APNewsBreak: Effort building to change US pot laws

[DonViejo]

Source: AP


BY BY GENE JOHNSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE (AP) — From legalizing the industrial production of hemp to establishing a federal tax, an effort is building in Congress to change U.S. marijuana laws.

Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer (BLUHM’-ehn-ow-ur) of Oregon tells The Associated Press that lawmakers from both parties have been quietly working on several bills, and he and Colorado Democrat Jared Polis plan to introduce the first two on Tuesday. Polis’ measure would let states legalize pot and require growers to obtain a federal permit, while Blumenauer’s would create a federal marijuana excise tax.

Blumenauer says the recent votes in Colorado and Washington state to legalize recreational marijuana show it’s past time for Congress to end the 75-year federal pot prohibition.

Other measures being discussed include letting marijuana dispensaries obtain bank accounts and deduct business expenses on federal taxes.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/04/apnewsbreak_effort_building_to_change_us_pot_laws/

[tridim]

1. I shouldn't complain, but why all the pre-restrictions?

I fear that it will be "legalized" and people still won't be able to grow for themselves legally. They're setting us up for an RJR sponsored fail.

Let's actually LEGALIZE it and let farmers and other people grow it just like they grow other herbs.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. The devil is in the details, but home cultivation has to be included.

I haven't seen the text of the bill yet, but I'm hoping they're only talking about a federal permit for commercial grows.

Just as with home brew for beer, there must be home grows for weed. I'm certainly not paying someone else to grow a plant I can grow perfectly well myselt.

[haydukelives]

6. Its not that easy to grow

don't ask me how I know.

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. I do quite well with my legal, outdoor Sonoma County grow.

Practice helps.

Under the county's medical marijuana regulations, you can grow 100 square feet. That is enough to keep me from having to buy any weed, and then some.

[kestrel91316]

11. It's pretty freakin' easy. It's a weed, not a hothouse flower.

I started some seeds last spring, babied them for a month under a grow light, then stuck them in pots on my NW facing balcony and just kept them watered and fed with Schultz Instant. Minor pruning and defoliating, but otherwise ZERO maintenance.

I got some REALLY awesome bud that a friend was blown away by.

[quakerboy]

13. Maybe depends on where you live?

Ive never grown. But I've seen it growing outdoors in several states. Florida, New Mexico, and Oregon (In front of a city hall. Landscapers apparently thought it was just part of the decor and were taking care of it along with the rest of the flowers and shrubbery. It had gotten reasonably large before anyone in authority realized what it was.)

Anyhow, I cant imagine that something that grows readily outdoors in three such disparate states can be that much harder to grow than, say, cherry tomatoes or a rosemary bush. Or strawberries that don't taste like crap (which eludes me so far)

[99th_Monkey]

15. Hah!! I hadn't heard about that one... only in Portlandia, where I'm a proud resident. ~nt

[quakerboy]

26. Actually, not portland. Not even in Multnomah.

[99th_Monkey]

28. Now you've gone and ruined my whole Proud-to-be-a-Portlandian shtick

for shame

[mike_c]

14. it's not hard at all....

Maximizing yield while minimizing the growth cycle can be challenging, but that's not so relevant when growing for personal use.

[tridim]

17. Easy to grow, difficult to grow well.

But once you get a system down it's as easy as pie.

Drip recirc coco is dreamy.

[Le Taz Hot]

31. Yes it is.

And I know because I've been growing it for years. You put the seed in some dirt/potting soil, place it in the sun, water it regularly and voila! Pot plant. It ain't that difficult.

[Xithras]

37. LTH, we can be a bit spoiled around here.

With our sun and soil quality, any idiot can grow quality weed in the Central Valley. I've seen high quality grows that resulted from little more than a handful of seeds tossed out into the middle of a cornfield.

The rest of the country generally isn't so lucky. They have to work for it

[Hekate]

30. Both beer and wine may be made at home legally

There are certain restrictions on the amount (generous, to my mind), sales (no), and distance of travel (you can share it with others) but it is definitely legal. My mom and her friends went through a spell of experimental wine-making when I was a kid, and one of my parents' friends made his own beer. My pagan friends make their own honey mead. Quality will vary with skill.

I believe that is a sensible model for legal home-grown pot. The dang thing IS a weed, after all, and it can't be that hard to grow.

As for the draconian drug laws that have cost so much and have caused untold misery, the state and federal governments can't get rid of them soon enough as far as I am concerned. State by state the people are TRYING to get this through to the feds.

[phleshdef]

4. Decriminalization is more than important than anything else IMO.

I don't care if it starts this way, with a lot of restrictions and regulations. That's fine. The important thing is breaking that barrier and putting a stop to massive incarceration, arrests, wasting of law enforcement resources, etc.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. Very few people go to jail for pot possession.

Which is not to say they do not suffer other consquences of a pot bust: student aid problems, no public housing, criminal record, can't go to Canada, can't get some professional licenses.

It's the law enforcement attack on marijuana commerce that must be stopped. Decrim is a half measure, and leaves all of the ills of the black market.

Still progress is progress. After Schwarzenegger signed decrim in California, adult pot possession arrests dropped 90%.

[phleshdef]

12. According to the FBI, there is a marijuana arrest every 42 seconds in this country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/one-marijuana-arrest-occu_n_2041236.html

Now of course, some of that might be more than simple possession and some of that may be able who get arrested but don't end up serving any real time over it. That all really depends on the state. But its still overkill IMO.

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. I don't dispute that at all. But they're not filling our prisons.

Some people who get arrested get held overnight, some get booked and released, some just get a court summons, and in decrim states, they just get a ticket. It depends on where you are. And you typically get fined, not jailed when you go to court.

The Marijuana Policy Project estimates that there are 40,000 people doing jail or prison time on pot charges, the vast majority for distribution or cultivation. That's a lot of people, and it's unconscionable, but I see people here and elsewhere saying our prisons are filled with pot prisoners, and it's not true. There's about 350,000 drug offenders of all stripes behind bars, about a fifth of the total prison population.

[Socal31]

27. Move to CA.

The sheriffs around my area won't even dare go into a home unless it is an obvious for-profit large grow. They have been chastised for having cases dropped the first day in court when the defendant produces their medical card, and their grow was within the limits.

But you are right, it isn't "legal", and if the DEA wanted to, they could arrest everyone. But they don't have the resources, thankfully.

[RainDog]

2. Glad to see some are addressing this

Would love to be able to drive a hemp-fueled car, made from a hemp car body, to arrive at my hemp insulated abode in the near future.

All American made.

[SCVDem]

5. I want cannabis removed

as a failure of a pre employment piss test.

The time to leave your system makes this meaningless. Up to two months.

[haydukelives]

7. word!

[kestrel91316]

10. Just say NO to federal licensing of growers. This will shut the door on home grown and

allow a corporate monopoly on production, with resultant prices at least as high as they are now under prohibition.

They are gonna screw the little guy yet. Just watch.

[RainDog]

20. People who have done policy studies on this

know they cannot make the price too high or else this will just continue to fuel a black market.

Additionally, most economically-minded people who look at this think legalization will cause the price to plummet, so the way to keep the price high enough to make it somewhat unattainable (as is done with alcohol) is to have taxes that bring the price up to a level that creates a small barrier to (their fear of) a population that does nothing else.

At the same time, you can't make cannabis legal for farmers and make it illegal for backyard growers. That will not work. Americans like to try to grow their own tomatoes, even when they're in the store, because they think they taste better.

I think there will be various markets and those who stress the cleanness of their grows, in terms of chemicals, etc. along with various strains, that will create a micro-brewery sort of economy.

It would be just fine with me if they limited grows to small farmers and let big ag have hemp.

Maybe tobacco cos could make hemp cigarettes and get rid of a lot of the crappy stuff they put in the tobacco ones... a mix of hemp and tobacco won't get anyone high.

[kestrel91316]

25. Oh I think having the big guys grow hemp is fine - it's a fiber and not a boutique crop.

Mass-produced cannabis is no better than mass-produced tomatoes. There really IS a difference in quality (and cost) when you can grow your own.

[rdharma]

36. "Just say NO to federal licensing of growers. This will shut the door on home grown...."

Ain't that the truth!

[99th_Monkey]

16. Hat's off to Rep. Blumenauer. He's my kind of lawmaker. ~nt

[RainDog]

18. N. Dakota, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Oregon, California, Montana, West Virginia and Vermont

All 10 of these states have already passed legislation legalizing hemp production as an industrial crop.

These bills will also address the problems these states have because they cannot implement their laws because the DEA and Congress have been hostile toward even this, non-psychotropic form of cannabis.

It would be GREAT if cannabis provided a needed economic stimulus - not just with recreational cannabis, but also with changes in the way we manufacture things to make them less harmful to the environment.

[SCVDem]

19. Cannabis is like wine and cofffee.

It should be sourced globally with all the varietals available.

Not Bev Mo but Bud Mo.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. Until then, there's always Northern California.

[annabanana]

21. kickarooni!. . .. ... ... n/t

[felix_numinous]

22. OH great news!

I will read more on this

[StrictlyRockers]

29. Totally awesome news!

This is getting better and better. Maybe I will start liking this country again soon...

[Blanks]

32. The odd thing is that people are fighting so hard...

To keep their guns, but have no problem with the government telling them that it is illegal to grow a plant that has many uses.

[SWTORFanatic]

33. Not a pot smoker at all, but yay for freedom. Please, just don't smoke upwind of me.

[rdharma]

34. "Please, just don't smoke upwind of me."

If you don't want to smell the ganja, I think you mean "downwind", mon!

[SWTORFanatic]

35. No, that's if I'm downwind. Meaning you would be upwind.

[tabasco]

38. How many lives have been destroyed for no good reason?

Irrational laws are a crime against the people.