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Study: Teen Marijuana Use Not Affected By Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 30, 2011 Medical, News

An updated study released on Thursday by the Marijuana Policy Project shows that enacting medical marijuana laws in a state does not cause an increase in adolescents’ marijuana use.

Despite frequent claims by opponents of medical marijuana that passing such laws “sends the wrong message to children,” there appears to be no correlation between medical marijuana and teen marijuana use rates, according to MPP.

Nearly 15 years after California voters approved the nation’s first state medical marijuana law, Proposition 215, a considerable body of data shows that teens’ marijuana use has generally gone down or stayed the same following the passage of medical marijuana laws.

Bill Would Legalize Medical Marijuana In Massachusetts

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

Photo: The Boston Phoenix

More than 80 people, mostly medical marijuana supporters, packed the conference room for the hearing before the Joint Committee on Public Health.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana to ease symptoms of chronic and debilitating illnesses, and regulate the centers that distribute the herb.

“Marijuana has proven its medical efficacy,” Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) testified before the Legislature’s public health committee on Tuesday, reports the Associated Press. “This bill is about more than just common sense, it’s about compassion.”

Smizik is one of 27 House co-sponsors of H 625, which would legalize and regulate the use of cannabis for patients with specific illnesses.

Worth Repeating: Gov’t Has Patent For Cannabinoids Since 2003

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 27, 2011 Medical

Photo: The Julius Axelrod Papers

Dr. Julius Axelrod, pictured above, conducted some of the original research which culminated in the United States government getting a patent on all cannabinoids in 2003.

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.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)

The United States federal government holds a “medical patent” for all cannabinoids — a patent which it has held since 2003.

Let’s take a look at the rationale behind this patent, and highlight the good news it actually contains for disease prevention, medical treatment and for cannabis legalization.

This patent was the outcome from research conducted by:

• Dr. Aiden J. Hampson, a neuropharmacologist at the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland

• Dr. Julius Axelrod (1912-2004), Professor Emeritus, National Institutes of Health, pharmacologist and neuroscientist who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

• Dr. Maurizio Grimaldi, professor of neurology/neuropsychopharmacology and toxicology, NIMH

Here’s how it all went down in 1998.

Michigan Supreme Court To Clarify Medical Marijuana Rules

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

Photo: LAist

The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear several cases that could clarify the rules surrounding the state’s medical marijuana law, approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of voters in 2008.

One Shiawassee County patient with a medical cannabis card who grew marijuana in a backyard structure wants the criminal charges against him dismissed, reports Rick Pluta at Interlochen Public Radio. Police cited him for not having the grow area locked and enclosed.

In another case, an Oakland County man fighting pot possession charges is using for his defense the fact that he’s a medicinal cannabis patient, even though at the time of this arrest he had not yet obtained his medical marijuana card.

Restrictive Pot Ordinance Blocked; DA Files Charges In Year-Old Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 23, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: Ty Barbour/ChicoER

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey: vindictive prosecution?

Butte County, California’s restrictive dispensary ordinance was just blocked by petition — and now, in what reeks of vindictive prosecution, the district attorney is filing the first charges on dispensaries raided a year ago.

Butte County D.A. Mike Ramsey announced on Wednesday that three Forest Ranch residents have been arrested on three felony counts of marijuana sales and one count of possession of marijuana for sale, reports ChicoER.

Jason Allen Anderson, 35; Michael Franklin Anderson, 46; and Kaitlin Christine Sanchez, 23, operated the Mountainside Patient Collective at 3330 Highway 32 west of Chico.

The Anderson brothers are also charged with marijuana cultivation and possession for sale, relating to a grow operation found on their property in Forest Ranch.

Montana Cops Want Caregivers To Turn In Marijuana By July 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: Wikiality

Montana caregivers are supposed to turn over their plants to the cops by July 1.

Montana’s medical marijuana caregivers officially have less than two weeks to turn in their cannabis plants to the police to be destroyed, but one advocate says that’s not likely to happen.

On July 1, medical marijuana providers are out of business in the state, thanks to the new law, SB 423, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, reports Matt Leach at NBC Montana. The law supposed “takes the profit out of the industry” (actually, it only drives it underground — and removes the tax benefits to local governments) and forces caregivers to turn over any marijuana they might have on hand.

It’s not gonna go down like that, according to Tayln Lang of the Montana Medical Growers Association.

Reps. Frank, Polis To DOJ: Leave Medical Marijuana To States

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

Photo: Just Out

According to Reps. Jared Polis (left) and Barney Frank, the Obama Administration should lay off medical marijuana patients and providers in states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

Two Democratic Congressmen want to know exactly where the federal government stands on medical cannabis. Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are urging the Obama Administration this week to repeat earlier vows to leave the enforcement of medical marijuana laws up to the states.

The Congressmen want Attorney General Eric Holder to renew his commitment to a 2009 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum — known as the Ogden Memo — which said the agency wouldn’t target medical marijuana patients and providers who are in compliance with their state laws, reports Mike Lillis at The Hill.

“Recent actions by United States Attorneys across the country have prompted states to deny patients safe and reliable access to their medicine,” Frank and Polis wrote in a June 20 letter to Holder.

The letter was a result of the lawmakers’ concerns that recent communications from the DOJ and from state and local attorneys indicate the agency is backtracking on the Ogden Memo in the face of conservative criticism that the Obama Administration has somehow been “too lenient” in the “War On Drugs” by allowing sick people to use the medicine recommended by their doctors.

Retired Cops, Marijuana Advocates To Rally In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: LPP

An organization of retired and disabled members of the law enforcement community — which provides support to medical marijuana patients and caregivers — is joining with members of the Sacramento County Patients and Collectives (SCPC) to rally outside the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, June 21.

With numerous medical cannabis collectives currently serving thousands of people in the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, California, the Board of Supervisors will consider a new ordinance that will effectively close down every collective operating in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County.

Alabama Building A Path Toward Allowing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: AMMJC

Some folks just won’t take me seriously when I tell them that Alabama stands a good chance to become the first state in the Deep South to legalize medical marijuana. I can only conclude they are so skeptical because they don’t realize how determined — and, OK, I’ll say it — how stubborn Alabama people can be. (Yes, I grew up there.)

On Saturday I got to meet meet with the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition at their very first gathering, held at beautiful Smith Lake Park near Cullman. I came out of that meeting more convinced than ever that the Heart of Dixie is going to surprise a lot of political observers by recognizing the rights of medical cannabis patients, and that this will happen a lot sooner than many people expect.

The reason for this seemingly unlikely scenario is what could be described as an alliance on this issue between liberal-leaning Democrats and libertarian Republicans, two groups which can agree that the government should allow seriously ill medicinal cannabis patients to use the doctor-recommended medicine which works best for them.

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