Tag Archives: Sudden Outbreak of Common Sense

Brookings Institution on Colorado Pot Legalization: ‘Resounding Success’

Posted on by

“Author John Hudak calls the implementation of the new Colorado law ‘a resounding success.’ He continues, ‘My research shows that regardless of the merits of the policy itself, Colorado has created a smart regulatory system that balances safety and security with access to legal marijuana.’  The report’s conclusion: ‘Among the many successful pieces of Colorado’s regulatory system are effective seed-to-sale product tracking, a vertically integrated market, and strict limits on purchase quantity’. Despite a largely successful rollout of the policy, however, the report details a few trouble spots, including ‘homegrown’ plants and the different tax rates between retail and medical marijuana.”

http://norml.org/news/2014/08/08/brookings-institution-on-colorado-s-legalization-of-marijuana-resounding-success

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Up in Smoke

Posted on by

“Americans have changed their minds about pot. In less than a generation, public opinion has turned against the drug laws that banned marijuana, a historic shift in attitudes away from prohibition and penalties. In two U.S. states — Washington and Colorado — pot is now legal for recreational use, driving the debate about how it should best be regulated, consumed and taxed as it gains acceptance across the U.S. and in other countries.  Voters in Alaska and Oregon will weigh ballot measures this year. Arizona, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and California — the largest state by population — may consider the next wave of pot referendums in 2016.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/marijuana-laws-go-up-in-smoke/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

WaPo: Marijuana’s rising acceptance comes after many failures

Posted on by

“Since the 1960s, the United States has traveled on a herky-jerky trip from hippies and head shops to grass-roots backlash by suburban parents, from enthusiastic funding of the war on drugs to a gathering consensus that the war had little effect on marijuana use. Why is the current campaign for legalization resonating when previous ones did not?  Today’s leap toward legality is entwined with the financial desperation of cash-strapped states, an Internet-driven revolution in how Americans learn about marijuana and its medicinal uses, and a rising libertarian sensibility in which many liberals and conservatives alike have grown skeptical of government’s role in telling citizens how to medicate themselves.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/marijuanas-rising-acceptance-comes-after-many-failures-is-it-now-legalizations-time/2014/02/22/9adc8502-98dd-11e3-80ac-63a8ba7f7942_story.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

13% Trust U.S. Government – as Sirens Sound

Posted on by

the-daily-bell-top-logo61

“There’s no follow-up to the jaw-dropping assertion that only 13 percent of US citizens believe government ‘can be trusted’ to do the right thing. These are not normal numbers. These are Soviet Union style numbers. Or numbers that might have generated from a poll of Chinese during the depth of the starvation generated by Mao’s ruinous Great Leap Forward. For the longest time, we’ve been told that the horrible numbers associated with US Congress – confidence is reportedly in the single digits now – must be tempered by people’s affection for their OWN congress-people. But if these larger numbers are to be believed, then the lack of support for Congress must be a fairly accurate assessment.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/editorials/35545/Anthony-Wile-13-Trust-Government–as-Sirens-Sound/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

He built his own toll road: solving problems the State’s too useless to fix

Posted on by

“Faced with months of roadworks and upheaval, and the loss of business at the party supplies shop he runs with his wife Wendy in Bath, the pioneering 52-year-old rented a nearby field and built an alternative road to allow traffic to bypass the closure, charging drivers £2 each way.  He spent £150,000 on the gravel track next to the A431 in Kelston and says he will probably spend that again to maintain it.   Of course, the council has been quick to question his efforts, citing that mealy-mouthed old staple — health and safety.  Rather than thanking him, they’ve subjected Mr Watts to all sorts of snooty checks and inspections. Well, they must be furious. They have been utterly humiliated by him.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2716156/A-hero-time-Inspired-man-built-toll-road-Hes-one-countless-Britons-rising-solve-problems-States-useless-fix.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Failing War on Drugs, the Benefits of Natural Cannabis Cultivation

Posted on by

“Cannabis is being grown with labor-intensive and resource-intensive methods now. More fertilizer is being used than necessary. The wholesale price of cannabis has dropped from a high of US$6,000 to about $2,500 per pound (454 gms). This trend will continue as prohibition is lifted. Many growers are complaining about the plummeting price. Sooner or later the price will be so low that the only way to make a good living will be to grow outdoors on flat land. I believe the industry will follow a similar model to the wine industry. But, unlike wine grapes, cannabis is more adaptable and can be grown successfully in more climates.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/exclusive-interviews/35509/Anthony-Wile-Jorge-Cervantes-on-the-Failing-War-on-Drugs-the-Progress-of-Cannabis-and-the-Benefits-of-Natural-Cultivation/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

New York Times: End Prohibition, Again

Posted on by

“[The] Sunday New York Times’ editorial calling for an end to cannabis prohibition in America, affirms in my mind, after nearly twenty four years publicly advocating for cannabis law reforms at NORML, the end of cannabis prohibition in our nation is nearly upon the rest of the country (beyond Colorado and Washington State). This is the same editorial board and opinions page that would with great frequency in the 1980s/90s publish some of the most stridently pro-cannabis prohibition editorials and columns found anywhere in the world, let alone from the urbane and ‘liberal’ New York Times, led by ardent cannabis foe, former editor and columnist A.M. Rosenthal.”

http://blog.norml.org/2014/07/26/new-york-times-end-prohibition-again/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Sentencing Commission Cuts 46,000 Drug War Prisoners’ Sentences

Posted on by

“In a much anticipated move, the US Sentencing Commission last Friday voted unanimously to retroactively apply previously approved reductions in federal sentencing guidelines to federal drug war prisoners already serving their sentences. The move means more than 46,000 federal prisoners will be able to apply for sentence reductions.  The move is the latest in an effort by the Sentencing Commission to reduce the excesses of drug sentencing resulting from harsh laws passed mostly in the 1980s. It comes as the federal prison population continues to expand, even as state prison populations have begun to shrink following the enactment of sentencing reforms at the state level.”

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/jul/23/sentencing_commission_cuts_46000

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

House Votes to Let Banks Take Deposits from Marijuana Businesses

Posted on by

“In an historic vote Wednesday, the US House has approved an amendment to the Treasury Department appropriations bill barring the agency from spending any money to punish financial institutions that provide services to marijuana businesses in states where it is legal.  This is the second time in less than two months that the House has voted to roll back marijuana law enforcement. In May, the House passed an amendment prohibiting the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from undermining state medical marijuana laws and passed two amendments prohibiting the DEA from interfering with state hemp laws.”

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2014/jul/16/house_votes_let_banks_take_depos

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

California death penalty ruled unconstitutional

Posted on by

“A federal judge declared California’s death penalty unconstitutional Wednesday, saying delays of 25 years or more in deciding appeals and carrying out occasional executions have created an arbitrary and irrational system that serves no legitimate purpose.  The ruling by U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney of Santa Ana was limited to a single case and had no immediate impact on executions statewide, which have been halted by federal courts since 2006 because of multiple problems in lethal injection procedures.  The state has the nation’s largest Death Row, with 748 inmates, and its lowest execution rate, with 13 inmates put to death since 1992.”

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Federal-judge-rules-California-s-death-penalty-5625926.php

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet