In a sad turn of events for medial marijuana backers, a federal jury found a 46-year-old  California man guilty of distributing pot through his dispensary.

Although it’s legal to sell pot according to the state laws of California (and 12 other states), it remains a federal offense to do so.

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Drug Policy

takepart by checking out the Takepart wiki on Drug Policy multimedia

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Addiction to Marijuana

takepart by checking out the TakePart wiki on Addiction to Marijuana multimedia

Rep. Barney Frank announced a proposal (HR 5843) to stop federal penalties for carrying fewer than almost a quarter-pound of marijuana (100 grams) today. A Democrat from Massachusetts, Frank stated that

“The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business, I don’t think it is the government’s business to tell you how to spend your leisure time.”

The key behind a lot of this policy is not to promote drug use, but to stop arrests - which as Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, and Barbara Lee, D-California pointed out, usually only target people of color.

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Sudan Leader Charged with Genocide: What Are the Reactions? by Wendy Cohen

Inconvenient Truth of the Day: Al Gore Speaks on Climate Change by Joshua Tremblay

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Nicole Hughes:

“Farms in the Sky” a Solution to Global Food Crisis?

Wal-Mart Launches Eco-Bling Project

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Andy Kondrat:

NYC To Bring in 300 Hybrid Taxis Per Month

Coolio To Educate Students On Climate Change

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Jon Popham:

Pickens’ Plan for Energy Independence

On “Rent” Closing, the East Village, and Gentrification

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Gina Telaroli:

Batman Morals: Top 5 Lessons from the Capped Crusader’s Films

Emmy Nominations Kick “The Wire” to the Curb

“Rent” the Broadway musical portraying the bohemian life in NYC’s East Village in the early 1990’s is closing this September. This passing in the cultural life of the city and an article in today’s New York Times examining the changes that have occurred in New York City since the times the show was set in have me reflecting on my own tenure in the Big Apple.

I should start by saying I never saw “Rent“. I’m not much for musicals and in fact have never seen a single one since I moved to New York in 1994 for college. But what I’ve shared with Jonathan Larson’s bohemian epic is a neighborhood: the East Village. A neighborhood that has constantly changed since my arrival in New York City at a speed I never dreamed possible for a piece of land. The East Village intimately introduced me to gentrification, a force that has been a constant throughout my adult life, and a fitting associate, seeing how I fast realized after moving into the area that I was a gentrifier.

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