After nearly a decade in power, Stephen Harper has resigned as leader of the Conservative Party after Canadians voted for change and swept the Liberal Party into power. Exceeding expectations, the Liberal Party secured a clear majority outright, without the need to form a coalition government. Voters in our neighbor […]

Possible Democratic presidential nominee for 2016, Joe Biden, was the principal architect of America’s horribly failed war on drugs, especially marijuana. His drug warrior, anti-marijuana zealotry in devising ever harsher governmental punishments, including prison mandatory minimums, nearly guaranteed prosecutions, and asset forfeitures exceeded even the most authoritarian Republican fanatics, with […]

CNN’s coverage of the first Democratic presidential debate drew both praise and controversy across the political spectrum. Many people felt that Anderson Cooper did a great job asking tough questions of the candidates and sticking to the issues. Others criticized CNN for declaring Hillary Clinton the winner of the debate, […]

Medical marijuana has been gaining more acceptance across the globe as citizens and elected officials have learned about the medicinal benefits of cannabis. Medical marijuana laws have been very successful across the United States as twenty-three states and the nation’s capital have legalized medicinal cannabis. Medical cannabis has been approved from […]

UPDATE: The Canadian Broadcast Company projects a victory for the Liberal Party. More analysis tomorrow on what this means for cannabis legalization in Canada and its impact beyond its borders. From the CBC: Justin Trudeau will be Canada’s next prime minister after leading the Liberal Party to a majority government win, dashing […]

All this week I’ve been writing about Ohio Issue 3, the constitutional amendment vote in just seventeen days to legalize marijuana. But also lurking on the ballot on November 3 is Ohio Issue 2, the so-called “Anti-monopoly amendment” added by the Ohio legislature in a transparent attempt to defeat marijuana […]

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had already won the hearts and minds of many cannabis law reform advocates before the first Democratic presidential debate by stating that he would personally vote “YES” on marijuana legalization and called for reforming our failed War on Drugs. Hillary Clinton provided good answers as well, […]

“The third rail of a nation’s politics is a metaphor for any issue so controversial that it is “charged” and “untouchable”; any politician or public official who dares to broach the subject will invariably suffer politically.” Reforming our marijuana laws and the greater Drug War have often been declared a […]

Millions of Americans tuned into the Democratic presidential debate tonight to hear about the major issues facing our nation. Cannabis law reformers were waiting for the Democrats to discuss marijuana legalization and Anderson Cooper even teased the cannabis question over a commercial break, stating that, “Some of the candidates have tried […]

Cannabis law reform advocates have been spreading the word that Bernie Sanders seems to have the best marijuana and Drug War policy among candidates that have a legitimate shot at winning. Progressive advocates have certainly rallied behind the Vermont Senator while conservative and libertarian counterparts are sticking with Republican candidate […]

It was surprising that a Google Consumer Surveys poll conducted for Independent Journal (IJ.com) showing Senator Bernie Sanders leading Hillary Clinton narrowly, 38.4% to 37.6%, a virtual tie, didn’t get more media attention. Granted, the poll seems like an outlier at the moment as other national polls have had the Democratic frontrunner […]

Marijuana is safer than alcohol has been a prominent battle cry among many cannabis law reformers for years now. Of course, when you base relative harm upon science and facts, clearly marijuana is safer. When you consider addiction, lethal overdose, severe health consequences and link to violent criminal activity, it […]

The data are in from the first year of drug testing people applying for welfare benefits in Tennessee. Like every other state that pursues this policy, they only ended up wasting money and catching only a tiny fraction of the applicants with a failed drug test. Florida pioneered this cruel idea […]

I had the honor of speaking at ReformCA’s Post-Mortem Seminar: 2014 Legalization Elections where I had the opportunity to share lessons learned from Oregon’s Measure 91 campaign. While I touched upon the text of the measure, based upon lessons learned from previous legalization efforts and polling, as well as some […]

During the Measure 91 campaign, economic firm EcoNorthwest projected that the state would bring in $38.5 million in new revenue the first year while the state of Oregon projected a more modest $9 of net revenue. If the first week of sales are any indication, the higher projection by EcoNorthwest […]