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Medical Marijuana Advocates Speak Up

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:50:00 -0400

South Lake Tahoe — Dozens of medical marijuana advocates showed up at the South Lake Tahoe City Council meeting on Tuesday, but the council did not discuss what action to take against the city’s three medical marijuana collectives.

In a memorandum to the City Council dated July 7, city attorneys Jacqueline Mittelstadt and Patrick Enright asked for direction on how the city should proceed regarding police action against the three medical marijuana providers that have opened in the city during the past year.

Notice of when police would begin actions against the collectives wasn’t necessary, but would ensure fairness, according to the memo.

An item on how the city should move forward with enforcement measures against the three collectives was put on the agenda following the memorandum.

On Tuesday, the item was pulled from the agenda by council members, who did not discuss or take action on the item.

It’s unclear how the council’s action will effect potential police action against the collectives, which received an outpouring of support from attendees at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We’re not criminals. We’re patients, and we want to work with the cities,” said Ken Estes, the founder of Patient to Patient Collective in South Lake Tahoe.

Estes has started numerous medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California and said he doesn’t understand the resistance from the city at a time when the Obama administration has signaled it would no longer bust dispensaries that are in compliance with state laws.

“It’s not a fluke, it’s real,” Estes told the council. “Please help us obtain our medicine.”

Outside the meeting, South Shore resident Brian Spencer said marijuana has been the only treatment that’s eased the anxiety attacks and persistent pain he has suffered in his face following a vicious assault in 2004.

Getting robbed is one of several threats medical marijuana users encounter when their chosen treatment isn’t available legally, Spencer said.

“We have to have this,” Spencer said. “They can’t take this away.”

The memo from the city attorneys does not include specific allegations against the South Lake Tahoe collectives, but cited numerous legal precedents for potential police action against the medical marijuana providers and noted most storefront dispensaries fail to meet the requirements of California law, according to the Police Officer’s Association White Paper.

Tahoe Wellness Collective spokesman Cody Bass blasted the memo on Tuesday, contending the legal claims from the attorneys are “completely misleading.”

The White Paper was written by a “cynical anti-medical marijuana lobbyist,” Bass added.

Action against the collectives would result in an “unwinnable lawsuit,” Bass said, setting off a loud round of applause from much of the packed house on Tuesday.

The audience was scolded by Mayor Jerry Birdwell for the ovation.

“No further outbreaks or we will call this to an end,” Birdwell said.

Representatives of each of the city’s three collectives said they are within the bounds of state law and will stick together if enforcement actions come down against the collectives.

But to many at the meeting, the medical marijuana issue in South Lake Tahoe is more than a battle over interpreting legal statutes.

Marijuana has been healthier and more effective than the combination of 17 daily pills doctors prescribed to treat South Shore resident Eric Gordon’s epilepsy, said Ellen Gordon, Eric’s wife and caretaker. Marijuana works faster and more effectively than the pills and could prevent the seizure that could one day take Eric’s life, Gordon said outside Tuesday’s meeting.

“There is a human side to this,” Ellen Gordon said.

Source: Nevada Appeal (Carson City, NV)

Contact: editor@nevadaappeal.com

Website: http://www.nevadaappeal.com/

Author: Adam Jensen, Nevada Appeal News Service

L.A. Targets Cannabis Clubs

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:39:00 -0400

LOS ANGELES — Daniel Halbert moved here from Phoenix this year toinvest his life savings in what he hoped was a golden opportunity: themedical-marijuana business.But on Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council told him to shut downhis dispensary, part of a broad crackdown against a growing andunregulated marijuana industry. More than 600 dispensaries have takenadvantage of a loophole in city regulations to open shop here in thepast two years.

The unchecked growth has alarmed some city leaders.

“They were like a rash,” said City Councilman Ed Reyes, who isleading the effort to shut down many of the dispensaries. He

said acolleague told him that at one dispensary near a high school, thestudent crowds outside made the pot store look “like an ice cream shopfrom the 1950s.”

The planning committee has begun hearings to close the loophole usedby dispensaries to set up shop with scarcely any paperwork or permits.

At the committee’s first hearings last week, it told 28 dispensariesto close or face a fine. This week, it was Mr. Halbert’s turn.

California legalized marijuana consumption for medicinal use in 1996.

In 2003, the state established legal protections formedical-marijuana users who were issued a doctor’s prescription. Thelaw also created more solid legal footing for the cooperatives thatdistribute marijuana for medical purposes.

Dispensaries, which had numbered just a handful until 2003, began togrow statewide. By 2007, Los Angeles had 183 dispensaries.

That same year, the city attorney’s office issued a moratoriumintended to block new establishments until the City Council createdregulations, such as a ban on operating near schools.

But the City Council never got around to setting any rules on thedispensaries. Meantime, word begin to spread that dispensary ownerscould open new outlets, despite the moratorium, by filing paperworkclaiming a so-called hardship exemption.

Some applications cited the raids by federal authorities targetingmarijuana dispensaries as hardships. In other hardship applications,owners simply claimed they weren’t aware they needed permits.

The hardship applications went unchallenged by the City Council, andthe number of dispensaries soared to its current level of about 800. San Francisco, by comparison, has about 30 dispensaries.

Mr. Halbert joined the rush in March. He was running a datingservice in Phoenix when a friend pointed out an ad on Craigslist fromMarc Kent, a former attorney, offering to help people apply for thehardship exemption for a $3,500 fee. He said he has helped people openup more than 100 dispensaries.

“It was pretty much a turn-key operation,” said Mr. Kent.

Mr. Halbert made three trips to Los Angeles and toured severalfacilities that had opened under the hardship clause. “I did my duediligence,” he said.

He settled on a storefront on Venice Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

He registered the business as Best Buds, but later changed theoutlet’s name to Rainforest Collective. He placed a clapboard sign outfront and advertised his services with a flashing neon sign in thewindow.

He decorated his shop with rainforest-themed murals. Clients couldselect from an assortment of marijuana strains for smoking, as well as“edibles” — pretzels and cookies with the marijuana baked inside. Total investment: close to $100,000, he said.

Mr. Halbert encourages customers to consume their marijuana on thepremises and lures them with such offers as movie nights. “We don’twant them to just come here and get their medicine,” he said. “We wantthem to come here and maybe make some friends, have some fellowship.”

He said he now has about 1,000 customers, but declined to discusshow much the shop makes. Mr. Halbert said he might try to fight thecity order to close and planned to stay open as long as possible. Inhis hearing before the planning committee Tuesday, Mr. Halbertproduced letters of support from residents and local businesses.

Other neighborhood activists, however, have campaigned to shut down the dispensaries.

Cindy Cleghorn, a member of a neighborhood council in a another part of the city, complained her area is overrun.

“It’s out of control,” she said. Ms. Cleghorn said the newdispensaries violate neighborhood-improvement guidelines and operate instorefronts that are zoned for other uses. “It’s not about themarijuana, it’s about the land-use issues,” says Ms. Cleghorn, whobrought her complaints to the City Council.

But because so many dispensaries had opened up without resistancefrom the city, Mr. Halbert said, “Any business person would assumethat the city’s fine” with them.

Source: Wall Street Journal (US)

Contact: male2('wsj.ltrs','wsj.com');wsj.ltrs@wsj.com

Website: http://www.wsj.com/

Author: Sabrina Shankman

The Forums are here!

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:15:00 -0400

Just finished up the new forum design. Please start posting!

Here's the link- The Marijuana Blog Forums

- The Marijuana Blogger :cool:

Medical Marijuana Bill Nearing Lynch's Desk

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:28:00 -0400

CONCORD - The controversial bill to legally let those with debilitating illness use marijuana to relieve pain is one person away from getting to the desk of Gov. John Lynch.

The bill ( HB 648 ) needs the signature of Senate President Sylvia Larsen before it goes to Lynch, according to Assistant Secretary of State Paula Penney.

Once the bill is Lynch's possession, the governor has five days to decide whether to sign, veto the bill or let it become law without his signature. Sundays and holidays don't count during this five-day waiting period.

Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, D-Nashua, was an instrumental member of a House-Senate negotiating committee that made significant changes to the bill in May.

This had come after Lynch told sponsors and Rosenwald that he would have vetoed the bill as originally written and earlier adopted by both branches of the NH Legislature.

Late last month, the Legislature adopted the revised bill and the lobby pushing for the measure have aired radio and television commercials urging Lynch to sign it.

The three-term, Democratic Gov. Lynch repeated last week he had not made up his mind but would watch closely if the new rewrite had addressed his concerns about distribution.

The altered bill would remove an earlier right for patients and caregivers to cultivate their own marijuana for use as long as they suffered from eligible, medical ailments.

The final compromise restricts possession of the marijuana solely to three and eventually as many as five, private, nonprofit compassion centers presumably located in the southern tier of the state.

Patients could then receive up to two ounces of marijuana for medicinal use every 10 days from these compassion centers.

Advocates explain that to avoid the harmful, side effects of smoking pot, patients would consume in one sitting larger quantities either by ingesting it cooked in other food products or inhaling the fumes.

Source: Telegraph, The (Nashua, NH)

Contact: letters@nashuatelegraph.com

Website: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com

Author: Kevin Landrigan

The Prince of Pot prepares for U.S. surrender

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:59:00 -0400

Marijuana Activist Starts Farewell Tour In Calgary

Calling his U. S. pot charges a “great injustice,” Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery says he hopes his looming prison sentence below the border will stoke up support for the cannabis movement.

Emery, who gave up a four-year extradition battle on three drug charges, launched a farewell tour in Calgary on Sunday. In September, he plans to plead guilty in a Seattle courtroom to one charge of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

The goodbyes are “bittersweet,” Emery said in an interview before taking part in several community events in Calgary on Sunday.

Emery, self-proclaimed the “Prince of Pot,” has been arrested 23 times in Canada and jailed 17 times in eight different provinces, he said.

The U. S. charges are the first time he has faced time in a prison below the border, he said.

The drug charges stem from a joint U. S.-Canadian investigation into his Vancouver-based mail-order business. In 2005, he was busted for selling marijuana seeds to U. S. customers. Two of the charges — conspiracy to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering–will be dropped in exchange for the guilty plea.

Emery believes U. S. authorities will push for a six-to eight-year sentence, but he is asking for maximum five years and a transfer to a Canadian prison, where he could apply for parole.

The charges come as the marijuana movement has stalled on the Canadian political landscape. Major political parties have said they aren’t interested in any moves to legalize marijuana. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of pot charges are laid each year.

Emery, whose high profile has often drawn the ire of authorities, says he feels he’s been made a political scapegoat with the charges.

He plans to make his time before going behind bars worthwhile by writing a book and learning Spanish and French.

He says a worldwide tour is in the works once he has served his sentence, where he’ll try to build momentum for the cannabis movement.

“Sometimes being in jail, the right person like me can inspire people to get angry, to get motivated, to do something, to take up the cause,” he said.

In particular, he’s urging marijuana activists to vote in the next federal election.

“I’m always shocked how many people who are in our movement still don’t vote, still don’t think it’s worthwhile.”

Keith Fagin of the Calgary 420 Cannabis Community says he thinks the jail term will inspire activists.

“It’s not going to stop us. Each year we knock it up another level.”

Emery said the most difficult part of the sentence will be the separation from his wife, Jodie Emery.

Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)

Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html

Website: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/

Author: Jamie Komarnicki, Staff Writer

Phelps Ads Prove a Cultural Tolerance of Marijuana

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:21:00 -0400

USA — Super-swimmer Michael Phelps returned to big-time advertising Sunday with a TV spot for Subway titled “Be Yourself.” Oh, the irony.

Surely Phelps — 14-time Olympic gold medalist and endorsement juggernaut — was being only himself, only human, when he was photographed in November hitting a bong at a party at the University of South Carolina.

That photograph, first published by the British tabloid News of the World in January, resulted in a three-month competition ban and cost Phelps a reported $500,000 deal with Kellogg.

The swimmer promptly issued a sniveling apology, copping to “regrettable,” “inappropriate” and “youthful” behavior (doesn’t the latter want to excuse the former?). Phelps, 24, has more or less cheerfully dined on PR ashes ever since, in interviews with Matt Lauer, among others.

Interestingly, the apology from the world’s fittest stoner infuriated proponents of legal weed, who saw the episode as a missed opportunity to advance the cause. After all, if Aqua-Man smokes bud, how bad can it be?

This is the greatest Olympian of all time, a man chandeliered with gold medals on the cover of Sports Illustrated. His achievements mock the moral hysteria that traditionally rains down on marijuana.

The Subway ad itself is nothing special. It’s a compare-and-contrast between Phelps’ glamorous life as a sports superstar and that of Jared Fogle, Subway’s former-fatty mascot. Jared prefers the low-fat sweet-onion Chicken Teriyaki sandwich, while metabolic dynamo Phelps dares to eat the foot-long Meatball Marinara with Jalapeño, containing 1,060 calories and more than 3,000 milligrams of sodium.

Eating these will not make you an Olympic swimmer. A floating island, maybe.

Culture deconstructionists will pick the spot apart for oblique references to the scandal. Phelps’ chin whiskers are kind of bro-ish, for instance. He does look a trifle baked (could be the chlorine). AdWeek’s Eleftheria Parpis wrote that “you can almost hear all the blunts lighting up in support as Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)’ kicks in.”

And it really is too bad that the sandwich franchise’s website is: http://www.subwayfreshbuzz.com/

Even so, the Phelps-bong scandal seems to have been safely put to bed, and now that it has, it’s worth asking, what have we learned? The consequences to Phelps — actually, the lack of consequences — suggest that something bigger than mere endorsement dollars is in play. It seems Phelps has moved the weed needle.

Yes, USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, suspended Phelps for three months, time he used to whip himself into shape after his post-Olympic bacchanal. (The organization also withheld its monthly stipend, an amount that probably wouldn’t put gas in Phelps’ Bentley.)

Yes, Kellogg declined to re-up with Phelps, but tellingly, other endorsement deals remained intact: Speedo, Omega, Subway and Mazda China. Subway didn’t hesitate to stand by its man (though it did postpone the current ad campaign six months to let the agita die down). Mazda required Phelps to record a minute-long mea culpa directed at the people of China — mortifying but harmless. In June, Phelps inked a deal with H2O Audio, maker of high-end waterproof headphones.

In other words, there were no serious consequences. To the extent that endorsement opportunities are a rough metric of how well someone in public life is liked, admired, respected, the bong-heard-round-the-world scandal might as well never have happened. With the benefit of hindsight, Kellogg execs might well be kicking themselves.

You could ascribe the missing fallout to Phelps’ incredible personal magnetism or — far more likely — to the fact that advertisers saw little downside to being associated with bong-meister Phelps.

Nor should they. Across the board, marijuana is being steadily decriminalized and de-stigmatized. In a Field Poll in May, 56% of Californians favored legalization, slightly ahead of the roughly half of Americans who favor such a move. Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, and three more are considering it.

In a dozen states, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is not illegal. One hundred million Americans have smoked pot, and about 14 million use it regularly, according to federal government studies. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has said the federal government would no longer raid California medical marijuana dispensaries.

Ethan Nadelmann, of the legalization-advocacy group Drug Policy Alliance, told the Associated Press last month: “This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back and not in my face.”

I’m sure, given the choice, Phelps would prefer not to be a milestone on the road to the marijuana’s mainstreaming. Still, what we’re witnessing is the death of a certain kind of shame.

Advertising — and that’s what celebrity-athlete endorsements are — is a highly sensitive antenna of culture. Because it strives to reach, hold and please the greatest number of people, it represents a special threshold of cultural acceptance, the floorboards of the norm. The return of brand Phelps says more about us than it does about him.

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)

Author: Dan Neil

Contact: letters@latimes.com

Website: http://www.latimes.com/

Medical Marijuana: Legal to Smoke, Illegal to Obtain

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:18:00 -0400

Nearly 2,000 State Residents Are Authorized to Use Pot

KALAMAZOO — Steve used to take prescription painkillers such as Vicodin after he tore the tendons in his right hand about six years ago.

Now he’s using fewer pills. Instead, he smokes marijuana to ease the pain.

“No, it’s not a cure-all,” said Steve, 37, of Kalamazoo. “It helps so I don’t have to take a handful of pills every day.”

Steve is among nearly 2,000 residents in Michigan, including 190 in southwestern Michigan, who are legally using marijuana to treat serious ailments such as HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

Michigan residents last November voted to legalize medical marijuana. In April, the state began issuing photo identification cards to users who have been approved.

Medical-marijuana patients, advocates, law-enforcement officials and others say the program is working fairly well, but there have been bumps along the way. Among the concerns that have been raised:

. Patients are on their own to get the drug — either by obtaining starter plants or seeds to grow plants or buying it. It is still illegal to buy marijuana or seeds.

. What constitutes an “enclosed, locked” marijuana facility?

. More research is needed to understand the medical benefits of the plant and proper dosages.

. Law enforcement is encountering some legal issues, such as whether a patient who has received a doctor’s note but not a state identification card is breaking the law by using medical marijuana.

Steve said he suffers from chronic pain, attention-deficit disorder and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder. His doctor recommended medical marijuana because of the chronic pain from the hand injury, which he said has left him unemployed and seeking disability payments. He said he’s used marijuana before, but until he got his identification card, his only relief was painkillers.

Steve and other medical-marijuana patients interviewed for this report declined to give their full names, fearing their use of the drug could attract burglaries. A patient can legally possess 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana, valued on the street at $250, and up to 12 marijuana plants, valued each at $1,000, police said.

‘They Are on Their Own’

As of June 23, the state had issued 2,674 identification cards for medical marijuana — and rejected 434 applications. In southwestern Michigan, Kalamazoo County was tops among counties, with 70 identification cards issued to caregivers and patients. Caregivers are those licensed to grow and provide marijuana to patients.

Across the state, 700 identification cards had been issued to caregivers, including 78 in southwestern Michigan.

Applications have been rejected primarily because they aren’t properly filled out and fees weren’t paid, said James McCurtis, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which reviews applications and issues the cards.

If an identification card is approved, it’s up to the patient to figure out how to obtain the marijuana.

“They are on their own. That’s pretty much where it is,” McCurtis said.

That might be the biggest challenge in establishing the use of medical marijuana in Michigan, which is at least the 15th state to have a medical-marijuana law.

Until a network of caregivers is established, patients can legally smoke it, but they can’t legally obtain it.

Law and Order

One legal case involving medical marijuana has been reported in the Kalamazoo area since the law took effect, police said.

Carl was arrested in November with a stash of marijuana that is permitted under the medical-marijuana law. But the law hadn’t taken effect yet, and he didn’t have an identification card.

Carl, who lives in Kalamazoo, suffers from irritable bowel syndrome. He isn’t using marijuana now because his case is pending.

“It was great. It was a good thing,” he said. “It was either that or take a fistful of prescription meds.”

Other drugs such as cocaine, heroin and larger quantities of marijuana are “of a far greater concern” than the regulation of medical marijuana, said Capt. Joseph Taylor of the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team.

“What I predict is that we’re going to experience people saying that they’re caregivers when they’re actually growing for themselves,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the law requires a secured, locked area for growing marijuana, and exactly what that means hasn’t been determined. Parameters of the law may need to be defined in the courts.

Carl’s lawyer, John Targowski, said he doesn’t foresee much law-enforcement action against medical-marijuana wrongdoing.

“If I’m a cop, I’m not going to risk my life to have a guy pee in a cup every once in a while,” Targowski said.

Research Needed

Some Kalamazoo-area physicians have been reluctant to recommend medical marijuana, forcing patients to travel to other parts of the state to get a doctor’s endorsement, several users said.

“Patients, they’re having to jump through hoops,” said Greg Francisco, of Paw Paw, executive director of the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

Doctors are using caution because they are trying to understand the medical benefits before recommending marijuana, said Dr. Ronald Seagle, the family medicine outpatient medical director at Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.

“Right now medical marijuana is very new,” he said. “It’s so new it’s not within the realm of accepted medical standards yet.”

Seagle and medical-marijuana patients and caregivers say more research is needed.

For doctors, recommending marijuana isn’t like prescribing drugs, Seagle said.

Doctors recommend it, the state regulates it, and patients use it how they wish. This situation poses more confusion for doctors, Seagle said.

“In the medical community, we are taking it seriously,” he said. “Personally, why I think any research is not being done at this point is because of the public stigma of smoking marijuana.”

Tainted Subject?

Aaron Hatfield is working to erase that stigma.

Hatfield heads the Kalamazoo Compassion Club, a loose-knit group of about 50 patients, caregivers and advocates of medical-marijuana that meets every other week.

At a recent meeting, several club members talked about the many pills they once took to treat their conditions.

“My wife, my family, would much rather be around me on marijuana than ( on the antidpressant and anti-anxiety drug ) Effexor,” Hatfield said.

He said public perception needs to change so research on marijuana can advance. But for now, club members believe people are starting to recognize their cause.

“I abide by the laws. I pay my taxes,” Hatfield said. “I’m not a criminal.”

MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA:

By the Numbers

Michigan’s medical marijuana law, which allows approved patients who are seriously ill to use the drug for medical purposes, was passed by voters in November and took effect in April. As of June 23, a total of 1,974 people had received state identification cards to use medical marijuana. Some 700 caregivers who are licensed to grow and provide the drug to medical-marijuana patients also were approved. Here is a breakdown of the number of identification cards issued so far in southwestern Michigan counties:

Kalamazoo: 49 patients, 21 caregivers.

Calhoun: 39 patients, 16 caregivers.

Van Buren: 32 patients, 17 caregivers.

Allegan: 34 patients, 11 caregivers.

St. Joseph: 14 patients, 3 caregivers.

Barry: 12 patients, 8 caregivers.

Cass: 10 patients, 2 caregivers.

Total: 190 patients, 78 caregivers.

Source: Michigan Department of Community Health

Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)

Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/vggfBDch

Website: http://www.mlive.com/kalamazoo/

Author: Blake Thorne

The Patriot's Guide To Legalization

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:50:00 -0400

USA — of When we think of the drug war, it’s the heavy-duty narcotics like heroin and cocaine that get most the attention. And why not? That’s where the action is. It’s not marijuana that is sustaining the Taliban in Afghanistan, after all. When Crips and Bloods descend into gun battles in the streets of Los Angeles, they’re not usually fighting over pot. The junkie who breaks into your house and steals your Blu-ray player isn’t doing it so he can score a couple of spliffs.

No, the marijuana trade is more genteel than that. At least, I used to think it was. Then, like a lot of people, I started reading about the open warfar

e that has erupted among the narcotraffickers in Mexico and is now spilling across the American border. Stories of drugs coming north and arsenals of guns going south. Thousands of people brutally murdered. Entire towns terrorized. And this was a war not just over cocaine and meth, but marijuana as well.

And I began to wonder: Maybe the war against pot is about to get a lot uglier. After all, in the 1920s, Prohibition gave us Al Capone and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and that was over plain old whiskey and rum. Are we about to start paying the same price for marijuana?

If so, it might eventually start to affect me, too. Indirectly, sure, but that’s more than it ever has before. I’ve never smoked a joint in my life. I’ve only seen one once, and that was 30 years ago. I barely drink, I don’t smoke, and I don’t like coffee. When it comes to mood altering substances, I live the life of a monk. I never really cared much if marijuana was legal or not.

But if a war is breaking out over the stuff, I figured maybe I should start looking at the evidence on whether marijuana prohibition is worth it. Not the spin from the drug czar at one end or the hemp hucksters at the other. Just the facts, as best as I could figure them out. So I did. Here’s what I found.

In 1972, the report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse urged that possession of marijuana for personal use be decriminalized. A small wave of states followed this recommendation, but most refused; in Washington, President Carter

called for eliminating penalties for small-time possession, but Congress stonewalled. And that’s the way things have stayed since the late ’70s. Some states have decriminalized, most haven’t, and possession is still a criminal offense under federal law. So how has that worked out?

I won’t give away the ending just yet, but one thing to know is this: On virtually every subject related to cannabis (an inclusive term that refers to both the sativa and indica varieties of the marijuana plant, as well as hashish, bhang, and other derivatives), the evidence is ambiguous. Sometimes even mysterious. So let’s start with the obvious question.

Does Decriminalizing Cannabis Have Any Effect At All?

It’s remarkably hard to tell—in part because drug use is faddish. Cannabis use among teens in the United States, for example, went down sharply in the ’80s, bounced back in the early ’90s, and has declined moderately since. Nobody really know

s why.

We do, however, have studies that compare rates of cannabis use in states that have decriminalized vs. states that haven’t. And the somewhat surprising conclusion, in the words of Robert MacCoun, a professor of law and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley, is simple: “Most of the evidence suggests that decriminalization has no effect.”

But decriminalization is not legalization. In places that have decriminalized, simple possession is still illegal; it’s just treated as an administrative offense, like a traffic ticket. And production and distribution remain felonies. What would happen if cannabis use were fully legalized?

No country has ever done this, so we don’t know. The closest example is the Netherlands, where possession and sale of small amounts of marijuana is de facto legal in the famous coffeehouses. MacCoun and a colleague, Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland, have studied the Dutch experience and concluded that while legalization at first had little effect, once the coffeehouses began advertising and promoting themselves more aggressively in the 1980s, cannabis use more than doubled in a decade. Then again, cannabis use in Europe has gone up and down in waves, and some of the Dutch increase (as well as a later decrease, which followed a tightening of the coffeehouse

laws in the mid-’90s) may have simply been part of those larger waves.

The most likely conclusion from the overall data is that if you fully legalized cannabis, use would almost certainly go up, but probably not enormously. MacCoun guesses that it might rise by half—say, from around 15 percent of the population to a little more than 20 percent. “It’s not going to triple,” he says. “Most people who want to use marijuana are already finding a way to use marijuana.”

Still, there would be a cost. For one thing, a much higher increase isn’t out of the question if companies like Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds set their finest minds on the promotion of dope. And much of the increase would likely come among the heaviest users. “One person smoking eight joints a day is worth more to the industry than fifty people each smoking a joint a week,” says Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at UCLA. “If the cannabis industry were to expand greatly, it couldn’t do so by increasing the number of casual users. It would have to create and maintain more chronic zonkers.” And that’s a problem. Chronic use can lead to dependence and even long-term cognitive impairment. Heavy cannabis users are more likely to be in auto accidents. There have been scattered reports of respiratory and fetal development problems. Still, sensible regulation can limit the commercialization of pot, and compared to other illicit drugs (and alcohol), its health effects are fairly mild. Even a 50 percent increase in cannabis use might be a net benefit if it led to lower rates of use of other drugs.

So Would People Just Smoke More and Drink Less?

Maybe. The generic term for this effect in the economics literature is “substitute goods,” and it simply means that some things replace other things.

If the total demand for transportation is generally steady, an increase in sales of SUVs will lead to a decrease in the sales of sedans. Likewise, if the total demand for intoxicants is steady, an increase in the use of one drug should lead to a decrease in others.

Several years ago, John DiNardo, an economist now at the University of Michigan, found a clever way to test this via a natural experiment. Back in the 1980s, the Reagan administration pushed states to raise the drinking age to 21. Some states did this early in the decade, some later, and this gave DiNardo the idea of comparing data from the various states to see if the Reagan policy worked.

He found that raising the drinking age did lead to lower alcohol consumption; the effect was modest but real. But then DiNardo hit on another analysis—comparing cannabis use in states that raised the drinking age early with those that did it later. And he found that indeed, there seemed to be a substitution effect. On average, among high school seniors, a 4.5 percent decrease in drinking produced a 2.4 percent increase in getting high.

But what we really want to know is whether the effect works in the other direction: Would increased marijuana use lead to less drinking? “What goes up should go down,” DiNardo told me cheerfully, but he admits that in the absence of empirical evidence this hypothesis depends on your faith in basic economic models.

Some other studies are less encouraging than DiNardo’s, but even if the substitute goods effect is smaller than his research suggests—if, say, a 30 percent increase in cannabis use led to a 5 or 10 percent drop in drinking—it would still be a strong argument in favor of legalization. After all, excessive drinking causes nearly 80,000 deaths per year in the United State

s, compared to virtually none for pot. Trading alcohol consumption for cannabis use might be a pretty attractive deal.

But What About The Gateway Effect?

This has been a perennial bogeyman of the drug warriors. Kids who use pot, the TV ads tell us, will graduate to ecstasy, then coke, then meth, and then—who knows? Maybe even talk radio.

Is there anything to this? There are two plausible pathways for the gateway theory. The first is that drug use of any kind creates an affinity for increasingly intense narcotic experiences. The second is that when cannabis is illegal, the only place to get it is from dealers who also sell other stuff.

The evidence for the first pathway is mixed. Research in New Zealand, for example, suggests that regular cannabis use is correlated with higher rates of other illicit drug use, especially in teenagers. A Norwegian study comes to similar conclusions, but only for a small segment of “troubled” teenagers. Other research, however, suggests that these correlations aren’t caused by gateway effects at all, but by the simple fact that kids who like drugs do drugs. All kinds of drugs.

The second pathway was deliberately

targeted by the Dutch when they began their coffeehouse experiment in the ’70s in part to sever the connection of cannabis with the illicit drug market. The evidence suggests that it worked: Even with cannabis freely available, Dutch cannabis use is currently about average among developed countries and use of other illicit drugs is about average, too. Easy access to marijuana, outside the dealer network for harder drugs, doesn’t seem to have led to greater use of cocaine or heroin.

So, to recap: Decriminalization of simple possession appears to have little effect on cannabis consumption. Full legalization would likely increase use only moderately as long as heavy commercialization is prohibited, although the effect on chronic users might be more substantial. It would increase heroin and cocaine use only slightly if at all, and it might decrease alcohol consumption by a small amount. Which leads to the question:

Can We Still Afford Prohibition?

The consequences of legalization, after all, must be compared to the cost of the status quo. Unsurprisingly, this too is hard to quantify. The worst effects of the drug war, including property crime and gang warfare, are mostly associated with cocaine, heroin, a

nd meth. Likewise, most drug-law enforcement is aimed at harder drugs, not cannabis; contrary to conventional wisdom, only about 44,000 people are currently serving prison time on cannabis charges—and most of those are there for dealing and distribution, not possession.

Still, the University of Maryland’s Reuter points out that about 800,000 people are arrested for cannabis possession every year in the United States. And even though very few end up being sentenced to prison, a study of three counties in Maryland following a recent marijuana crackdown suggests that a third spend at least one pretrial night in jail and a sixth spend more than ten days. That takes a substantial human toll. Overall, Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron estimates the cost of cannabis prohibition in the United States at $13 billion annually and the lost tax revenue at nearly $7 billion.

So What Are The Odds of Legalization?

Slim. For starters, the United States, along with virtually every other country in the world, is a signatory to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (and its 1988 successor), which flatly prohibits legalization of cannabis. The only way around this is to unilaterally withdraw from the treaties or to withdraw and then reenter with reservations. That’s not going to happen.

At the federal level, there’s virtually no appetite for legalizing cannabis either. Though public opinion has made steady strides, increasing from around 20 percent favoring marijuana legalization in the Reagan era to nearly 40 percent favoring it today, the only policy change in Washington has been Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement in March that the Obama administration planned to end raids on distributors of medical marijuana. (Applications for pot dis

pensaries promptly surged in Los Angeles County.)

The real action in cannabis legalization is at the state level. More than a dozen states now have effective medical marijuana laws, most notably California. Medical marijuana dispensaries are dotted all over the state, and it’s common knowledge that the “medical” part is in many cases a thin fiction. Like the Dutch coffeehouses, California’s dispensaries are now a de facto legal distribution network that severs the link between cannabis and other illicit drugs for a significant number of adults (albeit still only a fraction of total users). And the result? Nothing. “We’ve had this experiment for a decade and the sky hasn’t fallen,” says Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has even introduced a bill that would legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana; it has gained the endorsement of the head of the state’s tax collection agency, which informally estimates it could collect $1.3 billion a year from cannabis sales. Still, the legislation hasn’t found a single cosponsor, and isn’t scheduled for so much as a hearing.

Which is too bad. Going into this assignment, I didn’t care much personally about cannabis legalization. I just had a vague sense tha

t if other people wanted to do it, why not let them? But the evidence suggests pretty clearly that we ought to significantly soften our laws on marijuana. Too many lives have been ruined and too much money spent for a social benefit that, if not zero, certainly isn’t very high.

And it may actually happen. If attitudes continue to soften; if the Obama administration turns down the volume on anti-pot propaganda; if medical dispensaries avoid heavy commercialization; if drug use remains stable; and if emergency rooms don’t start filling up with drug-related traumas while all this is happening, California’s experience could go a long way toward destigmatizing cannabis use. That’s a lot of ifs.

Still, things are changing. Even GOP icon Arnold Schwarzenegger now says, “I think it’s time for a debate.” That doesn’t mean he’s in favor of legalizing pot right this minute, but it might mean we’re getting close to a tipping point. Ten years from now, as the flower power generation enters its 70s, you might finally be able to smoke a fully legal, taxed, and regulated joint.

Kevin Drum is a Political Blogger for Mother Jones.

Source: Mother Jones (US)

Author: Kevin Drum

Published: July - August 2009 Issue

Website: http://motherjones.com/

The Cannabis Conundrum: Friend or Foe?

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:43:00 -0400

Colorado — Just as blue eyes and stubborn spirits are genetically inherited from parents, botanical genes code for flower color, seed shape, and stem size as well as the production of molecules important for fragrance, flavor, and natural chemicals.

Cannabis sativa, a plant cultivated for thousands of years, contains a genomic region responsible for the production of the psychoactive chemical, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

It is this chemical that earned Cannabis its illicit label, “marijuana,” and motivated United States lawmakers to outlaw Cannabis cultivation over seventy years ago. The resultant debate to legalize Cannabis stems from social, political, and economic issues that, quite possibly, only modern science can ameliorate.

“I can’t think of another plant that is so regarded as a miracle by some and a menace by others,” said George Weiblen, Professor of Plant Biology at the University of Minnesota, in a recent interview.

The week’s Pinhead Town Talk, “The Cannabis Conundrum: The science and politics of the world’s most controversial plant,” presented by Weiblen will draw on scientific and historical facts to thrash out common misconceptions of a plant so fraught with negativity.

“Today, Cannabis research in the United States focuses almost entirely on marijuana’s effects on the human body,” Weiblen noted. “I’m one of very few researchers permitted by our government to study the plant. What our research has discovered will challenge opinions on either side of the controversy.”

Depending on the cultivar, or plant variety resulting from selective breeding, Cannabis plants vary in THC concentration and are generally categorized as either hemp or marijuana. Hemp is primarily harvested for durable fiber, isolated from the plant stems, and produces a minimal amount of THC (0.3 percent). Marijuana, on the other hand, contains higher percentages of THC (between 2 and 25 percent) and is typically used for medicinal and “recreational” purposes.

“The problem is that hemp and marijuana are difficult to tell apart based solely on appearance. They can only be distinguished by their THC concentrations,” explains Weiblen. “For this reason, federal lawmakers are reluctant to relax legislation and permit hemp cultivation on domestic soil.”

Cannabis took root in America during the 16th century where it was legally grown to produce essential materials — paper, clothing, canvas, and rope — for nearly 400 years. Additionally, Cannabis seed oil gained popularity as a nutritional, cosmetic, and industrial commodity, and THC was discovered to treat medical conditions, including pain, nausea, appetite loss, and glaucoma. In 1937, all forms of Cannabis became illegal to grow in the U.S. with the passing of The Marijuana Tax Act.

Even today, hemp products must be imported. However, the global trend toward biofuels and renewable resources, and the search for better therapeutics have launched Cannabis into the spotlight as an attractive cash crop.

“Cannabis is an ideal alternative for farmers to grow on marginal land. As opposed to cotton, it yields large quantities of durable fibers, survives northern climates, and is resistant to pests and disease,” says Weiblen.

So how can scienc

e contribute to the production of a Cannabis variety not to be confused with marijuana in appearance or THC concentration?

Enter Weiblen and his team of plant biologists. They have utilized a scientific technique called DNA “fingerprinting” to identify distinct DNA sequences, or “markers,” that distinguish hemp from marijuana. The process requires a very small Cannabis sample and only few days, making it a highly functional forensic tool with utility in economic and political fields.

Weiblen and his researchers are also just a few genes shy of cracking the entire “cannabinoid genome,” a feat that will help pave the way to a completely drug-free, legal, Cannabis plant.

“My research brings honesty and scientific facts to the debate that hopefully one day will aid in sound legislative decisions,” he c

oncludes.

The botanical debate arrives on Tuesday July 7 at 6 p.m. at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village. It is produced by the Telluride Science Research Center (TSRC) sponsored by the Town of Mountain Village Owners Association (TMVOA). Admission is free and there will be a cash bar.

For more information please visit — http://www.telluridescience.org — or call Nana Naisbitt, TSRC executive director at (970) 708-0004.

Note: Pinhea

d Town Talk, 6 p.m., Tuesday, Conference Center.

Newshawk: The GCW

Source: Telluride Daily Planet (CO)

Author: Lisa Christadore, TSRC Scientific Communications Intern

Contact: editor@telluridenews.com

Website: http://www.telluridenews.com/

Medical marijuana: Just what the doctor ordered for North Carolina?

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:54:00 -0400

Prescription painkillers made her retch. Muscle relaxants ravaged her liver. So Jean Marlowe put down her pills and rolled a joint.

"I tried marijuana, and in five minutes, my stomach stopped shaking for the first time in five years," said Marlowe, who has used marijuana as medicine since a doctor recommended the drug in 1990. "It really does work."

The founder and executive director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, Marlowe is asking state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana use. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives' Health Committee, and two of Gaston County's three House delegates who serve on the committee have indicated they would likely vote against it.

House Bill 1380, the N.C. Medical Marijuana Act, would allow patients access to medical-grade cannabis with a signed statement from a physician. Growers and dispensaries would be licensed and regulated by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

"All of these people who have been kindly, caringly, lovingly sticking their necks out to grow a little bit of high-quality medication for patients could actually come forward and get a license and be legal," Marlowe said.

North Carolina would become the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana and would see estimated annual tax revenues of $60 million within four years of the bill's passage.

No local support

Reps. Wil Neumann and Pearl Burris Floyd said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to approve marijuana for medical use before they would consider writing an exception into the state's cannabis ban.

"The FDA needs to make the determination of whether it has medical benefits or not," Neumann said. "I would not favor it until the FDA comes out and wants it properly cultivated and harvested for medicinal properties."

Marijuana faces a political minefield in the fight for federal recognition. The FDA discounted its potential medical application in a 2006 review, contradicting a 1999 study from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine that found it "moderately well suited" for treating certain conditions.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration calls marijuana the nation's most abused illicit drug and classifies it as a Schedule I controlled substance, indicating "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States."

Floyd challenges those who support medical marijuana to seek FDA approval.

"It would be nearly impossible to regulate an illegal recreational drug even with a good doctor's prescription," she said in an e-mail. "If it is such a great idea and an untapped source of revenue, then it would meet the rigors of the FDA approval process."

Rep. William A. Current said he is "skeptical" of medical marijuana but has not studied the issue enough to have an informed opinion.

"I just haven't heard enough to reach any kind of decision on it, but from what I know, I would be hesitant to open this door unless we had really tight controls," he said.

Current, a private-practice dentist, said he would rely more on medical and scientific evidence than personal feelings when deciding which way to vote.

"I think the medical community is going to have to step up on this issue and help make this decision," he said. "People in political realms are not equipped to make these decisions without their guidance."

Marijuana as medicine

Marijuana is "moderately well-suited for particular conditions" including nausea and vomiting from cancer patients' chemotherapy and the rapid loss of body weight known as "wasting" in AIDS patients, according to the 1999 Institute of Medicine study, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base."

Long lists of side effects accompany many prescription drugs, and overdosing can be fatal. Advocates say by comparison, cannabis offers a safe alternative to pharmaceuticals.

"There are no side effects that are harmful," Marlowe said. "There has been over 5,000 years of documented medical use of cannabis, and not a single death has ever occurred."

Marlowe said a user would have to smoke 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes - a physical impossibility - to ingest a toxic dose.

"There is no such thing as a lethal dose," she said.

Muscle relaxants can weaken patients by gnawing away at their muscle tissue, Marlowe said, but cannabis allows them to maintain their strength.

"Almost every one of the muscle relaxers helps with muscle spasms, but they also atrophy the muscle over a period of time," she said. "One unique property of cannabis is it can stop smooth muscle spasms while maintaining the muscle mass."

Marijuana increases users' heart rates and may decrease blood pressure, according to a 2001 American Medical Association report. It can impair short-term memory, motor skills, reaction time and information processing skills. Chronic users can experience withdrawal symptoms, but doctors conclude that cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco products.

"Although some marijuana users develop dependence, they appear to be less likely to do so than users of alcohol and nicotine, and the abstinence syndrome is less severe," the AMA states in Report Six of the Council on Scientific Affairs.

In the 2001 report, AMA doctors encouraged researchers to develop a smoke-free inhaled delivery system for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana.

"Like tobacco, chronic marijuana smoking is associated with lung damage, increased symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and possibly increased risk of lung cancer," the report states.

Marlowe refutes the belief that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads users to try more harmful substances. She points to members of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network who were formerly prescribed heavy-duty painkillers.

"Not only have none of them gone to hard drugs, they've all come off of narcotics," she said. "Marijuana is not a gateway drug. The most recognizable, easiest gateway drug that most people run into is tobacco."

A continuing crusade

An institute in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park processes and distributes medical marijuana to select participants in a nationwide federal study, according to the text of HB 1380. Meanwhile, the 386 patients of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network cannot legally obtain the drug themselves.

"Our oldest patient is an 86-year-old World War II veteran who suffered nerve damage to his feet from the heavy packs he carried during the war," Marlowe said. "Now he's suffering, and he has to be considered a criminal."

Marlowe, too, has been considered a criminal for her medical use of marijuana. The Mill Spring resident said she uses the drug to treat her numerous medical conditions, including muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative disc disease.

She was arrested in 1998 when U.S. Customs agents intercepted a package of cannabis she ordered from a farm in Switzerland.

A judge sentenced her to six months on house arrest and two years of probation, but Marlowe was soon convicted of a probation violation because of her continued marijuana use.

She spent 10 months in a federal prison camp in West Virginia.

"It's been a battle," she said. "I've been doing this for 17 years."

HB 1380's future is uncertain. Health Committee members did not vote on the bill after a June 18 hearing, which included testimony from Marlowe and other NCCPN patients.

The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford), said he will seek a vote to move the bill out of committee without prejudice. The Health Committee would not vote on the bill's merits, but majority approval would allow it to proceed to the House Finance Committee.

"It's just one step closer to a full debate on the floor, and that's what I really desire more than anything," Jones said. "Every time the public hears more about this, many myths are dispelled, and we see an increase in support."

Jones also filed a companion bill, HB 1383, which proposes a referendum on medical marijuana. The mechanism for licensing growers and dispensaries is identical to the one proposed in HB 1380.

"There are those who continue to feel some trepidation about it because it's a political liability," he said. "One option would be to allow the citizens of the state of North Carolina to vote on it."

You can reach Corey Friedman at 704-869-1828.

MAKING INROADS

Since 1996, 14 states have passed laws allowing medical use of marijuana:

- Alaska

- California

- Colorado

- Hawaii

- Maine

- Maryland

- Michigan

- Montana

- Nevada

- New Mexico

- Oregon

- Rhode Island

- Vermont

- Washington

SOURCE: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws