Medical

Congress May Double Penalties For Pot Brownies

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2010 Legislation, Medical

A bill has just reached the floor of the United States Senate that would double penalties for any edible products combined with medical marijuana in California and the 13 other states that provide compassionate relief for patients.

The worst part is that the bill was written and sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California!

S. 258, the “Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act,” was introduced by Sen. Feinstein and is using a hyped-up media scare about “candy flavored methamphetamine” to attack medical marijuana patients and providers.

Since there is no national trend toward lacing candy and other edibles with meth or any other drug besides cannabis, this bill clearly targets legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries, caregivers and patients in states that have legalized it as medicine.

V.A. Says Veterans Can Now Use Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 23, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Veterans Today

In a historic decision, the V.A. has announced veterans will no longer be endangering their pain prescriptions by using medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

In a historic decision, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will now formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

It’s a day to remember, according to Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “We now have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine,” Fox said.

The policy clarification has been sought by veterans and advocates for years, reports Dan Frosch at The New York Times.

A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in V.A. hospitals between federal law, which outlaws marijuana for any purpose, and medical marijuana laws in the 14 states that allow medicinal use of cannabis.

Like the decision by Obama’s Justice Department to back off on marijuana dispensary raids in states that have legalized medical pot, the new V.A. policy essentially means the federal government is deferring to state medical marijuana laws.

Marijuana Advocates Protest DEA Raids In Michigan & California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NBC 25

Michigan protesters say Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel is targeting medical marijuana patients who speak out

Coordinated and lively protests were carried out Wednesday by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw, Michigan, and San Diego, California, against the Drug Enforcement Administration for raids it conducted earlier this month.

The raids were made despite an official Justice Department policy issued in October 2009 discouraging such enforcement.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association organized the Saginaw protest march, and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) organized a rally at the federal courthouse in San Diego.

WI: Dane County Residents Will Vote On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 21, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Gary Storck

Wisconsin patients ask: Is My Medicine Legal Yet?

Dane County, Wisconsin citizens will vote in November on whether they think the state should legalize medical marijuana. The County Board voted unanimously to place the advisory referendum on the ballot, making the county the state’s first to introduce a medical marijuana resolution.

The ballot question will ask: “Should the Wisconsin Legislature enact legislation allowing residents with debilitating medical conditions to acquire and possess marijuana for medical purposes if supported by their physician?”

Sup. John Hendrick of Madison, who introduced the resolution Thursday, said he was surprised at the board’s unanimous approval — but he won’t be surprised if the referendum passes by a 70-30 margin or better, reports Devin Rose at the Wisconsin State Journal.

Judge’s Denial Of Medical Marijuana Defense Enrages Activists

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 21, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: James Stacy

Federal medical marijuana defendant James Stacy leads a protest: “I tried to help people and now I face life in prison, even though I did not break the law.”

Medical marijuana advocates are expressing outrage that former San Diego County dispensary operator James Stacy is facing federal marijuana prosecution.

After Stacy opened a medical pot shop called “Movement In Action” in Vista, he was charged with federal counts of illegally manufacturing and distributing marijuana after undercover buys made by a San Diego County sheriff’s detective and resulting raids by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at his home and business, reports Peter Hecht of The Sacramento Bee.

Ban-Happy Town May Be First In Canada To Nix Pot Growing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2010 Global, Growing, Medical

Photo: Lincoln Clarke

If this is your garden and you live in Pitt Meadows, Mayor Don MacLean has a message for you: Get the hell out of town.

Pitt Meadows may be the ban-happy capital of Canada.

The list of outlawed businesses in the sleepy little British Columbia town include massage parlors, X-rated video stores, strip bars, hydroponic gardening stores, nuclear power plants, used car lots, and even giant advertising icons placed on the tops of buildings — you know, those big gorillas you see at car dealerships.

Existing municipal bylaws ban all those things in Pitt Meadows, and now they’re going after legal medical marijuana — the first town in Canada to do so, reports Rod Mickleburgh at The Globe And Mail.

“We are just saying ‘no,'” said Pitt Meadows’ longtime mayor, obvious Nancy Reagan fan Don MacLean, of the town’s move to ban the production of medical marijuana.

Can Ecstasy Ease Post-Traumatic Stress?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Tribe.net

MDMA, better known by its street name, Ecstasy, is illegal but a new study suggests that it is also a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The study, published in the Journal of Pscyhopharmacology, included 20 patients with PTSD from traumas such as sexual assault and combat stress, reports Amanda Gardner at CNN.

On two separate occasions, 12 of the people took MDMA and then spoke for several hours with a pair of trained therapists. The others took a placebo but received the same therapy. All of the participants got additional therapy sessions that did not involve the drug.

Ten of the 12 people who took MDMA had, two months later, improved so much they no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Three of the participants whose condition had prevented them from keeping a job were even able to return to work.

Montana Republicans Want To Repeal Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 19, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: KFBB

With the next session just months away, Republican legislators are getting ready for a battle to ban medical marijuana in Montana, spurred by an explosion in the number of patients in the state.

At least two GOP lawmakers plan to introduce bills in the 2011 Legislature — which begins in January — to repeal the medical marijuana law altogether, reports Daniel Person at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

This spring, the Montana GOP added to its platform the belief that the state’s medical marijuana law should be either “amended or repealed,” with several Republican lawmakers putting forward repeal bills. The state Democratic Party platform does not address the issue of medical marijuana.

Study: Marijuana Makes Bipolar Patients Smarter

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Secrets Of Vancouver

Can marijuana actually make you smarter? Well, yeah, probably so, man. But if you’re bipolar, you now have some actual scientific research to back you up in that belief.

A recent study suggests that some patients with bipolar disorder who use marijuana actually performed better on certain tests involving cognitive functioning, reports Jessica Ward Jones, M.D., at PsychCentral.

Dr. Ole Andreassen of Oslo University Hospital in Norway studied 133 patients with bipolar disorder and 140 with schizophrenia. The patients were questioned about prior drug use; over the previous six months, 18 bipolar patients and 23 schizophrenia patients had used marijuana.

All of the participants then underwent several tests to assess neurocognitive function, including the logical memory test, the color-word interference set-shifting subset test, the digit span forward test, the verbal fluency test, and learning tests.

Life In Prison For Running A Medical Marijuana Collective?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Operation Green Rx

James Stacy with supporters in front of the San Diego Federal Courthouse

James Stacy could face life in prison, even though he thought he was following the law.

After the Obama Administration urged federal agents to no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives that are following state laws, Stacy opened Movement In Action, a collective of his own, in Vista, California, reports Elex Michaelson of San Diego 6.

“I follow the rules,” Stacy said. “If they say I can’t do it, I won’t do it.”

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