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Search Results: policy/ (35)

Czech Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana

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By on Global, Legislation, Medical

The Weed Blog

The Czech Republic’s lower house of Parliament has approved legislation to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The bill still needs to be approved by the upper house to become law.

Politicians agreed that marijuana would initially be imported, and later grown locally by registered farms, reports RT.com.
Patients would need a doctor’s prescription to get cannabis at pharmacies, reports The Associated Press. Marijuana will not be covered by health insurance, and patients will not be allowed to grow it at home.
“The point of the proposal is to make medical marijuana accessible to patients that need it and that already use it today, even when it is against the law,” Pavel Bern, one of a group of deputies who wrote the bill, told Reuters.
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Global Commission On Drug Policy To Meet In Poland

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By on Global, News
Global Commission Members, Including Four Former Presidents, To Gather in Warsaw Oct. 24-25
On Heels of Success in Latin America, Global Commission Will Strategize Next Steps for Global Drug Policy Reform
The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) will gather in Warsaw on October 24 and 25 to highlight the impact of the war on drugs on public health in Eastern Europe and prospects for change around the world.
The Global Commission was convened in July 2010 and has been working to establish a road map for change in drug laws and policies. It is currently composed of 22 international leaders, including seven former presidents.
The GCDP meeting in Poland brings the debate to Eastern Europe, in order to focus on the dramatic human and social consequences of the prevailing hardline approach to drugs in the region. The meeting will include a roundtable organized by the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza to allow interaction with key media and stakeholders.
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Worth Repeating: Marijuana Laws Stuck On Stupid For 75 Years

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By on Culture, Legislation, Medical

All Voices

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, RN
In 1964 THC, the molecule, was first discovered. What do the last 48 years of science have to say about medical marijuana stripped of DEA bias and its groupthink ideologically driven research?
The time is NOW to listen, and let the science supporting medical marijuana speak for itself! 
In a loud, clear voice the science concludes overwhelmingly: YES! Marijuana is medicine! And Schedule I is an outdated scientifically false claim! 
After 10 years of stonewalling by the DEA, medical marijuana patients will finally get their day in federal court to prove that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s marijuana claims are false!
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Why Does The Government Want To Shut Up Bryan Epis?

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By on Growing, Medical, News

NORML
Bryan Epis has been silenced by the federal government as a condition of his sentencing agreement

Editor’s note: Recently, a remarkable resolution was reached on a federal medical marijuana case involving Bryan Epis, a California cannabis club operator, under which Epis had to agree not to be involved in marijuana activism. Epis’s attorney, John Balazs, has contributed his thoughts about the case below in a guest post which is reprinted here with his permission.

By John Balazs
Attorney
Bryan James Epis is a well-known medical marijuana activist who is believed to be the first person to be tried in federal court for cultivating marijuana for medical purposes after the 1996 ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in California. Although only 458 plants were found at his residence, the government extrapolated from a disputed spreadsheet to project that his “conspiracy” to grow marijuana was for at least 1,000 plants, the threshold to trigger a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence. 
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Researchers Say Marijuana Useful in Treating Obesity Disorders

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By on Medical, News

Marijuana.com


Advocates Applaud Scientific Advances, Decry Federal Interference in Medical Marijuana States
  
Research currently underway by GW Pharmaceuticals and the University of Buckingham has recently shown that some of the compounds found in marijuana can have a beneficial effect for people suffering from metabolic diseases associated with obesity.
In animal trials, it was discovered that these compounds acted as appetite suppressants, lowered cholesterol, decreased fat buildup, and improved insulin response to sugars. These qualities could be used to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke associated with obesity, as well as aid in weight management programs.
 
GW Pharmaceuticals is already working on a variety of marijuana-based drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, cancer pain, and other conditions. Most other research into the medical properties of marijuana has been stalled in the United States, thanks to the policies of the federal government, which discourages medical marijuana research and will only fund studies looking for dangers of cannabis, as opposed to its benefits.
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Presidential Hopeful Gingrich Calls Medical Marijuana A ‘Joke’

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By on Medical, News

The Chronicle
Newt Gingrich: “See, when I smoked pot it was illegal, but not immoral. Now it is illegal AND immoral. The law didn’t change, only the morality … That’s why you get to go to jail and I don’t.”

​GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich does not support the legalization of medical marijuana, and in fact, would like to see the United States adopt a tougher policy against the use of cannabis and other substances, including the death penalty for some dealers.

Gingrich on Saturday told Yahoo! News’ Chris Moody that California showed medical marijuana was a “joke.” He introduced legislation to legalize the use of medicinal cannabis in 1981, but has since changed his mind about it, reports Eric W. Dolan at The Raw Story.
“What has changed was the number of parents I met with who said they did not want their children to get the signal from the government that it was acceptable behavior and that they were prepared to say as a matter of value that it was better to send a clear signal on no drug use at the risk of inconveniencing some people, than it was to be compassionate toward a small group at the risk of telling a much larger group that it was OK to use the drug,” Gingrich claimed.
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Medical Marijuana Supporters Rally In Sacramento Today

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By on Legislation, News

Eastern District of California Blog
Protester Brian David at the Sacramento Federal Courthouse on October 7

​The Marijuana Policy Project and a coalition of advocacy and labor groups are staging a demonstration today to protest the federal government’s escalated attack on California’s medical marijuana laws. A rally of medical marijuana patients and supporters is taking place in front of the Sacramento Federal Building and features state legislators, advocates, labor unions, and dispensary operators impacted by the recent Department of Justice (DOJ) crackdown in California.
 
Since the beginning of October, U.S. Attorneys in California have released statements giving some medical marijuana businesses 45 days to close or risk prosecution. They have also issued threats to landlords, indicating that they will be prosecuted and their property seized if they rent to medical marijuana businesses.
In addition, media outlets have been warned that advertising for medical marijuana businesses, a major source of media revenue in California, could lead to federal charges as well.
 
“The recent announcements by the U.S. attorneys of the intent to target the California medical marijuana industry are a waste of law enforcement resources and a betrayal of campaign promises made by President Obama,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). “Shutting down businesses that provide medical marijuana to patients, and threatening their landlords and media advertisers, will not have any effect on the illicit marijuana market.
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Asian and Black Teens Have Lowest Rates Of Drug Use: Study

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By on News

Kush And Orange Juice

​Asian and black teenagers in the United States are less likely to use drugs or alcohol than adolescents of other races, a new study has found.

The survey of 72,561 teens found that American Indian (Native American) youth had the highest rates of drug or alcohol use, with 48 percent reporting they had used the substances in the past year. That was followed by 39 percent of whites, 37 percent of Hispanics, 36 percent of mixed-race teens, 32 percent of blacks and just 24 percent of Asians, according to the research published on Monday in Archives of General Psychiatry, reports Nicole Ostrow at Bloomberg.
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White House ‘Responds’ To Marijuana Legalization Petitions

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By on News

Injustice In Seattle
White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is lying his ass off.

​The Obama Administration has officially “responded” to the “We The People” online petitions regarding marijuana legalization. Well, kind of — if you’re willing to dignify a bureaucrat mouthing the same old meaningless platitudes by calling that a “response.”

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske chose to respond to eight petitions regarding cannabis law reform with one blanket response. Speaking of which, ol’ Gil tried to put a wet blanket on the grass-fire that is the legalization movement, but it turns out all he could do is blow smoke.
Conventional wisdom dictates that when you have to make a press release, but really want it to get as little media attention as possible, you release it late on a Friday — which is exactly what the White House has done with this one. That way, all the top-line reporters have gone home or are bar-hopping by the time the release hits, and it has Saturday and Sunday to blow over before the week’s regular news cycle resumes Monday morning.
Kerlikowske, required by law as director of the ONDCP to oppose marijuana legalization, is either completely unaware that history has passed him by, or is pointedly ignoring the obvious. His refusal to even meaningfully engage with drug policy reform advocates shows that worse than being useless, he is an intentional obstruction — a willing part of the problem.
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Czech Republic Works On Plan To Legalize Medical Marijuana

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By on Global, Legislation, Medical

Mary Jane’s Garden

​A government committee in the Czech Republic is working on a law to legalize medical marijuana in that Eastern European nation.

The country’s experts have proposed that marijuana would either be imported or grown locally by farmers who are registered and licensed for such a crop, which is currently illegal, reports the Associated Press.
The group also proposed on Monday that all medical marijuana patients should be registered with the government.
The draft of the new marijuana bill is scheduled for completion in December. It could become law in the Czech Republic next year if it is approved by Parliament and the executive branch of government.
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