Legislation

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Air Force Vet With PTSD In New Ad For Arkansas Med Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Daniel Hankins urges Arkansans to vote Yes on Issue 5 to help alleviate the suffering of veterans and other patients

Arkansans for Compassionate Care on Friday started airing its second television ad in support of Issue 5, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act. The ad features Daniel Hankins, an Air Force veteran who was disabled when a 500-pound bomb fell on his back. As noted in the ad, Daniel also suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) due to the fact that three close friends lost their lives in front of him.

Hankins expressed his desire to use medical marijuana to alleviate his suffering and allow him to wean off many more harmful pharmaceutical drugs. Under the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, veterans with PTSD would qualify to use medical marijuana if they have a doctor’s recommendation to do so.

Measure 80 Would Mean Marijuana For Oregon’s PTSD Veterans

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Vets Helping Vets

Every day in America, 18 military veterans commit suicide. The United States has lost more military service-members and veterans to suicide than to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Oregon is home to an estimated 300,000 veterans, including more than 20,000 from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, according to the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs. A 2008 Rand Corporation study found nearly 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan vets reported PTSD symptoms.

Currently, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program does not recognize or allow for access to cannabis to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Therefore, Oregon military veterans who suffer from PTSD cannot access medical marijuana.

Legislator Accuses Medical Marijuana Group Of ‘Harassment’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Hal Yeager/The Birmingham News

CLUELESS! Rep. Jim McClendon, chairman of the Alabama House Health Committee, called constituent emails “harassment”

Health Committee Chairman Unwilling To Read Citizen Emails

Ah, representative democracy. When citizens have concerns, they contact their elected representatives, right? Right?? One Alabama legislator apparently could use a basic civics lesson; it seems Republican Rep. Jim McClendon has forgotten for whom he works. On Thursday morning, he sent an email message to constituents, colleagues and newspapers statewide accusing medical marijuana lobbyists of “harassment.”

McClendon, chairman of the Alabama House Committee on Health, apparently felt quite put upon by the emails sent by members and supporters of the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition, a group fighting for safe access for medicinal cannabis patients in the Heart of Dixie.

5,600 More Montana Patients Denied Rights And Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Cannabis Now Magazine

Losing Legal Status and Providers, Suffering Patients Plead for Voters to Oppose IR-124

As Montana fully implements Senate Bill 423 after a June 2011 injunction was lifted by the state Supreme Court on Wednesday, the vast majority of currently legal patients are losing their rights. The state’s data show that 5,598 patients will now lose their status as registered, legal medical users of marijuana.

Medical Marijuana Advocates Launch Election-Based Website

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Examiner.com

New tool enables patients, advocates to make informed choices by reviewing voting record of elected officials

The medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Thursday launched a new website — VoteMedicalMarijuana.org — that provides patients and their supporters with the tools they need to make informed decisions about the candidates in their districts. The new website will give visitors a pass/fail “grade” for how their Member of Congress has voted on medical marijuana since 1997.

Victory! Historic Decision Issued In Medical Marijuana Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Medical Marijuana Legal Blog

Fourth District Court of Appeal rejects requirement that all collective members must be actively involved in cultivation

The Fourth District Court of Appeal for California on Wednesday issued a unanimous published ruling in a landmark medical marijuana case that reverses the conviction of a San Diego dispensary operator, Jovan Jackson, convicted in September 2010 after being denied a defense in state court. Wednesday’s historic ruling also reversed the lower court’s finding that Jackson was not entitled to a defense, providing the elements for such a defense in future jury trials.

“This landmark decision not only recognizes the right of dispensaries to exist and provide medical marijuana to their patient members, it also grants a defense for those providers in state court,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana advocacy group. Elford also argued Jackson’s appeal before the court.

Physicians Endorse Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2012 Legislation, News

Arkansans for Compassionate Care

Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the committee behind Issue 5, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, will soon announce a growing coalition of more than 70 Arkansas physicians who have endorsed the measure. The campaign plans to hold a press conference to discuss the support for Issue 5 among physicians in the coming days.

“As physicians, we appreciate the suffering patients endure,” said Dr. Marvin Singleton, past president of the Missouri State Medical Association and now a resident of Fayetteville. “Marijuana is well known within the medical community to alleviate the suffering of patients with MS, cancer, Crohn’s Disease and other serious illnesses.

“If a doctor believes that a patient could benefit from the use of medical marijuana, neither the doctor nor the patient should face criminal penalties for pursuing that relief,” Dr. Singleton said. “Issue 5 is a compassionate measure. Moreover, it has been drafted to ensure that only seriously ill patients will qualify to use medical marijuana. I encourage all voters to support it.”

Dr. Jill Stein: ‘Marijuana Is Not Dangerous At All’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2012 Culture, Legislation

Current

Green Party Presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein: “The most important thing we can do to get rid of the health problems associated with marijuana is to legalize it”

Green Party Presidential nominee Dr. Jill Stein, at Tuesday night’s third-party debate, did a remarkable thing, for a politician: She told the truth about marijuana.

“As a medical doctor, previously in clinical practice for about 25 years, I can say with a clear understanding of the health impacts, that marijuana is a substance that is dangerous because it is illegal,” Stein said. “It is not illegal because it is dangerous — because it is not dangerous at all!”

“It is well understood that the health impacts of marijuana are mainly the public health and safety impacts from the illegal drug trade associated with marijuana prohibition,” she said. “So the most important thing we can do to get rid of the health problems associated with marijuana is to legalize it.”

MT Supreme Court Denies Medical Marijuana Rehearing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 23, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

KULR8.com

The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a motion filed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association in its constitutional challenge of the state’s medical marijuana law. The motion asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a recent decision overturning significant parts of a lower court’s injunction against the law.

As a result of the September 11 ruling overturning the injunction, the provisions in the current medical marijuana that limit providers to no more than three patients, and prohibit them from recouping back end operational costs, are now in full effect according to the state’s attorney general’s office. Until the injunction was overturned, the average provider had 16 patients, and the average production cost covered by registered patients was approximately $240 per ounce.

AL House Health Committee Calls Nov. Med Marijuana Meeting

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 23, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition/Facebook

Ron Crumpton, left, and the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition (AMMJC) travels the state attending public events and drumming up support for medical marijuana. This shot was taken at the 2012 Boll Weevil Festival in Enterprise.

Years of hard work by the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition (AMMJC) is starting to pay off.

House Bill 2, The Alabama Medical Marijuana Patients’ Rights Act, is scheduled for a pre-session meeting before the Alabama House Health Committee next month, with experts on medicinal cannabis invited to speak.

“Rep. McClendon is having a meeting of the Health Committee to hear proponents and opponents of Medical Marijuana, November 14, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. in the Joint Briefing Room,” Committee Clerk Mary Ruth Davis emailed bill sponsor Rep. Patricia Todd on Tuesday.

According to Ron Crumpton, co-president of AMMJC, Rep. McClendon told Rep. Todd that testimony on HB 2 will not be limited unless it gets redundant.

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