Top 10 Marijuana Stories Of 2011

2011 was a big year for MaryJane. The Huffington Post has compiled a list of this year’s advances and setbacks in the medical marijuana policy. Check out the list after the jump!

Wendy L.

1. Patient Advocates Sue Over Medical Pot Crackdown
Medical marijuana advocates in October sued the federal government in response to prosecutors’ crackdown on medical pot establishments in the California. In the pending lawsuit, Americans for Safe Access, the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy organization, argued that the Department of Justice had overstepped its constitutional authority in policing local medical marijuana laws within the state.

2.Legalizing Marijuana Receives 50 Percent Support
Fifty percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana, according to a Gallup poll. That’s a record high, up from just 36 percent in 2006.

The past two decades have seen a marked shift in public opinion on the issue. Asked in 1970 if they thought the drug should be made legal, only 12 percent of respondents agreed. That number rose to 28 percent by the late 1970s, dipped slightly lower in the 1980s and then rose to 36 percent in 2006.

Support spiked in the past five years, with 40 percent of respondents favoring legalization in 2009. The number has now jumped another 10 percent, according to Gallup’s annual crime survey conducted Oct. 6 to 9, with majorities of men, liberals and 18- to 29-year-olds currently supporting the legalization of cannabis.

3. Crackdown Forces California Pot Shops To Close
After U.S. attorneys in California announced a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, hundreds of the state’s pot clinics closed up shop.

Three of the best-known dispensaries in San Francisco were forced to close. And the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the state’s oldest medical marijuana dispensary, shut its doors. The shop had been operating since 1996, the year California legalized medical marijuana.

4. Governors Urge Feds To Reclassify Marijuana
In November, Govs. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Chris Gregoire of Washington (above) called on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which would allow it to be dispensed for medicinal use.

The governors’ move marked just the latest development in a larger struggle to protect medical marijuana shops operating under state laws from the threat posed by federal law enforcers. Rhode Island and Washington are two of 16 states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana, but that in recent months have faced ramped-up enforcement actions from federal prosecutors.

5.Pot-Related Arrests Near Record High
The FBI’s annual Uniform Crime Report revealed that in 2010 police made 853,838 arrests for pot-related crimes (or more than half of drug arrests nationwide). The total is among the highest numbers of marijuana-related arrests ever reported by the bureau.

6. Study Finds Pot Helps Reduce Chronic Pain
A study from the University of California-San Francisco concluded that medical marijuana, combined with certain opiates, could be a safe and effective treatment for patients with chronic pain. Published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the study found that patients who use cannabinoids inhaled through a vaporizer, combined with long-acting morphine or long-acting oxycodone, experienced a greater reduction in pain than those who used opiates alone.

Researchers said the study implies that patients may be able to get away with taking lower doses of opiates for longer periods of time if they take them in conjunction with vaporized cannabis.

7. White House Rejects Petitions To Legalize Marijuana
The White House in October rejected several marijuana legalization petitions, despite significant public support. One such petition called on the federal government to stop interfering with state marijuana legalization efforts.

“As a former police chief, I recognize we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem,” wrote Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. “We also recognize that legalizing marijuana would not provide the answer to any of the health, social, youth education, criminal justice, and community quality of life challenges associated with drug use.”

Kerlikowske’s statement came in response to a petition submitted by retired Baltimore narcotics officer Neill Franklin through the White House’s “We The People” project, an effort to allow ordinary Americans to gain the attention of policymakers through an online portal at the White House website. Any petition garnering 5,000 signatures within 30 days of submission is guaranteed a response from the White House. Franklin’s petition received more than 17,000.

8. Lawmakers Propose Ending Federal Bar Against Pot
In June, Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) (above) and Ron Paul (R-Texas) — both of whom are retiring next year — introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2011 to eliminate the marijuana bar at the federal level. The bill, which is the first legislation since 1937 to call for legalizing cannabis, awaits congressional action.

9. Delaware Legalizes Medical Marijuana
Delaware passed a bill stating that, with a doctor’s written recommendation, patients with certain chronic or debilitating conditions may possess up to six ounces of marijuana. Gov. Jack Markell signed it into law in May, making Delaware the 16th state to legalize the drug for medical use.

10. Connecticut Decriminalizes Marijuana
Connecticut reduced possession of a half-ounce or less of pot from a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by jail time, to a non-criminal infraction, punishable by a $150 fine. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Dan Malloy in July, making Connecticut the 14th state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot.

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