NORML 2009 Aspen Legal Seminar

Aspen Colorado is located 200 miles west of Denver and the long drive allows you (if your no the one stuck driving) time to fully soak in Gods natural beauty as you climb to over 8000 feet. I have lived in Colorado over 30 years and it is sad to say that i haven't really explored this great state and now that i have been to Aspen I will return.

I have never been to a National NORML conference or event of any sort and I guess i could say that it wasn't at all what I had expected. So many cool people, so much valuable information being thrust upon you and then there was the Ganja! OH MY GOD the Ganja! Blueberry, Sour Diesel, Strawberry Cough, Ice Cream and even some Love Potion Number 9 are only a few i can remember. Everybody was always trying to one up each others strain. Keeping up with the Jones. It was great. I wish that i had a camera with me but i didn't but no sweat there were plenty present and as soon as i find some i will put them on.

Here are a few things that I found interesting and maybe so will you.

High Hopes and Modest Expectations: Drug Law Reform under
President Obama and a Democratic Congress
by Jeralyn E. Merritt, Esq, Denver, CO

A Few Goals:

* Hold President Obama to his promise to end DEA raids on medical marijuana
patients

* Facilitate medical marijuana research

* Introduce legislation removing criminal penalties for minor marijuana offenses

* End Crack-Powder Disparities

* End Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Offenses, particularly those
based on quantity

* No new anti-gang legislation

* Stop over- funding the war on drugs

Federal Marijuana Legislation Bills that Died Last Year

* H.R. 5842: Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-5842

The bill would have ended marijuana's classification as a Schedule I drug and
allowed doctors to prescribe it for medical use. Additionally, this bill would have protected medical marijuana patients who use marijuana legally under state law
from arrest and jail. H.R. 5842 was introduced on April 17, 2008 by Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.)and co-sponsored by Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas)along with 22 other representatives.

On April 17, 2008, it was referred to the
House Subcommittee on Health, where it died.

Transfers marijuana from schedule I to schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. Provides that no provision of the Controlled Substances Act or the Federal Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act shall prohibit or otherwise restrict, in a state in which marijuana may, under state law, be prescribed or recommended by a physician for medical use:(1) a physician from prescribing or recommending marijuana for medical use;(2) an individual from obtaining, possessing, transporting, manufacturing, or using marijuana in accordance with such a prescription or recommendation;(3) an individual authorized under state law to do so from obtaining, possessing, transporting, or manufacturing marijuana on an authorized patent's behalf;(4) a pharmacy or other entity authorized to do so from obtaining, possessing, or distributing marijuana to such patients; or (5) an entity established by such a state or local government thereof to do so from producing, possessing, or distributing marijuana for such a prescription or recommendation.

Denver's own Sec. 38-175. Possession or consumption of marijuana.

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of twenty-one (21) to possess one (1) ounce or less of marijuana. If such person is under the age of eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the offense, no jail sentence shall be imposed and any fine imposed may be supplanted by treatment as required by the court.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to openly and publicly display or consume one (1) ounce or less of marijuana. If such person is under the age of eighteen (18) years of age at the time of the offense, no jail sentence shall be imposed and the fine may be supplanted by treatment as required by the court.

(c) For the purposes of this section, the term "marijuana" or "marijuana" shall mean and include all parts of the plant CANNABIS SATIVA L., whether growing or not, (AND HERE IS THE LOOP HOLE. The state only says that the Sativa plant is illieagil but the Indica Plant is not! The lawyers are working this angle but not really having any luck it sounds like.) The seeds thereof, the resin extracted from any part of such plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such plant, its seeds, or its resins. It does not include fiber produced from the stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination, if these items exist apart from any other item defined as "marijuana" in this section. "Marijuana" does not mean or include marijuana concentrate as defined in this section.

(d) For the purposes of this section, the term "marijuana concentrate" shall mean hashish, tetrahydrocannabinol, or any alkaloid, salt, derivative, preparation, compound, or mixture, whether natural or synthesized, of tetrahydrocannabinol.
(Ord. No. 645-97, § 1, 9-29-97; Ord. No. 618-05, § 2, 8-9-05, elec. 11-1-05)