Three Medical Marijuana Bills Filed in Congress
Stop-the-Drug-War
May 27th 2011

A bipartisan group of US representatives filed three medical marijuana-related bills in Congress Wednesday. The three bills aim at protecting medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and providers from ongoing federal arrests, prosecutions, and harassment.

Washington, Oregon Marijuana Legalization Initiatives Filed
Stop the Drug War
February 4th 2011

Marijuana law reform activists in the Pacific Northwest are moving ahead with renewed efforts to win legalization at the ballot box. In the last few days, legalization initiatives have been filed with state authorities in Oregon and Washington.

In both states, similar legalization initiatives failed to make the ballot last year. This time around, organizers in both states say they are better prepared for the arduous and expensive process of signature-gathering to make the ballot.

In Washington, Sensible Washington, the folks behind last year's failed effort, have filed an initiative that removes all criminal penalties for adults who use, possess, produce, transport, or distribute marijuana. Unlike last year's initiative, which lost critical support for its failure to address regulation of the marijuana market, this year's version explicitly directs the state legislature to enact a regulatory scheme.

Sensible Washington is aiming for this year's November election ballot, despite pleas from some national and state reform figures to hold off until the presidential election year in 2012.

"We're pleased to again put the important question of marijuana legalization before the public," said Seattle attorney Douglas Hiatt, Sensible Washington’s chair and initiative coauthor. "We’re better funded and better organized this year and we look forward to giving the public an opportunity to vote on this issue in November. We've changed last year’s initiative to reflect concerns about civil regulations of marijuana, and our new initiative has language that clearly directs the state legislature to regulate the responsible adult use of marijuana."

The group expects to start signature-gathering this month. They need 241,153 valid voter signatures to make the November ballot.

In Oregon, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA 2012) initiative is back. Organizers turned in 2,200 signatures on January 4 to start the ballot title creation process. The initiative has until July 2012 to turn in nearly 86,000 valid voter signatures to make the November 2012 ballot. In an email to supporters, D. Paul Stanford of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp vowed to gather at least 130,000 signatures to ensure a comfortable cushion. The initiative is also supported by Oregon NORML.

OCTA 2012 would allow Oregonians 21 or over to possess and grow marijuana. It would also create an Oregon Cannabis Commission to oversee the regulation of commercial cultivation and distribution. The commission would sell marijuana through its own outlets, similar to state liquor stores.

Wisconsin Medical Marijuana Advisory Referenda Pass
Stop the Drug War
January 16th 2011

Voters in Dane County (Madison), Wisconsin, and the city of River Falls both approved medical marijuana advisory referenda Tuesday. The non-binding measures are aimed at building political support for passage of a medical marijuana bill in the state legislature.
In Dane County, the medical marijuana advisory referendum won with an impressive 75.5% of the vote. That made it more popular than any of the candidates running for election in the county. It also won all of the wards of state Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Beaver Dam).

In River Falls, where an advisory referendum on medical marijuana was spearheaded by Alderman Bob Hughes, the measure passed with 68% of the vote.

But the prospects for passage of a medical marijuana bill in the legislature are tough. Advocates will be faced with a hostile Republican governor, Scott Walker, a hostile attorney general in JB Van Hollen, and a state legislature now in the hands of Republicans. Arch-medical marijuana nemesis Leah Vukmir won a state Senate seat and will likely chair a key health committee.

Still, voters in two Wisconsin jurisdictions have put legislators on notice that medical marijuana is a winning issue.

Big Brother to Watch Over Medical Marijuana in Colorado?
Stop-the-Drug-War
October 8th 2010

Colorado is proposing to enact a medical marijuana tracking system in which everything from marijuana grows to patient purchases to the manufacture of pot brownies would be under constant remote video surveillance where agents could monitor it all. The proposal is giving medical marijuana advocates the creeps.

Medical Uses of Cannabinoids

California Supreme Court Tightens Definition of "Caregiver," Ruling Will Push Patients Toward Co-ops and Dispensaries
DrugWar.Org
November 30th 2008

In a narrow interpretation of the state's Compassionate Use Act, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that people who supply medical marijuana to an approved patient can be prosecuted as drug traffickers if they don't meet the court's standards for caregivers. That standard must involve more than merely supplying medical marijuana to a qualifying patient, the court held.

Prior to Monday's ruling, marijuana growers who had been designated as caregivers by multiple patients had been able to win protection from prosecution under the Compassionate Use Act. Now, patients who relied on such growers to provide their medicine will have to turn to dispensaries that are organized as co-ops or collectives in accordance with California law.

The ruling came in the case of California v. Mentch. Roger Mentch was arrested in 2003 after a bank teller smelled marijuana on repeated cash deposits he made and police subsequently searched his home, where they found nearly 200 pot plants growing. Mentch told investigators he was the "primary caregiver" for five qualified patients, but at trial, the judge refused to let the jury consider whether he was a caregiver, and Mentch was convicted and sentenced to probation. An appeals court in San Jose overturned his conviction, saying jurors should have been allowed to decide whether he was indeed the patients' caregiver, but now the state's high court has disagreed.

"We hold that a defendant whose caregiving consisted principally of supplying marijuana and instructing on its use, and who otherwise only sporadically took some patients to medical appointments, cannot qualify as a primary caregiver under the Act and was not entitled to an instruction on the primary caregiver affirmative defense," wrote Justice Werdegar for the court. "We further conclude that nothing in the Legislature's subsequent 2003 Medical Marijuana Program (Health & Saf. Code, §11362.7 et seq.) alters this conclusion or offers any additional defense on this record."

The language of Proposition 215 defines a primary caregiver as "the individual designated by the [patient]... who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that person." With this ruling, the state Supreme Court has defined that definition to "imply a caretaking relationship directed at the core survival needs of a seriously ill patient, not just one single pharmaceutical need."

Thus, for someone to be able to assert a caregiver defense to a marijuana cultivation or distribution charge, he "must prove at a minimum that he or she (1) consistently provided
caregiving, (2) independent of any assistance in taking medical marijuana, (3) at or before the time he or she assumed responsibility for assisting with medical marijuana."

"Ideally, it won't have a tremendous effect," Joseph Elford, attorney for the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Patients will now increasingly get their medication through collectives and cooperatives."

The 2003 law establishing the dispensary system "provides an alternative outlet for patients," agreed Deputy Attorney General Michele Swanson, the state's lawyer.

But Mentch attorney Lawrence Gibbs told the Chronicle the court's decision "made it much, much more difficult" for qualified patients to get their medical marijuana. While the ruling may not have a significant impact on access to medical marijuana in areas where dispensaries are plentiful, large swathes of the state have no dispensaries. In those areas, patients will have to grow for themselves, have a spouse, domestic partner, or family member who can meet the court's definition grow it for them, travel long distances to areas where there are dispensaries, or resort to the black market.

John Walters’ Drug (Office) Abuse
by Dan Bernath
MPP Blog
October 25th 2008

Funny Bruce should mention White House drug czar John Walters’ taxpayer-funded boondoggle to Michigan to throw his political weight against the state’s medical marijuana voter initiative yesterday.

It just so happens the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released its report on White House abuses of the Hatch Act, which governs executive branch employees’ participation in partisan political events, the very same day.

The report singles Walters’ office out for its audacity, saying, “Even offices with statutory provisions prohibiting political activity, like the Office of National Drug Control Policy, were enlisted in the election effort” supporting candidates identified by the White House.

In addition to his extraordinary willingness to flout the law, the committee also noted the drug czar’s enthusiasm for doing so. Indeed, White House political affairs official Doug Simon called Walters one of their “superstars … going above and beyond” to abuse his authority for political purposes in some of America’s most “god awful places.” That’s right, America, Mr. Walters loves his party so much he was even willing to come to your lousy town – on your dime – to push its partisan agenda.

By the way, we’re not sure how Walters could have inadvertently run so far afoul of the law – we’ve been trying to warn him for years.

Michigan Medical Marijuana Initiative Faces Organized Opposition
Stop The Drug War
October 19th 2008

Michigan's Proposal 1, the medical marijuana initiative sponsored by the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care, appears headed for easy victory according to recent polls, but now it is seeing organized opposition, including visits from the drug czar and one of his minions to urge Michiganders to reject the proposal.

When they go to the polls on November 4, Michigan voters will see the following ballot language and be asked to vote yes or no on whether the measure should be adopted:

The proposed law would:

• Permit physician approved use of marijuana by registered patients with debilitating medical conditions including cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, MS and other conditions as may be approved by the Department of Community Health.
• Permit registered individuals to grow limited amounts of marijuana for qualifying patients in an enclosed, locked facility.
• Require Department of Community Health to establish an identification card system for patients qualified to use marijuana and individuals qualified to grow marijuana.
• Permit registered and unregistered patients and primary caregivers to assert medical reasons for using marijuana as a defense to any prosecution involving marijuana.

If passed by the voters, the measure would make Michigan the 13th medical marijuana state and, significantly, the first in the Midwest. Currently, all the medical marijuana states are in the West or the Northeast.

State opposition emerged late last month with the public coming out of Citizens Protecting Michigan's Kids. The group's spokesman, state appellate judge Bill Schuette, has been holding news conferences, this week in conjunction with drug czar Walters, and penning op-eds, in order to stoke fear about the initiative through a barrage of distortions, disinformation, misinformation and fabrications.

Schuette is especially fond of warning that -- gasp! -- if the initiative passes, Michigan will turn into California with its "chaos, pot dealers in storefronts and millions of dollars being dumped into the criminal black market," as he put it in the op-ed piece. The Michigan initiative "is just like the California law," he wrote, even though the Michigan law is much more restrictive on who can become a medical marijuana patient and does not provide for medical marijuana dispensaries.

That particular distortion is even embedded in the group's web site URL, www.nopotshops.com, although, again, the Michigan initiative does not allow for dispensaries.

Schuette and company are also hitting the theme that passing the initiative will lead to an orgy of teen marijuana use. "Law enforcement officials in California point to their state's marijuana law as a cause for the dramatic increase in drug use among high school students," he wrote, reprising comments along the same line he made at an earlier press conference.

Again, Schuette was spouting misinformation. According to a June 2008 report from the Marijuana Policy Project based on official state and national survey data, teen marijuana use has gone down in all grades in California and almost across the board in all other medical marijuana states in the 12 years since California passed its medical marijuana law.

"The opposition is using scare tactics out of desperation, which does not diminish the fact that medical marijuana can safely and effectively relieve the pain and suffering of seriously ill patients," Dianne Byrum, spokeswoman for the Michigan Coalition told the Associated Press earlier this month in response to the opposition claims. "They are just throwing things up in the air and hoping something will stick," she said, emphasizing that Michigan's initiative does not allow for the opening of "pot shops." "This law is nothing like California," she said flatly.

On Monday, the feds arrived. Deputy drug czar Scott Burns flew in to hold a press conference with Schuette and a roomful of law enforcement officials.

"Proposal 1 is bad for Michigan and it is bad for America," Burns said. "This issue is about dope, not about medicine."

Burns also argued that the initiative is backed by wealthy individuals who have supported similar measures in other states. "They are funded by millions of dollars from millionaires who live in Washington, DC, to hire people to come to Michigan to try and con voters from the state to pass it," he said without apparently noting the irony that he, if not a millionaire himself, had come from Washington, DC, representing an agency with a multi-billion dollar budget to tell Michigan voters what to do.

On Tuesday, the big dog himself, drug czar Walters showed up. In a Lansing press conference that same day, Walters repeated some of Schuette's misinformation about the possible increase of teen marijuana use and his deceptive comparisons with California.

Walters also said that the initiative "gives people who are addicted a way to say I have a medical problem" to obtain more of the herb. He also argued that marijuana, unlike opiate pain medications, is unregulated with varying potency, and that a pharmaceutical form of marijuana, Marinol, is already on the market. "To say we need to smoke a weed to make people high because that's the best we can do for them is an abomination," the Michigan native declared.

But the emergence of Michigan Citizens and the arrival of the drug czar and his deputy may be too little too late. The measure was well ahead in the most recent poll, and the state press has balanced the dire warnings of Walters and his local counterparts with interviews with patients and initiative supporters, so it is unclear how much ground the opposition offensive can gain.

For Bruce Mirken, communications director for MPP, which has confronted ONDCP interference with state initiatives in the past and which is supporting the Michigan initiative, the drug czar's schtick seemed time-worn and grasping.

"We're about equal parts amused and horrified," he said. "It's the same old disinformation campaign at taxpayers' expense that Walters has done again and again. This time, not only did he go to Michigan on our dime, he even brought along a medical cannabis vending machine the DEA seized a few months ago from a dispensary in Los Angeles, even though the Michigan initiative doesn't allow for dispensaries, let alone vending machines. It's the Walters Disinformation Tour 2008," Mirken groaned.

The campaign of false attacks on the initiative suggests that the opposition is desperate, said Mirken. "In some ways, that's a good sign for our side," he argued. "They don't have any actual facts and are reduced to making stuff up."

The voters of Michigan will have the final say in a little more than two weeks from now. Stay tuned.

California Activist Grower Eddy Lepp Guilty in Federal Cultivation Case, Faces 10 Years to Life
Stopthedrugwar.org
Sept:12th 2008

Eddy Lepp, a medical and religious use of marijuana advocate named High Times "2004 Freedom Fighter of the Year," faces a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence and up to life after a federal jury in San Francisco found him guilty of conspiracy and cultivation of marijuana with the intent to distribute. Sentencing is set for December 1.

Under federal court rules, Lepp could not mount a medical marijuana defense, and Judge Patel also refused to let him mount a religious use defense. As she pondered the religious defense issue, Patel said that while it may have been possible in a personal use case, it could not apply in a case where someone was growing thousands of plants and distributing them to anonymous parishioners.

"I truly feel I was very, very railroaded by the system, and specifically by (US District) Judge Marilyn Patel," he told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat after the verdict. Lepp said he is both a Rastafarian and a member of the Universal Life Church and that the marijuana was being grown for spiritual as well as medicinal purposes.

Lepp told the court that the plants, grown at a site known as "Eddy's Medicinal Gardens," were not his, but were being grown cooperatively by members of his church, the The Multi-Denominational Ministry of Cannabis & Rastafari. "All I did was make the land available to the ministry," he said.

Lepp is a well-known promoter of marijuana legalization and in recent years has been a fixture at West Coast marijuana reform conferences and festivals. Until she took ill, dying last November, his wife, Linda Senti, was his constant companion. The couple worked to gather petitions for Proposition 215 in 1996 and lobbied Lake County supervisors to set medical marijuana standards. Lepp was also known for publicly smoking marijuana in front of the federal building in Santa Rosa in 2002 in support of medical marijuana. His attorneys said they planned to appeal on the religious defense and possibly other grounds. If those appeals fail, Lepp will spend much -- if not all -- of the rest of his life in the federal gulag.

California Attorney General Issues Medical Marijuana Guidelines
DRC.net
August 30th 2008

After more than a decade of roiling confusion over what California's groundbreaking medical marijuana law and subsequent enabling legislation do and do notallow, state Attorney General Jerry Brown sought to clarify matters Monday by issuing a long-awaited set of guidelines for patients, providers, and law enforcement. In addition to clarifying what is permissible under state law, Brown also hoped to damp down the ongoing conflict between state and federal authorities over medical marijuana in California.

Under the guidelines, medical marijuana dispensaries must operate as not-for-profit collectives or cooperatives, and are prohibited from buying marijuana from growers who are not themselves patients or registered caregivers. The only fees dispensaries can collect are those covering overhead and operating expenses.

The guidelines strongly urge patients to obtain state medical marijuana ID cards and advise police to accept such cards as proof of legitimate medical need. The guidelines also call on police to return seized marijuana to patients who are later proved to be legitimate. They prohibit medical marijuana patients from lighting up near schools and recreation centers or at work, unless employers approve.

Affirming that California's medical marijuana law is not preempted by federal law, the guidelines further direct "state and local law enforcement officers [to] not arrest individuals or seize marijuana under federal law" when an individual's conduct is legal under state law.

But while providing protections to patients and non-profit dispensaries organized as co-ops or collectives, the guidelines could provide a green light for law enforcement to go after the store-front dispensaries that have sprung up like mushrooms in some areas of the state. In ballyhooing a Friday raid against a Northridge dispensary by California Bureau of Narcotics Agents, Brown signaled Monday that a crackdown could be looming.

Accusing the Today's Healthcare dispensary and its operators of criminal behavior by operating a profitable business, Brown went on the offensive. "This criminal enterprise bears no resemblance to the purposes of Proposition 215, which authorized the use of medical marijuana for seriously sick patients," he said. "Today's Healthcare is a large-scale, for-profit, commercial business. This deceptively named drug ring is reaping huge profits and flaunting the state's laws that allow qualified patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes."

California law enforcement pronounced itself pleased with the guidelines. Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, praised Brown for promulgating them. "Since Proposition 215 was passed, the laws surrounding the use, possession and distribution of medical marijuana became confusing at best. These newly established guidelines are an essential tool for law enforcement and provide the parameters needed for consistent statewide regulation and enforcement."

Despite the apparent threat to non-compliant dispensaries and their suppliers, most medical marijuana advocates also pronounced themselves generally satisfied with the guidelines. The medical marijuana defense group Americans for Safe Access has been working with Attorney General Brown and his predecessor, Bill Lockyer, for several years in an effort to see guidelines promulgated. ASA spokesman Kris Hermes said this week that while the guidelines are not perfect, they are a step in the right direction.

"We've been urging them to come out with an official statement that can direct law enforcement and stop what has been rampant disrespect for state law in some areas," he said. "From that perspective, the guidelines are a huge step forward. They provide a blueprint for local law enforcement to develop sensible policies around patient encounters, and they recognize the validity and law-abiding nature of medical marijuana dispensaries in California. That's huge," said Hermes. "These guidelines are a boon for patients, police, and everyone else in the state and will greatly advance the implementation of state law."

"Given the vagueness of the initiative and the statutes, the guidelines are pretty good," said Bruce Mirken, San Francisco-based communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "They establish parameters within which the distribution of medical marijuana is to be treated as legitimate and legal. That's important because some prosecutors have been adamant that there is no legal authority for dispensaries -- period. This cuts the legs out from under them," he said.

"They were about what we expected," said Dale Gieringer, head of California NORML. "Most of the guidelines are consistent with what our attorneys have been saying and advising their clients to do all along. There are a few problem areas, but these guidelines will help fill the vacuum."

One problem Gieringer pointed out was that the guidelines say dispensaries may possess and distribute only lawfully cultivated marijuana, and that they cannot purchase from or sell to non-members. "There is nothing in either federal or state law against purchasing marijuana, so we don't see any legal basis for saying it's illegal to buy from outside vendors," he said.

Another potential problem is that the guidelines say that co-ops and collectives should document their activities and record the source of the marijuana they purchase, Gieringer said. "That is going to be problematic until we have some assurance of protection from being arrested by the DEA, and we don't want to see the cops come in and seize the records, and then bust the growers."

"While there is much about the guidelines that is positive, we also have some worries about some of the dispensary language," Mirken said. "Requiring dispensaries to be non-profit is just silly. Is Jerry Brown going to demand that Walgreen's and Riteaid become charities, too? If society thinks private enterprise and the profit motive are a logical way to distribute goods and services, why not medical marijuana?"

Still, said Mirken, the guidelines are a step in the right direction. "Given that we have all these issues here in California, anything that moves us in the direction of an orderly system with some legal clarity is a good thing. When you have local authorities who just don't like medical marijuana and are looking for an excuse to bust people, which some of them have been doing all along, this is going to provide protection."

But at least one Bay Area dispensary operator was not so impressed. "Let's see how it all plays out," said Richard Lee, proprietor of Oakland's Bulldog Coffee Shop and SR-71 dispensary and key promoter of the Oaksterdam scene. "Hopefully, it will help people in more repressed redneck areas and not hurt people in more progressive areas like Oakland and San Francisco."

Although Brown's guidelines call for dispensaries to be organized as co-ops or collectives, Lee has not incorporated in that manner and has no plans to. "We've been here eight years," he said. "We were here before they even passed SB 420. Oakland has a system that allows reasonable profits; it's set up for the clubs to run like any other business, and we are fine with that. Does Jerry Brown really want to come in and mess with Oakland's system that works?"

While the guidelines could result in a temporary decrease in the number of dispensaries as non-compliant ones either close their doors or have them closed for them by law enforcement, the end result will most likely be more dispensaries opening in areas of that state that are currently underserved because of local law enforcement or official hostility.

"I'm not too worried about a short term decrease in the dispensaries if it brings a little more rigor," said Gieringer. "Things have been fast and loose, and we have some rogue operators who wouldn't normally be operating in a legal market. We will lose some of those people, which could result in a short term decrease in availability, but in the medium term, this should be balanced out by the increase in availability in currently underserved areas."

While not everyone is happy with all aspects of the guidelines, the state of California has now taken a big step toward legitimizing its medical marijuana industry, reducing the confusion surrounding the state's medical marijuana law, and sending a strong signal to the DEA that it intends to police itself.

Unique and Important New Book on Medical Marijuana
DrugWarChronicles
August 16th 2008

In our current TRUTH 08 Campaign, we have featured the important and unique new book Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, by sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb. More than 1,300 people have read our review of the book by Drug Chronicle editor Phil Smith -- check it out here!

Please donate to the TRUTH 08 Campaign to support StoptheDrugWar.org's work providing this and other critical writing reaching hundreds of thousands of people every month. Donate $36 or more and you can receive a complimentary copy of Dying to Get High as our thanks.

Donate $60 or more, and we'll send you both Dying to Get High AND the new TRUTH 08 Campaign padded notepad folder with clasp. Or just select the notepad folder as your gift selection with a donation of $36 or over. (Use our regular donation page to browse the many other books and gift items that we continue to make available.)

Following are a few things that Chronicle editor Phil Smith had to say about the book Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, in his recent widely-read review:

In "Dying to Get High," sociologists Wendy Chapkis and Richard Webb... trace the use of marijuana as medicine in the US... its removal from the pharmacopeia in 1941... the continuing blockage of research into its medical benefits by ideologically-driven federal authorities.

Chapkis and Webb deliver a resounding, well-reasoned indictment of the political and (pseudo) scientific opposition to medical marijuana.

"Dying to Get High" is also an in-depth portrait of one of the country's most well-known medical marijuana collectives... describing in loving detail the inner workings... of a group with charismatic leadership... more than 200 seriously ill patients, and the specter of the DEA always looming.

Your help is needed right now to capitalize on the tremendous progress we've already made getting the TRUTH out: the past 12 months nearly 150,000 people per month visited StoptheDrugWar.org. Several months the number of visitors topped 180,000 and the trend is continuing upward.

I am very excited about the new momentum we're generating together, and I'd like to thank you very much for your interest in changing this country's drug policies and for giving your support to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN. Your contribution has never been more important.

David Borden
Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet)
News & Activism Promoting Sensible Reform

P.S. It's time to stop the senseless tragedy of the drug war and to bring an end to the countless injustices occurring every day. Your donation to the TRUTH 08 CAMPAIGN today will help spread the word to more people than ever and build the momentum we need for change. Thank you!

" Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults"
DRCNet
August 14th 2008

For the first time in decades, a marijuana decriminalization bill is before the Congress. Actually introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in April, the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults (H.R. 5843) got its coming out party Wednesday as Frank, a handful of other representatives, and leaders of prominent drug reform organizations held a Capitol Hill press conference to push for the bill.

In the eyes of many, the bill couldn't come soon enough. Since 1965, more than 20 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges, 830,000 in 2006. Of those, nearly 90% were for simple possession. In addition to the jail time and other costs imposed on offenders, marijuana law enforcement costs society more than $7 billion a year.

While passage of a federal decriminalization bill would have little direct impact -- only 160 people were charged with federal marijuana possession offenses last year -- its symbolic impact could help break the marijuana law reform log-jam that has endured since the days of the hippies.

Here is the text of the bill in its entirety:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no penalty may be imposed under an Act of Congress for the possession of marijuana for personal use, or for the not-for-profit transfer between adults of marijuana for personal use. For the purposes of this section, possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana shall be presumed to be for personal use, as shall the not-for-profit transfer of one ounce or less of marijuana, except that the civil penalty provided in section 405 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 844a) may be imposed for the public use of marijuana if the amount of the penalty does not exceed $100."

The federal government should stop arresting marijuana users, Frank said as he stood before the microphones flanked by Congressional Black Caucus members Reps. Lacy Clay (D-MO) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), and advocates Allen St. Pierre, executive director of NORML; Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, and Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Existing laws aimed at marijuana users punish otherwise law-abiding citizens and sick people whose doctors have recommended the drug, disproportionately impact African-Americans, and waste law enforcement resources, Frank said. They also amount to an unwarranted intrusion into the private lives of Americans, he said.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the responsible use of marijuana by adults and this should be of no interest or concern to the government," said NORML's St. Pierre. "In fact, the vast majority of marijuana smokers are adults who cause no harm to themselves or to anyone else, so there is no reason for the state to be involved."

Marijuana use should be treated like alcohol use, St. Pierre continued. "With alcohol we acknowledge the distinction between use and abuse, and we focus our law enforcement involvement on efforts to stop irresponsible use. We do not arrest or jail responsible alcohol drinkers. That should be our policy with marijuana as well," he said, noting that there were more than 11 million marijuana arrests since 1990.

Reps. Clay and Lee both emphasized the inordinate number of arrests of minority pot smokers. The application of the marijuana laws unfairly targets blacks, said Clay.

Clay called marijuana prohibition part of "a phony war on drugs that is filling up our prisons, especially with people of color." It is time for a "practical, common sense approach" instead, he said.

Lee also noted the disproportionate impact of marijuana law enforcement on the minority community, but as a representative of a state where medical marijuana is legal also singled out another group that suffers under the law. "This bill is about compassion," she said. "The federal government has better things to do than send sick people to jail."

MPP's Kampia noted that marijuana arrests outnumber arrests for "all violent crimes combined," and suggested that law enforcement concentrate less on pursuing nonviolent marijuana offenders. "Ending arrests is the key to marijuana policy reform," he said. "It is important to eliminate the threat of arrest. For the many marijuana users who aren't arrested, they still live in fear of arrest."

Marijuana prohibition is "one of the most destructive criminal justice policies in America today," said DPA's Piper, noting that in addition to arrest and possible imprisonment, marijuana users face the loss of jobs, financial aid for college, federal benefits, and access to low-cost public housing.

Even while conceding the bill has virtually zero chance of passing this year, earlier in the week Piper said you have to start somewhere. "The goal is to raise the issue and have something that advocates can organize around," he said. "But just having this bill introduced is groundbreaking in itself."

It could also rub off at state houses across the land, Piper said. "This will encourage state lawmakers to introduce similar bills. This is also something we can now turn around and use to lobby with at state houses," he said.

"There's a growing sentiment in Congress that the prisons are overcrowded," said MPP spokesman Dan Bernath. "I think we are at or near a tipping point, and this bill is a good way to start chipping away at our marijuana laws," he said. "This will set the stage for sensible marijuana reforms at the state and local level, as well as more meaningful federal reforms in the future."

If reformers see little likelihood of anything happening this year, the federal government's anti-drug bureaucrats were taking no chances. Crashing the gate at the press conference were Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) chief scientist Dr. David Murray and two aides. They came carrying glossy ONDCP propaganda and hoping to immediately rebut any claims by reformers, but both press corps and event participants seemed more bemused by their appearance than interested in what they had to say.

Whole Plant Better Than Isolated Components in Pain Relief, Italian Study Finds
DrugwarChronicles
July 27th 2008

Scientists at the University of Milan have published a study finding that whole-plant marijuana extracts provide better relief for neuropathic pain than isolated components of the plant, like THC alone. The research is an intervention in the ongoing debate between medical marijuana supporters and herbal and alternative medicine advocates on one side and the US government, some politicians, and the pharmaceuticalized medicine industry on the other.

"The use of a standardized extract of Cannabis sativa... evoked a total relief of thermal hyperalgesia, in an experimental model of neuropathic pain,... ameliorating the effect of single cannabinoids," the investigators reported. "Collectively, these findings strongly support the idea that the combination of cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid compounds, as present in extracts, provide significant advantages... compared with pure cannabinoids alone."

Congressional drug warriors like Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) have long argued that marijuana is not a medicine and that any medicinal compounds in the plant should be isolated or synthesized, as is the case with Marinol, which contains one of the hundreds of cannabinoids found in the plant. The DEA takes a similar approach.

'state lawmakers unconstitutionally overstepped their bounds'
DrugWarChronicles
May 31st 2008

In a May 22 decision, the California 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles has ruled that state lawmakers unconstitutionally overstepped their bounds by limiting the amount of marijuana patients could possess. California's Compassionate Use Act became law as the result of a 1996 voter initiative, and the legislature cannot amend initiatives, the court held.

Seeking to regulate medical marijuana in the state, the legislature passed a bill that set limits on the amount of pot patients could possess. That bill set the limit at eight ounces of dried marijuana and six mature or 12 seedling plants.

Prosecutors used that provision of the law to charge medical marijuana patient Patrick Kelly with marijuana possession and sales after they busted him with 12 ounces. Kelley was a registered patient, but did not have a doctor's recommendation that he needed more than the eight ounces envisioned by the legislative action. Prosecutors were wrong to charge Kelly, the court held.

"The CUA does not quantify the marijuana a patient may possess. Rather, the only 'limit' on how much marijuana a person falling under the act may possess is it must be for the patient's 'personal medical purposes,'" Justice Richard Aldrich wrote.

"The legislature... cannot amend an initiative, such as the CUA, unless the initiative grants the legislature authority to do so," Aldrich continued in the 7-2 opinion. "The CUA does not grant the legislature the authority to amend it without voter approval."

The unconstitutional provision was part of a 2004 bill by Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) that sought to clarify the state's medical marijuana law. The following year, Vasconcellos got a bill passed that removed the cap language, but it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who argued that it removed "reasonable and established quantity guidelines."

Medical Marijuana at the Statehouse -- Stalled in St. Paul, Progress in Providence, Coming Out in Columbus
DrugWarchronicles
May 24th 2008

State legislatures are once again proving a formidable hurdle for the medical marijuana movement. In the last two weeks, legislation died for lack of action in the Minnesota Senate, and while the Rhode Island Senate passed a dispensary bill, it is unclear whether it will make it to the House floor. But hope springs eternal, as evidenced this week in Ohio, where the first medical marijuana bill in years was introduced.

But it never got to a floor vote in the House before the session ran out. Supporters blamed the House leadership and the opposition of some sectors of law enforcement, which could not be pleased no matter how many changes to the bill -- 19 -- supporters made to assuage their fears. The bill also faced a likely veto from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

"We're disappointed that the Minnesota legislature failed to enact a medical marijuana bill this year," said Bruce Mirken, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, the parent group for Minnesotans for Compassionate Care, which led the lobbying fight to pass the bill. "But we've seen in other states that the legislative process often takes several years, and we picked up incredible support this year, including the endorsements of the state's two largest newspapers. The dozens of brave patients who came forward to tell their stories in recent months aren't giving up, and neither are we."

Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, the state Senate approved legislation May 15 that would create "compassion centers" or dispensaries where patients enrolled in the state's medical marijuana program could legally obtain their medicine. Under the bill, S. 2693,the dispensaries could legally grow and sell marijuana to the 359 patients in the state medical marijuana registry. The dispensaries would be regulated by the state Department of Health.

The legislation would create licensed marijuana dispensaries, or "compassion centers," that would legally grow and sell the drug at affordable prices to the 359 patients in the state's program. The centers would be regulated by the state Health Department.

But despite strong popular support and a 29-6 vote in the Senate, the bill is not expected to get through the House this year, the Providence Journal reported. It cited opposition in the House.

"I would really have to have a sock over my head if I didn't know that," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rhoda E. Perry (D-Providence). "What I think is important is to show movement," Perry said of the Senate vote. "I think getting it out of a chamber is movement. It's showing that there is a level of understanding and a level of acceptance," she told the Journal.

How patients would get their medicine was "the unasked question" when the state's medical marijuana law was passed, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox told the Journal. "Do you send someone that may be suffering from cancer or whatnot out into the streets to procure it? I don't know if that's necessarily a good solution. I think the natural extension of that is that we provide some sort of safe place to obtain it for those who are legally authorized."

But Fox declined to support the bill just yet. "I'm not saying that the leadership's going to support it," he said. "I'd like to read the bill. I haven't looked at what the bill does."

While the Journal has pronounced the bill dead, that's a bit premature, said Jesse Stout, spokesman for the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC). "The House leadership hasn't said they're not going to vote on it, so we're working with them to try to schedule it," he said. "We still have another month left in the session."

Stout was confident the measure would pass if it got to a floor vote. "We have a lot of rank and file support from House members who favor this common sense expansion of the law, and we have a new poll that shows popular support for this measure at 69%. We have lots of support, so this is by no means over," he said.

While the legislative process has been long and torturous in Minnesota and Rhode Island, it is just getting underway in Ohio. On Wednesday, state Sen. Tom Roberts (D-Trotwood) announced details of his proposed Ohio Medical Compassion Act during a press conference at the state capitol in Columbus. Under Roberts' bill, the state Health and Agriculture Departments would be authorized to set up an advisory board to:

• Consider granting medicinal use of cannabis in cases of debilitated medical conditions.
• Consider applications for and renewals of registry identification cards for qualified patients and primary caregivers.
• Provide recommendations for the safe use and efficient growing of medicinal cannabis.

"Our laws should reflect the latest in medical research, which has shown that medical cannabis has a variety of benefits for treating pain, nausea and other symptoms related to a wide range of disease," Roberts said in a prepared statement. "In an era of scientific breakthroughs and medical advances, patients should not be put in the position of choosing between living a normal life and living a healthy life," Roberts said.

"We took what we thought was the best of other medical marijuana laws and created this bill," said Tonya Davis, director of advocacy for the Ohio Patient Network. Davis, a chronic pain sufferer who is unable to walk, was optimistic about the bill's prospects. "This time around we have a cosponsor and more support in the Senate than ever before," she said.

For Davis, access to medical marijuana is a quality of life issue. With medical marijuana, she can reduce her reliance on other medications, she told the Wednesday press conference. "I require medical marijuana to maintain a lifestyle with dignity," Davis said.

The Ohio bill will likely face the same long and twisting legislative path that medical marijuana has followed in any number of statehouses. Whether it becomes law this year seems unlikely, but experience has shown that getting bills through is typically a multi-year process.

And that's something to remember in Minnesota and Rhode Island, too, not to mention other states, such as Illinois, New Jersey, and New York, where bills are active this year, said MPP's Mirken. "I understand the frustration, but we've seen before that it typically takes several years to get medical marijuana passed. Elected officials by and large still think medical marijuana is more controversial than it is. It's never easy," he said.

Still, said Mirken, time and the angels are on the side of the movement. "There is no question the historical tide is with us. It's just that sometimes it moves more slowly than we would like."

"Obama supports the rights of states and local governments to make this choice"
DrugWarChronicles
May 17th 2008

With Sen. Barack Obama now the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, the Republican Party is looking for potential weaknesses and thinks it has found one in his relatively progressive stance on medical marijuana. On Wednesday, the Republican National Committee issued a press release saying Obama's position on medical marijuana and the DEA raids on patients and providers "raises serious doubts" about an Obama candidacy.

The attack came after the San Francisco Chronicle published an article Monday detailing Obama's position on medical marijuana, from comments he made in November to a response he more recently provided to the paper's candidate questionnaire. In responding to the Chronicle's medical marijuana question, the Obama campaign said he endorsed a hands-off federal policy:

"Voters and legislators in the states -- from California to Nevada to Maine -- have decided to provide their residents suffering from chronic diseases and serious illnesses like AIDS and cancer with medical marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering," said campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. "Obama supports the rights of states and local governments to make this choice -- though he believes medical marijuana should be subject to (US Food and Drug Administration) regulation like other drugs," LaBolt said. He added that Obama would end DEA raids on medical marijuana providers.

Sen. Hillary Clinton has also suggested she would end the raids, according to Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, a New Hampshire-based activist group that specializes in trying to get candidates on the record on medical marijuana. Republican nominee Sen. John McCain has waffled on the issue, according to Granite Staters, which has him saying he would end the raids at one point, but saying he would not end them a few weeks later.

But in was Obama who was in the GOP bull's-eye over medical marijuana this week. "Barack Obama's pledge to stop Executive agencies from implementing laws passed by Congress raises serious doubts about his understanding of what the job of the President of the United States actually is," said RNC communications director Danny Diaz in the press release. "His refusal to enforce the law reveals that Barack Obama doesn't have the experience necessary to do the job of president, or that he fundamentally lacks the judgment to carry out the most basic functions of the executive Branch. What other laws would Barack Obama direct federal agents not to enforce?" Diaz asked.

Obama's refusal to countenance continued DEA raids would mean he would violate his oath of office by not protecting and defending the Constitution, the RNC charged. The Supreme Court has upheld the authority of Congress to regulate the use of marijuana, it noted.

Whether the Republican Party can gain advantage by attacking Obama on the medical marijuana issue remains to be seen. In poll after poll, American voters have said they support access to medical marijuana for sick people. It is currently legal in 12 states and under serious

'allow qualifying patients to possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana'
StoptheDrugWar.org
April 11th 2008

New Hampshire House Passes Decriminalization Bill
DrugWarChronicles
March 29th 2008

In a vote that caught most observers by surprise, the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved a scaled-back marijuana decriminalization bill by a margin of 193-141. To become law, the measure must still pass the state Senate, where it will receive a cool reception, and be signed by the governor, who has signaled his opposition to it.

Sponsored by Reps. Jeffrey Fontas (D-Nashua) and Andrew Edwards (D-Nashua), the bill, HB 1623 , would make possession of up to a quarter ounce of marijuana a violation punishable by a maximum $200 fine. Currently, small-time possession is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

The favorable vote came despite the bill's rejection by a House policy committee and the opposition of law enforcement officials. Among arguments raised by proponents was that young offenders would be unfairly punished by having a marijuana offense on their records.

"How can we expect young people to get back on the right path if we take away every opportunity to do so?" Rep. Fontas said during the debate.

That sentiment was echoed on the Republican side of the aisle, too. "The question today is not whether marijuana should be illegal, but whether a teenager making a stupid decision should face up to a year in prison and loss of all federal funding for college,'' said Rep. Jason Bedrick (R-Windham).

Rep. John Tholl (R-Whitefield), a part-time police chief in the village of Dalton, was typical of opponents. He warned darkly that anyone sharing small amounts of marijuana could be charged with a felony and that anyone transporting it could still face jail time. Still, the measure would send the wrong message, he said.

"If you send a message to the young people of our state that a quarter ounce of marijuana is no big deal, like a traffic ticket, what you are doing is you are telling them we are not going to be looking at this very hard,'' Tholl said.

According to the Nashua Telegraph , Gov. John Lynch also thinks the bill sends the wrong message. His press secretary, Colin Manning, said Lynch will urge the Senate to reject it.

"This sends absolutely the wrong message to New Hampshire's young people about the very real dangers of drug use. That is why the governor joins with the House Criminal Justice Committee and law enforcement in opposing this bill,'' Manning said. "If the bill were to reach the governor's desk, which seems very unlikely, the governor would veto it.''

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Foster (D-Nashua) told the newspaper the bill is going nowhere in his chamber. "I know of no interest in the Senate on either side of the aisle to entertain this,'' Foster told reporters. "The governor has expressed his view, but I don't think he will see it coming to him.''

The New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy , which has led the lobbying charge for the bill, praised the House and urged the Senate to act. "Our representatives in the House did the right thing for New Hampshire -- and especially for New Hampshire's young people," said the coalition's Matt Simon. "It's time for the Senate to finish the work we've started here and bring some sanity to our marijuana sentencing policies."

Eleven states have decriminalized marijuana possession, mostly in the 1970s. Nevada was the most recent, decriminalizing in 2001.

Medical Marijuana at the Statehouse: Prospects for 2008
Drug War Chronicle
March 15th 2008

A dozen years after California voters ushered in the age of legal medical marijuana by supporting Proposition 215, the legal use of the herb for medicinal purposes has spread to 11 other states -- Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- but in recent years, progress has been excruciatingly slow. 2005 Coalition for Medical Marijuana-NJ press conference The last statewide initiative to go to voters failed in 2006 in South Dakota -- the only state where voters have rejected an initiative legalizing medical marijuana -- and last year, it took Herculean efforts by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) to revive and rescue the medical marijuana bill there, making the Land of Enchantment the only state to be added to the list of medical marijuana states in 2007. (Rhode Island legislators, who had passed a sunsetted bill in 2006, made it permanent last year.)

This year, serious efforts to pass medical marijuana laws at the state house are underway in several more states, with most of the efforts being run by local groups backed by either the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) or the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). Here's a look at the states where there has been or will be action at the state house on medical marijuana:

Alabama: A medical marijuana bill was introduced last week by Rep. Laura Hall (D), but has yet to be assigned a bill number. This will mark the second year in a row that Alabama legislators have had a medical marijuana bill before them. There will be hearings this year, said Loretta Nall, executive director of Alabamians for Compassionate Care , the local group coordinating the effort to pass the bill.

One of those who will testify is Jacki Phillips, whose son, Michael Phillips, had testified in support of medical marijuana in the past. Michael Phillips, who throughout his life suffered from seizures related to brain tumors, died last December in a New Orleans hotel room during the DPA conference.

"I'm going to tell those lawmakers that the system killed my son," said Phillips. "I truly believe that if he could have gotten the marijuana and it had been regulated like other seizure medicines, he would be alive today. I'm not asking them to legalize it for potheads," she said, "I'm a Southern Baptist and I believe God gave you a brain to use, but using marijuana for medical purposes would help a lot of people."

Marijuana didn't stop Michael Phillips' seizures, his mother said, "but it gave him the chance to function on a normal level for a period of time." When he smoked marijuana, she said, he would still have seizures, but their frequency and intensity was greatly reduced.

Connecticut: After seeing a medical marijuana bill pass the legislature there last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Jodi Rell (R), activists there have found little traction on the issue this year as the legislature debates other criminal justice and drug policy issues.

"We were emboldened last year and then deeply disappointed that people still essentially have to commit a crime to get access to medicine," DPA policy director Gabriel Sayegh told the Hartford Business Journal earlier this month. But despite little progress this year, "there is no doubt we are going to continue with this," he vowed.

Illinois: A medical marijuana bill, SB 2865 , has passed committee votes and is now headed to the Senate floor, but its House companion bill, HB 5938, lost a committee vote this week. Still, that doesn't mean the measure is dead.

"Unlike many states, losing a committee vote doesn't kill your bill," said MPP's Mirken, who spent part of this week at the state capitol in Springfield accompanying patients as they lobbied legislators.

MPP and local reform groups IDEAL (Illinois Drug Education and Legislative Reform) and Illinois Compassion Action Network are keeping the pressure on. This week, MPP released a poll showing 68% support for medical marijuana in the state.

Kansas: The first effort at passing a medical marijuana bill in Kansas, supported by the Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition and former Republican Attorney General Robert Stephan, ended a couple of weeks ago, bottled up in committee by a hostile committee chair. While disappointing, that is hardly surprising, given the torturous legislative process facing any new bill.

Kansans should not be disheartened that they did not achieve victory in their first try, said MPP's Mirken. "It has been a multi-year struggle in all the states that have passed these laws," he said. "It's no surprise that it will take more than one year in Kansas."

Minnesota: Last year, a medical marijuana bill passed the state Senate, but died of inaction in the House in the face of veto threats from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty. But MPP and local affiliate Minnesotans for Compassionate Care are again working with friendly legislators. A Republican House member, Rep. Chris DeLaForest, is cosponsoring a House bill this year.

Minnesota's is a two-year legislative session, so that means only a House bill must pass this year, provided it is congruent with the already passed Senate bill.

"We are sitting in the House waiting for it to be brought up," said Mirken. "We're hoping it will pass and the governor will see the light."

New Jersey: For the fourth consecutive year, a medical marijuana bill, AB 804 has been introduced by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) and a companion bill has been introduced in the state Senate. DPA's New Jersey office is working the legislature, but there seems little likelihood the Senate will act.

"The Senate has always been the hold-up," said Ken Wolski, RN, executive officer of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey . "Although Gov. Corzine has said he would sign a bill if it gets to his desk, the Assembly doesn't really want to mess with it if the Senate won't move on it, so here we are."

New York: A medical marijuana bill, SO4768 , initially introduced last year was reintroduced in January. It passed the Assembly last year, but was referred at that time to the Senate Health Committee where it has languished ever since. Given the turmoil in Albany in the wake of this week's resignation of Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer, said MPP's Mirken, it will take awhile for the dust to settle. "We're trying to figure out how the Spizter follies will change the situation, " he said. "While we have some hopes for New York, at this point, medical marijuana is not on the top of anybody's agenda."

One optimistic sign, said Mirken, was that the new governor, David Paterson, is on much better terms with Republican Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno. Another is that, like Minnesota, New York has a two-year session, so a bill will not have to again pass the Assembly.

The medical marijuana movement has mowed its way through most of the low-hanging fruit of the initiative states and now faces the long, hard slog through the legislative process if it wants to get more states on board. While it is less expensive to attempt to win in the legislature than at the ballot box, it is also much more difficult and complicated.

"A lot of politicians are needlessly skittish about the politics of this," said Mirken. "If it were just a vote on the merits, it would pass today. Everywhere, we can produce polling numbers to show these guys a medical marijuana vote is not going to hurt them, but there is a deeply ingrained fear of being portrayed as soft on drugs, and that's very difficult to overcome. It's a real struggle," he said.

When pressed on where victories might come this year, Mirken was careful. "I'd say there was a fighting chance in Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, but in an election year, politicians are more timid than usual," he offered.

The real best shot this year, he said, is likely Michigan, where an initiative has been approved for the November ballot.

Opponents of Marijuana Reform Constantly Contradict Themselves
Scott Morgan Chronicle blog
March 1st 2008

This article on a marijuana decriminalization effort in New Hampshire provides a useful case study in the utter confusion and desperation of the anti-pot peanut gallery:

Exeter Police Chief Richard Kane, among others, is adamantly opposed. "If we reduce the penalty for small amounts of marijuana, it will eventually lead to legalization and I think that's heading in the wrong direction," he said last week.

Nashua Police Chief Donald Conley also said it would be a mistake to take the sting out of the law. [ Boston Globe ]

So the Police Chief begins by arguing that we must go around stinging people for possessing pot. But when reform advocates argue that too many young lives are being derailed by harsh punishments for petty offenses, Conley completely changes his tune:

"As far as someone getting arrested and their lives being ruined, I don't think that's the case," he said. "Employers are more forgiving in this day and age, and police prosecutors frequently reduce marijuana cases down to violations…"

Wait, so should we be stinging people or not? He begins by defending aggressive sanctions and ends by claiming the sanctions aren't aggressive. The contradiction is transparent and embarrassing.

It is, in fact, not at all uncommon to hear defenders of harsh marijuana laws speak approvingly of the fact that most offenders avoid jail time. Thus, it is not necessarily the practice of ruining lives for marijuana which they crave, but rather the discretion to do so should the urge happen to arise. Meanwhile, millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans are branded as criminals so that people like Chief Conley can live out their authoritarian fantasies.

American College of Physicians 'yes' to Medical Marijuana in Historic Endorsement
News2020.com
Feburary 25th 2008

In a position paper , a leading American medical association has endorsed the medicinal use of marijuana, called for more studies of its medical uses, and urged the US government to get out of the way. The position paper from the American College of Physicians was released last Friday after being approved by the group's governing body.

The college pointed to strong evidence that marijuana has proven useful in treating AIDS wasting syndrome, glaucoma, and the nausea and vomiting associated with cancer chemotherapy treatments. The college also noted that there is anecdotal evidence for many other medical uses of marijuana, but that research had been stymied by "a complicated federal approval process, limited availability of research grade marijuana, and the debate over legalization." The science of medical marijuana should not be "hindered or obscured" by the controversy over legalizing the plant for personal, non-medical use, the group said.

"This is a historic statement by one of the world's most respected physician groups, and shows the growing scientific consensus that marijuana is a safe, effective medicine for some patients, including many battling life-threatening illnesses like cancer and AIDS," said former US Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders in a press release from the Marijuana Policy Project . "Large medical associations move cautiously, and for the American College of Physicians to note 'a clear discord' between scientific opinion and government policy on medical marijuana is a stinging rebuke to our government. It's time for politicians and bureaucrats to get out of the way of good medicine and solid research."

"This statement by the American College of Physicians recognizes what clinicians and researchers have been seeing for years, that for some patients medical marijuana works when conventional drugs fail," said Dr. Michael Saag, director of the Center for AIDS Research at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. "One of the challenges in HIV/AIDS treatment is helping patients to adhere to drug regimens that may cause nausea and other noxious side effects. The relief of these side effects that marijuana provides can help patients stay on life-extending therapies."

"This statement by America's second largest doctors' group demolishes the myth that the medical community doesn't support medical marijuana," said Marijuana Policy Project executive director Rob Kampia. "The ACP's statement smashes a number of other myths, including the claims that adequate substitutes are available or that marijuana is unsafe for medical use. 124,000 doctors have just said what our government refuses to hear, that it makes no medical or moral sense to arrest the sick and suffering for using medical marijuana."

While the ACP position paper consists of 13 closely reasoned pages, the group summarizes its medical marijuana positions thusly:

Position 1: ACP supports programs and funding for rigorous scientific evaluation of the potential therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana and the publication of such findings.

Position 1a: ACP supports increased research for conditions where the efficacy of marijuana has been established to determine optimal dosage and route of delivery.

Position 1b: Medical marijuana research should not only focus on determining drug efficacy and safety but also on determining efficacy in comparison with other available treatments.

Position 2: ACP encourages the use of non-smoked forms of THC that have proven therapeutic value.

Position 3: ACP supports the current process for obtaining federal research-grade cannabis.

Position 4: ACP urges review of marijuana's status as a schedule I controlled substance and its reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana's safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions.

Position 5: ACP strongly supports exemption from federal criminal prosecution; civil liability; or professional sanctioning, such as loss of licensure or credentialing, for physicians who prescribe or dispense medical marijuana in accordance with state law.

Similarly, ACP strongly urges protection from criminal or civil penalties for patients who use medical marijuana as permitted under state laws.

"The richness of modern medicine is to carefully evaluate new treatments. Marijuana has been in a special category because of, I suppose, its abuses and other concerns," Dr. David Dale, the group's president and a University of Washington professor of medicine, told Reuters in a phone interview.

An uncharacteristically terse David Murray, chief scientist for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, could only appeal to science in an interview with Reuters. "The science should be kept open. There should be more research. We should continue to investigate," he said.

Dale Gieringer, executive director of California NORML had a few nits to pick with the ACP's statement, but approved overall. "This is an important step," he said. "But when they say they support the existing federal supply system, it suggests they are unaware of all the systematic blockage of independent research caused by the NIDA monopoly and DEA interference."

Similarly, said Gieringer, while government licensing and regulation of medical marijuana makes sense, that doesn't mean we have to maintain the existing NIDA monopoly. "It just doesn't make sense to do that," he said.

Where Gieringer was pleasantly surprised was with the ACP's call to end the criminal persecution of medical marijuana patients, providers, and doctors. "They came out really forcefully against criminalization," he noted. "That's very impressive. No one else has been willing to address that. All of these apologists for the government run around saying you can't have unregulated medical marijuana, but that doesn't mean you need to throw patients and doctors in jail."

The medical community's embrace of medical marijuana has been timid and hesitant, with a number of important organizations, including the American Medical Association, lagging behind. This policy statement by the nation's second largest medical association should give that process an important boost.

"UN anti-drug bureaucracy roused from its slumber"
DrugWarChronicles
February 19th 2008

When medical marijuana vending machines appeared at a handful of Los Angeles-area dispensaries a couple of weeks ago, the press attention they received was enormous -- so enormous that it was heard deep in the bowels of the UN anti-drug bureaucracy in Vienna. Roused from its dogmatic slumber by the clamor, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) issued a statement last Friday saying the machines violate international drug treaties and should be shut down.

The federal government may not recognize medical marijuana, but it is legal under state law. So far, there is no indication that providing it via vending machines violates the state's medical marijuana laws, much less international treaties which only prohibit non-medical use. And so far, the DEA has not acted against them.

The machines have appeared in three Los Angeles dispensaries, and supporters say they are convenient for patients, secure, and could provide medical marijuana at lower prices. Qualified patients who wish to use the vending machines must provide documentation and fingerprints to the dispensary, which then issues them a card to insert in the machine.

While the INCB reiterated that marijuana is illegal under federal law, it also seemed to suggest that if marijuana was going to be used, its use should be controlled by a federal agency. "The control measures applied in California for the cultivation, production and use of cannabis do not meet the control standards set in the 1961 Convention to prevent diversion of narcotic drugs for illicit use," the INCB said. "Such standards require, inter alia, the control of cultivation and production of cannabis by a national cannabis agency, and detailed record keeping and reporting on the activities with cannabis, including reporting to INCB."

The INCB also took pains to note that it "welcomes sound scientific research on the therapeutic usefulness of cannabis," although it claimed that "so far, the results of research regarding the potential therapeutic usefulness have been limited." But in the same breath, it then complained that Canada and the Netherlands have authorized medical marijuana "without reporting conclusive research results to the WHO" and that "cannabis is used for medical purposes in some jurisdictions of the United States without having definitive proof of its efficacy."

Whether the INCB's "concerns" will spur action from either federal or state authorities remains to be seen. But with each new dispensary, each new delivery service, each entrepreneurial innovation like the vending machines, the medical marijuana industry is becoming ever more deeply entrenched in the social fabric of the Golden State. It may be too late for anybody to stop it -- even the UN.

'Era of DEA Raids May Be Coming to an End'
Stopthedrugwar.org
February 11th 2008

Incoming US Attorney for Northern California Joseph Russoniello held his first press briefing January 31, and during that briefing, he suggested that raiding and prosecuting medical marijuana providers is a waste of resources. That's a bit of a surprise, given Russoniello's history as a hard-line Republican prosecutor, but could augur a new day in Northern California.

Whether Russoniello's words will translate into policy changes in his office remains to be seen, but they could be a harbinger of things to come. Both Democratic presidential contenders have said they would halt the DEA raids on dispensaries in California, so his office could have few medical marijuana cases to prosecute in any case.

Russoniello has other, higher priorities, including gun crimes, hard drugs, gangs, and child pornography, he said. "Guns which are a scourge to communities, which combined with the twin poisons of gangs and drugs are literally enslaving whole neighborhoods," he said.

Russionello took over as US Attorney for Northern California early last month. He also spent eight years in that position under President Reagan in the 1980s.

Medical Marijuana and the Right to Work: Under Attack in California and Oregon
At Risk In Most Other States As Well
Drug War Chronicles
February 2nd 2008

Last week's California Supreme Court decision upholding the ability of employers to fire employees who test positive for marijuana even if they are patients has shone a spotlight on an increasingly contested grey area created by the disjuncture between state and federal policies toward medical marijuana. With last week's decision, California's more than 150,000 medical marijuana patients now face renewed insecurity on the job. But 11 other states also have medical marijuana laws, and patients are equally at risk of job loss in most of them.

"There are several states -- California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Rhode Island -- that specify that patients cannot be punished by professional licensing boards, and New Mexico and a number of other states have language like 'not subject to penalty in any manner,'" she said. "In Washington, it says 'the people shall not be denied any right or privilege.'"

But whether such language really means patients are protected from being fired for testing positive on a drug test is likely to be sorted out only by court cases or legislation. Better to get that explicit protective language written into the law in the first place, suggested Jesse Stout, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC).

"We did get specific employment protections written into the law, as well a protection from discrimination in terms of enrolling in schools and leasing property," said Stout. "This happened because we went to our patients and asked them what they thought, and they said they wanted marijuana treated like any other medicine."

While Rhode Island advocates had to take other measures out of the bill to ensure passage, employment protections were not controversial. "They weren't a problem," Stout said.

As a result, Rhode Island's 600 medical marijuana patients are among the best protected in the country when it comes to employment protection. And they don't have to rely on the courts or the legislature to provide protection after the fact.

In California, on the other hand, the Supreme Court has settled matters -- at least for now -- with its ruling last week. In that decision , the Court found that employers may fire workers who use medical marijuana in compliance with California's Compassionate Use Act -- even if they are off duty and even if their use does not affect their job performance.

In that case, Gary Ross, whose doctor recommended medical marijuana for chronic back pain resulting from an injury incurred while serving in the Air Force, was hired by Raging Wire as a systems engineer in 2001 and was required to take a drug test as a condition of employment. He provided the company with a copy of his doctor's recommendation, but the company fired him a week later because of a positive test result.

Ross sued, alleging that the company violated the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) by not accommodating his disability. He also argued that the company fired him in violation of public policy because the Compassionate Use Act legalized medical marijuana in the state.

But in siding with employers, the state high court said the state's Compassionate Use Act protected users only from criminal prosecution. "Nothing in the text or history of the Compassionate Use Act suggests the voters intended the measure to address the respective rights and duties of employers and employees," wrote Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdeger for the majority. "Under California law, an employer may require pre-employment drug tests and take illegal drug use into consideration in making employment decisions."

Additionally, Werdeger noted, even though medical marijuana is legal under state law it remains illegal under federal law, and "the FEHA does not require employers to accommodate the use of illegal drugs."

Justice Joyce Kennard was scathing in her dissent. The decision was "conspicuously lacking in compassion," she wrote. "The majority's holding disrespects the will of California's voters." The voters "surely never intended that persons who availed themselves" of the medical marijuana act "would thereby disqualify themselves from employment," Kennard said.

She wasn't the only one. "This was an atrocious decision that generated a scathing dissent," said Joe Elford, legal counsel for the medical marijuana defense group Americans for Safe Access , who argued the case for Ryan. "When California voters passed a law ensuring the right of ill Californians to use marijuana, they didn't expect people to be fired for exercising that right."

"This is a decision is based on tortured logic designed to lead to an absurdly narrow reading of the law," said Bruce Mirken, San Francisco-based communications director for MPP. "The court is claiming that California voters intended to permit medical use of marijuana, but only if you're willing to be unemployed and on welfare. That's ridiculous on its face, as well as cruel, as Justice Kennard rightly observed in her dissent."

If the California Supreme Court has slapped patients in the face, at least one legislator is prepared to seek redress in Sacramento. In a press release the same day, San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Mark Leno announced he would introduce legislation protecting medical cannabis patients' right to employment.

"Today's California Supreme Court ruling strikes a serious blow to patients' rights," stated Leno. "In the coming weeks I will introduce legislation that secures a medical cannabis patient's right to use their doctor recommended medication outside the workplace. Through the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 and SB 420 in 2004, the people of California did not intend that patients be unemployed in order to use medical marijuana."

If in California the battle over the employment rights of medical marijuana users will ultimately be decided in the legislature, in Oregon, the state with the second highest number of medical marijuana patients, some 16,000, the legislative battle is already in its second year. But instead of legislation seeking to protect patients' rights, Oregonians are faced with competing proposals to instead protect the rights of employers to fire those patients.

Last year, a bill that would essentially have allowed employers to discriminate against medical marijuana patients handily passed the state Senate before dying in committee in the House on the last day of the session. This year, in what is supposed to be a limited special session that lasts only through February, legislators are again seeking to provide cover for employers.

"They are trying to get a watered-down version of last year's bill through," said Leland Berger, an attorney and one of the leaders of Voter Power , the group behind the 1998 passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA).

With the special session not yet underway, the bills are currently in the form of "legislative concepts." A hearing was held last week to introduce the competing bills, which would protect employers from lawsuits filed by medical marijuana cardholder employees fired for positive marijuana tests.

Along with Oregon's panoply of medical marijuana advocacy groups, the ACLU of Oregon was a staunch supporter of patients rights' last year, and is back at it again this year. "We oppose both of these bills and any like them for a number of reasons," said Andrea Meyer, legislative director for the ACLU of Oregon, who has been working legislators on the issue. "First, we don't think they're necessary or effective. They talk about impairment, but most employers rely on urinalysis testing to determine impairment, and urinalysis doesn't measure impairment. We know that marijuana metabolites can stay in the system for up to 30 days after ingestion, but that has no correlation with impairment," she said.

"This sort of legislation discriminates against medical marijuana cardholders," Meyer continued. "Oregonians voted to enact a medical marijuana law so people could lawfully obtain marijuana in almost the same manner as any other medicine, and we don't think patients using marijuana should be treated any differently than patients using codeine or morphine or amphetamines," she said.

"We believe in a safe workplace, and we think when an employee is impaired for whatever reason -- emotional distress, under the influence of alcohol or lawful medications or illegal drugs, illness -- the employer has the legal authority to take action," Meyer said. "But we aren't any safer when an employee relies on a urinalysis to determine whether someone is a hazard in the workplace."

The federal government's refusal to recognize medical marijuana is a key part of the problem, said Meyer. "If marijuana could be prescribed like any other controlled substance, I don't think employers would be suggesting it should be treated differently. The fact that the federal government proscribes it gives employers the excuse. What all this says is that we need to change the Controlled Substances Act and make medical marijuana available by prescription," she argued.

Barring that unlikely event, it will be up to the states to protect the employment rights of their medical marijuana patients. "The California Supreme Court decision is an ill omen," said ASA's Elford. "Every one of the medical marijuana states should pass legislation to protect patients, but I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

This article is about health issues and the effects of cannabis. For the main articles, see cannabis and cannabis (drug) . Cured cannabis

Although there are many conflicting studies involving health issues and the effects of cannabis , some conclusions concerning the effects on physical and mental health have been reached. Today, there is still a substantial amount of propaganda and misinformation from both cannabis advocates and opponents due to the legal issues of cannabis , including legal and political constraints on cannabis research.

Effects

The psychomaniac effects of cannabis, known as a "high", are subjective and can vary based on the individual. Some effects may include general change in consciousness (altered perception); mild euphoria; feelings of well-being, relaxation or stress reduction; lethargy; increased appreciation of humor, music or art; joviality; metacognition and introspection; enhanced recollection of episodic memory; increased sensuality;increased awareness of sensation; increased libido; creative or philosophical thinking; disruption of linear memory; paranoia, agitation or anxiety; potentiation of other psychedelics and increased awareness of patterns and color.

Hunger

The "Munchies" is a term that is often used to describe the increased appetite that comes from using cannabis. Research performed by the National Institutes of Health claimed that cannabis increases food enjoyment and the number of times a person eats each day. [ citation needed ] Recently, scientists have claimed to be able to explain what causes the increase in appetite, concluding that " endocannabinoids in the hypothalamus activate cannabinoid receptors that are responsible for maintaining food intake". [1]

Toxicity

According to the Merck Index , [2] the LD 50 (dosage lethal to 50% of rats tested) of ? 9 -THC by inhalation is 42 mg/kg of body weight. That is the equivalent of a man weighing 75 kg (165 lb) inhaling the THC found in 21 grams of extremely high-potency (15% THC) marijuana all in one sitting, assuming no THC is lost through smoke loss or absorption by the lungs. For oral consumption, the LD 50 for male rats is 1270 mg/kg, and 730 mg/kg for females—equivalent to the THC in about a pound of 15% THC marijuana. [3] The ratio of cannabis material required to saturate cannabinoid receptors to the amount required for a fatal overdose is 1:40,000. [4] There have been no reported deaths or permanent injuries sustained as a result of a marijuana overdose. It is practically impossible to overdose on marijuana, as the user would certainly either fall asleep or otherwise become incapacitated from the effects of the drug before being able to consume enough THC to be mortally toxic. According to a United Kingdom government report, using cannabis is less dangerous than tobacco, prescription drugs, and alcohol in social harms, physical harm and addiction. [5]

Confounding combination

The most obvious confounding factor in cannabis research is the prevalent usage of other recreational drugs, including alcohol and tobacco . [6] One paper claims marijuana use can increase risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. [7] Such complications demonstrate the need for studies on cannabis that have stronger controls, and investigations into the symptoms of cannabis use that may also be caused by tobacco . Some people question whether the agencies that do the research try to make an honest effort to present an accurate, unbiased summary of the evidence, or whether they "cherry-pick" their data, and others caution that the raw data, and not the final conclusions, are what should be examined. [8]

However, contrasting studies have linked the smoking of cannabis to lung cancer and the growth of cancerous tumors. [9] [10] [11] [12] A 2002 report by the British Lung Foundation estimated that three to four cannabis cigarettes a day were associated with the same amount of damage to the lungs as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day. [13] Some of these finding may be attributed to the well-known custom that many British citizens often mix tobacco with marijuana. It should also be noted that a recent study conducted at a lab in UCLA has found no link between marijuana usage and lung cancer. [ citation needed ]

Cannabis also has a synergistic toxic effect with the food additive Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and possibly the related compound butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The study concluded, "Exposure to marijuana smoke in conjunction with BHA, a common food additive, may promote deleterious health effects in the lung." BHA & BHT are man-made fat preservatives, and are found in many packaged foods including: plastics in boxed Cereal, Jello, Slim Jims, and more. [14]

Memory

Cannabis is known to act on the hippocampus (an area of the brain associated with memory and learning ), and impair short term memory and attention for the duration of its effects and in some cases for the next day [15] . In the long term, some studies point to enhancement of particular types of memory. [16] Cannabis was found to be neuroprotective against excitotoxicity and is therefore beneficial for the prevention of progressive degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease . [17] A 1998 report commissioned in France by Health Secretary of State Bernard Condevaux and directed by Dr. Pierre-Bernard Roques determined that, "former results suggesting anatomic changes in the brain of chronic cannabis users, measured by tomography , were not confirmed by the accurate modern neuro-imaging techniques ," (like MRI ). "Moreover, morphological impairment of the hippocampus [which plays a part in memory and navigation] of rat after administration of very high doses of THC (Langfield et al. , 1988) was not shown (Slikker et al. , 1992)" (translated). He concluded that cannabis does not have any neurotoxicity as defined in the report, unlike alcohol and cocaine. [18] [19] [20] In contradistinction to this report, however, a 1998 Journal of Neuroscience article explicitly states that THC is a cause of hippocampal neural death, though it is suggested that asprin and vitamin E , among other substances, might inhibit this neural death . "Neuron death induced by THC was inhibited by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including indomethacin and aspirin, as well as vitamin E and other antioxidants." [21]

Adulterated cannabis

Contaminants may be found in hashish when consumed from soap bar -type sources [22] . The dried flowers of the plant may be contaminated by the plant taking up heavy metals and other toxins from its growing environment [23] . Recently, there have been reports of herbal cannabis being adulterated with minute (silica [usually glass or sand], or sugar} crystals in the UK and Ireland . These crystals resemble THC in appearance, yet are much heavier, and so serve again to increase the weight, and hence street value of the cannabis [24] .

Pregnancy

Studies have found that children of marijuana-smoking mothers more frequently suffer from permanent cognitive deficits, concentration disorders, hyperactivity, and impaired social interactions than non-exposed children of the same age and social background. [25] [26] A recent study with participation of scientists from Europe and the United States, have now identified that endogenous cannabinoids, molecules naturally produced by our brains and functionally similar to THC from cannabis, play unexpectedly significant roles in establishing how certain nerve cells connect to each other. The formation of connections among nerve cells occurs during a relatively short period in the fetal brain. The study tries to give a closer understanding of if and when cannabis damages the fetal brain [27] [28] . [29]

Other studies on Jamaica have suggested that cannabis use by expectant mothers does not appear to cause birth defects or developmental delays in their newborn children. [30] [31] In a study in 1994 of Twenty-four Jamaican neonates exposed to marijuana prenatally and 20 non exposed neonates comparisons were made at 3 days and 1 month old, using the Brazelton Neonatal Assessment Scale, including supplementary items to capture possible subtle effects. Results showed there were no significant differences between exposed and nonexposed neonates on day 3. At 1 month, the exposed neonates showed better physiological stability and required less examiner facilitation to reach organized states. The neonates of heavy-marijuana-using mothers had better scores on autonomic stability, quality of alertness, irritability, and self-regulation and were judged to be more rewarding for caregivers. This work was supported by the March of Dimes Foundation. [32]

Cancer

On 23 May 2006, Donald Tashkin , M.D., Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles announced that the use of cannabis does not appear to increase the risk of developing lung cancer, or increase the risk of head and neck cancers, such as cancer of the tongue, mouth, throat, or esophagus. [33] The study involved 2252 participants, with some of the most chronic marijuana smokers having smoked over 22,000 marijuana cigarettes. [33] [34] [35] [36] The finding of Donald Tashkin, M.D., and his team of researchers in 2006 refines their earlier studies published in a Dec. 17th 2000 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarker and Prevention. [12] Many opponents of marijuana incorrectly cite the original finding of UCLA Medical Center from 2000 as "proof" that marijuana leaves the users at higher risk for cancer of the lung, and cancerous tumors, [9] even though the researchers at the UCLA Medical Center have revised their finding with a more in-depth study on the effects of the use of marijuana. This seemed to contradict assumptions made after some studies, like those from Dale Geirringer et al., which found that 118 carcinogens were produced when marijuana underwent combustion, and two carcinogens {2-Methyl-2, 4(2H-1-benzopyran-5-ol) & 5-[Acetyl benz[e]azulene-3,8-dione} formed when marijuana underwent vaporization with the Volcano Vaporizer. [37] To help explain this seemingly chemical proof of carcinogenity inherent in the process of combustion, Tashkin noted that "one possible explanation for the new findings, he said, is that THC, a chemical in marijuana smoke, may encourage aging cells to die earlier and therefore be less likely to undergo cancerous transformation." [33]

In many countries, experimental science regarding cannabis is legally restricted because cannabis is illegal . Thus, cannabis as a drug is often hard to fit into the structural confines of medical research because appropriate, research-grade samples are difficult to obtain legally for research purposes, unless granted under authority of national governments.

United States

This issue was recently highlighted in the United States by the clash between Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), an independent research group, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a federal agency charged with the application of science to the study of drug abuse. The NIDA largely operates under the general control of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a White House office responsible for the direct coordination of all legal, legislative, scientific, social and political aspects of federal drug control policy.

The cannabis that is available for research studies in the United States is grown at the University of Mississippi and solely controlled by the NIDA, which has veto power over the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to define accepted protocols. Since 1942, when cannabis was removed from the U.S. pharmacopoeia and its medical use was prohibited, there have been no legal (under federal law) privately funded cannabis production projects. This has resulted in a limited amount of research being done and possibly NIDA's producing cannabis which has been alleged to be of very low potency and inferior quality. [38]

MAPS, in conjunction with Professor Lyle Craker , PhD, the director of the Medicinal Plant Program of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst , sought to provide independently grown cannabis of more appropriate research quality for FDA-approved research studies, and encountered opposition by NIDA, the ONDCP, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

United Kingdom

In countries such as the United Kingdom a license for growing cannabis is required if it is to be used for botanical or scientific reasons. It is referred to as a "controlled drug". In such countries a greater depth and variety of scientific research has been performed. Recently several habitual smokers were invited to partake in various tests by British medical companies in order for the UK government to ascertain the influence of cannabis on operating a motor vehicle. [ citation needed ]

The most prevalent group of marijuana psychoactive substance in cannabis is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (commonly called ? 9 -THC, or simply THC). In the past two decades, the average content of THC in marijuana sold in North America has increased from about 1% to 3-4% or more. Carefully selected and cloned plants can yield as much as 15% THC (however in the Netherlands the maximum is 29% THC). [39] Another psychoactive cannabinoid present in Cannabis sativa is Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), but it is only found in small amounts. [40] In addition, there are also similar compounds contained in cannabis that do not exhibit any psychoactive response but are obligatory for functionality: Cannabidiol (CBD), an isomer of THC; Cannabinol (CBN), an oxidation product of THC; Cannabivarin (CBV), an analog of CBN with a different sidechain , Cannabidivarin (CBDV), an analog of CBD with a different sidechain, and Cannabinolic acid . How these other compounds interact with THC is not fully understood. Some clinical studies have proposed that CBD acts as a balancing force to regulate the strength of the psychoactive agent THC. Anecdotal and inconclusive reports claim that marijuana with relatively high ratios of THC:CBD is less likely to induce anxiety than marijuana with low THC:CBD ratios. [41] CBD is also believed to regulate the body's metabolism of THC by inactivating cytochrome P450 , an important class of enzymes that metabolize drugs. Experiments in which mice were treated with CBD followed by THC showed that CBD treatment was associated with a substantial increase in brain concentrations of THC and its major metabolites, most likely because it decreased the rate of clearance of THC from the body. [41] Cannabis cofactor compounds have also been linked to lowering body temperature , modulating immune functioning, and cell protection. The essential oil of cannabis contains many fragrant terpenoids which may synergize with the cannabinoids to produce their unique effects. THC is converted rapidly to 11-hydroxy-THC , which is also pharmacologically active, so the drug effect outlasts measurable THC levels in blood. [39]

In 1990, the discovery of cannabinoid receptors located throughout the brain and body, along with endogenous cannabinoid neurotransmitters like anandamide (a lipid material derived ligand from arachidonic acid ), suggested that the use of cannabis affects the brain in the same manner as a naturally occurring brain chemical. Cannabinoids usually contain a 1,1'-di-methyl-pyrane ring, a variedly derivatized aromatic ring and a variedly unsaturated cyclohexyl ring and their immediate chemical precursors, constituting a family of about 60 bi-cyclic and tri-cyclic compounds. Like most other neurological processes, the effects of cannabis on the brain follow the standard protocol of signal transduction , the electrochemical system of sending signals through neurons for a biological response. It is now understood that cannabinoid receptors appear in similar forms in most vertebrates and invertebrates and have a long evolutionary history of 500 million years. Cannabinoid receptors decrease adenylyl cyclase activity, inhibit calcium N channels , and disinhibit K + A channels . There are two types of cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2).

The CB1 receptor is found primarily in the brain and mediates the psychological effects of THC. The CB2 receptor is most abundantly found on cells of the immune system . Cannabinoids act as immunomodulators at CB2 receptors, meaning they increase some immune responses and decrease others. For example, nonpsychotropic cannabinoids can be used as a very effective anti-inflammatory . [41] The affinity of cannabinoids to bind to either receptor is about the same, with only a slight increase observed with the plant-derived compound CBD binding to CB2 receptors more frequently. Cannabinoids likely have a role in the brain's control of movement and memory , as well as natural pain modulation. It is clear that cannabinoids can affect pain transmission and, specifically, that cannabinoids interact with the brain's endogenous opioid system and may affect dopamine transmission. [42] This is an important physiological pathway for the medical treatment of pain.

The cannabinoid receptor is a typical member of the largest known family of receptors called a G protein-coupled receptor . A signature of this type of receptor is the distinct pattern of how the receptor molecule spans the cell membrane seven times. The location of cannabinoid receptors exists on the cell membrane, and both outside ( extracellularly ) and inside ( intracellularly ) the cell membrane. CB1 receptors, the bigger of the two, are extraordinarily abundant in the brain: 10 times more plentiful than µ- opioid receptors , the receptors responsible for the effects of morphine . CB2 receptors are structurally different (the homology between the two subtypes of receptors is 44%), found only on cells of the immune system, and seems to function similarly to its CB1 counterpart. CB2 receptors are most commonly prevalent on B-cells , natural killer cells , and monocytes , but can also be found on polymorphonuclear neurtrophil cells , T8 cells , and T4 cells . In the tonsils the CB2 receptors appear to be restricted to B-lymphocyte -enriched areas.

THC and endogenous anandamide additionally interact with glycine receptors .

Cannabis also contains a related class of compound: the Cannaflavins . These compounds have been suggested to contribute certain effects of cannabis, such as analgesia and anti-inflammatory properties, and are considerably more effective than aspirin . Cannaflavins usually contain a 1,4-pyrone ring fused to a variedly derivatized aromatic ring and linked to a 2nd variedly derivatized aromatic ring and include for example the non-psychoactive Cannflavin A and B.

The nature of cannabis, its lipophilic (fat soluble) properties, yields a long elimination half-life relative to other recreational drugs . The THC molecule, and related compounds, are usually detectable in drug tests for up to approximately one month after using cannabis (see drug test ). This detection is possible because non-psychoactive THC metabolites are stored for long periods of time in fat cells, and THC has an extremely low water solubility. It is this slow and steady removal from the body that is linked with usually mild or nonexistent withdrawal symptoms after single or occasional use of the drug. The rate of elimination of metabolites is slightly greater for more frequent users due to tolerance, and indicates greater possibility for withdrawal symptoms after termination of chronic or habitual use.

The LD 50 of THC is 1270 mg/kg (male rats), 730 mg/kg (female rats) oral in sesame oil, and 42 mg/kg (rats) from inhalation. [43]

Physiological effects

Some of the effects of cannabis use include increased heart rate , dryness of the mouth, reddening of the eyes (congestion of the conjunctival blood vessels ), a reduction in intra-ocular pressure, mild impairment of motor skills and concentration , and increased hunger . Electroencephalography shows somewhat more persistent alpha waves of slightly lower frequency than usual. [39] Cannabis also produces many subjective effects, such as greater enjoyment of food's taste and aroma and an enhanced enjoyment of music and comedy. At higher doses, cannabis can cause marked distortions in time and space perception, altered body image , auditory and/or visual (more like daydreams ) hallucinations , ataxia from selective impairment of polysynaptic reflexes , and depersonalization . Cannabis generally relieves tension and provides a sense of euphoria . There is a more complete list of effects at cannabis (drug) .

The areas of the brain where cannabinoid receptors are most prevalently located are consistent with the behavioral effects produced by cannabinoids. Brain regions in which cannabinoid receptors are very abundant are the basal ganglia , associated with movement control; the cerebellum , associated with body movement coordination; the hippocampus , associated with learning , memory, and stress control; the cerebral cortex , associated with higher cognitive functions; and the nucleus accumbens , regarded as the reward center of the brain. Other regions where cannabinoid receptors are moderately concentrated are the hypothalamus , mediating body housekeeping functions; the amygdala , associated with emotional responses and fears ; the spinal cord , associated with peripheral sensations like pain; the brain stem , associated with sleep , arousal , and motor control; and the nucleus of the solitary tract , associated with visceral sensations like nausea and vomiting . [44]

Most notably, the two areas of motor control and memory are where the effects of cannabis are directly and irrefutably evident. Cannabinoids, depending on the dose , inhibit the transmission of neural signals through the basal ganglia and cerebellum. At lower doses, canabinoids seem to stimulate locomotion while greater doses inhibit it, most commonly manifested by lack of steadiness (body sway and hand steadiness) in motor tasks that require a lot of attention. Other brain regions, like the cortex, the cerebellum, and the neural pathway from cortex to striatum , are also involved in the control of movement and contain abundant cannabinoid receptors, indicating their possible involvement as well.

Experiments on animals and human tissue have shown the potential for the disruption of short-term memory , [41] which is consistent with the abundance of CB1 receptors on the hippocampus. The effects of THC at these receptor sites produce what resembles a "temporary hippocampal lesion." [41] As a result of this, several neurotransmitters like acetylcholine , norepinephrine , and glutamate , are released that trigger a major decrease in neuronal activity in the hippocampus and its inputs. In the end, this procedure could lead to the blocking of cellular processes that are associated with memory formation. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that these effects are permanent, and normal neurological functionality is eventually regained, usually as the drug is metabolized.

The total duration of cannabis intoxication when smoked is about 1 to 4 hours . A study of ten healthy male volunteers who resided in a residential research facility sought to examine both acute and residual subjective, physiologic, and performance effects of smoking marijuana cigarettes. On three separate days, subjects smoked one NIDA marijuana cigarette containing either 0%, 1.8%, or 3.6% THC, documenting subjective, physiologic, and performance measures prior to smoking, five times following smoking on that day, and three times on the following morning. Subjects reported robust subjective effects following both active doses of marijuana, which returned to baseline levels within 3.5 hours. Heart rate increased and the puplilary light reflex decreased following active dose administration with return to baseline on that day. Additionally, marijuana smoking acutely produced decrements in smooth pursuit eye tracking. Although robust acute effects of marijuana were found on subjective and physiological measures, no effects were evident the day following administration, indicating that the residual effects of smoking a single marijuana cigarette are minimal. [45] In in-vitro experiments THC at extremely high concentrations, which could not be reached with commonly consumed doses, caused competitive inhibition of the AChE enzyme and inhibition of ß-amyloid peptide aggregation, the cause of Alzheimer's disease [46]

Addiction

Animal research has shown that the potential for cannabinoid psychological dependence does exist, however, it should be noted that one can become psychologically addicted to anything, including mild withdrawal symptoms. Although not as severe as that for alcohol , heroin , or cocaine dependence , marijuana withdrawal is usually characterized by insomnia , restlessness, loss of appetite , depression , irritability , anger , increased muscle activity (jerkiness), and aggression after sudden cessation of chronic use as a result of physiological tolerance . Prolonged marijuana use produces both pharmacokinetic changes (how the drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted) and pharmacodynamic changes (how the drug interacts with target cells) to the body. These changes require the user to consume higher doses of the drug to achieve a common desirable effect, and reinforce the body's metabolic systems for synthesizing and eliminating the drug more efficiently. [41]

Preliminary research, published in the April 2006 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , indicates that cannabis addiction can be offset by a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational incentives. Participants in the study (previously diagnosed with marijuana dependence) received either vouchers as incentives to stay drug free, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or both over a 14-week period. At the end of 3 months, 43 percent of those who received both treatments were no longer using marijuana, compared with 40 percent of the voucher group, and 30 percent of the therapy group. At the end of a 12-month follow-up, 37 percent of those who got both treatments remained abstinent, compared with 17 percent of the voucher group, and 23 percent of the therapy group. [47]

A 1998 French governmental report commissioned by Health Secretary of State Bernard Kouchner , and directed by Dr. Pierre-Bernard Roques, classed drugs according to addictiveness and neurotoxicity . It placed heroin, cocaine and alcohol in the most addictive and lethal categories; benzodiazepine , hallucinogens and tobacco in the medium category, and cannabis in the last category. The report stated that "Addiction to cannabis does not involve neurotoxicity such as it was defined in chapter 3 by neuroanatomical, neurochemical and behavioral criteria. Thus, former results suggesting anatomic changes in the brain of chronic cannabis users, measured by tomography , were not confirmed by the accurate modern neuro-imaging techniques . Moreover, morphological impairment of the hippocampus [which plays a part in memory and navigation] of rat after administration of very high doses of THC (Langfield et al. , 1988) was not shown (Slikker et al. , 1992)." Health Secretary Bernard Kouchner concluded that : "Scientific facts show that, for cannabis, no neurotoxicity is demonstrated, to the contrary of alcohol and cocaine." [48]

Reproductive effects

It has been shown that administration of high doses of THC to animals lowers serum testosterone levels, impairs sperm production, motility, and viability, disrupts the ovulation cycle, and decreases output of gonadotropic hormones . However, there are also contradictory reports, and it is also possible that tolerance develops to these effects. [39] [49] According to the 1997 Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy , fertility effects related to cannabis use are uncertain.

Research has demonstrated that human sperm contains receptors which are stimulated by substances like THC and other cannabis-related chemicals. Tests have implied that smoking of marijuana could impact the sperm's functions, though this impact is unknown. [50] While many men who use cannabis have fathered children, certain men [ specify ] at risk for infertility may be more susceptible to reproductive complications.

One study by Zuckerman and colleagues, included a large sample of women with a substantial prevalence of marijuana use that was verified by urine analysis and no increased probability of birth defects was found in the sample group. Opposed to Fetal alcohol syndrome , similar type facial features and related symptoms are not associated with prenatal marijuana exposure. [51] THC passes into the breast milk and may affect a breastfed infant . [52] Many studies about drug use during pregnancy are self-administered by the applicants and not always anonymous . The stigma of using illicit drugs while pregnant discourages honest reporting and can invalidate the results. Studies show that women who consume cannabis while they are pregnant may also be likely to consume alcohol , tobacco , or other illicit drugs , which makes it difficult to deduce scientific facts about just marijuana use from statistical results. Very few large, well-controlled epidemiological studies have taken place to understand the connection of marijuana use and pregnancy.

A study of the development of 59 Jamaican children, one-half of the sample's mothers used marijuana during pregnancy, was research from birth to age 5 years. Pregnant non-using mothers were paired with cannabis users who matched age , parity, and socioeconomic status. Testing was done at 1, 3, and 30 days of age with the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scales, and at ages 4 and 5 years with the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities test. Data was also collected from the child's home environment and temperament, as well as standardized tests. The results over the entire research period showed no significant differences in development testing outcomes between using and non-using mothers. At 30 days of age, however, the children of marijuana-using mothers had higher scores on autonomic stability and reflexes. [53] The absence of any differences between the exposed and nonexposed groups in the early neonatal period suggest that the better scores of exposed neonates at 1 month are traceable to the cultural positioning and social and economic characteristics of mothers using marijuana that select for the use of marijuana but also promote neonatal development. [54]

Effects on mental health

Cannabis use has been assesed by several studies to be correlated with the development of anxiety, psychosis and depression, [55] [56] however, the causality of the correlation and its direction is a heated subject, that hasn't been resolved in the scientific community. Some studies assess that the causality is more likely to involve a path from cannabis use to psychotic symptoms rather than a path from psychotic symptoms to cannabis use, [57] while others assess the opposite direction of the causality, or hold cannabis to only form parts of "causal constellation", while not inflicting mental health problems that wouldnt have occurred in the absence of the cannabis use. [58] [59] A common interpretation of the correlation and theorized direction of the causality is the self-medication hypothesis, which is based on partially or fully attributing the correlation between psychiatric disases and cannabis to the extensive substance abuse among sufferers of certain mental disorders, before diagnosis in many cases, which increases the likeliness of cannabis use among the mentally ill and the undiagnosed, thus accounting for correlation and debunking some claims of causality with the opposite direction. [60] As much as 60% of the mentally ill are suspected to be substance abusers, and many seem to prefer cannabis and alcohol. [61] [62] Dr Stanley Zammit of Bristol and Cardiff universities (in the Daily express newspaper of the 27th of July 2007) reported "Even if cannabis did increase the risk of psychosis, most people using the drug would not get ill" But he added: "Nevertheless, we would still advise people to avoid or limit their use of this drug, especially if they start to develop any mental health symptoms or if they have relatives with psychotic illnesses." A 2007 study of studies published in the Lancet concluded that cannabis users are 40% more likely to be sufferers of a psychotic illness then non-sufferers. [63] An interpretation of the 2007 Lancet publication and similar studies can be read here. [13] . In comparison, alcohol , as the only drug with similar levels of popularity, has been linked to more than 65% of all suicides in a UK study [64] , and linked to general psychiatric mental health problems including depression , anxiety , schizophrenia , psychosis , psychoneurosis , Post Traumatic Stress Disorder , physical brain damage and more. [64] [65]

Behavioral effects

Government studies often point to statistical data accumulated by methods like the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), the Monitoring the Future study (MTF), and the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program, which claim lower school averages and higher dropout rates among users than nonusers, even though these differences are very small and may be exaggerated by the stigma attached to students who use the drug. However, the major contributor to a lack of credibility in these studies, is that in many cases, like with NHSDA and MTF, these surveys are usually self-administered and may be anonymous. The likeliness of over or under representing data definitely undermines the effectiveness of these instruments. [42] The MTF study is conducted anonymously, but only seeks information from a sample of people who have been arrested for drug-related offenses. Socially deviant behavior may be found more frequently in individuals of the criminal justice system compared to those in the general population, including non users. In response, independent studies of college students have shown that there was no difference in grade point average, and achievement, between marijuana users and nonusers, but the users had a little more difficulty deciding on career goals, and a smaller number were seeking advanced professional degrees. [66] Laboratory studies of the relationship between motivation and marijuana outside of the classroom, where volunteers worked on operant tasks for a wage representing a working world model, also fail to distinguish a noticeable difference between users and non users. [67]

At least one study has shown a decrease in depression in cannabis users. [68]

Gateway drug hypothesis

The gateway drug hypothesis asserts that the use of cannabis may ultimately lead to the use of harder drugs . For the most part, it was commonly thought that cannabis gateways to other drugs because of social factors. For example, the criminalization of cannabis in many countries associates its users with organized crime promoting the illegal drug trade .

A July 2006 study by Ellgren et al. [69] strictly tested lab rats for the biological mechanism of the gateway drug effect. The study administered 6 " teenage " (28 and 49 days old) rats delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and 6 were the control . One week after the first part was completed, catheters were inserted in the jugular vein of all of the adult rats and they were able to self-administer themselves heroin by pushing a lever. The study found that initially both groups behaved the same and began to self-administer heroin frequently, but then stabilized at different levels. The rats that had previously been administered THC consumed about 1.5 times more heroin than those that had not. Because many cannabinoid receptors interact with the opioid system, the study found that adolescent cannabis use overstimulates and alters the pleasure and reward structures of the brain, thus increasing the already high risk of addiction for people who start to use heroin . Psychopharmacologist Ian Stolerman, from King's College London , finds the biological cannabis gateway drug effect "somewhat preliminary", and states "it's too early to say there's a consensus, but a small number of studies like this suggest that there is a physiological basis for this effect." Other drugs, he notes, such as cocaine and amphetamines are involved in another brain pathway called the dopaminergic system . Cells in that system also interact with THC receptors and could be modified by cannabis exposure. [70] Cannabinoid receptors are 10 times more prevalent in the brain than opioid receptors . According to Dr. Hurd, one of the study leaders, two other drugs that also stimulate opioid cells, and could therefore also feasibly cause a gateway effect, are nicotine and alcohol .

However, a December 2006 study by the American Psychiatric Association [71] [72] challenges these findings. A 12 year study on 214 boys from ages 10-12 showed that adolescents who used marijuana prior to using other drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, were no more likely to develop a substance abuse disorder than other subjects in the study. "This evidence supports what's known as the common liability model ... [which] states [that] the likelihood that someone will transition to the use of illegal drugs is determined not by the preceding use of a particular drug, but instead by the user's individual tendencies and environmental circumstances," investigators stated in a press release. They added, "The emphasis on the drugs themselves, rather than other, more important factors that shape a person's behavior, has been detrimental to drug policy and prevention programs."

Models used in a 2002 study [73] by RAND cast doubt on the gateway effect and show "that the marijuana gateway effect is not the best explanation for the link between marijuana use and the use of harder drugs," as noted by Andrew Morral, associate director of RAND's Public Safety and Justice unit and lead author of the study.

Co-occurrence of mental illness

Studies have shown that a risk does exist in some individuals with a predisposition to mental illness to develop symptoms of psychosis [74] . The risk was found to be directly related to high dosage and frequency of use, early age of introduction to the drug, and was especially pronounced for those with a predisposition for mental illness. These results have been questioned as being biased by failing to account for medicinal versus recreational usage [75] — critics contend it could be a causal relationship, or it could be that people who are susceptible to mental problems tend to smoke cannabis, or it could be connected to the criminalization of cannabis. Another important question is whether the observed symptoms of mental illness are actually connected to development of a permanent mental disorder ; cannabis may trigger latent conditions, or be part of a complex coordination of causes of mental illness, referred to as the diathesis-stress model in psychology . People with developed psychological disorders are known to self-medicate their symptoms with cannabis as well, although one study has claimed that those with a predisposition for psychosis did not show an increase in likelihood of cannabis use four years later. There has not currently been enough scientific study of the drug's effects to come to a definite conclusion.

Correlation versus causality

Some studies conclude that there is a correlation of cannabis use and some symptoms of psychosis, but don't necessarily support the notion that cannabis use is a sufficient or necessary cause for psychosis. It might be a component cause, part of a complex constellation of factors leading to psychosis, or it might be a correlation without forward causality at all.

For example, a review of the evidence by Louise Arsenault, et al., in 2004 reports that on an individual level, cannabis use confers an overall twofold increase in the relative risk of later schizophrenia , assuming a causal relationship. This same research also states that "There is little dispute that cannabis intoxication can lead to acute transient psychotic episodes in some individuals". The study synthesizes the results of several studies into a statistical model. The study does not correct for the use of other illicit drugs, and relies on self-reporting of cannabis dosage. The study also does not determine if the cannabis use preceded or followed the mental health problem. [76]

Similarly, a landmark study, in 1987, of 50,000 Swedish Army conscripts, found that those who admitted at age 18 to having taken cannabis on more than 50 occasions, were six times more likely to develop schizophrenia in the following 15 years. In fact, psychosis cases were restricted to patients requiring a hospital admission. These findings have not been replicated in another population based sample. As the study did not control for symptoms preexisting onset of cannabis use, the use of other illicit drugs, the study does not resolve the correlation versus causality question but has fueled a major debate within the scientific community. This study also used self reporting for cannabis dosage. [77]

A 2005 study found that "the onset of schizotypal symptoms generally precedes the onset of cannabis use. The findings do not support a causal link between cannabis use and schizotypal traits". [78] It should be noted that a schizotypal personality disorder is a personality disorder different from schizophrenia . A 2007 British study concluded, "We found few appreciable differences in symptomatology between schizophrenic patients who were or were not cannabis users. There were no differences in the proportion of people with a positive family history of schizophrenia between cannabis users and non-users. This argues against a distinct schizophrenia-like psychosis caused by cannabis." [79]

Research based on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study has found that those who begin regular use of cannabis in early adolescence (from age 15, median 25 days per year by age 18) and also fit a certain genetic profile (specifically, the Val/Val variant of the COMT gene ) are five times more likely to develop psychotic illnesses than individuals with differing genotypes , or those who do not use cannabis. [80] [81] The study was noted for having controlled for preexisting symptoms, but is open to the criticism that it cannot control for late adolescent onset of psychotic illness. Also, the study was on a cohort population, so there is no way to correlate a change in the rate of adolescent use with a change in the rate of incidence of schizophrenia in the study population. These points undermine its value in resolving the correlation versus causality question.

A study that inversely correlated cerebrospinal anandamide (an endogenous cannabinoid ) levels with severity of schizophrenia (i.e., that anandamide was released in order to suppress psychosis) suggests that cannabis use may be an effect of scizophrenia or its predisposition, as opposed to a cause [82] .

The fact that the prevalence of cannabis use has increased substantially during the last decades whereas the prevalence of psychotic illness has not suggests no causal relationship. [83]

Smoking

The process most popularly used to ingest cannabis is smoking, and for this reason most research has evaluated health effects from this method of ingestion. Other methods of ingestion may have lower or higher health risks. See section on harm reduction below for more information on other methods of ingestion.

Risks compared to tobacco

Tobacco smoking has well-established risks such as bronchitis , coughing , overproduction of mucus , and wheezing . Similar risks for smoking cannabis related to airway inflammation have been suggested in a study of healthy cannabis users who exhibited similar early characteristics to tobacco smoking . [84]

The effects of tobacco and cannabis smoking differ, however, as they affect different parts of the respiratory tract : whereas tobacco tends to penetrate to the smaller, peripheral passageways of the lungs , cannabis tends to concentrate on the larger, central passageways. One consequence of this is that cannabis, unlike tobacco, does not appear to cause emphysema , though this claim is disputed. A 2002 report by the British Lung Foundation estimated that three to four cannabis cigarettes a day were associated with the same amount of damage to the lungs as 20 or more tobacco cigarettes a day. [85] Unlike tobacco, regular cannabis use does not appear to cause COPD . [86]

It is important to note that in some cases, a cannabis user may mix commercial tobacco in joints , called "Spliff" (popular in Europe ), tobacco mixed with hash in a chillum ( India ), or cannabis rolled in tobacco leaves ( Blunt ), which would expose the user to the additional risks of tobacco.

Cancer risk

Cannabis smoke contains numerous carcinogens ; [87] [88] [89] however, scientific studies have failed to show higher cancer rates in cannabis smokers. A study published in 2006 by Donald Tashkin of the University of California, Los Angeles , the largest study of its kind, concluded there is no link between smoking cannabis and lung cancer. [90] A study published in 2006 on a large population sample (1,200 people with lung, neck, or head cancer, and a matching group of 1,040 without cancer) failed to positively correlate a lung cancer risk. The results indicated a slight negative correlation between long and short-term cannabis use and cancer, suggesting a possible therapeutic effect. Cellular studies and even some studies in animal models suggest that THC has antitumor properties, either by encouraging programmed cell death of genetically damaged cells that can become cancerous, or by restricting the development of the blood supply that feeds tumors. [91] Prior, a 1997 study examining the records of 64,855 Kaiser patients (14,033 of whom identified themselves as current smokers), also found no positive correlation between cannabis use and cancer. [92] A Research Triangle Institute study concluded that THC , a dilative agent, may help cleanse the lungs by dilating the bronchi , and could actively reduce the instance of tumors. [93] Additionally, a study by Rosenblatt et al. found no association between marijuana use and the development of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma . [94] However, a contrasting 2006 study linked the smoking of cannabis to the growth of cancerous tumors through the impairment of anti-tumor defenses. [9]

Attempts at reducing harm

The health consequences of cannabis use may vary depending on method of use. Proposed alternatives include:

• filtered cigarettes
• one-hitters or mini-toke utensils (narrow diameter screened crater; suck slow and burn at minimum temperature; minimizes THC loss; minimizes carbon monoxide dosage)
• bongs (specialized pipes filtering, and often cooling, smoke through water)
• vaporizers (devices for extracting THC without combusting the cannabis)
• eating Cannabis brownies or other foods containing cannabutter or budder
• high potency cannabis
• THC extracts, hashish or honey oil
• bleach and glue free papers such as Aleda and RAW

Like tobacco smoke, cannabis smoke contains tars which are rich in carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , which are a prime culprit in smoking-related cancers. However, unlike nicotine , cannabinoids themselves are not carcinogenic. An obvious way to protect smokers' health is therefore to minimize the content of smoke tars relative to cannabinoids.

The most obvious way to do this is to bypass smoking completely by simply eating the cannabis by extracting the THC and other cannabinoids to a fat (like butter) or alcoholic drink, such as Green Dragon (drink) .

Another way is to increase the THC potency of the cannabis (see also section on potency above). This can be done with hashish, honey oil, or high-quality cannabis. Assuming smokers adjust their smoke intake to the cannabinoid dosage; the higher the concentration of cannabinoids, the lower the amount of tars—and carbon monoxide—they are likely to consume to achieve their desired effect.

Vaporisers, by heating the cannabis active constituents and aromatic substances to be inhaled without combustion of the preparation, almost exclude the risk altogether. [95] A 2000 study conducted by NORML and MAPS found that the two tested vaporizers performed up to 25% better than unfiltered marijuana cigarettes in terms of tar delivery.

Cannabis and driving

There are several main obstacles to determining the effect of cannabis use on driving: cannabis use is most common in a demographic that is already vulnerable for traffic accidents; dangerous drivers who tested positive for THC often test positive for alcohol as well; there are no figures or estimates available as a "base-line," for instance, how many cannabis users drive safely without incidents; and there are many ethical and legal obstacles impeding research on this topic.

A 2001 study by the United Kingdom Transit Research Laboratory (TRL) specifically focuses on the effects of cannabis use on driving, [96] and is one of the most recent and commonly quoted studies on the subject. The report summarizes current knowledge about the effects of cannabis on driving and accident risk based on a review of available literature published since 1994 and the effects of cannabis on laboratory based tasks.

The study identified young males, amongst whom cannabis consumption is frequent and increasing, and in whom alcohol consumption is also common, as an a priori risk group for traffic accidents . This is due to driving inexperience and factors associated with youth relating to risk taking, delinquency and motivation . These demographic and psychosocial variables may relate to both drug use and accident risk, thereby presenting an artificial relationship between use of drugs and accident involvement.

The effects of cannabis on laboratory-based tasks show clear impairment with respect to tracking ability, attention , and other tasks depending on the dose administered. These effects however, are not as pronounced on real world tasks, like driving or simulator tasks. Both simulation and road trials generally find that driving behavior shortly after consumption of larger doses of cannabis results in:

• increased variability in lane position (such as taking a curve too tightly or too loosely), following distance, and speed;
• longer decision times, leading to slower responses to driving situations; and
• a more cautious driving style, including slower average speed and greater following distance.

Whereas these results indicate a 'change' from normal conditions, they do not necessarily reflect 'impairment' in terms of performance effectiveness, since few studies report increased accident risk. However, the results do suggest 'impairment' in terms of performance efficiency given that some of these behaviors may limit the available resources to cope with any additional, unexpected or high demand, events. Indeed, compensatory effort may be invoked to offset impairment in the driving task. Subjects under cannabis treatment may perceive that they are impaired and may strategically compensate, for example, by not overtaking, by slowing down and by focusing their attention when they know a response will be required. This compensatory effort may be one reason for the failure to implicate cannabis consumption as an accident risk factor , particularly at lower doses or with more than about one hour after consumption. According to the TRL study, the same compensatory behavior could also be an unconscious adaptation, similar to reduced driving speeds used by a sleepy driver.

Specifically, 4-12% of accident fatalities have detected levels of cannabis. However, most studies report that the majority of fatal cases with detected levels of cannabis are compounded by alcohol.

The study estimates 11ng/ml THC as the equivalent dose to the legal limit of alcohol (0.08% BAC in the UK). Complicating this assessment is the fact that cannabis effects on driving fade after a short period of time, while some THC may be present in the body for weeks.

Similar conclusions have been reached by studies maintained by the federal governments of Australia , United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States (see here for a list of studies). Those studies that have concluded that cannabis has a significant negative effect on driving ability generally involve the use of roadside sobriety tests as an indicator of reduced ability (for example, see this NIDA report ). However, studies that employ this methodology show that a majority of subjects who tested positive for THC also tested positive for alcohol, already described as a limiting factor of validity.

"Compassion and Common Sense,"
Dailybulletin.com
November 15th 2007

SAN BERNARDINO --- "Compassion and Common Sense," a new radio show advocating the medicinal use of marijuana, kicks off its inaugural show at 9 p.m., Friday, on KCAA, 1050 am.

The show "exposes the politics behind (marijuana) prohibition, presents the facts about its medicinal and health benefits and tries to clear up all the legal mumbo-jumbo that makes it near impossible for people to use this ancient herb," according to a news release. The show will be hosted by registered nurse Lanny Swerdlow, who is the director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, the Inland Empire's only medical marijuana patient support group.

"The show's hypothesis is that the appropriate use of cannabis is better than no cannabis use at all and we will present the research that proves it - and we will do it in a way that makes it understandable and entertaining," Swerdlow said in the news release.

MISSOULA - A Missoula woman who was an outspoken advocate for the medical use of marijuana has committed suicide.
Robin Prosser, who went on a 60-day hunger strike in 2002 to raise awareness of the issue and campaigned for Montana's medical marijuana law in 2004, died on Oct. 18, said Tom Daubert with Patients and Families United, a support group for patients who use medical marijuana.
The Montana Medical Marijuana Act, passed in November 2004, allows patients to use marijuana if they suffer from diseases like cancer, glaucoma and HIV, or if they have chronic pain. Those who are prescribed medical marijuana can grow their own or designate a caregiver to grow or obtain marijuana for them. In late March, a package containing less than an ounce of marijuana that a caregiver shipped to Prosser via UPS was seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, even though the agency verified that both Prosser and her caregiver were registered with the state, Full Story.............

The editor of Disability Now argues the case for cannabis accepting there are some risks associated with the drug but citing the benefits to a variety of conditions
It is not unusual for the voices of disabled people to be drowned out when an issue affecting them erupts in the national media.
But in the wake of new research linking cannabis use with a higher risk of developing schizophrenia, the mainstream media's failure to seek the views of disabled people has been even more marked than usual. Most importantly, those fuelling the debate have failed to note that cannabis possesses pain relief properties. Following the latest delays to regulatory approval for the cannabis-based drug Sativex, the new eruption of controversy will surely only make it more difficult for disabled people to source the safe and affordable cannabis that could ease their pain.
Hundreds of disabled people have contacted Disability Now since we launched our campaign in 1997 to legalise medicinal cannabis, to tell us how much they rely on the drug, Full Legalization....

A new, grassroots organization has been created in Kansas to advocate for legal protection of patients who use medical marijuana and for physicians who recommend the drug as part of a treatment program.
The group, known as the Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition, is committed to supporting those who use marijuana as a last resort when more traditional medications prove ineffective in addressing the effects of chronic pain, cancer, chemotherapy, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, glaucoma and other serious conditions.

“Our objectives are simple: To allow physicians – not politicians – to make decisions about what is best for patients and to protect citizens from the risk of arrest simply because they’re trying to gain relief from a major medical problem,” said Coalition Director Laura Green.
A nationwide Gallup Poll conducted in 1999 found that 73 percent of American adults favor “making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering.”

Twelve states that make up about 22 percent of the U.S. population already have enacted laws that allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes. An estimated 115,000 Americans have obtained physician recommendations to use marijuana for medical purposes in states with existing medical marijuana laws, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
In addition, a growing number of mainstream medical organizations have voiced support for the use of medical marijuana under a physician’s supervision, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association. The New England Journal of Medicine also has editorialized in favor of patient access to marijuana, Full Decisions...

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE — In his first public statement on the subject, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged to end medical marijuana raids in the 12 states that have medical marijuana laws Tuesday at a campaign event during a Nashua Pride minor league baseball game.
The Illinois senator's statement means all eight Democratic candidates have now voiced support for the 12 states with medical marijuana laws. Republican candidates Rep. Ron Paul (Texas), Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson have all vowed to end medical marijuana raids as well.

On Friday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who signed legislation in April making his the 12th medical marijuana state, wrote to President Bush asking him to end federal raids in medical marijuana states.

"Respected physicians and government officials should not fear going to jail for acting compassionately and caring for our most vulnerable citizens," Richardson wrote. "Nor should those most vulnerable of citizens fear their government because they take the medicine they need."Obama's pledge came as a response to a question from Nashua resident and Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana volunteer Scott Turner, who asked the senator what he would do to stop the federal government from putting seriously ill people like Turner in prison in states where medical marijuana is legal.

"I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users," Obama said. "It's not a good use of our resources."

"For the first time in history, the leaders of one of our nation’s major parties have unanimously called for an end to the federal prosecution of medical marijuana patients," GSMM campaign manager Stuart Cooper, from Manchester, said. "New Hampshire voters and medical professionals effectively sent a clear message that we would not support a candidate who would arrest – rather than protect – our nation's most seriously ill citizens. Compassion and reason are finally overcoming politics and propaganda."

Federal intrusion into medical marijuana states has been on the rise this summer, with DEA raids taking place in several counties in California and Oregon. Recently, the DEA also began threatening landlords who lease space to medical marijuana dispensaries – legal under state law – with seizure of their property, a move condemned in a Los Angeles Times editorial as "a deplorable new bullying tactic."

Based in Manchester, New Hampshire, Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana is a grassroots coalition of New Hampshire patients, medical professionals and activists. GSMM is organizing during the New Hampshire presidential primary campaign to raise awareness of the need for federal action to protect medical marijuana patients.Contact : Stuart Cooper, Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana campaign manager, (603) 703-1411

Substance in Marijuana Clears Facial Dermatitis
Foxnews.com
August 18th 2007

A substance found in the cannabis plant helps the body's natural protective system clear dry, scaly skin rashes caused by allergic dermatitis, according to researchers from the U.S., Germany, Israel, Italy and Switzerland.Allergic dermatitis commonly causes acne-like rashes on the cheeks, eyelids and neck, as well as on areas of the elbow and the back of knees. Prolonged episodes can lead to facial wrinkles, thickening of the skin and facial pigmentation. The problem begins in youth and can continue through adulthood.Allergic contact dermatitis affects about 5 percent of men and 11 percent of women in industrialized countries, according to an article published in the journal Science.

A group of domestic and international researchers have found that two naturally occurring cannabinoid (cannabis-like) components found in the body's endocannabinoid system – one from the brain, named anandamide and another from the intestines named 2-AG provides protection against dermatitis.These cannabinoids have similar effects to those of the active components in hashish and marijuana, produced from the cannabis plant. Further research using mice has shown that THC – the ingredient in marijuana that produces a “high” in users — significantly decreased the allergic reaction in comparison to untreated mice. Researchers believe activation of the endocannabinoid system in the skin upon exposure to a contact allergen lowers the allergic responses through modulating the production of this chemokine.Studies also have shown that mice lacking cannabinoid receptors display exacerbated inflammatory skin responses to an allergen.

PORTLAND — Federal subpoenas seeking medical records of 17 Oregon medical-marijuana patients have growers and users upset and nervous even as a federal judge considers whether to throw the subpoenas out. "It's crazy. It's really scary. If they can get my records, they can get Gov. [Ted] Kulongoski's, they can get yours," said Donald DuPay, a former Portland police officer and 2006 candidate for Multnomah County sheriff. DuPay says his records are among those subpoenaed. A federal grand jury in Yakima issued the subpoenas in April as part of an investigation of some growers in Oregon and Washington. The patients are not targets of the grand jury. A Seattle spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration declined to comment. The subpoenas were served on the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, which issues permits to patients and their authorized growers. A second subpoena went to The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, a private Portland clinic where doctors determine whether a patient's condition would be eased by marijuana. The DEA raided DuPay's Portland home in June and seized 135 marijuana plants DuPay said he was growing for patients. DuPay, who hosts a local cable-access program on medical marijuana, says he has not been arrested, Full Declinations.....

Health Canada recently approved a medication derived from components of the cannabis plant that will provide patients with advanced cancer another option when it comes to dealing with pain. "It's the brave new world of pain management," said Dr. Allan Gordon, director of the Wassar Pain Management Clinic at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Last Thursday, Sativex was approved by Health Canada with conditions - an authorization that reflects the promising nature of clinical evidence that will be confirmed with further testing. The drug was approved for use by patients with multiple sclerosis in 2005. Gordon said Sativex, which is primarily composed of THC and cannabidiol - a non-psychoactive cannabinoid - hasn't produced any adverse side-effects in patients, something other pain medications, particularly opioids, can't claim. "There's still a gap in terms of successful pain management," Gordon said. "Sativex will fill that gap a bit." He said Sativex will probably be taken in conjunction with opioids but will allow for a lower dosage, Full Pain....

'medical marijuana, and human rights activist Virginia Resner dies aged 60'
StoptheDrugWar
July 28th 2007

Long-time San Francisco drug policy, medical marijuana, and human rights activist Virginia Resner died July 18 in her home town following a lengthy struggle with breast cancer. She was 60 years old. The daughter of a labor attorney, whom she credited with inspiring her activism and devotion to justice, Resner joined the drug reform cause in the early 1990s after being exposed first-hand to its ravages. One day in 1991, Resner came home from work to find federal agents searching her home for evidence to use against her companion, Steven Faulkner, who had been involved in a plan to sell drugs. Faulkner ended up with a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence as a first-time, nonviolent drug offender, and Resner's career as an activist was off and running.

Tormented by the plight of women and families torn apart by harsh drug war practices, Resner became the California state director of Families Against Mandatory Minimums . In that position, she played a key role in the effort to obtain presidential clemency for Amy Pofahl, who had served nine years of a 24-year sentence for a drug trafficking offense. Pofahl was granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 2000.

Resner also joined up with East Bay marijuana activists Mikki Norris and Chris Conrad in creating the traveling " Human Rights and the Drug War " exhibit, which featured photos of various drug war prisoners, their families, and information about their cases. That effort eventually produced a book, coauthored by Resner, Norris, and Conrad, "Shattered Lives: Portraits from America's Drug War."

Resner received the 2001 Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action from the Drug Policy Alliance for her efforts on the book.Most recently, Resner was president of Green Aid: The Medical Marijuana Legal Defense and Education Fund , where she was intimately involved in the legal struggles of "Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal. Despite her struggles with cancer, she managed to attend his court hearings and handle administrative items for his defense. She will be missed.

London: Shares in GW Pharmaceuticals declined 19% in London on Friday after the firm said that it has withdrawn its current regulatory application for cannabis-based pain relief treatment Sativex in Europe. The firm said that it expects to resubmit an application for approval in 2008. The move follows discussions with regulatory authorities. The company said that these authorities have now provided a clear path to approval for Sativex in the treatment of MS Spasticity.

Medical Marijuana -- A Progress Report
By Phillip S. Smith
July 16th 2007

A little more than a decade after California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, making it the first state to approve the use of medical marijuana, the movement continues its slow spread across the country. Now, medical marijuana is legal in 12 states (with varying degrees of protection), and roughly 50 million people -- or about one out of six Americans -- live in those states.

On the Pacific Coast, medical marijuana is legal from the Canadian border to the Mexican border (Washington, Oregon, California), as well as in Alaska and Hawaii. In the intermountain West, Colorado, Montana, and Nevada were joined this year by New Mexico as states where medical marijuana is legal. The other regional medical marijuana hotbed is the Northeast, where Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont allow its use, and only a veto from Republican Gov. Jodi Rell kept Connecticut from joining those ranks this year.

While it may be a bit of an exaggeration to speak of a pincer movement aimed at the heartland, medical marijuana is on the move. In addition to the 12 states where it is legal, a number of other states, including Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, and New York have seen progress in state legislatures and are inching closer to approving medical marijuana. Meanwhile, a medical marijuana initiative is getting underway in Michigan, and activists are eyeing similar initiative campaigns in a handful of other states.

But at the same time, the federal government remains staunchly opposed to medical marijuana. The Justice Department and the DEA continue to harass patients and providers, especially in California, where a loosely-written Prop. 215 has led to the most wide-open medical marijuana scene in the country. While the DEA, sometimes working with recalcitrant state and local law enforcement officials, has been raiding dispensaries for years, this week the agency unveiled a new tactic against them: It sent letters to dozens of Los Angeles area landlords who rent to dispensaries, threatening them with civil forfeiture and possible criminal action if they continue to rent to what the DEA considers criminal drug trafficking organizations.

Similarly, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) regularly sends out its shock troops to attempt to defeat medical marijuana legislation and initiatives at the state level. The DEA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) all attempt to block independent research on the therapeutic uses of cannabis and throw whatever obstacles they can imagine in the path of medical marijuana.

But the federal government is under attack by medical marijuana advocates coming from several different angles. In Congress, the most significant piece of medical marijuana-related legislation is the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which would bar the use of federal funds to persecute patients and providers in states where it is legal. Hearings and a vote in the House on Hinchey-Rohrabacher are expected in the next week or two. While approval appears unlikely this year, supporters, including the group spearheading the effort, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), expect to pick up votes and edge ever closer to the needed majority.

In the meantime, there are three legal challenges to the federal hard line on medical marijuana:

• Aided by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project , University of Massachusetts-Amherst researcher Dr. Lyle Craker is suing the DEA in an attempt to break the government monopoly on the production of medical marijuana for research purposes. In February, a DEA administrative law judge ruled that Craker's request would be "in the public interest." The DEA is appealing that ruling.

• Apparently acting on the notion that the best defense is a good offense, the medical marijuana defense organization Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is suing HHS and the FDA over their position that "marijuana has no accepted medical value." Using the little-known Data Quality Act, which mandates that federal agencies set policies on the basis of sound science, ASA filed suit in February after two years of fruitless petitioning at the agencies. Yesterday, a federal judge heard arguments in a government motion to dismiss the case. An ASA motion for summary judgment will be heard next month.

• A 2002 petition to reschedule marijuana as a Schedule III, IV, or V drug , filed by marijuana scholar and activist Jonathan Gettman that has been languishing for years awaits a government response this month. Current federal law considers marijuana a Schedule I drug with no accepted medical value.

Clearly, the medical marijuana movement is trying to advance on many fronts, and while the disparate groups that make up the movement may be on the same page, they aren't always reading the same paragraphs. With a movement that includes groups like MPP, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which seek an end to marijuana prohibition outright, and groups like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), which seeks broader drug policy reform, as well as organizations like ASA and Patients Out of Time (POT), which focus exclusively on medical marijuana, it is little surprise that while there is broad strategic agreement, there are tactical differences.

Groups differ on the utility of acting at the state versus the federal level, over whether initiatives or legislative action is preferable, and over who should be the public face of the movement, among other issues. For some, even winning more victories at the state level is not as important as changing the parameters of the debate.

For MPP, which is hard at work in the states as well as on Capitol Hill, meaningful change will result from continuing to hammer away at the federal level, said Dan Bernath, MPP assistant director of communications. "There will probably be a vote on Hinchey-Rohrabacher within a week or two, and we think we will pick up at least 20 votes," he said.

But with the amendment having garnered 163 votes last year, an additional couple of dozen votes would still leave it well short of the 218 votes needed to ensure passage in the House. "It is not likely to happen this year," Bernath conceded, "but it is important that we continue to build momentum for the future. The safer it looks for politicians, the easier it is for them to vote for it."

While passage of Hinchey-Rohrabacher would not change the federal marijuana laws, it would effectively protect patients, Bernath said. "If the Department of Justice loses funding to go after medical marijuana in the states, that would be 100% protection for patients."

ASA, while supporting Hinchey-Rohrabacher, was quick to point out that the protection provided by Hinchey-Rohrabacher would only apply to patients in states where medical marijuana is legal. "Hinchey has been something for certain drug reform organizations and proponents to rally around to help turn the tide on medical marijuana," said ASA spokesman Kris Hermes, "but it is certainly not the be all and end all. It would unfortunately only protect patients and providers in those 12 states, but does little to address the concerns of doctors, patients, and caregivers in the rest of the country."

More promising for ASA, Hermes said, are the federal lawsuits. "The ruling by the DEA judge in the Craker case certainly adds to the growing chorus in support of doing further research on the subject," he argued. "And if we can win our case against HHS and the FDA, that would only build pressure on the government's position that marijuana has no medicinal value."

Some patient-oriented groups would rather concentrate on medium-term movement-building than short-term political victories. "While we accept the strategy of most people working within the movement, which is to change the law and get the patients their medicine, we don't always agree with the tactics," said Al Byrne, spokesman for Patients Out of Time, which has concentrated on educating the public and especially the medical profession about medical marijuana. "We need to let educators lead the movement into the future, not lobbyists, lawyers, and legislators," he argued. "Picking up the states one by one is worthwhile, but after a while it's sort of redundant. We don't think we will see real meaningful change until the medical community accepts marijuana as medicine."

Patients Out of Time has for the past several years worked to bring the medical community on board through its series of conferences on cannabis therapeutics, which bring together scientists, researchers, and medical professionals from around the country and the world to discuss the latest advances. POT's Fifth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics is set for next April in California.

Winning more medical marijuana victories at the state level is not redundant for MPP. To get change at the federal level will require more states getting aboard the medical marijuana bandwagon, said Bernath. "The way change will happen is that when enough states adopt their own medical marijuana laws, the federal government will no longer be able to ignore this."

To that end, MPP will continue to push for passage of state medical marijuana laws, sometimes through the initiative and referendum process and sometimes through the legislative process. In Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York, medical marijuana legislation got some traction this year. "We can pick up next year where we left off," said Bernath.

DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann, whose organization is working on medical marijuana bills legislation in Connecticut and New Jersey, was quick to add those states to the list. DPA sees more bang for the buck in legislative efforts than initiatives, he said. "Legislative campaigns cost money, but not as much as ballot initiatives, and they have the advantage of generating enormous amounts of free media," he said. "Since a major part of the medical marijuana effort is about public education, the more hearings you have and the more media they generate, the better."

Bernath also pointed to MPP involvement in a Michigan medical marijuana initiative campaign that is just getting underway and suggested there may be more initiatives in other states. "The polls are looking pretty good in Arizona, Idaho, and Ohio," he said.
"This is where MPP and DPA have a slightly different philosophy," said Nadelmann. "I hope the Michigan initiative wins, and it would be helpful if it did, but as a matter of resource allocation, I'm skeptical about the value added of spending all that money to win one more state. But that's a judgment call," he added.

NORML executive director Allen St. Pierre drew a distinction between states that accepted medical marijuana through the initiative process and those that accepted it through the legislative process. "The initiatives covered a greater number of stakeholders and are more functional than the ensuing laws, which are very narrow in scope, serve fewer stakeholders, and haven't changed the federal dynamic of those states' representation in Washington," he argued. "If you look at who is supporting Hinchey-Rohrabacher, it is the delegations from the Western and Rocky Mountain states where support is strongest -- the states where medical marijuana came about through the initiative process."

On the other hand, St. Pierre acknowledged, states that have legalized medical marijuana through the legislative process have fewer problems with recalcitrant law enforcement. "In large parts of initiative states like California, Washington, and Oregon, the police simply ignore the law," he pointed out. "But when a medical marijuana bill goes through the legislature, law enforcement is part of the process. The police got to have their say. They lost, but at least they were sitting at the table."

Eleven years ago, no patients were protected by state medical marijuana laws. Now, some 50 million Americans live in states where they could be, and that's progress. But it also means that some 250 million Americans continue without the protection of state medical marijuana laws, and despite tentative advances in the South and the Midwest, today those areas remain without any such laws. In the last few years, progress has been made, but at a painfully slow pace. Perhaps that will change next year, with a number of states well into legislative consideration of medical marijuana bills.

And perhaps things will change at the federal level the year after that, especially if the Democrats extend and deepen their control of Congress. But at this juncture, the only likely federal changes will come if one of the lawsuits turns out victorious, and that means going back to the states and whittling away at medical marijuana prohibition one statehouse or one popular vote at a time.

Phillip S. Smith is a graduate of the University of South Dakota (BA Political Science, 1979) and the University of Texas at Austin (MA Latin American Studies, 1989), and served as writer and Associate Editor at the magazine Covert Action Quarterly from 1993-1996. Phil has done freelance reporting on Central American and Mexico since the 1980s, and has had articles published in In These Times, Guardian (now defunct), New Politics and many other publications. He is also a long time drug policy activist, having helped to found one of the first NORML chapters in the state of South Dakota. He has been involved in local drug reform efforts in Austin, TX and Washington, DC, including the DC Metro chapter of NORML. This article originally appeared in the Drug War Chronicle and is republished with their permission.

Comment

Isn't it true that morphine, vicoden, methadone and a bunch of other pain meds are opium derived? Yes, they all come from a lovely little flower called the poppy, cocaine and crack cocaine come from a small leafy plant called a coca plant, cocaine is used medically for its numbing effects (novacaine) ect. Most pain med's seem to come directly from plants, through various processes certain things are isolated and we get a nice little pill. marijuana is what it is. Its a flower that's picked and smoked. There is no process required. So it is my opinion that marijuana wont be legalized medically because of a lack of profitability. Billions are made off of medications, and to tell people they can plant a flower and feel better would be suicide for a corporation selling pills to cancer patients.

Denver district court judge invalidates bad part of Colorado's medical marijuana policy
MPP
July 11th 2007

Last Tuesday, Senior Denver District Judge Larry Naves issued a preliminary injunction suspending the Colorado Department of Health and Environment's limitation on the number of patients a caregiver can assist. A limit of five patients per caregiver was adopted by the department during a closed meeting in 2004.

During the department's 2004 secret meeting, no health care professionals were consulted regarding what the limit should be. In his ruling for the temporary injunction, Judge Naves criticized the way the department came up with the five-patient policy. According to his decision, the department was remiss for failing to actively involve the public in the process and for not seeking professional medical input on the issue.

"This case is not even close," said Judge Naves. Judge Naves went on to cite the state's decision in establishing this policy as completely lacking in scientific evidence and labeled it "arbitrary and capricious" in nature.

Judge Naves decision immediately suspended the policy statewide, stopping the state from limiting a patient's choice of caregiver. Specifically, the state will allow the plaintiff, Damien LaGoy, a licensed medical marijuana patient, to appoint the provider of his choice. LaGoy, who uses medical marijuana to cope with nausea related to AIDS wasting syndrome and hepatitis C, had his caregiver request denied by the department in May.

"This is a historic victory for patients," said Brian Vicente, lead attorney and head of Sensible Colorado, a nonprofit medical marijuana organization and MPP grantee. "The decision to overturn this illegal policy is a giant step towards safe access to medical marijuana in Colorado."

Please take a few moments to visit https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=9997991 and compose a letter to the editor praising Judge Naves' decision. While we have provided you with a template, the more you customize your letter, the more likely it is to be printed. If your letter is printed, please be sure to let us know by e-mailing Nathan@mpp.org .

Thank you for supporting MPP, Sensible Colorado ( http://www.sensiblecolorado.org/ ), SAFER Colorado ( http://www.safercolorado.org/ ), and all of MPP's allies in the state. If you have any questions about the status of marijuana reform in Colorado, please contact MPP Legislative Analyst Nathan Miller at (202) 462-5747, ext. 118, or at Nathan@mpp.org .

New Mexico has a new medical marijuana law with a twist: It requires the state to grow its own. The law, effective Sunday, not only protects medical marijuana users from prosecution - as 11 other states do - but requires New Mexico to oversee a production and distribution system for the drug. The long-term goal is that the patients will have a safe, secure supply that doesn't mean drug dealers, that doesn't mean growing their own,'' said Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico. The state Department of Health must issue rules by Oct. 1 for the licensing of marijuana producers and in-state, secured facilities, and for developing a distribution system. The law was passed in March and signed by Gov. Bill Richardson, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Other states with medical marijuana laws are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Maryland's law doesn't protect patients from arrest, but it keeps defendants out of jail if they can convince judges they needed marijuana for medical reasons. Connecticut's governor vetoed a medical marijuana bill recently. The distribution and use of marijuana are illegal under federal law, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2005 in a California case that medical marijuana users can be prosecuted.
Faced with that dilemma, the health department has asked state Attorney General Gary King whether its employees could be federally prosecuted for running the medical marijuana registry and identification card program, and whether the agency can license marijuana producers and facilities, Full Story.....

Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell (R) Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have allowed for the use of medical marijuana in the Constitution State. The Compassionate Use Act (HB 6715) passed the state Senate by a vote of 23-13 after clearing the House an 89-58 vote weeks earlier, both of which were wide -- but not quite veto-proof -- margins.

To override the gubernatorial veto, bill supporters would need 24 votes in the Senate and 101 votes in the House. None of the bill's legislative sponsors have made any public noises about attempting an override. Lead backer Rep. Penny Bacchiochi (R-Somers) was quoted in an Associated Press article as saying she would work with the governor to seek compromise legislation next year.

In her veto message, Rell cried crocodile tears for Connecticuters who could benefit from the therapeutic use of cannabis. "While the bill seeks to provide relief to patients suffering from severe and persistent pain, the bill also requires that patients or primary caregivers engage in illegal activity to use marijuana."

"I am not unfamiliar with the incredible pain and heartbreak associated with battling cancer and I have struggled with the decision about signing or vetoing this bill," Rell continued. "I completely sympathize with the well-intentioned goal of alleviating pain and suffering, but legal alternatives are available, the bill forces law abiding citizens to seek out drug dealers to make a purchase, and there is no provision for monitoring use or proof of its effectiveness."
Rell also worried that signing the bill would "send the wrong message" to young people and noted that few doctors prescribe marijuana because it is a violation of federal law. The bill would have allowed doctors to issue recommendations, not prescriptions.
The bill would have allowed adult residents suffering from diseases including AIDS, MS, and cancer to grow marijuana at home once they had a recommendation and had registered with the state.

While Bacchiochi expressed some sympathy for the governor's soul-searching on whether to sign the bill, State Senator Andrew J. McDonald (D-Stamford), the deputy majority leader, said after the veto was announced that Rell had not raised her concerns when the bill had been drafted. "In many ways, a gubernatorial veto represents a failure of leadership by the governor rather than an exercise of leadership," McDonald said. "The governor clearly stands apart from the vast majority of her citizens in opposing this legislation."
After the bill's passage, patients, doctors, family members and advocates mounted a massive letter and phone call campaign urging the governor to sign the bill. The governor was receiving hundreds of phone calls and letters every day in support of medical marijuana, including from medical, legal, and health experts from across the country.

"The governor's veto message shows that she's grasping for straws," said Lorenzo Jones, executive director of A Better Way Foundation, which rallied support for the legislation. "She said previously that she'd support the bill if it was only for terminally ill patients, because clearly other treatments are not sufficient. Now she says she's vetoing the bill because it's still illegal under federal law, even though over 99% of all marijuana arrests are under state law. She has been so evasive on this that it makes one wonder if she hasn't gotten a call from Washington. Is she taking the advice from the worst administration in history over the demands of 83% of Connecticut residents?"
"It's unconscionable that Rell would ignore all the science to veto this bill," said Gabriel Sayegh, project director at the Drug Policy Alliance, which also pushed for its passage. "The medical efficacy of marijuana is unassailable. As a result of this veto, are patients who use marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering still considered criminals?" The answer is yes, at least until next year.

Britain's GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said on Tuesday its pioneering cannabis-based drug Sativex had qualified to be considered for approval by Canadian regulators as a treatment for cancer pain. "We are delighted to receive this Qualifying Notice from Health Canada and look forward to receiving regulatory approval for Sativex in the relief of cancer pain in the next few months," Chairman Geoffrey Guy said in a statement. Sativex is an under-the-tongue spray which is already on sale in Canada as a treatment for pain in multiple sclerosis. GW said the Qualifying Notice confirmed that Sativex qualified to be considered for approval in cancer pain and set out the conditions and post-approval undertakings upon which the marketing authorisation in this indication could be granted, More....

A former Marine who said marijuana helps him deal with injuries suffered during Operation Desert Storm is challenging the state’s medical marijuana law. Kevin Dickes, 38, of Aurora pleaded not guilty Thursday in Arapahoe County District Court to marijuana cultivation after police said they seized 71 plants from his home on April 27. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted. A hearing on a motion to dismiss the charge is set for next month. Dickes says marijuana helps ease the pain in his right leg since a grenade landed next to him in 1991 while he was serving in Kuwait, Full Storm...

Albany — Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, in a reversal of a campaign position, said Tuesday he could support legislation legalizing the use of marijuana for certain medicinal purposes. The governor’s position comes as lawmakers stepped up a push in the final two weeks of the 2007 session for New York to join 12 other states and allow marijuana for those suffering from cancer, multiple sclerosis and other painful conditions.
In a debate last summer, Spitzer said he opposed medical marijuana. Now he said he is “open” to the idea after being swayed by advocates in the past couple of months.
“On many issues, hopefully you learn, you study, you evolve. This is one where I had, as a prosecutor, a presumption against the use of any narcotic which wasn’t designed purely for medicinal and medical effect. And now there are ways that persuaded me that it can be done properly,” the governor told reporters.
In 2005, lawmakers were close to a measure legalizing medical marijuana but dropped the effort after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said the federal government could prosecute cases against those using marijuana in states that had legalized its use.
But after federal officials signaled no desire to prosecute individual patients using marijuana, a slowly growing number of states has begun moving ahead again to permit the drug to be used in tightly controlled circumstances. Advocates, who include groups representing physicians, nurses and hospices, liken medicinal marijuana to morphine and other drugs that are used to treat pain but are otherwise illegal on the streets, More......

Elaine McKellips, a 55-year-old Republican grandmother, doesn’t think of herself as a bad person, let alone a criminal. She has a son, daughter-inlaw and two grandchildren in Oregon. Her son fought in Operation Desert Storm. Elaine, who lives in Atascadero, has been a lawabiding businesswoman. She once even turned in a meth dealer in her neighborhood. But various illnesses with obscure-sounding names have grabbed her and thrown her down: degenerative disc disease, spastic esophagus, hyperactive bowel. She has suffered through them all. And then one day, gastroparesis came calling. It’s a complex stomach ailment that, simply put, partly paralyzes the stomach and keeps food from passing through in a normal manner. Among its many symptoms are vomiting and nausea.
“It’s like having morning sickness every day,” she says. Incapacitated, Elaine reluctantly took her doctor’s advice and went to Morro Bay’s Compassionate Care Center to get medical marijuana to help with the nausea. It worked. Then the center closed, collateral damage in the war on drugs and the nation’s culture wars. Various reasons have arisen for closing this or any other medical marijuana dispensary:
• The Feds believe medical marijuana is illegal, even though the state does not;
• There is widespread belief that marijuana leads to abuse of stronger drugs; and
• A dark suspicion lurks that dispensaries are merely fronts for drug runners, Full Story...

Endocannabinoids seem to play an important role in regulating inflammation processes. Scientists from the University of Bonn have discovered this in experiments on mice. Their results will be published in the distinguished scientific journal 'Science' on Friday, 8 June. The study may also have implications for therapy. In animal experiments, a solution with an important component made from cannabis reduced allergic reactions of the skin.

Extracts of the hemp plant cannabis are traditionally used as a popular remedy against inflammation. At the beginning of the last century this natural remedy was even available at every chemist's. But due to the intoxicating effect of the component THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) the plant was taken off the chemist's shelves in the 1930s.

THC acts on the cannabinoid receptors, of which there are two types, CB1 and CB2. Both receptors are made such that THC can attach itself to them. In the brain this causes the intoxicating effect of hashish, cannabis and marijuana. But why does the body have CB1 and CB2 anyway? For two decades it has been known that the human body also produces its own cannabinoids. Like THC they can attach themselves to the receptors. The brain scientist Professor Andreas Zimmer from the Bonn Institute of Molecular Psychiatry is investigating what the function of this endocannabinoid system is. 'Mice without CB1 receptors show psychological abnormalities,' he explains. 'By contrast, CB2 regulates the growth of bones, for example.' Full Inflammation...

'it's time for a change'
StoptheDrugWar
June 9th 2007

County supervisors in Mendocino County, California, part of the state's marijuana growing "Emerald Triangle," voted Wednesday to send lawmakers a letter urging them to legalize marijuana. The move is a belated response to Proposition G , a voter-approved initiative passed six years ago."Whether you love marijuana or hate marijuana, you can agree it's time for a change," said Supervisor John Pinches, who took part in a 4-1 board vote Tuesday in support of a letter asking lawmakers to legalize marijuana. The letter, written by Pinches, is addressed to North Coast US Rep. Mike Thompson and copied to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to both US senators from California, and to other area members of Congress and President Bush. "The time has come to call upon our leaders in federal government to initiate, sponsor and support legislation that calls for the legalization, regulation, and taxation of this multibillion dollar crop," states the letter, signed by Board Chairman Kendall Smith and approved by the board.

Rhode Island Bill Awaits Expected Veto, Override
StopThe Drug War
May 27th 2007

A bill that would make Rhode Island's medical marijuana law permanent has passed its final legislative hurdle and is now proceeding to the desk of Gov. Donald Carcieri (R), who vows to veto it. But the measure has passed both houses by margins sufficient to override that threat. If so, it would mark the second time in as many years that the legislature overrode Carcieri's veto of a medical marijuana law. leading RI patient activist Rhonda O'Donnell, at DC protest When passed last year, the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater Medical Marijuana Act contained a sunset provision causing the state's program to die June 30 if not re-approved by the legislature. This year's bill actually passed both houses earlier this month, but the final procedural hurdle was cleared when the full House voted this week to pass the Senate version of the bill.

The bill would allow a patient diagnosed as having a debilitating medical condition to possess up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 ounces of marijuana. A caregiver could have 12 plants and 2.5 ounces of marijuana for each of up to five qualified patients. The state Health Department would register patients and caregivers.The bill has been pushed by a coalition of medical, legal, and drug reform groups, the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition . It appears the group is just a veto override vote away from victory.

Oxycontin have been fined six hundred million dollars for lying that that it is not addicting. This is a surprise because every physician or pharmacist KNOWS that every morphine-like drug IS addicting. California was the first state which legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 by way of an initiative legal process started by voters' petitioning, and has the most patients with 350,000. Apparently the legislators were so shocked by the common people's effrontery they were paralyzed. No so the scotch drinking police and sheriffs - they howled like banshees, and have seemingly done everything they could think of to reduce or restrict their highly efficacious medicine. The various cities and counties of California and almost list in a schizophrenic stand-off about what to do about legally sanctioned marijuana use and dispensaries, (currently there are about 200) where marijuana and even hashish, (a concentrate) can be purchased by patients having a letter from a physician giving them approval for its use. About half of the localities say its OK, others harass, close and confiscate medicine and money. The DEA and some local cops are going frenetic. Full Success....

A woman with multiple sclerosis who was arrested after her private "dispensary" of cannabis plants was targeted by drug thieves was given a conditional discharge by magistrates yesterday.

Karin Grevis, a grandmother and professional translator who smoked cannabis for pain relief, called for an official amnesty for other medical users after the hearing in Cambridge. The court heard that her stock of more than 100 conservatory plants was entirely for personal use and would never have become an issue but for rumours in criminal circles. Word that the illegal class C drug was being cultivated at the 43-year-old Swiss national's cottage in Longstanton, nine miles from Cambridge, apparently spread and the plants were targeted by burglars while she was away.

Police discovered the remains of the hydroponic system and several banks of plants when a neighbour reported a broken window and suspected break-in in February. The magistrates' chairman, Stephen Papworth, told Grevis: "We don't consider there was any intention to make financial profit. We clearly understand the issues relating to your medical condition but we have to put that to one side in coming to our decision about the proper sentence." Monica Lentin, defending, said that smoking her home-grown cannabis once an hour every day had provided the only relief the translator could find. She had consulted doctors, tried other pain relievers and searched textbooks in vain. Since her arrest, she had given up growing the drug and was facing constant pain. Grevis, who limped into court with the help of a stick, said that cannabis gave her "100% relief" and she had always preferred to grow her own, rather than risk involvement with dealers. She said: "What can I do now? The government should either make cannabis available on the National Health Service or give people like me some sort of amnesty."

Molalla, Ore. - When I was ordered before the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, the first question I was asked by Dr. Spokas, the chairman, from Ontario, Oregon, was “Dr. Leveque don't you know that marijuana is very addicting and very dangerous?” Frankly, I didn't know or believe this and all of my experience with fifty years study and 4000 patients told me this was totally false, but when one is facing a “Spanish inquisition” with psychological “thumb screws” or “hanging”, I decided to answer “maybe for some people”. I didn't believe a word of it. I didn't dare ask where he got his information but I assumed it came from the U.S. government, which has produced false propaganda for 70 plus years. Marijuana is less addictive and less dangerous than Starbuck's espresso The Oregon Medical Marijuana Law allows the use of marijuana for Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's rage, Glaucoma, chronic pain, chronic nausea, chronic spasms, Multiple Sclerosis and seizures. As a retired Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, I accepted this with a grain of salt but when I started seeing patients, I was astonished and pleased that indeed the above conditions were “miraculously” alleviated by the use of medical marijuana. I was further astonished when I was told by the patients “marijuana is much better than any prescription I have been given". Further questioning of patients indicated it was better that the
morphine-like painkillers, such as Oxycontin, Percodan or Demerol. It was also better than theValium-like tranquilizers, such as Xanax, and Ambien, etc. and even the anti-depressants, such as Elavil, Trazadone, etc. and the really heavy anti-depressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc.
Another, almost strange, report was that it was preferred to Aspirin and Tylenol, etc. because it worked faster with no stomach or liver damage. For a retired Professor of Pharmacology, the patient's reports were really a “blockbuster”. The biggest surprise came really quickly by Viet Nam veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They had been given every kind of medication, which gave minimal, if any, relief and many suffers simply turned to alcohol stupefaction to blot out PTSD battle stress. The latter had become a tragedy for many as they had discovered in Viet Nam the marijuana was an excellent tranquilizer, better than any standard such drug or alcohol. Dr. Phillip Leveque is a Combat Infantryman, Physician and Toxicologist. He served with distinction in World War II, at one time taking 26 Nazi officers into custody that he and one other soldier discovered.

"I am saddened to hear that the bill did not make it out of the Senate"
StopthedrugWar.org
May 13th 2007

A bill that would have allowed for the use of medical marijuana in Illinois died Thursday, failing by a vote of 22-29 in the state Senate, with four senators voting "present." The vote came despite support from the Illinois Nurses Association, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, nearly a thousand Illinois doctors, 300 nurses, and 50 clergy members.

Sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the bill, SB 650 , would have allowed people diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating physical condition to register with the Department of Public Health to be permitted to use marijuana. Patients or caregivers could possess up to 12 plants and 2 ½ ounces of smokeable marijuana.

"I am saddened to hear that the bill did not make it out of the Senate," said Gretchen Steele of Coulterville. "As a registered nurse, I know that research and science support this legislation. As a multiple sclerosis patient, I feel slighted and have to wonder where our legislators' hearts are on this day."

"There is no logical reason to not have an implementable medical marijuana law in this state," said Dr. David Ostrow, Chicago physician, HIV/AIDS researcher and founder/director of the Medical Marijuana Advocacy Project. "The medical community strongly supported this bill, but our lawmakers unfortunately did not listen to the scientific evidence for medical marijuana's safety and efficacy this time around. I hope that someday soon, medicine, not politics, will prevail in Illinois and at the national level as well."

"We are not going to abandon the patients, doctors and nurses who have worked so hard to protect the sick and suffering," said Ray Warren, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project , which had backed the Illinois effort. "Science, compassion and simple common sense say this is the right thing to do. We'll be back."

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have all passed medical marijuana laws. Now, the best shot this year looks like Minnesota, but even there, the governor is threatening a veto. The heartland remains resistant.

Why did District Attorney Everett Fowle take my medical marijuana when he was called by Officer Gettardi, who was told to disregard any medical status, to check on me? Fowle knew I had cancer and was under going chemotherapy, and he treated me worse than a dog, denying me my medicine for nausea, vomiting and pain.
I had chemo four days before my home was raided. I was vomiting and asked them to leave my medicine. I was told my name was not on the marijuana so they took it. They didn't arrest me, they arrested my husband for mine and another legal medical marijuana patient whose doctor, if needed, could testify as to whether or not he signed the paperwork. Forgeries they are not, they seemed acceptable. Fowle states current law is poorly drafted and confusing. He said my husband should make changes through the Legislature. Fowle knows that Don has been at the Statehouse for any legislation to do with marijuana -- thumbing his nose at the law? No.
If the legislators would come out of their coma and wake up, lawmakers would make the needed changes in this "poorly drafted and confusing" legislation, administering The Will of the People/Voter Intent of 1998. Legislators have failed to do their jobs in the last eight years and that is not very caring or compassionate.
Pam Christen
Madison

In a small two-bedroom home, nestled anonymously on the upper Westside of Santa Barbara, the lights are humming right now. Vaguely Victorian in style with a white picket fence and a well-manicured front lawn, the home does little to betray the blooming emerald harvest growing inside its walls. A woman walking her dog passes by the driveway, urging her four-legged friend to “do your business,” never giving a second thought to the perpetually drawn window shades of the back room, the constantly spinning electricity meter humming in the side yard, or the sweet odor of fresh ganja blowing in the breeze.

On the inside, behind a series of remarkably unlocked doors, several dozen marijuana plants grow under the warm white glow of two high-wattage light bulbs. The room is tropical and welcoming, a meticulously built and cared for growing space complete with CO generators, fans, high-tech venting, massive air filters, digital ballasts, and an atmospheric control panel that not only governs the humidity but also powers an iPod to play smooth jazz when the lights are off. In a matter of days, this secret garden will yield at least four pounds of high-grade medicinal cannabis known as “purple kush” every gram of it, at least in the eyes of our town’s law enforcement, completely legal while simultaneously being, in the esteem of the federal government, unfailingly illegal.

Even with its state legality proven by a wall full of photocopied doctors’ recommendations and a notebook filled with legal documents naming the tenant of the house as the “primary caregiver” for several medical marijuana patients, standing in the grow room feels undeniably like an illegal act. After all, we live in a country that’s been culturally conditioned to view cannabis as criminal since the drug was banned in 1937. Sensing my discomfort, my host patted me on the back. “I know it takes some getting used to, but try and relax, man. It’s medicine,” he smiles, “no different than going to a Tylenol factory.” More Marijuana...

'court reverses marijuana conviction on medical grounds'
Signonsandiego.com
May 3rd 2007

Spokane: Washington. – The conviction of a motel owner who said he grew marijuana to treat his glaucoma has been reversed on medical grounds. The decision may be the first successful “affirmative defense” of a medical marijuana case in Washington, one of 11 states that allow its use with a doctor's recommendation, the man's lawyer, Frank L. Cikutovich, said. Loren Hanson, 64, met the definition of a “qualifying patient” under the state Medical Marijuana Act, even though he did not have a prescription at the time his motel was raided, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. Hanson is in poor health and allergic to other medication that could relieve the eye pressure from glaucoma, which can causes blindness, Cikutovich told The Spokesman-Review, Full Reversal...

Skowhegan: Marijuana legalization activist Donald Christen faces up to five years in jail after he was found guilty of aggravated cultivation of marijuana. A Somerset County Superior Court jury found Christen guilty of the cultivation charge Friday, but not guilty of the more serious crime of aggravated drug trafficking. That verdict capped a weeklong trial in which Christen, an advocate of legalizing marijuana, claimed the cannabis police seized in a November 2004 raid on his Madison home was destined for patients. Maine is one of 12 states that have medical marijuana laws, although many consider the law unworkable because it does not provide a legal means of acquiring the substance.
A measure now before the Legislature, LD 1418, would create a registry of nonprofit corporations that could provide the drug to qualified users. Christen, 53, said he did the best he could to comply with the medical marijuana law and said he will try again during sentencing to convince Justice S. Kirk Studstrup that he met the law's requirements. If he is not successful, he said, he plans to appeal. Prosecutors, however, say Christen, who was previously convicted of furnishing and trafficking in marijuana, was essentially thumbing his nose at the law.
"We have always fully complied with both the letter and the spirit of the medical marijuana law," District Attorney Evert N. Fowle said Monday. "This is Donny pushing the limits and acting in a way that is contemptuous of our law, More Aggravated Cultivation....

Several weeks after a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay is raided by federal agents, another facility is on its way to San Luis Obispo County. Kent Connella has proposed a medical marijuana co-op to be located in a complex located at 3850 Ramada Drive in Templeton.
The complex's landlord Kent Connella is the proprietor of the co-op. According to his lawyer Connella's son Austin, would run the facility.
Neighbors around the site were very hesitant to talk about the possibility of having a medical marijuana co-op next door. The owner of Mark's Plumbing, located across the parking lot from the proposed site was the only person Action News spoke to who would comment. "Unless the environment changes around here, I won't be concerned. If I notice some people hanging around here that are less than desirable then I might be concerned for my employees," said Mark Nellesen, owner of Mark's Plumbing. The Templeton Unified school district has issued a statement opposing the facility. District officials fear their anti-drug program would be challenged by a sanctioned medical marijuana facility. Thursday night the Templeton area advisory group will discuss the issue at 7 pm in the boardroom of the Templeton Community Service District. According to Connella's attorney, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors has already approved the zoning ordinance for the facility.

Gov. Bill Richardson recently signed a bill that makes New Mexico the 12th state in the Union to allow medical use of marijuana. How Richardson and the state legislature got it right was by deciding that instead of just allowing the compassionate medical practice, it would get into the business of producing and distributing the herb, something Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have not quite come to grips with. In New Mexico, you will soon be able to go to your doctor who, if it's appropriate, will write a prescription for medicinal cannabis. The patient will then make a purchase through a state-regulated facility. No more argument about how many plants a medical marijuana patient may cultivate, no more arguments about the compassionate shops that sell cannabis even though they face the risk of federal drug agents raiding their legal stores, no more concern that those who use the drug are also cultivating it for sale. It's all neat, clean and tidy. Now, before you get on a high horse about this, let's make it perfectly clear that this is a plea for the legalization of marijuana for medicinal uses. Legalization for recreational use is a different issue. This is about medicine. Imagine that your doctor says you have a medical condition for which there is no cure, one that will slowly rob you of your quality of life - from impotence to immobility. The condition is guaranteed to result in unrelenting pain that will, in fact, grow worse. You'll get Lortab, Demerol or Oxycontin for pain. You'll get Soma or Skelaxin to relax the muscles. Probably some Prozac, Lexapro or Zoloft to help with depression and some Xanax or Valium to relieve those moments of high anxiety, More from the Smirkingchimp..

An arthritis sufferer who grew cannabis in the attic of her home for "medicinal purposes" has appeared in court. Mandy Towler, 41, of Barnwell Road, Melksham pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, when she appeared at Chippenham magistrates' court on Thursday morning.
Prosecutor Kate Blackmore told the court how police had seized 14 cannabis plants and a hydroponics system used to cultivate the plants, when they carried out a dawn raid on her home in January. Officers from the Divisional Proactive Unit based in Melksham conducted the operation after receiving a tip-off. A quantity of white powder was also found at the scene, but was later discovered to be glucose powder,wow.. In a police interview Towler said she had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and was growing the cannabis for medicinal purposes. In her defence, Towler told police that instead of smoking the drug, she used it in her tea to help alleviate the pain caused by her condition. She said it was cheaper to grow the plants herself, rather than having to buy them from a dealer. Defending, Michael Wills, said his client was on disability benefits and income support. The court heard that Towler, who has to go to Bath Royal United Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases every three months for treatment, has an 18 year-old daughter as well as caring for her father who is 78, Full Condition....

'a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prison'
April 10th 2007tec
t medical marijuana patients from arrest and prison'

Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony on S.F. 345, a bill to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prison. It is imperative that we have as many supporters at the Capitol as possible to show their support for this sensible legislation. If you can make it to the Capitol tomorrow, have questions, or would like additional information, please contact Rick Kelley in our Minnesota office by calling (612) 326-6690, ext. 801. If you are coming tomorrow, please remember to dress and act professionally.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 10 at 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Minnesota Capitol Building, Room 112, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul.
RSVP: Rick Kelley, (612) 326-6690, ext. 801

Even if you can't make it tomorrow, you can still influence your legislators to support medical marijuana legislation this year. One of the most important things you can do right now is visit https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=9218486 and write a letter to the editor of your local papers in support of S.F. 345. It is imperative that lawmakers see examples of the widespread, statewide support this sensible legislation enjoys. While we have provided talking points for you to craft your letter, please try to personalize your letter as much as possible -- a personalized letter is always more likely to be printed than a form letter. You can also visit http://www.mpp.org/library to check out some of the material in our library.

If you have not done so already, please also take a moment to visit https://ssl.capwiz.com/mpp/issues/alert/?alertid=9339171 and send a letter to your state legislators. We have several form letters available to get you started, but please take a moment to personalize your letter before sending it to your legislators.

Our medical marijuana bills in both the House and the Senate are moving forward and could have floor votes in both chambers very soon. The Senate Health, Housing and Family Security Committee already passed S.F. 345, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear testimony on it tomorrow. Additionally, H.F. 655, the companion bill to S.F. 345, has cleared the House Health and Human Services Committee and the Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee, as well as the Health Care and Human Services Finance Division.

The momentum is clearly behind our bills. Please help maintain it by coming to the Capitol tomorrow.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project. Please pass this message along to friends, family, neighbors, and e-mail lists so that others can stand up for Minnesota's most vulnerable residents as well.

Following the conviction of three medicinal cannabis campaigners, hundreds of disabled people have found their supplies have dried up.
Since the guilty verdict dished out earlier this year to Lezley and Mark Gibson and an associate, Marcus Davies, for conspiring to supply cannabis, hundreds of people with multiple sclerosis (ms) have also become victims of the criminal justice system. Since their trial at Carlisle Crown Court, the three have vowed not to resume production of the chocolate bars containing cannabis, which people with ms say eased their pain and made their lives easier. The trio had sent out more than 20,000 of the bars. But since they stopped producing the chocolate, the Gibsons have been inundated with letters, emails and phone calls from people with ms whose symptoms have subsequently “returned with a vengeance”.Lezley Gibson, who revealed in DN last month that she was driven to the brink of suicide by the trial, says: “If I [didn’t] take cannabis I would be in a wheelchair and I would be incontinent.”So how are their former customers coping without the chocolate? And what
are their other options? Wayne Miller is experiencing difficulties with bladder control and muscle spasms since his chocolate supply dried up. He is a biker, but his symptoms now prevent him from riding. He consumed the Gibsons’ chocolate over an 18-month period, but has not had any cannabis since before Christmas. He says he is “really struggling without it”, Full Fight.....

Hollywood California: A decade ago, the Rev. Scott Imler co-wrote and organized the ballot initiative that made California the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use. Now Imler shakes his head with dismay over what his law has wrought: scores of storefront marijuana shops across Southern California with menus of pot varieties for sale to anyone with a doctor's note.
"What we set out to do was put something in the statutes that said medicine was a defense in case they got arrested using marijuana for medical reasons," Imler says. "What we got was a whole different thing, a big new industry." 'Dispensaries' boom Los Angeles has become a boomtown for pot stores. The number of "dispensaries" as they are known has gone from four in late 2005 to 98 one year later, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
It all started in 1996 when California voters passed Proposition 215, which legalized the growing and possession of marijuana for medical use. Supporters such as the marijuana-legalization group NORML pushed for the law, saying smoking pot lessens pain and alleviates nausea of serious illnesses. Cooperatives sprung up, permitted under the law to receive "reasonable compensation" for the distribution of their product. Then stores opened, which in Los Angeles can sell up to a half-pound of pot to an individual, Full Story....

Shasta County supervisors voted 4-1 today to raise the application fees for medical marijuana identification cards from $53 to $106.
Supervisor Les Baugh dissented, arguing the program has failed to draw the number of applicants that had been expected. Shasta County has 50 cardholders, far short of the 300 that had been predicted. Baugh also said he disagrees with condoning marijuana use while the county spends hundreds of thousands of dollars stopping marijuana growers. Other board members said they were merely complying with state law.
The increase results from the state’s decision to raise its application fee from $13 to $66. The county’s $40 fee is unchanged.

2 ageing hippies have escaped jail sentences for their part in a cannabis co-operative run by women in a South Yorkshire village who smoke 'joints' to ease their painful joints.
Jacqueline Bell and Valerie Owen were among a circle of six friends aged from 42 to 70 living in Highfields, Doncaster, who clubbed together to buy the drug because of their various medical conditions.
And today they vowed to carry on smoking dope even though they risk going to prison for ignoring a sentence imposed by a judge at Doncaster Crown Court.
Recorder Peter Kelson QC said he realised they would carry using cannabis because they had strong feelings about it and told them: "If you want to stand on your principles you can take your prison sentence - it's your choice."
Bell, aged 53, was given three months for possession with intent to supply and Owen, 46, received one month for possession, both suspended for 51 weeks, More...

As Illinois legislators prepare to debate a new, practical plan for legalizing the medical use of marijuana (the Legislature actually passed a medical marijuana bill in 1971 but that flawed measure was never put into practice), they should consider a new study, published in the journal Neurology last month.
That Feb. 13 study, conducted by Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California at San Francisco, found smoked marijuana to be safe and effective at treating peripheral neuropathy, which causes great suffering among HIV/AIDS patients. This type of pain, caused by damage to the nerves, can make patients feel like their feet and hands are on fire, or being stabbed with a knife. Similar pain occurs in a number of other illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and diabetes, and responds poorly to conventional pain medications -- even addictive, dangerous narcotics. Full Rhetoric....

Flint Becomes Fifth Michigan City to Okay It
Stop the Drug War
March 3rd 2007

Voters in Flint, Michigan, voted to okay the use of medical marijuana by a margin of 62% to 38% Tuesday. Flint becomes the fifth Michigan city to approve such a measure, and while medical marijuana remains illegal under both state and federal law, the Flint vote should only add to momentum to take the issue statewide.

Sponsored by Michigan NORML and the Flint Compassionate Care Coalition , the effort was also aided by assistance from the Marijuana Policy Project and the national NORML office.

Flint now joins Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ferndale and Traverse City as Michigan cities where voters have approved the use of medical marijuana.

Armed with a new study that showed smoking marijuana eased pain in some HIV patients, medical marijuana advocates launched their latest attempt to decriminalize the drug by suing the federal government Wednesday over its claim that pot has no medical value.
The lawsuit filed in federal court by Americans for Safe Access accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of engaging in “arbitrary and unlawful behavior” that prevents “sick and dying persons from seeking to obtain medicine that could provide them needed, and often lifesaving relief.”
The Oakland-based advocacy group wants a judge to force the department and the Food and Drug Administration to stop giving out information that casts doubt on the efficacy of marijuana in treating various illnesses.
The lawsuit differs from previous legal efforts to decriminalize marijuana because it seeks to get a federal agency simply to acknowledge that pot can help reduce the symptoms of some conditions, Full Behavior.....

Bills Introduced in Minnesota, Moving in New Mexico
StopTheDrugWar,org
Feb 5th 2007

Minnesota senators introduced a bill last Monday to allow terminal and chronically ill patients to use marijuana without fear of state prosecution. Meanwhile, a New Mexico bill that has made it to the brink of passage in the last two years is moving again.

In Minnesota, SF345 is sponsored by state Sen. Steve Murphy (DFL-Red Wing), who told reporters he warmed to the idea after his father died of cancer two years ago after suffering months of intense pain. "We're talking about quality of life issues," said Murphy. "This isn't for everybody. This is another tool in the doctor's toolbox, if the patient feels it's appropriate and they're willing to give it a try."

Under the bill, anyone suffering from a "chronic or debilitating disease" would be able to qualify for a registration card. Registered patients or caregivers could possess up to 12 plants or 2.5 ounces of marijuana. Similar bills have been introduced the past two years in Minnesota, but have gone nowhere.

It's a slightly different picture in New Mexico, where in the past two years, a medical marijuana bill has made it to the very brink of passage only to be derailed largely for reasons having much to do with legislative politics and little to do with medical marijuana. This year, SB523, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act, is again rolling.

The bill passed its first legislative hurdle last week when it sailed through the Senate Public Affairs Committee despite the objections of law enforcement. But while New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) last year publicly supported the bill, this year, as he embarks on a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, he has been silent. Health Department spokespersons at a hearing on the bill declined to take a position either for or against.

Amherst-A trial date has finally been set for a Maccan man who claims he was growing marijuana to help himself and 300 others with medical conditions, but it will still be months before Rick Simpson faces a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge and jury.
In Supreme Court on Thursday, Mr. Simpson’s two-week trial was slated to begin Sept. 10, 25 months after police raided his property and allegedly seized more than 1,200 marijuana plants. Mr. Simpson, 57, did not speak during the hearing, but lawyer Jim O’Neil indicated his former client would defend himself at trial. Mr. O’Neil did not say why he would no longer be involved in the case. Mr. Simpson faces one count each of possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana, possessing less than three kilograms of the drug for trafficking and unlawfully producing marijuana. The Crown is proceeding summarily on the simple possession charge and by indictment on the others. As a result, the penalty is a maximum seven years on the production charge, five years less a day on the possession for trafficking charge and a $1,000 fine, six months in jail or both on the possession charge, Full Trial....

An elderly woman began a 41-month jail sentence in federal prison yesterday after turning herself in to federal authorities. Stephanie Landa, 60 and a mother, began her sentence at noon following an 11:00 a.m press conference outside the San Francisco federal building. In July, 2003, on advice of counsel, Landa plead guilty to a charge of 'maintaining a place for the manufacturing of marijuana' and was subsequently sentenced by Federal Judge William Alsup to 41-months in federal prison.
Landa appealed the decision and was released on her own recognizance pending a ruling from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court, but was remanded back into custody last month by Alsup to begin her sentence yesterday. Organized by advocacy groups and activists and attended by several local elected officials including Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Chris Daly, the mid-morning press conference was held to condemn the federal government's continued persecution of medical cannabis patients and caregivers, and to bring attention to a widely held belief that a rogue SFPD narcotics inspector is involved in assisting federal authorities in the identification and prosecution of caregivers, in direct contravention of the City of San Francisco's declared sanctuary status.

DEA targets larger marijuana providers. Hayward >Calif: The federal agency sees big profits for medical dispensaries as a sign of illegal high-stakes drug dealing. Advocates say the raids are unfair. Until federal drug agents arrested him last month, Shon Squier was one of Hayward's most successful and generous young businessmen. Customers lined up outside his downtown storefront, particularly on Mondays, when he offered free samples to the first 50 visitors. Business was so good that Squier, a former construction worker, was able to donate more than $100,000 to local charities. But Squier's success as a dynamic medical marijuana entrepreneur was also his downfall. Federal drug agents raided his home and business, arresting Squier and his store manager, freezing bank accounts containing $1.5 million and confiscating several expensive cars, motorcycles and $200,000 in cash, Full Tale...

Collective Solution owner Ken Andersen displays a variety of medical-marijuana samples at the group's dispensary in Norco. Collective Solution opened Dec. 1 on a stretch of Sixth Street known for veterinary clinics and animal feed stores. Owner Ken Andersen said he and his partners opened the dispensary after a 45-day moratorium on the businesses ended. "When the moratorium expired, we rented this building, applied for a business license and started signing up patients," Andersen said. City Manager Jeff Allred said Norco denied Andersen's application for a business license on the grounds that a medical marijuana dispensary violated land-use provisions for the area."Basically, they thumbed their noses at the city of Norco and opened it anyway," he said. The city has since sent the collective a cease-and-desist order. Andersen and his partners say they hope to work with city officials to keep the collective open in the community. "We have every intention to address the council in a respectful manner," Andersen said. "We are putting together our presentation to the city." Full Respect.....

Hundreds of long-suffering patients in Northern Ireland could soon have access to legal cannabis-based drugs for their crippling condition. A major trial into the alternative treatments for multiple sclerosis patients is taking place in Plymouth. The Northern Ireland branch of the MS Society is hoping sufferers can benefit soon. "Currently drugs for MS are in short supply," MS Society Northern Ireland spokesman Robert McConnell said. "This is where legal and licensed cannabis-based drugs will help and we are pleased drugs companies are taking an interest in their development, Full Tale......

The Netherlands: The governments of Canada, Germany and Italy are interested in medical cannabis from the Netherlands
According to a letter by Mr. H. Hoogervorst, the Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, to the Dutch Parliament of 31 October the Canadian, the German and the Italian governments are interested in medical cannabis produced under supervision of the Health Ministry and sold in pharmacies of the country for distribution to patients in their countries.

In his two-page letter Mr. Hoogervorst described the current situation of the medicinal cannabis project and noted that it will continue for at least one more year. Under certain circumstances, it may continue for another four years. This decision was based on a plan on the development of medicines by a consortium of Dutch companies and on an application for registration by GW Pharmaceuticals for Sativex. It is also important that in the future the costs of the project do no longer exceed the revenues as is currently the case.

So far, less patients than expected buy cannabis from the pharmacies. Additional revenues came from national and foreign companies who bought the plant material for isolation of THC and development of pharmaceutical products. In addition, the Canadian, German and Italian governments expressed their interest in buying Dutch medical cannabis for their patients. Higher revenues from patients and governments or companies would also allow to reduce the price of the pharmacy cannabis for Dutch patients, the minister stated in his letter.

Sources: Letter of H. Hoogervorst to the president of the second chamber of the Dutch Parliament of 31 October 2006, Newsletter of the Office of Medicinal Cannabis of 24 November 2006.

Nail-Biting Time for South Dakota's Medical Marijuana Initiative
Stopthedrugwar.org
October 30th 2006

With election day little more than a week away, proponents of South Dakota's medical marijuana initiative are increasingly nervous about the measure's prospects in the face of a coordinated onslaught by the state's Republican political establishment, state and local law enforcement, and even the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office). Given South Dakota's social conservatism and a number of hot-button other issues on the ballot, including abortion and gay marriage, the assault by law enforcement only makes voter approval of the measure more difficult. But with no polling on the issue in the state since 2002 (when it got 64% approval), it is hard to gauge exactly where the vote is likely to go.

Known on the ballot as Initiated Measure 4, the medical marijuana measure would allow patients who suffer from specified medical conditions, have the okay of their doctor, and register with the state to use marijuana to alleviate their conditions. The measure also allows registered patients or their caregivers to grow up to six marijuana plants. If the measure passes, South Dakota would become the 12th state to legalize marijuana. If the measure fails, South Dakota would become the first state where voters explicitly rejected medical marijuana.

Beginning late last week, the organized opposition began fighting in earnest with a series of press conferences featuring Attorney General Larry Long (whom organizers were forced to successfully sue over biased ballot language), local law enforcement officials, and deputy drug czar Scott Burns. Burns called medical marijuana "a con" and accused initiative supporters of playing on the sympathies of voters to advance a dangerous agenda.

"It's a step backwards in South Dakota and a step backwards nationally," said Burns at a Sioux Falls press conference last Friday. "Do not fall for the con."

"The risk far outweighs the benefits," said Minnehaha County (Sioux Falls) Sheriff Mike Milstead at the same widely televised and reported press conference. "There's great concern about how easily this marijuana could fall into the wrong hands."

Some South Dakota law enforcement officials have gone further in their arguments against the measure. In a conversation with Drug War Chronicle Thursday, Hughes County (Pierre) Sheriff Mike Leidholt complained that initiative language barring registered patients from being prosecuted as drugged drivers because of residual metabolites in their systems would result in them being able to get away with driving while intoxicated. "If we can't test for the metabolite, how are we to enforce the law, or is that a free pass?" he asked.

Leidholt also expressed concern that marijuana grown for registered patients would escape into the larger market. "This measure allows any patient or caregiver to have up to six marijuana plants," he said. "One marijuana plant can produce up to 13,000 joints. If you have that much, what happens to the rest of it?"

[Editor's Note: We report, you decide. Assuming a joint weighs between one-half gram and one gram, that comes to somewhere between 15 and 30 pounds of smokeable bud. By our calculations, it would take a marijuana plant the size of a full-grown oak tree to produce that many joints.]

Leidholt conceded that marijuana may help a small number of seriously ill people in the state, but argued that that does not outweigh the need to keep marijuana off the streets. "I feel bad for those people, but the dangers are too great," he said.

That argument wasn't flying with Valerie Hannah of Deerfield, a combat medic in the Gulf War who know suffers chronic pain from nerve damage and who is serving as the primary spokesperson for South Dakotans for Medical Marijuana , the group behind the initiative. "We really need this for patients who are truly ill so they can have another means of release," she told the Chronicle.

Hannah and former Denver police officer Tony Ryan, who now lives in Sioux Falls, are the group's public face. Both are appearing in TV commercials airing around the state -- when they can squeeze in among all the abortion, gay marriage, tobacco tax, elected office, and other campaign commercials that are cluttering the airwaves.

"What law enforcement is doing is a real disappointment, but my biggest disappointment is Larry Long bringing in the national deputy drug czar to propagandize at press conferences," she said. "They're really starting to pull out the drug war money and going to town with it."

Hannah is in a lonely fight. No other medical marijuana patient in the state has yet stood up to be counted alongside her. But that is not surprising in a state where anyone who admits to marijuana use could be served with a search warrant and ordered to submit to a drug test, then prosecuted for "unlawful ingestion" of marijuana.

"People are scared here," Hannah said. "Not only are they scared to come out, some people who use medical marijuana have even told me they voted against it because they were afraid law enforcement would look at their ballots and somehow persecute them. It is past time for people to get over their fears and realize this is really all about sick and dying people."

While Hannah other initiative supporters are working frantically to secure victory on November 7, the outcome is "kind of iffy," she said. "Faced with all these false claims from law enforcement and the fear in the air in this state, I don't know how this will come out."

Hannah held out some hope though, citing surprising support among farmers and ranchers in the sparsely-populated, libertarian-leaning northwest part of the state. "That is good, but most of the votes are in the East, especially in Sioux Falls," she noted. With some 177,000 residents in the metro area, Sioux Falls accounts for about one-quarter of the state's population.

"Western South Dakota is a place where outlaws went to hide from the law -- and they stayed -- so it may be fertile ground for medical marijuana even if just for the tax money. But if they lose in Sioux Falls, they lose the entire state," said University of South Dakota political science Professor David Vick. "The city has been growing rapidly, and the small towns around there have become suburbs, and they vote like suburbs," he told the Chronicle.

Vick had a hard time imagining that the measure would succeed. "My opinion is that it will probably not pass," he said. "On the East side of the state, you tend to have values voters who vote along religious lines and conservative political lines. The only way I see this passing is if people vote for it in a backlash against government intrusion or fiscal conservatism. Of course, there are people who have found assistance from medical marijuana or know someone who has, and they could vote for it."

It now looks like an uphill battle in South Dakota, but we will not really know until the votes are counted.

Rhode Island Program Begins to Kick In
Stopthedrugwar.org/
September 22nd 2006

Rhode Islanders are registering under the state's new medical marijuana program at a rate of just under one a day, according to health authorities. At least 131 patients have obtained state registration cards since the program got under way in April, and another 129 people have been certified as caregivers.

Rhode Island law makes no provision for how patients are to obtain seeds or marijuana, and state health officials don't want to know, nor will they provide advice on where to get it. "I don't ask," said Charles Alexandre, chief of health professions regulation, the department that operates the program. "They frequently ask me where to get it. I have to do a bit of explaining," he told the Providence Journal .

According to Alexandre, 89 doctors have signed medical marijuana recommendations, alleviating fears that patients would end up going to a small number of "pot doctors."

Rhode Island is now joining the ranks of states where seriously ill patients may take their medicine in peace -- at least as long as the feds don't show up.

A compound found in marijuana won’t make you high but it may help keep your eyes healthy if you’re a diabetic, researchers say. Early studies indicate cannabidiol works as a consummate multi-tasker to protect the eye from growing a plethora of leaky blood vessels, the hallmark of diabetic retinopathy, says Dr. Gregory I. Liou, molecular biologist at the Medical College of Georgia. “We are studying the role of cannabinoid receptors in our body and trying to modulate them so we can defend against diabetic retinopathy,” Dr. Liou says. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults and affects nearly 16 million Americans, More...

'eliminate all criminal and civil penalties'
News2020.com
August 18th 2006

Denver, CO: The Colorado Secretary of State's office announced Wednesday that a statewide initiative that seeks to eliminate all criminal and civil penalties for the possession of cannabis by adults has been certified to appear on the November 2006 ballot. Sponsored by Safer Alternatives For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), the measure would amend state statutes to make the possession of up to one ounce of cannabis legal in Colorado for those age 21 or older. Last year, voters in Denver passed a similar municipal initiative by 54 percent. Sponsors turned in more than 130,000 signatures from Colorado voters to qualify the measure for the November ballot. "The campaign will highlight the hypocrisy of laws that prohibit the use of marijuana while allowing and even encouraging the use of alcohol, an infinitely more harmful drug," said SAFER Campaign Director Mason Tvert.

PLACENTIA - A man facing felony charges for growing and selling medical marijuana at a Placentia dispensary has become the center of a legal tug of war between the city and medical marijuana advocates. City Council members Tuesday voted to ban the establishment of cannabis dispensaries for 45 days in order to make rules to regulate their establishment. "All of the folks who came to him have legitimate ailments and prescriptions," said dispensary owner Steele Smith's attorney, William Paoli. Police in May confiscated 18 marijuana plants, Full Story...

South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long (R) has his hands full this week as roughly half a million bikers cram into the small town of Sturgis for the 66th Annual Black Hills Motorcycle Rally. The normally placid area has already seen two motorcyclist deaths in accidents, one murder, and a shootout between members of the Hell's Angels and Outlaws biker gangs that left five people wounded. And that's with things just getting underway. But Attorney General Long has another problem this week, and he can't blame this one on the bikers. Medical marijuana patient Valerie Hanna, chief spokesperson for South Dakotans for Medical Marijuana, filed a suit against him Wednesday in the state capital, Pierre. The lawsuit charges that his description of the group's medical marijuana initiative is so unfair and inaccurate that it violates state law. The tightly written measure, based largely on neighboring Montana's successful 2004 initiative,allows seriously ill patients to possess up to one ounce of usable marijuana, More...

Signature Drive for Portland "Lowest Priority"
Stopthedrugwar.org
August 13th 2006

Voters in Portland, Oregon, will not be voting this November on an initiative that would have made marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority for city police and prosecutors. Despite spending nearly $100,000 in an effort to gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, initiative organizers came up short.

Sponsored by Citizens for a Safer Portland with financial backing from the Washington, DC-based Marijuana Policy Project , the initiative would have created a city ordinance defining marijuana law enforcement as the lowest police priority and would have barred city law enforcement from accepting state or federal funds to enforce the marijuana laws. It would also have created a civilian oversight committee to monitor compliance by law enforcement and would have required Portland police and prosecutors to make periodic reports on marijuana arrests and prosecutions.

Portland was to have been the largest of a number of West Coast cities to challenge the marijuana laws. Still, similar efforts are alive and well in four California cities, outright legalization is on the ballot in Nevada, and it looks like voters in Colorado will also have a chance to vote for marijuana law reform.

"It is a disappointment," said MPP communications director Bruce Mirken. "I haven't seen any sort of post-mortem that would say clearly what went wrong, but you can't be happy about investing in a project and not succeeding. The bright side is a number of these initiatives did succeed in getting on the ballot in other places," he told Drug War Chronicle.

Portland initiative organizers needed to turn in 26,691 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The group managed to gather just over 40,000 signatures, but by the time it scrubbed the list for duplicates and invalid signatures, they were down to 31,523. But then the city threw out several hundred sheets containing nearly 4,500 signatures because signature-gatherers had initialed the sheets instead of signing them with their full names. By then, the signature count had dwindled to 27,174, so when a city election office random sample of the remaining signatures showed about one-third invalid signatures, organizers conceded defeat.

"That matched with our internal validity checks," said Citizens for a Safer Portland's Chris Iverson. "That meant there was no way we could make it; we were only about two-thirds of the way there," he told Drug War Chronicle.

Iverson said the failure to get the required signatures was a combination of organizer error and a hostile local election machinery. "We made some mistakes along the way," he conceded right off the bat. "When we first started, we didn't budget for duplicates and out-of-Portland signatures because I had no idea there would be so many. If we had been through this before, we would have been aware of this," Iverson said.

"We had 4,500 signatures thrown out for what they call circulator error," Iverson complained. "Here in Oregon, we have very strict rules. If they can't read the circulator's signature on the page, they go to a voter registration database. If they can't match the signatures, they throw out the whole page. We had two people who each did hundreds of sheets, and their sheets were thrown out because they used shorthand versions of their names," he explained. "We thought because we had official documents, we would be okay, especially because they had allowed it in the past with other campaigns. But they said they would not count them because they weren't an exact match."

Such official inflexibility thwarts the democratic impulse, Iverson said. "These kind of rulings are unfair and anti-democratic," he said. "A lot of initiative campaigns here are having problems with this rule."

Iverson and Citizens for a Safer Portland may be bloodied, but they are unbowed. "This initiative helped bring together people who would never have sat foot in the same room before, and we are ready to get ready for the next project. I've been an activist for 15 years, and I consider myself a professional campaigner. Professional campaigners don't make the same mistakes twice."

Iverson wants to help others avoid making the same mistakes too -- he is putting together a package of questions that would-be initiative organizers should address before moving forward with a campaign.

A dozen City Council hopefuls, including the three incumbents, submitted signatures to the City Clerk Friday, indicating they intend to make a bid for three open council seats in November. Two of the twelve -- Jonathan Mann and Linda Armstrong, who made unsuccessful bids two years ago -- have qualified for the November 7 ballot. Filing petitions -- which must be signed by at least 100 registered Santa Monica voters to qualify for the ballot -- were Mayor Bob Holbrook and Council members Pam O’Connor and Kevin McKeown. Also filing petitions were Gleam Davis, Full Petition...

GW Pharmaceuticals Plc said it has started a second late-stage pain trial on its cannabis-based multiple sclerosis medicine Sativex as the company tries to meet the requirements of European regulators. European authorities asked for two phase III trials of Sativex against neuropathic pain in the same patient group, Salisbury, England-based GW said today. Phase III is the last of three stages generally required for approval.
One of the principal purposes of this study is to complete the regulatory package required for the approval in Europe of Sativex in the indication of neuropathic pain in MS,'' said Stephen Wright, More...

A San Luis Obispo man was arrested Sunday after police say he entered an Atascadero condominium and made off with the resident’s medicinal marijuana.Detectives say Nathanial Woodall, 23, and two other masked assailants entered the condo in the Quail Ridge development around 4 a.m. Sunday. Once inside, police said, one of the burglars struck a resident with a golf club and baseball bat. The man suffered minor injuries and was treated at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, Full Tale.....

San-Diego Medical marijuana advocates and patients will be allowed to oppose a lawsuit filed by San Diego County seeking to overturn a state law legalizing medicinal use of the drug, a state court judge ruled Friday.
The county sued the state of California and its director of health services in San Diego Superior Court in February, saying federal laws prohibiting marijuana use trump the state law permitting individuals to use the drug with a physician's approval. The San Diego chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is also named in the suit, Full Tale....

After hearing from the community, Santa Monica’s City Council has decided to place an initiative on the November ballot that would make adult marijuana use the lowest priority for the police department. The Council had limited options regarding the initiative since supporters were able to obtain more than enough signatures for it to qualify for the ballot (7,335 people signed the petition). Either they had to allow the voters to decide or adopt it as an ordinance.
Councilmember Kevin McKeown summed up the consensus of the Council that it was better to place the initiative on the ballot since it wasn’t locally generated. “The precise language that was given to us [from the Marijuana Policy Project out of Washington D.C.] creates problems we don’t need and solves problems we don’t have. Our efforts to negotiate a resolution that could be adopted as an ordinance failed.” He also mentioned there would most likely be a “robust public debate.” Full Initiative....

Cannabis extracts used in medicines may worsen symptoms rather than have the beneficial effects that are intended, it has been reported. Cannabis extracts can be harmful because of the unpredictable way the body reacts, New Scientist said. Research detailed to the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies found boosting levels of some cannabinoids worsened epilepsy and Alzheimer's. Experts said it was hard to target the drug at specific parts of the body, Full Story......

Livermore - The City Council has extended its moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries in Livermore -- due to expire Sept. 11 -- for another year. The council on Monday night directed its staff to return Sept. 11 with a plan for investigating the issue before a permanent decision is made. Council member Lorraine Dietrich asked the staff why nothing has been done since the first moratorium was adopted almost a year ago. Councilman Tom Reitter said a year was too long to wait to clarify the issue. "How can we make this type of facility work in Livermore?" Reitter said. "There are people who need this facility closer to their home." More....

Medical marijuana patients in San Diego lost access to their medicine on Friday when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) shut down all the city's remaining dispensaries. Steph Sherer, executive director of patient advocate group Americans for Safe Access, reported that DEA agents seized medicine and threatened to arrest dispensary employees and patients. A DEA spokesperson, on the other hand, said agents went to the dispensaries to pay "courtesy visits."Margaret Dooley, San Diego coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance, said, "Rather than focusing on violent or organized crime, the DEA has decided to terrorize San Diego’s patients. One terrible result of the closures will be to force sick and dying patients to buy their medicine on the black market, which can be a dangerous and unreliable alternative." Full Story....

British Psychiatrist Professor Robin Murray blasted the government for not giving sufficient warning to the public over the mental health risks associated with Cannabis. Professor Murray who treats people with Schizophrenia has observed over the years that many of his patients recovering from Schizophrenia were regular users of cannabis. According to Professor Murray, a single active ingredient found in Cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol is mainly responsible for long-term psychological effects on many of his patients. At the annual Royal College of Psychiatrists’ meeting in Glasgow, Murray told fellow psychiatrists that the government should honour its earlier promise made by former Home Secretary Charles Clarke to publicise the links between mental health problems and the use of cannabis. Describing his on view towards Cannabis use as agnostic, Murray stated that, Full Effects...

SAN FRANCISCO: Marijuana cannot be sold on Fisherman's Wharf, the San Francisco Planning Commission has decided. On a vote of 4 to 2, the commission denied the Green Cross, one of scores of cannabis clubs authorized to dispense medical marijuana, a permit for a storefront near the popular tourist destination. The owners of the Green Cross said they would appeal.

New York - Smoking marijuana can cause changes in lung tissue that may promote cancer growth, according to a review of decades of research on marijuana smoking and lung cancer. Still, it is not possible to directly link pot use to lung cancer based on existing evidence. More than 40 percent of Americans 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, Dr. Reena Mehra of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and her colleagues point out. "Given the widespread use of marijuana, More....

Police arrested Keathley after getting a tip,
Jon Ostendorff
Citizen-times.com
July 13th 2006

Bryson City — A Swain County teacher arrested on drug charges once owned an Asheville business that aided advocates for medicinal and industrial uses of marijuana. Delphia “Maria” Birchfield Keathley, 35, of Jenkins Branch Road, Bryson City, has been suspended from her job as an English teacher at Swain High School, Superintendent Robert White said Tuesday. Police arrested Keathley after getting a tip that a teacher from Bryson City was buying marijuana in Asheville and taking it home to sell, according to a written statement from the Asheville Police Department.She is charged with felony possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, maintaining a vehicle for the sale of marijuana and drug possession, Full Possession.....

San Antonio> Texas researchers say a synthetic version of the chemical that gives marijuana smokers their high can also act as a pain reliever.Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center found that certain synthetic cannabinoid chemicals can block a heat-related nerve channel in the body, making it a potential new pain reliever for surgical incisions and chronic inflammation disorders such as arthritis, the San Antonio Express reported.The study will appear this week on the online site of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Lead author Kenneth M. Hargreaves, chairman of endodontics in the university`s dental school, said that by altering the cannabinoid and using it in tiny doses, scientists appear to be able to avoid the neurological effects of marijuana, the newspaper reported.

The result of a 3News TNS poll showing that 63 percent of New Zealanders would support a law change allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis as a painkiller is being welcomed by Green Party Alcohol and Drugs Spokesperson Metiria Turei. Mrs Turei's Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Bill, which would would allow registered medical practitioners to prescribe cannabis to patients with specific serious medical conditions was recently pulled from the Ballot and will soon be debated in Parliament. "It is very gratifying to see that the public are so supportive of a law change like this," Mrs Turei says, Full Support.....

There is a whole lot of misconception about Cannabis and its effects. It is widely thought to be a mild medicine, not causing much harm. Such misrepresentations of the drug have resulted in making it a Class C drug. However scientists from Karolinska Institute in Sweden have unearthed the harmful effects of cannabis, when they exposed rats to THC, a key causative ingredient in cannabis. It was found that the brain of those rats exposed to THS, got attuned to heroin, necessitating an increase in heroin intake during subsequent trials. Cannabis is also linked to risks of cancer, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and psychosis.

Smoking cannabis during pregnancy is a bigger problem in Australia than previously thought, and the effect on babies is severe, a world-first study has found.The problem is compounded by the fact that 90 per cent of drug-addicted expectant mothers smoke cigarettes, adding to the risk to their babies. The findings come from a landmark study by the University of NSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre of more than 415,000 births in NSW between 1998 and 2002. The findings were published in the British journal Addiction, Full Story...

San Francisco: The newest attraction planned for Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco's most popular tourist destination, has no sign, no advertisements and not even a scrap of sourdough. Yet everyone seems to think that the new business, the Green Cross, will be a hit, drawing customers from all over the region to sample its aromatic wares.
For some, that is exactly the problem. The Green Cross is a cannabis club, one of scores that sell marijuana to patients with a doctor's note. They have sprouted around California in the decade since the passage of Proposition 215, which legalized the use and sale of marijuana to those suffering from chronic pain, illness or infirmity. San Francisco, a hot spot in the AIDS epidemic, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the proposition in 1996 and has about 30 clubs, serving some 25,000 patients and caregivers, Full Fight....

MALIBU:Alarmed by the presence of at least one medicinal marijuana dispensary in Malibu, the city council last night voted to freeze any new centers out of the city for at least 45 days while zoning and legal issues are sorted out.
City Attorney Christi Hogin said the presence of the PCH Collective, a medicinal marijuana dispensary tucked in an office building behind a Thai restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, is opposed by sheriff’s department officials she has talked to. Earlier this month, the same sheriff’s department was asked by the City of West Hollywood not to disrupt marijuana distribution by collectives there. The nonprofit pot centers are the seed of Proposition 215, a statewide vote passed 10 years ago that allows Californians to obtain and possess marijuana legally for pain medication as directed by a doctor., Full Freeze...

Supporters of patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes plan a protest today outside the office of U.S. Rep. Mary Bono, officials said. The Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project and the American Harm Reduction Association, according to a news release issued by the groups, stated the protest will begin at 10 a.m. The groups are “concerned that Rep. Bono will be voting against an amendment, that if passed, would help end the dichotomy between state and federal law” governing medical marijuana usage. Since 1996, California law has allowed use of medical marijuana by approved patients. However, a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last year made such a practice illegal under federal law, Full Protest...

Scientists from the Russian city of St. Petersburg have announced they had managed to develop a new, drug-free variant of cannabis which, if grown on industrial level, would cross with wild growing hemp end eventually force it out of existence. Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Grigoryev of the Russian Plant Institute as saying that the amount of psychotropic substance in the new variant of cannabis is practically zero. When the new plant is crossed with the wild growing hemp the amount of psychotropic substance in the latter will gradually become less and less. If Russian hemp is grown on industrial level, it could even force the cannabis that is used for making hashish and marijuana out of existence. The active substance in cannabis, thujone, creates Atrial natriuretic peptides which stimulates the consequent reactions in the body, More....

The biotech that has developed medicines derived from cannabis, GW Pharmaceuticals, reports first-half results, although there will be little interest in the numbers. GW's cash position will be in focus as it looks to get its potential blockbuster product Sativex to market. Sativex can be used for neuropathic and cancer pain relief, both multibillion-pound markets. More significantly, it can be used to treat multiple sclerosis spasticity.
Ibraheem Mahmood, at Investec Securities, said Sativex has received regulatory clearance to sell in Canada, and to run trials in the US, but GW has thus far been frustrated by the more mechanistic approach of the UK regulator. Investec expects net cash of £25m at the end of the first half. That's enough to fund the company for a further two years, although it is likely to sign a US partner before then. Ibraheem Mahmood, at Investec Securities, said Sativex has received regulatory clearance to sell in Canada, and to run trials in the US, but GW has thus far been frustrated by the more mechanistic approach of the UK regulator. Investec expects net cash of £25m at the end of the first half. That's enough to fund the company for a further two years, although it is likely to sign a US partner before then.

Although the Canadian government has spent more than $5 million US on its program, fewer than 200 Canadians are currently enrolled, the report found. The report is the culmination of an 18-month project aimed at identifying barriers to access to medical marijuana and the federal government's medical marijuana program.

The report points out a number of obstacles to greater enrollment in the government plan, including lack of awareness that it even exists, difficulties in finding physicians who will cooperate by recommending marijuana, and the lack of good options for an affordable, legal supply. Marijuana provided through the government program is grown by a single contractor and is almost universally shunned as low quality by patients. Taken together, these obstacles are an absolute incentive for patients to turn to the black market, the report said.

The AIDS Society report made several recommendations to improve the program. The program should be audited by the Auditor General to ensure it is using resources effectively, the group said. Seriously ill Canadians and other interested parties should be represented in a renewed Health Canada Stakeholders' Advisory Committee to ensure their interests are heard. The country's hesitant doctors' associations need to come on board as well, and the government needs to back away from its efforts to restrict individual grows for patients and community grows in the form of compassion clubs.

If Health Canada were to heed the reasonable recommendations in this report, Canada's Medical Marijuana Access Regulations could move from being the bad joke they have become.

New Zealand > Sufferers of some serious illnesses may soon have the option of being prescribed cannabis to help alleviate their symptoms, the Green Party says. Associate Health Spokesperson Metiria Turei's Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Private Members' Bill was selected from the Parliamentary ballot today. "I am really pleased that the public and Members of Parliament will now be able to properly investigate this issue," Mrs Turei says. The Bill would allow registered medical practitioners to prescribe cannabis to those with specific serious medical conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, glaucoma and those suffering from nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy, More Options....

San Diego County won a big victory last Friday in its attempt to overturn Prop. 215, the California law that allows sick people to use marijuana for medicinal purposes with a doctor’s recommendation. Though Prop. 215 was approved by voters 10 years ago, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors decided late last year to challenge the law after the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, threatened to sue the county for failing to implement a 2004 state law requiring I.D. cards to be issued to medical-marijuana patients. Supervisors argued that both Prop. 215 and the I.D.-card law are preempted by federal law, which prohibits any kind of marijuana use. After hearing arguments from San Diego and San Bernardino counties over the “ripeness” of the case—essentially that Prop.215 creates friction between the state and federal governments—San Diego County Superior Court Judge William Nevitt ruled there was enough merit for the case to proceed, More.....

A new method for lowering blood pressure with a compound that synthesizes a cannabis (hashish or marijuana) plant component has been developed by a Hebrew University doctoral student in pharmacology. For his work on the cardiovascular activity of cannabinoids (chemical compounds derived from cannabis), Yehoshua Maor has been named one of the winners of this year's Kaye Innovation Awards, to be presented on Tuesday during the university's 69th annual board of governors meetings. The Kaye Innovation Awards, established by British pharmaceutical industrialist Isaac Kaye, have been given annually since 1994 to encourage HU faculty, staff and students to develop innovative methods and inventions with good commercial potential to benefit the university and society. Full Activity.....

'safety and effectiveness of medical marijuana'
Bergen.com
June 12th 2006

Medical marijuana advocates have gone to court to force the state to help patients participate in research studies on the drug. Monica Jelonnek, a Morristown woman who has multiple sclerosis, and the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, filed suit in Superior Court in Hackensack on Wednesday. They want a judge to order state health commissioner Fred Jacobs to appoint a state review board to approve patients for federally approved medical marijuana studies. A 1981 state law calls for the appointment of such a review board, but it was never implemented. "There are many patients, and the plaintiff, who would benefit from inclusion in federal studies" of the safety and effectiveness of medical marijuana, said Fred DiMaria of Lodi, an attorney and chairman of NORML-NJ, Full Effectiveness.....

'cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical products'
Newswire.ca
June 6/6/6

Cannasat is researching the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and developing new cannabinoid pharmaceutical products. Cannasat is pursuing two complementary business strategies. The first consists of development of novel cannabinoid-based pharmaceutical products through application of drug delivery technologies to be introduced to the market through the traditional regulatory drug approval process. The second is to promote medicinal cannabis research and education with Cannasat's business partner, Prairie Plant Systems Inc., the only government licensed grower and distributor of medicinal cannabis in Canada. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this release.

French pharmaceuticals group develops treatment for condition at the top of global health agenda. A new anti-obesity pill that market observers say could become the world's biggest-selling drug is close to getting approval from the European Commission. The expected green light from Brussels in the next few weeks would mean that the French giant Sanofi-Aventis could begin marketing the treatment, called rimonabant but branded as Acomplia, later this summer. It is the first of a new generation of drugs set to hit the market in the next few years that could transform obesity, still a small market, into a gold mine for the pharmaceutical industry,Full Tale...

South Dakota Initiative Makes the November Ballot
Stopthedrugwar.org
June 2nd 2006

South Dakota electoral officials Wednesday certified that a petition drive to place a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot submitted enough signatures to qualify. Sponsored by South Dakotans for Medical Marijuana , the initiative, if successful, would make South Dakota the 12th state to pass a medical marijuana law, and the first in the Midwest.

The group handed in more than 24,000 signatures on May 2. But because it had to use its existing funds to pay for signature gathering, the group is now broke and asking for contributions.

According to organizers, the initiative would:

As a parent who lost his son to drug use, I now work tirelessly to prevent the same tragedy from ever occurring again, I am dismayed to see the New Jersey Legislature even considering the medicinal use of marijuana, based upon dangerously deceptive claims about the medicinal potential of the crude marijuana plant. Marijuana has not satisfied the demanding requirements of the national drug regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). No crude marijuana liquid or otherwise, smoked or vaporized or eaten in brownies, can meet these criteria. Why would patients and their physicians want to use crude plant material when a proper medical product is already available to physicians as a prescription medicine? Full Tale...