In an amazing coincidence, the same CA government that brought you SB420 to regulate medical marijuana now brings you Proposition 19, bearing the exact same name as the 1972 proposition to legalize marijuana.

I hope you saved your campaign buttons!

Here is a message from Richard Lee:

Friend,

I have some breaking news to share:

The Control & Tax Cannabis initiative was assigned proposition number 19 by the California Secretary of State.

This is a huge moment for our campaign -- and there's no better time than right now to make a contribution. Can you help us keep the momentum going and educate voters about our brand new prop number?

Please contribute $19 or more today to the Yes on 19 campaign -- and help us legalize marijuana in California!

When we officially got our proposition number, it really hit home for me: This campaign is now real. In four months, we'll be on the ballot, and millions of Californians will have the chance to vote to tax and legalize cannabis.

As we approach the election, we've got all the momentum. Whether you look on TV, Facebook, or in your community, it seems more and more folks realize we've got to seize this opportunity to legalize, control, and tax cannabis.

But do they all know yet that they can vote for it -- by voting YES on Prop 19 in November?

Chip in $19 or more today to the Yes on 19 campaign -- and help us educate voters about our new prop number.

I couldn't be more excited about our new prop number. Say it with me: Yes on 19!

http://www.TaxCannabis.org


Related: Richard Lee Wiki

PROP 19 - Today's News:

NAACP Endorses Proposition 19
The California State Conference of the NAACP was scheduled Tuesday to back Prop. 19, the November ballot initiative that would fully legalize marijuana in California, according to a statement from the Drug Policy Alliance.

"We are joining a growing number of medical professionals, labor organizations, law enforcement authorities, local municipalities, and approximately 56% of the public, in saying that it is time to decriminalize the use of marijuana," said Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP state conference.

More Here >>

Hazy pot policy prompts renewed talk about enforcement

Written by Ashley Archibald, The Union Democrat June 28, 2010 05:23 am

Local law enforcement officials and county leaders may finally be forced to clear up hazy policies related to medical marijuana use and distribution in Calaveras County.

The need for a coherent policy, according to medical marijuana advocates and authorities, comes as officials investigate a sting its officers performed on a medical-pot cooperative, a dispensary opens in Valley Springs, and a new sheriff prepares to take office.
Helping spur current debate was the January arrest of a medical-marijuana collective member Jay Smith, 36, of San Andreas, in the parking lot of a San Andreas Subway restaurant.
Medical-marijuana proponents claim Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department deputies crossed legal boundaries in setting up Smith for arrest.
According to testimony from Smith’s preliminary hearing, Deputy Steve Avila used a medical marijuana prescription — called a “recommendation” — taken from another man in an unrelated arrest to join Smith’s collective and buy marijuana.
A second Calaveras County deputy, Robert Huffman, then posed as the patient during a sting operation which resulted in Smith’s arrest.
The recommendation belonged to Robert Shaffer, of Ione. Deputies used Shaffer’s name and medical recommendation with one small change — Avila altered Shaffer’s date of birth by one digit.
He then called Smith at the K Care Alternative Collective, a medical marijuana collective based in San Andreas.
According to Avila’s testimony, he sent Shaffer’s medical information to Smith via the collective’s Web site in December 2009 and asked to join the collective.
Smith demurred until Shaffer’s identity could be verified through his doctor.
Two weeks later, Avila recontacted Smith to check on the status of his request. Smith, having verified Shaffer’s identity, agreed to sell the undercover deputy an ounce of “White Widow” marijuana for $270.
The sale occurred in the Subway parking lot. Deputy Huffman posed as Shaffer and initialed documents Smith brought that made him a member of the collective.
It wasn’t until money exchanged hands that Huffman executed what Avila referred to in his testimony as “the takedown signal.”
Undercover officers swarmed Smith, and arrested him on drug sales charges.
Since the arrest, the real Robert Shaffer has filed complaints with the Calaveras Grand Jury and California Attorney General’s Office.


More at the Union Democrat>>

Calaveras deputies' ethics questioned

By Dana M. Nichols

Stockton Record Staff Writer

June 09, 2010 12:00 AM

SAN ANDREAS - Jay Smith says Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana and is doing so using unethical means.

Smith operates K Care Collective, a medical marijuana vendor. He and several others involved in medical marijuana pleaded for help this week from the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.

Smith was arrested Jan. 4 on drug transportation and sales charges in the Valley Oaks Center parking lot in Valley Springs. He told supervisors he was tricked by a deputy who stole the identity of Robert Shaffer, a medical marijuana user from Ione.

Shaffer tells the same story, and says Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department violated his privacy by using the document in the sting operation.

"I also fear my identity is being used in another of Avila's illegal ruses," Shaffer told the supervisors.

Dr. Philip A. Denney of Carmichael, who issued Shaffer's medical marijuana recommendation, said his office received a call from Smith, and that his staff confirmed that Shaffer had a valid medical marijuana recommendation, not knowing that someone else was using Shaffer's identity.

"It just smacks of entrapment and sleaziness to me. I think the cops have better things to do," Denney said. "It was completely deceptive, because they never did talk to me. They did not have Mr. Shaffer's authorization for any of this."

Full Story >>

Sheriff Dennis Downum said after Smith's appearance before the supervisors that the Sheriff's Department has no beef with legitimate medical marijuana users who follow the law.

"For you to provide medical marijuana to someone, there has to be a caregiver relationship," Downum said. "You are totally outside the guidelines when you are meeting somebody in a parking lot and selling them drugs."

Note by Calaveras Cannabis: The above statement by Sheriff Downum is completely inaccurate and at odds with the Attorney General's guidelines and existing case law.

Hopefully Sheriff Kuntz gains a little more insight on this subject.

With Majorities Supporting CA's Marijuana Legalization Initiative, Victory Is in Grasp

Drug War Chronicle / By Phillip S. Smith at Alternet >>

Less than six months from election day, the CA initiative to legalize marijuana has the support of half the voters, according to two polls.

May 26, 2010 |

According to two different polls released last Wednesday, the Tax Cannabis California marijuana legalization initiative is ahead but not by much, making the path to victory in November a rough one. Both polls show the initiative winning, but just barely, and both polls show the initiative hovering around 50% support. On the other hand, polling also shows remarkably high support for the concept of marijuana legalization in some form -- especially when the word legalization is not used.

In an internal campaign poll, when voters read either the ballot measure's title or the attorney general's summary of it -- all voters will see when they cast their votes -- the initiative garners 51% and 52%, respectively, with opposition at 40%. In a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll, 49% approved of the initiative, while 48% opposed it.

The standard wisdom among initiative veterans is that campaigns should begin with support around 60%. They argue that once a campaign begins, opponents will find ways to shave off percentage points, and if you are starting with only half the voters on your side, losing any support means you lose.

With such a tight margin, expect both proponents and opponents to be energized in the six months between now and the November vote. Initiative organizers have to be concerned with the narrowness of their lead, especially given that attacks on the whole notion of pot legalization in general and on specific provisions of the initiative will only mount between now and then.

Drug War Chronicle / By Phillip S. Smith at Alternet >>

Oaksterdam U Goes Union

Chris Roberts at SF Appeal - Full Story >>

Though we've never been in one ourselves, we gather that joining a union isn't all it's cracked up to be: you have to pay dues, hold signs outside of drug stores, and often run afoul of politicians and mainstream media when the going gets tough. But union membership can also be a strategic masterstroke, and a magic pill to salve bad news. This appears to be the case for "cannabis college" Oaksterdam University, where organized labor and the burgeoning marijuana industry are converging for - we believe - the very first time.

Last week it was revealed that Tax Cannabis 2010 - the ballot measure and brainchild of Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee - was polling at a dangerously marginal 50 percent. But that was without the pledged support of organized labor, which is now on Oaksterdam's side after 100 employees at the cannabis-centered business - which includes a cannabis dispensary and a plant nursery as well cultivation classes - turned in their union cards and joined Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, school and union officials confirmed Wednesday.

What's this mean for labor, and for the medical cannabis movement? It means at least in the eyes of union organizers, medical marijuana is legitimate and it's not going away any time soon (and any cannabis business would, of course, grow exponentially should adult recreational use be approved). UFCW won a major coup by securing the first-of-its-kind arrangement with Oaksterdam, which now can boast of connections and political clout it couldn't just last week.

"It's a very big deal," said Mike Henneberry, communications director for Local 5's Hayward office, the local shop for Oaksterdam, who said Oaksterdam's newly-minted union members turned in their cards about three weeks ago, at a ceremony oversaw by Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan.

More at SF Appeal>>

LA Times Related Story: Workers at 3 Oakland marijuana businesses unionize>>

SLO Settles Medical MJ Lawsuit for $20,000

By Nick Wilson

Full Story

A Los Osos woman has received $20,000 from the county after her medical marijuana was improperly destroyed by the Sheriff’s Department, her attorney said Tuesday.

San Luis Obispo lawyer Louis Koory said that his client, Kimberley Anne Marshall, 46, of Los Osos, filed a claim against the county after deputy sheriffs searched her home based on a probation search for her son.

Koory stated that deputies located the 18-month supply of marijuana in a locked closet and seized it; they later destroyed it after the District Attorney’s Office decided not to prosecute the case.

Marshall suffers from hepatitis, and back and lumbar injuries, Koory said. She’s qualified by state law to have up to six pounds of medical cannabis, he said.

The settlement amount represents the dollar amount for the roughly six pounds of medical marijuana that his client had, Koory said.

The sheriff received an order from Superior Court Judge Dodie Harman to destroy the cannabis, but Koory said Marshall had a constitutional right to recover her property.

Federal law prohibits possession of marijuana, while state law allows it for qualified recipients who use it for medical purposes.

“The sheriff destroyed the property while aware that no criminal charges would be filed and that (Marshall) had a physician’s recommendation for medical cannabis,” Koory wrote.

The Sheriff’s Department has yet to review the settlement offer and has asked for a review of the case, said Rob Bryn, the department’s public information representative.

Even so, the $20,000 was paid to Marshall on Monday, Koory said.

Alaska's Example: cirtually Legal Marijuana for 35 years

Warning, hope for state in Alaska pot protection

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

If Californians want a glimpse of how the landscape might look should a November ballot initiative to legalize marijuana pass, they could turn north.

They would see complication. And a cautionary lesson. And maybe hope for those who want pot smoking legitimized.

For 35 years, it's been virtually legal in Alaska, with its fiercely frontier mentality, to smoke marijuana at home and grow small amounts there - currently up to 1 ounce - just as proposed in California's Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act.

It's the most liberal pot policy in the nation, made that way under a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court ruling that said that what a person does in his home is protected under an unusually strong privacy provision in the state's Constitution.

Both sides look to Alaska

Californian advocates point to Alaska as proof that pot can be legal for recreational use with no catastrophic consequences to society. Opponents counter that the state has long had one of the highest substance abuse rates in the nation.

"Alaska's been a big social laboratory for 30 years, and we've shown that there has been no big crime surge because of marijuana use in the home," said Bill Parker, 65, one of the founders of Alaskans for Rational Marijuana Policy, a group formed this month to push for full legalization of pot.

"I think it's a great example for California."

A former state legislator and a retired deputy state prison commissioner, Parker said he regularly smokes marijuana. But his group's argument for stripping away the core remaining regulations against pot in Alaska goes further than simple enjoyment.

Snipped from SF Chronicle>>

A look back at Hemp History Week

Let U.S. farmers grow hemp! This is the battle cry of those who recognize the value and history of hemp and lament the fact that domestic farmers have been unable to legally grow it for over 50 years. In an effort to change this, Vote Hemp and the Hemp Industries Association have announced May 17-23, 2010, as Hemp History Week, a time when patriotic Americans are encouraged to anchor and organize events in their hometown as part of a national grassroots, media and public education campaign about hemp.

Contrary to popular belief, hemp is not marijuana. At least not Cannabis sativa L., the kind that has been grown worldwide for food and industrial purposes for thousands of years. A look back at American history reveals that hemp was also widely grown and used by early Americans.

To set the record straight, cannabis sativa L. has no drug value. Its seed contains no tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana. Cannabis sativa L. will not cause a person who consumes it to test positive on a drug test. It is a completely different plant than the marijuana plant.

As far as functionality, there are literally thousands of uses for hemp. Its seed and oil are powerful superfoods and its fiber is useful in a host of various textile applications. For example, hemp is used to make clothing and paper, and is also used in composite door paneling, fiberboard and concrete foundations.

For food, hemp seeds are a rich source of highly-digestible essential fatty acids (EFAs), or omega-3s. In fact, they contain a perfectly balanced omega-6/omega-3 ratio of 1:3, which many believe is perfect for the human body. Hemp seeds have a nutty flavor similar to that of pine nuts, and they can be used in all sorts of food applications.

Hemp oil is delicious and nutritious as well. Unlike flax and fish oil, hemp oil is rich in Super Omega-3 Stearidonic Acid (SDA) and Super Omega-6 Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) which together help to reduce inflammation and improve mental functionality. These also assist in improving the metabolization of necessary fatty acids.

As opposed to cotton, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of the world's pesticide use in order to grow it, hemp requires no pesticides or agricultural chemicals in order to thrive. It is an entirely non-toxic, renewable resource that actually helps to suppress weeds and regenerate soil naturally. It is a favorite among farmers who use it as a rotation crop.

Back in the early days of America's founding, hemp was a commonly grown and used resource. America's hemp heritage includes the following little-known facts...

More at Natural News>>

Latest Poll: 49% Favor Legalization

49% of California voters back legalizing pot, poll finds

With 48% opposed, legalization effort faces a difficult challenge, pollster says.

May 20, 2010|By John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

Californians likely to vote in November are evenly split over whether to legalize marijuana, with only a small percentage of the electorate still undecided about the controversial issue, according to a poll conducted last week by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

The poll, which surveyed 1,168 likely voters, found that 49% think marijuana use should be made legal, 48% do not and 3% do not know, suggesting that the proponents of the legalization measure will have to wage an expensive and persuasive campaign.

Mark Baldassare, the institute's president and pollster, said the results show the legalization campaign faces serious challenges: "It's always hard to start out when you're not even at 50%."

The Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign, which sponsored the initiative, also released a poll Wednesday that found a similar level of support for the measure among registered voters, but with a much higher percentage undecided. Conducted earlier this month by an independent firm, the survey showed 51% of 800 voters support the initiative, while 40% oppose it and 9% are undecided.

"All the polls continue to show that voters remain interested in replacing a failed policy with a more honest, commonsense solution," said Dan Newman, a campaign spokesman.

More at LA Times>>

Marc Emery - Prince of Pot - On U.S. Soil

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's Prince of Pot, Marc Emery was extradited Thursday morning to the United States for selling marijuana seeds by mail to U.S. customers.

Emery, 51, has allegedly been selling marijuana seeds over the internet and shipping them to the U.S since 1994. He was arrested in 2005 after Canadian and American authorities found that he was distributing seeds to the U.S. and was associated with illegal growing operations in multiple states including Indiana, California, Florida and New Jersey

Emery is facing a plea-bargained five-year prison term. He will appear in court Monday in a change of plea hearing.

Vancouver Sun >>

Protests Organized by Cannabis Culture >>