Medical Marijuana and Cannabis News
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is a friend of medical marijuana patients. Not only has the guy apologized for federal raids on dispensaries in his city, he's now urging jurors in a local medical marijuana case to ignore federal marijuana laws and find a defendant not guilty for operating a medical marijuana dispensary. 
San Diego mayor Bob Filner.
Ronnie Chang was arrested by federal agents in 2009 and faces trial this fall. His attorneys argue that he was following California law allowing him to operate a medical marijuana center. But federal courts won't allow those arguments to be heard since they don't recognize medical marijuana at all.
Nearly 80 percent of Kentuckians approve of legalizing medical marijuana and roughly a quarter of the state would be open to outright legalization, according to a poll released last week.
How to go about that, though, seems to be up in the air.
The Illinois senate Friday approved House Bill 1, which would create a state-regulated medical marijuana patient program as well as authorize state-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries. Lawmakers say they have created one of the strictest programs in the nation. 
But Governor Pat Quinn says he's still considering the bill, though he told reporters earlier today that he remains "open minded" on the issue. Lt. Gov. Shelia Simon has publicly expressed her support for the bill.
It was an eventful week in medical marijuana news with groundbreaking discoveries happening in laboratories around the world. 
In addition to finding out that cannabis can lower risks for bladder cancer and diabetes, scientists this week announced several other interesting findings regarding our favorite plant.
Marijuana advocates were abuzz last month -- and by "abuzz" we mean excited, of course -- when a bill to reduce penalties for marijuana possession was passed out the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. The bill had been watered down to apply only to people younger than 21, but the Texas chapter of NORML, the national pot-legalization organization, still called it an "amazing step for Texas."
Also encouraging was progress on a medical marijuana bill that would make medical need a valid defense in pot possession cases. The measure, some version of which has been introduced in the past several sessions, got a hearing for the first time ever. Both those bills -- the only pro-marijuana legislation to get any sort of traction this session -- are now officially dead, which isn't to say that marijuana activists are admitting defeat. Dallas Observer has more.
Regular marijuana use can reduce the risk of developing diabetes, according to new research published in the American Journal of Medicine.
Flickr.com/Alden Chadwick.
The study shows that marijuana users have better blood sugar control, lower levels of insulin and much thinner waistlines than non-users. All that despite the munchies.
If the state allows people to use medical marijuana, they should also allow those patients to drive so long as they aren't impaired. That's the gist of a law currently making its way through the Nevada legislature that would exempt medical marijuana patients from laws prohibiting drivers from having any marijuana - active or inactive - in their systems.
All of what you take into your body comes out somewhere, and that somewhere is often in your urine. Gross thought, but it has some major health implications when it comes to carcinogens like cigarettes and other tobacco products that can increase your risk of bladder cancer.
Wikimedia.com The bladder.
But that doesn't seem to be the case cannabis according to a recent Kaiser Permanente study in Los Angeles. In fact, the good herb might lower your risk of developing such problems.
An Illinois Senate committee voted 10-5 Wednesday to move House Bill 1 to the full Senate for a vote, despite a push from law enforcement to shut down the bill.
As it stands now, the bill creates a four-year pilot program would allow qualified patients and primary caregivers to purchase and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every two weeks from a state-regulated medical marijuana center.
Thanks to pressure from Gov. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Senate health committee stripped provisions of proposed state medical marijuana laws allowing patents to cultivate their own supply. The committee also removed post-traumatic stress disorder from the list of qualifying conditions. 
New Hampshire state house.
With the amendments, New Hampshire looks poised to join the 19 other states and Washington D.C. in allowing doctors to recommend medical cannabis to patients, who can legally possesses and use the herb.
