Legislation that would legalize and tax the recreational use of marijuana in Maine now has 35 co-sponsors in the state legislature.

“Support for changing our marijuana laws is growing as more and more elected officials realize it makes no sense to maintain a system of prohibition for a substance that is objectively less harmful than alcohol,” David Boyer, Maine political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement. “Maine can and should take a more sensible approach to marijuana policy, and we are glad to see so many legislators agree.”

The 28 Democrats, 3 Republicans, 1 Independent, and 2 tribal representatives who are co-sponsoring the bill represent a major shift from 2012, when similar legislation gained little support.


The bill, introduced by Rep. Diane Russell (D), would allow those over 21 years of age to purchase marijuana from state-licensed stores. Individuals could legally possess up to 2.5 ounces of the drug and grow up to six marijuana plants. The legislation reflects the state’s current medical marijuana laws, with the major exception being that anyone — not just those with a serious illness — would have access to the drug.

If the Maine legislature approves the bill, it would go to a statewide referendum in 2014.

Voters in Washington state and Colorado approved similar measures in November 2012.

“Sometimes bills have to percolate before they really resonate,” Russell told Raw Story in February. “When Colorado and Washington decided to regulate marijuana like alcohol, a real snowball came at me. I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal, but in the end it’s become a real culture shift, and that shift has really happened across the country.”

Along with Maine, the Marijuana Policy Project expects to see strong marijuana legalization efforts in Oregon and California.

We tend to mythologize the dead; and perhaps that's fair with politicians who've passed, since we use them for rhetorical target practice when they are stumping the earth.

But regardless of the intended spirit, today is a very special day for the memory of my friendly acquaintance and sometimes political rival, Gatewood Galbraith.

On the surface, the two of us could not have looked any more different -- my buttoned-down, over-dressed-to-try-to-look-my-age appearance was a stark contrast to his rugged and ragged hippie/cowboy mien. And the communitarian ethos of my attempt at being an auteur, The Compassionate Community, was a diametric challenge to the in-your-face libertarianism of his autobiographical The Last Free Man in America.

But as we campaigned against each other in the 2007 Kentucky gubernatorial primary, Gatewood and I learned we shared a very deep bond: a mutual frustration with politics-as-usual, especially with the hyper-partisan, broken-down political system within which both of us had given much of our lives.

So when he died suddenly last year, I decided to honor his memory by taking another look at his pet cause -- the issue that drove him the most passionately -- the campaign for which he endured decades of public ridicule -- the stance that probably ensured that he would never hold public office: The legalization of marijuana, and of its distant cousin, industrial hemp.

It didn't take me long to realize that Gatewood was right: Legalizing pot not only made strong economic sense for our poor state, I believed that it was a moral imperative. I shared my views in my hometown paper and The Huffington Post; and upon publication, learned that most of my friends had agreed with Gatewood, and just had been too embarrassed to admit it.

While a few states have marched quickly down the legalization path in recent years, I realize that my conservative old Kentucky home will probably lag the national trend by several years, if not the full 20 as per Mark Twain's famous description of the Bluegrass State.

But I had hope for hemp. It was a matter of clear and convincing logic that the non-narcotic crop that was grown by Henry Clay -- Kentucky's second most famous 19th Century native -- could ultimately boost a farm economy struggling due to the incredibly shrinking global demand for tobacco. So I used my digital platform to advocate for hemp legalization.

I soon learned of a whole new group of unlikely allies. Hemp was not simply the pet cause of many of my tree-hugging, peace-seeking friends on the left, I learned that it was also a special focus of many libertarian, liberty-loving Tea Party activists on the right.

Kentucky's Agriculture Commissioner Jamie Comer grabbed hold of this motley coalition, and asked me to join him on his newly-invigorated Industrial Hemp Commission. Together, a group that would likely find strong disagreement on any number of hot-button issues, drafted a bill that would establish an administrative and law enforcement structure for hemp growers should the crop be legalized at the federal level. Critically, it would empower Kentucky to jump to the front of the line and establish itself as the national leader on the crop once expected federal approval was granted.

I have to admit, I didn't expect Senate Bill 50 to pass early on. Another unlikely coalition, composed of law enforcement officials and members of both the Democratic and Republican establishments, joined their voices in strong opposition. When Comer and I debated law enforcement on statewide television, I knew in my mind that our positions were persuasive, but my heart warned me that the political opposition was too strong to surmount this quickly.

I had recognized that Comer was a comer -- and as a conservative Republican bucking law enforcement, I realized that he had the courage and chutzpah that define my personal definition of leadership. But I had underestimated Comer's political shepherding skills.

Within weeks, half of Kentucky's federal delegation had endorsed the bill: Sen. Rand Paul was an early and strong supporter; but surprisingly, liberal Democrat Congressman John Yarmuth soon was joined by his usual nemesis, GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell, in common cause. Then in a few short months, Comer united most Frankfort Republicans -- many of whom had been previously opposed or on the fence -- to support Senate Bill 50, and it flew through the GOP-held Senate. A few weeks later, a coalition of hemp-supporting Democrats, including Sen. Robin Webb and Rep. Tom McKee, helped squash objections to push the bill, almost unanimously, through a House committee.

As the General Assembly slogged towards the conclusion of its business, however, Senate Bill 50 appeared to be gasping through its last throes; indeed, the bill was pronounced dead on about a half dozen occasions. Ultimately, it was another leader with real backbone, Democratic House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, who offered persistent resuscitation. And at a late night meeting between Adkins, Comer and Senate bill sponsor Paul Hornback -- with just about 60 minutes before the General Assembly would be closed for the year for business -- a compromise was hammered out. It was one of those bi-partisan, problem-solving moments that we dream about in our No Labels grassroots movement, an all-too-rare moment when good policy trumps hyper-partisanship. The kind of moment at which Gatewood Galbraith would have simply shaken his head and smiled his famous crooked grin.

In the coming months, I look forward to joining Comer and our congressional delegation as we meet with key policymakers in Washington to try to secure either a waiver for Kentucky to grow hemp, if not full federal legalization for the crop.

But as I do, I will be mindful of the critical role that the late, great Gatewood Galbraith played in plowing the ground for this moment. Too many of us laughed at him when he made the case for hemp decades ago. Today, I imagine him laughing down at the rest of us, as his vision is on the verge of finally being realized.

An industrial hemp bill has passed the Kentucky legislature in a move that may return the crop to the state. The legislation, Senate Bill 50, previously passed the state’s Senate.

If the bill is signed by Kentucky’s Democratic Governor Steve Beshear, it would allow the state to license hemp growers should the federal government ever lift its ban on the crop.


House Majority Floor Leader Rocky Adkins (D-Cattlesburg) stated of the hemp bill:

“We have, in my opinion, put together a strong bill. We will be on the cutting edge and be ready to hit the ground running.”

The measure passed the House by a vote of 88-4 on Tuesday night. Minutes later, the Senate passed the bill 35-1. Beshear has not said whether or not he will sign the bill.

Hemp was once an integral part of Kentucky’s agriculture generations ago. However, farmers were forced out of hemp production when the federal government classified it as a controlled substance related to marijuana. Since then, it has been banned.

The idea of industrial hemp growing was taboo after the ban. However, it has become increasingly popular among Kentucky’s elected leaders in the past few years.

The legislation was initially pushed by Senate Republicans, who were joined by members of the US Congress from the state. However, House Democrats initially frowned on the idea.


Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/593804/industrial-hemp-bill-passes-kentucky-legislature/#Hq8547a2P8U1rDtd.99 ]

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When eight former DEA chiefs signed a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this month, demanding that the feds crack down on Washington and Colorado, the states which voted last November to legalize marijuana, there was more than just drug-war ideology at stake. There was money.

Two of the elder drug warriors, Peter Bensinger (DEA chief, 1976–1981) and Robert DuPont (White House drug chief, 1973–1977), run a corporate drug-testing business. Their employee-assistance company, Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, the sixth largest in the nation, holds the pee stick for some 10 million employees around the US. Their clients have included the biggest players in industry and government: Kraft Foods, American Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, the Federal Aviation Administration and even the Justice Department itself.

“These are not just old drug war architects pushing a drug war model they’ve pushed for 40 years,” says Brian Vicente, a Denver lawyer and co-author of Colorado’s Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use. “These guys are asking Eric Holder to pursue prohibition policies that line their own pockets.”

Bensinger and DuPont both deny money is their motive. “It’s true we might benefit from keeping marijuana illegal,” says DuPont. But he argues it's equally true that marijuana legalization could benefit his bottom line, putting forth the old drug-war line that legalization would create more users. “The more success legalization has, the better it is for our business because they are creating a problem for employers,” he says. “That would be smart for us.” DuPont also points out that only 15% of their business is made up of training employers to detect the warning signs of drug and alcohol abuse and supplying third-party testing. But both men are involved in industry-controlled lobbying groups like the Drug & Alcohol Industry Testing Association, which backed the Drug Testing Integrity Act of 2008, outlawing products that help people beat drug tests and keeping their business healthy.

By inserting themselves into the legal-pot debate, Bensinger, DuPont and other drug warriors benefit by promoting their own legacies and bolstering their own business, lobbying and consulting interests—even in the face of an increasingly skeptical public. A 2011 Gallup survey showed that half of Americans favor legalizing weed. “This letter that they signed is their attempt to once again become relevant within the public policy debate that has largely turned its back on such archaic viewpoints,” says Paul Armentano, deputy director of the pro-marijuana nonprofit, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

“These guys are asking Eric Holder to pursue prohibition policies that line their own pockets,” says Brian Vicente.

The time-honored revolving door between government and business swings fast and often. It can be straightforward, like the appointment of banking behemoth Goldman Sachs' alumni as economic policymakers by recent presidential administrations. But when it comes to the drug war, the family tree is more like a thicket of interests among law enforcement, federal and state prisons, pharmaceutical giants, drug testers and drug treatment programs—all with an economic stake in keeping pot illegal.

Bensinger and DuPont are longtime allies of the marijuana prohibition group that sent the letter to Holder, Save Our Society from Drugs (SOS), which was founded by Mel Sembler, a Florida shopping-mall magnate, and his wife, Betty. The Semblers also founded Straight Inc.—a drug-treatment program that used sleep deprivation, beatings and psychological abuse to treat 10,000 teenage patients, in nine states, from 1976 to 1993, at $1,400 a month plus a $1,600 per patient evaluation fee, raking in millions. Straight was shut down after investigations in state after state corroborated the hundreds of complaints. But the Semblers, longtime major Republican Party fundraisers, retain their influence as behind-the-scenes bankrollers of the anti-drug faction.

The department of the White House drug czar, otherwise known as the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), is another arm of the government’s war on drugs that can be lucrative to incumbents. Andrea Barthwell, MD, former deputy drug czar during President George W. Bush’s first term and his point person against medical marijuana, has earned a living both treating drug addicts and lobbying against policies that weaken marijuana laws—and cut into her own bottom line.

As a past president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)—a group that opposes medical marijuana, and whose members’ business model could be threatened by legalized marijuana, since two-thirds of its clientele are court-ordered pot users trying to avoid jail time—Barthwell has been one of its fiercest attack dogs. In ASAM campaigns against Oregon and Illinois’ medical marijuana initiatives, she called those who favor medical marijuana “cruel” and “snake oil salesman.” She denounces this pain-relief and anti-nausea approach for patients with cancer and AIDS because, she claims, it is unregulated and unproven (the Institute of Medicine declared medical marijuana useful in 2003, and since then many studies, and many more users, attest to its benefits.)

Yet Barthwell was happy to jump from the ONDCP to the payroll of GW Pharmaceutical in 2005, lobbying for the Canadian company’s Sativex—a liquefied marijuana spray, extracted from whole plant cannabis, for the same pain benefits. Even as the American Medical Association and federal lawmakers maintain that pot has no medicinal value, Big Pharma is applying for dozens of cannabis-based new medicines in order to take hold of of the $1.8 billion medical marijuana industry, as NORML’s Paul Armentano pointed out five years ago in the Huffington Post.

Barthwell, like Bensinger and DuPoint, also has a financial stake in the prohibition treatment culture. She is founder and CEO of EMGlobal LLC, parent company of the Chicago-based Two Dreams Outer Banks drug treatment center, and is also a director of Catasys Inc., which provides substance abuse programs and behavioral health management services to companies, health plans and unions—a role for which she received $77,994 in compensation in 2011.