Category Archives: Politics

Politics

Senator Harris’ bill, like Prop 64, is another gimmick

Yesterday Senator Kamala Harris and Representative Jerrold Nadler introduced the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act, a bill to federally legalize, commercialize, and tax the use of marijuana.

Senator Harris owns much responsibility for the marijuana problems that plague the state of California.  When she first ran for Attorney General in 2010 she promised not to go after the marijuana industry.  She kept the hands-off approach, allowing illegal growers whose plants continue the destruction of the environment in California. Four federal district attorneys still prosecuted marijuana growers, despite Harris’ opposition. Continue reading Senator Harris’ bill, like Prop 64, is another gimmick →

Politics

WHO’S REALLY IN PRISON FOR MARIJUANA?


by David G. Evans, Esq.

Drug legalization advocates claim that prisons are overflowing with people convicted for only simple possession of marijuana. This claim is aggressively pushed by groups seeking to relax or abolish marijuana laws. A more accurate view is that the vast majority of inmates in prison for marijuana have been found guilty of more than simple possession. They were convicted for drug trafficking, or for marijuana possession along with other offenses. Many of those in prison for marijuana entered a guilty plea to a marijuana charge to avoid a more serious charge. In the US, just 1.6 percent of the state inmate population were held for offenses involving only marijuana, and less than one percent of all state prisoners (0.7 percent) were incarcerated with marijuana possession as the only charge. An even smaller fraction of state prisoners were first time offenders (0.3 percent). The numbers on the US federal prisons are similar. In 2001, the overwhelming majority of offenders sentenced for marijuana crimes were convicted for trafficking and only 63 served time for simple possession. [FN1]

Continue reading WHO’S REALLY IN PRISON FOR MARIJUANA? →

Politics

Bay State, Charlton face problems going against pot industry

Did Massachusetts residents understand the difficulty of preventing Big Marijuana in their neighborhoods when they voted to legalize in 2016?  If marijuana industry gets its way in the Bay State, the biggest cannabis cultivation and processing plant in the United States will be built in Charlton, a small town in Worcester County.

Valley Green Grow wishes to build a 1 million square foot facility to grow cannabis and manufacture cannabis products.  The North Andover company seeks approval from the Charlton Planning Board for its site plan and definitive subdivision plan.  Its eyes are on converting Charlton Orchards, 44 Old Worcester Road, into this project.

The Charlton Planning Board will vote Jan. 2 for approval of the plan, or for denial.  Continue reading Bay State, Charlton face problems going against pot industry →

Politics

Legalization wins in Michigan; questionable ethics

TV stations pulled anti-legalization ads ahead of
midterm marijuana votes, advocates say

This headline, and the story it describes in Michigan, raises two questions:

  1. Is it ethical for TV stations to pull political ads off the air?
  2. Is it ethical for the ads’ opponents to set up their own “fact-checking” committee as the basis for complaining that the ads are inaccurate?

Will Common Cause intervene? Continue reading Legalization wins in Michigan; questionable ethics →