U.S. gun laws disarm cannabis users (I)

Guns or marijuana? Firearm-owning cannabis users facing a choice - Mark Scolforo, Associated Press:

January 15, 2018 - "As gun-loving Pennsylvania becomes the latest state to operate a medical marijuana program ... authorities are warning patients that federal law bars marijuana users from having guns or ammunition ... but the reality of how the policy might be enforced in Pennsylvania and other states is a little muddier. That includes the question of whether people who already own guns might have to surrender them, instead of just being prohibited from making new purchases....

"State laws allowing medical or, more recently, recreational use of pot have long been at odds with the federal prohibition on gun ownership by those using marijuana. But the government has traditionally taken a hands-off approach. Since 2014, Congress has forbidden the Department of Justice from spending money to prosecute people who grow, sell and use medical pot....

"The Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives [ATF] has left no doubt where it stands. Last year, the ATF spelled out the marijuana prohibition in boldface type on gun purchase forms.

“'Any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her state has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use for medical purposes … is prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition,' ATF spokeswoman Janice L. Kemp said in an email to The Associated Press....

"The gun-ownership ban has withstood at least one legal challenge. An appeals court in San Francisco, reject[ed] a challenge on Second Amendment grounds ... in 2016.... Meanwhile, some state and local officials, particularly in law enforcement, have sought to crack down.

"William Bryson, chairman of the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council, told state lawmakers in December that people who use marijuana for medical or recreational purposes should be required to have a designation on their driver’s licenses. That would make it easier, he said, for police to enforce the ban.

"And last month, a police chief in Hawaii publicized and then quickly rescinded a directive that medical marijuana patients had to give up their handguns. [However, the department continues to deny new gun permits for cannabis cardholders.]...

"The issue has been largely theoretical, but there would be quick pushback if the federal government took a more aggressive stance, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"Between 1998 and 2014, nearly 100,000 prospective gun purchasers went home empty-handed because they were flagged as using illegal drugs, according to the ATF. But the agency could not say how many of those used medical or recreational marijuana."

Read more: https://www.thecannabist.co/2018/01/15/marijuana-users-gun-ownership/96741/
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CT cannabis activists demonstrate for stalled bill

Marijuana Legalization Effort in Connecticut Is Running Out of Time - A.J. Herrington, High Times:

May 7, 2018 - "The marijuana legalization effort in Connecticut is running out of time, as this year’s legislative session winds to a close this week. Lawmakers have until May 9 to pass a bill pending in the House of Representatives. But that doesn’t seem likely....

"Last month, the House Appropriations Committee voted 27-24 to support the measure and send it to the full House. If passed, the bill alone would not technically legalize cannabis. But it would direct several state agencies to form a plan to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana in the state. The law also includes provisions for the creation of substance abuse prevention, treatment, and awareness programs.

"At that time, House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz did not commit to bringing the measure up for a vote by the full body.... However, the Speaker did indicate that the legislature needs to act on the matter....

"In an effort to spur action on the legislation, cannabis advocates demonstrated at the Capitol in Hartford on Sunday.... The state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) organized the demonstration. Avery Press, a spokesperson for Connecticut NORML, said the activists hoped the legislature makes the bill a priority.

"'Our mission with this rally is to bring attention to HB 5394 and educate the community about cannabis legalization, so they can urge their legislators to vote favorably, on this issue before the end of the session,' Press said.

"The activists also hope to change people’s perceptions about cannabis.

"'We’re not just stoners,” Press said. 'We’re here today to try and break that stigma. The majority of people want legalization in this state and we are hoping our voices are being heard today by the legislators.'

"Keith Wainwright of Stratford was one of the demonstrators at the rally....'I just don’t get it,' Wainwright said. 'You can buy a pack of cigarettes and right on the pack it has a message saying: "Warning: cigarette smoking can kill you" – but it’s perfectly legal to smoke cigarettes. It’s perfectly legal to drink alcohol which also can be harmful.'"

Read more: https://hightimes.com/news/marijuana-legalization-effort-connecticut-running-out-time/
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Ohio Rights Group now backs Issue 3

Pro-medical marijuana Ohio Rights Group endorses Issue 3 | cleveland.com - Jackie Borchard, Northeast Ohio Media Group:

October 13, 2015 - "The state's largest pro-medical marijuana group has endorsed Issue 3, the proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical and recreational marijuana sales and use in Ohio.... Issue 3, on the ballot this fall, would legalize recreational and medical marijuana, but commercial marijuana could only be grown on 10 sites belonging to investors bankrolling the initiative.

"The organization was an outspoken opponent of Issue 3 and ResponsibleOhio, the political action committee bankrolling the initiative. Ohio Rights Group even filed an elections commission complaint claiming ResponsibleOhio leaders 'infiltrated' their campaign and undermined Ohio Rights Group's petitioning efforts....

"ORG Vice President John Pardee said the group would likely never receive the funding to pay for signature collectors and qualify for the ballot. Pardee said other legalization proposals planned for 2016, including one by Ohioans to End Prohibition, also lack the support needed to qualify for the ballot.

"Pardee said ORG would be doing patients a disservice to campaign against Issue 3 without a viable alternative and called Ohioans to End Prohibition's campaign ...an absolute farce'....

"Sri Kavuru, president of Ohioans to End Prohibition, said ... 'He knows nothing of what is going on in our organization and we have plenty of time to make it to the ballot'....

"Pardee said no money or financial benefits were promised in exchange for ORG's support, but the group did seek concessions from ResponsibleOhio.

"Pardee said ORG has agreements with four of the 10 growing sites to lease space for 'artisanal' marijuana growers and a plan to appoint an ombudsman to lobby on behalf of patients while the industry is established.... Neither aspect is in the proposed amendment, but Pardee was confident in agreements made with ResponsibleOhio....

"Ohio Rights Group joins national NORML and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio as the major proponents of Issue 3."

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2015/10/pro-medical_marijuana_ohio_rig.html
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Ohio's controversial marijuana legalization initiative

Marijuana Legalization 2015: Ohio’s Push To Legalize Pot Creates Rifts Within Pro-Pot Movement - Joel Warner, International Business Times:

September 10, 2015 - "Ohio, which is among the 27 states that do not allow for medical marijuana, has become an unexpected hot spot in the national marijuana policy debate by placing a legalization initiative on its off-year election ballot. The specifics of that initiative, spearheaded by a organization called ResponsibleOhio, has given marijuana proponents pause: If passed as written, the amendment would limit cultivation and extraction of medical and recreational marijuana in Ohio to 10 land parcels in the state – parcels owned by 10 investment groups that have together funded ResponsibleOhio’s $20 million campaign. In other words, those bankrolling marijuana legalization in Ohio would have exclusive rights to control the economic backbone of what’s estimated to be a $1 billion-plus state industry....

"The amendment that Ohioans will vote on in November has a lot going for it, say some cannabis experts. For starters, says marijuana law professor Sam Kamin at the University of Denver, by legalizing both medical and recreational marijuana at the same time, Ohio could avoid regulatory headaches.... Legalization in Ohio also could come with criminal justice reform; if it passes, ResponsibleOhio plans to push for a “Fresh Start Act” in 2016 that would expunge Ohio convictions for marijuana offenses that are no longer illegal.

"Then there’s the idea of limiting statewide cultivation to 10 sites: On the surface, that’s not an outrageous idea.... The problem rests with who gets to own those 10 sites in Ohio.... ResponsibleOhio’s game plan has been compared to gambling initiatives funded by corporations that are first in line to operate the resulting casinos....

"Ohioans to End Prohibition has hundreds of people throughout the state working to collect the 306,000 signatures it needs by next July 1 to get their legalization initiative on the 2016 ballot. But [Sri] Kavuru, the head of the operation, spends the majority of his time fighting ResponsibleOhio's initiative.... In phone calls with voters, media interviews and political meetings at the capitol, he repeats his central argument: 'When everyone who wants to be in the legal marijuana industry is able to do so, it has the biggest impact on the black market. It is better for consumers and better for patients when there is free-market competition dictating the parameters of the marketplace'....

"'We support ending marijuana prohibition and this system would do that, but it’s up to voters to look at this system and decide whether it’s what they want,” says Mason Tvert, the usually bold and decisive communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. 'It’s not our responsibility, it’s not our issue. There’s not much else we can say about it.'

"Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), is more forthcoming on the matter. 'There is something fundamentally wrong with writing into a state constitution an oligarchy over wholesale production of an agricultural product,' he says. But so far, DPA hasn’t taken a formal position on the amendment.

"At Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), Executive Director Betty Aldworth is especially impassioned over the initiative. 'It is the hairiest, stickiest mess that I have seen in all of marijuana policy reform to date,' she says. But even SSDP hasn’t officially come out against the ballot measure.

"The issue has become so fraught that it’s causing upheaval in some marijuana groups. In June, Rob Ryan, the president of the Ohio chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, was ousted after he came out in support of ResponsibleOhio....

"While the ballot measure divided Ohio’s NORML chapter, NORML’s national office looks to be the first major cannabis organization to embrace ResponsibleOhio. 'We hemmed and hawed for a while but decided fairly quickly that any initiative that stops the prosecution of marijuana smokers and establishes a legal market where consumers can buy marijuana in a safe and secure setting is one that national NORML is going to support,' says Keith Stroup, NORML’s founder. 'Even though it doesn’t feel quite right to me, the reality is it’s just a question of who gets rich off of marijuana. Someone gets rich off it in every state, including medical marijuana states.'"

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-legalization-2015-ohios-push-legalize-pot-creates-rifts-within-pro-pot-2088133
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