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WA Patients Now Have Better Access To Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Starting Thursday, June 10, Washington residents with terminal or debilitating medical conditions will have better access to getting authorized to use medical marijuana, a prominent Democratic legislator has announced.

Washington’s newest improvement on the medical marijuana program expands the number of health care providers who are legally allowed to recommend medical marijuana to patients, according to its sponsor, state Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle).

Until now, only medical doctors could legally authorize patients to use cannabis medicinally in Washington State. Senate Bill 5798, Kohl-Welles, now extends the ability to authorize the medical use of marijuana to other licensed health professionals who are authorized to prescribe controlled substances.

Professionals who may now authorize medical marijuana use include naturopathic doctors, advanced registered nurse practitioners, physician assistants and osteopathic physician assistants.

“Many patients rely on medical professionals other than MDs and ODs,” Kohl-Welles said. “To remain committed to Washington voters’ long commitment to medical marijuana for qualifying patients, we must allow additional medical professionals to recommend medical marijuana.”

Florida Panel Touts ‘Dangers’ Of Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Teensavers.com

A panel of self-styled “marijuana experts” threw a real scare into addiction counselors Wednesday, as they described the alleged “dangers of medical marijuana” using their time honored tactics of distortion, misinformation, propaganda, thinly veiled hysteria, fear tactics, and outright lies.

The 9th Annual Conference on Addictive Disorders at the Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Florida, brought together substance abuse counselors in workshops on mental health treatment, gambling compulsion, domestic violence and the use of prescription drugs, reports McKenzie Cassidy at the Cape Coral Daily Breeze.

And long-time, rabid anti-drug zealot Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation (formerly the notoriously abusive Straight Inc.) and the St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society From Drugs lobbying group (along with 100+ other subsidiary groups, thus giving the illusion of “consensus”), was in fine form, sharing her irrational pot phobia with the sympathetic, well-heeled crowd.

Medical Pot Raids Backfire; Patients Turn To Black Market

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Dispensaries, Global, Medical

Photo: The Maple Three

A Canadian crackdown on compassion clubs in Quebec has backfired, according to some doctors and medical marijuana patients. Many have been forced to turn to the black market to get their cannabis after police last week in Montreal and Quebec City raided and shut down five compassion clubs and arrested 35 people.

Canada’s federal government offers only one strain of medical marijuana, and the only legal way to purchase government pot is through Health Canada, reports CBC News.

Not only is government cannabis of questionable quality; the process is complicated and the wait is often lengthy, according to some patients.

As a result, more and more Canadian medical marijuana patients are now buying their cannabis illegally.

Group: Oregon Cops Treat Marijuana Patients Like Criminals

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: KEZI

Christine McGarvin, Protect Your Rights 420: “It’s the specter of reefer madness”

Many Oregon law enforcement officers do not distinguish between medical marijuana patients and illegal pot users, according to the group Protect Your Rights 420. Members said that is why it is important that people who use cannabis medicinally know their rights.

“I’ve heard it all,” said Lorri Duckworth, a Protect Your Rights 420 member, reports Jeff Skryzpek of KEZI 9 News.

“If we do it the right way, the legal way, then maybe law enforcement would open their eyes to the fact that we’re not all the typical couch potato stoners,” Duckworth said.

A lack of understanding among law enforcement and the general public is giving them a bad name, group members said, and it creates all sorts of hassles and unnecessary encounters with law enforcement.

Maine Still Struggling With New Medical Marijuana Rules

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Bangor Metro

Maine’s efforts to provide approved patients with safe, legal access to medical marijuana continued Monday in the State House, where health officials are trying to fine-tune the rules and procedures. Two months ago, Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill into law that creates eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state, along with a state registry of patients authorized to use and possess cannabis.

Some patients, however, say the registration fees required to enroll in the system are too expensive and the amounts allowed are too low, reports A.J. Higgins at The Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

N.J.’s Medical Marijuana Law Delayed Again; Advocates Upset

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: John Munson/The Star-Ledger

Medical marijuana advocates rally at the statehouse to encourage Gov Chris Christie to give up his request to delay enactment of the state’s medical marijuana law by six to 12 months.

Implementation of New Jersey’s long-awaited medical marijuana law has been delayed once again. Governor Chris Christie’s Republican administration is dragging its feet on implementation of the law that former Democratic Governor Jon Corzine signed in January.

The measure, already the most restrictive in the nation, was passed by the Legislature in January and was scheduled to take effect six months later. Regulations were to be in place by October, when six state-licensed dispensaries would begin selling marijuana to qualified patients.

But on May 21, the Governor’s office suggested the seriously ill patients should just wait for six to 12 more months before they can use the medicine that helps them most.

Montel Williams Lights A Joint At Maine Marijuana Speech

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: News Center

Montel Williams lights a joint at the urging of Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion

As media personality Montel Williams spoke at Saturday’s medical marijuana conference in Maine, his eyes filled with tears as he shared his pain with the audience. Encouraged by one attending sheriff to do so, Williams lit up a joint and took a few puffs in front of the crowd.

Once Williams’s pain level became so intense he was in tears, Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion shouted from the audience, “Why don’t you just take your medicine?” The audience applauded and gave a standing ovation as Montel sat down, got out a joint and fired it up.

According to Williams, his pain level drops tremendously when he uses marijuana, and if not for medical cannabis he would not have been able to bear the nerve pain he endured prior to and while on stage.

About 250 people came to the convention in Portland to learn how they can get involved in growing or selling medical marijuana, reports WCSH6.com.

Dennis Hopper To Have Weed Strain Named In His Honor

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Culture, Medical

Photo: FlashNews

Counterculture icon and lifelong pothead Dennis Hopper may soon be immortalized with a strain of marijuana

Dennis Hopper had such an impact on cannabis culture, he should be immortalized with his very own strain of marijuana, according to famed pot activist Craig X Rubin.

Rubin, who runs Temple 420, a medical marijuana church/dispensary in Los Angeles, said Hopper has been an icon in the pot community ever since his Easy Rider days, when he, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson smoked real weed while filming the movie.

Over the years, Hopper never denied his love for Mary Jane and, as Rubin explained, “He made it acceptable to be a pothead.”

Rubin said it only makes sense for growers and stoners to name a marijuana strain after the late actor, possibly called “The Hopper.”

“I’d go get an ounce of that right now and get hopped up on The Hopper,” Rubin said.

Rubin said he knows for a fact that Hopper toked until his dying days, because the actor would buy $750 in medical marijuana each week from Rubin’s friend.

Man Chooses 30 Days In Jail Instead Of Quitting Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Charles Balzer: “It’s what the marijuana does for me”

Meet the latest marijuana martyr. A 30-year-old Nevada man on Wednesday chose a month in jail instead of probation which would have meant he couldn’t use medical marijuana for one year.

Charles Ray Balzer of Gardnerville, Nev., told East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl he was unwilling to give up pot for a year, and he would do 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to harassment, reports The Record-Courier.

Balzer has a legal medical marijuana card from the Nevada State Health Division. He told EnEarl he smokes cannabis and takes a prescription painkiller for a back injury.

If Balzer had accepted probation, he could have avoided the jail term, but one condition would have been that he not use “drugs or alcohol” for one year.

In an unaccountable quirk of the law, use of doctor-recommended medical marijuana is considered violation of probation, despite the fact that it is legal in Nevada.

CA: Marijuana Delivery Services Sidestep Dispensary Bans

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Green House Collective

Services such as Green House Collective deliver marijuana to California patients

Hundreds of medical marijuana delivery services are circumventing bans on storefront pot dispensaries in California, bringing cannabis directly to people’s homes and offices across the state.

The delivery of marijuana through these services shows how quickly California’s pot industry is moving out of the shadows and into uncharted legal territory, report Gary Cohn and Michael Montgomery at California Watch.

The “mobile dispensaries” advertise a wide range of strains, edibles and related products in newspapers and on the Internet. One service even delivers organic vegetables along with medical marijuana, as part of a “farm-direct” service.

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