Medical

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DEA Rejects Professor’s Bid To Grow Pot For Medical Research

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 25, 2011 Growing, Legislation, Medical

Lyle E. Craker, UMass-Amherst professor of plant, soil and insect sciences, in the campus greenhouse

One well-known professor’s attempt to get federal permission to grow marijuana for research into its potential medical benefits has been — once again — rejected by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA has for years claimed that letting anybody other than the federal government grow marijuana would “lead to greater illegal use” of the herb, reports Robert Rizzuto at The Republican.

Lyle Craker, a University of Massachusetts professor of plant, soil and insect sciences in Amherst, has been trying for 10 years to get a license to perform potentially life-saving research on medicinal cannabis.

Street Sweeper Fired For Being Medical Marijuana Patient

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: Denver Westword

Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Don’t even think about becoming a street sweeper here, if you’re a medical marijuana patient.

Some employers have weird moral judgments when it comes to employees who use cannabis — even if that use is legal and with a doctor’s authorization. Unlike users of, say, Vicodin or Valium, medical marijuana users are deemed somehow uniquely unemployable, and/or unable to discharge their duties in an effective and responsible manner.

Never mind that they are not breaking the law; never mind that they are able to do their jobs just fine. They are summarily shit-canned the minute they are discovered, for no good reason at all.

Such is the case in a story from Colorado, where a street sweeper — a street sweeper, who literally uses a broom and a dustpan — has been fired from his job for being a medical marijuana patient, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword.

Mich. Judge: Med Marijuana Law Does Not Protect Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: The Oakland Press

Judge Colleen O’Brien won’t even allow dispensary operator Alexander Vlasenko to mention medical marijuana during his trial.

A local judge has ruled that Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Act does not protect dispensaries from prosecution.

In a written opinion issued last week, Oakland Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien granted a motion from the prosecutors to preclude defendant Alexander Vlasenko from asserting a defense under the state’s medical marijuana law, reports Ann Zaniewski at the Oakland County Daily Tribune.

Vlasenko, who is facing three counts of delivery and “manufacture” of marijuana, won’t be allowed to even mention medical marijuana during his trial.

The charges stem from an undercover investigation of a Waterford Township business called Modern Age. (Sad but true: apparently Oakland County law enforcement officials have nothing better to do than conduct “undercover investigations” of medical marijuana dispensaries.)

Worth Repeating: Medical Marijuana Is The Best Kept Secret

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 22, 2011 Medical

Photo: Geoff Pugh/The Telegraph

Ben Whalley, middle, with Dr Gary Stephens and Dr Claire Williams of Reading University at a secret cannabis farm in the south of England in the hope of producing a new treatment for epilepsy

Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin’.

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

An overwhelming amount of very promising research has been gathered supporting the use of medical cannabis for many illnesses and diseases… and the evidence is now impossible to ignore.

Examples:

“The endogenous cannabinoid system has revealed potential avenues to treat many disease states … Medicinal indications of cannabinoid drugs including compounds that result in enhance endocannabinoid responses (EER) have expanded markedly in recent years.”

“The wide range of indications covers … chemotherapy complications, tumor growth, addiction, pain, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, inflammation, eating disorders, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, as well as epileptic seizures, traumatic brain injury, cerebral ischemia, and other excitotoxic insults.”

Source: “Cannabinoid drugs and enhancement of endocannabinoid responses: strategies for a wide array of disease states,” Current Molecular Medicine, September 2006

Vote For Medical Marijuana At South By Southwest

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 19, 2011 Culture, Medical, News

Photo: WBAL

Marijuana critic: William Breathes at work

My friends at Denver Westword are lobbying to have their medical marijuana panel accepted for the 2012 South By Southwest (SXSW) conference, and they have a good shot at making the cut. But they need our help.

The panel, “Big Business: The Future of Marijuana Journalism” couldn’t be more relevant and timely.

Online voting comprises 30 percent of how a panel gets accepted for inclusion. “That’s a big chunk,” said Web Editor Nick Lucchesi at Westword.

To vote for inclusion of the medical marijuana panel, click this link:

http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/9525

Find The Right Marijuana Strain For You At Leafly.com

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, Products

Graphic: Leafly.com

Leafly helps you make sense of the plethora of medical marijuana strains available.

Leafly.com, online for just over a year now, is a powerful resource which can help medical marijuana patients find the strains which work best for them. Since its debut in June 2010, patients have used the site to explore the dispensary options available and to match strains with symptoms.

When I entered one of my favorite strains, Afgoo, Leafly told me the effects, medical uses, and where I could find it, listing five dispensaries from 10 to 35 miles away.

Toke of the Town had a chance to chat with Mike Juberg, on the sales team at Leafly.com, about what the site has to offer.

MS Patient Appeals Marijuana Conviction To N.J. Supreme Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 16, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: CMMNJ

Wilson was supported throughout his trial by local cannabis advocates, who demonstrated in front of the Somerset County Courthouse.

An attorney representing multiple sclerosis patient John Ray Wilson, the man recently sentenced to five years in prison for growing marijuana to alleviate his medical condition, has filed an appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Wilson, 38, was convicted on the second-degree felony of “manufacturing” marijuana for growing 17 cannabis plants, reports Freedom Is Green. Last month an appellate court upheld Wilson’s barbaric five-year prison sentence, ruling that he could not claim the plants were for personal, medical use.

Wilson has no healthcare insurance to aid him in his battle against MS. His conviction came just as New Jersey’s compassionate use medical marijuana law was passed. Unfortunately, the Garden State’s law was the first medicinal cannabis legislation in the United States that prohibited home cultivation by patients.

Local cannabis advocates supported Wilson, demonstrating in front of the Somerset County Courthouse throughout his 2009 trial.

New D.C. Medical Marijuana Rules Highlight Federal Prosecution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 15, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Cafe Vale Tudo

Applicants for the District of Columbia’s medical marijuana program are now required to state in writing that they assume the risk of federal prosecution for growing or distributing cannabis, and that they cannot hold the city liable for arrests, according to newly revised rules.

The rules for the long-awaited program, published on Friday, for the first time pointedly mention federal prosecution because a Department of Justice memo from June says the federal government still considers marijuana a controlled substance, reports Tom Howell Jr. at The Washington Times.

Montana Appeals Decision Blocking Med Marijuana Restrictions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Billings Gazette

Flowering cannabis plants at Montannabis, Inc., Billings, Montana, March 16, 2011.

Montana on Tuesday appealed to the Montana Supreme Court a judge’s ruling which blocked tight new restrictions on medical marijuana on the state, and will argue there’s no constitutional right to sell cannabis for a profit. The new restrictions have been described by some patient advocates as a de facto repeal of Montana’s medical marijuana law, passed by 62 percent of the state’s voters in 2000.

The Montana Justice Department will ask the state’s high court to overturn portions of Helena District Judge James Reynolds’ decision from June 30, which suspended enforcement of several provisions of the tough new law passed the the Republican-dominated 2011 Legislature to crack down on the state’s growing medical marijuana industry, reports Mike Dennison at the Billings Gazette.

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