This is a short post, not so much a legal analysis but an attempt to do a “big picture” moment wherein one puts the situation in context. If there is a legal aspect, it is called “shifting the burden.”  The burden was once upon the proponents of cannabis normalization to justify their position.  It should… Read More Cannabis prohibition was always a mistake and now there is a lot of explaining to do

My colleague Buford Terrell recently posted at his blog, Marijuana Musings and Drug Law Diversions, about the federal government’s options in response to the Colorado and Washington legalization votes.

The Brooklyn Law School chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy hosted me and ACLU lawyer Emma Andersson at its inaugural event, Marijuana Initiatives and Federalism: An Interactive Panel Discussion, on November 19. My thanks go to Adam Scavone, Adam Horowitz and Jacob Englander for inviting me to speak; it was a privilege to participate… Read More Discussion of cannabis law at Brooklyn Law School, November 19

The New York Daily News recently posted an op-ed dismissing as a fraud the proposed medical cannabis law that has languished in the legislature for a decade as other states roar into the future, leaving New York a bumbling blue state backwater. DN’s op-ed essentially and ironically challenged the government to discuss full legalization but… Read More

The recent votes in Washington and Colorado are a big deal. There is one point I wish to make regarding terminology. I found extremely helpful a publication called “After the War on Drugs: Blueprint for Regulation” by Steve Rolles at the UK’s Transform Drug Policy Foundation.  The central concept in this truly innovative document is that… Read More It’s not about "legalizing marijuana"

The DEA and the legal logic of permanent prohibition (© Noah Potter, 2012. Originally published at psychedeliclaw.com on April 19, 2012) The author gratefully acknowledges the conceptual clarity provided by Buford Terrell, who, by identifying Grinspoon v DEA and Gonzales v Oregon, made this article possible.   I. Summary Part II. – Introduction Part III. – The latest attempt… Read More The DEA and the legal logic of permanent prohibition

After writing the original version of the text later published as Madmen Rule You, the subject matter crystallized further in my mind. Cannabis prohibition is a question of an evidentiary standard. The DEA rejects “anecdotal evidence,” i.e. reports by patients that they experience relief, as evidence that there is a medical use for cannabis. In… Read More Only we know the truth about you

Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on May 2 expressing her “strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose… Read More Pelosi statement against dispensary raids in California

According to a recent story in a local paper, on Wednesday February 29 the New York City Council will vote on the resolution I described in a previous post calling upon the state legislature to pass the medical cannabis bill which Assembly Member Richard Gottfried and Senator Thomas Duane (both Manhattan Democrats) have introduced. Gottfried… Read More New York City Council to vote on resolution calling on New York State to pass medical cannabis law

Apparently, this is “Medical Marijuana Week.” I didn’t get the memo but I did see an announcement on the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in NJ site that there will be a protest this coming Thursday outside the Trenton NJ federal building focusing on the DEA’s ruling in July of 2011 that cannabis must stay in… Read More Occupy the DEA – Trenton NJ, Thursday February 16 – while CRC storms the citadel