| Cannabis Fantastic |
Two bills were introduced Friday in the Maryland House and Senate that would allow patients with certain qualifying conditions to use medical marijuana with doctors’ recommendations.
The bills, HB 1024 and HB 1148, are based on the recommendations of a study panel created by the Legislature in 2011 and were introduced in the state House by Del. Dan Morhaim. Senator Jamie Raskin is expected to sponsor similar legislation in the state Senate.
One version of the legislation, championed by state lawmakers on the work group, allows doctors to recommend medical marijuana to their patients who could then purchase it from licensed dispensaries, all of which would be overseen by an independent commission.
| Revolution Live |
The 14th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert will be held Sunday, February 19, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to raise funds for NORML of Florida (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), The Silver Tour, Patients Out of Time (POT) and PUFMM’s (People United For Medical Marijuana) campaign to protect medical marijuana patients’ rights. The event will be hosted by NORML of Florida, Ploppy Palace Productions and Revolution Live.
Currently a statewide campaign is underway to change the medical marijuana laws in Florida. There is legislation currently in both the state House and Senate — a first in 30 years! — as well as a statewide petition signature drive.
As part of the benefit concert — which will be a three-stage extravaganza — some of South Florida’s top bands, spoken word artists and community activists will join together to support patients’ right to use and physicians’ right to recommend medicinal cannabis.
| Gwinnett County Jail |
| Bryan Brown is facing drug charges after a traffic stop on I-85 just north of Hamilton Mill Road. He says the officer who searched him “grabbed his dick.” |
…Gets Busted Anyway
A Georgia man is facing marijuana charges after a traffic stop on Interstate 85 just north of Lawrenceville.
On the afternoon of February 3, Bryan Brown, 21, was stopped by a Gwinnett County Police officer for tailgating another vehicle, reports Kristi Reed at the Dacula Patch. The officer approached the passenger side window of Brown’s car and claimed he detected the strong odor of marijuana. According to the police report, Brown “showed signs of nervousness,” including shaky hands and an unsteady voice.
| Kyndra Miller |
| NORML Women’s Alliance West Coast Coordinator Kyndra Miller: “We need help everywhere” |
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
The NORML Women’s Alliance is looking for many good women.
According to most every poll, cannabis use by mainstream America is on the rise, except for women — their numbers are stagnant. Men are 10 to 16 percent “higher” in their support of legalization and medical marijuana.
The Women’s Alliance is a on a quest to change that.
This coming weekend I have the pleasure of tagging along with NORML Women’s Alliance as they bring their message to the High Times 2012 Medical Cannabis Cup in Los Angeles. Since its inception a few years ago, from New Jersey to the West Coast, the Women’s Alliance has been reaching out to women via networking groups, parties, movie screenings, conferences and where I first met them, in the streets of San Francisco, marching and protesting.
When Obama last visited San Francisco, there was a huge demonstration organized by the medical marijuana community to protest the federal crackdown, a complete about-face by the administration, forcing the closure of California dispensaries and blocking safe access to medicine.
| Chronic Fatigue |
In a Recent Letter, the Originator of SB 420 Clarifies That Medical Cannabis Providers Can Make a Profit.
By Robert A. Raich
There is a widely held misperception that businesses in the California medical cannabis industry are prohibited from making a profit. In reality, no California law prohibits cannabis-related businesses from making a profit.
Opponents of medical cannabis, however, have done a masterful job of spreading disinformation since SB 420 was signed into law in 2003. That disinformation has become so prevalent that it is affecting safe access to medical cannabis by patients around the state and has prompted retired state Senator John Vasconcellos to release a letter [PDF] debunking the widely held misinterpretation that profit is not permitted for medical cannabis providers under California law.
| John Parr |
| Clif Deuvall speaks to the crowd at Portland Hempstalk 2011 |
A Texas man running as an Independent for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives includes ending cannabis prohibition as a prominent point in his campaign.
Clifford “Clif” Deuvall of Waco, a decorated military veteran and longtime community leader in Central Texas, has his sights set on the District 56 seat in the Texas House, and he brings a plethora of experience to the table.
Unlike many other politicians who have shied away from the issue, Deuvall — founder of Waco NORML — proudly supports marijuana legalization, and he can tell you exactly why.
“Prohibition and the disparity associated with it has cost the Texas taxpayers, youth, and families enough,” he said. “Texas prohibition was written capriciously, arbitrarily, and with discriminatory overtones directed toward the Hispanic community.
“A discriminatory-structured law must not remain on the law books of Texas,” Deuvall said.
| Patients Against I-502 |
Washington state’s marijuana legalization Initiative 502 has plenty of prominent backers and a healthy war chest of money heading towards the November election. So why do many of the state’s most prominent cannabis advocates oppose it?
One of the most troublesome reasons, according to Patients Against I-502, is its faulty DUI provision which would create a per se DUI charge for anyone testing over the low, arbitrary and scientifically unsupported blood THC level of of five nanograms per milliliter (5 ng/ml).
| Casey Prather/The Towerlight |
Medical marijuana advocates continue to push for the legalization of cannabis for licensed patients in Maryland through a proposed bill, The Medical Marijuana Act, HB 15.
The bill could allow the medicinal use of cannabis in Maryland as early as September, reports Gabrielle LePore at the Towson University student newspaper, The Towerlight. State licensed growers would cultivate the marijuana if the bill is passed.
HB 15 is a step toward increasing the quality of life for those who could benefit from medical marijuana, according to Donna Cox, a professor in Towson U.’s department of health science.
| Weed Quotes |
| Richard Branson, Virgin Group: “[T]he war on drugs has failed, and … what we need to do is treat drugs as a health problem, not as a criminal problem” |
Richard Branson Joins Powerful Group That Includes Sting, Arianna Huffington, Russell Simmons, Former Heads of State, and Former U.S. Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Surgeon General, Attorney General and Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Virgin Group founder and social entrepreneur Richard Branson has joined the Honorary Board of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the U.S.-based organization that is fighting for alternatives to current drug policy that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.
| WLOX |
| Mississippi state Senator Deborah Dawkins: “I think most people want their doctors to help them make their own decisions” |
Senator Deborah Dawkins of Pass Christian, Mississippi, for the fourth year in a row, is submitting another proposal to legalize medical marijuana in the Magnolia State.
According to the experts, when used for medicinal purposes, cannabis can be quite useful. And that’s why Senator Dawkins is working hard to legalize its medical use in Mississippi, reports Terrance Friday at WLOX.
“I think most people want their doctors to help them make their own decisions,” Dawkins said. “And to me, we’re taking something away from the patients and their physicians.”
A number of studies have shown that some attributes of the cannabis plant can help relieve pain, control nausea, and help with a long list of other ailments. As of now, 16 states and the District of Columbia have already legalized the medical use of marijuana for certain conditions.