An Arizona medical marijuana patient had purchased a Tootsie Pop-like candy at a local “compassion club” that isn’t approved by the state to sell marijuana. Maricopa County attorney Bill Montgomery’s office tried to use the case to advance the elected official’s belief that voters did not authorize patients to use concentrated marijuana when they approved the state’s medical-pot law in 2010.
Now, it seems, Montgomery probably wishes he hadn’t done that. Phoenix New Times has the details.
An unnamed Lorain, Ohio woman (that we’re going to call Debby Downer) bought a new car last August and, up until now hadn’t really needed her spare. But we think it’s safe to say that someone else did need it. Really, really bad.
After taking her car in to have the flat spare tire replaced, mechanics found eight pounds of ganja wrapped around the rim. Yes, we were surprised the mechanics didn’t keep the herb for themselves as well.
St. Louis decriminalized up to 35 grams of pot last summer, and the effects so far have kept cannabis users from paying huge fines and (most importantly) out of jail, according to arrests statistics pulled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Since the law was passed, 127 people have been charged with possession under 35 grams. Fifty-seven cases haven’t reached the courts yet, but those that have are seeing suspended sentences that will be tossed out upon completion of community service or (in some cases) drug education classes. Only one person has pleaded guilty and been fined.
Americans are sick of the current federal stance on marijuana and increasingly favor decriminalization and legalization. But that shouldn’t mean that there should be a major shift in federal pot policy, according to Drug Enforcement Administration deputy director Thomas Harrigan.
Harrigan told a House subcommittee dubbed “Mixed Signals: The administrations stance on marijuana” this week that science should trump public opinion and that states should be wary of changing their laws. He said that the country “can’t abandon science and fact in favor of public opinion.”
Maria Botker throws her arms forward and droops her head, mimicking, in slow-motion, the way in which her seven-year-old daughter wilts daily. She calls the worst of these “drop seizures.” The Botkers live a fragmented life between Minnesota and Colorado so they can get access to Charlotte’s Web — a strain of marijuana that, when ingested as an oil, has been shown to control epilepsy and help children like theirs regain cognitive functions.
“This is not the way we want to live,” Botker says.
Minneapolis City Pages has the full coverage.
Tuesday marked one of the best of times for marijuana reform in the nation’s capital of Washington D.C., and one of the worst of times.
It truly seemed to be a tale of two cities yesterday as the local District council voted 10-1 to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of weed, while right across town federal U.S. lawmakers were battling with the Chief Deputy of the DEA over anti-weed talking points as tired as most of the cranky old men arguing.
Hey Florida, would you like to be carrying 2.5 ounces of marijuana right now? How about tending your own marijuana garden at home with up to six plants? Or would you rather buy marijuana from a store and have the tax proceeds go to the state? Well, call your state senator and tell them you support SB 1562.
The bill, which would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, has absolutely no chance of passing, but it’s the thought that counts. Miami New Times has the full story.
| CBD-rich hash oil. |
A Georgia bill that would (sort of) legalize medical cannabis for children only has gained overwhelming approval from the state House yesterday and now heads to the state Senate for approval.
House Bill 1107, also called the “Therapeutic Cannabidiol Research Act of 2014”, would allow for clinical trials on CBD for children suffering from severe forms of epilepsy. The bill does not legalize CBD for adults, nor does it come anywhere close to legalizing medical cannabis as a whole.
| Flickr.com/katsrcool |
Yesterday, Reform OKC, a cannabis activist organization in Oklahoma City, filed a petition that would make cannabis possession civil fine not to exceed $500. Currently, marijuana possession of any amount is a class-b charge, with up to a year in prison.
The bill already has the support of at least one state legislator. “Monday’s filing of a local petition to decriminalize marijuana possession in Oklahoma City represents a monumental first step in the goal of reforming marijuana laws in Oklahoma,” Oklahoma State Senator Constance Johnson said in a press release.
| JoelK75/Flickr |
| A handful of herbal healing |
Rarely does a week go by without a new headline, from a respected publication, coming out highlighting another of the amazing benefits of responsible cannabis use. While critics of medical marijuana ignorantly, and incessantly, argue that a majority of medicinal weed smokers have no real physical ailment, every day more and more people across the country are stepping out of the cannabis closet to treat their illnesses.
The headlines regarding cannabis and health benefits have become so commonplace, that we as advocates need to constantly remind ourselves that while it is a miraculous plant, marijuana is not a “miracle drug”. Still, it comes as a bit of a shock when otherwise respected scientists and researchers rush so quickly to condemn pot as a useless form of pseudo-medicine, as a recent article in the journal of Arthritis Care and Research unfortunately did.