| Northern Express |
A Michigan cancer patient whose eviction from her federally subsidized apartment — for using medical marijuana — was halted after an outcry in 2009 now faces homelessness again.
Lori Montroy, 52, of Elk Rapids, got another eviction notice last month at the apartment where she has lived since 2008, reports Patrick Sullivan at Northern Express.
“It’s just draining the life out of me, these people,” Montroy said. “Why can’t they just leave me be?”
Montroy thought she was safe in her apartment after the last attempted eviction around Christmas 2009. The company that at that time managed the apartment complex called off the eviction in early 2010 after a storm of bad publicity and a plea from attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union. The attorneys argued that under federal law, landlords are not required to evict tenants for drug use under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.
| 4autoinsurancequote.com |
There’s yet another study now that concludes marijuana users are better drivers, especially when compared with those who use alcohol behind the wheel. Twenty years of study has concluded that marijuana smokers may actually be getting a bad rap and that they may actually have fewer accidents than other drivers.
The website 4AutoinsuranceQuote.com put a press release on the study, which “looks at statistics regarding accidents, traffic violations, and insurance prices,” and “seeks to dispel the though that ‘driving while stoned’ is dangerous.”
I love the cannabis community. Most of the people working in it have the best intentions and laudable goals. And the challenge facing those who wish to re-legalize cannabis is difficult and daunting enough without those in the movement inadvertently placing additional roadblocks in our own path.
One of those roadblocks seems to happen more and more often — and that’s arguing over word etymology and usage, of all things, rather than working to legalize the plant.
Yes, I’m talking about the great “marijuana/cannabis” controversy. Some activists get quite worked up about it, but any pejorative baggage surrounding the term “marijuana” is, at this point, really nothing more than an increasingly irrelevant historical footnote from the distant past.
There are those within the cannabis movement who will tell you with a straight face that the reason the plant is still illegal is because it is called “marijuana.” That’s overreaching wildly.
| Patrick Whittemore/Boston Herald |
| U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz: “While this office does not intend to focus its limited resources on seriously ill individuals who use marijuana as part of a medically recommended treatment program in compliance with state law, individuals and organizations who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, will be in violation of federal law and be subject to federal enforcement.” |
Medical marijuana advocates in Massachusetts say they’ll take their cause to the ballot if the Legislature won’t pass it, but the usual objections are being raised by law enforcement officials, who say that legalizing medicine cannabis could put the state at odds with the federal government.
The Humanitarian Medical Use of Marijuana bill would protect registered patients, doctors, caregivers and dispensers from local and state marijuana laws, but not from the federal law enforcement like the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). If the Legislature rejects or fails to act on the measure by May 2, certified signatures of 11,485 Massachusetts voters are needed to place a binding question on November’s general election ballot.
Seriously ill patients don’t have to fear a knock on the door from gun-toting feds, according to White House and U.S. Department of Justice officials, but those same officials told the Boston Herald they won’t turn a blind eye to others who break federal laws, including doctors and state-licensed dispensaries, reports Laurel J. Sweet.
| OpCannabis |
The online activist organization Anonymous has begun Phase 1 of OpCannabis, its effort to educate the public and work on behalf of cannabis legalization worldwide.
In announcing OpCannabis, which officially launches on April 20, Anonymous released the following statement:
Dear Citizens of the World
For far too long cannabis has been oppressed by big corporations, big pharma and governments when it could be benefiting all of mankind on many different levels. We have heard and we have watched your government lie and deceive you on all the dangers of cannabis. Show support by making your profile pictures green this April 20th on your social network profiles.
OpCannabis phase 1, initiated. We are Anonymous…..Expect us.
A new understanding of the neurobiology of cannabis is emerging, namely the “endocannabinoid induced aerobic bliss state,” or simply the “endocannabinoid runners’ high.“
For users of medical marijuana, a new use for this miracle plant is at hand: its ability to produce “the psychology of exercise motivation.”
“Recent findings show that exercise increases serum concentrations of endocannabinoids, a result suggestive of a new possible explanation for a number of these changes. The cannabinoids produce psychological states that closely parallel several experiences described as being related to the runner’s high. Compared with the opioid analgesics, the analgesia produced by the endocannabinoid system is more consistent with exercise induced analgesia. Activation of the endocannabinoid system also produces sedation, anxiolysis, a sense of wellbeing, reduced attentional capacity, impaired working memory ability, and difficulty in time estimation. This behavioural profile is similar to the psychological experiences reported by long distance runners.” ~ From Endocannabinoids and Exercise / Br J Sports Med. 2004 October
| High School |
| High school buddies Matt Bush and Sean Marquette have a problem: beating the school’s new zero tolerance drug test. So they get the whole school stoned. |
A film being billed as “the ultimate stoner comedy,” High School, will be released in theaters nationwide on June 1.
Starring Adrien Brody, Sean Marquette, Matt Bush, Colin Hanks and Michael Chiklis, High School introduces us to soon-to-be valedictorian Henry Burke (Matt Bush). The day after Henry takes a hit of the chronic for the first time, his high school principal (Michael Chiklis) institutes a zero tolerance drug policy and gives a mandatory drug test to all students.
| Jack Rikess |
| Oaksterdam founder Richard Lee at Tuesday’s protest in San Francisco against Monday’s federal raids in Oakland |
Less than a week after federal agents raided cannabis training center Oaksterdam University, seizing property, marijuana plants, bank accounts, student records and computers, legendary founder Richard Lee has decided to quit the business.
Lee, 49, who the SF Weekly‘s Erin Sherbert calls “the most visible pot legalization advocate in the state,” told John Hoeffel of the Los Angeles Times that after 20 years, he decided it’s time for others to take over. He added that he’s concerned he could be facing federal drug charges after Monday’s raids of his university, his dispensary (Blue Sky Coffee Shop) and his home.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Lee said on Thursday. “Over 20 years … I kind of feel like I’ve done my time. It’s time for others to take over.”
“I never wanted to be the quote unquote leader of the legalization movement,” Lee told the Times. “I saw myself as just one small soldier in a big war. But I look at it as a battlefield promotion.”
| kimsidwell.com/mmj |
The Colorado Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has unveiled the above billboard — located just a few hundred yards from Mile High (hehe) Stadium in Denver — as part of a groundbreaking effort to force people to confront their anti-marijuana biases prior to a vote on a statewide cannabis ballot initiative this November.
| Bonnie D.A.’Mantis |
| San Diego County D.A. Bonnie Dumanis: Despite a pledge to respect California’s medical marijuana laws, she has waged an urelenting war against cannabis patients and providers |
Don’t any of you marijuana-intoxicated reprobates dare crash this exclusive fundraiser for the well-heeled backers of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and her run for Mayor of San Diego. I know, I know: She’s been one of the worst enemies imaginable to cannabis patients who want safe access, and has engaged in a vituperative campaign to shut down every collective and access point in the county.
Despite a pledge to respect California’s medical marijuana laws, Dumanis has waged an unrelenting war against cannabis patients and providers.
But keep in mind, cannabis-head, this is a very private, invitation-only fundraiser that Bonnie — a vocal foe of medical marijuana dispensaries — is having at the home of billionaire Irwin Jacobs (of Qualcomm fortune).
Whatever you do, don’t show up at the Jacobs’ home to protest, and don’t post this far and wide on websites everywhere to get as many protesters there as possible.
And for heaven’s sakes, don’t share and email this to as many people as possible.