Global Ganja Report

A wave of marijuana law reform is sweeping the US, with initiatives to legalize medicinal use in the forefront, and the traditionally staid East Coast starting to catch up with western states. A medical marijuana bill is gaining ground in New York's state legislature, with lawmakers touting the additional revenues it could bring from licensing fees for growers and dispensers. (WXXI, Rochester, March 23)

The US Senate Judiciary Committee on March 11 unanimously approved a bill to reduce sentencing disparities for powder and crack cocaine offenses. The Fair Sentencing Act, introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), is intended to bridge the gap between crack and powder cocaine sentencing by amending the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act.

The DEA is said to be preparing a new crackdown on khat, the mildly psychoactive leaf grown in Yemen and the Horn of Africa, in response to a boom in domestic demand as more Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants arrive in the US. In a joint raid with local police, US Customs and Border Patrol intercepted a 22-pound package of the leaf in Wisconsin's La Crosse County March 13. It was apparently bound for the Twin Cities area. (La Crosse Tribune, March 13)

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) March 9 denounced efforts by the UN International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) as it met in Vienna to meddle in United States marijuana law reform efforts. In a recent report, the INCB said it was "deeply concerned" that 14 state medical marijuana laws are sending the "wrong message to other countries."

For the third time in ten years, New York City has agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit over illegal strip searches of thousands of nonviolent prisoners. The settlement, announced March 22, provides $33 million to the roughly 100,000 people who were strip-searched after being charged with misdemeanors and taken to Rikers Island and other city jails.

Two Los Angeles police officers spoke out March 17 against a medical cannabis law for Hawaii in testimony before a Hawaii Medical Marijuana Summit held in Wailuku, Maui. "It's so bad in LA," said Sgt. Eric Bixler of the LAPD Narcotics Division. He said law enforcement officials there deal daily with what he called the effects of California's Proposition 215, including people driving while smoking, and teens buying cannabis at medicinal dispensaries to resell on the street.

Trevor Douglas, 25, of Avon, Colo., was convicted of cannabis possession March 9, despite his claims that the plant is a crucial part of his spiritual practice and deserves First Amendment protection. Douglas told the court he uses cannabis as a religious sacrament, similar to the use of bread and wine in Catholic Holy Communion.

Alaska State Troopers are investigating a 15-plant cannabis grow discovered off Tower Circle in Seward on March 20. The local Peninsula Clarion reports March 25 that no one has been charged in the grow operation. "If you think something is connected and put the information out there that we're looking, the other people may go underground," state police spokesperson Peters said. "They could burn the evidence." Troopers apparently discovered the Tower Circle grow by following their noses. "Due to aromatic nature of the marijuana, a trooper was able to smell it during one of the contacts with the residence, and they went back later to verify," Peters said.