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4/20 Celebrated By Obama, Makes Weed Legal? Critical Interview Announcement
http://www.inquisitr.com/2025874/420-celebrated-by-obama-makes-weed-legal-critical-interview-announcement/
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Light up! 4/20 is America's Cannabis Holiday
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april202015/4-20-cannabis-holiday.php
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Federal Bill Would Legalize CBD Nationwide
Folks suffering from seizure disorders all across the United States could soon have access to medical marijuana. Earlier this week, a piece of legislation with bipartisan support was introduced in the House of Representatives that aims to legalize cannabidiol or CBD, which has been shown effective in calming the severity of a number of medical conditions.
The proposal, aptly deemed the Compassionate Access Act, was submitted by Congressman Morgan Griffith, a Republican from Virginia, and Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon on Tuesday, in hopes of reforming federal statutes surrounding the plant. The primary goal of the bill is to get the Drug Enforcement Administration to downgrade marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II drug, and in doing so, allow the medical community more flexibility to prescribe and dispense the medicine without risking the wrath of federal prosecution.
Similar to the CARERS Act, which is currently gaining some support in both chambers of Congress, the latest proposal would also completely remove cannabidiol from the Controlled Substances Act, and allow CBD oil to be prescribed and distributed in states that have established medical marijuana programs.
“There are countless reports of marijuana’s medicinal benefits in treating conditions including cancer, epilepsy, and glaucoma,” Griffith said in a statement. “It is time to research this further, and, where legal, to allow real doctors and real pharmacists to prescribe or dispense marijuana for legitimate medical reasons for real patients.”
Interestingly, the bill has managed to garner the support of two influential medical societies, the Epilepsy Foundation and the American Academy of Neurology, both of which want to make cannabis available to patients suffering from debilitating disorders, while also eliminating the federal barriers that prevent them from conducting research.
Congressman Blumenauer claims there are enough people currently benefiting from medicinal cannabis to lend support to the argument of rescheduling marijuana and removing certain compounds from the government’s list of dangerous drugs.
“Well over one million patients are currently benefiting from the medical use of marijuana in consultation with a physician and in accordance with state law” he said. “Yet, all forms of marijuana use remain illegal at the federal level, classified as severely as heroin under the Controlled Substances Act. This makes no sense.”
http://www.hightimes.com/read/federal-bill-would-legalize-cbd-nationwide
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Obama Signals Support For Changing Course In Federal War On Medical Marijuana
In an interview that will air for the first time this weekend as part of CNN's latest installment of its medical marijuana documentary series "WEED 3," President Barack Obama signals support for medical marijuana and for rolling back the federal government's war on drugs.
CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, a vocal supporter of the legalization of medical marijuana, asks Obama in the documentary if he supports the goals of a historic Senate bill introduced in March that seeks to make several major changes in federal law, including drastically reducing the federal government's ability to crack down on state-legal medical marijuana programs, encouraging more research into the plant and reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
"You know, I think I'd have to take a look at the details," Obama began in response, "but I'm on record as saying that not only do I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology on this issue, but I'm also on record as saying that the more we treat some of these issues related to drug abuse from a public health model and not just from an incarceration model, the better off we're going to be."
Obama went on to use current tobacco policies as an example of a model the United States could employ to move away from its punitive approach to drug users.
"One of the great victories of this country has been our ability to reduce incidences of smoking, increase the incidences of seat belt use," Obama said. "You know, we save tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives every single year. We didn't throw anybody in jail; we just made sure that they were well-informed and if somebody has an addiction, we made sure that we made it easy for them to get help. And I think we need to re-emphasize that approach, because we don't want to encourage our kids to engage in drug use, but there are going to be more effective ways than, too often, the approach we're taking today."
The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world -- housing 25 percent of the globe's prisoners, but only 5 percent of the total world population. That figure has been boosted by often harsh and lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug possession or distribution crimes. According to research from the Sentencing Project, a prison sentencing reform group, there were around 40,000 drug offenders in U.S. prisons in 1980, but by 2011, that number dramatically increased to more than 500,000.
Obama's comments to Gupta echo sentiments he voiced in February backing the removal of criminal penalties for nonviolent drug offenders.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a co-sponsor of the Senate bill Gupta was referencing, also sat down with Gupta in CNN's new documentary and slammed the federal government's marijuana laws as hypocritical.
"We now have had three presidents that have admitted to smoking marijuana," Booker said. "People that are in public office all throughout the Senate have said, 'Hey, I've smoked marijuana recreationally.' How much of a hypocrite do you have to be to say that I broke American laws using pot as a recreational thing and that I'm not going to support this idea that as a medicine for severely sick people, that they shouldn't be able to access this drug?”
Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Huffington Post that U.S. tobacco policies could be effectively applied to marijuana nationally.
"I’d agree with President Obama that we should look at how we've reduced cigarette smoking rates to historic lows, and apply those same tools to marijuana," Riffle said. "That would require moving marijuana out of the Controlled Substances Act’s list of schedules altogether, just like tobacco, and instead using taxes, honest education and sensible regulations. That’s what’s working in Colorado now, and what every major poll shows the majority of Americans are ready to do."
Under the Controlled Substances Act, or CSA, the U.S. has five categories for drugs and drug ingredients. Schedule I is reserved for what the Drug Enforcement Administration considers to be the "most dangerous" drugs without currently accepted medical value. Marijuana has been classified as Schedule I for decades, alongside substances like heroin and LSD.
Riffle says the medical marijuana protections bill introduced in the Senate last month is a "great" bill, but also explained that he's critical of one provision that only moves marijuana to Schedule II -- the same schedule as cocaine and methamphetamine.
"That’s obviously not the appropriate category, and moving it there wouldn’t address bigger obstacles to research, like the DEA and NIDA’s control over the supply of marijuana available to researchers which the bill does separately," Rifle said.
To date, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and 13 others have legalized the use of limited marijuana extracts for certain conditions. Multiple studies have shown a range of potential medical benefits, suggesting marijuana combats aggressive cancer, slows the spread of HIV and stunts the progression of Alzheimer's disease.
Recent polls suggest a vast majority of Americans approve of legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, medical marijuana.
CNN's "WEED 3: The Marijuana Revolution" premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. EST.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/obama-medical-marijuana_n_7088594.html
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Report Predicts Boom in Bitcoin Adoption by Marijuana Dispensaries
The usage of Bitcoin ATMs and vending machines could increase among marijuana dispensaries, predicts Green Rush Review.
Medical Marijuana: Industry that Needs Cryptocurrency (OP-ED)
In its recent promotional press release, the medical marijuana news website blamed the absence of proper banking infrastructure as one of the major reasons why cannabis businesses would move towards other bankable options such as Bitcoin. It said:
“Marijuana businesses are unable to open checking accounts or accept credit cards. They are left without secure options, and are forced into dealing only with large amounts of cash — risking their safety and raising employee payroll and tax issues. Thus, dealing in bitcoins may wind up being the better and more secure alternative.”
To solidify its claims, Green Rush Review presented some recent events that involved companies setting up Bitcoin kiosks near the medical marijuana dispensaries in Seattle, Michigan and Colorado area.
As noted in one of our earlier articles as well, banks indeed are experiencing a conflict when it comes to providing their basic services to cannabis businesses. The “conflict” arises from a Federal Law that lists marijuana in the list of Schedule I drug, therefore putting it in the likeness of drugs like heroin. It simply inspires banks to maintain their business from a multi-billion dollar industry.
The medical marijuana dispensaries are therefore at risk, fearing thefts as their returns are mostly saved in cash. Meanwhile, the cannabis industry is expected to rise by 2-3% annually, therefore putting more pressure on small businesses to keep their returns safe. Bitcoin comes as a natural option, as it doesn’t require users to be dependable on centralized authorities when it comes to conducting transactions.
There will however be concerns even with Bitcoin thanks to its extreme volatile nature which makes it a risky asset to hold. A renowned payment processing company like BitPay has earlier rejected to be associated with medical marijuana business as well.
http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/04/17/report-predicts-boom-in-bitcoin-adoption-by-marijuana-dispensaries/
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Oklahoma Lamakers Approve Limited Medical Cannabis Oil Bill
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — The Oklahoma Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to allow limited access to medical cannabis extracts and oils for children with epilepsy.
House Bill 2154, which was approved by the House 99-2 in February, now returns to the House for approval of minor changes made to the bill in the Senate before being sent to the desk of Governor Mary Fallin, who said last year she supports such a bill.
Under the proposal, also known as Katie and Cayman’s Law, children with epilepsy who are 18 years old or younger and receive a recommendation from a physician would be allowed to participate in clinical trials of cannabis oil containing high amounts of cannabidiol (CBD) and less than .3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). University medical centers will administer the trials.
The bill contains an emergency clause, and will become effective upon final approval by Governor Fallin.
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/42377/oklahoma-lamakers-approve-limited-medical-cannabis-oil-bill/
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Public Hearing Scheduled for Comprehensive Alabama Medical Marijuana Bill
MONTGOMERY, AL — A comprehensive bill to allow medical marijuana for patients suffering from certain conditions in Alabama will receive a key hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.
The hearing on Senate Bill 326, which was introduced earlier this month by Senator Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro), is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22 at 1:00 pm in room 325 of the state capitol. Activists plan a rally in support of the bill outside the state house beginning at 11:00 am.
Activists expect the bill to receive a fair hearing.
“I have spoken with members of the leadership and the bill is not drawing the hostility in the Senate that it has in the House in past years,” says Ron Crumpton, Executive Director of Alabama Safe Access Project (ASAP). “I think the bill stands a good chance of passing out of committee and the Senate.”
Last year, Alabama lawmakers passed Senate Bill 174, also known as Carly’s Law, which created an affirmative defense for patients suffering from debilitating epileptic conditions, or their caregivers,for the possession and use of marijuana extracts that are high in CBD. By providing only an affirmative defense, the law, which was signed by the Governor almost a year ago, does not protect patients from being arrested and dragged into court.
If this year’s legislation is passed, patients suffering from any of the 25 listed conditions would be allowed to purchase up to ten ounces of cannabis per month, depending on the severity of the patient’s condition as determined by their physician.
The list of qualifying conditions includes:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease)
Anorexia
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)/ Attention deficit disorder (ADD)
Autism
Bipolar disorder
Cachexia
Cancer
Cerebral palsy
Chronic depression
Chronic pain
Dystonia
Fibromyalgia
Gastrointestinal disorders, including, but not limited to, colitis, Crohns disease, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Glaucoma
Lupus
Migraine
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Parkinson’s disease
Persistent muscle spasms, including, but not limited to, spasms associated with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS-Lou Gehrig’s disease), multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Rheumatoid arthritis
Seizures, including, but not limited to, seizures associated with epilepsy
Severe nausea
Tourette’s syndrome
In addition to the 25 conditions listed above, patients suffering from any other chronic or persistent medical conditions that either “substantially limits the ability of the person to conduct one or more major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act” or symptoms that could cause serious harm to the patient’s safety or physical or mental health if not alleviated would also quallify for the medical marijuana program.
The bill would establish three “recommendation classes” for physicians to use to determine how much cannabis a patient, or their designated caregiver, could grow, purchase and/or possess. Class 1 patients would be allowed to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana per month, class 2 patients would be allowed to purchase up to five ounces per month, and a class 3 patient would be allowed to purchase up to 10 ounces of cannabis per month.
Patients would be allowed to purchase medical marijuana from regulated dispensaries and collectives, or could apply for a cultivation license to grow their own cannabis. Medical marijuana sales at dispensaries would be subject to a 2.5% sales tax.
While local communities would not be allowed to ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating within their boundaries, the bill does place specific limits on how many dispensaries can operate in a community. Communities with a population over 150,000 would be allowed to have two operating dispensaries, and municipalities with a population between 10,000 and 150,000 would be allowed one. Dispensaries would not be allowed to open in communities with a population under 10,000. In rural Alabama, if a county does not have a city or town with a population large enough to quallify for a dispensary, the county’s larges city or county seat would be allowed one dispensary.
The production and distribution of any edible food products would be overseen by the state Department of Agriculture and Industries, and would be regulated “as the type of food or beverage being manufactured” without any additional restrictions or regulations.
In addition to licensing caregivers, cultivation facilities and dispensaries to grow cannabis in Alabama, the bill also allows local police departments to sell confiscated marijuana to dispensaries, however the law requires specific lab testing of marijuana from “unknown sources” to be conducted before that marijuana would be offered to patients for sale.
If passed by the legislature, Alabama’s medical marijuana law would take effect on the first day of the third month after the bill is signed by the governor.
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/42413/public-hearing-scheduled-for-comprehensive-alabama-medical-marijuana-bill/
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Started buying in 2012
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Reefer radio: Southern Colorado AM station K-HIGH drops sports for pot
Listeners of KREL in Colorado Springs might have wondered if someone had spread cannabutter on their morning toast Monday when they tuned in and got marijuana programming instead of the radio station's usual sports news and talk shows.
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What the heck is Bubba's 33? It's coming to Colorado Springs
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KHIG-AM AT A GLANCE
Frequency: 1580 AM
Owner: Southern Colorado Radio (SoCo Radio)
Program director: Len Williams
Location: 5050 Edison Ave., Suite 218
Telephone number: 591-1064
Website: letstalkpot.com
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/KHIGH1580
If they turn their AM dial to 1580 again, they'll find out it wasn't a fluke.
Southern Colorado Radio - SoCo Radio for short - has launched the nation's first radio station dedicated to talk and news coverage of the legal marijuana industry, and it's attracted dispensaries as advertisers and hundreds of followers on social media.
SoCo Radio leased the former KREL-AM 1580 from Vero Beach, Fla.-based Pilgrim Communications on April 1 and began broadcasting Monday under the call letters KHIG.
The new format focuses on a range of topics related to medical and recreational marijuana, with some programming on alternative medicine, yoga and related subjects mixed in, said Mike Knar, general manager and co-owner of SoCo Radio. The station previously broadcast all-sports talk and programming from Fox Sports and ESPN but had lost money for 10 consecutive years, he said.
"We didn't want to lease the station and continue to lose money, so we said, 'Let's do something different and give voice to the marijuana industry.' Marijuana is socially acceptable, especially in Colorado, and is a big and growing business sector in this state. It made too much sense to pass up," Knar said Tuesday.
The switch ignited interest.
"I thought this would take weeks or months to take off, but the way this is accelerating is amazing," Knar said. Most people don't get a response like this on radio, let alone for an AM station."
Six Springs-area medical marijuana dispensaries have signed on as advertisers, and the station's Facebook page (www.facebook.com/KHIGH1580) attracted 450 likes as of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the station's second day of broadcasting, Knar said.
SoCo Radio signed a three-year lease on the station with an option to purchase it, but Knar said the company may open negotiations soon with Pilgrim Communications to exercise the option if KHIG's popularity continues to grow.
"I don't have much knowledge about this industry and I don't partake, so I am the world's worst expert on it, but I just saw a business opportunity," Knar said. "I have been trying to lease this station for two years because it has one of the better AM signals in the Springs."
KHIG-AM is starting out with three local shows on weekdays: "Wake and Bake" from 7 to 9 a.m., "High Noon" from noon to 1 p.m. and "High Drive" from 5 to 7 p.m. Topics will run the gamut, from policy to products. One recent show featured an interview with the head of Colorado's marijuana enforcement division.
It also broadcasts three hourlong newscasts daily from the Los Angeles-based National Marijuana News service and fills the rest of its 24/7 schedule with broadcasts from the Chicago-based RadioMD network, said Len Williams, program director for both KHIG and sister station KJME-AM 890, which has an all-sports format.
SoCo Radio, owned by Knar and his wife, Lori, operates eight AM and FM radio stations in Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Walsenburg.
They started the company nearly three years ago and began with KFEZ 101.3 FM; its flagship station is KCBR-FM 98.5, which offers a mix of country, rock and pop music under the name "Tailgate."
http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-radio-station-switches-format-from-sports-to-marijuana/article/1549693?_ga=1.7846263.477648257.1411998130#51hBHOcmO70CT9yh.99
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Awesome read, For real...Fear of farming
California, Medical Cannabis and Killing the American Dream.
I like to listen to the radio when I work in the garage. Where I live the station that comes in best is News Talk 99.3 KQMS out of Redding. In my opinion it’s a cavalcade of lies and insanity that features 12 hours of back-to-back Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage. You’ll find the same line-up on stations up and down California’s Central Valley. For many rural residents, it’s their main source for “news.”
Detractors call such programming “hate radio,” and after many hours of listening it’s clear to me that what these talk show hosts hate the most, more than President Barack Obama, more than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, more even than the Ayatollah, is the federal government. Lately they’ve gone apocalyptic over operation “Jade Helm,” an upcoming eight-week military exercise they claim is prelude to the imposition of martial law in the United States.
But I’ve got a news flash for the fearsome foursome. Martial law has already been declared in California. Armed government agents maraud door-to-door upsetting households, destroying private property and trampling on constitutional rights. Unmarked SUVs loaded with machine-gun toting commandos materialize out of nowhere, daring innocent civilians to make one false move. Decent, hard working men and women are shanghaied, their children spirited off to foster homes, their weapons, bank accounts and other assets seized.
Their alleged crime? Exercising the right to grow medicinal cannabis, approved by California’s voters nearly 20 years ago. Old habits die hard and the long-failed war on drugs is proving tougher to kick than heroin. On the eve of what appears to be a nationwide relaxation of marijuana laws, the state’s law enforcement community is vying for one last fix, and just like any junkie, it doesn’t care who gets hurt along the way.
Police Placing Patients In Peril
“Law enforcement community” doesn’t just refer to city police, sheriff deputies and highway patrol officers. It includes the entire apparatus necessary for detecting and solving crime as well as punishing criminals, including judges, district attorneys, public defenders, paid informants, court stenographers, jail guards, prison guards, code enforcement officers, child protective services workers and so on. In the case of medicinal cannabis, FBI and DEA agents are still in the mix despite assurances from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to the contrary. Also included are government officials such as county supervisors and city council members charged with setting policy, including the creation of new crimes. Local, state and federal government is easily the largest employer in northern California.
That doesn’t sound exactly like the “small government” advocated by traditional conservatives, yet northern California’s rural counties are dominated by politicians who claim to be just that: small government conservatives. Like their counterparts on talk radio, they preach that individual rights must trump the rights of the state. But to which “state” are they referring? They rail about the welfare state to their constituents, many of whom are on welfare. But they just can’t stop shooting that hot drug war money. Demonizing medicinal cannabis patients keeps the monkey off the police state’s back.
“They’re the good old boys club, and they’ve formed themselves a gang,” explains Lanette Davies, director of Crusaders for Patient Rights, via telephone from Sacramento. “In their minds, they’re saving America. They feel like they’re the good guys, it’s an ideal: Only the police can protect you from the big bad people–who are actually American farmers.”
A nationally known medicinal cannabis activist, Davies’ family owns and operates Canna Care, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in the capitol. She is a devout Christian with surprisingly conservative views. She abhors the proliferation of medicinal cannabis advertising featuring scantily clad women with pot leaves covering their breasts, because it sends the wrong message to the public. She recently traveled to Idaho, where she had a “positive cannabis conversation” with a Mormon community, whose members were pleased to learn that the use of medicinal cannabis is 100 percent “compliant with Christianity.”
And why wouldn’t it be compliant with Christianity? Did not Jesus travel throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction?
Not that anyone will ever mistake James Benno for Jesus Christ, but Benno does walk a similar path. He is one of the most well-known medicinal cannabis advocates in Shasta County and has been particularly visible protecting the rights of medicinal cannabis patients to grow their own medicine, as long established by state law.
Last year, his 99-plant collective garden was raided by the Shasta County Sheriff’s Marijuana Team. I wrote about his ongoing conflict with Shasta County previously on News Cafe. He faces trial June 26 and could go to prison if convicted.
Deputies destroyed Benno’s entire garden, carting plants, pots and soil off to a local landfill. The property was worth literally millions, and if Benno beats the charges, the county could be on the tab. But for medicinal cannabis patients, the value of the medicine that was taken is incalculable. There is perhaps no patient for whom that was more true than 3-year-old Spencer Koptis, a medicinal cannabis patient from Palm Springs who passed away just before Easter after losing a battle with a rare form of brain stem cancer.
Like hundreds of similarly afflicted children have experienced, Spencer’s symptoms improved after he was treated with highly concentrated cannabis extract. The treatment was first widely popularized by CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s groundbreaking broadcast in 2013, but members of the medicinal cannabis community have been experimenting with cannabis extraction for decades. Benno was one of several growers who donated medicine for Spencer’s treatment.
“I didn’t know what they were talking about at first,” recalled Redding-based attorney Michael Scheibli, who sometimes serves as counsel for Benno. “I didn’t know what they were doing.”
Spencer had nearly died in 2013 but gradually improved after he began treatment. Scheibli met Spencer on one occasion, after he began treatment with cannabis extract, and the toddler was “running around playing and laughing.”
Scheibli, a scientist in a previous career, eventually came to understand that it’s the concentrated nature of cannabis extract that makes it so effective for treating nervous system disorders. That’s why it takes a lot of plant material to manufacture it. It’s complicated, so I’ll give my own abbreviated version here.
Extracts, also known as concentrates, are made by subjecting raw cannabis to a variety of chemical processes. Bubble hash is made using water and ice; the end product is generally a hard or chewy solid. Butane Honey Oil, BHO, get its name from the compressed butane used to promote a chemical reaction with cannabis; BHO can be solid, crumbly or an oil. Rick Simpson Oil, also known as Phoenix Tears, is made using alcohol as a reactive agent. All of these varieties are far more concentrated than raw cannabis, and therefore more effective medicinally. They can be smoked, vaporized or ingested–the latter option being highly important for patients with respiratory ailments as well as children like Spencer.
The strain of cannabis is arguably more important than the process used for extraction. There are an infinite number of strains and each can contain as many as 80 different compounds known as cannabinoids. The most well known is THC, the compound that creates the sense of feeling “high.” The strain Dr. Gupta introduced to a worldwide audience was high in CBD, a cannabinoid that does not produce a “high” but seems to be particularly effective for treating neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
Folks who would have never considered using medicinal cannabis in their lives began clamoring for CBD extract after Dr. Gupta’s program. The knowledge that CBD doesn’t get you “high” is a big selling point for people fearful of the paranoia associated with marijuana as well as politicians leery of fickle electorates. At least a dozen states have established or are in the process of establishing CBD-only laws. However, they may have jumped the gun. Researchers are discovering that successful treatment for medical conditions may depend on balancing THC, CBD and other cannabinoids for each individual patient in order to exploit what is known as the “entourage effect.”
Spencer Koptis responded well to an RSO-type extract Benno made using a strain known as Ambiguous Purple Indica, or API. It has a ratio of CBD to THC that is approximately 2-to-1. A pound of API converted to cannabis oil via alcohol extraction provided enough medicine to last Spencer two months. His mother, Suzetta Vonzell, had neither the means to grow nor purchase the medicine, which would have cost as much as $4,000 from a dispensary. Without Benno’s donations, Spencer’s life may have been shortened considerably. Benno had Spencer’s latest batch of oil steeping in a double-boiler on the stove top when he was raided last year. It never reached the toddler.
I never met Spencer, but I watched his health deteriorate the past several months on the Facebook page set up by his mother, Prayers For Spencer. When I started watching, he had been off cannabis for some time and was suffering from severe swelling. I never saw a picture of him on his feet. In the last picture I saw of him, posted posthumously, he was smiling weakly, wearing his Easter bunny mask for the last time.
The outpouring of grief from California’s medicinal cannabis community upon Spencer’s passing reverberated throughout social media, where you can find dozens of kids and adults suffering just as he did. Davies considers social media an extremely important asset for the medicinal cannabis community. She knows that when there’s a last-minute medical marijuana hearing at the capitol, she can muster 100 extremely ill patients and their caregivers with a few simple keystrokes.
On the morning I talked to Davies, the owners and an employee of Pure Life Collective, a legal medicinal cannabis dispensary in nearby El Dorado County that was raided last year, were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell, selling marijuana, and conspiring to commit a crime. The indictment came after the collective filed with the court to have the property taken during the raid returned, a circumstance that attorney Scheibli says occurs frequently. Davies has had enough of it.
“They’ve filed a vindictive prosecution, in my opinion,” she sighed. “I’m so tired of seeing victims.”
Bad Actors And BHO Explosions
Davies and many activists prefer to distinguish “medicinal cannabis” from “recreational marijuana.” In California the core principle that differentiates the two, besides the fact that recreational use remains illegal, is the right to keep medical decisions between you and your doctor private. It is this right to privacy, codified in state law, that makes California’s medical marijuana regulations more robust than law enforcement and even many members of the medicinal cannabis community understand.
The right to privacy in regard to medical decisions permits physicians to prescribe patients as much medicine as they need. Patients and caregivers are permitted to grow as much medicine as they need and unlike other medicinal cannabis states, do not have to register their names in a state database. They can belong to informal collectives in which they are permitted to exchange labor, cannabis and money in what amounts to a perfect free market with but one regulation: be a good citizen.
For members of the medicinal cannabis community, being a good citizen means if you plan to grow on your own property, you ask your neighbors if they’re OK with it. If you rent, check with the landlord, too. If you don’t get the green light, find somewhere else to grow. If you get the green light, follow the state’s recommendation of six mature plants per qualified patient and above all, don’t get greedy.
It would be foolish to deny that there aren’t bad actors taking advantage of the state’s laws, and Davies, like many medicinal cannabis activists, has low tolerance for them.
“There’s a difference between people who want to get high and people who want to get well,” she says. “People abuse the situation and that feeds into the public’s fear [of medicinal cannabis].”
Nothing is scaring the public more right now than the exploding popularity of BHO with young recreational users, pun intended. Known as dabs, shatter, wax and countless other names, BHO made in a professional lab can have a THC content pushing above 90 percent, which produces a phenomenal head rush when vaporized and inhaled.
Unfortunately it also can be crudely manufactured using pressurized butane and a homemade aluminum or plastic tube. Butane is extremely volatile in enclosed spaces and in amateur hands, the extraction process almost always ends in an explosion and a trip to the burn unit, jail or both. Hundreds of BHO explosions have been recorded across Colorado, Washington, Oregon and California in the past several years.
Dr. Tammy Brazil, owner of the Queen of Dragons medicinal cannabis in Shasta Lake City, is definitely not on the BHO bandwagon.
“We do not even let BHO in the doors of the club, much less sell it,” she says. “We educated the local sheriff’s and fire departments. We used to do a monthly class to teach safe ways of extracting. A major problem is that now that people can’t grow, they are going for the one-time shot: There’s a huge market for BHO in Sacramento, the Bay Area and Los Angeles.”
When Brazil says people can no longer grow their own medicine, she means just that. During the past two years, northern California’s rural counties, including Siskiyou, Shasta, Butte, Yuba, El Dorado and Sacramento, have adopted zoning ordinances that declare cultivation of cannabis a public nuisance, banning or severely limiting all outdoor cultivation. Indoor cultivation, if it is allowed at all, is confined to a permitted structure that’s prohibitively expensive for most patients.
It’s that old monkey clamoring on the police state’s back. Upset that their drug war cash cow is moseying down the road, they’ve enlisted politicians and media in a campaign to brand all medicinal cannabis growers as drug-dealing eco-terrorists, defiling the countryside with fertilizer and pesticide, stealing precious water with their million-plant grows, poisoning our children to turn a quick buck.
“That’s not medical marijuana,” Scheibli says. “That’s cartel grows. Cannabis patients aren’t using using pesticides and fertilizer. They’re into organic. They’re eating this stuff!” Not that Scheibli doesn’t believe bad actors exist. “The bad actors are the police!” he states emphatically.
Lately, it’s been hard to argue with him.
“…The Policeman, in this Case, is Not Your Friend”
The no-grow ordinances adopted by the counties transform growing medicinal cannabis, legal under state law for qualified patients, into a petty crime that can be ratcheted up to a felony by pretending state law doesn’t exist. Otherwise friendly neighbors become anonymous police informants. It doesn’t matter if you live in a trailer park or on 10 acres in the middle of nowhere. Any citizen, whether their complaint is legitimate or not, may call code enforcement and rat you out, anonymously.
If the county has actually funded its enforcement program, this anonymous informant can depend on a code enforcer, accompanied by an armed sheriff’s deputy and perhaps even an interagency narcotics task force SWAT team, being dispatched to the scene to eradicate the offending grow, and jail the perpetrators and seize their property.
The northern California medicinal cannabis community is no stranger to police harassment, but there’s an added sense of urgency among the targets of the nuisance code ordinances. It was readily apparent in a frantic St. Patrick’s Day post featuring numerous typos and desperate over-capitalization on the Save Butte Growers Rights Facebook page:
“Palermo area Code enforcement in your area earlier and coming back. Their tactic there is saying their gonna take you to jail. KNOW THAT THIS IS A CIVIL ORDINANCE AND THEY CAN NOT TAKE YOU TO JAIL FOR A CIVIL OFFENCE. Say and continue to say “I DO NOT CONSENT TO A SEARCH” AFTER YOU HAVE TOLD THEM TO LKEAVE YOU PROPERTY WITHOUT A WARRANT. THE FIRST THING THEY WILL SAY IS WE DONT NEED A WARRANT BUT THEY DO. DO NOT LET THEM IN YOUR HOUSE, SHED GARAGE BACKYARD, FRONTYARD OR GARDEN!!!!! THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND, THEY DO NOT WANT TO HELP OR PROTECT YOU !!! THEY JUST WANNA GET AS MANY POINTS AS THEY CAN FUCKING US ALL OVER AND BULLYING US INTO COMPLIANCE. I DO NOT CONCENT TO A SEARCH!!!”
Translation: Code enforcement officers, accompanied by sheriff’s deputies, are going door-to-door in Butte County without warrants, asking folks to invite them on to the property to ensure their garden, if they happen to have one, conforms to the county’s recently passed, highly restrictive “stay inside the box” medicinal cannabis ordinance.
For example, patients that live on a half-acre property or less may not grow outdoors and are confined to an indoor grow room no larger than 50 square feet. People who live on properties 5 acres to 10 acres in size may grow indoors or outdoors in a “box” no larger than 100-square feet. That’s incredibly restrictive, but it’s better than Shasta and Sacramento counties, where all outdoor growing has been banned.
Legally, the Save Butte Growers Rights post is correct. The policeman, in this case, is not your friend. You can refuse to consent to a search without a warrant, and law enforcement are supposed to go away. But what if they don’t? Standing up to an armed law enforcement official, let alone a SWAT team, takes the sort of fortitude most people don’t have and for which activists like Benno have paid a substantial price.
Heidi Grossman, executive secretary for the Sacramento chapter of NORML, shared her frightening experience with law enforcement last year in Yuba County.
Grossman was operating a “mutual benefit nonprofit patient association,” in accordance with the medicinal cannabis directive issued by now-Gov. Jerry Brown when he was Attorney General in 2007. At 6 a.m. on September 30, 2014, Grossman was awakened by the arrival of an interagency narcotics task force comprised of 15 armed men positioned in front of her home and business.
“The officers were armed with assault rifles that were pointed at me through my front window,” she recalled, noting that the warrant was signed and approved by a Butte County District Attorney and a Butte County judge for a raid conducted by Yuba County Sheriff’s deputies, California Fish and Wildlife officers and agents from other unidentified government organizations. “Their shouting caused me to fear for my life.”
“They’ve instituted Fish and Wildlife fully,” says Scheibli somewhat ominously. The state agency has its act together more than local law enforcement. That makes fighting cases more difficult because “their warrants are proper, tighter.”
Grossman says she was handcuffed, roughly searched by a male officer, then released after they realized she had the proper documentation for her collective. Although she was never charged with a crime, the raiding party nevertheless seized more than 100 plants, her computer and her seed stock, valuable private property that was never returned. Rendered homeless by the incident for three months, she moved to Sacramento and has no intention to return to Yuba County or retrieve her property, for fear of being prosecuted.
“They laughed and boasted about other patients they had busted, specifically James Michael Benno and sons from Shasta County,” she remembers.
Grossman also shared a flier for a March 31 event held by Yuba County’s Drug Endangered Children Training and Advocacy Center. Hosted by the Yuba County Probation Department and the California Narcotics Officers Association, Region II, it reads:
“This training course will provide learners with investigative skills necessary to link drug usage, trafficking, manufacturing and/or grow operations to child endangerment.” Those invited to attend included “law enforcement, District Attorneys, CPS and other first responders who have a job which require them to enter homes where drugs may be used, sold, manufactured and/or marijuana grow operations.”
If there is one law enforcement organization that raises Scheibli’s hackles the most, it’s the California Narcotics Officers Association. The lawyer claims the association instructs police officers in tactics such as keeping suspects talking after they’ve already exercised their right to remain silent. It’s blatantly unconstitutional.
“The California Narcotics Officer Association teaches police how to avoid the law and they knows it’s illegal,” Scheibli said, citing a well-established U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in the late 1980s. “Officers can’t purposely avoid the law and perform valid arrests.”
As Martinez-based defense attorney Joseph Tully has been demonstrating of late, there are all sorts of things that law enforcement officers can’t do when it comes to prosecuting medicinal cannabis patients. Tully’s been on a roll lately, the most recent victory coming last month in Shasta County Superior Court with the acquittal of the owners of Planet Herb on all charges. The owners of Redding’s last remaining dispensary had courageously remained open only to be targeted by narcotics officers in a monthslong sting operation costing an untold amount of taxpayer dollars.
“The police feel entitled to go anywhere there’s a grow,” Tully says via telephone. “It’s a lot of work and costs a lot of money.”
Medicinal cannabis patients are scared because they don’t trust law enforcement, Tully says, an assessment shared by Scheibli and many patients, caretakers and growers I’ve interviewed.
“People are afraid, but a lot of what causes their fear is their sense that the police are corrupt,” Tully says.
The distrust is warranted. Law enforcement are required to list asset seizures in public notices in local newspapers, and the value of the cash and property seized runs into the millions each year. When prosecutors lose cases, those assets must be returned. But when otherwise innocent patients don’t challenge prosecutors, the money and property disappears down the black hole of interagency budget transfers, where it is nearly impossible to track.
So why don’t patients try to get their property back?
“Most people are scared, it’s a gamble,” Tully said. Prosecutors transform possessing legal medicinal cannabis into felony charges with prison sentences. “They try to deprive you of a medical marijuana defense.”
Tullys advises patients who know they’re in the right to challenge vindictive prosecutions. He estimates that it costs $20,000 to $50,000 to mount a successful medicinal cannabis defense. Patients who can’t afford a private attorney shouldn’t be shy about retaining a public defender says Tully, a former public defender himself.
When patients are fully acquitted, Scheibli and other civil attorneys will step up to bat. With Tully and other criminal defense attorney knocking down criminal charges like dominoes, medicinal cannabis lawsuits will blow big giant holes in county budgets. It could get ugly.
Fear Of Farming
The smart money people say the California economy has recovered from the Great Recession precipitated by the 2007-’08 financial crisis. That may be true for folks who live and work in Hollywood or Silicon Valley. But in rural California, beyond the city limits, nothing’s happening. Whether you live outside Redding, Chico, Sacramento or Fresno, the story is the same. There is no work.
What people in rural areas do have is room to grow, and since the passage of the Compassionate Use Act in 1996, cultivating medicinal cannabis has become an integral part of the rural economy, particularly in the northern counties.
Most medicinal growers aren’t in it to get rich.The ones I’ve met are small-time operators who follow the law and are among the most generous people I know. Generally they are patients or have loved ones who are patients. They live inauspiciously, moving to the rhythm of the seasons, not just the weekly paycheck, if they’re fortunate enough to earn a weekly paycheck. Any cash they earn–generally under the table–can hardly be called disposable income. In essence, they represent an economic unit missing from the American landscape since the turn of the 20th century, the small family farm.
It’s the sort of self-reliance conservative pundits preach daily on the talk radio stations that dominate political discourse up and down the valley. You’d think the rightwingers who predominate the boards of supervisors of the rural counties might be pleased with that development. As noted above, they’re anything but pleased. From a conservative or a Christian point of view, the ongoing war against the scourge of medicinal cannabis is difficult to explain. It’s left activists and attorneys befuddled.
“What’s happened to the American people?” Davies asks, knowing the question doesn’t have an immediate answer. “Our country was built on farming.”
Scheibli feels the same.
“What are they trying to accomplish?” he asks. “Why are they doing it?”
I suggest to him that perhaps the big money people who run the counties are sweeping the little people out of the way to capitalize on the coming Green Rush. Marijuana activists from all factions in the state are busy right now crafting a unified initiative to place on the California ballot in 2016. Current polls indicate it is likely to pass.
“I can’t discount it, but I feel like that’s so evil I couldn’t fathom it until now,” Scheibli says. “Between Ferguson and marijuana, the last 24 months I’ve almost come to the conclusion that fighting it’s a waste of time. What is the end game?”
Davies, who has been participating in the crafting of the initiative, is concerned that the rights of individual citizens to grow cannabis, medicinal or recreational, will be severely limited in the final document. On the eve of what appears to be the legalization of marijuana in the state of California, patient-growers who’ve been following the law for years may be cut out of the coming bonanza.
April 20 is soon upon us once again. Known as 420, marijuana’s unofficial national holiday, it also marks the beginning of outdoor planting season. But this year many medicinal cannabis cultivators who wish to continue growing outdoors in northern California, including patients who depend on it for medicine, have a tough choice.
They can risk going to jail, or they can go without medicine. It’s not a decision anyone can make lightly. I’ve seen it weigh heavy on the faces of decent men and women not inclined to break the law, who know this year they may have no choice but to do it.
Call it fear of farming.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/04/17/california-medical-cannabis-and-killing-the-american-dream/
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BREAKING: President Obama Declares Full Support For Medical Marijuana
By Steve Elliott — President Barack Obama will state his full support for medical marijuana in a CNN special to be aired on Sunday.
The TV special, “Weed 3,” features CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon who changed his mind and began supporting medicinal cannabis after reviewing the evidence, reports Jonah Bennett at The Daily Caller.
The third installment of “Weed” has Dr. Gupta delving into the politics of medical marijuana research, including an interview with President Obama. In addition to supporting medicinal cannabis, the President advocates for alternative models of drug abuse treatment which don’t involve imprisonment.
The President had previously predicted that more states will legalize recreational cannabis, and has confirmed that although marijuana is still illegal under federal law, the feds won’t interfere as states implement legalization.
Gupta and Obama briefly discussed the recent bill on the Senate floor introduced by Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey. The bill would reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II under federal law. Gupta asked if Obama supports Booker’s bill.
“You know, I think I’d have to take a look at the details, but I’m on record as saying that not only do I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology on this issue, but I’m also on record as saying that the more we treat some of these issues related to drug abuse from a public health model and not just from an incarceration model, the better off we’re going to be,” the President responded.
Obama pointed to declining usage rates of tobacco among American teens as an example of how effective public health education models can be — all without the threat of jail sentences.
“You know, one of the great victories of this country has been our ability to reduce incidences of smoking, increase the incidences of seat belt use,” Obama said to Gupta. “You know, we save tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of lives every single year.
“We didn’t throw anybody in jail; we just made sure that they were well-informed and if somebody has an addiction, we made sure that we made it easy for them to get help,” Obama said.
In late February, Obama pointed out that states have the option of discouraging marijuana in the same way public health models have reduced tobacco use – through education as opposed to a punitive approach which incarcerates nonviolent drug offenders.
“If the President means what he says about following science, then there’s no question he should support legislation to move marijuana out of Schedule I, a category that’s supposed to be reserved for substances with no medical value,” said Tom Angell, chairman of the Marijuana Majority.
http://naturalrevolution.org/breaking-president-obama-declares-full-support-for-medical-marijuana/
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Gov. Nathan Deal signs medical marijuana bill into law
http://www.11alive.com/story/news/local/2015/04/16/georgia-medical-marijuana-bill/25879521/
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/georgia-gov-deal-signs-medical-marijuana-bill-law-30371748
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Iowa: 87% Support Medical Marijuana; Split on Recreational
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/42320/iowa-87-support-medical-marijuana-split-recreational/
Virginia: 86% Support Medical Marijuana; 54% Say Legalize It
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/42323/virginia-86-support-medical-marijuana-54-say-legalize/
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GreenRushReview.com Reports Bitcoin ATMs and Vending Machines a New Trend with Medical Marijuana Dispensaries.
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
GreenRushReview.com, a marijuana industry news website, reports that bitcoin ATMS and vending machines is an emerging trend with medical marijuana dispensaries.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 15, 2015
GreenRushReview.com, a marijuana industry news website, reports that bitcoin ATMS and vending machines could be the new trend with medical marijuana dispensaries over the next few years. Bitcoin, released in 2009, is a digital currency initially used to make purchases online. Nowadays, however, bitcoins are slowly being accepted as a form of payment in brick and mortar establishments.
According to the Huffington Post, digital currencies could potentially be the solution to huge problems encountered by marijuana businesses that legally operate under state laws. Traditional banks tend to reject cannabis-related businesses since federal law still considers marijuana to be illegal, and these financial institutions fear that they may be punished or fined by law enforcement authorities and federal regulators.
In the process, marijuana businesses are unable to open checking accounts or accept credit cards. They are left without secure options, and are forced into dealing only with large amounts of cash - risking their safety and raising employee payroll and tax issues. Thus, dealing in bitcoins may wind up being the better and more secure alternative.
Bitcoin Foundation Chief Scientist Gaven Andresen believes that legal marijuana industries could potentially be one of the big industries for bitcoin, as it allows marijuana growers a means of charging without involving cash.
Colorado dispensaries, in their first month, made approximately $14 million in sales. In the next fiscal year, Gov. John Hickenlooper expects to make almost $1 billion in combined sales of medical and recreational marijuana. By 2018, a national study projected that legal marijuana industry may be worth $10 billion.
Peter Klamka, bitcoin entrepreneur, believes that there is a general lack of understanding of the benefits that merchants can enjoy from bitcoins, but thinks that his business is a promising one as the medical marijuana industry continues to grow. At present, the entrepreneur estimates that there are roughly 300 bitcoin ATM machines around the globe.
Klamka states that medical marijuana users will be among the earliest bitcoin users. His company, Bitcoin Brands, has placed a bitcoin ATM machine in one medical marijuana dispensary and is placing two more in the Grand Rapids area. The three medical marijuana dispensaries will be using bitcoin payment tablets in order to facilitate transactions using bitcoins.
In Seattle, Washington, the first vending machines to dispense marijuana via bitcoin payments made its debut earlier this year. These machines, more commonly known as ZaZZZ, first came out in Colorado in April of 2014. Manufactured by American Green, these units accept bitcoin by displaying a QR-code on its touchscreen. The company aims to bring the bitcoin-friendly vending machine to other venues in the future.
Bitcoin transactions take place directly between the seller and the buyer, which means that there are no financial institutions or banks to act as intermediary. Digital currencies such as bitcoins even have lower transaction fees, and allow both individuals and businesses to conduct business faster and cheaper.
GreenRushReview.com strives to be a convenient and reliable online resource for all cannabis consumers, entrepreneurs, and investors. The website aims to provide the general public with extensive coverage on features, news, opinions, and events on the multi-billion marijuana industry and culture in North America, including industry stocks, prices, implications, trend developments, investment opportunities, business opportunities, and legislation.
The site also hosts cannabis industry video, press releases, a business directory and events calendar.
The coining of the term Green Rush refers to the swift surge of activity brought about by the legalization of medical marijuana in over 23 states, and the acceptance of comprehensive cannabis and medical marijuana programs.
Companies seeking exposure on GreeRushReview.com and it's cannabis website network can contact editorial(at)greenrushreview(dot)com for more information.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/04/prweb12654964.htm
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Congress Rethinks Policy on Medical Marijuana
Polls show that 78% of Americans believe medical marijuana with a physician recommendation should be legal. Meanwhile, federal law prohibits the sale, possession, production, and distribution of marijuana. However, twenty-three states have “legalized” the use of marijuana for medical purposes, creating conflicts with the federal law.
Prescription PotNewly introduced federal legislation would pave the way for easier access to medical marijuana across the country, although it falls short of fully legalizing it. Senators Cory Booker, Rand Paul, and Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the bipartisan Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act of 2015 (CARERS Act) If adopted, the bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA) to exempt from the federal ban people who grow, distribute, or use the drug for medical purposes in compliance with state law.
The federal government continues to classify marijuana as a Schedule I narcotic under the CSA. Schedule I drugs are considered the most dangerous drugs with a high potential for abuse; high possibility of severe psychological or physical dependence, or both; and no apparent medical utility. This categorization has hindered more thorough research into the medicinal properties of marijuana. Until last year, only 6% of studies on marijuana analyzed its positive medicinal effects.
As support for medical marijuana grows, federal laws are increasingly in conflict with various state laws permitting medical marijuana. To help alleviate this tension, the proposed CARERS Act includes five major federal policy changes.
First, the bill would amend the CSA so that enforcement of federal marijuana laws no longer takes priority over state laws if they conflict. This amendment would eliminate the fear of federal prosecution for involvement with medical marijuana which is in compliance with relevant state regulations, leaving individual state legislatures free to regulate this use of the substance as they deem fit. Although federal guidance currently urges prosecutors generally to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations, many continue to do so.
Last month, the “Kettle Falls” trial in Washington state highlighted the lack of parity between federal and state policies on medical marijuana. Federal prosecutors charged the Harvey family with multiple felonies for manufacturing, possessing, and distributing marijuana, despite the legality of their actions under state law. The proposed CARERS Act would minimize such federal interference in states that have chosen to legalize medical marijuana.
Second, the bill would reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II narcotic, declaring it to be a less dangerous substance with purported medical benefits. This reclassification would reduce the barriers to research on medical marijuana.
Many scientists maintain that there are at least two active chemicals in marijuana with medicinal applications: cannabidiol, which impacts the nervous system without causing a high, and tetrahydrocannabinol, often referred to as “THC,” which has pain-relieving properties. In 2012, scientists at the California Pacific Medical Center found that cannabidiol could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer. A study published the same year in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that marijuana users had increased lung capacity, which may be attributable to a therapeutic quality of the drug.
Presently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must approve any marijuana research proposal and dictates to an extent how the research is performed. By reclassifying marijuana, the CARERS Act would remove these onerous requirements and deter the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from obstructing marijuana research, which it reportedly has done in the past.
Third, the CARERS Act would benefit veterans, as it would allow U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) doctors to prescribe medical marijuana to patients who live in states that have legalized its use. Some commentators have suggested that marijuana may be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorders commonly suffered by veterans. Yet the VA’s doctors currently cannot prescribe medical marijuana to patients because it is a federally banned drug.
The bill also would make banking services accessible to medical marijuana businesses allowing them to operate as traditional businesses and adding greater legitimacy to such operations. Currently, banks often shut down accounts of marijuana businesses and decline to advance loans out of fear of federal prosecution for aiding illegal drug dealers or money laundering.
Finally, the bill addresses the need to legalize inter-state transport of medical marijuana. It suggests completely removing marijuana with less than 0.3 percent THC from the CSA’s schedules, allowing it to cross state lines legally. Twelve states do not allow the sale or cultivation of marijuana but permit the use of low-THC strains for medical purposes. Currently, residents of these states cannot purchase low-THC marijuana from a state where marijuana is legal to grow, because transporting a federally banned substance across state lines violates federal law.
However, the bill does have its detractors. Last year, former White House National Drug Control Policy adviser and present chair of the anti-marijuana legalization umbrella body Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Kevin Sabet, wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, the HHS, and the Executive Office of the President arguing against down-scheduling marijuana under the CSA because of the potential for addiction and abuse. Nevertheless, the letter supports facilitating research into potential medical applications of marijuana.
Recently, Representatives Steve Cohen and Don Young introduced an identical bill in the House. So far, both Senate and House versions of the bill have garnered support from Republicans and Democrats. Given increasingly permissive attitudes towards the use of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes, the CARERS Act may well eventually become law.
http://www.regblog.org/2015/04/15/chawla-medical-marijuana/
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Medical Marijuana: the Myths and Realities
Marijuana has been used for medicinal purposes for more than 3,000 years.
Marijuana, also known as cannabis, has been used for more than 3,000 years for the treatment and management of pain, digestive issues and psychological disorders. Despite the fact that marijuana is thought to be useful for treating several medical conditions and symptoms, there is great debate about its safety and efficacy. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved marijuana for any medical condition, yet a growing number of states are legalizing its use for the treatment and management of certain medical conditions.
Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia, and recreational use of the drug in small quantities is legal in Washington and Colorado. All the states that have legalized medical marijuana require a doctor’s approval, and all states but Washington require either an ID card that needs to be shown at a dispensary or enrollment in a patient registry. Many of the states that allow medical marijuana use have an online application process and require a patient fee. In addition to receiving an ID card, patients in most states are required to obtain a signed document from their physician indicating the condition being treated and that medical marijuana is the recommended treatment. Laws regarding the use of medical marijuana for treating specific conditions vary by state, and there are restrictions regarding the amount of marijuana that can be dispensed at each visit.
For What Conditions Is Medical Marijuana Used?
The most common reasons for medical marijuana use are relieving pain, controlling chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting and stimulating appetite in patients with cancer and/or HIV/AIDS. Additionally, a 2014 study by the American Academy of Neurology reported that medical marijuana may be beneficial in easing some of the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis.
Glaucoma has been treated using medical marijuana since the 1970s, and studies show that medical marijuana decreases intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma. Additional research by the National Eye Institute concluded that although IOP is lowered following medical marijuana use, the pressure decrease is short-lived (typically three to four hours). This short period of relief is a major drawback, and many health care professionals prefer the traditional therapeutic approaches of prescription medication and surgical procedures because they have proved to be effective for treating glaucoma. In June 2014, the American Academy of Ophthalmology stated that it does not recommend marijuana or other cannabis products for the treatment of glaucoma.
Results from a clinical study published in the journal Neurology reported that medical marijuana may benefit individuals with chronic pain, nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapy; lower IOP in those with glaucoma; and reduce spasm-related pain and painful burning and numbness associated with multiple sclerosis. Results from some studies also have shown that medical marijuana may be beneficial in treating neuropathic pain.
Scientists are exploring whether the active ingredients in marijuana may be beneficial and are investigating its use for treating neurologic conditions such as seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but more research is needed.
How Is Medical Marijuana Administered?
If your doctor thinks you're a candidate for the use of medical marijuana, he or she will determine the appropriate dosage and frequency. Medical marijuana is available in many forms and can be smoked, vaporized, taken orally in pill or liquid extract form, brewed into a tea or added to certain foods.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, research is focusing on the two main chemicals in marijuana: delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. These chemicals are found in different ratios in the marijuana plant. THC is thought to stimulate appetite and decrease nausea, but it may also reduce pain and inflammation. As a result of research on the active chemicals in marijuana, the FDA has approved two medications that are synthetic forms of THC, including Marinol and Cesamet, for treating nausea and vomiting related to chemotherapy in patients who have failed to respond to traditional antiemetic treatments. Marinol is also indicated for the treatment of significant weight loss in patients with HIV/AIDS. Both of these agents are available by prescription only in capsule form.
Research has shown that CBD is a nonpsychoactive cannabinoid that may be beneficial in decreasing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures and possibly even treating psychoses and addictions. Moreover, an investigational drug that contains cannabidiol (Epidiolex; not yet approved by the FDA) is being studied for treatment of the childhood epilepsy conditions Dravet’s syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Another drug, Sativex, a combination of THC and CBD that is administered by oral spray, is being investigated in clinical trials for treating pain in patients with advanced cancer and for treating spasticity in those with multiple sclerosis.
Are There Adverse Effects to Using Medical Marijuana?
The effect of marijuana on an individual’s ability to function is not the drug’s only side effect. Although the long-term effects of marijuana are not fully understood, results of some studies show that long-term use may be associated with cardiovascular and respiratory problems. Study results show that marijuana contains hundreds of compounds that may damage the lungs – an estimated 50 to 70 percent more cancer-causing chemicals than are in tobacco products – and the American Lung Association reports that marijuana smoke releases 33 cancer-causing chemicals.
Research has also shown that regular and frequent use of marijuana, particularly in high doses, can cause problems with short-term memory and concentration. According to the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health, possible adverse effects of marijuana may include dizziness, increased heart rate, low blood pressure, problems with short-term memory, decreased attention span, hallucinations, depression, issues with problem-solving skills, impairment of motor and cognitive skills, and insomnia. Some individuals may also experience dry mouth, red eyes, anxiety, low blood glucose levels and drowsiness.
Conclusion
Debate continues regarding the use of marijuana for treating and managing certain medical conditions, and more research is clearly needed. Individuals interested in the medical use of marijuana should discuss this issue with their primary health care provider, understand the potential for adverse effects and and weigh the risks versus the benefits. Just as with any other medication, you need to be informed about its proper use, side effects and potential interactions with other medications. The most important thing you can do is have an open dialogue with your primary health care provider to learn the facts about the use of medical marijuana in your state and the available treatment options.
For more information on state medical marijuana laws, visit the National Conference of State Legislatures website or call your state’s Department of Health and Human Services to learn more about the laws regarding medical marijuana where you live.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2015/04/14/medical-marijuana-the-myths-and-realities
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Lobbyist says dogs need medical marijuana, too
Three-year-old Dinah is the latest face joining the entourage pushing for medical marijuana in Florida, arriving on the scene just as the Senate is poised to broaden the state's non-euphoric cannabis law approved last year.
Like others whose loved ones pleaded for the law, Dinah suffers from frequent seizures caused by severe epilepsy. The biggest difference is that Dinah's a dog.
The bulldog-Labrador mix's owner, Lisa Miller, has spent nearly three decades walking the halls of the Capitol as a lobbyist and regulator pitching lawmakers on insurance issues.
Miller is now putting her lobbying expertise to work for a more personal cause. She's hustling to get the Legislature to add animals to a research component included in the Senate medical-marijuana proposal (SB 7066).
THE NEWS-PRESS
Floridians favor legalizing medical pot, according to poll
"Throw Dinah the bone," reads a flyer Miller is now distributing to lawmakers. "Please put your paw on the green button."
Miller wants lawmakers to sign off on a one-sentence amendment that would order the Department of Health to contract with a veterinary research organization to conduct research "to determine the benefits and contraindications of the use of medical-grade marijuana for treating animals with seizure disorders or other life-limiting illnesses."
To sweeten her plan, Miller isn't asking the Legislature for any money. She's hoping to convince vet schools and others to sponsor the animal studies.
One of three rescue dogs that Miller says are her "passion in life," Dinah had her first seizure during the Florida State University championship football game last year.
THE NEWS-PRESS
Medical-marijuana delays anger would-be users
"It was the scariest thing to see her laying on the living room floor in front of the TV having a grand mal seizure," Miller said.
Dinah, diagnosed with severe epilepsy, now takes Phenobarbital twice a day to treat her seizures. But the drug isn't working, and its side effects can be very serious, Miller said.
"The initial research has very positive indications that medical marijuana would do the trick without the side effects," she said.
Florida became the first state in the nation last year to legalize cannabis that is low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD. CBD is the compound in pot that doesn't make users feel "high" but is believed to alleviate symptoms, including spasms, for a wide range of conditions.
Although more than two dozen states have legalized medical marijuana, none have allowed its use for animals.
THE NEWS-PRESS
Medical marijuana returns to center stage
At least one study found that CBD reduced seizures in lab rats, but veterinarians have been slow to jump on the medical-marijuana bandwagon.
That's in part because vets have so many experiences treating hounds that ended up severely ill after scarfing their owners' stashes, according to Dinah's doctor, Tallahassee veterinarian Lucas Bevis.
"The big dark cloud is that for the longest time all we've known about marijuana in animals is that it can be toxic to them. A lot of people have been blinded by that fact. It really makes a lot of clinicians just write off the fact that there may be therapeutic properties to this plant," Bevis said.
Pot remains illegal under federal law although U.S. officials have relaxed their opposition to medical marijuana. And it's lumped together under state and federal laws with other drugs considered the most dangerous, such as heroin and LSD, possibly contributing to veterinarians' skepticism about its medicinal value.
But Bevis supports Miller's attempt to gather more data on the drug's efficacy in treating pets like Dinah.
"There's a potential for something that could be very beneficial in this world of medicine," Bevis said. "The number one concern is just getting the ability to research it. I do think that there is definitely a place for it if the research shows that there's a positive response with minimal side-effects."
Sen. Rob Bradley, the Fleming Island Republican who shepherded the low-THC legislation into law last year, is sponsoring a bill that would set up a regulatory framework for the medical marijuana industry and would broaden the types of patients eligible for the treatment.
Bradley indicated Miller's attempt to get animals included in the research isn't likely to make it into this year's proposal, aimed at putting an end to legal challenges that have kept sick patients from getting the low-THC substances that were supposed to have been in production by now.
"My wife Jennifer, my kids and I are the biggest animal lovers in the world," Bradley said. "There may be a time to deal with that issue down the road, but this year we're going to focus on cannabis treatments for humans."
But the tenacious Miller isn't giving up. She's recruited a team of animal lovers to pass out her flyers and help her persuade lawmakers to agree to her proposal.
"This amendment is not just about Dinah. It's about this common-sense research that should not be overlooked because it could bring relief to thousands of animals who suffer from uncontrollable epileptic seizures. Our best friends deserve the best treatment," Miller said.
http://www.news-press.com/story/news/2015/04/14/pot-dinah-marijuana-lobbyist-tallahassee-florida-legislature/25764013/
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Chronicle AM: Rand Paul Talks Drug Policy, CA Legalization Meetings Set, WI Legalization Bill Filed,
Rand Paul has a campaign theme he hopes will resonate, Californians will be meeting to plot a legalization initiative next year, a Maryland pot paraphernalia decrim bill heads to the governor, the British Labor Party is hinting at a softening of its hard-line drug policy, and more:
Sen. Rand Paul is making drug and criminal justice policy a campaign issue. (senate.gov)
Marijuana Policy
Marijuana in Alaska Will Be a "Regulated" Substance, Not a "Controlled" One Under House Bill. The House Judiciary Committee will remove marijuana from the state's list of controlled substances and move to the list of regulated ones, committee chair Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Anchorage) said Friday. The Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 30, keeps marijuana as a controlled substance, so this isn't a done deal just yet.
California Pot Legalization Meetings Set. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, led by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will hold a public forum at UCLA on August 21. That will be followed by another forum in Santa Cruz on April 23. Click on the title link for more info and to RSVP. People who want a voice in how legalization is going to look in the Golden State need to show up.
Colorado February Pot Sales Hit Record. Recreational marijuana outlets sold $39.2 million worth of weed in February, beating the previous monthly record of $36.4 million, set the previous month. Much of the increase is being attributed to the opening of more marijuana stores, especially in Aurora, the state's third largest city.
Maryland Legislature Approves Pot Paraphernalia Decriminalization. In what was largely a housekeeping move after the state decriminalized pot possession last year, the legislature has approved a bill decriminalization the tools used to smoke it. The measure is Senate Bill 456, It won final approval in the House Saturday and now goes to the governor's desk.
Missouri Bill to Free Marijuana Lifer Advances. A bill that would free Jeff Mizanskey, who is doing life without parole in state prison for a marijuana offense, has advanced. The measure, HB 978, passed the House Select Committee on the Judiciary last week, but amended it so that Mizanskey is not automatically set free, but instead will be able to seek parole. The bill now awaits a House floor vote.
Washington House Approves Bill to Reconcile Medical, Recreational Marijuana Systems. The House last Friday approved Senate Bill 5052, which has already passed the Senate. But because the House amended it, it will have to go back to the upper chamber for a final vote. The bill would create a patient registry, eliminate the current collective garden structure and replace it with four-person growing cooperatives, and require state regulators to use a merit-based system for granting marijuana business licenses, which should help out collective gardens trying to go recreational. The patient registry would be voluntary, but people would have to sign up if they wanted to avoid having to pay taxes on their medical marijuana purchases.
Wisconsin Lawmaker Files Legalization Bill. Rep. Melissa Sargent (D-Madison) today introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. The bill would create a 25% excise tax on marijuana sales. The bill is not yet available on the legislative website, but she authored a similar bill last year. That bill went nowhere in the Republican-controlled legislature, and this one is expected to meet the same fate.
Medical Marijuana
Florida CBD Cannabis Oil Regulation Bill Wins Committee Vote. The bill, Senate Bill 7066, would expand the number of businesses that could participate from five to 20. It was approved by the Senate Rules Committee, but without addressing complaints from black farmers that they had been shut out of the process. It now goes to the Senate floor.
Hemp
New Mexico Governor Vetoes Industrial Hemp Bill. Gov. Susana Martinez last Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed research into industrial hemp. The bill, Senate Bill 94, was filed by Sen. Cisco McSorley (D-Albuquerque), a political foe of Martinez, and McSorley said he thought the veto was "political payback."
Drug Policy
Rand Paul Attacks the Drug War. The junior Republican senator from Kentucky who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination used a speech in Las Vegas last Saturday to blast the drug war. "The War on Drugs has created a culture of violence and puts police in an impossible situation," Paul said. "It has fostered tension in our inner cities. There is an undercurrent of unease in our country." He also argued that ongoing racial tensions stem in part from unfairness in the laws and their enforcement. "Criminal justice reform is not a black problem or a white problem," Paul said. "Everyone should be treated the same under the laws of this country regardless of what religion they are, what color their skin is or how poor they are."
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2015/apr/13/chronicle_am_rand_paul_talks_dru
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Chronicle AM: Rand Paul Talks Drug Policy, CA Legalization Meetings Set, WI Legalization Bill Filed,
Posted in: 2016 Candidates/Races Criminal Justice Decriminalization Hemp Marijuana -- Personal Use Marijuana Industry Marijuana Legalization Medical Marijuana News Brief Race State & Local Executive Branches State & Local Legislatures
Rand Paul has a campaign theme he hopes will resonate, Californians will be meeting to plot a legalization initiative next year, a Maryland pot paraphernalia decrim bill heads to the governor, the British Labor Party is hinting at a softening of its hard-line drug policy, and more:
Sen. Rand Paul is making drug and criminal justice policy a campaign issue. (senate.gov)
Marijuana Policy
Marijuana in Alaska Will Be a "Regulated" Substance, Not a "Controlled" One Under House Bill. The House Judiciary Committee will remove marijuana from the state's list of controlled substances and move to the list of regulated ones, committee chair Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux (R-Anchorage) said Friday. The Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 30, keeps marijuana as a controlled substance, so this isn't a done deal just yet.
California Pot Legalization Meetings Set. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, led by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will hold a public forum at UCLA on August 21. That will be followed by another forum in Santa Cruz on April 23. Click on the title link for more info and to RSVP. People who want a voice in how legalization is going to look in the Golden State need to show up.
Colorado February Pot Sales Hit Record. Recreational marijuana outlets sold $39.2 million worth of weed in February, beating the previous monthly record of $36.4 million, set the previous month. Much of the increase is being attributed to the opening of more marijuana stores, especially in Aurora, the state's third largest city.
Maryland Legislature Approves Pot Paraphernalia Decriminalization. In what was largely a housekeeping move after the state decriminalized pot possession last year, the legislature has approved a bill decriminalization the tools used to smoke it. The measure is Senate Bill 456, It won final approval in the House Saturday and now goes to the governor's desk.
Missouri Bill to Free Marijuana Lifer Advances. A bill that would free Jeff Mizanskey, who is doing life without parole in state prison for a marijuana offense, has advanced. The measure, HB 978, passed the House Select Committee on the Judiciary last week, but amended it so that Mizanskey is not automatically set free, but instead will be able to seek parole. The bill now awaits a House floor vote.
Washington House Approves Bill to Reconcile Medical, Recreational Marijuana Systems. The House last Friday approved Senate Bill 5052, which has already passed the Senate. But because the House amended it, it will have to go back to the upper chamber for a final vote. The bill would create a patient registry, eliminate the current collective garden structure and replace it with four-person growing cooperatives, and require state regulators to use a merit-based system for granting marijuana business licenses, which should help out collective gardens trying to go recreational. The patient registry would be voluntary, but people would have to sign up if they wanted to avoid having to pay taxes on their medical marijuana purchases.
Wisconsin Lawmaker Files Legalization Bill. Rep. Melissa Sargent (D-Madison) today introduced a bill to legalize marijuana. The bill would create a 25% excise tax on marijuana sales. The bill is not yet available on the legislative website, but she authored a similar bill last year. That bill went nowhere in the Republican-controlled legislature, and this one is expected to meet the same fate.
Medical Marijuana
Florida CBD Cannabis Oil Regulation Bill Wins Committee Vote. The bill, Senate Bill 7066, would expand the number of businesses that could participate from five to 20. It was approved by the Senate Rules Committee, but without addressing complaints from black farmers that they had been shut out of the process. It now goes to the Senate floor.
Hemp
New Mexico Governor Vetoes Industrial Hemp Bill. Gov. Susana Martinez last Friday vetoed a bill that would have allowed research into industrial hemp. The bill, Senate Bill 94, was filed by Sen. Cisco McSorley (D-Albuquerque), a political foe of Martinez, and McSorley said he thought the veto was "political payback."
Drug Policy
Rand Paul Attacks the Drug War. The junior Republican senator from Kentucky who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination used a speech in Las Vegas last Saturday to blast the drug war. "The War on Drugs has created a culture of violence and puts police in an impossible situation," Paul said. "It has fostered tension in our inner cities. There is an undercurrent of unease in our country." He also argued that ongoing racial tensions stem in part from unfairness in the laws and their enforcement. "Criminal justice reform is not a black problem or a white problem," Paul said. "Everyone should be treated the same under the laws of this country regardless of what religion they are, what color their skin is or how poor they are."
International
British Labor Party's Election Manifesto Hints It May Shift Slightly on Drug Policy. Even though Labor has attacked the Liberal Democrats as "soft on drugs" during the run-up to British elections, Labor's own election manifesto hints that it, too, may be softening. The manifesto says that taxpayers pay the cost of "drink and drug misuse" and offers "early years intervention"—not more arrests and more imprisonment—as a solution. "We know drug addiction continues to be a major cause of crime," the manifesto says. "We will ensure drug treatment services focus on the root causes of addiction, with proper integration between health, police and local authorities in the commissioning of treatment." Again, the emphasis is on treatment, not punishment. Labor appears unwilling to continue with its "tough on drugs" approach, but also unwilling to forthrightly articulate a more liberal approach.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2015/apr/13/chronicle_am_rand_paul_talks_dru
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A good read.... My Turn: Hemp, like its cousin, making inroads to legalization.
One of the perks to having a column that runs in papers around the state is the feedback, especially through emails, that I receive from readers. Sometimes it surprises me what people get passionate about.
Not long ago I wrote about some of the bills that passed New Mexico’s most recent legislative session, listing more than a dozen measures that passed — including one that caught the attention of a hemp enthusiast.
“I enjoyed reading your article,” wrote S.R. Collier of Drink Mary Jane’s, a trademarked company out of Canada that produces alcohol from hemp. He has a Google alert set up for anything out there referring to hemp, and caught my column, and the mention of New Mexico’s newest hemp legislation, from up in Crystal Beach, Ontario — where “marijuana’s sober cousin,” he told me, “is legal.”
“In fact, our Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers incentives for farmers to grow the crop, as the supply cannot meet the demand,” he wrote in response to my queries.
Collier also pointed out that both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp back in their day. He also gave me some links to the “redeeming” qualities of hemp. By that I mean that while hemp may look like a harmless cash crop to some, it’s actually been classified as one the great scourges of our country for years now — as a Schedule 1 controlled substance — alongside that evil cousin, marijuana.
You probably know that pot and hemp are both part of the cannabis family, but only one of them gets you high. Hemp has only trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. But its practical uses are many — it’s good for making rope, clothing, pulp and paper, building materials, fuel and as my Canadian source confirms, booze. It’s been important as a raw material worldwide through the centuries.
My e-correspondent was right about Washington and Jefferson growing hemp. Some have made the case that these two Founding Fathers enjoyed smoking cannabis too — perhaps even the THC-infused kind — but I don’t think anyone’s proven that. What is certain, however, is that both of these wealthy Virginia farmers grew lots of industrial hemp.
So why is it illegal now? Two reasons: capitalism and guilt-by-association.
By the 1930s, the struggling cotton and timber industries saw hemp as a threat to their interests, and the unscrupulous newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who had lots of his money tied up in the timber industry, mounted a campaign to demonize marijuana and other cannabis plants, including hemp. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which was followed by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, both of which effectively shut down the agricultural production of marijuana and hemp in the U.S. — a prohibition that’s lasted to this day.
Well, not entirely. Today, the growing of hemp is illegal under federal law, but some states are moving toward its legalization anyway. Colorado’s done it, and others are following. Just like marijuana, states are deciding to go their own way when it comes to hemp. And if our governor signs on, New Mexico will be one of those states inching toward its legalization.
If signed into law, New Mexico’s Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2015 will allow the state to grow industrial hemp for the purposes of research and development. An outright legalization of hemp is left hinging upon the federal government lifting its antiquated prohibition first.
So, while the new law may put New Mexico in a position to prepare for a whole new cash crop, nothing really happens commercially until the federal government says it’s OK. As dysfunctional as Washington’s become, it could be a while.
Still, I think the Act is a step in the right direction. More pointedly, it’s a step in a sane direction. By all accounts, hemp is a great crop to grow. It’ll grow naturally just about anywhere, its uses are many, and it’s marketable, so a lot of farmers and entrepreneurs could be making money off it.
But if you smoke it, you won’t get high. Not unless you decide to go over to its cousin’s side of the cannabis family.
The only reason hemp was ever outlawed in the first place was because it looks so much like marijuana. From what I’ve read and seen, it grows taller but its blooms look like marijuana — and that’s what the DEA sees from the air. The war against pot would have been far more difficult if hemp had remained legal.
But as marijuana prohibition is being loosened up or thrown out by more and more states, hemp’s legalization is soon to return as well. When that happens, it could become a whole new market for rural New Mexico. We should be getting ready.
http://www.taosnews.com/opinion/article_78b13012-dee7-11e4-92b3-1bc8bfdcb3bb.html
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Your Welcome.... Changes Bloom In Florida Senate Marijuana Plan
http://spacecoastdaily.com/2015/04/changes-bloom-in-florida-senate-marijuana-plan/
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The marijuana industry’s newest customers are sick and elderly dogs
A day before a scheduled vet appointment to euthanize her dog, Wendy Mansfield decided to try one last resort to alleviate the chronic pain of her 15-year-old labrador mix: cookies from a marijuana dispensary made specifically for ailing dogs.
Kali, a mild-mannered 80-pound rescue, was never much of a complainer. But she often licked her paws—an obvious sign of pain, according to her vet—which was typically accompanied by bouts of coughing because of the shedding fur that got in her throat. One cookie and 20 minutes later, the licking suddenly stopped.
Seeing this, Mansfield, who lives in Fort Bragg, California, gave her dog a second cookie, and then a third. Kali, who had been listless and depressed, got up to drink some water and walked outside—something she hadn’t been able to do recently without groaning or obvious signs of pain.
Mansfield then called the vet to cancel her appointment. That was three weeks ago. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have anticipated this,” she tells Quartz. “It brought my dog back.”
With marijuana flourishing into a big business in the US, a new segment of the market catering to aging and ailing pets has been growing under the radar. The legal weed market raked in $2.7 billion in revenue in 2014, and one estimate by the ArcView Group, a network that connects investors with cannabis startups, projects the industry to top $10 billion in sales by 2018.
The pet-pot market is treading on new territory, however. The legal gray area is posing challenges for companies that want to market and distribute cannabis-derived products for animals. There’s also insufficient scientific backing and industry guidelines. Still, that’s not deterring desperate pet owners, like Mansfield, or keeping investors from getting on board.
The FDA is watching
The special cookies given to Kali were produced by Auntie Dolores, an Oakland-based maker of edible marijuana goods, including caramel corn, cheese crackers, and savory pretzels (a bestseller). The seven-year-old company launched its pet treat line, Treatibles, about a year ago.
Unlike its edibles for humans, Treatibles products, which are sold in dispensaries, aren’t made from marijuana but from hemp—the stem of the cannabis plant that’s low in the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which produces that feeling of getting high. Hemp, however, does contain cannabidiol, or CBD, a chemical compound that alleviates pain. The US government also defines hemp as cannabis—not necessarily the stem—that measures less than 0.3% in THC, a threshold that allows its movement across state lines.
Most companies making cannabis-derived pet products choose to use hemp because the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance, defined as “drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” Currently, 23 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws. But as it stands, veterinarians aren’t empowered to prescribe cannabis to pets. That could change soon. Nevada is currently debating a bill that would allow people to obtain medical marijuana for their pets with a vet’s approval.
Though Auntie Dolores CEO Julianna Carella has heard from customers like Mansfield, she’s hesitant to promote the product’s effects, or even market Treatibles at all. “Honestly, we’re hands off with that because we’re not doctors and it’s not our place to prescribe it in that way,” she says. The company’s also wary of attracting the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration, which recently began sending out warning letters to some companies selling cannabis-based products for animals.
One such recipient is Canna Companion, which in February got an ominous letter delivered to its headquarters outside Seattle saying that its product is an “unapproved new animal drug and your marketing of it violates the [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic] Act.”
Sarah Brandon, an owner of Canna Companion, had no idea such rules existed. She and her husband have researched the effects of cannabis on pets for the past decade, stemming back to their days in veterinary school. In 2014, they took out a $20,000 loan to build a business selling ground hemp powder that dogs and cats consume orally.
They also used language on Canna Companion’s website and social media accounts that made the product sound like a drug, rather than a supplement, which the FDA noticed. This included phrases as innocuous as “safe and effective” and bolder claims like “reduce cancer-associated symptoms.”
“Being vets, we are required by law to use medical terminology,” Brandon says, explaining the original phrasing. “We don’t say an animal has tummy pains. We say they have gastritis and we use those terms.” But she understood the FDA’s point of view, and the company updated the language on its site and social media accounts.
http://qz.com/377887/the-marijuana-industrys-newest-customers-are-sick-and-elderly-dogs/
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Liquid Medical Marijuana Shows Promise for Epilepsy
Child and adult patients who took cannabidiol had big drop in seizure rates, study found
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, April 13, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- A liquid form of medical marijuana may help people with severe epilepsy that does not respond to other treatments, according to a new report.
The study included 213 child and adult patients with 12 different types of severe epilepsy. Some of them had Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, which are types of epilepsy that can cause intellectual disability and lifelong seizures.
The patients took a liquid form of medical marijuana, called cannabidiol, daily for 12 weeks.
Among the 137 people who completed the study, the number of seizures fell by an average of 54 percent, according to a team led by Dr. Orrin Devinsky, of New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in New York City.
Among the 23 patients with Dravet syndrome who completed the study, the number of convulsive seizures fell by 53 percent, the investigators found. The 11 patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome who finished the study also had a 55 percent decline in the number of attacks called "atonic" seizures, which cause a sudden loss of muscle tone.
The drug wasn't always easy to take, however, and 12 patients stopped taking it due to side effects, the researchers said. The types of side effects seen in more than 10 percent of the patients included drowsiness (21 percent), diarrhea (17 percent), tiredness (17 percent) and decreased appetite (16 percent).
The study was supported by drug maker GW Pharmaceuticals. The findings are scheduled to be presented next week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Washington, D.C. Experts note that findings presented at medical meetings are typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal
Devinsky agreed that larger, placebo-controlled studies are needed to assess the effectiveness of the drug.
"So far there have been few formal studies on this marijuana extract," he said in an AAN news release. "These results are of great interest, especially for the children and their parents who have been searching for an answer for these debilitating seizures."
One expert unconnected to the study called the findings "very exciting."
"Prior to this study, there were mainly anecdotal reports and very few formal studies evaluating cannabidiol, a component of cannabis, in treating seizures," explained Dr. Scott Stevens, director of Advanced Clinical Experience in Neurology at North-Shore-LIJ Health System in Manhasset, N.Y.
Stevens believes that "these results stand as a stepping stone toward further studies evaluating the use of marijuana in the treatment of epilepsy."
http://www.webmd.com/epilepsy/news/20150413/liquid-medical-marijuana-shows-promise-against-severe-epilepy
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Colo. moving toward making PTSD eligible for medical pot
http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/04/13/colorado-moving-toward-making-ptsd-eligible-for-medical-pot/25738365/
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Congress told the Justice Department to stop fighting medical marijuana. It didn't work.
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/13/8384295/congress-doj-medical-marijuana
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Groundbreaking Research Suggests Medical Marijuana Could Reduce Seizures In Children
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/13/epidiolex_n_7055784.html
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Nine things to know about legal pot
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/13/news/pot-marijuana-facts/
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DiamondEye StockPicker Detecting Premier Entry Points for CBIS, HEMP, and ERBB Stocks
ERBB is the 3rd stock DiamondEye has detected for a serious breakout movement. American Green, Inc. has dipped into new 52-week lows tempting smart investors to purchase the giveaways while they are there. The company has made substantial improvements to their corporate structure and are beefing up their orders creating openings for free flowing revenue. The company is poised for growth and there is no telling when/what the catalyst will be that will green shoot this stock to glory. Investors are being warned by DiamondEye and Stock Market Monitors that ERBB currently sits at/near 52-week lows and closed out last week at .0072 cents a share. Watch for the stock to gain some serious ground in the coming days/weeks/months. DiamondEye has set a price target on ERBB of $1.00 and given it a “Buy” Rating. ERBB in its last rally catapulted quickly over .10 cents and fat fingered into the .22 cent range. The stock next explosion will show signs of much pent up energy and DiamondEye has called for a $1.00 strike.
http://stockmarketmonitors.com/2015/04/13/diamondeye-stockpicker-detecting-premier-entry-points-for-cbis-hemp-and-erbb-stocks/
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Physician makes medical marijuana a specialty
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/04/11/physician-makes-medical-marijuana-specialty/Y46NqJnFR5Mmgj5T3uclwK/story.html
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Cannabis for the Treatment of Epilepsy, and More
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/04/12/medical-cannabis-epilepsy-treatment.aspx
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Legislators should open their minds to medical marijuana
http://www.salisburypost.com/2015/04/12/legislators-should-open-their-minds-to-medical-marijuana/
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Are Bio-Refineries Key to a Thriving Hemp Industry?
http://www.thehempnews.com/are-bio-refineries-the-key-to-a-thriving-hemp-industry/
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Federal Government Finally Admits Cannabis Can Help Kill Cancer Cells
http://www.the-open-mind.com/federal-government-finally-admits-cannabis-can-help-kill-cancer-cells/
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Chicago medical marijuana facility accepts state license
http://www.macon.com/2015/04/10/3686922_chicago-medical-marijuana-facility.html?rh=1
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Awesome video... Juicing Cannabis For Maximal Health Benefit
http://ushempco.com/juicing-cannabis-for-maximal-health-benefit/
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Next stop for Obama, Chile.
Chile harvests first medical marijuana crop
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-chile-harvests-medical-marijuana-crop.html
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Is the President Discovering the Political Benefits of Cannabis?
Going to smoke the good Jamaica bud.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-08/is-the-president-discovering-the-political-benefits-of-cannabis-
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Poll: Ohio voters' support for medical marijuana is sky high.
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2015/04/poll-ohio-voters-support-for-medical-marijuana-is.html
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The Federal Government Awards Ole Miss With $69 Million Towards Marijuana Research
http://marijuanastocks.com/the-federal-government-awards-ole-miss-with-69-million-towards-marijuana-research/
Like 5000 years of using Hemp/MJ wasn't enough. Looks like Uncle Sam wants in the MJ market. Wonder who owns Ole Miss hmmmm.
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