Category Archives: marijuana

DEA issues regulatory change to speed up marijuana research

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Researching one of the non-intoxicating components of marijuana, cannabidiol (CBD), will now be made easier because of new regulations released today by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. In line with a recommendation that has been endorsed and promoted by national marijuana education and advocacy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), DEA has waived registration requirements for researchers […]

It’s official (still), the marijuana experiment in Colorado has failed

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If there has been any doubt that the legal marijuana policy in Colorado has been a failure, new numbers from US Health and Human Services seal the deal.  The new 2013-2014 report of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that Colorado is now 1st in the nation for past month use of marijuana […]

How marijuana legalization could sink new plan to tackle Maine’s drug abuse crisis

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Republican and Democrat leaders today unveiled their $4.8 Million plan to address the substance abuse epidemic facing the state of Maine.  It is a comprehensive plan that provides additional resources and supports for law enforcement, treatment, prevention, and recovery services.  It includes funding for the 10 new Maine DEA Agents Governor LePage has been requesting […]

Colorado shows that marijuana legalization won’t lead to ‘responsible regulation’

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One of the constant talking points of the pro-marijuana legalization forces is that their movement is about “responsible regulation” and that it would install an industry that would behave responsibly.  However, the latest news out of Colorado seems to suggest states simply don’t have the tools necessary to keep the industry honest.  An investigative report last […]

Marijuana legalization stalls in Ohio

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On this election night, one of several issues Ohioans were voting on was an initiative to legalize marijuana.  The initiative was Issue 3, written and pushed by the legalization group, ResponsibleOhio.  Issue 3 asked Ohio voters if they wanted to legalize marijuana, and set up a 10-grower monopoly.  Issue 3, and more specifically ResponsibleOhio also gave […]

Why Sanders’ support for marijuana undermines his education policy

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Democratic Presidential Candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders has made some waves on the topic of marijuana.  First, in the Democratic Presidential Debate, he said he would vote in favor of legalizing marijuana if it were on the ballot in Vermont.  More recently, he announced that as President, he would push removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances […]

Smart Approaches to Marijuana releases presidential scorecard

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This week Smart Approaches to Marijuana* released a presidential scorecard ranking all of the Republican and Democrat primary candidates according to their policy positions on marijuana. The ranking did not solely focus on the question of legalization, but also examined candidates’ positions on support for prevention and treatment as well as taking a scientific approach to […]

The Big Marijuana takeover of legalization efforts in Maine

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The one area of common ground I had with Paul McCarrier and his group Legalize Maine was that we both agreed that Big Marijuana (aka Marijuana Policy Project; aka Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol) would be bad for Maine.  Certainly, we parted ways on the reasons why we didn’t want Big Marijuana here.  I […]

Maine marijuana summit highlights the failures of marijuana legalization

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In the face of a continued push to legalize marijuana in Maine, a full day, statewide summit on marijuana, “Marijuana in the New Millenium”, was held Wednesday.  This event was planned and coordinated through a collaboration between Bangor Public Health, Healthy Acadia, and their respective community-based substance abuse prevention task forces.  Smart Approaches to Marijuana, […]

What Maine can learn from Colorado’s legalization of marijuana

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A newly released report in Colorado doesn’t give marijuana legalization many positive marks. In fact, it points to a troubling 32-percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths in just one year from 2013, with a 92 percent increase from 2010 to 2014. What’s more, drug-related suspensions and expulsions increased 40 percent between school years 2008-2009 and […]