Browsing: Medical



Photo: NIDA Marijuana Project at The University of Mississippi
The entire supply of marijuana for research in the United States is grown by the NIDA in Mississippi.

​One federal agency controls all the marijuana research done in the United States. And that agency has just admitted that it won’t fund research into the benefits of marijuana — only the supposed “negative consequences.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) told the New York Times last week that the agency “does not fund research focused on the potential medical benefits of marijuana.”

“As the National Institute on Drug Abuse, our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use,” NIDA spokeswoman Shirley Simson told the Times.

Photo: Courtesy Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight
From left, Jason Ramey, 30, Travis Stock, 31, and Garrett Houchins, 30, picked up their medical marijuana from the Red Bluff Police Department on Wednesday.

​Three California men Wednesday picked up their medical marijuana from the Red Bluff Police Department, where it had been since being seized in an October raid.

Garret Houchins and Jason Ramey, both 30, and Travis Stock, 31, along with another man, Corey Perkiss, were growing 11 plants at Stock’s home, reports The Redding Record Searchlight.
They were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, processing marijuana and conspiracy.

Photo: The Grand Rapids Press
An anonymous caregiver who grows medical marijuana for patients checks his garden. He has 22 plants of three varieties growing in his Grand Rapids basement. 

​Grand Rapids, Michigan city commissioners have decided on a homegrown approach to regulating medical marijuana.

Commissioners Tuesday decided to go ahead with zoning regulations that will treat medical marijuana growers, also known as caregivers, as home-based businesses, reports Jim Harger of The Grand Rapids Press.
Planning director Suzanne Schulz said the rules will allow medical marijuana growers to operate in a manner similar to music teachers or tax preparers.

Graphic: patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com

​A bill to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland, with state-run production centers, is getting support from legislators in both parties.

“This bill will provide Maryland’s doctors and patients with another tool in the toolbox, to be used safely and responsibly like any other therapy,” said Delegate Dan Morhaim (D-Baltimore County), who is the bill’s co-sponsor and a medical doctor.
Marijuana dispensaries would be licensed by the state under the plan. The cultivation and distribution of cannabis would be monitored by Maryland’s agriculture department and health department.


Photo: Emeraldeye
Eight grand a pound adds up.

​A California man is asking the city of Costa Mesa to pay for 12 medical marijuana plants seized by the police in 2007.

An attached appraisal form with the claim says that “Kush” strain plants like those seized are worth about $8,000 a pound.
Gregory Barnett, 55, said in his claim against the city that police officers destroyed his crop, which was ordered returned by the court, reports Ellyn Pak at The Orange County Register.

Photo: Madison NORML
Gary Storck has been using marijuana medically since 1972 — but 38 years later, it’s still illegal in Wisconsin. This newspaper clipping is from 2005.

​Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle, who supports the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, will deliver his final State of the State address before a joint meeting of the Legislature on Tuesday night, January 26, at 7 p.m. local time.

Medical marijuana supporters will hold a patient vigil at Gov. Doyle’s last official speech. Supporters will gather outside the Assembly Chambers after 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 26, for the address, according to Gary Storck of Madison NORML.

Gov. Doyle has been on record throughout his two terms as willing to sign medical cannabis legislation if it reached his desk. Since the introduction of JMMA, he has gone further in his support, calling it “senseless” to block safe access for patients.

Photo: WAMM
Valerie Corral, WAMM’s co-founder: “We are heartened by the federal government’s newly declared position suggesting deference to state medical marijuana laws”

​Seven years after Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a California medical marijuana farm, forcing patients out of bed at gunpoint, founders of the collective running the farm agreed to settle a lawsuit against the federal government.

The Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) will continue helping terminally and critically ill patients under the settlement.
Valerie and Mike Corral, founders of WAMM, called the settlement a “draw.” “They didn’t win; we didn’t win,” Mike Corral told the San Jose Mercury News.
“We hope that over time the federal government will recognize its senseless position on medical marijuana and will formally codify protections for the sick, dying and marginalized patients who have the right to use whatever substances their physicians recommend to ease suffering,” said Valerie Corral in a statement read before U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel.
“We are nonetheless heartened by the federal government’s newly declared position suggesting deference to state medical marijuana laws and we are extraordinarily proud of our collective’s role in effecting this change in policy,” Corral said. “However, should our government break their word and again pursue this senseless assault on the sick and dying, we stand at the ready and we promise to hold them accountable in a court of law.”

Photo: Jamie Scott Lytle/North County Times
Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative founders Brenda Perez and Bob Riedel at the dispensary, which may be featured on an upcoming reality series

​Mother Earth’s Alternative Healing Cooperative, a medical marijuana dispensary in the San Diego suburb of Fallbrook, may be featured in an upcoming reality TV series about California’s cannabis culture.

Two Los Angeles television producers were in town Wednesday to film interviews at the dispensary for a pilot episode they plan to pitch to Showtime, Bravo, Lifetime and other networks, reports Morgan Cook of the North County Times.
The show, which may be titled “Grass Roots,” will explore California’s burgeoning pot culture, from growers in Northern California to the dispensaries which sell marijuana to patients statewide.


Graphic: thefreshscent.com

​If you’re a legal medical marijuana patient in Washington and you thought your doctor’s recommendation protected you from search or arrest, you’re wrong. According to a new court ruling, you can be arrested and hauled into court every time an officer smells pot at your home — even if you are complying with the law.

In a sharply divided decision, the Washington Supreme Court Thursday ruled against a patient arrested for possessing marijuana — despite the fact that the patient had a doctor’s recommendation for medicinal pot.

Incredibly, the court found that police had probable cause to search the patient’s home, even after he presented what both he and the police believed to be a valid medical marijuana authorization form under Washington’s medical marijuana law.

Photo: puffpuffere, forum.grasscity.com
Imagine the concept: You and your doctor, rather than the Legislature, deciding how much medicine you need.

​The California Supreme Court has struck down limits on how much medical marijuana patients can possess and cultivate.

Patients and caregivers with a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana can now possess as much as is “reasonably related to the patient’s current medical needs,” a standard that the court established in a 1997 decision.
The court concluded that the restrictions imposed by the Legislature are an unconstitutional amendment of a 1996 voter-approved initiative.
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