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Low level marijuana arrests in New York City rose for the seventh straight year in 2011 to 50,680. The arrest total is the highest total on record since former pot smoker Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office and it is the second highest total of pot arrests ever recorded in the history of the city (just 587 arrests behind the record holding year 2000, when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani oversaw some 51,267 people arrested for marijuana violations). Shockingly, the near-record high arrest total comes just months after New York City Police Commissioner [...]

In December I blogged about rumors that the Obama Justice Department was finalizing plans to expand its recent crackdown on medical cannabis producers and providers to include state-licensed facilities in Colorado. Today, the federal government made good on its threats. According to numerous media reports, federal authorities today issued warning letters to 23 state-licensed dispensaries in Colorado stating that “action will be taken to seize and forfeit their property” if they continue operating within 1,000 feet of a school. The letters, sent by U.S. Attorney John Walsh, say that the [...]

Two municipal election results from yesterday ought to come as no surprise.
In the cities of Kalamazoo, Michigan and Tacoma, Washington, municipal voters overwhelmingly favored local ballot measures to mandate that the criminal enforcement of cannabis possession offenses be law enforcement’s “lowest priority.”
In Tacoma, voters decided in favor of Initiative 1, which states that minor marijuana [...]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, by most all accounts, is one of the most fascinating political characters of the last decade. A self-made billionaire who, with a clear love for his fellow human beings and with great civic pride, chose to effectively become New York City’s mayor for the last nine years—spending more personal wealth than most [...]

NORMLtv is now streaming a new public service announcement highlighting the unfortunate consequences that arise when precious law enforcement resources are misappropriated due to enforcement of marijuana prohibition.

If state’s were allowed to experiment with models of decriminalization and legalization they would be able to re-prioritize law enforcement to more effectively combat violent crime. Every 12 [...]

Ironic kudos to Political Rhetoric graduate student ‘Steve’ from the University of Maryland for asking President Obama last Friday a spot on and searing rhetorical question from the Millennial generation about our country’s need to end the nation’s longest war…the failed war on some drugs.
Steve gets it. The audience gets it. According to all polling, [...]

[Editor's note: Call it a terrible waste of police time, an unnecessary risk to law enforcement personnels' lives, a loud and destructive invasion of one's curtilage, the proverbial taxpayer-funded pursuit of a needle in a haystack, an unintended government-provided price support for an illegal and untaxed commercial market, or a bizarre police ruse where a [...]

85% of Grandparent Respondents Favor Marijuana Legalization, According to GRAND Magazine Reader Poll
Online Magazine for Grandparents Releases Response Results to Op-Ed Question Posed in its March/April Issue
St. Petersburg, FL. (PRWEB) May 26, 2011
Attitudes about the criminalization of marijuana may be changing among the elders of our society, as the more than 70 million of the [...]

The Seattle Times published their account of Friday’s meeting with Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske here.
Excerpt from ‘An Hour with the Drug Czar‘:
The Editorial Board’s meeting with Gil Kerlikowske turned into a big deal. Kerlikowske, the former police chief here in Seattle, is now director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In [...]

Click Here! to download over 725 peer reviewed journal articles and significant reports all dealing with the issue of Harm Reduction and Drug Policy Reform.

This comprehensive (and amazing) collection of references includes the following c…