Posts Tagged ‘allen st. pierre’
by Jessica Philips, San Francisco Chronicle
As federal prosecutors threaten to crack down on California’s medicinal marijuana sites, Washington is preparing to open several dispensaries in the Justice Department’s backyard.
This summer, residents will be able to buy legal cannabis at dispensaries within a few miles of the White House, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Cultivation centers are leasing space, and the city will decide who will be able to open shops by the end of March.
“The DEA is based here. The drug czar’s office is based here. How is that dynamic going to work when some of these entities say marijuana is not a medicine” with lawful medical marijuana dispensaries nearby, said Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Washington’s law will be stricter than California’s. To purchase pot, patients must be diagnosed with HIV, cancer, glaucoma or other terminal or chronic illnesses and will be authorized to carry a maximum of 2 ounces. They won’t be allowed to smoke in public or at dispensaries.
The District of Columbia marijuana initiative, approved by 69 percent of voters there in 1998 but repeatedly rejected by Congress, became law after the City Council unanimously approved the measure in 2010 and Congress agreed not to stand in the way.
In stark contrast, the federal government’s treatment of California in recent months has been less cordial.
U.S. attorneys in California have ordered federal officials to close dozens of dispensaries throughout the state, regardless of whether they have been complying with state and county law.
San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego are among the cities where the DEA has stepped up enforcement.
The Justice Department in the District of Columbia has not made any moves to deter cannabis centers from setting up shop in its legislative jurisdiction.
Justice Department officials declined to comment on Washington’s new legislation.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/16/MNK41NM4DO.DTL#ixzz1pOUI1ffJ
Courtesy of TMZ
Roseanne Barr‘s soon-to-be failed run for President just got a little pick me up — thanks to the biggest pro marijuana group around, which just announced its support for the comic-turned-politician.
The Executive Director of NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) — a guy named Allen St. Pierre – tells TMZ, the group supports any candidate “who will adopt a pro-cannabis law reform plank as part of their political platform” … especially Roseanne.
St. Pierre adds, “NORML welcomes Roseanne’s public support for ending a failed 74-year-old Cannabis Prohibition.”
As we previously reported, Barr announced her intention to seek the highest office in the land and will go after the Green Party’s nomination, campaigning to legalize marijuana.
Roseanne has a long history of being pro pot — her classic sitcom even did an episode on the subject in the mid 90s. Roseanne also lives in two states (Hawaii and California) with progressive marijuana laws. Probably not a coincidence.
If only pot heads vote, she might just have a chance.
by Allen St. Pierre, Courtesy of CelebStoner.com
Defending the “medical” cannabis industry is so yesterday. Why not acknowledge the political and legal farce it is and focus on the real problem at hand: ending cannabis prohibition?
The law and court precedents are fairly clear here. Self-preservation (yes), large-scale cultivation and sales (no). It’s just this simple. The numerous actions by the Feds and state governments over the last few months make this abundantly clear:
• ATF memo (no Second Amendment rights for patients)
• Feds crackdown on banks doing business with CBCs (cannabis buyers’ clubs)
• Feds send forfeiture notices to CBC landlords
• Feds send warnings to local CBCs that they must move or shut because they’re within 1,000 feet of a federally subsidized school
• IRS 280E decision against Harborside Health Center
• Feds send shutdown notices to 25% of the CBCs in San Diego
And what more re-assertion of primacy will we get from the Feds today?
If this were the 1920s, advocacy of today’s “medical” cannabis industry would sound like a lawyer back then fronting for the legal sellers of “prescription” alcohol during Prohibition. The med-pot industry, of course, opposes actual legalization, such as last year’s Prop 19, which was also opposed by the profiteering communities in the state’s northern “grow” counties.
Prescriptive alcohol was a sham then, and the “medical” cannabis industry (not medical cannabis itself) is largely a sham now. Is this news? NORML, and lawyers like Bill Panzer, have been warning ganjapreneurs and their legal counsel at our seminars and conferences about this political and legal box canyon since at least 2002.
Cannabis consumers, who NORML represents, want good, affordable cannabis products without having to go through the insult and expense of “qualifying” as a “medical” patient by paying physicians and/or the state for some kind of get-out-of-jail-free card. How intellectually honest is all of this?
NORML prefers to take a more transparent approach, advocating that cannabis should be legal for all adult consumers, including healthy ones.
Allen St. Pierre is the executive director of NORML
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