate individual and private growers from the current system, whereby eligible people apply to Health Canada, which then issues the licence. People in the dispensing community who have [...]

Change of Weekend Hempfest Plans

Tacoma HempfestMy plan to head down to Washington State with Jodie Emery for the Tacoma Hempfest has been foiled by a number of unpredictable disruptions, but that means CCN LIVE will be back with another episode on Friday.

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Former U.S. Attorney McKay Backs Effort to Legalize Pot in Washington

A coalition that includes former U.S. Attorney John McKay, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and travel guide Rick Steves is launching an initiative that would legalize marijuana in Washington state.

The group, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, decided to push the initiative this spring after Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed most of a medical-marijuana bill that had passed the state Legislature.

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Reps. Frank, Polis Urge DOJ to Leave Medical Marijuana to States

Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are urging the Obama administration this week to reiterate earlier vows to leave the enforcement of medical marijuana laws up to states.

The lawmakers want Attorney General Eric Holder to re-avow his commitment to a 2009 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum — known as the Ogden Memo — that said the agency won’t target medical marijuana patients or providers if they are not violating state law.

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TH2: Tacoma Hempfest Returns For Second Year of Cannabis Awareness

CANNABIS CULTURE - The marijuana movement is growing like a weed in Washington State, and the lush culture of the cannabis world will be on full display when Tacoma Hempfest lights up Wright Park for the second year in a row on June 25, 2011.

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