#NORML #News Source: @norml @WeedConnection Posted By: norml@weedconnection.com media :: news - Tue, 04 Oct 2016 04:20:21 PST
Report: Marijuana Legalization Has Had "Minimal" Adverse Impact On Health
Washington, DC: The enactment of laws regulating the adult use, production, and retail sale of cannabis in four states has had negligible, if any, adverse impact on overall health and safety, according to ananalysis commissioned by the CATO Institute - a Washington, DC think-tank.
Researchers from Harvard University and Western Carolina University assessed the impact of marijuana legalization laws in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington on a variety of health and safety outcomes, including drug use, suicide rates, substance abuse treatment admissions, crime rates, and road safety.
Authors concluded: "[S]tate marijuana legalization [laws] have had minimal effect on marijuana use and related outcomes. The absence of significant adverse consequences is especially striking given the sometimes dire predictions made by legalization opponents."
By contrast, authors determined that legal changes have had a significant impact on generating new streams of state tax revenue. "One area where legal marijuana has reaped unexpectedly large benefits is state tax revenue," researchers concluded. In some jurisdictions "these figures are above some pre-legalization forecasts."
Full text of the report, "Dose of Reality: The Effect of State Marijuana Legalizations," is available online.
FBI: Marijuana Arrests Decline Significantly In 2015
Washington, DC: Marijuana-related arrests in the United States have fallen to their lowest levels since the mid-1990s, according to datareleased this week by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, police made 643,122 arrests for marijuana-related offenses in 2015. Of those arrested, 574,641 (89 percent of all marijuana-related arrests) were charged with marijuana possession only, not cultivation or trafficking.
The 2015 annual arrest total represents more than a 25 percent decline since 2007, when police arrested a record 872,721 Americans for violating marijuana laws.
Since 2012, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized the adult use and possession of personal quantities of cannabis, leading to a dramatic decline in marijuana-related arrests in those jurisdictions.
Like in previous years, marijuana possession arrests were least likely to occur in the western region of the United States, where state laws have largely legalized or decriminalized minor marijuana possession offenses.
According to 2016 nationwide survey data compiled by the Associated Press, some six out of tenAmericans now say that the adult use of marijuana should be legally regulated.
Michigan: Governor Signs Measures Regulating Medical Cannabis Dispensing
Lansing, MI: Governor Rick Snyder has signed a package of legislationinto law regulating the retail sale of medical cannabis and cannabis-infused products. The measures are ordered to take immediate effect.
The measures seek to clarify and expand various aspects of the state's 2008 medical cannabis law. Specifically, the new law provides qualified patients for the first time with legal protections regarding the possession and use of non-smoked cannabis derived topical products and edibles, as well as cannabis-based extract products. The law also licenses and regulates facilities where state-qualified patients may legally obtain medical marijuana. Michigan was one of the only medical marijuana states in the country that had yet to regulate the dispensing of medicinal cannabis. About 210,000 residents are now registered in the state's medical program.
Other provisions in the law establish a 'seed to sale' tracking system on products provided by dispensaries in order to assure that these products are adequately tested for safety. Separate provisions offer localities controls with regard to regulating the location and number of dispensaries, and also establish state licensing fees and excise taxation levels.
Missouri: Judge Disqualifies Proposed 2016 Medical Marijuana Ballot Measure
Springfield, MO: Voters will not have the opportunity this November to decide on a proposed statewide proposition to permit the physician-supervised use of marijuana.
A Cole County Circuit Judge has upheld a decision by St. Louis election officials to disqualify thousands of petition signatures because voters had mistakenly signed forms indicating that they resided in a county other than where they lived.
The measure, sponsored by New Approach Missouri, sought to authorize qualified patients to possess, cultivate, and/or obtain cannabis through a licensed system of dispensaries.
Polling indicated that over 60 percent of voters backed the proposal. On Thursday, Secretary of State Jason Kander called on lawmakers to move swiftly to enact similar legislation. "The Missouri General Assembly should pass legislation to allow medical marijuana so Missouri families that could greatly benefit from it don't have to watch their loved ones continue suffering," he said in a prepared statement. "If the legislature is not willing to do that, they should at least put the measure on the ballot themselves in 2018 to give Missouri voters the opportunity to decide on this issue."
Voters in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota will vote on medical use measures on Election Day. Voters in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada will also vote this November on initiatives legalizing the adult use of marijuana. A summary of 2016 ballot measures and their status is online @ newapproachmissouri.com
