Three interesting and encouraging marijuana stories came out today.
Supreme Court Refuses To Overturn Arizona Marijuana Ruling
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has refused to overturn Arizona court rulings ordering the Yuma County sheriff to return marijuana that was seized from a woman with a California medical marijuana authorization honored by Arizona.
The justices' order was issued without comment Monday in the case of Valerie Okun, who had marijuana in her car when a Border Patrol agent stopped her and her husband in Yuma County, Ariz., in 2011. She was charged with marijuana possession crimes, but the charges were dropped when she provided proof she was authorized to possess marijuana under California's medical marijuana program. Arizona's medical marijuana law allows people with authorizations from other states to have marijuana in Arizona.
But the Yuma County sheriff refused to return Okun's marijuana, even after Arizona courts ruled in her favor.
In a town known for it's heavy drinking, now maybe congressional leaders and aides may be able to turn to healthier habits. NPR' blog reports,
D.C. Mayor Signs Bill Decriminalizing Some Marijuana Use,
Washington, D.C., Mayor Vince Gray signed a bill, today, that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
"The bill ... eliminates criminal offenses for the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. Anyone caught with marijuana under that threshold would be charged with a civil offense punishable by a $25 fine.
"Support for the measure built after a 2013 report by the ACLU found that D.C. , and that black residents are eight times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counterparts.
"The bill now goes to Capitol Hill for a . Congress rarely blocks D.C. laws, but in 1998 it did stop the city from implementing a ballot initiative legalizing medical marijuana. If Congress does not formally disapprove the bill, it will take effect by the summer."
Last night, in Researchers find medical marijuana legalization does not increase crime and may decrease it. Researchers from the University of Texas have found no increase in crime in states that have legalized medical marijuana. In fact, it may be "related to reductions in the rates of homicide and assault." Researchers expected to find an increase in crimes related to burglaries of large amounts of cash held at medical marijuana dispensaries which cannot use banks due to federal laws.
Robert G. Morris, Michael TenEyck, J. C. Barnes, and Tomislav V. Kovandzic publishd The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on Crime: Evidence from State Panel Data, 1990-2006 in the peer reviewed journal PLOS one.
The central finding gleaned from the present study was that MML is not predictive of higher crime rates and may be related to reductions in rates of homicide and assault. Interestingly, robbery and burglary rates were unaffected by medicinal marijuana legislation, which runs counter to the claim that dispensaries and grow houses lead to an increase in victimization due to the opportunity structures linked to the amount of drugs and cash that are present. Although, this is in line with prior research suggesting that medical marijuana dispensaries may actually reduce crime in the immediate vicinity [8].
In sum, these findings run counter to arguments suggesting the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes poses a danger to public health in terms of exposure to violent crime and property crimes. To be sure, medical marijuana laws were not found to have a crime exacerbating effect on any of the seven crime types. On the contrary, our findings indicated that MML precedes a reduction in homicide and assault.
...Perhaps the more likely explanation of the current findings is that MML laws reflect behaviors and attitudes that have been established in the local communities. If these attitudes and behaviors reflect a more tolerant approach to one another's personal rights, we are unlikely to expect an increase in crime and might even anticipate a slight reduction in personal crimes.
What the authors appear to saying is that the states that have legalized marijuana are already a classier group of people who are "more tolerant approach to one another's personal rights," to begin with. Also, alcohol use, on the other hand, is associated with an increase in violent behavior, so people substituting marijuana for alcohol seem to engage in less violent acts. Perhaps, if we could get Congressional leaders to switch from alcohol to pot we would have fewer wars?
And, finally, this morning the Arizona Supreme Court refused to overturn an a lower court ruling ordering Arizona police to return medical marijuana taken from a California woman who legally obtained medical marijuana in California and was driving through Arizona, on the grounds that Arizona should respect California law. I will write that up in an update as well.
It's high time we get rid of ridiculous and antiquated marijuana legislation.
Last year, over 800,000 were arrested for marijuana related offenses which is ridiculous. We ought to decriminalize marijuana and end this fiasco. Children and teenagers should not do it because their brains are still developing, with the exception of medical conditions such as seizure disorders.
About 20% of our population apparently will develop addiction issues with whatever they use. These people should be treated with our health care, mental health, and social service systems, not criminal justices systems unless they commit other crimes.