Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Advocates Hope Ken Burns Prohibition Docu Provokes Debate

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2011 Culture, Products

Ken Burns’ newest PBS documentary, “Prohibition,” premieres on October 2

The history of the United States’ disastrous period of alcohol prohibition will be broadcast into homes across America this weekend when PBS airs Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Prohibition, a three-part series on the country’s failed “noble experiment” of banning alcohol.

Drug policy advocates are thrilled that filmmakers of the stature of Burns and Novick have taken on this topic, and hope that the series reminds Americans about the futility of prohibition and its devastating collateral consequences.

“Alcohol prohibition didn’t stop people from drinking any more than drug prohibition stops people from using drugs,” said Tony Newman, director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance. “But prohibition did lead to Al Capone and shootouts in the streets. It is the same today.

Arizona Nurse Says She Was Fired Over Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2011 Medical, News

Verde Independent

Esther Shapiro says she was fired after revealing she is a legal medical marijuana patient.

A registered nurse, formerly employed by a private hospice, has filed a letter of demand over her alleged firing after she revealed she is a card-carrying medical marijuana patient. Her attorney said the matter could be the first-ever Arizona case challenging discrimination against a medicinal cannabis patient, if it goes to trial.

Esther Shapiro said she was a medical marijuana patient where she previously lived in Colorado, reports Jon Hutchinson at the Verde Independent. She moved to Arizona in June, and qualified for a medical marijuana card there after a doctor’s examination. Shapiro suffered a compressed disc after being the victim of a hit and run accident in 1988, and also suffers from fibromyalgia and neuropathy.

She was hired by the Verde Valley Community Hospice in Cottonwood as a registered nurse to visit and care for end-of-life patients in their homes. The RN, during her orientation, was asked to provide a preemployment drug screen, and at that point told her employers that she would test positive for marijuana, but that she’s a legal medical cannabis patient.

Shapiro said she was told at that point that “they would have to investigate.” She said she was threatened with ring reported to the Arizona Nursing Board on suspicion of “substance abuse.”

Rhode Island ACLU Considering Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Medical Marijuana Blog

The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it is considering legal action over Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s decision not to license three medical marijuana dispensaries, as provided for in the state’s medicinal cannabis law.

State ACLU Executive Director Steve Brown said on Friday that he’s trying to put a lawsuit together on behalf of patients to force the governor to comply with the “compassion center” statute, which provides for state-licensed dispensaries, reports The Associated Press.

Brown said he’s been in touch with the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC) about possible legal action.

Governor Chafee on Thursday said he wouldn’t implement the state’s compassion center law because it could cause Rhode Island to become a target of federal law enforcement.

DEA Raids Medical Marijuana Co-Op In Arizona

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Phoenix New Times

Arizona Go Green Co-Op was raided by the DEA on Thursday.

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration has raided a medical marijuana cooperative in Tempe, Arizona, claiming the owners were involved in the illegal sale of drugs.

DEA agents began showing up at the Arizona Go Green Co-Op at 426 East Southern Avenue in Tempe around 8 a.m. on Thursday, reports Anita Roman at Fox 10. Two people were arrested in the raid.

Officials claimed the DEA was acting on information that “a marijuana dispensary was illegally operating in Arizona.” Agents pulled evidence from the building, including bags of different varieties of medical marijuana.

An employee at at nearby business said he saw four agents raiding the place dressed in full SWAT gear, including assault rifles, body armor and masks. “It’s unclear why the DEA dressed as if they were going after Los Zetas instead of medical marijuana doctors, patients or caregivers,” reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times.

The Return of Panama Red: Legendary Marijuana Strain Is Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Growing

All Photos: No Longer Sad

Whenever aging stoners gather around a burning bush and discuss the legendary strains of yore, it’s a sure bet that the mighty Panama Red will be mentioned. Along with Acapulco Gold, Panama Red was one of the first cannabis “brand names” that caught the imagination of the American public, becoming a, well, “hit” nationwide.

While hippies in the late 1960s thought that Panama Red was so strong because of the rain-forest climate in which it was grown, we know today that its legendary potency was due to genetics — and thank Jah, those genetics have been preserved for modern smokers to enjoy, despite the fact that the culture of cannabis in Panama was mostly blown away during the cocaine-fueled 1980s.

Chafee Chokes: No Marijuana Dispensaries In Rhode Island

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Business Insider

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee: “This has been a difficult decision”

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has blinked first in his stand-down with the federal government over medical marijuana dispensaries in his state.

The governor officially rejected pleas from patients and advocates to provide safe access for seriously ill Rhode Island patients who have doctors’ authorizations to use medicinal cannabis.

“It’s a sad day for those of us from Rhode Island,” Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) told Toke of the Town Thursday afternoon.

Medical marijuana advocates had called upon Gov. Chafee to open the dispensaries, allowed under state law, but Chafee refused, citing the supposed threat of federal prosecution after receiving one of the recent threatening letters sent by U.S. Attorneys in several medical-marijuana states.

Reactionary Idaho Groups Fighting Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review

Anita Kronvall of the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council doesn’t smoke cannabis, and she doesn’t want anybody else to use it, either — even medical marijuana patients.

Expecting both a November 2012 ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in Idaho, and state legislation to do the same, reactionary elements in Coeur d’Alene are mobilizing to “educate” the public about what they claim are the “dangers” of cannabis legalization.

“Our whole goal is we want our people educated so we can put pressure on the legislators not to pass it,” said Anita Kronvall, director of the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council, reports Alison Boggs of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. The council is supporting the Kootenai Alliance for Children and Families in hosting two mid-October anti-marijuana events.

The keynote speaker will be anti-pot wing nut Monte Stiles, a real asshole’s asshole who retired early from his job as assistant U.S. Attorney for Idaho — so that, you guessed it, he could spend full time battling the “Marijuana Menace.” Stiles, a Brigham Young University graduate who just can’t let go of the Drug War, may be living proof that marijuana really does make you crazy — if you oppose it.

New Group Aims To ‘Keep Nebraska Off Weed’ (KNOW)

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Legislation, News

Freaking News

You can breathe a sigh of relief, Nebraska. There’s a group volunteering to protect you from cannabis. Now, who’s going to protect you from them?

PRIDE Omaha officials announced on Wednesday a new campaign to combat efforts to legalize marijuana in Nebraska, reports Jay Withrow at the Omaha World-Herald.

The local anti-drug organization, which has been pissing off potheads since 1978, is unveiling KNOW, Keep Nebraska Off Weed.

The campaign is officially opposing at least two efforts to legalize marijuana in Nebraska, according to Susie Dugan, PRIDE Omaha’s executive director. The legalization efforts are collecting signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2012 general election ballot.

Medical Marijuana Grower Dazed After Big Federal Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Growing, Medical

KDRV

Here’s what the marijuana grow operation looked like before the DEA raided it on Tuesday

An Oregon medical marijuana grower is dazed and confused after federal agents searched his home, took his cannabis, and hauled it away in dump trucks.

James Anderson, 25, is part of a group of marijuana growers in Gold Hill who share a plot of land to collectively grow for their respective patients, reports Chris Conrad at the Medford Mail Tribune. “We are growing within our limits,” Anderson said. “Some of us are under.”

Drug Enforcement Administration agents, U.S. Marshals and a motley crew of local police officers pulled into his property at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to serve a search warrant, according to Anderson.

Marijuana Extract Helps Prevent Pain From Chemotherapy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Medical, News

420 Magazine

Cannabidiol, a medically useful extract from marijuana, is showing potential as a treatment to help prevent pain in patients getting the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, according to researchers in Philadelphia.

According to UPI, Sara Jane Ward and her colleagues at the Temple University School of Pharmacy said cannabidiol (CBD) reduces pain and inflammation, while avoiding the psychoactive side effects of marijuana’s other cannabinoids — that is to say, the “high.”

CBD reduces paclitaxel-induced neuropathy in female mice, according to the study. Neuropathy is a potentially serious complication that can prevent patients from getting their full course of chemotherapy.

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