RainDog
RainDog's JournalHolder announces bank regulations for cannabis industry
The Obama administration will soon announce regulations that allow banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.
"You don’t want just huge amounts of cash in these places. They want to be able to use the banking system," Holder said during an appearance at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. "There’s a public safety component to this. Huge amounts of cash—substantial amounts of cash just kind of lying around with no place for it to be appropriately deposited is something that would worry me, just from a law enforcement perspective."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/01/holder-feds-to-let-banks-handle-pot-money-181777.html
Paris Blues (1961)
wiki: Paris Blues (1961) is an American feature film made on location in Paris, starring Sidney Poitier as expatriate jazz musician Eddie Cook, and Paul Newman as trombone-playing Ram Bowen. The two men romance two vacationing American tourists, Connie Lampson (Diahann Carroll) and Lillian Corning (Joanne Woodward) respectively. The film also deals with American racism of the time contrasted with Paris's kinder treatment of African Americans. The film was based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Harold Flender.
The film also features trumpeter Louis Armstrong (as Wild Man Moore) and jazz pianist Aaron Bridgers; both play music within the film. It was produced by Sam Shaw, directed by Martin Ritt from a screenplay by Walter Bernstein, and with cinematography by Christian Matras. Paris Blues was released in the U. S. on September 27, 1961.
The soundtrack, by American pianist, composer and bandleader Duke Ellington, features performances by Ellington's Orchestra with Louis Armstrong guesting on two tracks.
Ellington was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.
1959: The Year that Changed Jazz
This is a great program for anyone who loves music.
Colorado Recreational Marijuana Sales Exceed $5 Million In First Week
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/08/marijuana-sales-colorado_n_4552371.htmlColorado, the first state to allow retail recreational marijuana sales to adults age 21 and older, has projected nearly $600 million in combined wholesale and retail marijuana sales annually. The state, which expects to collect nearly $70 million in tax revenue from pot sales this year, won't have its first official glimpse at sales figures until Feb. 20, when businesses are required to file January tax reports, according to Julie Postlethwait of the state Marijuana Enforcement Division.
Denver's 9News was first to report statewide retail sales on New Year's Day, the first day legal pot shops were allowed to operate, exceeded $1 million. Interest dropped in the days that followed, according to shop owners, but many reported customers still waiting in lines out the door.
Owners of larger shops told HuffPost they sold from 50 pounds to 60 pounds of marijuana in the first week. Smaller shops sold 20 pounds to 30 pounds, proprietors said.
Edible marijuana sales shattering sales projections in Colorado
http://www.10news.com/home/tablet-showcase/edible-marijuana-sales-shattering-sales-projections-in-colorado-01202014
A one-month supply of marijuana edibles, gone in the first three days of January. That's what the area's largest supplier of marijuana edibles is saying about the incredible demand for the product since recreational sales were legalized in Colorado on Jan. 1.
New job creation is shattering previous projections.
"We're looking at upwards of 10,000 new jobs being created over the next few years," said Hodas.
There's also a new crop of courier services catering specifically to the marijuana industry, in large part because marijuana is still prohibited by the federal government.
If you want to get really cynical
GW Pharmaceutical (a British co.) and Bayer, the U.S. outlet for its marijuana medicine, Sativex, has petitioned the DEA to permit the use of Sativex for MS in the U.S. That started a few years ago, iirc.
Sativex™ is a marijuana plant, not a synthetic, medicine. GW grows its own marijuana in a hidden, indoor location (indica, sativa -also recreational varieties- and ruderalis, with little to no THC), grinds up the plants after curing, suspends them in a liquid, and delivers the medicine via a mouth spray.
Since 2010, marijuana as medicine has been legal in the UK via Sativex. It's also legal in Canada, Israel, Spain, Germany, and other western European nations - more are coming. Sativex can be patented because of the processing and delivery method of what is simply marijuana. As noted, since Uruguay legalized marijuana, Canada and Israel have made a trade agreement with that nation to grow marijuana for its medical market.
Sativex is essentially the same thing as "Rick Simpson oil" (the guy comes across as nutty, but an American biotech co. is trying to get trials approved to study the use of cannabis oil for treatment of melanomas).
Former big wigs from the Drug Czar's office in the Bush administration, such as Andrea Barthwell, former Deputy Drug Czar, have worked as lobbyists for GW/Bayer to place Sativex™ on the drug schedule along with the synthetic THC drug marinol, i.e. a substance with medical benefit.
Currently, marijuana is scheduled as a substance with no medical benefit.
Barthwell pretends Sativex isn't simply marijuana, but chemists would challenge that claim. Here's what she said when she was the mouthpiece for drug warriors: Cannabis medicines aren’t compatible with modern science. They do not constitute “a serious line of research.”
If the DEA approves Sativex™ - they are stating that marijuana has medical benefit and, thus, should not be a schedule I substance.
iow, maybe corporate profit has something to do with fast tracking enlightenment in DC.
and maybe seeing the way in which Colorado can collect taxes on a previously underground market has made the scales fall from some eyes...
New CNN poll: 55% support totally legal marijuana
pdf of survey here: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/01/06/cnn.orc.poll.marijuana.pdf
The CNN/ORC findings are similar to a Gallup poll conducted in October.
According to the CNN poll and numbers from General Social Survey polling, support for legalizing marijuana has steadily soared over the past quarter century - from 16% in 1987 to 26% in 1996, 34% in 2002, and 43% two years ago.
..."There are big differences on age, region, party ID, and gender, with senior citizens, Republicans, and Southerners the only major demographic groups who still oppose the legal use of pot," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/06/cnn-poll-support-for-legal-marijuana-soaring/
New Mexico Democrat Ortiz y Pino: Legalization bill at start of session
A day after Colorado opened its doors to the legalized sale of recreational marijuana, a state senator said New Mexico should consider following suit.
Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat, said he will introduce a constitutional amendment proposal to legalize recreational marijuana when the Legislature convenes this month.
The constitutional amendment would go on the general election ballot this November if approved by both the House and Senate. Constitutional amendment proposals go straight from the Legislature to voters, and Gov. Susana Martinez would not be able to act on the measure if it were approved by lawmakers.
Martinez, a Republican and a former district attorney, opposes drug legalization.
Ortiz y Pino said it was time to let the American public decide whether to keep marijuana illegal.
The Republican governor and Republican legislators have indicated a desire to continue the failed war on drugs while a neighboring state has moved on to the 21st century.
http://www.abqjournal.com/330203/news/legislator-wants-nm-constitutional-amendment-to-legalize-pot.html
(you have to answer a silly question to read the article... yes, I have been to CA.)
Legislators had the numbers flipped for 30 years.
How could a legislative body be so stupid for thirty years? The Marijuana Policy Project found that legislators assumed 30% of their voters supported legal medical marijuana. The reality was the reverse. That's quite a bit more than a 15 point difference. That's being deliberately stupid, or else ignoring the will of those who elected legislators in order to grease the palms of those with access to power.
hmmm. So who has problems discerning reality from fantasy... the marijuana legalization supporters or the legislators who only hear from people who want to keep marijuana illegal, such as military/industrial contractors. Claire McCaskill noted in a June 2011 Senate subcommittee report finding that the drug war has largely failed and those who most benefitted from it were not held accountable for the funds that American taxpayers are forced to provide for policy they don't want for machinery used to poison the ground water of rural people in Mexico and finance covert activities through policy that the people of Mexico and their elected leaders oppose.
Is that imperialism or just another scam on the American taxpayer by those who lobby to keep these failed policies intact? Or... are they pretty much the same thing?
Five major defense contractors received the bulk of drug war contract spending: Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, DynCorp, ARINC and ITT. Out of all the firms, DynCorp benefitted most, winning $1.1 billion.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/06/10/senate-report-war-on-drugs-failed/
"It's becoming increasingly clear that our efforts to rein in the narcotics trade in Latin America, especially as it relates to the government's use of contractors, have largely failed," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, said in a media advisory. "Without adequate oversight and management we are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we're getting in return."
The McCaskill report indicates that U.S. taxpayers have shelled out over $3 billion for work and equipment related to the drug war in Latin America from 2005-2009, and most of that money went to private contractors.
McCaskill launched the inquiry after looking into counternarcotics efforts underway in Afghanistan. However, neither the Department of Defense nor the State Dept. were able to provide adequate documentation on their contracts and in many cases could not even identify firms that were given millions in tax dollars.
At the national level, marijuana arrests allow law enforcement to fluff their statistics and receive federal funding.
Usage and arrest stats
The law is applied in a racist manner and contributes to stereotypes and, worse, denies access to education for those who are TARGETED by stop-and-frisk and labeled, early, by such an arrest for such a nothing offense that contributes to the continuation of a cycle of racism in this nation. This needs to stop. Now.
Harry Reid joins doobie brothers
j/k... cross post from this thread for reference: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014699466
"If you'd asked me this question a dozen years ago, it would have been easy to answer – I would have said no, because (marijuana) leads to other stuff," he said. "But I can't say that anymore."
Reid says its time to address legalization, as he thinks there are good medical uses for the drug.
"I think we need to take a real close look at this," he said. "I think that there's some medical reasons for marijuana."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/reid-supports-medical-marijuana
I want to congratulate the House Democratic leader for recognizing that the majority of the American people (in the 70 percentiles and above) have supported medical marijuana for DECADES.
SO PROUD to see the Democrats are at the forefront of an issue!!! What clarity of vision! After only THIRTY YEARS!!!!! wooohoooo! LEADERSHIP!
That's why we elect people to Congress, to provide leadership on important issues that REPRESENT THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, NOT FEDERAL BUREAUS THAT WANT TO PROTECT THEIR TURF.
The House is supposed to be most responsive to the fickle whims of the American people, as our founders noted when they set this great democratic experiment in motion.
Harry Reid supports mmj, after thirty years of this fickle whim of the American people to have the freedom to use one of nature's oldest remedies for a variety of ills. Cannabis has been part of the pharmacopeia for 5000 years. It has been illegal, world wide, for around 80 years.
Thirty years of this massive waste of dollars could have been avoided if the Democratic Party had listened to reason instead of playing the game of conservatives with their Nixonian enemies list of people to persecute with prohibition. That list included "the goddam Jews," as Nixon so sweetly said, "the psychiatrists," the anti-war protestors, African Americans, Latin Americans... the CORE CONSTITUENCY of the Democratic party, who, with labor, women, GLBT and other minority populations want to stop using marijuana as a means of voter suppression, denial of student loans, protection for outmoded industry, and especially as a "jobs bill" for the prison/industrial complex.
This last issue results in accruing power to rural areas in Republican majorities, while harming Democratic constituencies by increasing population numbers (prisoners) who have no right to vote. They are, literally, being held in bondage and denied the right to vote for possession of a substance safer than aspirin. Where have I seen that before...
Thank you for honoring your pledge to do your job and support the will of the American people in the legislature, and, as a Democrat, to bring YOUR VOTERS' concerns to the House. (actually, Harry, I think you're doing a great job and it was a pleasure to see you kick the shit out of the teabaggers when they wanted to default on our obligations and precipitate a world-wide depression...smoooooooth, Harry.)
But, let's let this moment be a teaching experience for Democrats, Harry. Don't make people wait another thirty years for the House to finally ignore idiots like Nancy Grace saying marijuana makes people bite off the heads of chickens and engage in odd, strange dances of the devil and eat Ding Dongs.
Be a healer of this nation, please, and put your considerable clout behind resurrecting the Polis and Blumenauer legislation to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. And anyone here on DU who agrees with me - please contact Reid to politely and lovingly ask him to represent the will of the American people on full legalization, as well as medical marijuana.
At the very least, Congress should remove cannabis from the drug schedule. If alcohol isn't there, marijuana shouldn't be there either. Those who have followed this issue know that the alcohol industry has financed anti-marijuana propaganda and lobbied to keep its product off the controlled substances act. Just say no to frat boy culture, Reid.
Say yes to the use of hemp, as well, and the promotion of the same for alternatives to fossil fuel products, for the best source of insulation for houses, for the most complete EFA profile of any plant - that can be used to combat world hunger if we just say no to the drug warriors.
SMOOOOOCHES!!!! RainDog.
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