tagged w/ Medical Cannabis
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Marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs are attracting renewed attention as potential treatments for psychological disorders, particularly in people who have not responded to conventional drugs like Elavil, Prozac, Paxil, Trazodone, Wellbutrin or the many other antidepressants.
Read the whole article, Marijuana and Hallucinogens as an Effective Treatment for Depression, at http://www.addictsnotanonymous.com/2011/04/marijuana-and-hallucinogens-as.htmlMarijuana and hallucinogenic drugs are attracting renewed attention as potential... more
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In an industrial section of Oakland, California, former Morgan Stanley investment banker Derek Peterson hops into a trailer being outfitted with shower drains, lights and humidifiers, all used for growing marijuana.
“This is one we’re finishing up, what we call our bloom room,” he said. Peterson, 36, sells the trailers for $30,000 to $80,000 as “plug-and-play” facilities for cultivating pot. Customers don’t need to buy hydroponic equipment or even stay on-site -- lighting, temperature, nutrients, water and humidity can be operated remotely via an iPhone app.
The legalization of medical marijuana -- permitted in at least 15 states -- has kicked off a booming economy in ancillary goods. Startups such as Peterson’s GrowOp Technology Ltd. and General Cannabis Inc. compare the phenomenon to the California gold rush, when the people making the real money were the ones selling pick axes and shovels. Both companies are planning initial public offerings, part of an effort to remove the stigma from what’s seen as a multibillion-dollar industry.
“We’re better off by being in the public arena and showing a face of professionalism,” said Jim Pakulis, chief executive officer of General Cannabis, who says medical marijuana could be a $60 billion industry nationwide. “The market will just continue to expand.”
Growing marijuana violates federal law, and recreational use of the drug remains illegal at the state level. That puts related businesses at risk of getting shut down by law enforcement. By focusing on equipment, services and technology, Pakulis and Peterson aim to sidestep the legal pitfalls of the trade while reaping the benefits of its expansion.
Dispensary Map
General Cannabis operates several businesses, including WeedMaps.com, which directs users to more than 800 pot dispensaries nationally; a company that handles administrative tasks for more than a dozen medical marijuana clinics in California; and a payment-processing service for dispensaries.
“We are a technology company with an affinity toward medicinal cannabis,” Pakulis said in an interview.
General Cannabis, based in Costa Mesa, California, seeks to raise $10.5 million in an IPO, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1. The company posted net income of $1.2 million in 2010 on revenue of $7.7 million, according to the filing.
Pakulis, 47, has been involved with managing and consulting startups in various industries for more than 15 years. The company also brought on a former Silicon Valley Bank executive in January to lead General Cannabis’s strategic efforts.
Morgan Stanley
GrowOp’s Peterson spent almost a decade managing investment portfolios before starting his current company. After stints at Wachovia and Morgan Stanley, where he managed a $100 million fund, he went out on his own, taking some clients with him. In addition to GrowOp, he oversees a $48 million portfolio with a partner.
GrowOp sold its first trailer in May, and by the end of the year posted $800,000 in revenue, Peterson said. It made $250,000 more in January alone, he said.
The business has mainly grown from word of mouth. Peterson is rolling out a catalog, which he expects to generate 90 percent of sales. It will offer hundreds of products for cultivating pot -- everything from special light bulbs and nutrients to something called “hydroponic grow medium.”
Pillow Stuffing
“It’s pillow stuffing,” Peterson said, as he digs his hand through a box of chunky blocks of white foam material. “But apparently plants grow phenomenal in it.”
Peterson wants to undercut distributors of these products to the retail hydroponic shops, where growers buy materials for cultivating plants. Distributors typically mark up their goods 100 percent, he said.
“We can operate a thriving business and do so with 60 to 70 percent margins,” Peterson said.
His goal is sales of $2.5 million this year, then $5 million to $8 million next year. While GrowOp hasn’t filed paperwork to go public -- and its revenue is smaller than General Cannabis’s -- it plans to have an IPO in 2011. GrowOp is currently in the audit stage of its offering plan and working with Network 1 Financial Securities Inc., Peterson said.
Peterson always wanted to take a company public, though he never found the right specialty. That changed when he learned how much medical marijuana growers were making, he said.
“The few dispensaries in my neighborhood -- I started talking to them and found out they were doing $10 million to $14 million in business a year,” Peterson said. “I just started to see the economics.”
Medical Uses
Marijuana, produced from the cannabis plant, can be smoked or ingested. Advocates of medical use say marijuana can ease cancer patients’ nausea from chemotherapy, help treat glaucoma, stimulate AIDS patients’ appetites and ease pain for multiple sclerosis sufferers.
While law enforcement has taken a hands-off approach to General Cannabis and GrowOp, the federal marijuana ban could mean the companies are targeted for aiding and abetting a crime.
“Under United States federal law, the possession, use, cultivation and transfer of cannabis is illegal,” General Cannabis said in the “risk factors” portion of its filing. “We provide services to customers that are engaged in those businesses. As a result, law enforcement authorities may seek to bring an action or actions against us.”
California Initiative
California voters approved a ballot initiative in 1996 permitting people with a doctor’s recommendation to possess the drug, though they rejected a proposition last year that would have legalized it for recreational purposes. Other states have followed California’s lead with their own medical-pot laws.
Not everyone thinks the industry is poised for growth. Dale Gieringer, who runs the California office for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, said the value of medical pot has started to contract as more growers add supply to the market and reduce prices.
“There’s a glut on the market, a general retrenchment and it’s not clear to me how much the market can expand unless laws change,” Gieringer said.
In the past few years, prices have dropped by half to $1,800 a pound for marijuana grown outdoors, he said. Pot grown indoors fetches a higher price -- $3,000 a pound -- though it’s seeing a pullback as well, Gieringer said.
Peterson says customers are interested in his trailers and products for various reasons. One buyer in Colorado uses his to grow mushrooms for culinary use. Another wanted to get into the business because making a profit in his other profession as a porn-film director was getting difficult.
“They see the green rush -- and like the gold rush back in the day -- are getting picks and shovels,” Peterson said.
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/marijuana-leaf.jpg
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-10/marijuana-ipos-provide-investors-with-gateway-to-cannabis-boom.htmlIn an industrial section of Oakland, California, former Morgan Stanley investment... more
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Main Findings: THC-based medicine, when used as an experimental drug of treatment, significantly reduced breast cancer tumor growth, tumor numbers, induces cancer cell suicide (called apoptosis), and stopped the breast cancer cells from spreading to the lungs.
A very specially genetically bred mouse (MMTV-neu) that makes human-like breast tissue was used. This animal is the gold standard that is used and recognized in all breast cancer research because its genes have been changed and instructed to grow the same type of aggressive breast cancer tissue.
Also, these mice/clones are all identical to each other in every way, which allows for tight experimental controls. These mouse experiments speed up research, because humans are not involved, only their diseased tissue.
The results of this study provide strong preclinical evidence for use of cannabinoid-based therapies for the number one, hard to treat, aggressive, ErbB2 driven breast cancer, which makes up 30 percent of all breast cancer cases and causes the most deaths in women.
Advanced ErbB2 driven breast cancer typically spreads to the lungs and has a poor outcome for survival with existing conventional treatments used presently. A new, novel treatment idea was desperately needed to find a (non-toxic?) effective new medicine to be a game changer.
Background:
When a lump is discovered in a breast, and a tissue biopsy sample is sent to pathology, the pathology report guides the course of the treatment. It tells the cancer tumor's size, if it has spread or is stable, if it is hormone-receptor positive or negative, and most importantly its ErbB2 receptor count.
About 30 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancer samples will come back from pathology as "ErbB2 / over expression." Over expression means that the DNA which you were born with, and which is the "build blueprint" for breast tissue, has a genetic defect in its code, and, say, instead of building 100 ErbB2 receptors, it builds 10,000 ErbB2 receptors. This means that when the signal is sent by Akt 1 to grow and build more proteins, the breast tissue is overstimulated, because there are too many ErbB2 receptors built into the cell's membrane.
Too many signals to grow are sent into the internal machinery inside the cell, the ErbB2 receptors "over-receive and over-send the signal" and may cause normal cells to form cancer or to stimulate any single cancer cells that exist also to grow and multiply out of control and form a tumor over time.
The present drug treatment for ErbB2 driven breast cancer is a drug called Herceptin. This is the trade name under which it is sold; trastuzumab is the generic pharmaceutical name.
Herceptin was originally developed in mice, as a mouse antibody. Because humans have immune reactions to mouse proteins, it was later developed into a humanized antibody. Because the antibodies were produced from one cell that was grown into a clone of identical cells, it is called a monoclonal antibody.
This drug was developed using the same MMTV-neu mouse model as THC was, as described above.
The original studies of trastuzumab showed that it improved survival in late-state (metastatic) breast cancer, but there is controversy over whether trastuzumab is effective in earlier stage breast cancer. Trastuzumab is also controversial because of its cost, as much as $100,000 per year, and while certain private insurance companies in the U.S. and government health systems in Canada, the U.K. and elsewhere have refused to pay for trastuzumab for "certain patients" (code for the poor), some companies have since accepted trastuzumab treatment as covered, preventative treatment.
Think about that: $100,000 for one year of treatment per patient! Let's see: A thousand patients times $100,000 = $100 million! Ten thousand patients times $100,000 = $1 billion. It's so expensive that even the U.S. government doesn't want to pay for it. Somebody, somewhere, is making a lot of money.
Now do you know why cannabis isn't being researched as a cure? Do you see why some would have a vested interest in stopping it?
Oh, I left out one important fact: Trastuzumab only has a 25 to 30 percent successful rate of cure! And nearly 15 percent of people treated eventually develop new metastases. This drug's cure rates are no better than the effect of a placebo!
When an experiment is conducted, the new drug being tested has to outperform the "placebo effect" to show it works. The new drug should be in at least the 40 percent range to show its effectiveness. In this case, it failed to do that -- yet it is still being prescribed as a main, go-to treatment at $100,000 per year per breast cancer patient.
What happens if you have no health insurance or a job? Is this a crime? You tell me... And cannabis is still illegal?!
Note: About 10 percent of patients are unable to tolerate trastuzumab because of pre-existing heart problems. It causes the heart to pump out less blood volume, leading to congestive heart failure.
The Experiment
A colony of MMTV-neu mice was allowed to mature, and after 36 weeks, 50 percent of the females developed breast cancer.
A sample of 87 grade 3 invasive breast ductal carcinomas in which the cancer had spread to the lungs was chosen to be treated with THC. In the experimental groups, THC-treated mice had fewer and smaller (by weight and size) tumor counts after 90 days of treatment, as documented by microscopic tissue analysis.
Key Findings
"Our results show that down regulation of Akt is involved in cannabinoid anti-tumoral acteion." When THC down regulated the ArK 1 gene, this "shut down signal" to the ArK 1 gene by THC appears to trigger apoptosis in the ErbB2-driven cancer; "programmed cell death" is executed and the cancer kills itself.
Remember, this is only a phase one study. This effect still needs to be proven in humans. However:
• Akt over-activation has been detected in a significant percentage of primary human breast cancers. THC plays a role in its regulation.
• The cancer growth in humans and the mice is near identical in both cases.
• Treatment with cannabinoids significantly decreased tumor growth, size, and numbers due to the "remarkable growth-inhibitory effects of cannabinoids."
• THC reduced tumors from growing new blood vessels to feed themselves (anti-angiogenic).
• THC decreased the number of tumors spreading to nearby tissue and the lungs. This was also observed in advance cancer that had spread to the lungs already.
• "Remarkably, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report suggesting that cannabinoids hamper not only tumor growth but also tumor generation."
• "Our data suggest that the endocannabinoid system has a physiological protective role against tumorigenesis, in line with the general idea that this system contributes to maintain homeostasis in health and disease."
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/02/evidence_cannabinoid_therapy_reduces_breast_cancer.php#more
http://www.molecular-cancer.com/content/9/1/196Main Findings: THC-based medicine, when used as an experimental drug of treatment,... more
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Two Lansing-area men face federal marijuana charges in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, yet the lawyer for one of the defendants says the men were in compliance with the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.
The lawyer, Bob Baldori, said that the number of plants that were seized was within state law because of the number of caregivers who were growing at the location.
Randall Lloyd Darling, 24, and Joseph David Johnson each face counts of growing more than 100 marijuana plants, according to court documents. Johnson is in his 20s, Baldori said.
The charges come with a five-year minimum prison sentence. Warrants were issued for Darling and Johnson on Jan. 20. Both are awaiting pretrial hearings.
Baldori, who represents Johnson, believes both defendants were within the state’s medical marijuana law. While Baldori said the DEA confiscated more than 200 plants from a grow operation in Mason, he added that Johnson and Darling are both patients and caregivers with the maximum-allowed five patients. Under state law, each can grow up to 72 plants and possess 15 ounces of usable product. It is also Baldori’s understanding that other caregivers were using the house as a growing site.
“These kids have not broken any Michigan laws,” Baldori said. “There were enough patients and caregivers to justify the plants.”
Attempts to reach Darling’s attorney, Jack Vogl, were unsuccessful.
Special Agent Rich Isaacson, a spokesman from the DEA’s Detroit offices, confirmed that the DEA is involved with the investigation, but he declined to give details.
U.S. District Attorney Rene Shekmer did not return calls for comment.
In a separate incident, the DEA raided a growing facility at 2630 Jolly Oak Road in Okemos on Nov. 30, seizing more than 400 plants. No charges have surfaced from that incident.
Growing just one cannabis plant is in violation of federal law, regardless of state law.
An Oct. 19, 2009, memo from U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden offers guidance for federal prosecutors in medical marijuana states. It says a “core priority” for the U.S. Justice Department is targeting “significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana. … “
As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws,” the memo reads.
Matt Newburg, who is representing one of the growers involved with the Okemos raid, said while Johnson and Darling violated federal law, a marijuana debate will likely ensue.
“The merits (of the indictment) will be argued later on,” Newburg said. “Clearly, they (the DEA) are active.”
http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-5436-dea-strikes-again.htmlTwo Lansing-area men face federal marijuana charges in U.S. District Court in Grand... more
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California's best medical marijuana dispensaries are clean, safe, and polished. The places that grow the weed they sell are not. This proposed pot factory would produce $50 million of weed annually in an super-sterile, eco-friendly environment. Sounds good to me.
The factory is part of a proposal by Gropech, a non-profit group that's hoping to get a permit from the Oakland City Council in coming months. Talking to The Atlantic, co-founder Derek Peterson pointed out that California legitimized the sale of marijuana while leaving its production to illicit farms and repurposed garages.
The laws in California were sort of backward because they addressed retail sales before wholesale production...It would be like if you built a bunch of liquor stores, and only afterward built distilleries.
Thus, Gropech contends, California's medical cannabis is hardly medical, potentially containing pesticides, bugs or mold that could be harmful to users (try not to dwell on that the next time you're medicating.) Gropech says their factory will be built to "medical laboratory standards," which they pronounce "lab-or-a-tory," ensuring healthy weed that actually deserves the distinction of being called medicine. Oakland City Council, make this happen.
**time for a green job!California's best medical marijuana dispensaries are clean, safe, and polished.... more
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Squatch and the hella mella girls at inkspot tattoo 420 viewer appreciation day
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A medication called Sativex has become the first drug approved in the world made from natural cannabis.
The United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the drug, an oral spray, on Friday, and it went on sale in the country on Monday.
Sativex is approved by prescription only for multiple sclerosis patients in the U.K. It targets the effects of spasticity, a symptom of multiple sclerosis caused by damage to nerves in the central nervous system. Loss of mobility and painful spasms may result from this involuntary stiffening of muscles.
The drug is sprayed into the mouth on the inside of the cheek or under the tongue, said Bayer Schering Pharma, the pharmaceutical company launching the product. Cannabis plants grown in a controlled environment give rise to the extracts that are the active ingredients of the drug.
The Multiple Sclerosis Trust, a U.K. charity, supported the launch of this medication.
In clinical trials, only about half of study participants with multiple sclerosis found that it relieved spasms and cramping associated with spasticity. For this sort of research, that's a good result, said Mark Rogerson, spokesman for GW Pharmaceuticals, which developed the drug.
There is no evidence of long-term dependence or tolerance; patients have not reported needing to take more of the spray, and many say they've reduced the dose over time, Rogerson said. Common side effects include dizziness and fatigue.
The cost is 125 British pounds for a pack of the spray, or about $185, which works out to 11 pounds per day, or about $16, for the average patient, Rogerson said.
In the United States, the only medical marijuana treatment available is a prescription drug called Marinol, whose active ingredient is synthetic THC - making it distinct from the natural cannabis plant extracts in Sativex. In the U.S., cancer patients may take Marinol to relieve nausea and vomiting side effects of chemotherapy, and AIDS patients may use it to help with loss of appetite, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. Marinol comes in the form of a pill, although other delivery methods such as inhaler or patch, are being explored.
Sativex is in phase II clinical trials for cancer patients in the U.S., Rogerson said. He estimated that it will be about two years before it could get U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Rogerson noted a difference in the political climate surrounding medical marijuana in the two nations.
"U.K. public opinion is quite ready for a cannabis-based medicine. There’s really very little sense of, 'Oh gosh it’s cannibis, it’s a bad thing,'" he said. "People understand that it’s different from recreational drug-taking, and also that it’s a treatment for a number of people who suffer from a very, very debilitating illness."
See also: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/pharmaceuticalsandchemicals/7839320/GW-Pharmaceuticals-cannabis-based-drug-Sativex-approved.htmlA medication called Sativex has become the first drug approved in the world made from... more
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On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the Unconventional Foundation for Autism and MTV featured Current Trends Hair Studio and Strikes Da Barber provided free hair cuts to Autistic and other Special Needs children in an effort to raise awareness for Autism and Medical Cannabis. Mieko Hester Perez, founder of the Unconventional Foundation for Autism and mother of Joey, organized the event. Supporters in attendance included Chronic Tacos (non-medicated!), VH1 Reality Show "Tool Academy's", Charm Brittain, Chadd McKeen with his lovely staff of ladies from the Otherside Farms, and Ajnag.On Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the Unconventional Foundation for Autism and MTV featured... more
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Someone threw a molotov cocktail through the window of a Billings, Mont., business that provides marijuana for medical use early Monday and spray-painted "NOT IN OUR TOWN" on its storefront, the second such act in as many days, authorities said.
The incidents come as the Billings City Council is scheduled to vote Monday night on a six-month moratorium on approving additional marijuana businesses.
A rock was used to break the glass of Montana Therapeutics at 4:30 a.m. Monday, and a beer bottle filled with gasoline was lighted and thrown inside, according to Sgt. Kevin Iffland of the Billings police. A passerby reported the fire.
Fire crews quickly put out the small blaze, Deputy Fire Marshal Trevor Schilling said.
About 5 a.m. a day earlier, surveillance video showed two young men spray-painting "NOT IN OUR TOWN" on the front of Big Sky Patient Care and throwing a rock through the front door followed by a flaming bottle, Big Sky owner David Couch said.
Nobody was injured in either instance.
Trevor McFarren, co-owner of Montana Therapeutics, said his business provides marijuana for about 50 people and has never had a problem, a complaint or even a bad phone call since opening in January, he said.
McFarren said he believes that Monday's council vote is linked to the attack, which he said caused about $2,500 in damage.
"I'm sure they're trying to fuel the fire about" the vote, he said. "It's more of an attack on the community than anything." Couch also said he has not had any complaints since his business opened in April. He declined to say how many patients Big Sky has.
"If anything good comes out of this, it will probably be a desire for more education in the general public," he said.
Police have no suspects, Iffland said. Surveillance video may have captured what happened, but the building's owners do not want to release the video to police until they speak to their attorney, Iffland said.
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Detectives were investigating whether the acts were committed by those who oppose such businesses or by business rivals, Iffland said.Someone threw a molotov cocktail through the window of a Billings, Mont., business... more
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This story in the link above is about 6 people growing 1000 Plants of marijuana, with some stupid conspiracy charges. What the article lacks is the fact that these men owned and ran a dispensary out here in the high desert, Ridgecrest, CA. Every plant being grown was for a medical patient, and each individual is being charged with 1000 plants EACH! The NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Services) were involved in the raid. We need to draw the medias attention to this non-sense that is costing TAX-PAYERS MONEY to convict innocent people for FOLLOWING THE LAW. These are honest people that tried to help a small community of medical patients get legalized, but the federal government didn't want us to buy weed legally, they want us to go buy our sacks off sketchy tweekers in the middle of the desert. THANK YOU UNCLE SAM!
http://www.turnto23.com/mountain/23480843/detail.htmlThis story in the link above is about 6 people growing 1000 Plants of marijuana, with... more
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Medical marijuana use is on the rise in California - and business is booming. This is the second half of Nat Geo's "Taboo - Narcotics" which aired Feb 3.Medical marijuana use is on the rise in California - and business is booming. This is... more
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Dear Obama,
WTF, dude? I thought we had an understanding. I've been defending you to all my lefty friends; every time they start in with "He's not doing enough on Burma" or "He's weak on gay rights," I say, "Look, he has a master plan. Be patient." Then you go and nominate Michele Leonhart to be head of the DEA? What gives? How am I supposed to defend that??
Leonhart is a Bush appointee who opposes the decriminalization of medical marijuana. In 1989, being against medical marijuana would have been an unfortunate but understandable position. In 2010, it is no longer acceptable. We know pot is safe and has medical benefits. We've been over all this a million times. The list of people who support medical marijuana decriminalization includes 80% of Americans (aka your constituents), a vast majority of Democrats (aka the people who voted you into office), and a presidential candidate named Barack Obama. I can only think of two explanations for this. One: you might be trying to pick someone Republicans will like, in order to have an easy confirmation hearing. I know you just went through a nail-biter with Bernanke and it would be nice to cruise through a confirmation hearing for a change. But guess what? THE REPUBLICANS DON'T LIKE ANYTHING. Correction: they like the opposite of what you do. So stop pandering to them, OK? Pander to us for a change.
The second explanation is that maybe you just aren't as liberal as we hoped you were. In fact, I know you're not. In fairness to you, you never really claimed to be. You warned in your book that you serve as "a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." And as I wrote in my last post, I know you want to play to the center and be a New Democrat, and I do think that's admirable. But dude, holding back medical marijuana? That's not being a New Democrat; that's being an old Republican.
Yours Sincerely,
Andrew MarantzDear Obama,
WTF, dude? I thought we had an understanding. I've been defending... more
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From the time Lisa Siegel was a little girl, she had terrible nausea, mental fog that came and went, and tightness and cramping in her muscles so severe that it would wake her in the night. She was 47 before she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but she remembers a childhood dominated by hospitalizations, doctors and pain. Nothing worked — not Advil, not Tylenol, not the other medications her doctors kept prescribing.
In her 20s, Siegel tried cannabis. “Immediately my muscles relaxed and that nauseous feeling disappeared,” she said. As she began to smoke marijuana regularly, “the spasms started going away and these bizarre symptoms that came and went—they just started to go away.”
But Siegel, now 60 and living in Deptford, N.J., traded one problem for another. “I’m blessed enough to find something that helped me, but on the other hand, it turned me into a criminal.”
The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act will change that. The bill, which passed on January 10 by wide margins in both the House and the Senate, makes New Jersey the 14th state to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Governor Jon Corzine signed the legislation on January 19, on his last day in office. The law is expected to take effect in six months.
A similar bill is under consideration in Harrisburg by Pennsylvania lawmakers. The Jewish Social Policy Action Network, a small Philadelphia-based group, was one of the first organizations invited to testify at Pennsylvania House committee hearings. The group is committed to“progressive principles drawn from Jewish teachings,” according to its mission statement.
“Jewish teachings tell us that we should alleviate pain and suffering in other human beings,” said JSPAN’s president, Brian Gralnick. “We thought it was consistent with Jewish traditions, teachings and values — speaking up on issues where others may be afraid or hesitant to.”
In fact, in the Jewish world, JSPAN is far from alone. Medical marijuana enjoys wide support across the spectrum of politics and observance.
In November, Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a rosh yeshiva, or dean, at Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and professor of Jewish medical ethics at the college, told the Yeshiva University student newspaper, The Observer, that Jewish law permits the use of medical marijuana in certain circumstances. Another prominent Orthodox rabbi, Sholom Kamenetsky of the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia, provided “halachic overview” to a paper posted on the Website jlaw.com that concluded that “there probably are select cases in which [Judaism] would permit the distribution of medical marijuana.”
Mainstream Reform Jewish groups are also supportive. In 2003, the Union for Reform Judaism passed a resolution in support of medical marijuana. The URJ-affiliated group Women of Reform Judaism has even published a “Medical Marijuana as Mitzvah” study guide.
Medical studies of marijuana have focused primarily on its analgesic, or pain-relieving, properties, its ability to suppress nausea and vomiting, and its properties as an appetite stimulant. “It’s useful for pain, and it’s particularly useful for pain in people who have nausea or have some sort of wasting illness, like AIDS, or patients with cancer, because it stimulates the appetite,” says Dr. Howard Fields, professor of neurology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco. “It does have medical value, no question about it, and I think doctors should be free to prescribe it.”
Researchers have also seen marijuana relieve some symptoms of neurologic disorders like multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. Some studies have also found that marijuana relieves the eye pressure that is the main symptom of glaucoma.
In Israel, medical marijuana has been legal since 1999. But in November a Knesset panel asked (con't)From the time Lisa Siegel was a little girl, she had terrible nausea, mental fog that... more
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On October 19, 2009, the Office of the Deputy US Attorney General issued a memorandum, “Investigations and Prosecutions in States Authorizing the Medical Use of Marijuana.”
The memo announced a federal policy to abstain from investigating or prosecuting “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”
The memo made clear, however, that it did not “legalize marijuana or provide a legal defense to a violation of federal law.” Rather, it was “intended solely as a guide to the exercise of investigative and prosecutorial discretion.”
This article seeks to place the attorney general’s action in historical, medical, and legal context.
From the article:
"Healers have turned to cannabis, known in the vernacular as marijuana, for its medicinal qualities for more than 5 millennia. Indeed, the world’s oldest surviving medical text, the Chinese Shen-nung Pen-tshao Ching, recommends marijuana to reduce the pain of rheumatism and to address digestive disorders.
The herb had an established use in Western medicine, too. Between 1840 and 1900, more than 100 articles extolling its therapeutic virtues appeared in American and European medical journals.
In 1851, the United States Pharmacopoeia included the “extract of hemp,” in its catalog of medicinal amalgams. That same year, The Dispensatory of the United States of America proclaimed, “The complaints in which [marijuana] has been specially recommended are neuralgia, gout, rheumatism, tetanus, hydrophobia, epidemic cholera, convulsions, chorea, hysteria, mental depression, insanity, and uterine hemorrhage.” A little more than a decade later, the 1864 edition of the Pharmacopoeia gave precise instructions in the preparation of this medicine.
American physicians routinely prescribed marijuana until the late 1930s. It would not be until 1970 that the law would intervene to proscribe all uses of the herb....
"Imagine the cancer survivor who resides in one of the 13 states that recognizes medical use of marijuana. She can ingest the herb knowing that federal agents are unlikely to kick her door down and arrest her. She will also know that her conduct is patently illegal. Every day, to address the nausea that accompanies her chemotherapy, she will engage in illegal conduct that the attorney general has authorized.
This is the nature of the compromise that the October 19 memorandum represents. The nation’s top law enforcement official has embraced the “compassionate use” that the California electorate recognized more than a dozen years ago. Current law may be the best that the cancer patient can hope for, but the remainder of the populace should not be satisfied. Those who support medical use of marijuana should not be happy with its continuing illegality. Those opposed to it should not accept federally licensed illegal behavior. "On October 19, 2009, the Office of the Deputy US Attorney General issued a memorandum,... more
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City leaders are joining patients, activists and supporters in Oakland Monday in support of medical marijuana at the Ring in the New Year Rally and Protest. Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan and Berkeley's Kriss Worthington are joining supporters and members of Americans for Safe Access and Students for Sensible Drug Policy at the Oakland federal building.City leaders are joining patients, activists and supporters in Oakland Monday in... more
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Real estate brokers say that Colorado's medical-marijuana law has sparked a land rush, as entrepreneurs lured by a growing number of licensed users search for properties for growing or selling pot.
In a down real estate market, landlords who might otherwise wait for more conventional tenants are snapping at the opportunity presented by medical-marijuana dispensaries, said Darrin Revious, a broker with Shames Makovsky Realty.Real estate brokers say that Colorado's medical-marijuana law has sparked a land... more
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The medical marijuana review business is booming as states like Colorado and California have seen an explosion in the number of pot shops.The medical marijuana review business is booming as states like Colorado and... more
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