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Florida State Senator Files Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana

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

Medical marijuana patients in Florida may be one step closer to lighting up legally thanks to a state senator.

State Senator Larcenia Bullard (D-Miami), recently filed Senate Joint Resolution 1028, a Senate bill to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in the Sunshine State, in an effort to get it on the 2012 ballot, according to a Central Florida 13 news report by Troy Kinsey and Margaret Kavanagh.

Representative Jeff Clements of Lake Worth also introduced companion legislation, HJR 353, reports Kristal Roberts at ABC Action News.

Bullard’s bill creates an amendment that allows people with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana as treatment on the recommendation of a doctor. The bill legislation would also allow medical marijuana farms and dispensaries to operate in Florida.

Presidential Hopeful Gingrich Calls Medical Marijuana A ‘Joke’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 28, 2011 Medical, News

The Chronicle

Newt Gingrich: “See, when I smoked pot it was illegal, but not immoral. Now it is illegal AND immoral. The law didn’t change, only the morality … That’s why you get to go to jail and I don’t.”

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich does not support the legalization of medical marijuana, and in fact, would like to see the United States adopt a tougher policy against the use of cannabis and other substances, including the death penalty for some dealers.

Gingrich on Saturday told Yahoo! News’ Chris Moody that California showed medical marijuana was a “joke.” He introduced legislation to legalize the use of medicinal cannabis in 1981, but has since changed his mind about it, reports Eric W. Dolan at The Raw Story.

“What has changed was the number of parents I met with who said they did not want their children to get the signal from the government that it was acceptable behavior and that they were prepared to say as a matter of value that it was better to send a clear signal on no drug use at the risk of inconveniencing some people, than it was to be compassionate toward a small group at the risk of telling a much larger group that it was OK to use the drug,” Gingrich claimed.

Occupy Movement Gets Its Own Medical Marijuana Strain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 28, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, Products

Dave Maass/San Diego City Beat

Occupy OG, found at one of the only dispensaries still open in San Diego County

The Occupy Wall Street movement now has a strain of medical marijuana named after it: Occupy OG.

Occupy OG is a sativa-indica hybrid, and is offered by only one dispensary in San Diego County, according to Weedmaps.com, reports San Diego City Beat‘s Dave Maass.

Occupy OG, available at Thirty Health Center, across from Von’s at 4152 30th Street, San Diego, costs $15 a gram, $50 an eighth, $100 a quarter, $175 a half and $325 an ounce.

New Way Found To Enhance Effects Of Body’s Own Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 21, 2011 Medical, News

Bangla DESH

Results Underscore Cannabinoid’s Potential as Basis of Safe Painkillers

Researchers have discovered a new way to enhance the effects of anandamide, a natural marijuana-like chemical in the body that provides pain relief.

A team of University of California at Irvine and Italian researchers, led by Daniele Piomelli of UC Irvine, identified an “escort” protein in brain cells that transports the endocannabinoid anandamide to sites within the cell where enzymes break it down, reports HealthCanal. The scientists found that blocking this protein — called FLAT — increases the potency of anandamide.

Compounds which boost anandamide’s natural abilities could form the basis of pain medications that don’t produce sedation, addiction or other central nervous system (CNS) side effects, according to previous work by the scientists. These side effects are common with existing painkillers such as opiates.

Medical Marijuana Resolution Now In Florida Legislature

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical

The World

Resolutions to let Florida voters decide on an amendment to the state constitution which would legalize marijuana have now been proposed in both chambers of the state Legislature.

Sen. Larcenia Bullard (D-Miami) dropped Senate Joint Resolution 1028 in the hopper on Friday, and Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) had already introduced House Joint Resolution 353, reports Matthew Hendley at the Broward Palm Beach New Times. The resolutions would put a medical marijuana amendment up for a statewide vote next year.

But there’s one hurdle, and it’s a tall one: Both the Senate and the House have to pass the resolutions by three-fifths margins for the amendment to make it to the ballot.

Clemens’ bill was assigned to three House committees about a month ago, in late October, and chances don’t look very good of it making it out of any of those committees anytime soon.

Read ‘Em Here: CA Guidelines For Federal Marijuana Prosecutions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 18, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Seattle P.I.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner of the Eastern District of California is flanked by California’s other U.S. Attorneys, from left, Laura Duffy of the Southern District, Andre Birotte Jr., of the Central District, and Melinda Haag of the Northern District, at a news conference announcing the federal crackdown, Oct. 7, 2011.

The full text of a February 2011 memo outlining the California U.S. Attorneys’ guidelines for federal medical marijuana prosecutions in California has been obtained by Cal NORML.

“There may be slight errors in transcription because the source was not allowed to make a photocopy of the document, but we believe it is accurate in all major respects,” said Dale Gieringer of Cal NORML.

“It states that the minimum threshold for federal interest generally is 200 kilos or more for distribution and 1,000 plants or more (on private land) for cultivation, plus one or more additional factors such as involvement with an international drug cartel, poly-drug trafficking organization, significant distribution outside California, et cetera,” Gieringer said.

“Note however that the memo was issued early this year, before the recent crackdown by the four CA US Attorneys,” Gieringer said.

Medical Marijuana Bill Will Be Introduced In Alabama

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Alabama Republican Party

Rep. K.L. Brown’s sister used cannabis medicinally to control her pain and nausea before she died of breast cancer 25 years ago

An Alabama legislator is going forward with his bill that would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, and he expects to pre-file the legislation within a week.

Rep. K.L. Brown (R-Jacksonville) said on Wednesday that he had submitted the bill Monday to the state’s Legislative Reference Service, reports Patrick McCreless at The Anniston Star. Lawmakers submit their legislation to that department before filing it in the Legislature.

Brown said it should be about a week before he gets the revised bill back from the Legislative Reference Service.

“Hopefully I’ll have it in a week and get it filed,” he said.

Brown’s sister used cannabis medicinally to control her pain and nausea before she died of breast cancer 25 years ago, and the lawmaker said he sees the measure as a way to help many Alabamians who are in similar situations.

Rep. Brown emphasized that his bill is in no way part of an effort to legalize marijuana completely in Alabama.

Transplant Denied To Med Marijuana Patient With Liver Cancer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Medical, News

Americans for Safe Access

Norman Smith: “Since I am the only successful patient in the clinical trial, to take away something that’s been part of a successful regimen does not make any sense”

Patient Advocacy Group Calls On Preeminent Health Center To Change Harmful Transplant Policy

A medical marijuana patient in Los Angeles with inoperable liver cancer has been removed from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s transplant list after testing positive for marijuana.

Sixty-three-year-old medical marijuana patient Norman B. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009 and sought treatment from the internationally known Cedars-Sinai in L.A. Smith’s oncologist at the medical center, Dr. Steven Miles, approved of his medical marijuana use as a means to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and pain from an unrelated back surgery.

In September 2010, Smith became eligible for a liver transplant, but after testing positive for marijuana in February he was removed from the transplant list. Smith’s cancer was in remission until just recently, but now he is scheduled to undergo radiation treatments in a few days.

Washington Marijuana Patients Protest Federal Dispensary Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Stephanie Bishop

From left, activists Anthony Martinelli, Cydney Moore, Daniel Erdmann and Steve Phun protest at the Federal Building in Seattle on Wednesday

About 40 medical marijuana patients were stirred into action on Wednesday, protesting at the Federal Building in Seattle after Tuesday’s raids by the federal government on dispensaries across Western Washington.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see over 40 committed activists in the cold and rain in front of the Federal Building today,” said activist Don Skakie of legalization effort Yes End Penalties Washington (YEP WA). “Forty might not seem like much to some, but they represent many who could not, weren’t able or were just plain too scared to show up to defend our rights and tell the Feds to back off.”

One of those patients, 28-year-old Juliana Plemitscher, who treats her epilepsy with cannabis, said she wouldn’t normally join a public protest against marijuana laws outside the Federal Building, reports Scott Gutierrez at the Seattle P.I.

“It never really occurred to me to get involved in something like this, but when it was Seattle Cross that got shut down — those were good guys,” Plemitscher said. “It makes it kind of personal.”

Federal Marijuana Raids Sweep Across Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Gweedopig.com

Twelve criminal search warrants for marijuana were executed on Wednesday, November 16, at premises in Kalispell, Missoula, Somers, and Whitefish, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana.

The execution of the warrants comes after a year-long investigation into “drug trafficking” activities of a “criminal enterprise” operating in Montana, claims a press release from office of U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter.

Four civil seizure warrants for financial institutions in Missoula, seeking an unspecified amount of cash, were also executed, reports KRTV.

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