tagged w/ Medical Marijuana
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WASHINGTON — President Obama was once Hawaii’s pothead-in-chief, according to a new biography.
Long before he took briefings from the Joint Chiefs, the prez was a joint-loving member of a high-school dope-smoking club who tooled around Hawaii in a hippie VW van dubbed the “Choomwagon” and blasted Aerosmith tunes as they got wasted, the book says.
Obama and his pals called themselves the “Choom Gang” — local slang for pot-smoking.
Obama even gave a shout-out to the group in his yearbook when he graduated in 1979 from the exclusive Punahou school.
According to David Maraniss’ biography “Barack Obama: The Story,” the future president enacted a liberal weed-smoking policy in the Choomwagon.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/highest_official_in_the_land_qcWIdV2meDQX8Zsg7OWNEK#ixzz1vzNk0TvXWASHINGTON — President Obama was once Hawaii’s pothead-in-chief, according... more
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For a skeptical part of the population, they have assumed medicinal marijuana was a thinly disguised effort at eventual legalization. While it cannot be denied for some that is the case, but with sixteen states and the District of Columbia embracing medicinal use, there is no denying there are legitimate uses for the plant/drug. Look at the latest results on how Americans (by political affiliation, gender and race) feel about the issue...
http://veracitystew.com/?p=35872For a skeptical part of the population, they have assumed medicinal marijuana was a... more
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WASHINGTON -- Nearly three-quarters of Americans and more than two-thirds of Republicans believe federal officials should respect state laws on medical marijuana, a new Mason-Dixon survey of 1,000 likely 2012 general election voters found.
"What the results of this survey show is that there is absolutely no political justification for what President [Barack] Obama is doing with respect to medical marijuana laws," Steve Fox, director of government relations for The Marijuana Policy Project, told HuffPost on Tuesday afternoon. "Across the board ... there is extremely strong support for respecting state medical marijuana laws."
Medical cannabis is currently legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia but remains illegal under federal law, even in states that have passed laws allowing for its use in medical treatment. Federal officials have ramped up enforcement actions around state medical marijuana laws but mounting evidence suggests such actions may not poll well in November.
Asked whether voters felt President Obama should respect the medical marijuana laws in these states, or use federal resources to arrest and prosecute individuals who are acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws, 74 percent of voters nationally said the president should respect state laws, 15 percent said he should prosecute in accordance with federal law and 11 percent weren't sure.
Further, Fox noted, the survey question specifically mentions that some states allow for the regulated cultivation and sale of medical marijuana and the more sympathetic term, "patient," was never even used.
Non-intervention polled well across parties and demographics, with 75 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of independents signaling their support for a hands-off federal approach to state medical marijuana laws. A full 75 percent of women stated they support states' rights when it comes to medical marijuana, which is somewhat surprising, given ample public polling in Colorado and California that suggests more women oppose legalization than men.
A non-intervention policy was also broadly supported across racial groups, with 73 percent of whites, 73 percent of Hispanics and 81 percent of blacks in favor, although polling for minorities may be less accurate: 71 percent of all respondents were white.
Respondents were interviewed nationwide from May 10 through May 14, 2012, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of Washington, D.C. Eighty-five percent of respondents were 35 or older, and as a whole were split 48 percent male to 52 percent female.
The margin for error is 3 percent.
The poll comes as the Obama administration has unleashed an interagency crackdown on the cannabis industry, with raids on pot dispensaries, many in California, that were operating in compliance with state law. Since October 2009, the Justice Department has conducted more than 170 aggressive SWAT-style raids in nine states that allow medical marijuana, resulting in at least 61 federal indictments, according to data compiled by Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group.
While medical marijuana is legal under laws in 17 states and the District of Columbia, federal law says any use of marijuana is illegal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/15/republicans-state-medical-marijuana-laws_n_1519176.htmlWASHINGTON -- Nearly three-quarters of Americans and more than two-thirds of... more
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BILLINGS — Federal and local authorities have raided a medical marijuana business in Billings and seized an undisclosed amount of marijuana and equipment.
The Billings Gazette reports that agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and members of the City Drug Task Force on Friday executed a federal search warrant at the business on Enterprise Avenue.
Task force member Sgt. Brian Korell says he couldn't provide additional details because it was a federal investigation.
Montana Cannabis Industry Association board member Nicole French says the number of medical marijuana dispensers and patient cardholders has fallen in the last year following a series of raids on dispensers.
Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services says that in March 12,000 patients were enrolled with the Montana Marijuana Program, down from 30,000 at the peak.
Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/feds-raid-billings-medical-marijuana-business/article_27c45f62-8bd4-11e1-843f-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1siy7mWHQBILLINGS — Federal and local authorities have raided a medical marijuana... more
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Does Raw Milk Make You Sick? We’ll Soon Find Out.
Gauging quality of care, safety raises questions
Medical marijuana documentary opens in Scottsdale
Dipping the Pacifier in Wine, and Other 1970s-Inspired Parenting TricksDoes Raw Milk Make You Sick? We’ll Soon Find Out.
Gauging quality of care,... more
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A patient sued New Jersey officials Wednesday over delays in starting the state's legalized medical marijuana program.
Richard Caporusso says in a lawsuit that Gov. Chris Christie's administration has been implementing rules for medical marijuana that are "designed with the intent" to interfere with the program. He's calling for courts to take over the program or force the state to speed up implementation.
Caporusso's doctor, Jeffrey S. Pollack, joined him as a plaintiff on behalf of other would-be medical marijuana patients and their doctors.
A law to allow medical marijuana for patients with certain conditions was signed in January 2010 in one of Jon Corzine's last acts as governor. Implementing the program was left to the administration of Christie, who says he believes marijuana may help certain patients but has long harbored doubts about the specifics of New Jersey's law, which is considered the most stringent in the nation.
Since he took office, there have been delays in setting up the regulations for the industry. Rules that were initially to be in place by July 2010 were finally approved in December 2011.
And the rules his administration put in place are not popular with advocates for medical marijuana, who say the illegal drug can alleviate pain and nausea associated with conditions including glaucoma, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and other health problems.
The rules are the only ones among the 16 states that have a law to allow medical marijuana to limit its potency.
The six nonprofit alternative treatment centers selected last year by the state to grow and sell pot to qualifying patients have struggled to find towns willing to accept them. So far, only two have announced local approvals, while others have been met with zoning denials.
Caporusso, of Medford, is represented by William Buckman, one of New Jersey's most prominent civil rights lawyers; and Anne M. Davis, an expert on the law and business of medical marijuana.
Caporusso's medical condition is not specified in the lawsuit, and Davis said she would not disclose it other than to say that he has two conditions that would qualify him under New Jersey's law.
He claims in the lawsuit that the prescription drugs he has taken to deal with his symptoms have caused liver failure.
Neither the state Health Department nor the attorney general's office would comment on the claims in the lawsuit. But Health Department spokeswoman Donna Leusner said the state is making strides toward allowing legal sales.
She said Montclair-based Greenleaf Compassionate Center may soon get a temporary permit to become the first New Jersey alternative treatment center to begin growing pot. Greenleaf and Compassionate Care Foundation of Egg Harbor have applied for their final permits.
Leusner said the state would also soon make public its registry of 109 physicians who say they would be willing to recommend medical marijuana to patients who could benefit from it — and to allow patients to begin registering, too.
But Davis said that even if one or two dispensaries can be running, it won't make up for time lost and the deep restrictions. She said she also fears that some of the dispensaries could linger indefinitely without being fully approved to start operating — or booted from the program and replaced.
"They all should have been approved or denied," she said.
___A patient sued New Jersey officials Wednesday over delays in starting the state's... more
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An old holiday gets a new twist!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vy5AtwJtaY
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The US has one fourth of the world's prison population. It seems Obama wants to keep it that way.The US has one fourth of the world's prison population. It seems Obama wants to... more
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(Being Frugal) E-Books for Kindle and Kindle PC
Pot legalization activists caught in a ‘cannabis conundrum’
Lily Tomlin not lost in the ’60s
‘Hippie’ Harrelson transforms into dirty cop(Being Frugal) E-Books for Kindle and Kindle PC
Pot legalization activists caught in... more
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By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 19:23 EST
Texas Rep. Ron Paul praised the industrial crop hemp during a campaign stop in North Dakota on Monday.
“There is no reason, in a free society, that farmers shouldn’t be allowed to raise hemp,” Paul said, according to the Associated Press. “Hemp is a good product.”
Hemp, a crop related to marijuana, is grown in Canada and other countries to make textiles and numerous other goods. But in the United States the cultivation of hemp is prohibited by federal law, even though it has little to no psychoactive effects.
Paul and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced legislation in 2009 that would have legalized the cultivation of hemp. But the bill never made it out of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
“It is unfortunate that the federal government has stood in the way of American farmers, including many who are struggling to make ends meet, from competing in the global industrial hemp market,” Paul said in 2009.
“The founders of our nation, some of whom grew hemp, would surely find that federal restrictions on farmers growing a safe and profitable crop on their own land are inconsistent with the constitutional guarantee of a limited, restrained federal government.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/21/ron-paul-hemp-is-a-good-product/
"About the only thing I agree with as far as Ron Paul is concerned..."By Eric W. Dolan
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 19:23 EST
Texas Rep. Ron Paul praised... more
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By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, February 20, 2012 15:07 EST
Authorities said this week that hundreds of out-of-state residents have flocked to Oregon in recent years to obtain medical marijuana cards, which the state will issue to anyone with a doctor’s recommendation.
Speaking to a reporter with The Oregonian this weekend, state health officials said that hundreds of people from out-of-state have made the annual pilgrimage since 2010, when they began issuing medical cards to anyone who meets their criteria. State officials finally acknowledging that the little-known loophole has sprung a leak in the law represents a unique trend that’s sure to grow — no pun intended — some additional business for the state’s dispensaries.
The practice of narco-tourism is one that U.S. officials have long warned of when critiquing other nations’ drug laws, particularly the Netherlands, but many would be surprised to hear of the practice occurring between the states. Even so, it’s not nearly at the rate some lawmakers have feared in other situations: just 600 out of approximately 72,000 Oregon medical marijuana cards issued since 2010 went to out-of-state residents.
Oregon’s policy is unique in the nation, though not widely known. For U.S. citizens, it effectively means that it’s easier for an outsider to get pot in Oregon than a coffee shop in Amsterdam, which used to be one of the best known spots in the world for narco-tourism due to its mostly libertarian drug laws. And for prohibition advocates like the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), that actuality is akin to rhetorical “proof” that medical marijuana is a sham cover for interstate drug smuggling and a hidden legalization agenda, which they’ve long argued (PDF) is the case.
On the contrary, even before the Netherlands fought back against narco-tourism by banning outsiders from purchasing cannabis, it had less than half the rate of marijuana use as the U.S. The World Health Organization found in 2008 that just 19.8 percent of the Dutch population reported past marijuana use, versus 42.4 percent of Americans.
Plus, it may not be quite accurate to describe all of the 600 as “narco-tourists.” Many medical marijuana patients have legitimate medical conditions that are alleviated by components of the cannabis plant, whereas the term “tourists” might imply that the trip was made just for fun. Oregon law further restricts doctors from giving marijuana to just anyone, unlike other states. That aside, traveling across state lines with an illegal substance is a federal crime investigated by the DEA, and each one of these individuals is now registered with the state as possibly doing just that.
Though selling marijuana is still technically illegal in Oregon even under state law, growers may be “reimbursed” by the patient for the costs of producing the drug, and caregivers may “deliver” up to 24 ounces at a time to card-carrying patients, who are also permitted to grow their own supply. Similarly, Oregon dispensaries are allowed to place street level signage, buy advertising and even offer delivery services. Conversely, the Netherlands only allows sales of up to five grams of marijuana at a time, and venues that sell the drug are forbidden from placing signage in public.
Proponents of medical marijuana reform in Oregon have argued that the drug should just be treated like any other medicine, suggesting that the awkward and porous nature of the state’s law ultimately attracts criminals from elsewhere (PDF), who can obtain multiple cards to legally transport large quantities of the drug through the state.
Despite numerous patent requests by major drug-makers and other groups, the DEA insists that marijuana should remain a Schedule 1 substance, meaning that the government does not acknowledge its medical value.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/?p=386753
"Nor will the government Ever acknowledge it's Medical Value!!!" =(By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, February 20, 2012 15:07 EST
Authorities said this... more
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By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, February 17, 2012 15:39 EST
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol said Friday morning that it had turned in more than enough valid petition signatures to get their initiative on the ballot later this year.
The activists said they had submitted 12,000 additional signatures, on top of the 163,000 submitted earlier this year. The additional signatures were required after the Secretary of State said that a random sampling of entries found less than 50 percent were valid.
In order to secure a spot on the Colorado statewide ballot, initiatives must carry at least 86,105 valid signatures. Out of the 163,000 signatures initially turned in, only 83,696 were declared valid, forcing the campaigners to carry out an extended effort.
If Colorado voters opt to legalize marijuana in November, the law won’t exactly change: the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause guarantees that states cannot overrule the federal government.
Still, the proposed initiative calls for the law to allow adults over 21 to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home. It would also establish a regulatory framework for the sales of marijuana at storefronts, but gives local governments the opportunity to deny permits for commercial activity related to marijuana.
Campaigners and health experts insist that while it has many drawbacks, using marijuana is actually safer than using alcohol, and causes fewer health effects than smoking tobacco. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency insists that legalizing marijuana “will come at the expense of our children and public safety.”
California voters turned down a similar initiative in 2010 by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent. A Gallup poll published in Oct. 2011 found that, for the first time ever, more than half of Americans favor legalization, marking a dramatic turnaround from just15 years ago when more than 70 percent of Americans favored continuing prohibition.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/?p=386178
"Smoke up Johnny!!!" =)By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, February 17, 2012 15:39 EST
The Campaign to Regulate... more
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Wow, this brought tears to my eyes. A clip from Discovery channel's Weed Wars Season 1, Episode 4.Wow, this brought tears to my eyes. A clip from Discovery channel's Weed Wars... more
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By David Edwards
Monday, February 13, 2012 11:40 EST
A Colorado medical marijuana grower was sentenced to six years in Illinois state prison after he was caught with a shipment of 42 pounds of marijuana in Chicago.
Former Chicago mortgage broker Ryan Bailey had moved to Colorado as a part of the “green rush” of young entrepreneurs going west to make money in the cannabis industry.
A Chicago Police sting caught Ryan Bailey in a home on the Northwest side with dozens of pounds of medical pot on March, 9 2010.
A drug-sniffing dog had located a box with Tupperware containers filled with 42 pounds of weed at a UPS facility, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. Labels on the package indicated it had been shipped from a California law firm to a design company in Chicago.
An undercover officer posing as a UPS worker delivered it to the home, where it was signed for by Jason Duda. Authorities claim that Bailey had paid Duda $200 to accept the package.
After obtaining a search warrant, police allegedly found Bailey in the home holding a package of marijuana, which he quickly tossed into a box.
“Some people in the industry have gotten lucky,” he told the Sun-Times last year. “Other guys like me have gotten caught in the system.”
Bailey is being held in Stateville Correctional Center after being sentenced to six years last week, CBS Chicago reported.
He also faces separate charges in Colorado where he is accused of growing more than 670 marijuana plants.
Under Colorado law, medical marijuana patients can grow up to six plants for personal use. “Caregivers” can grow additional plants for up to five other patients.
North Metro Task Force commander Jerry Peters said there was some wiggle room in the law that could allow patients to grow more plants if they can demonstrate a need.
“But six people could not possibly consume 670 plants in a month,” he added.
Bailey’s wife, Amber Cook, operates the Grass Roots Organica marijuana dispensary in a small Denver home. She is not accused of any wrongdoing.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/13/colorado-medical-marijuana-grower-sentenced-to-six-years/
"Awww Bailey, I thought you lived in Texas???" LOL!!! =)By David Edwards
Monday, February 13, 2012 11:40 EST
A Colorado medical marijuana... more
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By Andrew Jones
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 12:44 EST
A majority of Californians believe that marijuana should be regulated like wine, according to a recent statewide poll sponsored by legalization advocates.
Sixty-two percent of residents in the Golden State support the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012, a ballot initiative that will be voted on in November. The poll, conduced by opinion research firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates, found that only 35 percent were oppose to the ballot.
The firm found that 80 percent of the 800 people surveyed agreed with the statement “State and federal drug laws are outdated and have failed, therefore, we need to take a new approach that makes sense for today.”
Steve Collett, treasurer for the legalization group behind the poll, celebrated the results in a media advisory.
“There is no policy that is more discriminatory or wastes more tax dollars,” Collett said. “This initiative helps farmers, reduces prison overcrowding, relieves burdens on the courts, generates revenues for the state, and frees up police to work on real crimes.”
This is the latest poll showing increased support for pro-marijuana advocates. Last October, a Gallup pull showed that half of Americans now support legalizing marijuana.
California voters narrowly turned down legalization in 2010 by a 53 to 46 percent margin. Efforts to have Californians vote on legalization again were still underway.
Both Colorado and Washington are also expected to vote on legalizing marijuana in November.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/01/poll-62-percent-of-californians-want-marijuana-regulated-like-wine/
"I think someday soon, the benefits of Marijuana will be too many to continue to overlook!!!"By Andrew Jones
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 12:44 EST
A majority of Californians... more
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This is spooky. The DEA is apparently "investigating" state legislators in Montana who helped write the state's medical marijuana law as being part of a marijuana trafficking "conspiracy."
This is for real. They are going around interrogating medical marijuana providers about what they know about specific legislators.
Like one legislator said, "this is McCarthyism all over again."
Part of the basis for this is a federal judge in Montana recently ruled that federal marijuana laws trump state medical marijuana laws. The once-booming (and granted, the system was being abused) medical marijuana industry in the state is virtually dead.
But now, it sounds like the feds are going after people who wrote the law to begin with.
It almost makes you want to vote for Ron Paul! (Well, not really).
http://missoulian.com/news/local/dea-inquiries-into-state-s-medical-marijuana-industry-include-legislators/article_54b1b528-4a3a-11e1-99bc-001871e3ce6c.htmlThis is spooky. The DEA is apparently "investigating" state legislators in... more
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By Muriel Kane
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A British pharmaceutic firm is completing clinical trials of a drug derived directly from marijuana and hopes to receive approval to market it from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of 2013.
The drug, which contains both THC and cannabidiol, has already been approved in Canada, New Zealand, and several European countries to relieve muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis. In the US, however, it would be sold to relieve cancer pain.
The FDA began approving drugs based on synthetic equivalents of the active ingredients in marijuana in 1985, but this would be the first drug derived from the plant itself. This is significant because, as the Associated Press points out, “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration categorizes pot as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but the availability of a chemically similar prescription drug could increase pressure on the federal government to revisit its position.”
“There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing,” the president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society told the AP. “It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, `If there is this demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.’”
Some marijuana advocates, however, worry that government approval of marijuana-based prescription drugs could become a new argument against legalization of medical marijuana. “That’s the race against time,” Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access told AP, “in terms of how quickly can we put pressure on the federal government to recognize the plant has medical use versus the government coming out with the magic bullet pharmaceutical pill.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/22/pot-based-prescription-drug-could-receive-fda-approval/
"Legalize It!!!!!!"By Muriel Kane
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A British pharmaceutic firm is completing... more
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By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the founders of the United States would have dealt violently with marijuana growers, despite the fact that they grew the plant for commercial purposes themselves.
He said at an town hall event in New Hampshire that decriminalizing drugs like marijuana would increase the rate of addictions and increase crime.
“In general, I’d like us to be as drug free as possible and I think that it requires a much more serious approach.”
Gingrich was later asked if former Presidents Thomas Jefferson or George Washington should have been arrested for growing marijuana.
“I think Jefferson or George Washington would have rather strongly discouraged you from growing marijuana and their techniques with dealing with it would have been rather more violent than our current government,” he responded.
Both Washington and Jefferson grew marijuana on their Virginia farms. At the time, the plant was used to make a number a products, such as rope and textiles. It did not become a widely-used recreational drug in the United States until the 20th century, but some academics have claimed that at least seven early U.S. presidents used the drug in the form of hashish.
Gingrich has previously called for a more aggressive drug policy, including the death penalty for drug smugglers.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/04/gingrich-founding-fathers-would-have-violent-reaction-to-pot-growers/
Watch this video from CNN, uploaded Jan. 4, 2012.
"WTF???" Who made Newt a Historian???" I Highly Doubt the Founding Fathers would have done or said anything about the Hemp back in that day, in fact I am sure they used quite a bit of it for ropes, clothing etc....By Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the... more
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