Bogus: Institutes of Higher Learning in Colorado, Washington a Buzzkill for Marijuana-Minded Students

College students may have been the biggest supporters of pot legalization in Colorado and Washington, but ironically they may benefit the least from the new laws. 

Many universities and colleges have anti-marijuana codes of conduct on their books (which seem as quaint as curfews and single-sex dorms) and because of the federal funding many of the institutions receive from the government, anti-drug enforcement is still alive and well.

The penalty for toking it up in campus — even in a state that's decriminalized weed? Expulsion.

"Everything we've seen is that nothing changes for us," Darin Watkins, a spokesman for Washington State University in Pullman, told the Associated Press.

Of course, as the decades of anti-drug policy has shown and as the surging popularity of legalization demonstrates, just because someone bans something, it doesn't mean people will stop doing it.

"People in dorms now who want to smoke, they do it," Anna Marum, a Washington State senior, says. "I do think more people will be smoking in the dorms when marijuana is legal for use."

Humbolt State University Launches Program to Study Pot, the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research

Humbolt State University opened the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research. While other universities have programs to study drugs and drug use, officials from Humbolt State's program are claiming that it's the first to dedicate itself to the study of marijuana, the Eureka Times-Standard reports.

Humbolt County's reputation as one of the best places to grow marijuana puts HSU in a unique position to study pot as it grows in acceptance. Lectures the institute sponsored include a talk on local marijuana enforcement, and how growing marijuana affects wildlife. A symposium in October brought Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey, District Attorney Paul Gallegos, two county supervisors and a Fish and Game biologist to discuss how marijuana production impacts the environment as well as policies regarding the drug.

Erick Eschker, co-chair for the institute and an economics professor at the university, said, "If anyone is going to have a marijuana institute, it really should be Humboldt State. It has the potential to be a world-class institute, and we're just getting going."

Late Actor Larry Hagman Wanted People to "Eat a Little of Larry" in Marijuana Cake

The general public may remember Larry Hagman as the backstabbing oil mogul JR Ewing or Air Force Major Anthony Nelson and Jeannie's "master" in "I Dream of Jeannie." But with his recent passing, a pro-marijuana side of the actor came to light.

Hagman, who embraced solar power and became an outspoken anti-tobacco campaigner after years of cigarette smoking in his later years, embraced pot as a medicine after being diagnosed for cancer. He told Germany's Bunte magazine, "The cancer and the chemotherapy really took it out of me. I lost 30 pounds, weighed only 171 pounds. Marijuana actually brought my appetite back."

The actor also told The New York Times he wanted his remains to be "spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry."

DEA Shuts Down Operations on the Big Island of Hawaii

The DEA has — for the time being at least — closed shop on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that budget cuts to the U.S. Department of Justice closed the DEA's office and hangar at the Hilo International Airport.The airport facilities provided aviation support for the agency's operations on the island.

Though the office and hangar were vacated on Oct. 1, the Hawaii County Police Department was not aware the DEA left until it was contacted by the newspaper. Office space set aside for the DEA in the police department's Hilo and Kona offices are also unoccupied.

The DEA states that it will continue conduct its operations from Honolulu (on the island of Oahu).

Wolf Daniel Braun, former president of the now-defunct Peaceful Sky Alliance, said, "Joy, joy. The DEA has been no friend of mine, or of the medical marijuana community."

In Wake of Washington, Colorado Legalization, Congresspeople Pile on to Stop Government from Enforcing Federal Drug Laws

Failure, the saying goes, is an orphan and success has many fathers. With the success of marijuana legalization measures in Washington State and Colorado, lawmakers are piling on to make it known that they support marijuana (at least for medical use) and that the federal government should keep their hands off state laws.

The Huffington Post reports that 18 representatives signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele Leonhart asking that they stop prosecuting medical marijuana cases and halt any plans to enforce federal drug laws against Oregon and Washington. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) were among the signees of the letter. The letter states:

While we recognize that other states have chosen a different path, and further understand that the federal government has an important role to play in protecting against interstate shipments of marijuana leaving Colorado and Washington, we ask that your departments take no action against anyone who acts in compliance with the laws of Colorado, Washington and any other states that choose to regulate marijuana for medicinal or personal use. The voters of these states chose, by a substantial margin, to forge a new and effective policy with respect to marijuana. The tide of public opinion is changing both at the ballot box and in state legislatures across the country. We believe that the collective judgment of voters and state lawmakers must be respected.

Medical Marijuana Vending Machine Company's Stock Surge After Profile

Medbox, a manufacturer of medical marijuana vending machines profiled in The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch and the subject of this earlier post, saw its shares climb a whopping 3,000 percent from $4 a share to $215 after the news item spotlighted the company.

Executives in the company called for investors to chill out, settling the stock to about $100 a share.

But even that price is still too high, according to the company. “We believe an appropriate trading range is between $5 and $10 but, alas, the market will do what it will do,” Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh told MarketWatch in a follow-up article.

Mehdizadeh doesn't know if several large buyers or a single hedge fund was the cause of the rapid increase in Medbox's share price. However, it does demonstrate that Wall Street's acceptance of marijuana, at least for medical use, as a bona fide industry may be at hand.

Feds Mum on Response on Voters' OK of I-502

Washington state's governor told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the federal government hasn't made any plans as to what their plans are regarding its legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

Gov. Chris Gregorie said, "I told them, 'Make no mistake, that absent an injunction of some sort, it's our intent to implement decriminalization.' I don't want to spend a lot of money implementing this if you are going to attempt to block it."

Despite her statement, the U.S. Justice Department has not indicated what their intentions are. However, they did indicate that they want to treat Washington and Colorado, the other state that approved pot for recreational use, the same way — despite that the two states' laws will not be identical.

Gregorie added, "It's not a simple analysis for them. There's a difference between our two initiatives, and they want to look at that. They clearly want to know how things are going to flow, how regulations develop, how enforcement would be taken, taxes would be gathered."

Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch Examines Investing in the Exploding Pot Industry for Fun, But Mostly Profit

Like writers, investors are often told to go with what they know. With one third of Americans now living in states that have OK'd medical marijuana, and Washington and Colorado voters approving of its recreational use, The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch takes a look at possible investment opportunities in cannabis.

The post claims the medical marijuana industry is worth about $1.7 billion nationwide, and also uses the services and products of other industries, such as insurance companies, lawyers and agricultural equipment.

 Derek Peterson, CEO of GrowOp Technology, said, "Call it the 'green rush.' The industry is expanding, and there are all kinds of investment opportunities."

Possible over the counter stocks weed investors might be interested are Medbox, which dispenses medical pot through vending machines. A patient's identity is confirmed via a fingerprint reader. The company has 140 machines installed, with another 40 coming online the next quarter.

Other companies, like Steep Hill, are betting that the federal landscape for marijuana will change dramatically in the next 10 years. The company is a quality control lab for growers, and tests the pot for mold, bacteria or pesticides contamination. Steep Hill is betting on federal acceptance of medical pot and recreational use in the next decade.

Despite Legalization, Feds Promise Buzzkill in Washington, Colorado

Despite voters approving the use of marijuana for recreational use in Washington state and Colorado, the Department of Justice promises that it will continue to enforce existing drug laws — despite the will of the people in the states, reports CBS News.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, told the Associated Press, "Federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly."

Despite the tongue-in-cheek quote from Hickenlooper, who was against the pro-legalization initiative, the U.S. Attorneys were just-the-facts in their (predictable) statement.

"The department's enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged. In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance. We are reviewing the ballot initiatives and have no additional comment at this time," Justice Department spokeswoman Nanda Chitre stated.

The U.S. Attorneys in Colorado and Washington issued identical quotes.

Polls Point to Washington State's I-502 Passage, Despite Medical Users' Reservations

On the eve of the vote for Washington state's Initiative 502 vote — which would legalize cannabis use by adults — NORML's blog reports that a recent pool pegs support at 56 percent.

Those that do not support the I-502 comes in at 37 percent, with another 7 percent undecided. All indicators, then, point to its passage.

However, the initiative is not without its problems and detractors. It's still controversial among proponents of medical use, citing I-502's provisions for driving under the influence and research that points to THC levels over that threshold being in the body up to a month after ingestion. Medical advocates are also concerned that marijuana used as medication will be taxed at the same 25 percent rate as those using it for recreation.

Others are still clinging to the drug war dogma that pot is a "gateway drug."

"I had a judge speak at one of my D.A.R.E. graduations and he talked about the hundreds of cases that go through his court and out of all those cases maybe two people didn't start by smoking marijuana," Clarkston Police D.A.R.E. Officer John Morbeck told KLEW.

However, the anti-drug forces' arguments are sounding more and more like alarmist 1920's-era anti-alcohol temperance rhetoric to an increasingly skeptical public.

FBI: Someone is Arrested for Pot every 42 Seconds

By the time you finish read this post, about four people would have been arrested for a marijuana-related crime. A study from the FBI found someone is arrested every 42 seconds for crimes related to cannabis.

Most of those arrests, or about 87 percent, are for possession Examiner.com reports. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a pro-legalization group made up of former law enforcement officers, are using the study as proof that the decades-long war against drugs is a quagmire. They claim there were about 1.5 million drug arrests in 2011, or one arrest every 21 seconds.

Neill Franklin, a former narcotics officer and the current head of LEAP said, "Even excluding the costs involved for later trying and then imprisoning these people, taxpayers are spending between one and a half to three billion dollars a year just on the police and court time involved in making these arrests.

"That’s a lot of money to spend for a practice that four decades of unsuccessful policies have proved does nothing to reduce the consumption of drugs. Three states have measures on the ballot that would take the first step in ending this failed war by legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana. I hope they take this opportunity to guide the nation to a more sensible approach to drug use.”

The Marijuana Majority

Conor Friedersdorf, a writer for The Atlantic, penned an article about the growing acceptance of marijuana and the growing call for reforming drug laws that are falling on the deaf ears of politicians

Citing the legalization referendums in Washington state, Colorado and Oregon as well as two additional states voting on allowing medical cannabis, the article ("The End of Laughing at Marijuana Reformers") also notes that according to a Gallup poll a majority of Americans support legalization for the first time.

Most telling of all are supports who come from literally every political stripe and background. Comedian and Daily Show host Jon Stewart, actors Morgan Freeman and David Duchovny are on board for legalization, but so are ultraconservative pundits Glenn Beck and Bill O'Rielly, televangelist Pat Robertson and David Koch, the money man behind many Republican candidates.

Though the political process is accepted to be slow when it comes to change, there continues to be no movement in at least acknowledging marijuana reform — even with all the support it has from liberals and conservatives. The article poses a puzzling question in that while Bill Clinton admitted to smoking but not inhaling, and Barak Obama admits to smoking and inhaling, both have so far continued the "war on drugs."

I-502 Assumes Tokers will Consume '2 Grams Per Use' (Head Scratch), Has Ramifications for Revenue Projections

Washington state NPR affiliate KPLU took note of a sharp-eyed observation from a Reddit user that the consumption assumption in the Washington Voter's Guide for Initiative 502, which would legalize pot, pegs it at two grams per use.

To put that in perspective, the user commented that the amount I-502 is assuming per smoking session would amount to "Cheech and Chong sized monster joints."

However, casual users report smoking about a quarter to half a gram per session in a pipe with joints coming in at about .7 grams. Though some users claim to use as much as 1.5 grams per session, they added it was rare and they were not functional.

Individuals using two grams a day would probably be serious medical users with grave health conditions, the article noted.

The overestimation of use has a serious impact on the revenue projections of I-502. The assumption of two grams per use versus the reality of most users reporting a quarter to an eighth of that assumption means the actual taxes the initiative will bring in (if it's voted into law) will be much less than expected.

California Appeals Court OKs Medical Marijuana Defense for Dispensaries, Rules Members do Not Need to Grow Marijuana

Americans for Safe Access (through the SF Weekly) announced that the Fourth District Court of Appeal for California unanimously affirmed medical marijuana as a legal defense for dispensaries and reversed the conviction of San Diego dispensary operator Jovan Jackson.

Jackson's dispensary was raised twice; once in 2008 and another in 2009. He was acquitted the first time around, but Howard Shore, the San Diego Superior Court Judge for the second case, called medical marijuana "dope" and described the proposition that legalized medical pot "a scam." Jackson was found guilty and spent 180 days in jail.

The appellate ruling overturned the conviction. It also allows future medical marijuana operators to use medical marijuana as a valid legal defense. More importantly, the court decided that members of the dispensary or collective did not need to have an active role in the growing the plants.

"...the collective or cooperative association required by the act need not include active participation by all members in the cultivation process but may be limited to financial support by way of marijuana purchases from the organization," the court stated. "Thus, contrary to the trial court’s ruling, the large membership of Jackson’s collective, very few of whom participated in the actual cultivation process, did not, as a matter of law, prevent Jackson from presenting an MMPA defense."

Feds Raid 9 Dispensaries in Los Angeles, Orange County, Arrest 12

The Associated Press reports that federal law enforcement officials raided nine medical marijuana dispensaries in Orange County and Los Angeles County on Oct. 25. They also took 12 employees of the dispensaries into custody.

The 12 individuals were part of an grand jury indictment for drug trafficking. The storefronts supposedly generated "tens of millions of dollars in income," according to the article, and were not reporting it to the IRS.

Despite a voter-approved mandate that allows medical marijuana in California, the U.S. Attorneys do not recognize its legitimacy. Though the Los Angeles City Council tried, and failed, to pass a ban on the dispensaries, the federal government has initiated a crackdown on the Southern California area — despite the support of the law.

Shortcomings of Washington's I-502 in the National Spotlight

NPR's All Things Considered profiled the three states considering marijuana legalization, and put the unique problems of Washington's Initiative 502 in the national spotlight.

While the criticisms of the I-502 are well known to marijuana advocates on both sides of the intuitive in the states, it's one of the few times that its strange politics have been brought to a national audience.

On one side, Alison Holcomb, a criminal defense attorney and pro-I-502 organizer, is quoted as saying, "We've reached a place in our society, nationwide, where now a majority support marijuana legalization."

However it's the dissenting voices, particularly in the medical marijuana community, that may be a surprise to those outside of the state and those who aren't acquainted with the initiative. Steve Sarich, a dispensary owner, brings up the biggest sticking point of those who are against I-502 — the low THC threshold that would make almost all medical marijuana users guilty of driving under the influence, even when they're not.

Sarich is sure the push for legalization is an attempt by law enforcement to intimidate medical marijuana users with the THC threshold.

 "All they have to do is sit a half a block down the street and wait for me to pull away from the curb, and I'm going to jail for [a DUI]," he said.

Romney Takes Stand on Medical and Legalized Marijuana — And, Surprise, He Doesn't Support Either

While no one expects Mitt Romney to endorse marijuana in any form — be it for medical use or outright legalization — it's rare that a candidate will ever take a stand as clearly as he did on marijuana.

When a reporter for a CBS affiliate in Colorado pressed Romey for an answer about medical marijuana (she also asked about gay marriage and college tuition for children of illegal immigrants) he made it known he wanted to change the subject, but not before belittling the question.

“Aren’t there issues of significance you’d like to talk about," Reason.com reported the Republican candidate as saying. "The economy, the growth of jobs, the need to put people back to work, the challenges of Iran? We’ve got enormous issues that we face. But go ahead, you want to talk about medical marijuana?"

The answer Romney ultimately gave with regards to medical marijuana was this: "I think medical marijuana should not be legal in this country. I believe it's a gateway drug to other drug violations. The use of illegal drugs in this country is leading to terrible consequences in places like Mexico, and actually in our own country. I oppose legalization of marijuana. I oppose legalizations of other kinds of drugs."

Romney's absolutist "Just Say No" stance is curious, however, because Colorado is a battleground state. Polls have found that Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson could potentially spoil the state for Romney because of his pro-marijuana platform.

See the interview here.

Police Chief Returns Stolen Medical Marijuana to Grower

When Thomas Davis, a Maine medical marijuana grower, discovered that his plants were stolen he made frantic calls to state representatives, the governor, the district attorney and the police. It's not that Davis was looking for someone to investigate the crime — he was looking for someone who could return the plants.

Davis reported the plants as being stolen. Police then questioned Aaron Pert, who admitted stealing the pot and recovered the plants in and held onto it for two days. The police weren't sure if they had the jurisdiction to release the marijuana back to Davis because of concerns over federal law.

However, Ellsworth Police Chief John DeLeo made the call to return the plants. The Bangor Daily News reports DeLeo felt the marijuana was legally Davis' as far as he was concerned. However, keeping the pot outside of Davis' greenhouse rendered 85 percent of it unusable.

But he did see one positive outcome of the burglary — cooperation between medical growers and police.

David said: "It’s not the Wild West out here. I feel like most of what I’m salvaging is a chance to get this out to the public, to let people know they can’t target medical marijuana patients and growers. The police will protect us."

L.A. Councilman Who Made the Case for Medical Pot Not Seeing Reelection

Bill Rosendahl, the Los Angeles councilman whose passionate testimony in support of medical marijuana was instrumental in overturning the city's wholesale dispensary ban, will not be seeking reelection for his seat.

Rosendahl, whose West L.A. district includes Westchester to Pacific Palisades, made the announcement and that his reason was to concentrate on his cancer treatment. The support he gave to the cause of medical marijuana wasn't the first time Rosendahl was in the political spotlight for his progressive views. As the first openly gay man elected to the L.A. city council, he is a champion of gay rights issues.

Prior to his career in politics, Rosendahl was a talk show host and producer. He is determined to beat his disease, and told the L.A. Times that he would like to return to TV or radio if his health improves.

Dispensary Owner, Law Enforcer Agree that I-502 if Flawed, but for Different Reasons

The Herald profiled battle lines being drawn over Washington state's I-502 ballot initiative and the strange alliances being formed on both sides. Groups that found themselves on opposite ends of marijuana prohibition are finding that they have common goals, albeit for different reasons.

Jeremy Kelsey, who runs the Medical Marijuana Patients Network and whose shop won the gold cup in a recent High Times expo, voiced his skepticism at decriminalizing marijuana in the state before it's reclassified at the federal level. And he also is concerned that if the Washington initiative passes, the feds will continue to conduct raids against storefronts — any storefronts — that sell pot.

Kelsey's opposition to I-502 is joined by Pat Slack, commander of the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force. His reasons for opposing the measure are because it enforcement of the law isn't spelled out for law enforcement officers like himself. Although anyone over the age of 21 would be allowed to possess marijuana, anyone younger would be arrested and tried under existing state laws regarding the drug.

"Who's most negatively impacted by being arrested for possession? Our youth. It impacts their ability to get jobs and get college funding. Initiative 502 doesn't do anything for them — nothing," he told the newspaper.