Colorado Becomes First State to End Marijuana Prohibition

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Oklahoma woman serving 12 years for pot case released from prison

[Broken External Image]

Patricia Spottedcrow once faced 12 years in prison, but on the morning she was released on parole, it took less than 20 minutes to walk free.

Spottedcrow had to call a friend to pick her up from Hillside Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City, her mother hadn't even arrived from Kingfisher yet when corrections guards asked Spottedcrow to leave the prison's grounds.

Her friend drove her to a nearby pharmacy parking lot, so she could reunite with her mother, Delita Starr, and her attorney, Laura Deskin.

"Oh, man, this is wonderful!," Spottedcrow said. "I'm so excited I can't take it!"

She was released Thursday morning after completing the community corrections-level portion of her sentence required by Gov. Mary Fallin as a condition of her parole. She entered prison Dec. 22, 2010.

Spottedcrow's 12-year prison sentence for selling $31 worth of marijuana garnered widespread attention after her story was featured in a 2011 Tulsa World series on women in prison.

She was originally handed a 12-year sentence in a blind plea before a judge for selling a "dime bag" of marijuana to a police informant. It was a first-time offense, but because children were in Spottedcrow's home when she was arrested, a charge was added for possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor.

Gov. Fallin agreed in July to approve parole for Spottedcrow upon the unanimous recommendation of the Pardon and Parole Board.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20121129_12_0_OKLAHO612232

 

[HMFIC]

Colorada get's high with a little help from it's friends...

 

[Jim Corrigan]

Oklahoma woman serving 12 years for pot case released from prison

[Broken External Image]

Patricia Spottedcrow once faced 12 years in prison, but on the morning she was released on parole, it took less than 20 minutes to walk free.

Spottedcrow had to call a friend to pick her up from Hillside Community Corrections Center in Oklahoma City, her mother hadn't even arrived from Kingfisher yet when corrections guards asked Spottedcrow to leave the prison's grounds.

Her friend drove her to a nearby pharmacy parking lot, so she could reunite with her mother, Delita Starr, and her attorney, Laura Deskin.

"Oh, man, this is wonderful!," Spottedcrow said. "I'm so excited I can't take it!"

She was released Thursday morning after completing the community corrections-level portion of her sentence required by Gov. Mary Fallin as a condition of her parole. She entered prison Dec. 22, 2010.

Spottedcrow's 12-year prison sentence for selling $31 worth of marijuana garnered widespread attention after her story was featured in a 2011 Tulsa World series on women in prison.

She was originally handed a 12-year sentence in a blind plea before a judge for selling a "dime bag" of marijuana to a police informant. It was a first-time offense, but because children were in Spottedcrow's home when she was arrested, a charge was added for possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor.

Gov. Fallin agreed in July to approve parole for Spottedcrow upon the unanimous recommendation of the Pardon and Parole Board.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20121129_12_0_OKLAHO612232

So glad to hear this, so unfortunate that she was in jail to begin with.

 

[Riley]

Sounds like a 4.1 increase in crime last year along with a 74% increase in murders may have some singing a different tune....

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog...g_to_rise_in_denver_in_the_legal_pot_era.html

Money quote.....

"In 2012, the year before the legalization framework was brought into force, there were 44,338 total reported crimes in Denver. Last year, this number hit 63,816, an increase of nearly 20,000 crimes per year – 44% higher than in the pre-legal pot era."

 

[71buickfreak]

http://crimeinco.cbi.state.co.us/cic2k14/state totals/statewide_offense.html

Overall, crime is significantly down for '14, '15, and '16. and that is according the CBI

http://crimeinco.cbi.state.co.us/cic2k14/state totals/statewide_offense.html

Denver is fairly rough, and while murder is up, violent crime is down overall. The murder thing is due to some gang wars. Probably because they are fighting over turf and other non-weed drug sales. Plus, when the economy is down, crime goes up.

 

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The DEA Will Soon Decide Whether it Will Reschedule Marijuana
April 6, 2016

The Drug Enforcement Administration says it will make a decision in the coming months that could prove to be a watershed moment for the burgeoning legal marijuana industry.

In a memo to lawmakers this week, the DEA announced plans to decide “in the first half of 2016” whether or not it will reschedule marijuana, according to The Washington Post. Cannabis is now listed under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule 1 drug, a categorization it shares with other drugs, such as heroin and LSD, which the U.S. government defines as “the most dangerous drugs” that have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Advocates for marijuana legalization have long argued that the drug should be rescheduled, considering marijuana’s relative safety when compared to a drug like heroin, which caused roughly 11,000 overdose deaths in 2014, according to the National Institutes of Health. The argument for rescheduling marijuana also revolves largely around the drug’s potential for medical use, as 23 states have already legalized medical pot to treat a variety of maladies—from cancer to chronic pain—and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy even admitted last year that “marijuana can be helpful” for certain medical conditions.

http://fortune.com/2016/04/06/dea-decision-marijuana-reschedule/

 

[YukonGlocker]

I think we're on a fairly clear path to nationwide legalization. If the feds don't ensure it, it'll happen state by state.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Sounds like a 4.1 increase in crime last year along with a 74% increase in murders may have some singing a different tune....

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog...g_to_rise_in_denver_in_the_legal_pot_era.html

Money quote.....

"In 2012, the year before the legalization framework was brought into force, there were 44,338 total reported crimes in Denver. Last year, this number hit 63,816, an increase of nearly 20,000 crimes per year – 44% higher than in the pre-legal pot era."

You do realize that American Thinker is the conservative equivalent to Mother Jones, right?

 

[Riley]

Hummm......really?

http://www.motherjones.com/about

" Who owns Mother Jones?
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means we are truly independent and don't report to any stockholders, owners, or corporate conglomerates. We are supported by a diverse set of revenue streams—including subscriptions, newsstand sales, individual donations, foundation support, and advertising—which means that in addition to being editorially independent, we run a stable business.

What is the Foundation for National Progress?
That is the name of the umbrella organization that runs the nonprofit Mother Jones. We also occasionally help support other fledgling nonprofits process their bills. Examples of "fiscally sponsored projects" we have supported include Pop-Up Magazine and Radio Ambulante. "

http://www.americanthinker.com/static/about_us.html

" Staff biographies
Thomas Lifson, editor and publisher, calls himself a recovering academic. After graduating from Kenyon College, he studied modern Japan, sociology, and business as a graduate student at Harvard (three degrees) and joined the faculty at Harvard Business School, where he began the consulting career that was to lead him away from academia. He also taught sociology and East Asian studies at Harvard and held visiting professorships at Columbia University and the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology. As a consultant, he has worked with major companies from the United States, Japan, Europe, Asia, and Australasia at the nexus of human, organizational, and strategic issues.

A Democrat by birth, Thomas became more conservative in adulthood as reality taught him that dreams of perfecting human society always run smack into human nature.

In 2003 he founded American Thinker."

Yep......exactly the same...... yawn.....

 

[RickN]

He meant that Mother Jones is far left and American Thinker is far right.