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In October 2010, the marijuana initiative Prop 19 leading in California polls, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder answered a letter from retired heads of the DEA.

“Let me state clearly that the Department of Justice strongly opposes Proposition 19,” Holder wrote, declaring he would “vigorously enforce” federal law if California voters passed the measure, which would have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults over 21 and allowed retail sales of cannabis.

This year, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder notably declined to respond as the retired DEA administrators sent him another anxious letter expressing opposition to marijuana legalization efforts. This time, voters in two states, Washington and Colorado, voted 55 percent to 45 percent to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

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By KRISTEN WYATT, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER — Should marijuana be treated like alcohol? Or should it remain in the same legal category as heroin and the most dangerous drugs? Votes this week by Colorado and Washington to allow adult marijuana possession have prompted what could be a turning point in the nation’s conflicted and confusing war on drugs.

Colorado’s governor and attorney general spoke by phone Friday with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, with no signal whether the U.S. Justice Department would sue to block the marijuana measures. Both states are holding off on plans to regulate and tax the drug while waiting to see whether the Justice Department would assert federal authority over drug law.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Washington’s largest counties dropped all pending misdemeanor cases of marijuana possession Friday in response to that state’s vote to legalize the drug.

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A spokesman for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said during Friday’s talks, state officials asked Holder for the federal government’s response to the marijuana vote but didn’t get one.

The Colorado officials “emphasized the need for the federal government to articulate what its position will be. … Everyone shared a sense of urgency and agreed to continue talking about the issue,” spokesman Eric Brown wrote in an email. No date for further talks was announced, he said.

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Denver attorney Robert Corry told the crowd at the National Marijuana Business Conference that President Barack Obama sent a signal about marijuana when he made a record number of campaign visits to the battleground state this year and never talked about the marijuana vote.

“Silence equals consent. The time for the federal government to talk about marijuana legalization is over. The election has passed,” Corry said to applause from the crowd. “Marijuana got 50,000 more votes than Obama on Tuesday. Don’t think they didn’t notice that.”

But Corry quickly added that the federal marijuana approach will ultimately decide the question.

“Let’s face it: the federal government is a fearsome force. They have the guns, they have the jails, they have the power,” he said.

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Associated Press reporters P. Solomon Banda in Denver, Manuel Valdes in Seattle and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.

Source – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Eighteen legislators ask feds to respect Colorado’s Amendment 64

By Michael Roberts

On Friday, Congresswoman Diana DeGette’s office announced the introduction of the Respect States’ and Citizens’ Rights Act, a bill intended to ensure that federal marijuana laws don’t exempt the Colorado voter-approved Amendment 64 and a similar measure in Washington state. DeGette’s also signed a letter with seventeen fellow legislators asking the Justice Department to respect pot laws in the two states.

See the letter and get more details by reading the whole story

Source – westword.com

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United Nations Moves to Impose International Treaties On States Legalizing Marijuana

Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com November 21, 2012

The United Nations has declared Colorado and Washington in violation of international treaties following ballot initiatives that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

The President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Raymond Yans, has voiced “grave concern about the outcome of recent referenda in the United States of America that would allow the non-medical use of cannabis by adults in the states of Colorado and Washington, and in some cities in the states of Michigan and Vermont,” according to an INCB press release. The INCB is a quasi-judicial “control organ” for the implementation of the United Nations drug conventions.

Mr. Yans said the referenda in Colorado and Washington state “are in violation of the international drug control treaties, and pose a great threat to public health and the well-being of society far beyond those states.” Yans cited the standard nanny-state reasons for dictating what consenting adult Americans put in their bodies, including mental disorders, and cited the welfare of children as a primary concern of the internationalist organization.

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Marijuana legalization is a classic states’ rights and federalist issue. “States should be allowed to make a lot of these decisions,” Rand Paul said earlier this week when asked about marijuana legalization. “I want things to be decided more at a local basis, with more compassion. I think it would make us as Republicans different.”

“I think, for example, we should tell young people, ‘I’m not in favor of you smoking pot, but if you get caught smoking pot, I don’t want to put you in jail for 20 years,’” Paul said.

Fortunately, the tide is slowly turning and many states are finally realizing the War on Drugs is not only grossly unfair, but an immense waste of law enforcement resources and tax payer money.

The United Nations is attempting to insert itself in decisions made by the states and by doing so is acting to perpetuate the War on Drugs. Americans should not only ignore the United Nations and the INCB Secretariat, but the federal government as well when it comes to decisions made by citizens on the local level.

Source – Infowars.com

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BY TIM JOHNSON MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

MEXICO CITY — Bills to legalize marijuana have come before Mexico’s Congress in the past, and sunk almost without debate. But lawmaker Fernando Belaunzaran Mendez thinks this time is different.

When the deputy submitted a proposal Nov. 15 to permit the cultivation, sale and use of marijuana in Mexico, he knew that a regional tail wind might give impetus to lawmakers at least to engage in a debate.

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Outside of Mujica, no sitting president in Latin America calls for legalizing marijuana, although the leaders of Colombia, Costa Rica and Guatemala say the battle against narcotics is wreaking havoc on societies and must be reconsidered.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who launched an all-out battle on drug cartels upon taking office in 2006, which has inflicted a heavy toll in Mexico, voices deepening frustration over the U.S. inability to slash what he says is the $20 billion that flows from the pockets of U.S. users to criminal gangs in his country each year.

Source – theonline.com

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Thiago Silva Tests Positive for Marijuana Metabolites, Gets Suspended 6 Months

By MMA Valor

Coming off a submission win against Stanislav Nedkov in Macao, China, light heavyweight Thiago Silva has test positive for marijuana metabolites. Silva earned submission of the night honors at UFC on FUEL TV 6 with a third round arm triangle choke. His win over Nedkov has been changed to a no contest and Silva was suspended 6 months.

With the event overseas the UFC once again handled the testing and released a statement regarding Thiago Silva earlier today.

Thiago Silva tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his bout at UFC on FUEL TV in Macau. The UFC organization has a strict, consistent policy against the use of any illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs, stimulants or masking agents.

Silva has admitted to taking the banned substance and has agreed to participate in an approved drug-rehabilitation program and serve a six-month suspension retroactive to the November 10 event. He must pass a drug test upon completion of the suspension before receiving clearance to fight again.

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Thiago Silva is the second fighter in the last month and a half to test positive for marijuana metabolites, following Dave Herman at UFC 153.

Source – opposingviews.com

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Hemp advocates tout hemp’s economic potential

By RUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press

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High Times: Are Marijuana Stocks A New Bubble?

Since the legalization of Marijuana in two states in the US, stocks such as Medbox Inc, have soared only to come crashing down. However, valuation levels are still high, is this a bubble?

A (nearly) freely available product has never before become a market commodity overnight. Something which was almost a non-entity to investors for a hundred years is suddenly one of the investment world’s most talked about commodities.

The legalization of Marijuana for recreational use in Washington and Colorado will be an interesting process for many reasons. It’s effects on the stock market, if we are to judge by recent event, will be particularly interesting.

In the weeks immediately following the legalization of marijuana in the two states, the stock price of Medbox Inc (PINK:MDBX) jumped over 3000%, sending its share price from around $6 to a high of $215, and its market cap from $5 million to more than $2 billion.

The jump happened in under a week, after Medbox Inc (PINK:MDBX) was mentioned by both the Wall Street Journal and Marketwatch.com as a possible proxy investment for marijuana. The rise was clearly unjustified, and the company’s stock has since fallen. Today it is trading at around $61. Yet, the valuation at 12,200x book (according to Yahoo finance), is extremely high.

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The market is excited, and justifiably so, because a commodity has just come on the market which is guaranteed to make some people a great deal of money. The demand is there, that much is patent. The question is, which companies will succeed in the market? Medbox Inc (PINK:MDBX) specializes in making marijuana vending machines. That’s not the most lucrative part of the weed business.

Neither of the States which have legalized marijuana have put in place a framework for it to work on a commercial level. The amendments require that they do so within fixed time periods. There are supply issues and taxation issues to consider before even contemplating marijuana investment.

There are several companies, apart from Medbox Inc (PINK:MDBX), which might be considered for a marijuana play. Converted Organics Inc. (PINK:COIN) and GreenGro Technologies, Inc. (PINK:GRNH) both sell products used in industrial production of marijuana.

Source – Value Walk

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