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Cancer Patient’s Medical Marijuana Seized At Airport

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

This is Checkpoint B at Indianapolis International Airport, where cancer patient Starling Wickes was caught with medical marijuana on Tuesday

Airport police in Indianapolis will destroy medical marijuana that a 36-year-old breast cancer patient from California tried to bring aboard a flight on Tuesday.

Transportation Security Administration personnel found the cannabis in luggage after it passed through an x-ray machine at Checkpoint B of the Indianapolis International Airport, according to police, reports John Tuohy at the Indy Star.

The marijuana and a black pipe were found inside a pink case, according to police. Screeners searched the bag because the x-ray alarm had sounded.

Starling Wickes, 36, of Van Nuys, California, told the cops she had breast cancer and showed them a medical marijuana card that confirmed her doctor authorized her to use cannabis.

But the officials told Wickes that though it might be OK to possess and smoke medical marijuana in California, they don’t let you do that sort of thing in Indiana.

Exclusive Interview: Medical Marijuana Defendant Joe Grumbine

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Catrina Coleman

Joe Grumbine, The Human Solution: “We operated a collective. But the jury will never hear that part.”

Medical marijuana patient and provider Joe Grumbine is currently fighting for his freedom, facing 13 felony counts in a Long Beach, California court.

Grumbine, who founded the activist group The Human Solution to provide court support for medical marijuana defendants, now needs that kind of support himself, as the clueless judge in his case barred him from using the medical marijuana affirmative defense.

The jury won’t be allowed to even hear that Grumbine was operating legally under California law; I predict 12 very angry jurors when they learn the truth.

Unless and until more medical marijuana providers are willing to stand up like Joe Grumbine has for medicinal cannabis laws and the patients they are designed to protect, innocent people will keep being caught up in legal nightmares like this one.

Toke of the Town had a chance to chat with this hero of the medical marijuana movement.

Czech Republic Moves To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2011 Global, Medical

The Weed Blog

The Czech Ministry of Health has said it will take marijuana off the list of banned substances and for the first time allow it to be prescribed as medicine by doctors.

“By the end of this year we will submit to Parliament an amended law on addictive substances which will move marihuana from the list of banned substances to the list of those which can be prescribed,” Deputy Health Minister Martin Plíšek said, reports Chris Johnstone at CzechPosition.com.

The promised policy change comes after increasing evidence of marijuana’s beneficial effects for those suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease and other illnesses, CzechPosition reports. More and more Czechs are growing cannabis and resorting to home remedies due to the existing ban on its prescription, according to the site.

Marijuana Has Positive Effect On Crohn’s Disease: Study

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2011 Medical, News

Wish I Didn’t Know

Cannabis may have a positive effect on disease activity in Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, according to a new observational study at Tel Aviv University, Israel.

In the study, disease activity, use of medication, need for surgery, and hospitalization before and after cannabis use were examined in 30 patients, reports the International Association for Cannabis Medicines (IACM). Disease activity was assessed by the Harvey Bradshaw index for Crohn’s disease.

The indication for cannabis use was lack of response to conventional treatment in 21 patients and chronic intractable pain in six. Another four patients used cannabis for recreational purposes and continued as they observed an improvement in their medical condition.

Federal Medical Marijuana Patient To Appear In Norfolk, Va.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2011 Culture, Medical, Products

Irv Rosenfeld

Federal medical marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld with a tin of federal U.S. government joints. He receives 300 joints a month from the federal government.

Whenever you hear anyone in the federal government, from the President to the Drug Czar down to the most insignificant bureaucrat, saying that cannabis has no medicinal value, remember that the federal government has been giving out free medical marijuana for almost 30 years.

Irvin Rosenfeld is the longest surviving of the four remaining federal medical marijuana patients in the United States. The Compassionate Investigative New Drug program hasn’t accepted any new patients since the first Bush administration, due to political pressure.

A native of Portsmouth, Virginia who now lives in Florida, Rosenfeld has been smoking 10 to 12 joints of cannabis a day for more than 28 years — a total of more than 123,000 joints.

Rosenfeld uses medical marijuana to treat a severe bone disorder called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis and a variant of the syndrome pseudo pseudo hypothyroidism. Irv has bone tumors on the ends of most long bones of his body.

Medical Marijuana Patient Rights On The Line In California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 23, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Joe Grumbine

Joe Grumbine and The Human Solution supporter Daryl Hannah sport their green Solidarity Ribbons to represent medical marijuana patients

The rights of medical marijuana patients and providers to have safe access to cannabis — approved by California voters 15 years ago, but still opposed by reactionary elements in law enforcement — are on the line in California in a closely watched court case in Long Beach Superior Court.

The People of the State of California vs Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine is the name of the case, and it pits the notoriously anti-marijuana Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve “Hot Dog” Cooley against Long Beach collective owner Joe Byron and collective operator and marijuana activist Joe Grumbine, both of whom refused to bow down to the same old, same old practice of repression and fear.

Ohio Medical Marijuana Ballot Issue Rejected For Content Flaws

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

CFCA America

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine: “I am unable to certify the summary as a fair and truthful statement of the proposed amendment”

The summary of a second proposed medical marijuana ballot issue in Ohio has been rejected by Attorney General Mike DeWine, who claimed it was rejected for a half-dozen “content flaws.”

In a letter Friday to the Ohio Coalition for Medical Compassion, DeWine admitted that 1,344 signatures were valid of 2,365 submitted with the proposal on September 7, reports Alan Johnson at The Columbus Dispatch. Only 1,000 valid signatures are needed.

But DeWine claimed a litany of problems, including numerous provisions that were left out of the proposed ballot summary, one section that was misstated, and one item included that was not part of the full amendment (a $2 million loan for the proposed Division of Medical Cannabis Control to hire personnel, lease office space and purchase equipment).

Marijuana Could Prevent PTSD Symptoms: Medical Study

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

Four Twenty Studios

The administration of marijuana cannabinoids after experiencing a traumatic event blocks the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms in rats, according to a new study published in the medical journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

“We found that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ during which administering synthetic marijuana helps deal with symptoms simulating PTSD in rats,” said Dr. Irit Akirav of the University of Haifa‘s Department of Psychology, which led the study.

In the study, conducted by Dr. Akirav with research student Eti Ganon-Elazar, the researchers set out to investigate how cannabinoids affect the development of PTSD-like symptoms jun rats, whose physiological reactions to traumatic and stressful events is similar to human reactions.

Medical Marijuana Intern Wanted By Denver Paper

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Culture, Medical, News

Pot Party Photos

No bong-cleaning required.

My friend and colleague William Breathes, the nation’s first marijuana/dispensary reviewer employed by a major newspaper chain (me being the second), is a busy man. Breathes is so busy with marijuana news, in fact, Denver Westword is looking to hire a college student to fill what is likely the first medical marijuana dispensary critic internship in history.

Now, before you get all hyperventilated, I should tell you that you don’t have to be a medical marijuana patient to get the nonpaying gig; “there’s plenty of stuff to cover about medical marijuana that doesn’t require you to smoke legal herb,” Breathes said in Wednesday’s announcement.

“In fact, you’ll mostly be updating dispensary listings and reviews, covering a pot meeting or two and generally helping out with our Colorado cannabis coverage,” Breathes said. “Previous blog experience helps, but isn’t required — we’ve all got to start somewhere.

Marijuana Dispensaries Make Neighborhoods Safer: Study

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Whiteside Manor Blog

A report published by one of the world’s most respected research organizations, the nonpartisan RAND Corporation, shows that local crime rates generally increased in areas after the closure of nearby medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.

The study, conducted in June 2010 — just after many L.A. collectives were forced by the city to close — found that crime reports increased by about 60 percent within three blocks of a closed dispensary relative to the same distance around nearby open dispensaries.

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