How a doctor feels may depend on their political orientation.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
Nationwide, doctors aren’t especially worried about legalization, a study found. But socially conservative physicians may be alarmed.
It used to be tolerated in one part of town.
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
Residents of Copenhagen’s Christiania area tore down the area’s open air cannabis booths after two police were shot and a suspect was killed. Police are concerned about organized crime’s involvement in the industry.
Alaska AG nominee Jahna Lindemuth said the state won’t allow standalone consumption lounges. Dispensaries may be able to have consumption areas. Denverites will vote on a limited social usemeasure in November. If approved it would allow businesses, such as bars, to create consumption areas.
In California it can be even cheaper.
Here’s your daily round up of pot news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek.
A month’s supply of MED costs $1,000 in New York, three times as much as in Colorado.
Some teens like to vape pens filled with fruit flavoring. Modern Farmer visits a grow trying to get certified as pesticide free.
Responding to criticism of his escalating war on drugs, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to leave the United Nations. CNN went inside a very crowded jail in the country. The N.Y. Times tells the story of a father and son killed in custody. The L.A. Times goes out with “ Nightcrawlers,” the journalists covering the bloodshed.
Marijuana Business Daily estimates that tourists in Colorado bought almost $100M worth of REC last year, about 17% of the state total.
It’s a controversial theory.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
In Europe, they drink much more than they smoke cannabis.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
U.S. teens are more likely to smoke pot than to binge drink according to a new study. A government study says Miamians are more anti-weed than residents of any other U.S. city, a finding at odds with a visit to Miami.
Vice says legalizing can mitigate problems associated with synthetic cannabis.
LAWeekly talks to Dr. Francis D’Ambrosio, an orthopedic surgeon turned pot activist. “Is the medicine working?” he asked a patient. “Well, then it’d be criminal of me not to renew your prescription.”
The long awaited PTSD study for veterans is recruiting volunteers.
A New York doctor is accused of trading a prescription for the powerful opioid Suboxone for a few grams of pot.
Police in Baton Rouge, La., have reduced their enforcement of narcotics offenses since Alton Sterling was fatally shot on July 5.
Marco Vasquez, police chief of Erie, Colo., spoke in favor of legalization at a national law enforcement conference.
Forbes explains how a Congressional career offender provision got Tennessee grower Paul Fields sentenced to 15 years. It was Fields’ third offense. For the second one, he was sentenced to 100 days.
Hundreds of doctors in Georgia have registered to recommend low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil but there’s no official directory. Word of mouth is the only way to find one of the doctors.
Bruce Schulte, former chair of Alaska’s Marijuana Control Board, was fired by Gov. Bill Walker (Ind.). Schulte said the state is trying to “subvert” the industry.
Portland City Council appears ready to undo some of the restrictions governing dispensary operations. Humboldt County, Calif. growers are divided on a proposed excise tax.
The situation appears under control.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
An investigation in Hugo, Colo. found THC in the drinking water. Authorities found signs of tampering on a well and initiated a criminal investigation. Additional tests are underway to confirm the finding. Initially, the cannabis community said contamination is unlikely since THC is not soluble in water.
Screening stations have been set up for residents and water is being trucked in. Hugo, a town of about 750 on the state’s eastern plains, does not have any marijuana businesses.
LA Weekly looks at how legalization could change employer drug testing policies. The California Supreme Court has ruled that a MED card does not allow employees to be high on the job, or overrule company drug testing policies. In the future, the piece notes, this stance may lead to disability suits.
In California, concentrates remain a “ legal gray area.”
A random controlled study out of Holland proved that alcohol makes users more aggressive and cannabis makes them less aggressive. (Read the study here.)
Vancouver activist Dana Larsen said customers don’t need prescriptions at his MED pharmacies.
Colorado has released a PSA on cannabis and pregnancy. Chronic and/or severe pain is by far the most common qualifying condition for MED.
Washington state hopes new labelling will keep kids away from edibles.
Between 2002 and 2013, it’s estimated that Massachusetts crime lab chemist Annie Dookhan, who was later convicted of perjury and evidence tampering, corrupted more than 24,000 cases. Those convicted based on her work can now seek new trials. Dookhan served three years in prison.
An audit in Houston found 298 wrongful drug convictions. A researcher at the libertarian Cato Institute argues that the drug war has made policing more violent.
Operation Sabot, Canada’s annual sweep for illegal outdoor grows, takes place at the end of summer. Each year it targets a different region right before the harvest.
Maryland withdrew a proposal to ban letters to prisoners (except legal correspondence). The state’s prisons have been overwhelmed by Suboxone, an opioid available in sublingual strips that prisoners receive in envelopes.
If California legalizes, what will happen to people in prison for marijuana offenses? Missouri governor Jay Nixon (D), signed a law that will make it easier for marijuana offenders to get their records expunged.
A bill in the U.S. Senate would protect the families of children with epilepsy from prosecution if they obtain CBD treatments.
Just your average, .32-gram joint here.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
A ProPublica investigation finds that field drug tests widely-used by police are unreliable and can turn up false positives.
A study in JAMA Psychiatry found that cannabis use disrupts the reward processing mechanism in the brain. The journal editorializes that more research into the plant’s effects on the brain is urgently needed.
Smoking cannabis and tobacco together, a practice more common in Europe than the U.S., may contribute to dependency on both, a study found. See the study here.
In Canada, border authorities have cracked down on shipments of CBD oil. In Australia, some children with epilepsy will have access to the CBD-based drug Epidiolex before trials are complete.
The average joint contains .32 grams of marijuana, researchers have learned. This is an important figure for tax assessments and public health studies, the Washington Post says.
The .32 number was obtained by a statistical analysis of arrest data. In the past, researchers have tried to learn it by asking subjects to compare joint-size to common objects or having subjects roll joints with oregano.
Uruguay’s law allows pharmacists to sell weed, but most don’t want to. A small political party in Japan wants to lift the national ban on MED research.
Synthetic cannabis is still very dangerous.
President Obama’s clemency initiative has commuted the sentences of more than 300 offenders with a focus on non-violent drug offenders. The New Yorker asks why nearly 12,000 prisoner petitions remain undecided.
A case in South Dakota highlights the practice of urine tests obtained by force, with a catheter. State Attorney General Marty Jackley (R) defended the practice on legal grounds, but said “I don’t think anyone wants to go through that methodology.”
The Texas Tribune tells the story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent who got romantically involved with a marijuana smuggler.
The Kind profiles Jeff Mizanskey, who until his release last year was the only man in Missouri serving life for a non-violent marijuana offense. He spent 21 years in prison.
Are you a health-conscious stoner who has adopted that vape lifestyle? Sick of people lighting up the old fashioned way? Well, boy, do we have the music video for you!
Miami indie-pop/hip-hop band Furious Leisure’s mini-film for their vape anthem “Vape Life” imagines the duo riding around town arresting anyone who dares light up a joint. Instead of a jail time, the offender gets an education in the benefits of vaping.
“Smoking is not good for you. The science is in. It’s one thing to smoke once a week, once a month, but the majority of people smoke many times, and this is just not good for you,” says member Bodizepha.
| Azel Praer/Flickr |
| The seeds of change are sprouting in Kansas |
The way that the laws are currently written, you really do not want to get busted with weed in Wichita, Kansas…or any part of Kansas for that matter.
A first-time offense for simple pot possession in Kansas will earn you a misdemeanor charge on your record, up to a $2,500 fine, and even a year in jail. Get popped a second time and you could be looking at a felony.
But if the pro-cannabis advocacy group Kansas for Change has their way, that may be about to change for the better.