Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Reps. Frank, Polis To DOJ: Leave Medical Marijuana To States

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical

According to Reps. Jared Polis (left) and Barney Frank, the Obama Administration should lay off medical marijuana patients and providers in states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

Two Democratic Congressmen want to know exactly where the federal government stands on medical cannabis. Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are urging the Obama Administration this week to repeat earlier vows to leave the enforcement of medical marijuana laws up to the states.

The Congressmen want Attorney General Eric Holder to renew his commitment to a 2009 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum — known as the Ogden Memo — which said the agency wouldn’t target medical marijuana patients and providers who are in compliance with their state laws, reports Mike Lillis at The Hill.

“Recent actions by United States Attorneys across the country have prompted states to deny patients safe and reliable access to their medicine,” Frank and Polis wrote in a June 20 letter to Holder.

The letter was a result of the lawmakers’ concerns that recent communications from the DOJ and from state and local attorneys indicate the agency is backtracking on the Ogden Memo in the face of conservative criticism that the Obama Administration has somehow been “too lenient” in the “War On Drugs” by allowing sick people to use the medicine recommended by their doctors.

Nova Scotia Ordered To Fund Woman’s Marijuana Grow

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: Ian Lindsey/Postmedia News

Grow lights and supplies courtesy of the Canadian government.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has been ordered to pay for the medical marijuana growing equipment of a woman who said she can’t afford it herself.

The Income Assistance Appeals Board ordered the Department of Community Services to pay a one-time setup cost of $2,500 and a fee of $100 every three months for additional supplies to an Amherst woman identified only as Tanya and her husband, Sam. The couple’s last name wasn’t used due to fears that thieves would target their marijuana grow operation, reported the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Retired Cops, Marijuana Advocates To Rally In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: LPP

An organization of retired and disabled members of the law enforcement community — which provides support to medical marijuana patients and caregivers — is joining with members of the Sacramento County Patients and Collectives (SCPC) to rally outside the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, June 21.

With numerous medical cannabis collectives currently serving thousands of people in the unincorporated areas of Sacramento County, California, the Board of Supervisors will consider a new ordinance that will effectively close down every collective operating in the unincorporated area of Sacramento County.

Former Staffers: Drugs Rampant At Police Telemarketing Center

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 News

Photo: Listverse

Fraternal Order of Police telemarketers are on drugs.

Two former employees say that illegal drug use was rife at the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police call center when they worked there recently.

“People would go smoke weed on their 10-minute break and come back smelling rank,” claimed Cameron Duncan, a psychology major at Ball State University who quit his job at the call center in April, reports Seth Slabaugh at the Muncie Star Press.

Another former employee, Gareth Bowlin, said when he worked at the Fraternal Order of Police call center last year, “everybody did drugs in the parking lot, smoking weed and dealing pills; it was nothing but a big drug area. One girl they fired, she was so messed up on pills she fell asleep during a phone call.”

A Pot Taster Speaks: Does ‘The Cough’ Really Mean It’s Good?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 Culture, Products

Graphic: 187CHUY

By Jed Midnight

Special to Toke of the Town

For the past few years I’ve had the privilege and responsibility to be a Cannabis Assessor. It is my task or duty to sample medical marijuana for projective buyers. Thousands of dollars change hands based on my opinion of the herb.

My expertise is based on many decades of research and the ability to say what is good in one sitting. I’ve been a judge in a few cannabis cups and there are some who know me as an intelligent, sophisticated snob with a strong sense of separating the diggity-dank from the swag on the spot.

And just like Peter Parker found out from Spidey, I know that with great power comes great responsibility.

Alabama Building A Path Toward Allowing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: AMMJC

Some folks just won’t take me seriously when I tell them that Alabama stands a good chance to become the first state in the Deep South to legalize medical marijuana. I can only conclude they are so skeptical because they don’t realize how determined — and, OK, I’ll say it — how stubborn Alabama people can be. (Yes, I grew up there.)

On Saturday I got to meet meet with the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition at their very first gathering, held at beautiful Smith Lake Park near Cullman. I came out of that meeting more convinced than ever that the Heart of Dixie is going to surprise a lot of political observers by recognizing the rights of medical cannabis patients, and that this will happen a lot sooner than many people expect.

The reason for this seemingly unlikely scenario is what could be described as an alliance on this issue between liberal-leaning Democrats and libertarian Republicans, two groups which can agree that the government should allow seriously ill medicinal cannabis patients to use the doctor-recommended medicine which works best for them.

SWAT Team Storms Home; 2 Oz. Seized From Legal Pot Patient

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 17, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: FARK

Twenty police officers, some in masks and riot gear, stormed an Arizona home last week after receiving a tip that the owner was in possession of an ounce of marijuana.

The homeowner, Ross Taylor, is a legal, card-carrying patient under the state’s new medical marijuana law, and is therefore allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times. Taylor is also the owner of Cannabis Patient Screening Centers, a new company that matches up patients with doctors for medical marijuana recommendations.

Canada: Conservatives To Bar Patients From Growing Own Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 17, 2011 Global, Growing, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

Canada’s federal government is expected to announce new rules for medical marijuana that would allow only a few licensed growers to be permitted to cultivate cannabis.

The move would eliminate individual and private growers from the current system, under which eligible people apply to Health Canada, which then issues the license, reports Amy Minsky at Postmedia News.

People in the medical marijuana dispensing community who have heard about the impending change said it is unwelcome, and will do more harm than good.

Former President Carter Urges Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 17, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Jimmy Carter Library & Museum

Former President Jimmy Carter: “Maybe the increased tax burden on wealthy citizens necessary to pay for the war on drugs will help bring about a reform of America’s drug policies”

In a new op-ed published in The New York Times to coincide with Friday’s 40th anniversary of President Nixon declaring “War On Drugs,” former President Jimmy Carter supports recent recommendations for countries around the world to try “models of legal regulation of drugs … that are designed to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.”

In the New York Times op-ed, President Carter called the recommendations of the Global Commission on Drug Policy “courageous and profoundly important.”

Worth Repeating: Cannabis May Help Combat Aging Of Brain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 17, 2011 Medical

Graphic: BudFacts.com

Cannabis may help combat the effects of aging on the brain, and may even help ward off Alzheimer’s disease.

Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin’.

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)

Can THC along with whole family of other phytochemical cannabinoids found in marijuana prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative brain diseases, including the effects of aging?

Could cannabinoids be as important to neuro-brain health as we age as other foods, supplements such as omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and aerobic exercise are?

In the near future will at-risk populations be encouraged to consume an RDA for cannabinoids?

Will blood levels of cannabinoids correlate with protection against brain inflammation, similar to taking an aspirin a day to prevent cardiovascular disease?