| state.nj.us |
| New Jersey Governor Chris Christie isn’t sympathetic to severely sick children. |
Yesterday was the original deadline for a New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to sign a bill increasing access for medical marijuana for sick and needy children in his state, and here we are today with no signature.
Thankfully, Christie has been given an extension of sorts until August 19. We say thankfully, but every day that this asshole holds off on signing the bill is one day longer that children have to suffer and pushing the signing back by even an hour is despicable at this point.
The State of Michigan is one step closer to allowing people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to access medical cannabis legally this week after a state panel gave approval to a citizen petition to add the condition to the list of qualifying medical marijuana ailments.
The Michigan Marihuana Act Review Panel voted 7-2 Tuesday, pushing the motion forward to a public hearing sometime in the next 60 days according to state law. An official vote only be can be taken after public testimony.
| IMCC from Google Maps. |
An Inglewood marijuana dispensary that was the first pot shop in Los Angeles county, according to its owner, was shut down by police today and will likely close for good.
Paul Scott of IMCC Wellness Center says numerous police officers showed up shortly after 1 p.m. and raided his store. He told us that cops at the scene said the other dispensaries in Inglewood — he estimated there were 3 of them — would also be put out of business today. LA Weekly has the full story.
| Wikimedia commons/Dnd523. |
| Dr. Sanjay Gupta. |
Arguably the most well-known doctor in the United States this week has announced that he is now in favor of legalizing medical cannabis and that he was wrong to speak out against medical marijuana in the past.
CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanja Gupta says that five years ago, the research he was seeing just wasn’t there to prove that cannabis was a beneficial substance in America. At the time, Gupta rallied against cannabis, even penning an article in 2009 titled “While I Would Vote No on Pot”. But he now says his position was flawed, and it was mostly at due to his own willful ignorance on the matter.
| Attorney General Eric Holder. |
Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday told NPR that too many people are in jail for nonviolent drug crimes and that there is a great need for federal drug sentencing reform in the United States.
“The war on drugs is now 30, 40 years old,” Holder told NPR. “There have been a lot of unintended consequences. There’s been a decimation of certain communities, in particular communities of color.”
“Medical marijuana may be right for you.” That is all the sign out in front of doctor Brian Murray’s office said Wednesday afternoon, and there was a line out the door according to the Chicago Tribune.
Murray is the first physician to open up his doors in the city specifically for diagnosing patients who think they might benefit from medical cannabis. The only issue is: medical marijuana won’t be available legally for some time in the state.
Back in May, Colorado marijuana attorney Brian Vicente, who co-authored Colorado’s Amendment 64, expressed supreme confidence that state voters would approve taxes on recreational pot sales in the 30 percent range this November. But a lot has changed since then, including dozens of recreational cannabis-sales bans in communities such as Colorado Springs.
While some observers feel these developments could endanger the tax measure, Vicente disagrees. Denver Westword has the full details.
A medical marijuana proposal in Arkansas is one step closer to reality today after the state attorney general gave approval to the official title and popular name of the bill: The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act.
As we told you back in July, the original proposal had been turned down by the attorney general for being too vague – notably language stating that patients would not be allowed to grow their own cannabis.
Last week the world watched as Uruguay became the first nation to officially re-legalize marijuana in nearly eight decades. Not to be outdone, our neighbors to the north in Canada may be heading in the same direction, at least if Justin Trudeau, the leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, has anything to say about it.
On July 23rd, while attending a rally in British Columbia, the head of one of Canada’s three major political parties spotted a supporter carrying a sign in favor of decriminalizing weed, and he stated, “I’m actually not in favor of decriminalizing cannabis – I’m in favor of legalizing it.”
| Michael Beasley putting up a jumper. |
It’s a wonder that Phoenix Suns forward Michael Beasley has ever gotten away with smoking weed.
Scottsdale police arrested Beasley early Tuesday morning after finding marijuana in Beasley’s possession during a traffic stop, which is at least the fifth time that someone has caught Beasley with weed. Phoenix New Times has the full story.