Search Results: larsen (17)

The situation appears under control.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

An investigation in Hugo, Colo. found THC in the drinking water. Authorities found signs of tampering on a well and initiated a criminal investigation. Additional tests are underway to confirm the finding. Initially, the cannabis community said contamination is unlikely since THC is not soluble in water.

Screening stations have been set up for residents and water is being trucked in. Hugo, a town of about 750 on the state’s eastern plains, does not have any marijuana businesses.

LA Weekly looks at how legalization  could change employer drug testing  policies. The California Supreme Court has ruled that a MED card does not allow employees to be high on the job, or overrule company drug testing policies. In the future, the piece notes, this stance may lead to disability suits.

In California, concentrates remain a “ legal gray area.”

A random controlled study out of Holland proved that alcohol makes users more aggressive and cannabis makes them less aggressive. (Read the study here.)

Vancouver activist Dana Larsen said customers don’t need prescriptions at his MED pharmacies.

Colorado has released a PSA on cannabis and pregnancy. Chronic and/or severe pain is by far the most common qualifying condition for MED.

Washington state hopes new labelling will keep kids away from edibles.

Between 2002 and 2013, it’s estimated that Massachusetts crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan, who was later convicted of perjury and evidence tampering, corrupted more than 24,000 cases. Those convicted based on her work can now seek new trials. Dookhan served three years in prison.

An audit in Houston found 298 wrongful drug convictions. A researcher at the libertarian Cato Institute argues that the drug war has made policing more violent.

Operation Sabot, Canada’s annual sweep for illegal outdoor grows, takes place at the end of summer. Each year it targets a different region right before the harvest.

Maryland withdrew a proposal to ban letters to prisoners (except legal correspondence). The state’s prisons have been overwhelmed by Suboxone, an opioid available in sublingual strips that prisoners receive in envelopes.

If California legalizes, what will happen to people in prison for marijuana offenses? Missouri governor Jay Nixon (D), signed a law that will make it easier for marijuana offenders to get their records expunged.

A bill in the U.S. Senate would protect the families of children with epilepsy from prosecution if they obtain CBD treatments.


In October of last year, we reported here at Toke of the Town on a landmark move by the Canadian government to pump over $1.3 billion dollars into a new national medical marijuana program. The approach was aimed at providing the rapidly growing number of medical marijuana patients with access to cannabis produced by massive, state-of-the-art growing and distribution operations.
The new law proposed to outlaw home growing, forcing medical marijuana patients to go to these large-scale pot shops for their weed. But on March 21st of this year, a Federal Court ruling put a halt to that section of the new regulations, and temporarily grandfathered in anyone who was already licensed to grow at home before September 30th, 2013.

Sensible British Columbia Campaign organizer Dana Larsen Sunday announced that the ballot initiative they had been pushing to decriminalize marijuana possession failed to collect enough signature in time for the deadline.
Still, the group says they collected 200,000 signatures and that they’re looking forward to 2015 with another plan to prevent police from enforcing marijuana laws in the Canadian province.

Last week the world watched as Uruguay became the first nation to officially re-legalize marijuana in nearly eight decades. Not to be outdone, our neighbors to the north in Canada may be heading in the same direction, at least if Justin Trudeau, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, has anything to say about it.
On July 23rd, while attending a rally in British Columbia, the head of one of Canada’s three major political parties spotted a supporter carrying a sign in favor of decriminalizing weed, and he stated, “I’m actually not in favor of decriminalizing cannabis – I’m in favor of legalizing it.”

Could cannabis legalization and regulation be coming to Canada? At least one activist says yes, and claims now is the time to push for it.
Canadian cannabis activist Dana Larsen has received the okay from the British Columbia officials to begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would prevent police from enforcing marijuana laws – effectively legalizing the plant.

Cannabis Culture.
Marc Emery.

Marc Emery, who was convicted and jailed for the non-violent “crime” of selling pot seeds to people in the U.S. from Canada, has been placed in solitary confinement in the prison where he is serving his 5-year sentence.
His offense now? Playing in a rock and roll band and being proud of his accomplishments in learning the bass guitar over the last two years.

Cannabis Culture

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities voted Wednesday in favour of a resolution calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and the study of a taxed and regulated system. The vote followed an extensive debate of the issue on Monday where delegates heard arguments in favour and against the resolution.
Speaking in favour of the resolution were Dr. Evan Wood, physician, researcher and founder of Stop the Violence as well as David Bratzer, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Geoff Plant, former attorney general of B.C.
The UBCM vote came after the Sensible BC campaign to decriminalize cannabis through a provincial referendum held a public forum in Victoria, which drew more than 500 attendees.

Bad news from the Live Free Or Die state, where they won’t allow patients to live free, but seem to have no problem allowing them to die. The New Hampshire Legislature on Wednesday morning narrowly failed to overturn Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a proposed medical marijuana bill.
SB 409, which would have allowed people with certain qualifying medical conditions to grow and possess limited amounts of marijuana with doctors’ recommendations, was approved by the House and Senate earlier this month. That was the first time a Republican-led legislature sent a governor an effective medical marijuana bill.
Gov. Lynch vetoed the bill last Thursday, citing law enforcement concerns that advocates had previously amended the bill to address.
 
The veto came as no surprise. Lynch vetoed similar legislation in 2009, after which the House voted by more than two-thirds to override the veto, but support in the Senate fell two votes short of the necessary two-thirds.

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

A new understanding of the neurobiology of cannabis is emerging, namely the “endocannabinoid induced aerobic bliss state,” or simply the endocannabinoid runners’ high.

For users of medical marijuana, a new use for this miracle plant is at hand: its ability to produce “the psychology of exercise motivation.”
“Recent findings show that exercise increases serum concentrations of endocannabinoids, a result suggestive of a new possible explanation for a number of these changes. The cannabinoids produce psychological states that closely parallel several experiences described as being related to the runner’s high. Compared with the opioid analgesics, the analgesia produced by the endocannabinoid system is more consistent with exercise induced analgesia. Activation of the endocannabinoid system also produces sedation, anxiolysis, a sense of wellbeing, reduced attentional capacity, impaired working memory ability, and difficulty in time estimation. This behavioural profile is similar to the psychological experiences reported by long distance runners.” ~ From Endocannabinoids and Exercise / Br J Sports Med. 2004 October

The Non Conformer

​Despite widespread criticism from experts and a massive price tag, Canada’s Harper Conservatives on Tuesday passed by a 154 to 129 vote the controversial Bill C-10, the so called omnibus crime bill or “Safe Streets and Communities Act.” The new law includes harsh mandatory jail sentences for minor marijuana offenses. The Beyond Prohibition Foundation, which has long advocated against these sweeping changes to Canada’s criminal justice system, said it was “deeply troubled by the implications of the bill.”

The bill increases sentences for drug and sex offenses, reduces the use of conditional sentences such as house arrest, provides harsher penalties on young offenders, and makes it more difficult to get a pardon, reports Bruce Cheadle of the Canadian Press.
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