Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Connecticut Medical Marijuana Bill Headed To Governor’s Desk

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Cannabis Law Group

State Set To Become 17th To Allow Medicinal Cannabis

A bill legalizing marijuana for medical purposes passed the Connecticut Senate early Saturday morning. The state will join 16 others and the District of Columbia in allowing the medicinal use of cannabis after Democratic Governor Dannel P. Malloy, who said he supports the measure, signs the bill.

The bill, which had already cleared the House, passed around 3 a.m. on Saturday by a 21-13 vote after nearly 10 hours of debate.

The bill will set up a complex, regulated system of marijuana cultivation, dispensing, and licensing, and it outlines specific medical conditions that can legally be treated with cannabis.

Green Autumn: Marching For Marijuana In Brazil

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2012 Culture, Global

Paula Rafiza/Canna Cerrado

Marijuana March, Brasília, Brazil, 2011

Editor’s note: Brazilian activist Sergio Vidal, a good friend of Toke of the Town, is the author of Brazil’s very first cannabis grow book. Here, he shares with us the progress being made in his country in marijuana law reform.

By Sergio Vidal

Many marijuana marches will occur today, May 5, worldwide. In Brazil, the movement to legalize marijuana just started to gain power in recent years. The first march took place 10 years ago in Rio de Janeiro.

After many years of struggle and diversification of activism, the movement has grown significantly, in spite of repression. Only last year Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF) dismissed an action in respect of Marijuana Marches. The judges of the Supreme Court unanimously decided that marches and other demonstrations for change in laws and policies on drugs are absolutely legitimate and constitutional.

Make Sure You Don’t Think About This While Getting High

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Culture, Legislation

Modern Sophist

Hey, man. Whatever you do, don’t think about this while smoking weed, or it could make your head explode and screw up your entire weekend.

Now that the Colorado Senate has passed a DUI marijuana bill with a per se cutoff point of five nanograms per milliliter (5 ng/ml) of blood, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has issued one of their nationwide action alerts, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword.

With the proposal headed to the Colorado House, where it has a good chance of passage, NORML is doing the right thing. This is an execrable piece of legislation. According to the best research available, there is no correlation between 5 ng/ml and driving impairment in most drivers. In fact, experienced cannabis consumers often drive better than their non-toking peers, according to at least one Australian study.

So far, so good: NORML is standing up for the interests of marijuana consumers in Colorado, as they should.

IB Medical Marijuana Campaign Gets 1,400 Signatures and $15K

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Safe Access IB

Law enforcement and prohibitionist groups are continuing to spend thousands of dollars in San Diego County, California, to craft and enforce unfair restrictions and bans on safe access to medical cannabis. These bans, combined with the recent federal crackdown on patients’ rights, have hurt those for whom California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 was designed in the first place, according to patient advocacy group Safe Access Imperial Beach.

San Diego County patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and other serious conditions are now faced with a difficult choice: either break the law and turn to local neighborhood drug dealers to find their doctor-recommended medicine, or travel a long distance — in some cases up to 50 miles — to the nearest permitted dispensary in the remote eastern part of the county.

Connecticut Very Close To Legalizing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

ConnecticutMarijuanaDoctors.com

A bill which would legalize the production, distribution and use of marijuana as palliative for the chronically ill appears poised to become law in Connecticut.

The bill passed the Connecticut House on a 96-51 vote, with 79 Democrats joined by 17 Republicans supporting it, and 34 Republicans joined by 17 Democrats in opposing it, reports The Hour.

The Connecticut Senate is expected to approve the bill as well on Friday, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he will sign it if it clears the Senate, as expected.

The debate centered on mercy and compassion, the limits of medicine and concerns about abuse.

Opponents of medical marijuana in Connecticut have distributed a warning letter to state senators from U.S. Attorney David Fein, who wrote that while the Justice Department will not go after seriously ill patients who use marijuana in violation of federal law, it will still enforce federal laws against those who manufacture and distribute cannabis.

MI House Passes Bills To Protect Marijuana Patients, Curb Abuse

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Legislation, Medical

DUI Maze Blog

Giving medicinal cannabis patients a mixed bag — with some things they asked for, and some things they opposed — the Michigan House passed a series of bills on Thursday to modify the state’s medical marijuana law.

The changes include rules for the relationship between a patient and the doctor who authorizes medical marijuana use, and law enforcement access to the state’s patient registry, report Dawn Bell and Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

The four bills were all adopted on bipartisan votes, clearing the three-fourths majority needed to amend a voter-enacted law (Michigan voters legalized medical marijuana in 2008).

Similar majorities will be needed in the Michigan Senate before the changes become law, “but I do think we’ve sent a package they can adopt,” said an optimistic Rep. John Walsh (R-Livonia), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Hustler’s Larry Flynt Argues For Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Culture, News

The 420 Times

With recent polls showing 50 percent of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana, Hustler publishing legend Larry Flynt is asking why steps are not being taken to make that a reality.

Flynt places blame on those that have the most to lose from legal weed: the pharmaceutical, alcohol and prison industries.

Pharmaceutical companies don’t want people turning to pot for pain relief because it means they’ll be spending less on prescription pills, according to Flynt.

DEA Forgets Pot-Smoking Student In Cell For Five Days

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 News

K.C. Alfred/UC San Diego

Daniel Chong was forgotten in his DEA holding cell for five days without food or water

UC-San Diego Student Drank His Own Urine to Survive, Then Attempted Suicide

Student Was Smoking Pot at House Raided by DEA on 4/20; Never Charged With Any Crime

Daniel Chong, UC-San Diego student, said he was forced to drink his own urine after he was left in a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holding cell for nearly five days.

Federal Marijuana Patient: I’m Living Proof Cannabis Works

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 Medical, News

PotluckRx.com

Irvin Rosenfeld, 59, has received 300 joints a month from the U.S. federal government for almost 30 years

Irvin Rosenfeld Will Appear in Concord At Tuesday Morning, May 8 Press Conference

Irvin Rosenfeld, one of four patients who still receive medical marijuana from the U.S. federal government as part of the Compassionate Investigative New Drug (IND) Program (a little-known program that was closed to new applicants in 1992), will visit Concord, N.H., on Tuesday, May 8, for a press conference in support of medical marijuana bill SB 409.

The press conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of the Legislative Office Building. Rosenfeld will also meet with elected officials.

Rosenfeld, 59, has suffered since childhood from a rare bone disorder known as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis. He recently published a book called My Medicine: How I Convinced The U.S. Government To Provide My Marijuana And Helped Launch A National Movement.

Pelosi Condemns Federal Crackdown On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

source

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana”

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday released a statement pushing back against the Obama Administration’s escalated interference with medical marijuana laws in California and other states, which is threatening safe access to medicinal cannabis for patients.

“Crucially, she pointed to the stark contrast between the administration’s current actions and its previous written policy that ‘did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws,’ remarked media relations director Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

“Access to medicinal marijuana for individuals who are ill or enduing difficult and painful therapies is both a medical and a states’ rights issue,” Pelosi said. “Sixteen states, including our home state of California, and the District of Columbia have adopted medicinal marijuana laws — most by a vote of the people.

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