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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #972 -- 5/11/17
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/972

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. CONGRESS WILL GIVE THE DOJ EXACTLY ZERO DOLLARS TO GO AFTER MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Attorney General Sessions may not like weed, but Congress isn't going to
let him spend any federal dollars to bust patients and suppliers. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/02/congress_gives_doj_exactly_z

2. TRUMP THREATENS TO DEFY CONGRESS TO GO AFTER MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Congress just passed a budget barring the use of federal funds to mess
with medical marijuana. Now the president says that doesn't matter. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/08/trump_threatens_defy_congress_go

3. SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM CONFERENCE
The International Drug Policy Reform Conference is meeting this fall in Atlanta. The organizers don't want money to be an object. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/10/drug_reform_conference_scholarships

4. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Trump makes ominous noises about ignoring congressional mandates
protecting medical marijuana states, Florida fails to complete medical marijuana implementation legislation, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/10/medical_marijuana_update

5. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
There's trouble in Hackensack, a pair of California cops admit stealing eradicated weed and reselling it, a Seattle cop gets nailed for hauling
weed across the country, a Texas cop gets nailed for pilfering cocaine,
and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/10/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

6. CHRONICLE AM: TRUMP INVITES DRUG WAR CRIMINAL DUTERTE TO WH, MEXICO
OKAYS MEDMJ, MORE... (5/1/17)
President Trump is buddying up to Filipino President Duterte despite an ever-rising death toll from his drug war, Mexico okays medical
marijuana, the Vermont legalization bill is still alive -- but just
barely -- and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/01/chronicle_am_trump_invites_drug

7. CHRONICLE AM: NO FED $$$ FOR ANTI-MEDMJ, MA DOCS CALL FOR SAFE
INJECTION SITES, MORE... (5/2/17)
Congress won't fund federal medical marijuana enforcement in states
where it's legal, the Massachusetts Medical Society calls for a pilot
safe injection site, a Wisconsin federal judge throws out that state's
"cocaine mom" law, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/02/chronicle_am_no_fed_antimedmj_ma

8. CHRONICLE AM: NH DECRIM BILL ADVANCES, VT LEGALIZATION BILL PASSES
HOUSE, MORE... (5/3/17)
The long slog toward marijuana law reform continues in New Hampshire and Vermont, a Maine bill would ban kratom, Tom Marino is reportedly out as
drug czar, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/03/chronicle_am_nh_decrim_bill_adva

9. CHRONICLE AM: DEA WANTS PROSECUTOR CORPS, ME GOV WANTS ODERS TO PAY
FOR NALOXONE, MORE... (5/4/17)
The DEA proposes its own corps of prosecutors to go after opioids,
Maine's governor wants to force repeat overdosers to pay for the
naloxone they use, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/04/chronicle_am_dea_wants_prosecuto

10. CHRONICLE AM: TRUMP BUDGET SLASHES ONDCP, ACHA LEAVES MILLIONS
WITHOUT TREATMENT, MORE... (5/5/17)
The Trump administration wants to slash funding for the drug czar's
office by 95%, the American Health Care Act approved in the House
Thursday would leave millions without access to drug treatment, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/05/chronicle_am_trump_budget_slashe

11. CHRONICLE AM: TRUMP MAY IGNORE CONGRESS'S BAN ON MEDMJ ENFORCEMENT
FUNDING, MORE... (5/8/17)
Marijuana activists march worldwide, the Trump administration hints it
may ignore a congressional ban on funding for medical marijuana
enforcement, the Vermont legalization effort still lives, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/08/chronicle_am_trump_may_ignore_co

12. CHRONICLE AM: NEVADA MARIJUANA SALES COULD START JULY 1, GA GOV
SIGNS CBD BILL, MORE... (5/9/17)
Nevada marijuana stores get an okay for early openings, Georgia's
governor signs a CBC cannabis oil expansion bill, Chris Christie says
drug czar budget cuts aren't going to happen, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/09/chronicle_am_nevada_marijuana_sa

13. CHRONICLE AM: VT LAWMAKERS PASS LEGALIZATION, SESSIONS MAY RESTART
HARSH DRUG WAR, MORE... (5/10/17)
A bill legalizing the possession and cultivaiton of small amounts of
marijuana has passed the Vermont legislature, Attorney General Sessions
could be on the verge of reinstating harsh drug war prosecution
practices, Mexico's drug violence is on the upswing, and more. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/10/chronicle_am_vt_lawmakers_pass_l

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================

1. CONGRESS WILL GIVE THE DOJ EXACTLY ZERO DOLLARS TO GO AFTER MEDICAL MARIJUANA http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2017/may/02/congress_gives_doj_exactly_z

This article was produced in collaboration with AlterNet and first
appeared here (http://www.alternet.org/drugs/congress-will-give-doj-zero-dollars-go-after-medical-marijuana).

The bipartisan congressional budget agreement to keep the federal
government operating through September contains exactly no money for the Justice Department to wage war on medical marijuana in states where it
is legal. The agreement reached Sunday instead explicitly bars the use
of federal funds to go after medical marijuana.

And it sends a strong message to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an
avowed foe of marijuana and loosening marijuana laws, who told reporters
in a February Justice Department briefing (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-marijuana-comments_us_58b4b189e4b0780bac2c9fd8)
that while states "can pass the laws they choose," it remains "a
violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in
the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not."

The budget agreement eliminated funding for medical marijuana
enforcement by adopting the language of an amendment that has been
successfully used since 2014 to keep the feds out of medical marijuana
states. Known originally as the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment and now as
the Farr-Rohrabacher amendment, the measure bars the Justice Department
from spending money to prevent states from "implementing their own laws
that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of
medical marijuana."

The budget language lists the states that have medical marijuana laws,
but curiously enough, does not include Indiana and North Dakota, both of
which recently adopted medical marijuana laws. At this point, the
omission is considered an error, not evidence of malign intent toward
those two states.

It should be noted that the budget move does not necessarily mean
medical marijuana operators are now free and clear of potential federal attention. Federal prosecutors could attempt to go after such operations
by arguing that they are somehow not in compliance with state laws.

Still, the move was greeted with studied approval by medical marijuana supporters, who are now calling for marijuana to be removed from the
Controlled Substances Act.

"Medical marijuana patients and the businesses that support them now
have a measure of certainty," said Oregon US Rep. Earl Blumenauer
(D-OR), a founding member of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. "But
this annual challenge must end. We need permanent protections for
state-legal medical marijuana programs, as well as adult-use."

It is time to "amend federal law in a manner that comports with the
available science, public opinion, and with America's rapidly changing
cultural and legal landscape," agreed Justin Strekal, political director
of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The best way to do that, Strekal said, is "removing cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act so that states possess the flexibility to
engage in their own marijuana regulatory policies how best they see fit."

Adding restrictive amendments to the Justice Department budget bill has
served in recent years to block the feds from interfering in medical
marijuana states, but is only a stopgap measure. The amendments have to
be renewed each fiscal year, and there is always a chance they could
fail. That's why activists and the industry want the certainty that
would be provided by either changing the federal marijuana laws or by
making the funding ban permanent.

"Medical cannabis patients in the US can rest easy knowing they won't
have to return to the black market to acquire their medicine," said
Jeffrey Zucker (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeff-sessions-state-marijuana-laws_us_59077dcde4b0bb2d087023df)
of the marijuana business strategy firm Green Lion Partners. "Operators
can relax a bit knowing their hard work isn't for naught and their
employees' jobs are safe."

But only until September -- and that's why it's not quite time to get comfortable, he said.

"While this is great as a continuing step, it's important for activists
and the industry to remain vigilant and getting cannabis federally
unscheduled and truly ending the prohibition of this medicinal plant,"
Zucker said.

In the meantime, medical marijuana is protected in the 29 states where
it is legal. But adult-use legal marijuana, legal in eight states, is
not under the purview of the budget agreement and is still theoretically
at risk from a Sessions Justice Department.

But even Sessions, a fire-breathing foe of the weed, increasingly seems disinclined to make good on earlier vows to go after legal pot. Like
Donald Trump discovering that health care reform is "complicated," Jeff Sessions is apparently coming to understand, as he reportedly told (http://www.denverpost.com/2017/04/27/sessions-wise-to-hear-hickenlooper-out-on-weed/)
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff last week, that the
Obama administration's toleration of state-legal marijuana legalization
under specified conditions is "not too far from good policy."
================ ...


___________________

It's time to correct the mistake:
Truth:the Anti-drugwar <http://www.briancbennett.com>

Cops say legalize drugs--find out
why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

Stoners are people too: <http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________

bliss -- Cacao Powered... (-SF4ever at DSLExtreme dot com)

--
bobbie sellers - a retired nurse in San Francisco

"It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
It is by the beans of cacao that the thoughts acquire speed,
the thighs acquire girth, the girth become a warning.
It is by theobromine alone I set my mind in motion."
--from Someone else's Dune spoof ripped to my taste.

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