| The Silver Tour |
| This is one of two different billboards that will go up in Florida as part of a three-prong plan to push for the passage of medical marijuana in the state. |
Medical marijuana will hit the road in Florida at 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. That’s when two 48-foot billboards urging passage of medical marijuana for Floridians will be unveiled. Strategically placed on Pompano, Florida’s busiest thoroughfare, Sample Road, these signs carry a potent message.
The giant billboards are sponsored by The Silver Tour, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating senior voters about medical marijuana. The Silver Tour’s founder and director of NORML of Florida, Robert Platshorn, is the man who convinced Lake Worth Rep. Jeff Clemens to file Florida’s first bill for medical marijuana in the state capitol, Tallahassee.
The billboards are part of a three-prong plan to push for the passage of medical marijuana in Florida, according to Platshorn.
| Neuro-Blog |
By Bob Starrett
In a year where it would be hard to deny that medical marijuana is a big issue in many states, there is bound to be press coverage and there are bound to be legislators who are influenced by it — whatever it says.
This from the The Baltimore Sun on March 7, 2012:
In Colorado, it is estimated that only 2 percent of registered medical marijuana users suffer from cancer or AIDS. Medicinal marijuana is often prescribed for psychiatric conditions such as insomnia, anxiety and mood disorders — and often by prescribers who have no specialized training in psychiatric disorders.
What’s wrong with this paragraph, other than that fact that Colorado does not accept insomnia, anxiety and mood disorders as listed conditions for medical marijuana? In fact, petitions to add severe anxiety and clinical depression have been denied by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
| Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/San Bernardino Sun |
| A federal DEA agent enters G3 Holistic on Monday morning, March 12, 2012, in Upland, California. Federal agents served a search warrant at the medical marijuana dispensary, which has been at odds with the city for a couple of years. |
The Drug Enforcement Administration at 9:30 on Monday morning served a search warrant at G3 Holistic, Inc., a medical marijuana dispensary that has been at odds with the city of Upland, California for a couple of years.
Seized in the raid were at least 25 pounds of marijuana and 89 pounds of medicated edible products containing cannabis, according to the DEA, report Canan Tasci and Melissa Pinion-Whitt of the San Bernardino Sun.
No arrests have been made.
DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen confirmed that a search warrant had been served at G3 and that the federal agency has been “working with” California Attorney General Kamala Harris’s office.
| THC Finder |
A bill that would establish a zero-tolerance driving under the influence (DUI) standard for marijuana has been introduced in the California Legislature.
The bill, AB 2552, sponsored by Norma Torres (D-Pomona), would make any driver found with above-zero levels of cannabinoids in blood or urine presumptively guilty of DUI.
“Since cannabinoids remain in the system for days or weeks after last use, the bill would effectively outlaw driving by every marijuana user in the state,” said Dale Gieringer of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).
| Osocio |
Latin America Leads The Way; UN Remains Closed To Change
The 55th annual session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) started on Monday in Vienna, Austria, with a focus on strengthening the drug program of the United Nations. Government representatives from more than 100 countries will discuss international cooperation in combating drugs, and the enforcement of the current prohibition model. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime will invite delegates to celebrate 100 years of “successful” drug control. Are these people disconnected from reality?
“No changes to the UN conventions or even constructive discussions on alternative policies on drugs are to be expected at this meeting,” said Ruth Dreifuss, former president of Switzerland and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP), a group of international leaders that has called for an end of the global War On Drugs.
| Sensible Washington |
Washington state legalization group Sensible Washington announced earlier this year that they would be running local, city-wide initiatives in 2012. Last month the group declared Spokane its first city. Now, just days away from filing, the group has announced the next five cities where they’ll be running initiatives:
• Everett
• Olympia
• Bremerton
• Kent
• Bellingham
According to Sensible Washington, these initiatives will combine making adult cannabis offenses the lowest law-enforcement priority, and prohibiting cooperation of local law enforcement with federal authorities in marijuana enforcement.
| death + taxes |
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
Resonate
res·o·nate/ˈrezəˌnāt/
Verb: 1. Produce or be filled with a deep, full, reverberating sound.
2. Evoke or suggest images, memories, and emotions.
Picture the State of California in your mind. Now imagine the Attorney General taking a pair of Federal scissors and cutting along the dotted line below and above California’s largest city, leaving Los Angeles as an island. Not content to stop there, Cali’s Top Law Dog is now on a serrated blood trail with Federal Fiskars in hand.
She continues undercutting the will of the People by lopping off areas of California like a mad child decapitating paper dolls. Soon, if she has her way, all of California’s dispensaries will be gone.
| Global Ganja Report |
Worth Repeating
By Ron Marczyk, R.N.
Health Education Teacher (Retired)
“We conclude that the legalization of medical marijuana leads to an improvement in the psychological well being of young adult males, an improvement that is reflected in fewer suicides.”
This story didn’t make it past the network news filters, was ignored by the mainstream media, and numerous mental health/suicide prevention organizations would not even comment about it!
Then, 17 days later:
Why would a “good news” marijuana story, like where suicides markedly declined, be ignored by the media?
| Veterans Today |
Seattle Seminar Saturday March 10th to Educate Attorneys, Accountants and Cannabis Business Owners How to Prepare Their Businesses for Possible IRS Audits under the Current 280E IRS Tax Code
The Internal Revenue Service is using tax audits to rule that state-sanctioned cannabis businesses are deemed “drug trafficking organizations” under Section 280E of the IRS code which was created decades ago. Through this definition of the tax code, the IRS is denying legitimate businesses from making normal deductions such as rent payments, payroll, insurance, and other usual business expenses incurred, and demanding large taxes and fines on the industry.
| FreakingNews.com |
SB 409 Would Protect Seriously Ill New Hampshire Patients From Arrest If Their Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana
A hearing on New Hampshire’s medical marijuana bill, SB 409, ran past 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Jeb Bradley (R-Wolfeboro), listened to two and a half hours of testimony, nearly all of which was offered in support of the bill.
The bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Jim Forsythe (R-Strafford), introduced the measure and made a strong case that support for the bill transcends partisan boundaries.