(1) Purpose and findings. (a) IN THE INTEREST OF THE EFFICIENT USE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT RESOURCES, ENHANCING REVENUE FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES, AND INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND FIND AND DECLARE THAT THE USE OF MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL FOR PERSONS TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AND TAXED IN A MANNER SIMILAR TO ALCOHOL. (b) IN THE INTEREST OF THE HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY OF OUR CITIZENRY, THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND FURTHER FIND AND DECLARE THAT MARIJUANA SHOULD BE REGULATED IN A MANNER SIMILAR TO ALCOHOL SO THAT: (I) INDIVIDUALS WILL HAVE TO SHOW PROOF OF AGE BEFORE PURCHASING MARIJUANA; (II) SELLING, DISTRIBUTING, OR TRANSFERRING MARIJUANA TO MINORS AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS UNDER THE AGE OF TWENTY-ONE SHALL REMAIN ILLEGAL; (III) DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MARIJUANA SHALL REMAIN ILLEGAL; (IV) LEGITIMATE, TAXPAYING BUSINESS PEOPLE, AND NOT CRIMINAL ACTORS, WILL CONDUCT SALES OF MARIJUANA; AND (V) MARIJUANA SOLD IN THIS STATE WILL BE LABELED AND SUBJECT TO ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS TO ENSURE THAT CONSUMERS ARE INFORMED AND PROTECTED. (c) IN THE INTEREST OF ENACTING RATIONAL POLICIES FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALL VARIATIONS OF THE CANNABIS PLANT, THE PEOPLE OF MARYLAND FURTHER FIND AND DECLARE THAT INDUSTRIAL HEMP SHOULD BE REGULATED SEPARATELY FROM STRAINS OF CANNABIS WITH HIGHER DELTA-9 TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL (THC) CONCENTRATIONS. (d) THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND FURTHER FIND AND DECLARE THAT IT IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE CONSISTENCY AND FAIRNESS IN THE APPLICATION OF THIS SECTION THROUGHOUT THE STATE AND THAT, THEREFORE, THE MATTERS ADDRESSED BY THIS SECTION ARE, EXCEPT AS SPECIFIED HEREIN, MATTERS OF STATEWIDE CONCERN. (2) Definitions. AS USED IN THIS SECTION, UNLESS THE CONTEXT OTHERWISE REQUIRES, (a) “MARYLAND MEDICAL MARIJUANA CODE” MEANS ARTICLE 43.3 OF TITLE 12, MARYLAND REVISED STATUTES. (b) “CONSUMER” MEANS A PERSON TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER WHO PURCHASES MARIJUANA OR MARIJUANA PRODUCTS FOR PERSONAL USE BY PERSONS TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER, BUT NOT FOR RESALE TO OTHERS. (c) “DEPARTMENT” MEANS THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE OR ITS SUCCESSOR AGENCY. (d) “INDUSTRIAL HEMP” MEANS THE PLANT OF THE GENUS CANNABIS AND ANY PART OF SUCH PLANT, WHETHER GROWING OR NOT, WITH A DELTA-9 TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL CONCENTRATION THAT DOES NOT EXCEED THREE-TENTHS PERCENT ON A DRY WEIGHT BASIS. (e) “LOCALITY” MEANS A COUNTY, MUNICIPALITY, OR CITY AND COUNTY. (f) “MARIJUANA” OR “MARIHUANA” MEANS ALL PARTS OF THE PLANT OF THE GENUS CANNABIS WHETHER GROWING OR NOT, THE SEEDS THEREOF, THE RESIN EXTRACTED FROM ANY PART OF THE PLANT, AND EVERY COMPOUND, MANUFACTURE, SALT, DERIVATIVE, MIXTURE, OR PREPARATION OF THE PLANT, ITS SEEDS, OR ITS RESIN, INCLUDING MARIHUANA CONCENTRATE. “MARIJUANA” OR “MARIHUANA” DOES NOT INCLUDE INDUSTRIAL HEMP, NOR DOES IT INCLUDE FIBER PRODUCED FROM THE STALKS, OIL, OR CAKE MADE FROM THE SEEDS OF THE PLANT, STERILIZED SEED OF THE PLANT WHICH IS INCAPABLE OF GERMINATION, OR THE WEIGHT OF ANY OTHER INGREDIENT COMBINED WITH MARIJUANA TO PREPARE TOPICAL OR ORAL ADMINISTRATIONS, FOOD, DRINK, OR OTHER PRODUCT. (g) “MARIJUANA ACCESSORIES” MEANS ANY EQUIPMENT, PRODUCTS, OR MATERIALS OF ANY KIND WHICH ARE USED, INTENDED FOR USE, OR DESIGNED FOR USE IN PLANTING, PROPAGATING, CULTIVATING, GROWING, HARVESTING, COMPOSTING, MANUFACTURING, COMPOUNDING, CONVERTING, PRODUCING, PROCESSING, PREPARING, TESTING, ANALYZING, PACKAGING, REPACKAGING, STORING, VAPORIZING, OR CONTAINING MARIJUANA, OR FOR INGESTING, INHALING, OR OTHERWISE INTRODUCING MARIJUANA INTO THE HUMAN BODY. (h) “MARIJUANA CULTIVATION FACILITY” MEANS AN ENTITY LICENSED TO CULTIVATE, PREPARE, AND PACKAGE MARIJUANA AND SELL MARIJUANA TO RETAIL MARIJUANA STORES, TO MARIJUANA PRODUCT MANUFACTURING FACILITIES, AND TO OTHER MARIJUANA CULTIVATION FACILITIES, BUT NOT TO CONSUMERS. (i) “MARIJUANA ESTABLISHMENT” MEANS A MARIJUANA CULTIVATION FACILITY, A MARIJUANA TESTING FACILITY, A MARIJUANA PRODUCT MANUFACTURING FACILITY, OR A RETAIL MARIJUANA STORE. (j) “MARIJUANA PRODUCT MANUFACTURING FACILITY” MEANS AN ENTITY LICENSED TO PURCHASE MARIJUANA; MANUFACTURE, PREPARE, AND PACKAGE MARIJUANA PRODUCTS; AND SELL MARIJUANA AND MARIJUANA PRODUCTS TO OTHER MARIJUANA PRODUCT MANUFACTURING FACILITIES AND TO RETAIL MARIJUANA STORES, BUT NOT TO CONSUMERS. (k) “MARIJUANA PRODUCTS” MEANS CONCENTRATED MARIJUANA PRODUCTS AND MARIJUANA PRODUCTS THAT ARE COMPRISED OF MARIJUANA AND OTHER INGREDIENTS AND ARE INTENDED FOR USE OR CONSUMPTION, SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, EDIBLE PRODUCTS, OINTMENTS, AND TINCTURES. (l) “MARIJUANA TESTING FACILITY” MEANS AN ENTITY LICENSED TO ANALYZE AND CERTIFY THE SAFETY AND POTENCY OF MARIJUANA. (m) “MEDICAL MARIJUANA CENTER” MEA...

The United States Congress has become the most ineffective and least popular public organization in the American political system. Compromise and cooperation has given way to partisanship, divineness, gridlock, greed, and undue influence from corporations and wealthy donors. As a result, a June 2013 Gallop survey nearly 8 in 10 Americans disapprove the way Congress is handling its job, and 9 in 10 have no confidence in Congress. We Americans say enough is enough! We support amending the constitution to add the following PEOPLE’S BILL OF RIGHTS to restore responsible government and to make Congress effective again: 1. Congressional members will not receive any compensation for year if a budget is not signed into law by the beginning of the fiscal year and the budget deficit for the preceding fiscal year exceeded 2% of GDP. Moreover Congressional pay will increase at the same annual rate as Social Security increases. 2. All contracts, agreements and obligations with past or present Congressional members are void effective January 1, 2014. The American people did not make these contracts with Congressional members. Rather these members voted for these perks for themselves. All compensation and benefits for serving in Congress end when you leave Congress. 3. All past, present and future members of Congress are subject to all laws, regulations and programs that apply to the general public, and they are prohibited from enacting any legislation that provides any special health care plans, benefits, retirement plans, exemptions or privileges beyond what applies to all other Americans. As well all existing programs, benefits, compensation, or retirement plans that do not meet this requirement are immediately declared null, void and unconstitutional. 4. Congressional primary elections will be open to all voters regardless of political affiliation, and the top 2 vote earners will move on to the general election. 5. Each member of Congress shall serve for a maximum of 2 terms in each chamber of Congress, or for 12 years, whichever is shorter. This shall become effective immediately and all historical time spent in Congress is counted towards this limit. 6. America is a republic, and the cornerstone of a republic is the ability to vote. Any American citizen that registered to vote and presents a driver’s license, voter ID card, student identification card, letter, utility bill, or other piece of evidence that shows their name and address will be allowed to vote and that vote must be counted. States may not enact any additional restrictions and requirements that in any way restrict or limit voting, including limiting or restricting voter registration, and they must issue voter ID cards for free. 7. States must provide early voting by mail or online to all voters in its state, and these ballots must be sent out at least a month in advance of the election. In addition States must provide geographically dispersed opportunities for all citizens to vote in person for at least two weeks prior to the general election, with polls open for at least four weekend days and during 6-9 PM during the two week period. 8. To prevent political district gerrymandering, all political districts shall be created in such a manner so that they are comprised of only entire counties and no more than 1 partial county in the district, and all counties must be adjoining. Furthermore, no more than 1 congressional district in a county can extend into a neighboring county. 9. Any organization, entity, corporation or other group whose primary purpose is to influence politicians or raise awareness about political issues to Americans that are being considered by or being voted on by Congress is ineligible to qualify for any local, state or federal sales, property or income tax exemptions or preferential benefits not available to all other entities, corporations, or groups. Moreover donations, contributions, or other payments made to these groups may not be taken as a tax deduction. 10. The historical practice of requiring a super majority to pass a bill in the Senate is hereby ended, and all bills will pass on a simple majority vote.

Here are 20 recent ideas from CAP’s (Center for American Progress) policy teams to create middle-class jobs and promote an economy that works for everyone. Many of these ideas build on the ideas presented in our "Meeting the Jobs Challenge" initiative launched in 2009... it's now 2013 and we could STILL use these ideas and should be hearing Congress bring about jobs bills incorporating some of these initiatives. Let's get a new jobs bill conversation started! Sign this petition if you think this conversation seems to have slipped out of the crosshairs of Congress. Sign this petition to let our leaders know this is not an issue to be put aside. Sign this petition to let the elected officals now - job creation is an issue to address now! 20 ways to create jobs 1. Upgrade our nation’s roads, bridges, and other basic infrastructure: 18,000 new jobs for every $1 billion invested. 2. Launch a rehab-to-rent program to turn tens of thousands of government-owned foreclosed homes into affordable rental housing, stabilize neighborhoods, and put construction workers back on the job: 20,000 new jobs a year. 3. Implement new EPA rules governing toxic emissions from power plants: 40,000 new direct jobs. 4. Protect health care reform, which will reduce health insurance premiums, expand coverage, and create jobs: 250,000 to 400,000 new jobs a year for the next decade. 5. Retrofit for energy efficiency just 40 percent of the nation’s residential and commercial building stock and unleash massive demand for domestic labor: more than 625,000 new jobs over a decade. 6. Extend emergency unemployment benefits to long-term unemployed workers hurt by the economic downturn: more than 700,000 jobs. 7. Expand the payroll tax cut for employees and extend it to employers through 2012: more than 1 million jobs. 8. Extend national service programs to provide young people with full-time positions in AmeriCorps, VISTA, YouthBuild, and the youth service and conservation corps: 60,000 new jobs. 9. Pass Home Star, Building Star, and Rural Star legislation to make homes and buildings energy efficient while supporting the hard-hit construction industry: 250,000 new jobs a year. 10. Reduce the nation’s dropout rate by half to add $9.6 billion in economic growth and $713 million in increased tax revenue: 54,000 new jobs. 11. Convert offshore wind power to electricity: 20 direct jobs for each megawatt produced in the United States. 12. Protect funding for community health centers over the next five years to provide health and related services at clinics and in the local business communities: 300,000 new jobs. 13. Protect the National Park Service from budget cuts, corporate interests, and antigovernment rhetoric to support jobs in outdoor recreation across the country: 247,000 jobs. 14. Increase freight rail capital investment: 7,800 direct and indirect jobs for every $1 billion invested. 15. Create a $10 billion trial-employment program with potential to help an estimated 1 million small businesses and startups hire long-term unemployed workers: 2 million new job opportunities. 16. Construct new power transmission lines to reshape our electric transmission grid and create new employment: Generating 20 percent of power with wind can create more than 500,000 jobs. 17. Expand the federal “jobs accelerator” program: Just $200 million in funding could result in 1,800 new businesses employing thousands of workers. 18. Reject a federal proposal to mandate employer use of the E-Verify eligibility verification system and protect 770,000 American jobs. 19. Revamp small-business financial assistance programs to better serve the needs of innovative, high-growth potential startup firms. 20. Create a “common application” for federal programs that foster the growth of small businesses.

Children and young people are among the most impacted by the climate crisis but given the least say in the matter! In 2019, 12 countries signed the Intergovernmental Declaration on Children, Youth and Climate Action (the “Declaration”), a pioneering commitment to accelerate inclusive, child and youth-centred climate policies and action at national and global levels. But since then, only 3 more nations had become signatories with only one G20 member, Mexico among the 15 UN member states which had made the Declaration. As Earth goes into climate emergency whilst we embark on the UN Decade on Ecosystem Regeneration to resuscitate her, it is ever more urgent and more critical for "...the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it", to be united and inclusive to avoid intragenerational confrontations. Therefore it is imperative for those in power to recognise and mobilise the enormous capacity of children and youth to be mighty agents of change by consistently considering the latter’s specific needs, rights and perspectives in climate policies and action at all levels. The Declaration represents an opportunity for UN member states which are not yet signatories to commit to the adoption of a comprehensive framework to rectify the widespread omission of children and youth from climate policies, strategies and plans across different tiers of government. Furthermore, signing the Declaration would not be yet another futile act of paying lip service to the rhetoric of putting children and youth at the heart of climate action and of investing in practical solutions that protect them from the effects of climate change. Rather, adopting the Declaration would provide a strong legal foundation for children and youth to initiate court actions if required to challenge any dereliction of duties by governments in their decision-making process to uphold their pledge to implement the Declaration. In short, by signing the Declaration, UN member states will transform children and youth from toothless tigers with no voting right to vigorous watchkeepers with teeth to hold governments accountable to their commitments. This powerful legal implication may well be a major reason for governments’ hesitation in making the Declaration. Therefore, please sign this petition to press your national government to sign the Declaration now! We are all children and youth once with plenty of passion and ideals to offer for a better world with a brighter future. Let children and youth be empowered to contribute alongside their seniors in humanity’s rescue of Earth. We have already squandered 30 years, there is simply no more time for mankind to be divided and conquered by this climate emergency due to finger-pointing and infighting between younger and older members of this last generation who can ensure the survival of our future generations. “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation” to quote Mahatma Gandhi. Please sign this petition as your personal testimony of operationalising this beautiful saying by Gandhi. The Declaration is available at UNICEF’s webpage with the URL of https://www.unicef.org/environment-and-climate-change/climate-declaration#signatories for your reference. Signing this petition is only the first step in this campaign. The next step is to invite members of your personal network to sign this petition. The final step is to invite your electoral representatives and leaders of your local governments, to sign this petition. The objective of this campaign is to focus first on securing all G20 countries as signatories to create a ripple effect so that eventually all UN member states will sign the Declaration by the end of 2022. Please feel free to start an online petition for each of the non-G20 countries which have not signed the Declaration. The photo used for this online petition can be downloaded at https://bit.ly/DTSEPetitionPhoto for your online petition campaign. Lastly, Diet to Save Earth invites you to also sign the open letter of YOUNGO (the Youth Constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which calls for the adoption of the Declaration, at Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative’s webpage with the URL of https://www.childrenvironment.org/sign-declaration. Thank you for your support of this campaign. Let’s put our Earth where our mouth is!

DEAR GOVERNOR JOHN W. HICKENLOOPER  An abandoned gas line that had never been disconnected from a nearby well was at the root of a deadly home explosion in Firestone, CO on April 17. Two people died in the gas explosion and another in critical condition. This tragedy could have been prevented. The lives of Colorado citizens and the environment are still in imminent and grave danger due to you allowing the development and operation of oil and gas wells in occupied neighborhoods, elementary schools, playgrounds, public spaces, rivers, hospitals all across Colorado.

Genocide isn't funny. We demand a direct, public and immediate apology not only from the show's producers, but also from CBS for their decision to air a tasteless joke about Srebrenica, a Bosnian and Herzegovinian town in which a genocide was committed. Srebrenica is a painful topic for all Bosnians, and we deserve more than to let genocide and our pain be the butt of a TV joke.

Use your Sept. 7 speech at the University of Illinois in Urbana to call for ending the biblically-catastrophic U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen.

Tell the Orange County Board of Education why you want a public Waldorf charter school in Ocean View School District (Huntington Beach) next year.

Education, Sanitation, Regulation, Requirements, Higher Expectations for your furry friends

I’d like to voice opposition and concern regarding Rezoning Petition 2017-159 in Historic Wesley Heights. This petition is not appropriate for our neighborhood, sets an unequivocally bad precedent for further rezoning requests, and puts our small historic district in jeopardy. Please OPPOSE Rezoning Petition 2017-159.