To The next Level - Marijuana regulation in the us - Sub - Eng, bul, hun, spa, ser, rom, pol, por, rus

Essentially it's an E-Cigarette. This is part of what we're seeing as sort of the evolution of cannabis distribution. It's making it's rounds in some of the dispensaries in California. Like with other vaporizers, you're vaporizing cannabis not smoking it, so you eleminate the harmful side effects. It's essentially a pocket-vaporizer, In this case it's a kind of hash oil, it heats it below the point of combustion. This unit uses a propylene-glycol as a delivery device and works with these replaceable cartidges, so you just buy these cartidges here. They come in different strains, and then you can travel witht this, take it with you on the go. This is much more palatable to the general public than a joint. TO THE NEXT LEVEL: Marijuana Regulation in the US It's 15 years now since Proposition 215 passed. The emergence and development of really the first legal cannabis distribution model in the US. We're starting to see, in California at least, local jurisdictions that have started to regulate medical cannabis dispensaries (MCDs) and medical cannabis cultivation. Here in the US, almost a million people now are legal medical marijuana patients. 16 states reprepsenting almost 30% of the population have legalizied medical marijuana. Among (these) states, the states have enacted pretty widespread regualtion. It's in Colorado, the state of Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, those states where they have statewide regulations, You've seen the emergence of 'best practice' model dispensaries, like HArborside Health Center in Oakland California, Berkeley Patient's Group in Berkeley, California, Peace and Medicine in Sebastapol, a dispensary like SPARC in San Francisco, some people call the 'apple store' of dispensaries, it's beautiful and modern. All these are very patinet-focused, very community oriented, running a non-profit way. One thing I like about the medical cannabis system in California, is that patients don't have an enormous amount of time to wait before they sign up for the program and before they are able to attain their medicine. Many states still have this large gap of patients not having access to their medicine. Sometimes up to 6 months to a year ... The quality of MCDs seems to be very far-ranging from really sort of rinky-***, almost intimidating-type establishments ... all the way up to SPARC or Harborside up in the Bay Area, which is big and beautiful and light and welcoming and a place of healing, that gives money back to the communities. I think that that is very much a product of California's failure to regulate the dispensary industry. Jurisdictions that have really good regulations, tend to have really good dispensaries. There were great expectations before Obama came to power that he would change drug policies in the US. What would you say now, are you satisfied with what he has achieved? It's really been a mixed bag. Especially over the past 10 months, really, things have taken a turn for the worst. US Attorneys, who are the prosecutors at the federal level in the US, have sent letters to state officials and they may have been told that in some cases, that even state employees could be prosecuted for helping to carry out these laws. There have been other threats, more directly to landlords and business owners, saying that if they don't close down the shops, they could be prosecuted. Obama, who seemed so encouraging in his first year, when he made good on his commitments for changing drug policy in a reformist direction, he seems to have just 'dropped the ball.' And he's let federal law enforcement authorities, prosecutors, district attorneys, basically run rampant over state's rights and individual rights. We feel very betrayed by this administration because we thought that President Obama, who WE helped to elect in this country, we feel like he's turned his back on us. What happens is that the old drug enforcement bureaucracy, the prohibitionist-enforcement complex, essentially keeps doing what it's always been doing, You know, you don't turn around this ocean-liner of the war on drugs in one easy step. It takes time to move it around, and right now, there's a real failure of leadership coming out of Washington DC in this area. The more professional that these operations become, the more entrenched they become in the fabric of the economy of the states and of society. That then becomes very very difficult for the federal government ot shut down, because then you don't just have the cannabis people saying, "Hey! Go away!" You've got the credit card processors and the banks and the insurance companies. Currently today, there is a $1.7 billion dollar market for legal cannabis in the US, so this cannabis sold legally through dispensaries, in states where medical cannabis is legal. Over half of that right now is out of California. To put that in perspective, that's about as much as the overall sales of ***, which is one of the top selling prescription medications in the US. They're already generating hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes in California on the legal cannabis businesses, if we were able to tax a nonmedical market, you could safely assume it would be in the billions of dollars. When the federal government comes in to try and crack-down on things, They tend to look at those states whihc don't have the statewide regulation. So California deciding now, "Let's focus on getting our ducks in order," "Our place in order on medical marijuana regulation," that may be the smart next step. And meanwhile, let's plan on a legalization initiative, not in 1012 probably, but in 2016. In 2010 in California, they had an inititive on the ballot to make marijuana legal for all adults, that was Prop 19. And it was a solid campaign, it was well run. They had the right messaging, they talked about the need to tax and regulate marijuana instead of having it sold on the criminal market, and they got 46.5 % , which was a very good showing in a non-presidential election year. Non-presidential election years, typically in American politics, the highest turnout is amongst the oldest voters. Young voters don't really turnout in non-presidential elections. And it was also a Republican wave-year election ... even amidst that climate, we still wound upo getting very close to 50% support. People think in California, that last year with Prop 19, basically we won, even though we lost. Getting 46.5% of the vote, getting more votes for legalizing marijuana than either of the Republican candidates for Governor or Senate. it transfromed the national and even international dialogue. Both Colorado and Washington are exploring the possibility of making marijuana legal for all adults through ballot initiatives. In both states, signatures are being collected now, and most likely the initiatives will be on the ballot next November. Right now in Colorado, a majority of people favor legalization, it's not a particularly strong majority, somewhere between 51% and 55% of people in Colorado support legalization. Do you find any arguments whihc are particularly strong in convincing people? In our research, the strongest arguments in favor of legalization are Tax and Regulate argument that talks about regulating marijuana and taxing it and using that money to fund essential services in the state, Second, enforcing marijuana laws uses up police resources that could be better used taking on violent crime. We just need to help people understand that marijuana isn't as bad as people say it is, that the harms are not as great as they say, and that in terms of kids, we'll actually be better off if we can regulate marijuana and have it sold in stores where they will card and label and do all those things that they do with alcohol. They can't stop us! We're not deterred, we're not going away ... because we're going to win! Even the Republicans who ran in the election last time for Governor and Senator, they don't want to be actively opposing marijuana law reform or even marijuana legalization, because they know that a significant number of young voters, including those who lean Republican, care about this issue a lot! if you are in a high-stress job, and you come home from work in the evenings and you use a little bit of cannabis as your way to unwind and relax from the stress of the day you're not really using recreationally, you're enhancing your wellness. There are those of us that take all sorts of medicines, substances, herbal remedies, not to treat an illness, but to enhance our wellness. We need to move to a system of regulated distribution for nonmedical use. I don't think we get there without being able to demonstrate that cannabis can be distributed in a way that is socially responsible, ethically responsible, professional. Transcribed and Subtitled by Hunter Holliman