Pot Shop Owners Appeal To City Council for Help
Los Angeles -- Incensed by the city's determination that just a quarter of the registered Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are qualified to remain open, about 80 operators and advocates held a subdued rally Tuesday and then trooped into City Hall to demand that the council intervene. The protest's only speaker was Don Duncan, a Los Angeles resident who is the state director for Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy organization. Standing on a planter next to placards that went unused and donuts that went uneaten, he exhorted those in the small assembly to call their City Council members.
When are People Too High To Drive?
California -- A cop pulls over a motorist who's driving like he's drunk, but the officer suspects the driver may be high on marijuana. Unlike with alcohol, there's no objective way for police to detect whether somebody is impaired while driving under the influence of marijuana. There's no breath test for THC, pot's active ingredient, and no 0.08 limit to drive like California law sets for alcohol in the blood. Now, as Californians consider making the state the first in the country to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, police officials are concerned that Proposition 19 could put an extremely difficult burden on police: How will they determine whether a driver is too drugged to drive?
Medical Marijuana Patient Tracking?
Colorado -- Medical marijuana advocates are concerned that proposed new regulations for the industry will result in patient tracking, scaring patients away from wanting to be a part of the system. The Cannabis Therapy Institute is asking advocates to oppose the draft rules by the Colorado Department of Revenue because they say it will lead to fear. The rules, released at the end of August, consist of 92 pages of proposed regulations. Much of it will become the basis for permanent regulations for the burgeoning medical marijuana industry in Colorado, and perhaps set a template for states across the nation.
Magic Mushrooms May Ease Anxiety of Cancer: Study
Chicago -- The hallucinogen psilocybin -- known by the street name magic mushrooms -- may help ease the anxiety that often accompanies late-stage cancer, U.S. researchers said on Monday. Cancer patients given a moderate dose of psilocybin -- a hallucinogen with effects similar to LSD -- were measurably less depressed six months after a single dose compared with a placebo. Patients seemed somewhat less anxious, they reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
California's Prop 19 Could End Mexico's Drug War
Mexico City -- On Nov. 2, Californians will vote on Proposition 19, deciding whether to legalize the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. If the initiative passes, it won't just be momentous for California; it may, at long last, offer Mexico the promise of an exit from our costly war on drugs. The costs of that war have long since reached intolerable levels: more than 28,000 of our fellow citizens dead since late 2006; expenditures well above $10 billion; terrible damage to Mexico's image abroad; human rights violations by government security forces; and ever more crime. In a recent poll by the Mexico City daily Reforma, 67 percent of Mexicans said these costs are unacceptable, while 59 percent said the drug cartels are winning the war.
Marijuana's Potency & Why The Law Should Change
Seattle, WA -- I don't smoke pot. And I pretty much think people who do are idiots. This certainly includes Marc Emery, the self-styled "Prince of Pot" from Canada whom I indicted in 2005 for peddling marijuana seeds to every man, woman and child with an envelope and a stamp. Emery recently pleaded guilty and will be sentenced this month in Seattle, where he faces five years in federal prison. If changing U.S. marijuana policy was ever Emery's goal, the best that can be said is that he took the wrong path.
LA Sheriff Says Almost All Pot Clinics Criminal
California -- The Los Angeles County sheriff has escalated his war of words against California medical marijuana dispensaries, saying as many as 97 percent operate as criminal enterprises. Some of the pot shops get marijuana from Mexican drug cartels, and most dole out pot to people with no medical need for it, Sheriff Lee Baca said. "Millions of dollars are being made for profit, and it's all illegal," the sheriff said this week.
Marijuana May Not Be The Gateway Drug Some Think
USA -- Marijuana is thought by some to be a gateway drug among young people who eventually go on to try stronger substances. But that may be the exception rather than the rule, a new study finds. Researchers from the University of New Hampshire looked at data from a random group of 1,286 children, teens and young adults who were in Miami-Dade public schools in the 1990s. Among the study participants, 26% were African American, 44% were Hispanic, and 30% were non-Hispanic white.
Follow The Doctor's Orders
Washington, D.C. -- With the passing of Initiative 59 this spring, medical marijuana became legal in the District. Finally, the D.C. Council realized the lunacy of keeping the substance illegal for medical purposes. But GW administrators clearly still fear the reefer, because they have banned the use or possession of medical marijuana on campus. While I can sympathize with the University in its mission to keep illicit substances off campus, I can't agree with denying a student with a valid prescription the right to do something that would be perfectly legal anywhere else in the city.
Cannabis Catch-22
Colorado -- New legislation regulating Colorados budding medical marijuana industry is leaving local dispensary owners and county officials in a grey area, as dispensaries try to meet a new requirement that they cultivate at least 70 percent of their cannabis on site or at an optional premises cultivation operation. A number of Telluride dispensaries are turning to unincorporated county land to set up these operations, which leaves the county grappling with how to regulate grow operations.
Colo. Pot Sellers Face New Growing Requirement
Central City, Colo. -- Don Boring owns a grocery store, a liquor store and now, a medical marijuana dispensary. The main difference among them is that he has to produce his own pot inventory. Colorado set a Sept. 1 deadline for dispensaries to show they grow at least 70 percent of the pot they sell - the first requirement of its kind in the 14 states, along with Washington, D.C., that have medical marijuana laws.
State OKs Down East Marijuana Dispensary
Augusta, Maine -- State health officials on Tuesday selected a Portland-based nonprofit to open a medical marijuana dispensary in the small Washington County town of Whitneyville. Primary Organic Therapy Inc. hopes to operate one of eight tightly regulated facilities in the state where qualified patients or their caregivers can legally purchase marijuana for treatment of various ailments and medical conditions.
Proposed Pot Farm Angers Colo. Residents
Longmont, Colo. -- The investor saw potential in the scrubby 67 acres tucked away amid multimillion dollar homes: He would turn the land into a vast pot farm and capitalize on the booming medical marijuana industry. But Scott Mullner, a city councilman from Laramie, Wyo., infuriated his Colorado neighbors with his plan to place a marijuana farm in the midst of their idyllic Northern Colorado countryside. They say the project will damage property values and attract more unwanted attention than the previous business at the location an organic egg farm.
New Mexico Proposes Fees To Fund Cannabis Program
Albuquerque, N.M. -- New Mexico is proposing an increase in fees on medical marijuana producers to help fund administration of the state's program. The New Mexico Department of Health, which operates the program, wants to increase the application fee on would-be producers from the current $100 to $1,000 and establish a new annual fee on the licensed nonprofits that grow medical marijuana. That fee would be equal to 7 percent of a producer's total annual gross receipts. Preliminary figures estimate each producer could generate $300,000 to $400,000 in gross revenues a year, said Health Department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer.
Smoking Marijuana Helps Chronic Pain Suffers
USA -- Stick to the pipe, medical marijuana users: thats the message from Canadian researchers who found that smoking even relatively low doses of cannabis can help reduce chronic pain, ease sleep and reduce anxiety. The findings were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. For the study, 21 participants experiencing chronic neuropathic pain for at least three months smoked different preparations of marijuana three times a day for five days each, and stayed smoke-free for nine days as a buffer in between treatments.
Smoked Marijuana May Ease Chronic Nerve Pain
World -- Smoking cannabis, also known as marijuana, reduced pain in patients with nerve pain stemming from injuries or surgical complications, new research shows. Twenty-one adults with chronic nerve pain were taught to take a single inhalation of 25 milligrams of cannabis through a pipe, three times a day, for five days. The cannabis contained one of three levels of potency of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, as well as a placebo dosage containing no THC.
Panel Makes Progress To Fix Medical Marijuana Law
Montana -- Were encouraged by last weeks legislative action moving the process forward to tighten Montanas medical marijuana regulations. Granted, this is just a little step in what will be a long legislative effort that could bring more restrictions to the states medical marijuana program that voters placed into law in 2004. The Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee voted 7-1 Tuesday to have a bill drafted and prepared for introduction before the 2011 Legislature convenes in January.
LA Strictly Interprets Restriction on Dispensaries
Calif. -- When the Los Angeles City Council adopted its medical marijuana ordinance, it aimed to rout unscrupulous dispensary operators whose unruly customers irritated residents and operators who opened up willy-nilly across the city, ignoring a ban on new stores. But the ordinance has snared operators who appear to have tried hard to adhere to state law and the city's rules. Among them are some of the most politically active operators whose dispensaries are considered model operations. Last week, the city sued these dispensaries and dozens of others and asked a judge to rule that they could be shut down.
Medical Use of Marijuana Costs Some a Paycheck
USA -- Residents in 14 states and Washington can now appeal to their doctors for prescriptions for medical marijuana to help them with their pain. Their employers, however, may not be so understanding. In some cases, workers have been fired for failing drug tests despite having prescriptions saying, in effect, that what they are doing is legal according to the laws of their states.
Can MMJ Aid The Prescription Addiction Epidemic?
Colorado -- For months, media reports have chronicled fiery debates over marijuanas medicinal utility and its impact on our broader communities. But what about those constituencies who dont have a lobbyist down at the Capitol or City Hall? What about our veterans? National polls consistently show support for medical marijuana rights at over 60 percent. A May Rasmussen report concluded that one in two Colorado voters support outright marijuana legalization, even for non-medicinal purposes.
Roadblocks in DC MMJ Law Don't Quell Entrepreneurs
Washington, D.C. -- The District is writing strict new rules to regulate its nascent medical marijuana industry, but some of the entrepreneurs best positioned to lead the way have blemished backgrounds -- including drug convictions -- at odds with the city's vision. Among the District's 300 proposed rules is a requirement that operators would need to be "of good character" -- no felony convictions or misdemeanor drug convictions allowed.
Only a Quarter of Dispensaries To Stay Open
California -- Los Angeles officials announced Wednesday that only 41 medical marijuana dispensaries are eligible to stay in business under the city's restrictive ordinance, a number so low that the city will suspend the winnowing process and ask a judge to rule that it is legal. "It was a surprise," said Jane Usher, a special assistant city attorney who worked closely with the City Council to draft the complex medical marijuana law and is defending it in court.
Facebook Bans Use of Marijuana Leaf in Ad
USA -- Pot leaves are easy to find on Facebook pages. But the nation's largest social-networking site has decided they cannot appear in advertisements, prohibiting them as "illegal content." The policy was disclosed Tuesday after a national campaign promoting legalization accused Facebook of censoring political speech. The Just Say Now campaign said the popular website rejected its ads after they had run for more than a week. The ads featured the readily recognizable leaf and asked the website's users to "sign the petition to President Obama to support states' rights to legalize marijuana."
Why California Should Just Say No To Prop. 19
Calif. -- Californians will face an important decision in November when they vote on whether to legalize marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, rely on two main arguments: that legalizing and taxing marijuana would generate much-needed revenue, and that legalization would allow law enforcement to focus on other crimes. As experts in the field of drug policy, policing, prevention, education and treatment, we can report that neither of these claims withstand scrutiny.
LA Needs a Clear Policy for The MJ Industry
California -- If there was ever an industry that cried out for more regulation, more oversight, more legitimacy, it's California's medical marijuana industry. Yes, we're calling it an industry. While those who proffer and use medicinal pot may call themselves caregivers and patients, and they may present their dispensaries as co-ops and collectives, the reality is that medical marijuana has become a business. People pay a doctor to get a "recommendation" to legally use pot. They pay a dispensary for the weed.
Medical Pot Industry Split on Prop. 19
Sacramento, CA -- The Canna Care medical marijuana dispensary has a truck driving around Sacramento with a sign telling people to vote "no" on the state ballot initiative that would legalize pot for recreational use. George Mull, a lawyer for several Northern California pot shops, is fighting Proposition 19 on claims it threatens protections put in place for medical pot users with the 1996 passage of California's medical marijuana law.
Boulder County Tentatively Supports Pot Farm
Colorado -- Two of Boulder Countys three commissioners tentatively agreed Tuesday with the Land Use Departments conclusion that a medical marijuana farm could be allowed north of Longmont. But commissioners Will Toor and Ben Pearlman delayed making a final decision until Commissioner Cindy Domenico, who was absent Tuesday, could weigh in and until all three could meet with county attorneys to get legal advice.
Our View: The Most Anti-Drug Council Members
Colorado -- In politics, the best action is often no action at all. Thats because politicians cannot solve most problems. Our cultures belief that politicians are leaders, able to solve most problems, only harms us. Politicians typically forget their own limitations when presented a dilemma, or else they lack the humility and strength of conviction to just do nothing. Monday was a notable exception, when a majority on the Colorado Springs City Council chose to do nothing at all, regarding a failed petition drive for a ballot measure designed to forbid medical marijuana stores in Colorado Springs.
Ritter Turns To MMJ Fund To Help Balance CO Budget
Colorado -- He opposed it as Denver's district attorney, but Gov. Bill Ritter is now turning to medical marijuana to heal the state budget. The plan Ritter announced Monday to bridge a nearly $60 million shortfall in the current budget year relies on $9 million from the state's Medical Marijuana Program Cash Fund, financed by fees on patients who get cards to use medical pot.
County To Review Pot Farm Proposal
Colorado -- Boulder County Commissioners on Tuesday will consider whether to schedule a public hearing on the Land Use Departments approval of an application that could eventually lead to the growing and storage of medical marijuana on a farm north of Longmont. At issue is a proposed land-use change that would allow intensive agricultural use of the 67-acre property at 10437 Yellowstone Road specifically, the cultivation, harvesting and drying of medical marijuana plants inside the farms five existing enclosed steel buildings.
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