You may not have heard of Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris, but we’ve all been affected by their work. The Power Couple of Pot have traveled the world working for justice, created organizations, books, museums and exhibits and were instrumental in California’s legalization of both medicinal and adult use cannabis.

From Prop. 215 to Prop. 64, they have worked side by side with every major cannabis reform organization such as the Drug Policy Alliance, NORML and the Marijuana Policy Project. Their efforts and those of the many cannabis legalization activists have been critical in the success of brining cannabis out of the shadow of prohibition and into the light of safe, reliable, local and affordable legal access.

Chris and Mikki will be the featured speakers at the teleconference at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 5 of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project speaking on Prop. 64, Kamala Harris and the ancient and once again burgeoning movement for the spiritual uses of cannabis.

Their historical perspective on cannabis legalization in California is legendary. Not only involved in the creation and passage of. Prop. 215, the first medical marijuana initiative in the nation, they were committed to making it work after passage. In 2004 Chris became a member of San Francisco’s Medical Marijuana Task Force where he worked with then SF District Attorney Kamala Harris.

A great deal of controversy surrounds Ms. Harris’s tenure as DA and Chris will present a first-person perspective on whether she helped or hindered implementation of Prop. 215 in SF. He will also present a nuanced and reasoned look at her position and actions on medical marijuana and legalization as California’s Attorney General and U.S. Senator as well as what her role would be as Vice-President in advancing legalization if Biden wins the presidency.

The point people specifically working with the medical marijuana community for the passage of Prop. 64, Chris and Mikki will reveal the much heralded and derided story behind the story of the passage of California’s legalization initiative.

Mikki has become extensively involved in the spiritual uses of cannabis and is working to create a welcoming environment for the many different types of spirit-centered cannabis ingestion. She will review the legal landscape surrounding the increasing use of cannabis for spiritual enlightenment and what needs to be done to make it as acceptable as any other sacramental plant.

Join Chris and Mikki on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. for the free MAPPteleconference for the stories of the plant that have shaped your life. There will be plenty of time for questions following the presentations.

This is not a Zoom or Webex conference – it is a true teleconference done on your telephone. No need to have a computer or dress up for the camera – you can truly come as you are. The telephone number to call to meet, hear and chat with Chris and Mikki is 701-802-5390 and the access code is 2545046#.

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House Passes Major Federal Legalization Bill

The House of Representatives passed the Blumenauer-McClintock-Norton-Lee amendment to the annual federal appropriations bills which prevents the Dept. of Justice from spending any money to enforce federal marijuana prohibition laws in states that have legal medical AND adult-use.

With almost one in every four Americans now living in states that allow for the adult-use of marijuana, the importance of this legislation cannot be underestimated as it will stop almost all federal enforcement action against legal licensed cannabis businesses.

Since 2014, Congress has passed annual spending bills that have included language protecting those who engage in the state licensed use, production, and dispensing of MEDICAL cannabis from most prosecutions by the Department of Justice. The Blumenauer-McClintock-Norton-Lee amendment expands these protections to also include activities specific to the production and sale of cannabis to adults in the eleven states that have LEGALIZED the plant for anyone age 21 or older.

Passing with a very respectable 254 to 163, cannabis has been touted as a bipartisan issue. Maybe, but if it really is a bipartisan it has to be one of the most lopsided bipartisan issues passed in 2020 with 97% of the Democratic caucus (222 of 228) voting yes and only16% of the Republican caucus (31 of 188) voting yes.

An almost identical amendment was passed by the House last year, but failed to be included in the Senate’s appropriation bill. With Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) still in control of the Senate, the same fate probably awaits it. But who knows? Senators like Cory Garnder (R-CO), who is in a tight re-election campaign and is probably a bigger booster of legalized cannabis then his Democratic opponent, former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, would definitely get a boost if the Senate passed it. With the Republicans in danger of losing the Senate, maybe they will pass it to help him get re-elected but I would advise against holding your breath.

There was also a major success at the California Democratic Party's Executive Board meeting last weekend where a resolution was passed in favor of allowing cannabis lounges to operate independently with a licensing system similar to obtaining one to sell beer and wine at restaurants and taverns. For those who understand the licensing for alcohol, a licensing system similar to beer and wine for cannabis lounges would be a tremendous step in the right direction in making cannabis far more available then it currently is under the byzantine system currently in operation.

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Oregon’s cannabis legalization program has witnessed the price of cannabis plummet while the state rakes in more tax money than it ever imagined. Now Oregon may be going where no state has ever gone before with two initiatives which qualified for the November ballot that will decriminalize just about every drug under the sun plus allow the therapeutic use of psilocybin.

One might think the feds are just practicing what they are doing in Portland right now for what they might do throughout Oregon if these two ballot initiatives pass – which is a very real possibility in this very progressive state.

To find out what is happening in this bellwether state, our first guest is legendary cannabis activist Paul Stanford.

Paul will take a knowledgeable and jaundiced look at how well Oregon’s legalization program, passed in 2014, has met the goals its proponents put forth. The program, which went through some very rough spots in its first few years, appears to be operating fairly well resulting in tax revenues to the state and local governments exceeding original expectations.  The wholesale price of cannabis had dropped to as low as $500 a pound a couple years ago, but has gone back up somewhat. Paul will discuss how this came about and whether the reduction in the cost of cannabis is a result of the program or just a coincidence.

Of great interest is the two ballot initiatives that will appear on Oregon’s November ballot.

IP 44, known as the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, would remove criminal penalties for illicit drug possession and expand substance misuse treatment in the state. The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission concluded it would reduce convictions for drug possession by about 91 percent statewide and also reduce racial disparities in arrests for illicit substances.

Although IP44 would decriminalize psilocybin, IP34 takes it a significant step further by creating a program for administering psilocybin services under the Oregon Health Authority. The program would permit licensed service providers to administer a psilocybin product to individuals 21 years of age or older.

This Saturday, Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. call 701-802-5390 and enter access code 2545046# to hear from Paul Stanford about Oregon’s successful legalization program, how the state is on the threshold of decriminalizing drugs, gain a few insider tips on growing quality cannabis and why Willie Nelson really likes Paul’s award-winning cannabis. There will be plenty of time for questions, so don't miss a presentation that is sure to be eclectically edifying and educational.

Riverside Sheriff’s Anza Monday Marijuana Madness Escalates

In a two-day reefer madness operation beginning on July 20, Riverside County Sheriff officers seized more than 84,000 marijuana plants found on over 1,000 acres of public and private lands in unincorporated areas of the Anza Valley.

Never mind that no one is getting hurt from the marijuana grows, these egregious actions come from a Sheriff who told Riverside County Board of Supervisors that he won’t enforce regulations on mask wearing which affects the health and safety of the County that is experiencing the 2^nd highest rate of COVID19 infections in the state.

At the Sat. Aug. 1 teleconference at 1 p.m., Edison Gomez-Kraus, a founding member of the Anza Valley’s High Country Grower’s Association will provide an up-to-the-minute report on what is going on in Anza, how it is effecting the community and the responses that local growers are taking to protect themselves from this mask-avoiding tyrannical menace.

The MAPP Teleconference is FREE. On Saturday, August 1 at 1 p.m., Call 701-802–5390 and Enter access code 2545046#. There will be plenty of time for questions, so mark your calendar now. It's not a ZOOM conference, just you and your phone - no cams so you truly can come as you are.

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#marijuana #marijuananews #cannabis #oregoncannabis #druglawreform #drugdecriminalization #psilocybin

These are tumultuous times so much so that the oft quote opening sentence of a Dicken’s celebrated A Tale of Two Cities – It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – seems lackluster to describe the agonies the world is undergoing in the face of the COVID19 virus – a form of life so simple that it is unable to replicate without a host cell.

These are stressful times so it is no surprise that alcohol sales have exploded. According to the famed Nielsen polling company, spirits like tequila, gin and pre-mixed cocktails are up 75%, wine sales are up 66% and beer sales up 42%. WOW - online sales skyrocketed - a mind-boggling 243%.

Fortunately for the readers of my newsletter, we have safe and enjoyable cannabis to provide the stress and anxiety relief we need without the inherent dangers of alcohol. Cannabis is so important for the health, safety and welfare of our communities, especially in this most excruciating period. We are lucky that if we can’t find criminals willing to sell us whatever cannabis they can get their hands on, we now have licensed dispensaries selling lab tested and certified cannabis from primo bud to mind-shattering waxes and delectable edibles.

The watchword, however, is affordable. For too many people the need for cannabis borders on being a life-and-death issue. Obtaining the amount of cannabis needed to effectively treat their ailments is financially challenging if not downright impossible. This is especially true for veterans as almost 1.5 million veterans live in poverty with vets between 18 and 34 years old having a higher poverty rate than all other age groups.

With over 25% of disabled people living below the poverty line, the ability to obtain cannabis to provide safe and effective relief from their physical and mental conditions is literally beyond reach. Many AIDS and cancer patients whose drug costs for their prescribed medicines consumes a significant amount of their income, come up short when it comes to purchasing the quantities of cannabis needed to provide the therapeutic relief they need from both the debilitating effects of their ailments and the negative effects of many of the medicines taken to control and limit the ravages of their diseases.

Many of the compassion programs that provide cannabis to those in need do not provide the quantity they need. Bloom Network, a licensed cannabis manufacturer and distributor is seeking to do it right as the company’s Executive Director, William Sump, is working with cultivators and other cannabis businesses to provide truly meaningful quantities of cannabis to those in need.

The program has a northern California and southern California component. I have been tasked with operating the southern California division. As I am located in the Inland Empire, the first part of the program will be seeking to provide cannabis to 25 people in the IE. Those who qualify will be provided with quality bud, oil cartridges, waxes and/or edibles sufficient to meet their needs.

By the beginning of August, the initial group of 25 people will be selected. It is the intention that each month the number of people being served will be increased with the eventual goal of providing cannabis to 250 every month.

I am especially pleased that Tom Hernandez, director of the Coachella Valley chapter of Veterans for Peace, who has long known of the many benefits that cannabis provides to veterans, will be helping us select veterans to be enrolled in this program.

We will be contacting other organizations that provide services to AIDs and cancer patients as well as to the disability community. If you are part of an organization that would like to participate in this program please let me know by writing to [email protected] or calling me at 760-799-2055.

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Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project
http://www.marijuananews.org/

Meet and Chat with Dr. David Bearman

MAPP telemeet at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 6

Holding the MAPP meetings via teleconference has worked out well. Attendance is up and most importantly I am able to get noted cannabis folks to be our featured guests.

One of the most notable is Dr. David Bearm who will be the featured guest speaker at the Saturday, June 6 telemeet at 1 p.m.

Of course Dr. Bearman will regale us about Rodney Dangerfield, but if you want to know the story behind how and why Dr. Bearman came to write Dangerfield a medical marijuana recommendation, click the yellow box on the right. Hearing about Dangerfield will be fun, but most importantly you will want to hear him because Dr. Bearman is one of the most clinically knowledgeable physicians in the U.S. in the field of medicinal marijuana. Having served four decades working in substance and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs, Dr. Bearman is a pioneer in the free and community clinic movement with a distinguished career in public health, administrative medicine, provision of primary care, pain management and cannabinology.

Along with being the vice-president of the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine, he has served as the Co-Director of the Haight-Ashbury Drug Treatment Program, was a member of Governor Reagan’s Inter Agency Task Force on Drug Abuse and is the author of Drugs Are NOT the Devil’s Tools: How Discrimination and Greed Created a Dysfunctional Drug Policy and How It Can Be Fixed.

Dr. Bearman's presentation will include a look at the past and current state of medical marijuana, explain the newest developments in not only the use of cannabis for therapeutic relief, but also as a curative including a brief discussion of cannabinoids and terpenes and new research on how to address treating euphoria or dysphoria.

Of course, there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions and get the answers you want to know.

Joining the teleconference with Dr. Bearman is exceptionally easy. It is not a zoom conference with cams and associated paraphernalia, so you can really come as you are as it is done entirely on the phone – no computer needed. This Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m. call 701-802-5390 and when the voice prompts you, enter the access code 2545046# and you will be whisked into the MAPP teleconference with Dr. Bearman. Although not mandatory, smoking and the consumption of other forms of cannabis during the teleconference is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

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Wasn’t all that long ago that Riverside County was arresting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients for growing their own and now they are going full-tilt boogey on allowing commercial businesses to cultivate, process and sell cannabis to anyone over 21.

The original ordinance allowing cannabis businesses was passed last year. It was a convoluted maze of legal and regulatory hoops to jump through being only rivaled in complexity and cost for opening a nuclear power plant.

The original ordinance required a “Request for Proposal” (RFP), a byzantine process requiring multiple filings, cost buckets of money to complete and was a guaranteed full employment program for lawyers. Entailing a ranking system to judge applicants against each other, it created a veritable mountain of paperwork for the County planning staff that resulted in 71 commercial cannabis operations being proposed. With the RFP process in place, only 24 went forward. As it stands the county has approved only one storefront operation. It has still not opened.

The new ordinance does away with the RFPs and substitutes a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process which is the same process that any other business needs to complete. CUPs have a 10-year life span and cost a much more reasonable $6,000. Not only is the cost significantly less, but there is considerably less paperwork reducing the workload on the County’s planning staff.

Although attorney’s might be upset in having their full-employment program reduced (not eliminated), the most upset people were those who had already gone through the process. Almost all testimony presented to the BOS in relation to the proposed new ordinance was in opposition by those who had gone through the expensive and time-consuming RFP process and emphatically stated it was unfair that potential competitors would not have to go through the same stress-inducing, anxiety-ridden process.

I was just about the only person who presented testimony in support of discontinuing the RFP process for opening cannabis businesses and replacing it with a CUP stating “Hopefully this will lead to more cannabis businesses which will produce competition and should result in lower prices,”

I noted that lower prices are “good as people who use cannabis to treat pain, depression, insomnia and for cancer treatments should not have high costs as an impediment to being able to obtain the quantities needed to treat their ailments.”

I further got on my high horse as I informed the BOS that they should pass the new ordinance as “cannabis must be made more easily available for its most important use as a substitute for alcohol – studies show alcohol consumption goes down when cannabis consumption increases” –referencing the Montana study that “found that when marijuana consumption increased after cannabis was legalized medically, alcohol consumption went down leading to a 9% decrease in traffic fatalities.” The next day I sent each member of the BOS a copy of that study which you can read if you CLICK HERE.

In the discussion that followed by the BOS, Supervisor Manuel Perez noted that "The (ranking process) is a limiting factor. We can continue at a robust pace ... move as quickly as possible (and) make this as streamlined as possible, but still have the quality at the end."

Supervisor Jeff Hewitt specifically mentioned the need for the competition I spoke about and then intoned "Let the free market determine how many dispensaries people want. Let's allow the market to determine the winners and losers."

Considering all the opposition voiced at the hearing and the normal reticence the Riverside Co. BOS have expressed in the past regarding anything that makes cannabis more readily available, it was something of a surprise that the ordinance passed 5 – 0.

Or was it really such a surprise considering that the County, like all local governments, are reeling from the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenues due to COVID-19 lockdown. I am sure that every BOS member was well aware that more cannabis businesses means more revenue for the now egregiously cash-strapped county.

What is interesting to note is that the original ordinance created a developer-agreement system of taxation which, instead of assessing a sales tax on cannabis, created a community benefit payment which varies from business to business depending on the needs of the community in which it is located. The new ordinance leaves the developer-agreement model in place.

Although I had opposed a developer-agreement model in the original ordinance in favor of the standard tax and license system which is utilized in almost every other ordinance allowing cannabis businesses, I am not so opposed to it anymore. A developer-agreement seems to result in significantly less money being paid by a business to the government then a standard sales tax system would. This would result in significant savings to cannabis businesses. I would caution about holding one’s breath that dispensaries will lower their prices because their taxes are lower.

In any case, I think it is only a matter of time before the County ends the developer-agreement model and switches to the tax and regulate model as it will produce significantly more revenue. When push comes to shove money always wins.

Speaking of money always winning, several cities in Riverside County that were always adamantly opposed to cannabis businesses, are following Riverside County's lead in coming around to the greener side. Hemet, whose City Council has been and still is composed of majority of retired cops, submitted an initiative in 2016 to deny cannabis businesses in their city when a couple growers collected enough signatures to put a measure on the ballot allowing them. The City Council’s measure passed, but now these ex-cops are starting the process to allow them.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the council directed the city manager to create an ordinance that would allow four sustainable retail cannabis outlets and no more than 10 wholesale outlets. It is interesting to note that the rest of the meeting almost entirely dealt with getting businesses to reopen – including it would seem eventually cannabis businesses.

The other city was Wildomar, a small but growing town in southern Riverside County that back in 2012 had requested the Department of Justice take action against the one dispensary that had opened there. The DOJ took action against the dispensary resulting in its closure. Eight years later, Wildomar is considering an ordinance that would establish a regulatory framework for the licensure and operation of cannabis businesses in the city. Money wins again.

Along with the cannabis liberation zone in the Coachella Valley where Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Palm Desert and Coachella have all allowed cannabis businesses to operate, two other cities in western Riverside County, Lake Elsinore and Perris, now permit cannabis businesses to operate. How much this has to do with the economic disaster caused by the COVD-19 pandemic is up for question, but the opening and normalcy of cannabis businesses is a green-lining that no one expected.

Meet and chat with medical marijuana pioneering MD          Dr. David Bearman

MAPP teleconference Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m.

On Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m., MAPP will hold its monthly teleconference meeting with famed medical marijuana practitioner, author and clinician Dr. David Bearman. Information on Dr. Bearman is below who will be discussing the past and current state of medical marijuana use and explain the newest developments in not only the use of cannabis for therapeutic relief, but also as a curative. Most importantly, there will be plenty of time for you to ask questions and get the answers you want to know.

Along with being one of the earliest medical doctors in California to furnish mmj recommendations (Dr. Bearman wrote the recommendation for celebrated comedian Rodney “I don’t get no respect” Dangerfield) Dr. Bearman is the author of Drugs Are NOT the Devil’s Tools: How Discrimination and Greed Created a Dysfunctional Drug Policy and How It Can Be Fixed.

One of the most clinically knowledgeable physicians in the U.S. in the field of medicinal marijuana, Dr. Bearman has spent 40 years working in substance and drug abuse treatment and prevention programs.  A pioneer in the free and community clinic movement, his career includes public health, administrative medicine, provision of primary care, pain management and cannabinology.

Along with being the vice-president of the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine, his 40 year professional experience in the drug abuse treatment and prevention field includes being the Co-Director of the Haight-Ashbury Drug Treatment Program, being a member of Governor Reagan’s Inter Agency Task Force on Drug Abuse and a consultant to Hoffman-LaRoche, Santa Barbara County Schools and the National PTA. He has been recognized by the Santa Barbara Medical Society with the Humanitarian Recognition Award.

Joining the teleconference with Dr. Bearman is exceptionally easy. It is not a zoom conference with cams and associated paraphernalia, so you can really come as you are as it is done entirely on the phone – no computer needed. This Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m. call 701-802-5390 and when the voice prompts you, enter the access code 2545046# and you will be whisked into the MAPP teleconference with Dr. Bearman. Although not mandatory, smoking and the consumption of other forms of cannabis during the teleconference is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A ONE-TIME DONATION

Help Your Business

Help MAPP

For info email

[email protected]

Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project
http://www.marijuananews.org/

#marijuana, #marijuananews, #medicalmarijuana, #cannabis, #cannabis legalization, #marijuanabusiness, #Riversidecounty

Testosterone is a topic of major discussion and with good reason. It is the key male sex hormone that regulates fertility, muscle mass, fat distribution, and red blood cell production. When testosterone levels drop, which is very common as men age, sexual dysfunction and even infertility can occur. Women also have testosterone except it is called androgen which produces new blood cells, enhances libido and influences follicle-stimulating hormones which affect reproduction.

It's not that women cannot have low androgen levels, but it seems all the hype surrounding testosterone seems to center around men which shouldn't be so surprising cause men always want everything to center around them. That is why there is a veritable cornucopia of ads promoting all kinds of medications that will increase testosterone levels in men. Succumbing to the lure of increased virility men shell out over $1.5 billion dollars a year for all kinds of remedies most of which are bogus.

Now however there might be a remedy that actually works and surprise, surprise - it's cannabis.

Researchers from the University of Chicago, the University of Miami, and John Hopkins University evaluated the relationship between past-year cannabis use and testosterone levels in a crop of current male cannabis consumers.

Published in the World Journal of Urology, the study found that "Men who reported smoking THC in the last year on average had a higher T (testosterone level) compared to those who did not report using THC." Unless the men who reported no THC ingestion were liars, the study concluded there was a “small but statistically significant increase in T among regular THC users at any measured level of use, compared to non-regular THC users.”

What is of interest is the subjects who reported using cannabis at least two or three times per month possessed the greatest differences compared to non-users. To read the original study CLICK HERE.

It doesn’t take much of an increase in testosterone levels to make a difference when levels are low. Unfortunately, the report did not examine what the effect of the increased levels of testosterone had on the study’s participants.

Now I am not saying that if you are having any kind of sexual dysfunctions that consuming cannabis is going to solve them, but a reasonable ingestion of cannabis sure wouldn’t hurt. I authored a column for Culture magazine titled THC and the Amplification of Sexual Desire which explains how the cannabinoids in cannabis affect sexual desire, response and pleasure. To check it out CLICK HERE.

All the questions you have about cannabis, but were afraid to ask will be answered at Saturday, May 2 MAPP telemeeting at 1 p.m.

The coronavirus meeting restrictions are still in place and so the May MAPP meeting will once again be a teleconference and you are invited to participate wherever you are no matter what your testosterone and andorgen levels are.

I am pleased to announce that our special guest will be Dale Gieringer, the state coordinator of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). A distinguished and eminently effective cannabis activists, he has been a preminent player in all of California's marijuana reform initiatives and continues to lead the way for implementing Propositions 215 and 64.

Dale will be providing us with information on current legislation being considered by our state legislators and how the coronavirus restrictions are affecting them. He will also provide information on the programs both CaNORML and national NORML are pursuing. A veritable encyclopedia of knowledge of all things cannabis. Dale really does have the answers to all (well almost all) of the questions you have about marijuana whether you were afraid to ask them or not. There will be plenty of time to have your questions answered so don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the most knowledgeable people about cannabis in California, the United States and the world.

Joining the teleconference is exceptionally easy. This Saturday, May 2 at 1 p.m. call 605-475-3235 and when the voice prompts you, enter the access code 275905# and you will be whisked into the MAPP teleconference. Although not mandatory, smoking and the consumption of other forms of cannabis during the teleconference is not only allowed, it is encouraged.

In these stressful days of the coronavirus and shelter-in, kick back, light up and

CLICK HERE TO JOIN MAPP'S 420 CLUB

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#marijuana, #marijuananews #marijuanalegalization #medialmarijuana. #cannabis, #MAPPmeeting, #testosterone

420 Day is an international holiday with no roots in any nationalistic, political, patriotic or religious historical event. Yet every April 20, it is celebrated all over the world by tens of millions of people from small groups of friends celebrating at someone's home to communal celebrations with thousands of people gathering in streets, parks and stadiums all lighting up at 4:20 p.m.

With coronavirus pandemic putting a damper on just abut everything, it is only prudent that there are no 420 celebrations happening whether small or gigantic. Fortunately this is the 21st Century and although we cannot celebrate in person, we can celebrate together online so here is your invitation to join with our special guests for a very special VIRTUAL 420 CELEBRATION this Monday, April 20 beginning at 4 p.m. where you can see and be seen with all our celebrants enjoying this festive holiday and communally consuming cannabis in their most favored method at the mystical hour of 4:20 p.m.

Meet, hear and ask questions of our special guests

and a surprise special guest.

Don't celebrate alone on this most communal of holidays. We are using the Zoom platform to stage MAPP's 420 Celebration. With your cam and mic you can be part of the party. To join in all your have to do is on Monday, April 20 at 4 p.m. return to the newsletter and CLICK HERE

If you want to log in without going  back to the newsletter on Monday you can go to: www.bit.ly/MAPP-420

If you haven't launched and saved zoom on your computer before, when you get to the zoom website for our virtual 420 party, you will need to click on the message at the bottom that says download and run zoom and then save the file and open it and that will then take you to the virtual420 party meeting.

If you want to use your smartphone and haven't used zoom on it before, then if you have an Android phone, go to play Store and download Zoom Cloud Meeting and if you have an iPhone, go to App Store and download Zoom Cloud Meeting. 

Got any questions? Send an email to [email protected] or call me at 760-799-2055.

Looking forward to celebrating 420Day with you.

Lanny

#420day, #marijuana, #cannabis, #marijuanalegalization, #medicalmarijuana,

DEMOCRATS

Bernie Sanders

Unlike almost all the other Democratic candidates, Sanders is no Johnny-Come-Lately to marijuana law reform. As mayor of Burlington, Vermont in the 1980s, he advocated for decriminalization. Throughout his two decades in Congress, he consistently supported reforming not just marijuana laws, but all punitive drug laws and continues to do so as he runs for President.

Legalizing cannabis is a major part of the criminal justice reforms he has promoted. At the Democratic debate last Saturday, he stated “On Day One, we will change the federal Controlled Substances Act." He elaborated further by saying “What we're also going to do is to move to expunge the records of those people who were arrested for possession of marijuana. And I'll tell you what else we're going to do: We're going to provide help to African American, Latino and Native American communities to start businesses to sell legal marijuana rather than let a few corporations control the legalized marijuana market."

Bernie Sanders is definitely a friend of the cannabis community.

Elizabeth Warren

Although not as long a supporter of marijuana law reform as Sanders, Elizabeth Warren is close on his heels. Noted for releasing detailed plans on everything from health care reform to climate change, Senator Warren has now released a detailed plan on how she would legalize cannabis, end the War on Drugs and how her administration would give a leg-up to communities harmed by the drug war in the legal cannabis industry.

In her plan  entitled A Just and Equitable Cannabis Industry Warren wrote “I support full marijuana legalization, and have also introduced and worked on a bipartisan basis to advance the STATES Act, a proposal that would at a minimum safeguard the ability of states, territories, and Tribal Nations, to make their own marijuana policies.”

Underscoring both her support for cannabis and criminal justice reform along with her distaste for the ultra-rich she stated “It’s not justice when we lock up kids caught with an ounce of pot, while hedge fund managers make millions off of the legal sale of marijuana. My administration will put an end to that broken system.”

Tom Steyer

As a billionaire, he is on the lower scale with only about $1.6 billion. I have met Tom Steyer at two California Democratic state party conventions. Although my conversations with him were brief, I came away with the impression that he knows the score and can be trusted to act on it.

Steyer supports not just the legalization of cannabis, but an end to the War on Drugs including the decriminalization of opioids. He has stated that “we must end the failed War on Drugs. Based on the flawed idea that incarceration is the answer to addiction, federal and state elected officials passed severe sentencing laws that encouraged incarceration for low-level drug offenses. Unfortunately, communities of color were and continue to be disproportionately affected and targeted by these laws, even when other ethnicities were committing the same drug crimes at the same rates.”

Amy Klobuchar

Klobuchar has not always been that strong a supporter. In fact NORML had given her a D rating on their congressional report cards, but has raised it recently to a B.

This would be consistent with her statements at the last Democratic debate where she said "It is realistic to want to legalize marijuana, I want to do that too. I also think you need to look back at peoples' records, maybe you can't do it on Day One. You want to have a process to go through because there are too many people with things on their records that have stopped them from getting jobs.”

Pete Buttigieg

As a millennial, one might think Buttigieg would have always been a supporter of marijuana law reform. However, when he was mayor of South Bend, Indiana, he didn’t do much to soften the impact of laws criminalizing marijuana. In fact, African-Americans were more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses at far higher rates then was found in most other areas of the county.

He had told the Des Moines Register that he supports legalizing medical and recreational cannabis. He feels that the way we enforce marijuana possession and other non-violent drug offenses is counter-productive whose costs far outweigh the benefits.

On his website he vows to “eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply these reductions retroactively, and legalize marijuana and expunge past convictions.”

Joe Biden

Biden has a lot of baggage when it comes to any kind of criminal justice reform. As a drafter of numerous “tough-on-crime” bills during the Clinton administration, he helped write laws imposing mandatory minimums and the draconian and racially tinged 1994 Crime Bill. He is responsible to a significant degree why America has the highest incarceration rate of any country.

He still subscribes to the long-debunked gateway theory and continues to support including cannabis in the Schedule of Controlled Substances although lowering it from a Schedule One drug to a Schedule Two which would permit more research. He supports that stance by claiming more research is still needed.

His position has become far more nuanced. He has apologized for his former “tough-on-crime” efforts that led to such egregious racial disparities in drug law enforcement. Although he reluctantly supports allowing states to legalize cannabis, he does not support legalizing cannabis on the federal levels. He does support decriminalizing cannabis as well as automatically expunging prior marijuana law prohibition convictions for possession.

Michael Bloomberg

On Super Tuesday, March 3, we will see if the almost one-half billion dollars Bloomberg has shoveled into his campaign for President will pay off. He has climbed to number two in some polls, so he may succeed in buying himself a chance to not only be one of the richest people in the world, but now also the most powerful person in the world.

However, it seems money (even $64 billion) doesn’t buy common sense as Bloomberg is arguably the worst of the Democratic candidates when it comes to cannabis and criminal justice law reform. His past is as bad as Biden’s although he only wreaked havoc on peoples lives in the city of New York when he was Mayor whereas Biden wreaked peoples lives on a national scale.

Although he did not originate the controversial stop and frisk program that targeted people of color for random and frequent police searches, he doubled down on it. He has now stated that the policy was mistaken, but a recording was recently discovered of him defending the program in a way which can charitably be describe as racially insensitive.

Although Bloomberg’s criminal justice reform plan will decriminalize possession and use of marijuana nationwide, commute any existing sentences and expunge any records, the Wall Street Journal described Bloomberg’s cannabis views as out of step with the rest of the Democratic field.

Although kind of disjointed, his statement made at the Democratic debate in South Carolina sums up his superannuated views and would be cause for significant concern if he becomes President.

"We should not make this a criminal thing if you have small amounts. For dealers, yes. But for the average person, no. And you should expunge the records of those that got caught up in it before. Number two: We're not going to take it away from the states that have already done it. But, number three, you should listen to the scientists and the doctors. They say go very slow. They haven't done enough research and the evidence so far is worrisome. Before we get our kids, particularly kids in their late teens, and boys even more than girls, where they may be damaging their brains. Until we know the science it's just nonsensical to push ahead, but the cat's out of the bag. So since states have it, you're not going to take it away. Decriminalize the possession."

REPUBLICANS

William Weld

Even Mother Teresa would have great difficulty wresting the Republican nomination for President from Donald Trump, but a few brave politicos are trying. The most successful is William Weld, the former Governor of Massachusetts.

His quixotic quest to wrest the Republican nomination for president is the longest of long shots, but he did win 10% of the votes in New Hampshire’s Republican primary garnering one delegate and denying Trump a clean sweep of all the delegates coming to the Republican National Convention. It will be interesting to see how he fares on Super Tuesday.

Weld’s support for marijuana law reform may have played a role in that 10% figure, but probably not much. Weld's past contributions to the War on Drugs should give pause, but his position on cannabis has evolved with the times.

He was the US Attorney in Massachusetts during the Reagan administration where he was tasked with enforcing the War on Drugs. He obviously had a change of opinion as in 2016 he supported the ballot initiative that legalized recreational cannabis in Massachusetts. Judiciously leaving the Republican Party, he ran for the Vice-Presidency on the Libertarian ticket with former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. They both called for the repeal of federal cannabis prohibition.

He endorsed the STATES Act, calling the federal bill that will end federal prohibition his "favorite piece of legislation that is on the Hill right now." 

Most intriguingly and arguably making him even more cannabis positive then Bernie Sanders is that last year, he joined the board of directors for the cannabis investment firm Acreage Holdings, which has also welcomed aboard former Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

Donald Trump

As with many issues, it is hard to pin down exactly where Donald Trump stands on the issue of marijuana law reform. Although he expressed a willingness to sign reform legislation if passed by Congress, he recently added a signing statement to the federal omnibus spending bill reserving his right to ignore a congressionally approved protection for state medical marijuana laws. It should be noted that former Presidents Bush and Obama also added similar signing statements to spending bills.

His budget requests have also included a provision that blocks Washington, D.C. from spending any money to implement the initiative passed by Washington DC voters to legalize cannabis sales. He did sign the First Step Act passed by Congress last year which was a modest step forward in criminal justice reform.

Trump has never tweeted about marijuana and has kept his distance however, last August DC Examiner reporter Steven Nelson asked him about federally legalizing marijuana. Responding to the question with his characteristic repetitive phrasing, he stated “We’re going to see what’s going on. It’s a very big subject and right now we are allowing states to make that decision. A lot of states are making that decision, but we’re allowing states to make that decision.”

Sounds like he is supportive but holding one’s breath could be hazardous to your health.

Marc Lotter, director of strategic communications for the Trump 2020 campaign, was recently asked in an interview about President Trump’s position on changing federal marijuana laws. Affirming the administration’s policy that cannabis and other currently illegal drugs should remain illegal, he stated “I think what the president is looking at is looking at this from a standpoint of a parent of a young person to make sure that we keep our kids away from drugs, They need to be kept illegal. That is the federal policy.”

Lotter acknowledged that a growing number of states are moving to legalize cannabis, but reiterated “I think the president has been pretty clear on his views on marijuana at the federal level."

Well actually the president has not been very clear on federal marijuana policy.

March MAPP Meetings

Saturday, March 7                Palm Springs & Joshua Tree

With over one-third of pledged Presidential delegates being selected on March 3, more delegates will be be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day. At the March MAPP meetings in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, we will discuss the results and what they portend for cannabis law reform on the national level.

We will also get out the Prognosticator’s crystal ball and examine how the March 3 election will impact cannabis laws in California on both the state and local level.

With the passage of Prop. 64 and the removal of hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, hemp cultivation is booming in California. I will be attending the Southern California Hemp Industry Conference at the Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs on March 4 and will present a report on the conference along with pictures of the event.

There will also be an update on the Citizen’s Lobby Day in Sacramento sponsored by Americans for Safe Access and CaNORML. It will take place on Monday, May 4. At the meeting you will learn all about this year’s Citizen Lobby Day and how you can join us for a fun, exciting and rewarding trip to visit your legislators in Sacramento.

Join us for consummate information, camaraderie, cookies and more at the Palm Springs and Joshua Tree MAPP meetings.

The Palm Springs/Coachella Valley MAPP meeting will be held on Saturday, March 7 at 12 noon at Crystal Fantasy, 268 N. Palm Canyon, Palm Springs CA 92262.

The Joshua Tree/Morongo Basin MAPP meeting will be held on Saturday, March 7 at 3 p.m. at the legendary Beatnik Lounge, 61597 Twenty-Nine Palms Hwy., Joshua Tree CA 92252.