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Weed Wars on Discovery Channel
A new reality show that's relevant. Anyone else catch the first episode?
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/weed-wars/
The latest 10-Q has been out for days:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001040850&owner=exclude&count=40
Was trying to connect some more dots. These dots seem bigger and farther apart but maybe still connectable.
1. MWIP's pre-paid/ID card may be loaded through a PCI compliant gateway, Internet, POS system or PayPal.
2. SAN FRANCISCO-eBay CEO John Donahoe said that his company will close more than $5 billion in commerce via mobile phones, and eBay subsidiary PayPal will handle more than $3.5 billion in mobile payments in 2011.
3. Online auction house eBay continues to ramp up its mobile commerce, acquiring mobile payments technology firm Zong for approximately $240 million in cash. The transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2011. Zong touts more than 250 carrier agreements, reaching 3.2 billion mobile subscribers in 45 countries and 21 languages.
4. Mobile payments for digital and physical goods, mobile money transfers and Near Field Communications-enabled contactless transactions will almost triple from $240 billion in 2011 to $670 billion in 2015, Juniper Research said earlier this month. Digital goods payments will lead the charge and are expected account for nearly 40 percent of the worldwide mobile payments market by 2015.
Read more: Zong snapped up by eBay for $240M - FierceMobileContent http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/zong-snapped-ebay-240m/2011-07-07
On a related note Sparkbases' Paycloud uses technology named Zoosh, developed by a company called Naratte.
One early Zoosh adopter is SparkBase, a Cleveland-based company that processes gift- and loyalty-card transactions for merchants. The company plans to use the technology for a service called Paycloud that stores and manages loyalty cards in the equivalent of an electronic wallet for smartphone users.
Mr. Hardman expects to also work with NFC once it is widely available in smartphones, as well technology that uses a larger bar codes that can be scanned from smartphone screens. With Zoosh, however, "I can do what I wanted to do now," he said.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/articleSB10001424052702304887904576395833891987232.html
Was just re-reading the sticky on MWIP:
"An example in the vast potential of the market is when CyberSource Corporation (NASDAQ: CYBS) acquired Authorize.Net in November 2007 for $700M. At the time, Authorize.Net was a payment gateway provider with only 190,000 merchant customers."
That's not the end of that story, however:
"Authorize.net has been a trusted partner of Platinum Payment Systems for many years. At Platinum we have seen Authorize.net grow and become a powerhouse in the payment gateway industry. Authorize.net was acquired by CyberSource, another leading payment solution provider, approximately one year ago, and we are now happy to announce that Visa has entered into an agreement to acquire CyberSource."
Visa paid $26.00 a share, a total of about 2 billion dollars.
It was only 3 or 4 days late.
The S1 filing is just the official paperwork detailing what the company plans to do. The actual dividend, split, spinoff or whatever is further down the road from there. Some extra time might be needed for approval from the appropriate regulatory body as well. There should be plenty of time for new investors.
If Friedman wants to attract new money he'll announce a ex-dividend date and give new investors a chance to buy in.
You mean SIPC insurance? Market looks better today, I might not have to get that extra mattress after all.
An exact date hasn't been set. A best guess is mid-November.
On the 30th of what? Too late for Sept. 30th.
He said: "We were further advised to file the S-1 concurrently with our 10Q, ending September 30th, 2011 which will be timely filed, as part of the S-1 registration."
He meant: The 10Q for the period ending Sept. 30th, 2011 which usually comes out in Nov. is when you can expect more info on the S-1 filing.
Folks ... It's not only the government that does not want it legal for recreation OR medical .
This stock has dipped into the .004's twice in the past and twice it moved up nicely from there. Third times the charm?
Since it's been stated somewhere that 800 Commerce represents most of the value in MWIP (I'll guess around 66% to 75%) then maybe a ratio of 2:3 or 3:4, 800C to MWIP respectively.
We'll need two 100% runs to reach $.03 but I'm rooting with you.
I'll never understand why any intelligent trader would short a stock this low in price. At near zero there is little to gain and much more to lose if it takes off. An unacceptable level of risk/reward for any but the most foolhardy.
Maybe there is a confidentiality agreement, it's about secure transactions after all. You wouldn't walk into a bank and demand a list of all the customers they do business with, they'll throw you out.
They just filed one this August so the next 10-Q is expected around the middle of November.
A couple of nice 10-Q's to verify revenue growth.
I found the second paragraph of that article even more interesting. Four different penny stock alerts for MWIP last night within 3 hours of each other.
"Yesterday, the stock was heavily promoted by a few websites determined to pump up its price. The promoters placed MWIP on high watch today, while MediSwipe remained silent."
http://newsletter.hotstocked.com/stocks/view/MWIP-MEDISWIPE-INC
Was this move telegraphed?
These two recent articles dated yesterday and today are an interesting coincidence to say the least.
http://www.hotstocked.com/article/18252/mediswipe-inc-otc-mwip-get-supported-by.html
"Yesterday, the stock was heavily promoted by a few websites determined to pump up its price. The promoters placed MWIP on high watch today, while MediSwipe remained silent."
http://newsletter.hotstocked.com/stocks/view/MWIP-MEDISWIPE-INC
Just IMO..but I'm sticking around I have faith.
I have that same faith, but its not a leap of faith, it's based on numbers. If the recent PR's are accurate:
"MediSwipe Signs New Merchant Contracts for Over $150,000 in Monthly Processing Volume"
That is approximately $500,000 per quarter of revenue. If expenses remain the same (approx. $200K-$250K) then there is about $250K-$300K of net revenue per quarter coming in the next 10Q. That is significantly higher than the last two quarters.
MediSwipe Inc. Files 10Q Financials for Second Quarter 2011 and Announces Additional Merchant Agreements for Wellness Centers and Internet Businesses.
MediSwipe Signs New Merchant Contracts for Over $150,000 in Monthly Processing Volume.
LOS ANGELES, Aug 22, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- MediSwipe Inc. ( www.MediSwipe.com ) MWIP -9.23% , and its wholly owned subsidiary 800 Commerce www.800commerce.com , a leading company specializing in merchant payment solutions and financial products for the medical health care industries and mobile payment industry, today announced that the company has filed its 10Q financials for the second quarter 2011, and signed new merchant services agreements the first week of August for wellness centers and Internet businesses exceeding one million dollars in annual gross processing volume. Under the newly signed agreements, MediSwipe will provide merchant services, cash advance, debit and loyalty cards and personal digitized healthcare records to wellness centers and medical dispensaries located in Colorado and California as well as provide merchant services to e-commerce and additional high risk merchants. The Company has also expanded merchant agreements this month to the 800 Commerce division covering non-medical related merchant agreements including e-commerce sites, penny auction sites, credit repair.
"We have spent the last two quarters cleaning up our balance sheet, dissolving consulting agreements by prior management and retiring over 10% of our outstanding common stock. Further effort was placed on completing the research and development of our closed loop MediSwipe cards, completing our name change, the transition of new management and solidifying our banking relationships. We have also cemented important strategic alliances with MMR Global and www.mymedicalrecords.com to provide personal health records to thousands of our patients at low cost monthly fees, and www.800.com , which will provide toll free numbers, efaxes and voicemail along with our merchant processing services for both online and bricks and mortar businesses. We have already surpassed revenues for last quarter this month, and we urge our shareholders and new investors to continue to mark our progress as our portfolio of clients and pipeline of revenue grows dramatically over the short term," stated B. Michael Friedman, CEO of MediSwipe Inc.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mediswipe-inc-files-10q-financials-for-second-quarter-2011-and-announces-additional-merchant-agreements-for-wellness-centers-and-internet-businesses-2011-08-22?reflink=MW_news_stmp
I'll give them at least 2 more quarters to get the numbers up, but someone didn't get the math right on this one:
Sales increased(?) from $12,910 for the three months ended June 30, 2010 to $8,637 for the three months ended June 30, 2011.
And no more level II quotes from otcmarkets.com! What else could go wrong?
The new name will probably show on their next filing, but I couldn't tell you when that will occur.
...they are trying to hold the PPS down for some reason.
Yeah, so someone can load up cheap and make a bundle.
Somewhat earlier today:
TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie is expected to announce today he is lifting the suspension on New Jersey's medical marijuana program, according to two sources with knowledge of the governor's plans.
In April, the governor stopped state officials from launching a patient registry and other administrative functions out of concern that state employees could be arrested by federal law enforcement officials. Possessing and selling marijuana remains a federal crime, despite 16 states enacting medical marijuana laws for select patients.
The delay frustrated patients, who had been told the drug would be available this summer. Attorney General Paula Dow and administration officials have been waiting for the governor to return from a two-week vacation to decide what to do, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it before the official announcement.
Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), one of the key legislative sponsors of the medical marijuana law, said he was invited by the governor's staff to join Christie at a 2 p.m. press conference, although he was not given any specifics. "I assume he'll say he is moving forward with the program.''
"It's about time,'' Scutari added.
Patients, advocacy groups and the six nonprofits that formed to grow and sell the drug have been waiting for the governor to respond to a
June 30 memo by U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole discussing the legal issues around operating medical marijuana programs.
Cole's memo, however, did not specifically say whether state employees who administer the medical marijuana program would be immune from arrest by federal law enforcement.
The memo emphasized "individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or their caregivers'' would not be targeted.
Cole's letter raised for the first time the Obama administration's concern about "an increase in scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes.''
"Within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple large-scale, privately operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers. Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of millions of dollars based on the planned cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants.''
Last month, the company weGrow, opened its first “megastore”' selling marijuana-growing supplies in Arizona. "Soon, weGrow locations will be taking root across the nation, with new stores sprouting in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey and Oregon in the next few months, according to the California-based company's web site.
Some of the applications from the six nonprofits that have state permission to run an alternative treatment center, or dispensary, in the state describe anticipate revenues in the millions of dollars, David Evans, an attorney and the executive director of the Drug-Free Schools Coalition and one of the most vocal opponents to the medial marijuana law, said in a recent interview.
"It is not possible that they can follow the state law and comply with the federal law,'' Evans said. "The letter does not limit prosecutions to only large scale dispensaries.''
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/gov_christie_is_expected_to_im.html
Also, about three weeks ago:
Obama administration tells N.J. to keep medical marijuana program small and controlled.
State medical marijuana programs and the people who work for them are not likely to run afoul of federal law if they keep their operations small and controlled, and don't allow growers to create "industrial marijuana cultivation centers,'' according to an eagerly-awaited letter from the Obama administration.
The letter, obtained by The Star-Ledger this evening, comes more than two months after state Attorney General Paula Dow asked the Obama administration whether New Jersey's future medical marijuana program could violate federal law.
Gov. Chris Christie has said he would delay the program until the federal government assures him it won't prosecute anyone employed by the program. Possession and distribution of marijuana is a federal crime, even though 16 states have passed laws making it available to select patients.
In 2009, the Obama administration issued a memo saying it would not devote law enforcement time and money to arresting and prosecuting people involved in legitimate medical marijuana activities. But subsequent memos issued in April seemed to suggest federal law enforcement was not willing to give a blanket immunity to such programs.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman sent the letter to Dow this evening. A spokesman for Dow could not immediately be reached for comment.
Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole, in a letter addressed to every state attorney general, reaffirmed "it is likely not an efficient use of federal resources to focus enforcement efforts on individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen ... and their caregivers.''
But the large-scale growing and scaling activity seen in some states troubles the Obama administration, according to Cole's letter.
"There has, however, been an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution, and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes,'' according to the letter. "For example, within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple, large-scale, privately operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers. Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of millions of dollars based on the planned cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants.''
The earlier memo "never intended to shield such activities from federal law enforcement and prosecution, even when these activities purport to comply with state law,'' according to the letter.
There are six approved alternative treatment centers operators in New Jersey — the nonprofit companies that will grow and sell the drug — that are preparing to launch their operations sometime this summer.
Roseanne Scotti of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey said her reading of the letter suggests New Jersey workers and the program itself are safe.
"This is laying out explicitly who is at risk,'' Scotti said. "If you are planning on growing tens of thousands of plants and making millions of dollars, you are going to be under the purview of federal law enforcement. That is not what is planned for New Jersey.''
"I would implore Governor Christie, beg Gov. Christie to move forward with this program with all possible speed. The people we represent are on the phone to us crying. They do not have a hangnail. They have diseases like ALS, which is the worst disease in the world," Scotti said.
In an appearance on the "On the Line" call-in show broadcast on PBS stations on June 16, the governor said he would delay the program until he got a clear indication whether New Jersey people working in and using the program would get into trouble. "Until I get that assurance, I cannot ask people to do things that they might get prosecuted by federal prosecutors."
"What happens if they get arrested and I ordered them to do it? That's wrong," Christie said.
The confusion arose in April, after the Washington governor and Oakland city officials asked the Obama administration whether federal law enforcement officials would target their legitimate medical marijuana programs.
The Justice Department replied by repeating earlier assertions that patients legally using a program would not be targeted. But it stressed no one would get a blanket immunity.
"We maintain the authority to enforce the Controlled Substance Act vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law," according to the Justice departments letter to California and Oakland.
Dow sought clarification on what Holder's letter meant.
"As the state's chief legal adviser to all of the departments in the Executive Branch, many of which are participating in carrying out the medical marijuana legislation, it is critical that I properly advise them as to the potential criminal and civil ramifications of their actions in carrying out their duties," according to Dow's April letter. "Accordingly, I ask that you provide me with clear guidance as to the enforcement position of the Department of Justice relative to New Jersey's medical marijuana legislation and the scope of the entities and individuals who may be subject to civil suit or criminal prosecution."
Christie has made no secret he does not believe the law New Jersey enacted before he took office is restrictive enough to prevent the program from being abused by recreational marijuana users.
The law's proponents argue New Jersey's law is the most restrictive in the country, and Christie's request for guidance was another way to delay the program.
Medical marijuana laws have passed in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington D.C., Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/us_attorney_general_explains_h.html
Challenging the DEA's War on Medical Marijuana
The federal agency insists it has no legitimate use. So are all the cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis patients lying?
Can I interest you in a cross-country trip? Its theme is Anti-Empiricism in America. The tour bus leaves from The Bay Area, where a lot of people still think rent control works. It proceeds through Salt Lake City, where the Evergreen Institute claims to cure same sex attraction, passes through Petersburg, Ky., home of the Creationist Museum, and terminates in Springfield, Va., where the DEA, a liberty impinging branch of the federal government, insists against overwhelming evidence that a plant called marijuana "has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision."
That dubious determination is what keeps marijuana classified as a Schedule 1 drug, the only kind that cannot be prescribed by physicians. It is more tightly controlled than raw opium, methadone, and anabolic steroids, among many other drugs far more harmful to the human body, and more prone to abuse than cannabis.
Is that something the DEA can defend in court?
Americans For Safe Access (ASA) intends to find out. The advocacy group has spent years petitioning to change marijuana's designation so that doctors can prescribe it to patients. Last month, the DEA officially denied their request. In response, the group intends to sue. "The federal government is making no bones about its aggressive policy to undermine medical marijuana," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "And we're prepared to take the Obama administration to court over it."
Though most people don't know it, there is precedent for suing the federal government for access to medical marijuana and winning. On the verge of going blind in his early twenties, the late Robert C. Randall turned to marijuana after discovering that it relieved the symptoms of his glaucoma. It worked. In order to maintain a supply, he grew marijuana on his Washington D.C. sun deck. Police arrested him. "I argued that any sane person who knew they were going blind, who knew that marijuana would prevent them from going blind, would break the law to obtain marijuana," he recalled. Surprisingly, the courts agreed, and soon afterward, he began receiving marijuana legally from the federal government, a fact he publicized, resulting in the termination of his supply.
"They were willing to let me go blind to maintain the fiction that marijuana has no medical use," he said in the video above. He sued. Rather than go to court again, the federal government reached a settlement that required it to establish the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program. At its peak, 30 people were getting their marijuana legally from the federal government, the entity now claiming that the drug "has no accepted medical use in the United States, and lacks an acceptable level of safety for use even under medical supervision." George H.W. Bush ended the program, but as many as 5 patients are currently grandfathered in and still receiving marijuana.
Would the head of the DEA have the guts to look him square in the eye and assert that marijuana has no legitimate medical use? Unlikely. Would Bill Bennett, the former drug czar and prohibition advocate, be willingly to publicly debate him? I doubt it. Here is what candidate Barack Obama had to say on the subject before he was president:
I have more of a practical view than anything else. My attitude is that if it's an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma, or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate, because there really is no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else. I think there is a legitimate concern about not wanting people to grow their own ... but using medical marijuana in the same way with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate.
You'd think a man who understands that the drug has medical uses -- who therefore believes that there are sick people who aren't getting a useful medicine due to the DEA's designation -- would push for change.
Nope.
Despite legal obstacles to conducting medical research with marijuana, there is all sorts of evidence (.pdf), beyond personal testimony, that it has legitimate medicinal uses. But I actually think that hearing the stories of actual medical marijuana users is as powerful as any study.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/07/challenging-the-deas-war-on-medical-marijuana/241853/
Conor Friedersdorf is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.
Interesting videos on the web page also.
All fixed. Same symbol however: C2J.
http://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/EN/index.aspx?pageID=35&ISIN=US58500H1059
And don't forget "lacks accepted safety for use under medical supervision."
The lawyers are having a field day with pharmaceutical companies and the safety issues with "approved" drugs. Most people understand that many drugs, if not all, come with side effects. You and your doctor must be willing to determine when the benefits outweigh the risks.
A drug has a ‘‘currently accepted medical use’’ if all of the following five elements have been satisfied:
a. The drug’s chemistry is known and reproducible;
b. There are adequate safety studies;
c. There are adequate and well-controlled studies proving efficacy;
d. The drug is accepted by qualified experts; and
e. The scientific evidence is widely available.
"Medical" Marijuana - The Facts
Medical marijuana already exists. It's called Marinol.
A pharmaceutical product, Marinol, is widely available through prescription. It comes in the form of a pill and is also being studied by researchers for suitability via other delivery methods, such as an inhaler or patch. The active ingredient of Marinol is synthetic THC, which has been found to relieve the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy for cancer patients and to assist with loss of appetite with AIDS patients.
Unlike smoked marijuana--which contains more than 400 different chemicals, including most of the hazardous chemicals found in tobacco smoke-Marinol has been studied and approved by the medical community and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the nation's watchdog over unsafe and harmful food and drug products. Since the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, any drug that is marketed in the United States must undergo rigorous scientific testing. The approval process mandated by this act ensures that claims of safety and therapeutic value are supported by clinical evidence and keeps unsafe, ineffective and dangerous drugs off the market.
There are no FDA-approved medications that are smoked. For one thing, smoking is generally a poor way to deliver medicine. It is difficult to administer safe, regulated dosages of medicines in smoked form. Secondly, the harmful chemicals and carcinogens that are byproducts of smoking create entirely new health problems. There are four times the level of tar in a marijuana cigarette, for example, than in a tobacco cigarette
Morphine, for example, has proven to be a medically valuable drug, but the FDA does not endorse the smoking of opium or heroin. Instead, scientists have extracted active ingredients from opium, which are sold as pharmaceutical products like morphine, codeine, hydrocodone or oxycodone. In a similar vein, the FDA has not approved smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes, but has approved the active ingredient-THC-in the form of scientifically regulated Marinol.
The DEA helped facilitate the research on Marinol. The National Cancer Institute approached the DEA in the early 1980s regarding their study of THC's in relieving nausea and vomiting. As a result, the DEA facilitated the registration and provided regulatory support and guidance for the study.
The DEA recognizes the importance of listening to science. That's why the DEA has registered seven research initiatives to continue researching the effects of smoked marijuana as medicine. For example, under one program established by the State of California, researchers are studying the potential use of marijuana and its ingredients on conditions such as multiple sclerosis and pain. At this time, however, neither the medical community nor the scientific community has found sufficient data to conclude that smoked marijuana is the best approach to dealing with these important medical issues.
The most comprehensive, scientifically rigorous review of studies of smoked marijuana was conducted by the Institute of Medicine, an organization chartered by the National Academy of Sciences. In a report released in 1999, the Institute did not recommend the use of smoked marijuana, but did conclude that active ingredients in marijuana could be isolated and developed into a variety of pharmaceuticals, such as Marinol.
In the meantime, the DEA is working with pain management groups, such as Last Acts, to make sure that those who need access to safe, effective pain medication can get the best medication available.
http://www.justice.gov/dea/ongoing/marinol.html
I happen to know it comes in IV form as well after visiting people in the hospital.
International Medical Marijuana Research Conference
Chicago, IL--(ENEWSPF)--July 7, 2011. Yesterday, the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) began its 21st annual symposium in St. Charles, Illinois, just outside of Chicago . Notably, this year's symposium is sponsored in part by an array of pharmaceutical companies, the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and ElSohly Laboratories, Inc., the federal government's only licensed source of research-grade cannabis (marijuana) used in therapeutic studies. The symposium features poster presentations by four members of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access -- Dr. William Courtney, Dr. Jeff Hergenrather, Jahan Marcu and Dr. Amanda Reiman.
This important public health symposium is taking place less than a week after Deputy Attorney General James Cole inconspicuously issued a memorandum on June 29th to U.S Attorneys, defending the government's threats of criminal prosecution against local and state officials, as well as others producing or distributing medical marijuana even if such actions are legal under state law. Rarely has the federal government threatened public officials over the development and passage of their own public health laws.
"This symposium and its sponsors shows that medical cannabis is a valid medication that has been recognized and studied by scientists right under our noses," said Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's leading medical marijuana advocacy group. "meanwhile, the federal government continues its antiquated, political campaign to undermine the ability of millions of patients to safely and legally obtain their medication."
Part of what's happening this week includes a presentation by Temple University doctoral student, ASA Advisory Board member, and cannabinoid researcher Jahan Marcu, focusing on research around cannabinoid receptors in the brain to better understand how and which parts of the cannabis plant work best with the human body. Marcu previously published findings in the Journal of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics on a study showing enhanced anti-cancer effects with certain compounds found in the cannabis plant. For his presentation in 2009, Marcu received the prestigious "Billy Martin Award" from the ICRS.
Dr. Amanda Reiman will be presenting on dispensary-based research and models for patient access to whole-plant medicine. While an ASA Advisory Board member, Reiman was also a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently a medical cannabis researcher who regularly presents at ICRS and other related conferences. Reiman's research on the impact of localized medical marijuana distribution on patients is particularly relevant given the federal effort to undermine the regulation of such facilities.
"The federal government cannot both support medical marijuana and undermine its legal implementation," continued Sherer. "This contradictory policy must end." The government has multiple options currently available, not the least of which is a 9-year-old petition to reclassify marijuana now pending before the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as Congressional legislation recently introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), HR 1983, which also calls for rescheduling marijuana from its position as a dangerous drug with no medical value.
Further information:
International Cannabinoid Research Society symposium: http://www.icrs2011.org/
Last week's memo from U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole:
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/James_Cole_memo_06_29_2011.pdf
Source: americansforsafeaccess.org
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/25306-international-medical-marijuana-research-conference-held-this-week-near-chicago.html
Scott Moore could be legit, seems connected to the merchant account industry. This web page has a different number to contact him.
http://www.equitycommerce.us/contact.html
(916) 365-4930
Not major volume but the price of C2J took a nice jump on the Frankfurt exchange today:
http://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/EN/index.aspx?pageID=35&ISIN=US1376471033
Don't Undermine the Medical Marijuana Industry
It's hard for legal dispensaries to get bank loans, and they can't deduct expenses from their taxes. Let's back legislation to fix that.
By Scott Shane
Consider two small business owners: One sells a product that medical researchers have shown is a major cause of health problems, from cancer to heart disease. The other provides a medical treatment that doctors prescribe for glaucoma, pain, and the side effects of chemotherapy. Which owner can borrow from a bank and deduct expenses on income tax returns? The answer is the first, who sells cigarettes; the second, who sells medical marijuana, cannot. (To be clear, dispensary owners aren't prohibited from applying for bank credit. The trouble is anti-money laundering statutes intended to stop illegal drug dealers make banks reluctant to do business with legal dealers.)
In late May, two Democratic congressmen, Jared Polis of Colorado and Pete Stark of California, introduced bills to remedy the federal government's bias against the owners of medical marijuana dispensaries. Representative Polis's bill would permit medical marijuana sellers to borrow money from banks, while Congressman Stark's bill would allow them to deduct business expenses from their taxes. Passage of these bills makes sense for four reasons.
The first is fairness. No small business owners should be denied access to financing or be subject to unfair tax rules simply because they run a business that some in government don't like. The government should create a level playing field for all business owners. As Polis explained when introducing his bill, "It is simply wrong for the federal government to intrude and threaten banks that are involved in legal transactions." Using a law designed to root out illegal drug dealers, terrorists, fraudsters, and money launderers as a back-door way to make life difficult for the operators of medical marijuana dispensaries is simply unfair. If Congress doesn't like state medical marijuana laws, it needs to challenge the legality of these laws directly rather than stack the rules against them.
Favoring Tobacco over Marijuana
But fairness isn't the only reason I support these bills. I also find it perverse that the government favors the tobacco business over the medical marijuana industry when the former is responsible for several costly medical problems and the latter provides a medically prescribed treatment. Not only does the government's approach makes it difficult for people who need physician-prescribed marijuana to get the treatments they need, imposing pain and hardship, but the approach is also backwards. The government supports the sale of cigarettes, which cause cancer, but discourages the sale of medical marijuana, which is used to manage the side effects of the chemotherapy that these cancer patients must endure. As for healthy individuals who abuse the system to get high, isn't that why we spend large sums of money to stop the illegal drug trade?
By blocking the growth of the medical marijuana industry, federal policy makers are missing a golden opportunity to encourage entrepreneurship. Government officials often speak of finding new, high-growth industries, which are rare. Consultancy See Change Strategy in Olney, Md., forecasts that medical marijuana, currently a $2 billion industry, will reach nearly $9 billion in five years. That's about the same size as the dry cleaning and laundry service industry.
Finally, by opposing the medical marijuana industry, the federal government is missing the chance to cut government expenditures and raise taxes in one of the few areas where such actions would face little opposition by business owners. Unlike virtually every other industry, where higher taxes are vehemently opposed, the medical marijuana industry welcomes higher taxes. In Oakland, for example, the industry drove the effort to impose a 1.8 percent tax on gross sales from medical marijuana sellers.
The potential economic gains from the legalization of marijuana are far from trivial. A 2005 study by Jeffrey Miron, then a visiting economics professor at Harvard, found that government spending could be cut by $7.7 billion and tax revenue increased by $6.2 billion if marijuana sales were legal and taxed at the same rate as alcohol and tobacco. A $14 billion improvement in the government budget isn't something to ignore, especially in the current environment of paralysis over how to reduce high deficits.
Allowing owners of medical marijuana dispensaries to borrow money and deduct their business expenses from their taxes seems like a way to make policy fairer, encourage a high-growth industry, and reduce government expenditures and raise tax revenues without much opposition. Those seem to me like the kinds of objectives our elected officials should be striving for when introducing bills into Congress.
Scott Shane is the A. Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2011/sb20110620_361182.htm
Reps. Frank, Polis urge DOJ to leave medical marijuana to states
By Mike Lillis - 06/21/11 11:00 AM ET
Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are urging the Obama administration this week to reiterate earlier vows to leave the enforcement of medical marijuana laws up to states.
The lawmakers want Attorney General Eric Holder to re-avow his commitment to a 2009 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum — known as the Ogden Memo — that said the agency won't target medical marijuana patients or providers if they are not violating state law.
"Recent actions by United States Attorneys across the country have prompted states to deny patients safe and reliable access to their medicine," the lawmakers wrote in a June 20 letter to Holder.
The letter was prompted by the lawmakers' concerns that several correspondences this year from DOJ to state and local attorneys indicate the agency is walking back the Ogden Memo in the face of conservative criticism that the administration has been too lenient in the war on drugs.
In a February letter to the Oakland, Calif., city attorney, for instance, DOJ vowed the department "will enforce the [Controlled Substances Act] vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law."
Such letters have emboldened state lawmakers in Washington state, Arizona and Rhode Island to kill or delay implementation of local medical marijuana laws, the lawmakers wrote.
Use and distribution of marijuana is illegal under federal law, although more than a dozen states have approved its use for medical purposes.
Frank and Polis cited two primary reasons they think DOJ should leave the issue to states: first, the agency has limited resources, which they argue should go toward prosecuting more serious crimes — the same argument DOJ offered in the Ogden Memo; and second, targeting the medical marijuana industry "harms the people whose major goal is to seek relief from pain wholly caused by illness," they said.
"There are now hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients in states where the medication is legal," Frank and Polis wrote. "These patients will either purchase medical marijuana safely at state-regulated entities or seek it through unregulated channels: in the criminal market or by growing it themselves."
DOJ is well aware of the concerns. Earlier this month, Holder announced that he'll soon be clarifying the agency's position of medical marijuana.
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/state-issues/167537-reps-frank-polis-urge-doj-to-leave-medical-marijuana-to-states