Good day and welcome to
DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville open thread for Saturday, October 31st. Happy Halloween! We try to get together every weekend to share with everyone what we're all up to in Western North Carolina and beyond. We hope this group and others serve to invigorate us locally and regionally here on Daily Kos, building on the sense of community that's grown through our online engagement.
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Daily Kos fights for a progressive America by empowering its community and allies with information and tools to directly impact the political process.
Please join us in discussion below. As you read this, I'll be performing at a few Halloween events around the area, so please use this as an Open Thread all weekend for anything. The weather is cloudy and cool, perfect for walking the neighborhoods with children. Please join us below for some interesting Asheville area news.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Legal marijuana an hour’s drive from Asheville? Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to do feasibility study
The Cherokee One Feather newspaper reports that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has agreed to launch a feasibility study on the “issues and impacts associated with legalization of cannabis.” Tribal Council approved their resolution during a meeting Thursday.
From the newspaper:
The Resolution was submitted by three EBCI tribal members whom are part of a group known as Common Sense Cannabis including Joseph Owle, Aaron Hogner, and Yona Wade.
“Cannabis is a plant,” said Owle. “As Cherokee people, we know that plants are medicine.”
Several tribal members and members of the Tribal Council stressed that they were simply embarking on a study, and several noted their opposition to the recreational use of marijuana. But it’s clear that the tribe is looking at the possible financial impact some form of legal pot could bringing
Medical marijuana activist Gordon Piland arrested in Asheville, charged with weed possession
Ashvegas reports that Gordon Piland, a 68-year-old Candler resident, was arrested last week and charged with possessing more than 7 pounds of marijuana with the intent to distribute it, according to warrants. (Police calculated that amount based on finding about 30 plants at his home.) Piland has a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday in Buncombe County District Court.
Piland is a long-time advocate of using marijuana for medical purposes. He was a licensed physician when he was prosecuted for illegally growing 111 marijuana plants on his property on Hatteras Island in 1981. He was found guilty and sentenced to 111 hours in jail, 111 hours of community service and a $1,110 fine, according to an Associated Press story at the time.
Piland’s trial was believed to be the first of its kind involving a physician in the U.S., according to a 1984 news story published by The Sentinel in Winston-Salem. National news outlets picked up Piland’s story, which came to symbolize the push for medical marijuana at the time.
Asheville North Carolina: Governor Expected To Sign Hemp Bill
From Steve Elliott, Hemp News: Farmers in North Carolina may soon be able to enter the booming worldwide industrial hemp market, if and when Gov. Pat McCrory signs Senate Bill 313, which would legalize is cultivation in the state.
SB 313 originally had to do with license plates and registers of deeds -- that is, until an addition from sponsor Sen. Jeff Collins (R-Nash County), who added industrial hemp, reports Kat McReynolds at the Mountain Xpress. Gov. McCrory's signature is the last thing needed after overwhelming approval of the bill in both the North Carolina House (101-7) and Senate 42-2). "From all indications, the governor is going to sign it," said hemp advocate Blake Butler, organizer of Asheville's recent HempX festival. "He's in support of it."
If McCrory signs the bill, an industrial hemp commission will be in charge of managing a statewide pilot program involving commercial growers and researchers. Industrial hemp is used to make thousands of products, from hempseed oil, to rope, to clothing, paper, plastics, and building materials. *UPDATE: The Governor will allow the bill to become law but will not sign it.