SAFER's Mason Tvert has a new piece on The Huffington Post regarding a George W. Bush holdover in the Obama Administration who is trolling for dirt on medical marijuana dispensaries in hopes of undermining the burgeoning medical marijuana industry.

Here's an excerpt, or you can CLICK HERE to read the entire post:

According to an e-mail just unearthed by Complete Colorado, a Bush holdover in the U.S. Drug Czar's office is fishing for information that links crime to the growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado.

The e-mail is addressed to Colorado's chief medical officer, Ned Calonge, at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and it appears to be authored by an Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) research assistant on behalf of former Bush (and current Obama) drug warrior Kevin Sabet.

A great column appeared this week in the News-Press, a popular newspaper in southwest Florida.  An excerpt is below, or you can read the entire piece by clicking HERE:

Alcohol is the most popular recreational drug in the world and the most dangerous with 100,000 people dying annually in America from the direct health effects of drinking.

Alcohol use is also associated with half of all violent crime including vehicular homicide.

Marijuana is the second most popular recreational drug on our planet and the safest. No one has ever died from the effects of smoking weed. No statistics are available for marijuana-related violence because it almost never occurs.

Almost 1 million United States citizens are arrested every year for smoking cannabis and many Americans are serving life sentences for growing this popular weed. The only real risk associated with smoking pot is getting arrested.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy launched a ballot initiative this week that would decriminalize marijuana possession in Miami Beach, Florida.  The group, headed by local attorney and activist Ford Banister, is working closely with SAFER and will be using the campaign to spread the message that marijuana is safer than alcohol and ought to be treated that way. (Find out more about the CSMP and its campaign at www.SensibleFlorida.com or via the CSMP Facebook page.)

As CBS 4 in Miami reported (video below):

If voters approve the amendment, it would make possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor crime, for which state law calls for up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines. Under the proposal, punishment of "personal possession'' would be a $100 fine. The amendment will also increase the discretion of the State Attorney to permit a plea to a civil infraction where appropriate.

That's the second focus of the committee. It is stressing a marijuana is safer than alcohol campaign that asserts marijuana is less addictive, less toxic and less likely to lead to violence than alcohol.

The group, supported in part by a grant from the Miami film studio Rakontur, must collect 4,240 valid signatures by the end of August, to qualify the measure for the November ballot.
 
"We are confident that the progressive and enlightened citizens of Miami Beach will agree that it's time we stop driving people to drink with excessive penalties for the use of a far safer substance," Banister said. "And if they do not yet know how much safer marijuana is than alcohol and the savings garnered by ending a failed policy, we will be working hard to educate them over the course of this campaign."

Stories about the campaign's launch also appeared in the Miami Herald, the Miami New Times, the South Florida Gay News, and on Miami's NBC affiliate.