| Graphic: (c)2004 Nemo Boko |
Supporters of a medical marijuana bill in Wisconsin will gather to pray on the State Capitol steps Tuesday, hoping to convince lawmakers to legalize medicinal cannabis in the Badger State.
The Statewide Day of Prayer for Compassion will include ceremonies at noon on Tuesday on the State Street steps, featuring preachers, medical marijuana patients and advocates, and others, reports Bill Novak at The Cap Times.
The day is prayer is to show support for the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, the latest legislation in a decades-long fight to get marijuana approved as medicine in Wisconsin.
| Graphic: wussuphater.wordpress.com |
A Colorado lawmaker wants veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder to be able to use medical marijuana.
Sen. Sal Pace (D-Pueblo) will try to amend proposed medical marijuana regulations, House Bill 1284, to allow the practice during a committee meeting Monday, reports The Associated Press.
The amendment would require PTSD sufferers to get a recommendation from a psychiatrist before they would qualify for medical cannabis.
“Frankly, I think it’s one small step to help our veterans,” Pace said. “An eight-member board of physicians in New Mexico just verified that medical marijuana does assist in fighting the symptoms of PTSD,” he told The Denver Channel.
| Photo: TheTelegraph.com |
| Illinois cousins Jewelelle Washington, left, and Stefanie Ward hold a Popeyes french fries bag in which they claim to have found two marijuana roaches. Washington is holding a photo of the bag, fries and alleged roaches. |
Two Illinois women claim they found marijuana roaches in the bottom of their Popeyes french fries bag, spurring a company investigation but leaving police with little means to figure out where they originated, reports Linda N. Weller at TheTelegraph.com.
“I grabbed a couple, she grabbed a couple, and lo and behold, we see something at the bottom of the bag,” said Stefanie Ward, 27, of Alton, Illinois. “I didn’t know what it was. I’ve never been around it, never smoked it, and I’ve never seen it. I said, ‘This is a burnt cigarette.'”
“This is not a cigarette; this is weed,” her cousin, Jewelelle Washington replied. “This is very serious.”
| Photo: gkissane |
| Arizona issued “tax stamps” for marijuana as part of Reagan’s War on Drugs in the 1980s. If a medical marijuana initiative passes in November, the Grand Canyon State will have another go at taxing cannabis. |
What happened in Michigan to a WalMart worker who was fired for testing positive for doctor-recommended medical marijuana probably could not happen in Arizona — if voters approve a ballot measure in November.
The initiative would allow doctors to recommend marijuana for patients who are suffering from certain conditions, reports Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services. It would also allow creation of a network of nonprofit dispensaries that would sell cannabis to those with doctor recommendations. Patients who are not within 25 miles of a dispensary would be allowed to grow their own.
The ballot measure also contains anti-discrimination provisions, including one that says an employer cannot make hiring, firing and disciplinary decisions based on a person’s status as a medical marijuana card holder.
Possibly more significant, the protection extends to someone who tests positive unless the company could prove the person used or possessed marijuana on the job, or was “impaired” during work hours.
| Photo: Kathy Johnson/MyCentralJersey |
| John Wilson, an MS patient, at his sentencing Friday for growing medical marijuana |
A New Jersey man with multiple sclerosis was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for growing marijuana — which he said was for medicinal purposes — in his back yard.
Wilson, 37, was growing 17 marijuana plants.
Tragically, the sentence handed down to John Wilson is the minimum prison term he could have received under New Jersey law, reports Michael Deak at MyCentralJersey.com.
Wilson’s attorney, James Wronko, said he plans to file a motion to stay the sentence pending an appeal.
| Graphic: Esquire |
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is actively lobbying members of the Legislature to oppose safe access to medical marijuana for Colorado veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
On Monday, March 22, the Colorado House Judiciary Committee will consider HB 1284, a bill to regulate the distribution of medical marijuana in Colorado. Rep. Sal Pace will offer an amendment to allow individuals diagnosed with PTSD to have access to medical marijuana if they have a recommendation from a psychiatrist.
The actions of the Colorado Health Department stand in stark contrast to the thoughtful process followed by its counterpart in New Mexico, which added PTSD to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana patients in that state in February 2009.
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| Graphic: mysouthwestga.com |
Five teens on a spring break road trip to Corpus Christie were caught smoking pot in a sheriff’s department parking lot Friday night in Roswell, New Mexico.
The stoned teens stopped in what they thought was a museum parking lot at 6:30 p.m. and partied down in what was actually the Chaves County Sheriff’s Department parking lot, reports Kris Lantz at KRQE.
Sheriff Rob Coon said a dispatcher noticed the teens’ “peculiar” behavior.
“They all got our and started passing a couple of marijuana pipes around,” Sheriff Coon said. “Our dispatchers had a clear shot right to where they were at.”
| Photo: Becky Martin |
| Paging Rube Goldberg: Your pipe has arrived. |
Gene Nelson of Santa Rosa, California, demonstrates what can only be described as a FrankenBong.
Man, I’d like to take a hit off that thing! Using your weed, of course…
| Graphic: StoptheDrugWar.org |
From the creators of the classic, Busted: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters [2003], our friends at Flex Your Rights are releasing their new achievement, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police, on March 22.
The 40-minute educational drama is narrated by the legendary trial lawyer William “Billy” Murphy, Jr. (from HBO’s The Wire), 10 Rules depicts innocent people dealing with heavy-handed policing tactics used every day in the United States.
Through extensive collaboration with victims of police abuse, legal experts and law enforcement professionals, Flex Your Rights has developed a powerful multi-lingual (English, Spanish & Arabic) resource that provides proven survival strategies for dealing with racial profiling and police abuse.
Do you know what your rights are if you’re stopped by police? Most people don’t, and the consequences can be severe.