Illinois House Could Legalize Medical Marijuana With One Vote

Illinois is one House vote away from becoming the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana. But Rep. Lou Lang, the sponsor of the measure that would enact legalization, is playing it safe. With a subject as sensitive as medical marijuana, he realizes that timing is everything. “Many members will vote for this,” Lang told the Chicago Reader, “but they’ll only do it once.... [Read more]

Pot legalization a civil rights issue?

ABC News reports that the upcoming November ballot initiative to legalize the cultivation, possession, and recreational use of marijuana (the Tax Cannabis Act) is getting support from some unexpected allies. While the fifty-two percent of Americans nationwide who oppose the legalization of marijuana consists mostly of “older Americans, conservatives, and mothers of teenagers,”... [Read more]

Senate debates legalizing medical marijuana

Legislation to permit marijuana use by people with severe chronic pain sparked heated Senate debate Thursday between a two-time cancer survivor who supports the bill and a physician who fears doctors would “over-prescribe” the illegal drug. Sen. David R. Brinkley, who survived Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1989 and melanoma in 1995, said marijuana provides the best and safest relief for people living... [Read more]

Legalizing pot could increase crime, car accidents

The marijuana legalization measure will be on the Nov. 2 ballot as well. California Sen. Barbara Boxer has a message for marijuana law reform activists: Just say no. The liberal senator’s position might come as a surprise, but it’s no surprise to those who follow California politics: Boxer is facing perhaps the toughest reelection race of her career in 2010. She’s neck-and-neck... [Read more]

If California legalizes pot will D.C. follow?

If they aren’t already, elected officials in the District should be keeping close tabs on this year’s election in California. On Wednesday, advocates for legalizing marijuana officially secured enough signatures to put a referendum on the California ballot this November asking voters to legalize and tax pot. And, judging by recent legislation in the District, what starts in California... [Read more]

The Push to Legalize Marijuana Its Real

You may have heard there’s a push to legalize marijuana in California. You may not have heard that it’s for real. Voting ballots in California this November will contain an initiative to legalize, tax, and regulate the sale of marijuana to adults 21 and older, and while this may sound like something that has no chance, whatsoever, of ever becoming law, the thing is: it actually might. The... [Read more]

Time for State Leadership on Medical Marijuana

The Los Angeles City Council last week finally adopted a medical marijuana ordinance. Though not perfect, it balances the needs of local communities with those of patients who truly need access to medical marijuana. And it will rein in an out-of-control situation in which a federally banned substance has been sold for the last four years as hundreds of dispensaries proliferated in the city of Los Angeles,... [Read more]

Legalize medical marijuana - The Phoenix

Since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, cannabis, also known as marijuana, has been federally classified as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it has no legally accepted medical use and has the same classification as, for example, heroin. Over the last couple of decades, however, that classification has started to be challenged, especially at the state level. Currently, 13 states have passed some... [Read more]

Wisconsin looking to legalize medical marijuana

Great news for those in Wisconsin… It is time to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. As one who is recovering from several surgeries, and the accompanying pain that goes with them, marijuana should be available for pain relief under doctor’s supervision. For years, doctors were stingy with the amount of pain medication given in the hospital and later at home. That seems to be changing,... [Read more]

California lawmaker holds hearing on legalizing pot

No tie-dye was on display at a standing-room only hearing held by a California lawmaker on Wednesday in a bid to get his marijuana legalization bill taken seriously. Instead, suits and sober discussion were the rule at the state Capitol as Assemblyman Tom Ammiano presided over what his office said was the first legislative consideration of the issue since California banned the drug in 1913. Both sides... [Read more]