There’s a study that’s floating around today linking marijuana use to heart complications, with some reports saying that marijuana use is directly linkable to cardiovascular death. It’s sure to get even more traction over the next few days, but here’s a few things you should know about why this study is a load of crap.
Demonstrators descended on the state capitol rotunda Wednesday thrusting fists and signs into the air with chants of “yes, we cannabis!”
For two hours, the hallways echoed with the voices of cops, writers, pols, and lawyers invited by Minnesota NORML, which lobbies for marijuana reform. They rubbed elbows with both jean jackets and blazers, showing the disparate makeup of a group that is often typecast and dismissed as burnouts.
“This movement is about people who like drugs, people who hate drugs, and people who just don’t give a damn about drugs,” says Neill Franklin, a former narcotics officer, from the podium. “It’s about everyone who is concerned about cannabis prohibition in the United States today.”
In the crowd, Grassroots Party founder Oliver Steinberg smiles when asked about how pot reform has gone mainstream. He attended his first demonstration back in the early 90s with some of the same people who showed up here.
“The only difference now are those cameras,” he says, pointing to the TV crews.
Read the entire story over at the Minneapolis City Pages.
The ringleader of a huge, Southern California medical marijuana distribution network has won a whopping 94-month reduction in his punishment, according to federal court records reviewed by our friends at the OC Weekly.
In July 2013, U.S. District Court Judge James V. Selna sentenced John Melvin Walker to a term of 262 months in prison, but this week amended the punishment to a term of 168 months for the conspiracy and efforts to evade federal tax obligations.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gave final approval to a bill that legalizes cannabis-derived CBD oil for children and adults suffering from severe seizure disorders. Sort of.
Patients don’t actually get any access to the oil that many have found relief from using until doctors petition the feds for access. Read on for more.
Federal officials have now brought charges against ten additional people in Michigan for allegedly using the state medical marijuana program as a front for illegal sales and cultivation, bringing the total number of people “busted” in the sting to 37.
According to the feds, the group called themselves the Medical Marijuana Team and was growing in multiple small towns in the western part of the state as caregivers for medical marijuana patients.
An updated set of rules for the fledgling medical marijuana program in Illinois that amend unpopular regulations approved in February are expected Friday, including restoring gun-owner rights at the state level and setting state application fee requirements.
The rule-changes came after the department received hundreds of letters from the public with concerns.
It’s been three-and-a-half months since the start of recreational cannabis sales in Colorado, but recent stats show that medical marijuana sales still far outpace recreational sales — even with a patient base of fewer than 114,000 people.
Retail sales tax collected in the state in March for retail cannabis sales was about half that collected from medical sales, according to Colorado Department of Revenue data. Medical marijuana sales were somewhere around the $35 million mark, while retail sales totaled about $15 million.
A federally-sponsored study on the harms of marijuana found – surprise! – that marijuana is harmful to the brains of youth who smoke it, even casually.
Yes, a Northwestern University School of Medicine study funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Office of National Drug Control Policy found that marijuana use physically alters brain structures. The study didn’t examine whether or not those changes caused any decline in the brains of users, but that didn’t stop them from making that connection.
Back in 2011, the state of Montana saw a pretty big backlash against medical marijuana patients, caregivers and collectives and state lawmakers approved a ban on the small commercial medical cannabis industry and limited caregivers to three patients. Thankfully those laws were blocked in favor of the medical marijuana industry on appeal, however the state Supreme Court overruled that decision and has forced the judge in the case to reexamine his ruling.
Yesterday an attorney representing patients and collectives argued that the restrictions should remain blocked and that the proposed rules would keep patients from accessing something the state has deemed legal.
| Colorado Supreme Court courtroom. |
A group of Colorado activists have filed a request with the Colorado Supreme Court to consider the rights of patients when they review — once-and-for-all — whether or not medical marijuana patients have a right to use cannabis and whether or not the federal controlled substances act supersedes state medical marijuana laws.
It’s a complicated matter that has arisen several times, though most recently it stems from the 2012 drug-test-failure firing of a paraplegic DISH Network employee who was licensed by the state of Colorado to use medical cannabis.