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Seattle Marijuana Activists On I-502: ‘Find Another Answer’

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By on Culture, News

Don Skakie
Dr. Gil Mobley’s testing indicates that patients with many times the proposed I-502 5 ng/ml DUI limit were able to pass the Washington State Patrol’s standardized impairment tests

​By Don Skakie
Washington State Correspondent
Toke of the Town
Sunday’s Medfest in Seattle was a great time for the public, patients, activists and speakers to meet, socialize, examine products, hear speakers and talk with each other. The day-long event was punctuated by music by some great performers and passionate speakers heard with much interest by those in attendance.
Regarding Washington state legalization ballot initiative I-502, which includes per se DUI provisions for anyone above five nanograms per milliliter of blood (5 ng/ml), Dr. Gil Mobley told attendees that many MMJ patients’ blood levels never fall below 10 nanograms per milliliter (10 ng/ml) and that many live their lives (including driving) with much higher levels without evidence of impairment.
Mobley’s testing of individual patients included preconsumption, post consumption as well as “days after” testing with no intervening consumption.
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Study Suggests Low Hard Drug Prices Behind Crime Drop

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By on News

Curt Merlo/The Village Voice

​Violent crime has declined dramatically in New York City since 1990, the year when the Big Apple set a record for the most homicides in its history. A new study shows that the price of hard drugs has also plummeted in the past 20 years, and suggests the two phenomena may be linked.

The price of cocaine fell from $400-$460 per pure gram in the early 1980s to less then $200 by the early 2000s, reports Alexander Hotz at The New York World. Similarly, heroin prices dropped from $3,000 to $3,600 per pure gram in the 1980s to about $2,000 by the 2000s.
A team of anthropologists and economists at Manhattan’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York (CUNY) has suggested that the collapse of heroin and cocaine prices might be at least partially responsible for the reversal of crime rates.
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Cannabinoid Patent Exclusivity Only Applies To One Condition

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By on Medical, News

Black Tie Magazine
Dean Petkanas, CEO, KannaLife: “Our exclusivity is narrowly focused”

​Exclusive Interview: Dean Petkanas, CEO, KannaLife

(The Company Just Awarded An Exclusive Cannabinoid License By The Federal Government)

The exclusive rights to apply the cannabinoids found in marijuana as therapeutic agents awarded by the U.S. federal government to the firm KannaLife only apply to one specific medical condition, KannaLife’s CEO told Toke of the Town Monday night.

Dean Petkanas, chief executive officer at KannaLife Sciences, told us that the exclusivity applies only for the development and sale of cannabinoid based therapeutics as antioxidants and neuroprotectants for use in the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy.
“It is narrowly defined exclusivity, in that field,” Petkanas told us. “Our exclusivity is narrowly focused.”
Asked if KannaLife planned to get exclusive rights to develop cannabinoids to treat other conditions, Petkanas answered, “At the present time, we have no desire to do that.”
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‘Sweden Legalizes Cannabis’ Story Is Just A Hoax

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Zazzle

​A story which went viral on the Web today — indicating that Sweden had bravely forged ahead of its Scandinavian neighbors and legalized cannabis — appears to be a hoax.

One story on JustPaste.It, headlined “Sweden legalizes and regulates cannabis,” created a bit of a stir (and a storm of page hits) on social media networks.
However, the story, which linked to no confirming sources and listed as its source “420 Dagbladet, Stockholm, December 19, 2011,” could not be confirmed anywhere else and seems to have no validity.
“420 Dagbladet,” which would mean “420 Daily Newspaper,” doesn’t even appear to exist, either as a website or as a print publication.
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Huge Show Will Bring Truth About Med Marijuana To FL Seniors

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By on Medical, News

Lance Draizin
Robert Platshorn, left, speaks on The Silver Tour while longtime federal medical marijuana patient Irvin Rosenfeld looks on

​We’ve pointed out before that one Florida man —  legendary former pitchman and marijuana smuggler Robert Platshorn — may hold the key to cannabis legalization in the United States. The reason we say that is that skilled pitchman Platshorn has proven he can sway senior audiences to support medical marijuana, and most of us are aware, seniors vote in heavier numbers than any other age group.

Platshorn, through the Silver Tour, brings the truth about marijuana to senior citizens in Florida and nationwide, and one of the biggest events yet on that tour will take place on January 29 in Boyton Beach, Fla.
The show, “Learn the Real Facts About Medical Marijuana,” will be free and all ages are welcome. It will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, January 29, at the Temple Shaarei Shalom in Boynton Beach.
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Barney Frank Goes After George Will Over Marijuana Legalization

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By on Culture, Legislation, News

Martin H. Simon/ABC
ABC’s George Will and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), debate Rep. Barney Frank, (D-Mass.), and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich on the topic “There is Too Much Government in My Life.” “This Week” host Christiane Amanpour is in the middle.

​Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank got ABC’s This Week off to a great start in the first in a series of big debates that will continue throughout the coming year. Sunday’s topic was whether the government is too big or not, with two advocates on each side, and naturally the conversation made its way to drug legalization.

“In quite a surreal moment,” reports Josh Feldman at Mediaite, “Barney Frank asked George Will his position on marijuana and if it should be legalized.”
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Marijuana For Sale, With Free Samples: Woman Busted With Sign

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By on News

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office
Tami Lorraine Madison, 40, was charged with felony possession of marijuana for sale

​The Emerald Triangle’s annual harvest-time cannabis glut may be worse than usual this year. “Marijuana for sale, with free samples,” read the sign spotted by a Humboldt County, California sheriff’s deputy on patrol in the Fernbridge area Saturday morning.

Naturally, the deputy pulled in at the Renner Gas Station to check out a vehicle with those signs posted on it, reports the Arcata Eye. (This being Humboldt County, of course, nobody turned her in; the deputy just happened to drive by.)
When the deputy drove up in his patrol car and asked the female “associated with the vehicle,” Tami Lorraine Madison, 40, of Butte, Montana, if the sign was true, she told the officer it was “a joke.”
But when the deputy took a gander inside her vehicle, he saw dried marijuana buds in plain sight on the car’s front passenger seat.
The officer then searched Madison’s vehicle and found more than eight pounds of dried, manicured cannabis inside.
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Ammiano Meets US Atty On Medical Pot; Comes Away Frustrated

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

A meeting between California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (left) and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag ended only in frustration

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California Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) on Tuesday finally got his meeting with federal prosecutor Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for Northern California. But Ammiano left the meeting frustrated and disappointed that Haag doesn’t seem to understand the chaos she’s creating.

“The meeting didn’t result in any changes,” a clearly disappointed Ammiano told Tim Redmond of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. “But it was good that it happened. We cleared the air about the harm that’s being done.”
Haag wasn’t at all clear during the meeting about exactly what she wanted — what, in other words, would end the crackdown, according to Ammiano aide Quintin Mecke.
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Idaho Man Loses Appeal To Smoke Pot For Religious Reasons

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By on Culture, Legislation, News

Idaho Statesman
Cary White, shown here backpacking in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, has argued in court — unsuccessfully so far — that he has a religious right to use cannabis.

​When Cary William White got stopped by Boise, Idaho police in 2007 for a bad headlight, the cops noticed a pill bottle with a green leafy substance between the driver’s seat and the console. White admitted to smoking marijuana earlier that day from a pipe which was found under his seat.

White fought back, making motions to dismiss the misdemeanor marijuana possession and paraphernalia charges on the grounds that his “sacred” use of cannabis is protected by Idaho’s religious freedom law.

But the Idaho Court of Appeals, in a unanimous Wednesday ruling, agreed with two lower courts, finding that “White’s marijuana use is not substantially motivated by a religious belief.” How convenient that they were able to read his mind and assess his heart. (Oh yeah — they weren’t.)

Medical Marijuana Crackdown Coming In Colorado

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By on Dispensaries, News

CBS Denver
Med Stop, which was approved by the City of Denver, is 161 feet diagonally across the street from a school.

​Colorado has been mercifully spared — so far — from the federal crackdown on medical marijuana. Some have speculated its highly regulated system of handling distribution through state-licensed dispensaries has protected the state. That theory may now need some adjustment. Federal authorities plan to crack down on the medicinal cannabis business in Colorado on a large scale for the first time.

The action — which also flies in the face of theories postulating that since Colorado’s medical marijuana law is a constitutional amendment, it has protected the state from the feds — will begin with warning letters which will go to dispensaries and grow facilities near schools, reports Rick Sallinger at CBS4.
So far, it’s not clear when the crackdown will begin in earnest.
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