Former Pot Smuggler Leads "Silver Tour" For Medical Marijuana

Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 2:07 pm


In the late 1970s, Robert "The Tuna" Platshorn was a marijuana smuggler and leader of South Florida's notorious "Black Tuna" gang.

Now, after spending 30 years in prison, Platshorn, 70, is a book author (Black Tuna Diaries), subject of a documentary film (Square Grouper) -- and an activist working to make medical marijuana legal in the Sunshine State.

The goal of The Silver Tour, according to Platshorn, is to educate and inform seniors on the benefits and exciting discoveries in the medical cannabis field, and to encourage activism for legalization and create demand for safe access to medical marijuana.

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Marijuana Legalization Qualifies For Washington Ballot

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 3:00 pm
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KCTS 9
The secretary of state's office has certified an initiative to legalize marijuana in Washington state, and unless the Legislature acts, the measure will appear on the general election ballot in November.

Secretary of State Sam Reed's office announced Friday that New Approach Washington, sponsors of Initiative 502 submitted nearly 278,000 valid signatures, more than the 241,153 needed to qualify, reports the Associated Press.

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Former Michigan Atty. Gen.: I Smoked Pot, But Let's Not Legalize

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 11:47 am
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Norman Yatooma & Associates
Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox: "I am not for it mostly because I don't know how you regulate common, everyday things such as driving while impaired ... That being said, philosophically I am not against it." Political much?
​Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox admitted on Friday that he smoked marijuana in high school during the 1970s. (Hey, what a coincidence, so did I!) But during a symposium on marijuana reform, Cox said there are problems with legalizing cannabis, and he wouldn't support moves to do that in the state.

"I am not for it mostly because I don't know how you regulate common, everyday things such as driving while impaired," the Republican former attorney general said, reports Kim Kozlowski at The Detroit News. "If it becomes legal, I don't think I'll ever use it again. That being said, philosophically I am not against it. They haven't come up with a good way to regulate in the workplace or driving to measure it and deal with it."

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Illegal Drug Market Violence in Mexico [Infographic]

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 4:20 am
Illegal Drug Market Violence in Mexico - Infographic
Via: Rehab International

The U.S. prohibition of drugs has led to unprecedented levels of violence between warring cartels in Mexico. The U.S. "War On Drugs" has failed to curtail this violence.

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42 Members of WA Legislature Ask DEA To Reschedule Marijuana

Friday, January 27, 2012 at 12:43 am
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Mike Purdy's Public Contracting Blog
The Washington State Capitol building in Olympia
History was made on Wednesday as 42 members of the Washington Legislature petitioned the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule marijuana from its current Schedule I status to a less restrictive classification to allow for its medical use.

"I don't think a state legislature has done this before," Seattle-based activist Philip Dawdy told Toke of the Town Thursday evening.

Among the lawmakers signing the letter to DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart was Rep. Timm Ormsby, brother of federal prosecutor Michael Ormsby, U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington. Ormsby, along with Western Washington U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, last year oversaw a federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

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Worth Repeating: Marijuana Treats Anxiety and Depression

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 6:20 pm
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GrowMedical420.com

Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin'.

Worth Repeating
​By Ron Marczyk, R.N.
Health Education Teacher (Retired)

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Lumír Ondřej Hanuš (left), discoverer of endogenous ligand, anandamide, from brain (1992) and Raphael Mechoulam (right), discoverer of psychoactive compound, (-)-trans-delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, from Cannabis sativa L. (1964). Both compounds bind to the CB1 and 2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain.
This post is dedicated to these two great medical researchers. The fathers of homeostatic cannabinoid based medicine:
 
Lumír Ondřej Hanuš, discoverer of the endogenous ligand, anandamide, from the brain (1992) and Raphael Mechoulam, discoverer of the psychoactive compound, THC, from Cannabis sativa (1964). Both compounds bind to the CB1 and 2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain.

These two men need to be nominated and awarded the 2012  Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the healing potential of cannabis. Their discoveries will save the human race a great deal of suffering. Thank you for your gift to humanity, gentlemen.

Nobel ballots open this summer!

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S.F. Indefinitely Suspends Marijuana Dispensary Licensing

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:20 pm
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Robin Wilkey/The Huffington Post
In the latest iteration of their on-again, off-again approach to the issue, San Francisco city officials decided on Wednesday afternoon to indefinitely suspend the city's medical marijuana dispensary licensing program, according to the Department of Public Health.

Permits had been on hold since last fall, after a state appeals court case halted similar permitting programs across California, reports Chris Roberts at SF Weekly. That case was appealed to the state Supreme Court, and during the appeal, permits could resume being processed, a spokesman for the City Attorney told SF Weekly last week.

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4-Year-Old Boy Pulls Out 9 Bags Of Marijuana At School

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 11:43 am
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Stangzine
A four-year-old boy in Connecticut announced to his teacher at school snack time that he "wanted to share," and proceeded to pull nine bags of marijuana out of his jacket pocket, police said on Wednesday.

Meriden police were called to Hanover Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon after the young special needs student displayed the weed, reports Lauren Keiper at Reuters.

The nine individually wrapped bags of cannabis appeared to be ready for sale, the cops claimed.

Hanover Elementary School principal Miguel Cardona called the incident "extremely unfortunate," adding that it was "isolated" and was not witnessed by any other students.

"What's so disheartening is this is really an adult issue and problem and adult behavior put a student at risk," Meriden schools Superintendent Mark Benigni told Reuters.

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Dare To Keep Kids Off D.A.R.E. [Infographic]

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:37 am
Dare to Keep Kids off D.A.R.E.
Via: Intervention Support

You might not be aware of the program, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, but you would likely recognize its acronym, D.A.R.E. It's a program that was established in 1983 aimed at educating children k-12 about the dangers of drug use and abuse.

It's still around today and so is data about its ineffectiveness as a deterrent. If you thought D.A.R.E. was a great program, think again.

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Appeal Challenges DEA Denial To Reschedule Medical Marijuana

Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:20 am
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Prohibition's End
Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Thursday filed an appeal brief in the D.C. Circuit to compel the federal government to reclassify marijuana for medical use.

In July 2011, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denied a petition filed in 2002 by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), which was denied only after the coalition sued the government for unreasonable delay. The ASA brief filed on January 26 is an appeal of the CRC rescheduling denial.

"By ignoring the wealth of scientific evidence that clearly shows the therapeutic value of marijuana, the Obama Administration is playing politics at the expensive of sick and dying Americans," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the appeal Thursday.

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