There’s been a lot of talk about how Attorney General Jeff Sessions has eliminated the Cole Memo – an advisory document intended to reduce the focus on federal prosecutions of state-legal cannabis operations as long as a list of guidelines were followed.
In reality, the Cole Memo was limited, vague, and had no force of law – any Attorney General could overturn it at will (as Sessions has done). It was the appearance of the federal government respecting state law without having to actually, you know, do it.
The good thing about Sessions’ tone-deaf action is that it’s woken a lot of people up to the absurdity of still having a federal prohibition that could allow prosecutors to arrest citizens for openly following state law. Sessions has managed to anger liberals, conservatives and libertarians through his action.
Perhaps the absence of the Cole Memo, and the outrage following its repeal, will finally get Congress to act and do something meaningful.
I’ve always said that for cannabis prohibition to die, the history of that prohibition and the lies that currently sustain it must be exposed and dissected in the courts. Looks like some of that just might happen: Trial begins for advocates suing Sessions and the DEA over marijuana’s Schedule I status: https://www.thecannabist.co/2018/02/14/marijuana-schedule-i-lawsuit-trial/98979/
You can tell from the judge’s comments that he wishes that this legal hand grenade hadn’t been dropped into his lap.
Hellerstein, who reserved judgment on the motion to dismiss the case, evinced sympathy for the plaintiffs’ claims that medical marijuana has helped them.
“How could anyone say that your clients’ lives have not been saved by marijuana?” Hellerstein asked Michael Hiller, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs.
But Hellerstein appeared to take the government’s argument that the plaintiffs should petition the DEA seriously.
“When agencies are set up to do the very thing that you want me to do, the right thing to do is defer to the agency,” he said.
I hope the plaintiff’s attorneys also expose the bureaucratic circle-jerk the DEA, NIDA, et al have been engaging in for over thirty years with regards to these petitions. This judge needs to have his ignorance of the blatant, smirking injustice of the process he demonstrates so little knowledge of rubbed in his face until it bleeds.
Judge Hellerstein is obviously incapable of even the simplest google search on the DEA’s delaying tactics when faced with any petition it doesn’t want to answer. Just ONE example although there are hundreds more:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/08/12/2016-17960/denial-of-petition-to-initiate-proceedings-to-reschedule-marijuana
Antigua and Barbuda Set to Decriminalise Cannabis, as PM Says It is “Part of the Culture of the Country”
https://tinyurl.com/OnwardGreenWave
.
.
From time to time I ponder the prohibitionist obsession with our urine. I can accept that it is reality but I can’t even begin to fathom the phenomenon.
Fracking Chems, Heavy Metals in the Water! Yawn.
THC! Stop bathing immediately!
http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/sreply/1112
https://youtu.be/Udijxk21mzQ
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AN’ DON’T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
Increases crash odds:
https://t.co/WAN8vTU22o
THC: 5%, penicillin: 25%, Legal Alcohol levels: 293%
A Wisconsin representative plans to introduce a bill barring employers from urine testing for THC or disqualifying people for jobs based on testing positive for marijuana.
https://t.co/3lfDjgf5vK
https://tinyurl.com/SacklerShame
Comment thread is still open.
Shame the fuckers… I mean the Sacklers….. There’s no other way for these social-climbing whores:
“Having the Sackler name everywhere intruding on public consciousness was once a glowing mark of their family’s achievement, but it has become a constant reminder of their family’s shame. And asking for refunds would display a pettiness that would only add to their increasing disgrace.”
.
.
Are we there yet?
.
.
The software wouldn’t let me link the article above.
.
.
Let’s try this one:
Sun Life Financial to add medical pot option to group benefits plans
New Research Finds No Link Between Cannabis Use and Increased Risk of Traffic Accidents
https://tinyurl.com/yd4hs7wz
Researchers at the University of Bucharest Department of Medicine and Pharmacy conducted a meta-analysis on 24 different studies examining links between driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and unfavorable traffic events (UTEs), including collision, injury, or death. After analyzing the data from all 24 studies with two different meta-analytical methods, the research team found no statistically significant link between cannabis intoxication and an increase in traffic accident risk.
The researchers also identified a number of limitations in the original research studies, most notably the fact that some studies relied on inaccurate blood tests for THC levels. “A positive test for cannabis (i.e. blood) does not necessarily imply that drivers were impaired, as THC/metabolites might be detected in blood a long time after impairment, especially in chronic cannabis users, which could also induce an important bias in the analysis of the results,” the researchers wrote.
“Simply identifying cannabis use in a driver is not enough to justify the assumption of an increased risk for UTEs,” the study concluded. “When such a result is obtained, it should be corroborated with either quantitative data regarding cannabis use, or a clinical assessment of the driver, before establishing his (or her) fitness to drive.”
Germany takes credit for some of its pharmaceutical innovations: cocaine, MDMA, meth, and lately something called ‘Wizard’ (25I-NBOMe) that can be fatal, according to reports:
https://www.thelocal.de/20160315/the-dark-drug-secrets-of-oh-so-propper-germans