Tag Archives: marijuana policy

The failed promises of marijuana legalization, cautionary tales for Maine

BDN File

If you’ve been following this column, and my comment section and page visits makes clear many of you are, you know I’ve written extensively about the failure of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington.  Well, this week has seen multiple stories highlighting yet more negative consequences from legalization along with failed promises from legalization advocates. […]

Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol petition drive should be investigated

BDN File

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday to hear of the news that the petition from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol was ruled invalid and would not qualify for the November 2016 ballot. This is great news for communities and public health in Maine.  This result provides some solace that, at least for another election cycle, […]

DEA issues regulatory change to speed up marijuana research

BDN File

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

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 […]

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

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 […]

Gov. Christie has the right equation to address addiction crisis

By now, you probably have seen the now viral video of New Jersey Governor and GOP Presidential candidate Chris Christie talking about the drug abuse crisis.  If you haven’t watched it yet, I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it now before reading the rest of this article: For me, what is […]

Marijuana legalization stalls in Ohio

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

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 […]

The Big Marijuana takeover of legalization efforts in Maine

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

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, […]