Health Department Defines Limits For Authorized Medi-Pot Patients October 9, 2008 - Olympia, WA
Olympia, WA: State Health Department officials finalized new rules last week establishing limits on the amount of cannabis qualified patients may legally possess and cultivate under state law.
Under the newly approved guidelines, patients may grow up to 15 cannabis plants and/or possess up to 24 ounces of usable marijuana for therapeutic purposes.
The plant limits were mandated under legislation enacted last year that called on the Department of Health to "adopt rules defining the quantity of marijuana that could reasonably be presumed to be a 60-day supply for qualifying patients."
Patients found to be in possession of amounts greater than those authorized by the Health Department will continue to receive legal protection under the law if they present evidence indicating that they require such amounts to adequately treat their qualifying medical condition.
The new limits will take effect on November 2, 2008.
For more information, please visit the Washington State Department of Health's website:
http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/medical-marijuana/
DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7724
NORML Marks 20 Millionth Pot Arrest: Tragic Marijuana Milestone Will Take Place This Friday
October 9, 2008 - Washington, DC
Washington, DC: Law enforcement will make its 20 millionth marijuana arrest this Friday, October 10th, according to data compiled by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and extrapolated by NORML.
The FBI provides annual marijuana arrest data dating back to 1965.
"Police have arrested 19.3 million Americans for marijuana violations in the years between 1965 and 2007 - busting a record 872,000 last year alone," NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "At this pace, law enforcement will make their 20 millionth arrest this month, and will begin busting over one million cannabis consumers annually by 2010."
Of those arrested, an estimated 90 percent are charged with minor marijuana possession - not trafficking, cultivation, or sale. Three out of every four arrestees are under 30 years old.
"This policy is a tremendous waste of taxpayers' resources; it destroys the lives of millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and threatens the personal liberties and freedoms of all Americans," St. Pierre said. "We've now arrested more American citizens for pot than the entire population of Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon combined."
Speaking last month on C-Span, Drug Czar John Walters denied FBI data indicating that hundreds of thousands of Americans are arrested each year for pot violations, claiming: "We didn't arrest 800,000 marijuana users. That's [a] lie."
NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano recently responded to the Drug Czar's remarks in the Washington DC publication The Hill in an essay entitled, "How Can We Even Discuss Marijuana Policy When America's Top Drug Cop Won't Even Acknowledge The Facts?" More than 240 readers have commented on NORML's essay. Fewer than five respondents have commented in support of the criminal prohibition of cannabis.
To date, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has not responded to NORML's rebuttal, nor has it issued a retraction for the Drug Czar's statements.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director.
DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7722
Marijuana Less Harmful To Health Than Alcohol Or Tobacco, British Think Tank Reports
October 9, 2008 - Oxford, United Kingdom
Oxford, United Kingdom: The potential health risks associated with cannabis are less than those associated with alcohol and do not justify the continued criminalization of the plant or its users, according to a report published last week by The Beckley Foundation - an independent British think-tank that analyzes drug use and drug policy.
"There is no justification for incarcerating an individual for a cannabis possession or use offense, nor for creating a criminal conviction," concludes the report, entitled "Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate."
Authors of the report recommend that governments consider enacting legislation to tax and regulate the sale of cannabis, or - at a minimum - to institute administrative 'fine-only' penalties regarding its use.
"The rationale for severe penalties for possession offenses is weak on both normative and practical grounds," authors state. "In many developed countries a majority of adults born in the past half-century have used cannabis. Control regimes that criminalize users are intrusive on privacy, socially divisive and expensive. … They clearly do harm to the many individuals who are arrested, they abridge individual autonomy and they are often applied unjustly.
"In an alternative system of regulated availability, market controls such as taxation, minimum age requirements, labeling and potency limits are available to minimize the harms associated with cannabis use."
The Beckley Foundation report will be submitted to the United Nations, which will conduct a strategic review of global drug policies next year.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500. Full text of the Beckley Foundation report.
DL: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7723
Source: NORML Foundation (DC)
Published: October 9, 2008
Copyright: 2008 NORML
Contact: norml@norml.org
Website: http://www.norml.org/