[420 Girl]

The Boston Globe reported on Saturday that the vote in Massachusetts last week that should lead to decriminalizing possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana has created a "high hope" among advocates for that decriminalization on a federal level. It is expected that the snack-food industry supports such a change.

A failed bill that Massachusetts congressperson Barney Frank introduced last spring would have precluded a federal prosecution for possessing no more than 3.5 ounces of marijuana anyplace in the United States. Supporters of this bill hope that it is reintroduced and passes in a political climate in which Barack Obama is president and the democrats control Congress.

It is important to note that the bill would still allow a state to treat that possession as a crime under state law. This would be consistent with the federal law, which would clearly state that provision.

Frank has stated that he does not foresee reintroducing the legislation any time soon. Despite this, the near certainty that the new Massachusetts law will not lead to the Boston Common smelling like the field where Woodstock was held can only help the cause of folks who want the legal right to walk around with small amounts of marijuana.

The Globe reported that current federal law provides for fining someone up up to $1,000 and sentencing him or her to one year in prison for a first conviction for possessing marijuana. This article did not specify the relationship between the amount of marijuana with which someone is caught and the penalty that is imposed.

I shared this information both as follow-up to my entry on this topic last week and because it shows that one political victory can lead to another; same-sex marriage, which was also a topic last week, is generally another good example of this despite the distressing setbacks in California and other states.

The point is that landlords and other businesspeople should take advantage of an iron being hot to strike regarding laws that they want changed. Rental property registration laws and requirements regarding employing and renting homes to people who were not born in the United States are among the many legal issues that concern business owners.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...me-future.html