News

IB Medical Marijuana Campaign Gets 1,400 Signatures and $15K

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Law enforcement and prohibitionist groups are continuing to spend thousands of dollars in San Diego County, California, to craft and enforce unfair restrictions and bans on safe access to medical cannabis. These bans, combined with the recent federal crackdown on patients’ rights, have hurt those for whom California’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 was designed in the first place, according to patient advocacy group Safe Access Imperial Beach.

San Diego County patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, and other serious conditions are now faced with a difficult choice: either break the law and turn to local neighborhood drug dealers to find their doctor-recommended medicine, or travel a long distance — in some cases up to 50 miles — to the nearest permitted dispensary in the remote eastern part of the county.

Connecticut Very Close To Legalizing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

ConnecticutMarijuanaDoctors.com

A bill which would legalize the production, distribution and use of marijuana as palliative for the chronically ill appears poised to become law in Connecticut.

The bill passed the Connecticut House on a 96-51 vote, with 79 Democrats joined by 17 Republicans supporting it, and 34 Republicans joined by 17 Democrats in opposing it, reports The Hour.

The Connecticut Senate is expected to approve the bill as well on Friday, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said he will sign it if it clears the Senate, as expected.

The debate centered on mercy and compassion, the limits of medicine and concerns about abuse.

Opponents of medical marijuana in Connecticut have distributed a warning letter to state senators from U.S. Attorney David Fein, who wrote that while the Justice Department will not go after seriously ill patients who use marijuana in violation of federal law, it will still enforce federal laws against those who manufacture and distribute cannabis.

Hustler’s Larry Flynt Argues For Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2012 Culture, News

The 420 Times

With recent polls showing 50 percent of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana, Hustler publishing legend Larry Flynt is asking why steps are not being taken to make that a reality.

Flynt places blame on those that have the most to lose from legal weed: the pharmaceutical, alcohol and prison industries.

Pharmaceutical companies don’t want people turning to pot for pain relief because it means they’ll be spending less on prescription pills, according to Flynt.

DEA Forgets Pot-Smoking Student In Cell For Five Days

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 News

K.C. Alfred/UC San Diego

Daniel Chong was forgotten in his DEA holding cell for five days without food or water

UC-San Diego Student Drank His Own Urine to Survive, Then Attempted Suicide

Student Was Smoking Pot at House Raided by DEA on 4/20; Never Charged With Any Crime

Daniel Chong, UC-San Diego student, said he was forced to drink his own urine after he was left in a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holding cell for nearly five days.

Federal Marijuana Patient: I’m Living Proof Cannabis Works

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 Medical, News

PotluckRx.com

Irvin Rosenfeld, 59, has received 300 joints a month from the U.S. federal government for almost 30 years

Irvin Rosenfeld Will Appear in Concord At Tuesday Morning, May 8 Press Conference

Irvin Rosenfeld, one of four patients who still receive medical marijuana from the U.S. federal government as part of the Compassionate Investigative New Drug (IND) Program (a little-known program that was closed to new applicants in 1992), will visit Concord, N.H., on Tuesday, May 8, for a press conference in support of medical marijuana bill SB 409.

The press conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the lobby of the Legislative Office Building. Rosenfeld will also meet with elected officials.

Rosenfeld, 59, has suffered since childhood from a rare bone disorder known as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis. He recently published a book called My Medicine: How I Convinced The U.S. Government To Provide My Marijuana And Helped Launch A National Movement.

Pelosi Condemns Federal Crackdown On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

source

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana”

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday released a statement pushing back against the Obama Administration’s escalated interference with medical marijuana laws in California and other states, which is threatening safe access to medicinal cannabis for patients.

“Crucially, she pointed to the stark contrast between the administration’s current actions and its previous written policy that ‘did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws,’ remarked media relations director Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

“Access to medicinal marijuana for individuals who are ill or enduing difficult and painful therapies is both a medical and a states’ rights issue,” Pelosi said. “Sixteen states, including our home state of California, and the District of Columbia have adopted medicinal marijuana laws — most by a vote of the people.

Protesters Decry Dutch Cannabis Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 2, 2012 Dispensaries, Global, News

Marcel Van Hoorn/AFP

A demonstrator in Maastricht holds a giant cardboard joint protesting the new policy requiring Dutch coffee shops to insitute a “weed pass” system banning foreigners, on May 1, 2012.

Tourists smoked spliffs in the streets of cities in the southern Netherlands and defiant coffee shop owners sold joints to visitors in a protest on the selling of marijuana to foreigners which took effect on Tuesday.

Protesters in Maastricht — near the Belgian border — waved banners with marijuana leaves and slogans such as “Dealers Wanted” and “Stop Discrimination for Belgium,” report Svebor Kranjc and Thomas Escritt of Reuters.

A few hundred demonstrators gathered in the main square, with about 50 of them openly smoking joints alongside a six-foot-long fake spliff.

Rise in Teen Marijuana Use Shows Failure of War on Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 2, 2012 News

Youth Partners

Despite 750,000 Annual Marijuana Possession Arrests, Teens Consistently Report That Marijuana is Easier to Obtain Than Alcohol

Teen Cigarette Smoking Continues Dramatic Decline — Demonstrating Success of Non-Criminal, Public Health-Based Approach

The 23rd annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) was released Wednesday, showing an increase in teen marijuana use and reductions in prescription drug misuse and especially cigarette smoking.

Smoking rates have declined with 22 percent of teens reporting smoking cigarettes in the past month – down 19 percent from 27 percent last year. Past-month usage of marijuana, though, grew from 19 percent in 2008 to 27 percent last year.

Teen ‘Heavy’ Marijuana Use Up 80%: Anti-Drug Group

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 2, 2012 News

Recovery Ways

New survey results released on Wednesday by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation indicate past-month marijuana use — especially heavy use — has increased significantly among U.S. high school students since 2008, even as abuse of prescription drugs has fallen and hard-drug use has remained steady.

That could be positive news — teens are becoming more likely to use a non-toxic herb than deadly pills. But of course, since The Partnership is a cultish anti-drug scare group, these findings are causing them much hand-wringing and drama.

Marijuana Driving Bill Approved By Colorado Senate

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 1, 2012 Legislation, News

Weed Posts

A bill establishing a THC blood limit for drivers, after first having appeared to die on the Colorado Senate floor, was called back and passed by a single vote Tuesday afternoon.

The bill, which would establish a per se cannabis “impairment” limit of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood (no correlation has been shown between this level and actual impairment) now heads to the Republican-controlled House, where its passage appears likely, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword.

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