| Wikipedia commons. |
Regular marijuana users don’t have an increased risk of cancer compared to people who only toke every now and then.
That’s the findings of a report submitted at the annual American Association of Cancer Research this week that includes data from six case-controlled studies between 1999 and 2012.
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.
| L.A. Weekly/Susan Slade |
| L.A.’s famous KFC collective. |
Medical marijuana measures D, E and F on L.A.’s May 21 ballot are incredibly high-stakes, and we do mean high. More than 1,000 dispensaries exist in L.A., taking in tens of millions of dollars annually and attracting 100,000-plus clients. Success at the polls will determine which of them get to stay open — and which must close their doors.
There are three rival measures. To win, a measure must get more yes than no votes. But if more than one reaches that level of support, the one with the highest total of yes votes wins. If no votes outweigh the positives for all three measures, nothing changes — we continue in the current limbo.
L.A. Weekly has the rest.
The Vermont senate gave their final approval yesterday to a bill that decriminalizes small amounts of cannabis.
The bill also makes legal small amounts of hash and possession of paraphernalia, but leaves crimes in place for sales and cultivation.
Colorado lawmakers yesterday passed what are being considered the first laws in the nation to regulate adult cannabis use and sales. Among that: when and where cannabis can be sold, limiting how much pot out-of-state visitors can purchase, to where pot magazines can be sold.
The rules still have to go before the governor for signing, but for the most part things seem to be set.
One of the problems with medical marijuana, at least from cops’ perspective, is that pot is hard to detect in the field, and many drivers could be getting away with DUI because they’re high but not drunk. Nearly one-third of fatal California crashes involve drugged drivers.
The problem inspired one California legislator to propose a law that would trigger a DUI case for anyone whose blood test shows even a trace of cannabis in their system. That could be problematic if you’re a medical patient who toked yesterday but was stopped by police today. Even worse: A pot breathalyzer might be on the horizon. LA Weekly has more.
| New Hampshire state house. |
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.
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.
| St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch. |
Ken Wells uses marijuana daily to control his epilepsy, and was happy to tell Fox News St. Louis all about it in a report last night.
The report centered around Wells and his story as well as laws being pushed in Missouri and Illinois, but what stood out most to us was how amazingly ignorant St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch sounds when talking about medical marijuana.
| Wikipedia commons. |
Not that there isn’t already some amateur cannabis research going on in Arizona college dorm rooms and student houses, but as of today formal cannabis research is now allowed at universities across the Grand Canyon state.
Gov. Jan Brewer today gave her signature to a law allowing cannabis research at Arizona universities. Schools can now research cannabis so long as the university receives federal permission from the DEA.
| Bogota, Columbia. |
There’s apparently a form of cocaine more depraved than crack in Colombia called bazuco. The drug is a cheap, meth-like form of cocaine made with sulfuric acid and kerosene from leftover cocaine manufacturing residue. And like meth, it’s users resort heavily to crime to support their habits.
With this public health menace before them, Bogota officials are trying everything to help bazuco addicts – including providing them with marijuana, the Miami Herald reports. Over the next few weeks, some 300 addicts will take part in a program that uses high-strength cannabis as a crutch to help them kick.