Marijuana wins big victory in Congress

  By Chris Roberts

 

• U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher introduced an amendment to the Department of Justice's budget that aims to end federal raids on state-legal cannabis in the U.S.

Marijuana won its biggest-ever victory on Capitol Hill early Friday, when the Republican-controlled House of Representatives backed ending federal raids on state-legal cannabis in over half of the country.
The House voted 219-189 to approve an amendment to the Department of Justice's budget introduced by U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

If approved by the U.S. Senate, the Drug Enforcement Administration would see funding for enforcement actions on marijuana in 32 states and in the District of Columbia removed.

Forty-nine Republicans voted along with Rohrabacher, who noted that 61 percent of Americans support medical marijuana, according to recent polls, and that it's past time for the federal government to acknowledge that fact.

"Despite this overwhelming shift in public opinion, the federal government continues its hard line of oppression against medical marijuana," Rohrabacher said.
Bay Area members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), also supported the measure, which blocks federal action that would "prevent [33] States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana."

It's not clear how likely Senate approval will be. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, has staunchly opposed the medical use of marijuana.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical purposes; eleven more are in the process of approving some legal use of the drug.

Medical marijuana has been legal in California since a 1996 ballot initiative, but implementing the law has been difficult.
About one-third of San Francisco's licensed and taxpaying medical cannabis dispensaries closed under pressure from the federal Justice Department, which began a crackdown on pot clubs in 2011.

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BREAKING: Congress applies common sense for first time in War on Marijuana

Early this morning the bipartisan House members voted to block the DEA from their egregiously wasteful raids on medical marijuana operations and facilities.

In a rare act of competency, Congress has proven that they’re not devoid of common sense. No longer will raids by the DEA be carried out on medical marijuana operations for the sake of preserving their big government budgets. The fact of the matter is if they don’t ‘use it, they lose it.’ Which for years, since the onset of medical marijuana, has led to wasteful raids on the facilities for the purposes of using up budget $$$.
Via HuffingtonPost:

“An appropriations amendment offered by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) prohibiting the DEA from spending funds to arrest state-licensed medical marijuana patients and providers passed 219-189. The Senate will likely consider its own appropriations bill for the DEA, and the House amendment would have to survive a joint conference before it could go into effect.
“Some people are suffering, and if a doctor feels that he needs to prescribe something to alleviate that suffering, it is immoral for this government to get in the way,” Rohrabacher said, his voice rising. ‘And that’s what’s happening.’”

This is just another step towards the inevitability of nation-wide legalized recreational marijuana, but it is a VERY important step. With each successful vote, and show of situational awareness by both citizens and government, we inch closer to a country devoid of marijuana prohibition and we inch further away from the police state.

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Dee: Wyoming Supreme Court treated me like a second-class citizen

Why is it, to change the marijuana laws, criminal laws, you have to go through a political process to be secure from state police power which is unreasonable when it is not used to protect the rights of others?
Why has the Wyoming judiciary declared the marijuana laws are a political question? Why is it the courts claim no fundamental rights are being deprived by the enforcement of the marijuana laws?

Why do the courts declare the use of police power has a rational basis when due process of law requires the use of state police power to be either reasonable or unreasonable by the Fourth and Fifth Amendment?

The only answer is that marijuana users are discriminated against by the Wyoming courts because we are second-class citizens. We are not considered persons with fundamental right to be secure in our persons houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, but denied the fundamental right that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law provided by the Fourth and Firth Amendments.

In 2007, I filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit to question the validity and construction of the marijuana laws I was convicted of in 1982. The Wyoming Supreme Court declared I did not present a justiciable controversy because marijuana is not a fundamental right: “Dee alleged the laws violated his fundamental right to possess, use and grow marijuana and contravened the tenets of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution.”

The fact is I never ask the court to declare marijuana is a fundamental right. I’m a second-class citizen because the Wyoming Supreme Court ignored my basic claim that being arrested was seizure of my person, deprivation of my liberty without a compelling state interest, without due process of law.
All marijuana users are second-class citizens if we have to go through the political process to be secure from unreasonable police power.

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Real drug danger

Since its inception, the war on drugs has essentially been based on fear-mongering to children. Drugs will ruin your life! Buying drugs gives money to terrorists! One puff of a joint, a lifetime of consequences!
All these warnings have done little to reduce drug use, but they have instilled a deep sense of cynicism in far too many kids. With changes in drug laws across the country, perhaps it is time we started to tell children the truth: No one is going to die from overdosing on marijuana. Prescription painkillers are a different story.
In a story widely reported across Houston last week, an Aldine ISD senior was found dead in a hotel room after prom.

All the facts aren't in yet, but signs point to overdosing on a mix of hydrocodone and alcohol ("Texts from girl's prom date hint she may have overdosed," Page B1, Tuesday).
A sad tale, but in the grand view she may have become just another statistic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths have more than tripled since 1990. In 2010, 22,134 people in the United States died from a prescription drug overdose, with about 75 percent of those related to opiod painkillers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone.

That makes prescription pills one of the leading causes of death in the United States, killing more people than all illegal drugs combined. And for every death from painkillers, there are about 32 visits to the emergency room for misuse or abuse.
The cold, hard fact is that prescription pills are dangerous, and kids aren't necessarily the ones at fault when they end up in the wrong hands. After all, they're not the ones asking for them or prescribing them.
A growing baby boomer population, according to a recent study in Medical Care, has doctors handing out more prescription pills, especially painkillers.

A burden falls on responsible adults and doctors to limit the use of these potentially deadly pills. But kids also have to be aware of the danger they face, too.
Yet it is all too easy for kids to ignore these warnings amidst the usual cacophony of moral panic aimed in their direction.
One week, parents are worried about kids putting Chapstick on their eyelids.The next week, an invented story about alcohol-soaked tampons.

For decades, marijuana was literally treated as the devil's weed. All the adult overreactions blend together like the trombone voice of Charlie Brown's teacher. Kids can see through nonsense as well as anyone else, and learn to tune it out.
On the other hand, when anti-drug organizations make specific, rational arguments, kids listen.
Years of fact-based warnings about tobacco's carcinogenic properties - not to mention the wrinkles, addiction and expense - have resulted in sharp declines in teenage smoking, which is now at an all-time low.

To put things in perspective, in 1996, more than 10 percent of eighth-grade students reported daily use of cigarettes. That number plummeted to less than 2 percent by 2012. For high school seniors, that number dropped from more than 22 percent to less than 10 percent. In fact, fewer teenagers smoke cigarettes today than use marijuana.

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With Synthetic Drugs, What You Don’t Know Really Could Hurt You

By Jane Maxwell, 

Over the years, there have been warnings about the dangers of various legal and illegal drugs. Some of the warnings have been valid while others were “urban legends” or turned out to be false. Such legends led people to ignore or discount the important warnings that really do matter.
Unfortunately, we are continuing to face problems with synthetic cannabis, called Spice or K2, and synthetic cathinones, often called bath salts, which are constantly evolving chemically and are often resulting in serious effects.

In Dallas this past weekend, more than 40 people went to the emergency room thanks to overdosing on synthetic marijuana, and a recent outbreak of what was alleged to be K2 overdoses in Austin resulted in 30 people going to the emergency room.
Synthetic drugs are dangerous drugs, yet in 2012, the national Monitoring the Future Survey reported high school students were less likely than their older cohorts to think these drugs could be harmful and thus reported higher use.

Information based on solid data, rather than rumors or hysterical warnings, should be used to get information to our youths, who need to understand the dangers in taking drugs that are constantly changing in content and effects. We have the data, but we now need to talk with potential users about the sources, the variations, and information based on scientific research. These are drugs created through organic chemistry processes and offer a good learning opportunity about what organic chemistry is and how it can affect us — for good or bad.

Synthetic drugs such as K2 and bath salts are chemicals primarily manufactured in China with no quality control, no dosing instructions and no information about their contents. Because their chemical compositions vary, federal and state authorities are constantly scheduling or rescheduling them. However, rogue chemists just add another molecule in an attempt to stay “legal.” For example, in 2010, 95 percent of synthetic cannabis products were variations of what’s called the JWH formula. But by 2014, the JWH varieties were only 2 percent, with other forms called XLR-11 and AB-FUBINACA comprising 60 percent of the synthetic cannabis products identified in the first four months of 2014.

The lack of chemical reference standards means a lag in the time it takes a laboratory to identify the new drug. A drug seen in the emergency room in a Spice packet may not be a synthetic cannabinoid but some unknown chemical. This lag in identifying the drugs also means urinalysis tests are unable to identify the latest versions of these synthetic drugs.
At the same time, Texas poison centers have seen a spike in numbers. They report that between January 2010 and April 2014, there were 2,179 exposures to synthetic cannabinoids.

Common symptoms have included vomiting, increased heart rate, increased agitation and drowsiness. Among bath salt users during the same period, there were 583 exposures with symptoms of increased heart rate, agitation, hypertension and hallucinations. More than 400 people entered state-funded substance abuse treatment in 2013 with synthetic cannabinoid abuse as their primary problem.

To combat the problem, these drugs need to be discussed around the family dinner table, and parents need to make their position clear. In fact, the biannual Texas secondary school survey has consistently reported that students who said their parents disapproved of teenagers using such substances were less likely to use them. Such conversations are now more important than ever because the movements toward legalization of medical marijuana have resulted in changed attitudes toward the use of marijuana.

A recently published study found that with the commercialization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, the perceptions of risk are now lower than before. We need to make sure our children understand that the synthetic marijuana in the packets is NOT the same as the “old” baggie of herbal marijuana and that it is more potent with unknown chemicals. The field has quickly changed, and our children deserve to know about these drugs in detail and to be aware of the dangers of taking these “mystery” drugs, which are not urban legends. Providing evidence based on credible information will encourage potential users to consider the facts.

Synthetic drugs are drugs that can hurt you. Our children need the right information to know about them because what you don’t know can hurt you.

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NIDA guides target both teens and parents with up-to-date science-based facts on marijuana

Two updated booklets about marijuana for teens and their parents will help families sort out marijuana myths from science-based facts. The revamped tools come from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. These booklets are being released during the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Prevention Week 2014 on the day dedicated to the Prevention of Prescription Drug Abuse and Marijuana Use. 

Marijuana Facts for Teens discusses the often confusing themes of health consequences of marijuana use in this age group, its effect on the developing brain, its addiction risk, and what we know about its potential as a medicine.
Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know has updated tips for parents on how to tell if their child is using marijuana and how to talk about the issue with their teen in a climate of heated public debates over legalization. Both revised publications are now available online. Marijuana Facts for Teens is also available in print, and Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know will be available in print soon.

Along with updated data and research-based information, new sections in both guides cover the dangers of K2/Spice (often referred to as synthetic marijuana) and new research that shows smoking marijuana regularly as a teen can lower IQ. Both guides also include new information on the state of the science related to potential therapeutic uses for chemical compounds found in the marijuana plant.

NIDA's 2013 Monitoring the Future survey results indicate that by the time they graduate high school, 45.5 percent of U.S. teens will have tried marijuana at least once. Also, 36.4 percent of 12th graders, 29.8 percent of 10th graders, and 12.7 percent of eighth graders say they smoked it during the past year. More than 6 percent of seniors say they smoke it daily, putting them at higher risk for addiction.

"Our goal for teens is to give them the straight, science-based facts so that they can make smart choices and be their best selves-without drugs," said NIDA director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "We hope that they will continue the conversation and share this information with their peers, parents, teachers, and others."

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Another Voice: Use of medical marijuana not supported by research

By Dr. Robert Whitney

As a retired physician with over 35 years of experience in the addictions field and as a board member for the Erie County Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, I am writing in opposition to the proposed Senate bill (4406-B) that will legalize medical marijuana in New York State. There is not an adequate base of research that shows marijuana, in its most common form (smoked), is effective for treating any serious medical condition.

Therefore, no major group of medical experts supports the use of smoked marijuana for treatment of health problems. In a recent review, the director of the California Center for Medicine Cannabis Research stated that marijuana could be helpful in the treatment of nerve and spasm pain of multiple sclerosis, but stated other indications are less clear.
However, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society still does not support smoked marijuana as a treatment for MS. These findings are hardly a strong endorsement of widespread marijuana use for conditions such as psoriasis, diabetes, post-concussion syndrome and Alzheimer’s, which are authorized in this bill.

We do not have enough information to reliably estimate the safety of marijuana when used long term. Most studies to date have followed patients for very short periods of time, often less than a week. This is not adequate to assess risk of use for indefinite periods of time. We do know that marijuana can contribute to short- and possibly long-term brain impairment, motor vehicle accidents, risk of addiction and an increased risk of long-term psychosis in vulnerable people.

In addition, the bill states that the state Department of Health would ultimately determine which medical conditions would be authorized for treatment. It would be advised in this process by medical experts, citizens and members of the marijuana industry. Practicing physicians would then be able to determine which individuals could receive medical marijuana. Without an adequate existing knowledge base, how can these individuals make careful and informed decisions for their patients?

Also of concern is the fact that our state will continue to be pushed to expand the use of marijuana – not for health reasons, but for recreational use. All other jurisdictions that have opened the medical marijuana door have been subject to this problem. Hopefully we will wait to learn from the mistakes of others. I do, however, support Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposal to make marijuana available to patients with truly debilitating conditions with careful observation to measure effectiveness. We are asking our senators to weigh the benefits with the risks.

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Landmark trial of marijuana drugs for stricken children

Helen Puttick

A MARIJUANA-based drug will be given to children in Scotland in the hope of transforming the treatment of severe epilepsy in one of the first trials of its kind.

plans: Richard Chin, of the Muir Maxwell Epilepsy Centre, Patricia Corby, clinical researcher from New York University, and Ann Maxwell. Picture: Gordon Terris

Researchers at Edinburgh University and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in the city are applying for approval to test an oil extracted from cannabis flowers on young people, including babies.
Parents of children with extreme forms of epilepsy have reported the medicine, which has had almost all the component that causes a "high" removed, has dramatically improved the symptoms.
However, without robust clinical trials to investigate the safety of the drug there is concern parents desperate to alleviate the distressing condition could administer cannabis treatments without prescriptions or information about the potential risks.

In Scotland, around 54,000 people have epilepsy and in about one-third of cases existing treatments do not work. Some forms, such as Dravet Syndrome, can cause relentless seizures and serious physical and cognitive disabilities.
Dr Richard Chin, consultant paediatric neurologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh, and director of the Muir Maxwell Epilepsy Centre at Edinburgh University, said: "The children can go from having a seizure every day to having even 200 seizures per day. This is what families have to go through. There is obviously a need to find alternative treatments."

It is a compound found in marijuana known as cannabidiol or CBD which has been found to help epilepsy sufferers. A pharmaceutical company has produced the oil which contains CBD but less than 1% of the psycho-active component, THC, from plants grown at a secret location in the UK. The drug is named Epidiolex.
Dr Chin said: "One of the exciting things about CBD isn't its seizure control alone - it is its anti-epilepsy properties. It also improves behaviour and cognition. You can put children in intensive care and stop seizures, but it does nothing for their quality of life, nothing for cognition and nothing for the families. To have a drug that stops the seizures and also has cognitive improvement is pretty amazing."

The first safety trial of the drug to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration in the United States is under way in New York. So far, 30 children including a three-month-old baby are involved and Professor Patricia Corby, associate director for research operations at New York University's Bluestone Centre for Clinical Research, described the findings so far as "extremely promising".
Dr Chin is applying for authority from both a research ethics committee and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to launch a similar trial in the UK led from Edinburgh, but also involving Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

He hopes to receive approval before the end of the year and intends to recruit 30 children at each hospital to test the drug. Children will be given small doses of the oil twice a day.
Ann Maxwell, who founded the Muir Maxwell Trust in Scotland to help those affected by epilepsy after caring for her youngest son Muir who suffers Dravet Syndrome, has been instrumental in bringing together Dr Chin and Professor Helen Cross, epilepsy expert at Great Ormond Street Hospital, with the New York researchers - helping drive forward plans for a UK university trial.

Mrs Maxwell, of Midlothian, said: "Muir has in an awful lot of ways had his life taken from him by epilepsy as have we (as a family) to a certain extent. If I could wave a magic wand and give him his life back, I would. I love the idea we can take the damaged brain and reverse it. If that is possible there is still hope for Muir."
The Muir Maxwell Trust is seeking to raise £250,000 to support the trials of Epidiolex and is looking for donors. A debate about tackling the stigma of epilepsy through education takes place in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.

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Rep. Diane Loeffler tells feds to get moving on marijuana research

By Jesse Marx

Dank Depot

About the only thing people can agree on when it comes to the medical marijuana debate is that the federal government isn't helping. Many of the disputes at the state level wouldn't be necessary if the Drug Enforcement Administration would reconsider its classification of the plant as a Schedule One narcotic and expedite, rather than hold up, serious research on its medicinal value.

Troubled by this, Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL-Minneapolis) introduced a resolution Thursday that calls upon President Obama and Congress to force those federal agencies into action.

See also:
When will medical marijuana be legal in Minnesota?

Loeffler voted in favor of the House medical marijuana bill (and was a sponsor of the 2009 version that then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed) but says people shouldn't have to figure out the benefits of marijuana through their own trial-and-error process.

Rep. Diane Loeffler

"We think medical marijuana needs to be available to the people," she says, "and the people really want good science backing this like all other medicines."

It's difficult, of course, to have a serious conversation when the people tasked with managing drug policy won't even acknowledge that there's a difference between pot and crack cocaine. Huffpo reports Friday that Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele Leonhart has gone so far as to "pick a fight with Kentucky over the state's purchase of industrial hemp seeds to begin a newly legalized agricultural test."

Even more maddening is that the DEA has known about the therapeutic effects of marijuana for decades. In fact, a lawsuit filed by NORML forced the DEA, in 1986, to open public hearings related to the removal of marijuana from its list of Schedule One narcotics. Over two years, DEA Chief Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young heard testimony and reviewed thousands of pages of evidence.

Young concluded that the plant "is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man... To conclude otherwise, on this record, would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious."

His bosses attacked him, then chose to ignore the report.

Loeffler's resolution was introduced too late in the session to pass, but it quickly garnered 29 sponsors. She intends to send it along to Minnesota's congressional delegates. They should be aware, she tells us, of Minnesota's "strong bipartisan support" for serious research at the federal level.

House approves medical marijuana bill

Mark Sommerhauser, msommerhauser@stcloudtimes.com 3:25 p.m. CDT May 10, 2014

(Photo: Getty Images)

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House has voted to legalize medical marijuana for participants in a state research study, setting up talks with the Senate on a compromise bill.
With parent-advocates and their sick children looking on, the House voted 86-39 to pass the bill.
Several lawmakers choked back tears during a Friday debate that, at times, turned remarkably personal. Some talked about their own illnesses or those of loved ones; others touched on their battles with addiction.
"Think about your family, your neighbors," Rep.

Tony Albright, who supported the bill, urged his colleagues.
Most St. Cloud-area representatives voted against the bill, except Rep. Zachary Dorholt, a DFLer, and Rep. Tama Theis, a Republican, both of St. Cloud.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, is far narrower in scope than the medical marijuana bill passed Tuesday by the Minnesota Senate. It would legalize medical marijuana only for participants in a Medical Cannabis Therapeutic Research Study run by the Department of Health. About 5,000 Minnesotans with specified conditions, such as cancer, seizures or multiple sclerosis, could participate.
A single, state-approved manufacturer would supply patients with medical marijuana through two dispensaries under the House proposal. Smoking of the drug would not be allowed; it could be consumed only in pill or oil form.

Rep. Tama Theis describes marijuana bill decision

Senate bill broader
Gov. Mark Dayton wrote House and Senate lawmakers just after Friday's vote, saying he would sign the House version of the medical marijuana bill. That could heighten pressure on senators to concur with the House version; they also could negotiate a fresh compromise with the House.
The Senate bill would legalize use — but not smoking — of medical marijuana for all people with a qualifying health condition, a doctor's recommendation and a state-issued identification card. It would create a network of 55 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state.
Law enforcement groups have spoken out against the Senate bill but have remained neutral on the House bill. That's critical because Dayton, who has been reluctant to sign a medical marijuana bill, has tied his stance closely to that of law enforcement.
The House measure, scaled back significantly from earlier versions, has split medical marijuana advocates. Most wanted a bill that could benefit more patients and make the drug easier to obtain and administer.
But supporters of the measure, led by Melin, say they're willing to yield to obtain Dayton's signature.
One of the parents watching Friday's debate in person was Ryan Hiltner of St. Cloud. His 7-year-old daughter, Amaya, has a severe form of epilepsy that hasn't responded well to traditional treatment. The Hiltners say they want the medical marijuana option for Amaya because others with epilepsy have benefited from certain forms of the drug.

'We just need something that works'
Hiltner said the House bill is far from perfect. But Hiltner said he supports the bill because it would provide a platform to start getting medical marijuana to Minnesotans who need it.
Proponents "need to respect law enforcement and they need to respect what Gov. Dayton wants. I think that's what they're trying to do with this bill," Hiltner said. "At the end of the day, we just need something that works — and we need it this year."
The personal nature of Friday's debate extended from the House gallery, where the Hiltners were watching, to the House floor.

Rep. Rod Hamilton has multiple sclerosis, one of the conditions that could qualify someone for medical marijuana under the House and Senate bills.
In an emotional speech to colleagues, Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, said he initially opposed medical marijuana but changed his mind after meeting with parents of children who could benefit from the drug.
Several area representatives, including Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, Tim O'Driscoll, R-Sartell, and Tama Theis, R-St. Cloud, said they hadn't decided how they would vote on the bill until the final moments.
The first-term Theis said she was trying to balance her concern for patients with law enforcement concerns and with her own questions about the workability of the House proposal.

Critics want federal action
After voting for the bill, Theis said she remains concerned that its paucity of dispensaries will make it tough for outstate Minnesotans to get the drug.
Still, Theis said she was surprised at the volume of emails she received urging her to support the bill. The fact that law enforcement groups didn't oppose it also was key, she said.
House GOP opponents of the bill said the federal government, not states, should be looking into whether marijuana has medicinal uses. They say they want the FDA to treat marijuana like other drugs and evaluate its efficacy for medical use.

Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 controlled substance under federal law. Critics question what would happen if a future president is hostile to medical use of the drug.
Advocates say states shouldn't wait for FDA action because the federal classification of marijuana hinders the research needed for the FDA to consider it.
O'Driscoll said Minnesota and states that have legalized medical marijuana should pass resolutions urging federal officials to remove hurdles to medical marijuana research.
"I acknowledge that we need to do something," O'Driscoll said. "State by state, doing this, isn't going to be the resolution."

HOW THEY VOTED
Here's how St. Cloud-area representatives voted on a bill to legalize medical marijuana for those with serious health conditions who participate in a state research study:
YES
Rep. Zachary Dorholt,
DFL-St. Cloud
Rep. Tama Theis, R-St. Cloud
NO
Rep. Paul Anderson,
R-Starbuck
Rep. Sondra Erickson,
R-Princeton
Rep. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville
Rep. Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls
Rep. Jim Newberger, R-Becker
Rep. Tim O'Driscoll, R-Sartell
Rep. Marion O'Neill,
R-Buffalo

Alcohol, marijuana drugs of choice, but use is down

By JENNIFER NOBLIT 

About three in 10 Dublin seniors reported drinking alcohol at least once a month.
The Dublin ACT Coalition last week released the findings of the Primary Prevention Awareness, Attitudes and Use survey taken by Dublin eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders in the fall.
The survey has been given to Dublin City School District students since 1988 to find out how many are using alcohol, drugs and tobacco, said GeorgiAnn Diniaco, a member of the Dublin A.C.T. Coalition and a drug and alcohol counselor at Dublin Coffman High School.

"It helps us as a coalition to find best practices to put in place and programming for young people," she said during a presentation held April 29 in the Dublin Community Recreation Center.
The goal of Dublin ACT is to delay to use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco among Dublin youths to keep it from damaging the brain, which continues to develop until age 25, Diniaco said.
"If we came up with a drinking age based on what we know today, it would be 25," she said.
Drinking is the most prevalent activity admitted to by the 3,045 Dublin eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders surveyed.

"Alcohol is the No. 1 abused drug," Diniaco said.
According to the survey, 32 percent of seniors said they drank alcohol at least once a month; 11 percent of sophomores admitted to the same behavior and 1 percent of eighth-graders said they drank at least once a month.
The students that reported drinking said they did so in excess; 363 of students surveyed said they'd consumed five or more drinks in one sitting in the past month, Diniaco said.
"The scary thing is that they didn't see a lot of risk in that," she said.

The survey said 948 students surveyed admitted to using alcohol at least once in their lives, Diniaco said.
According to the survey, 444 students surveyed said they'd gotten into a car driven by someone who had been drinking.
"I think we need to arm young people with information on how to get out of that situation," Diniaco said.
The survey also found 291 students surveyed smoked marijuana at least once a month and 521 admitted to trying it at least once.

The rise of e-cigarettes have made it possible for students to smoke tobacco and marijuana without others noticing, Diniaco said.
"It makes it super easy, even if they're in health class," she said.
"It looks like a pen. ... Kids are getting away with quite a bit right here."
Dublin students are also riding in a car driven by friends under the influence of marijuana.
Diniaco said 465 of the students surveyed said they'd gotten into a car driven by someone who had been smoking marijuana.

Students are using other drugs as well, but not at as great a rate.
According to survey results, 246 students admitted to using the prescription drugs of others at least once in their lifetime; 108 students used others' prescription drugs at least once a month.
Dublin A.C.T. Youth Council members said students often use other's ADHD medicine during college testing time.
When it comes to heroin, 70 students reported trying it at least once and 58 of the students surveyed said they were using it regularly.

While drugs and alcohol can impact the developing minds of teens, they also cause addictions more quickly in teens than adults, Diniaco said.
Teens can develop chemical dependency within five to 15 months of use, Diniaco said. Middle school students can become addicted within five to 15 weeks of use.
It can take adults years to develop chemical dependency, she said.
But the survey didn't provide all bad news.

The number of students that reported using drugs and alcohol were down from the 2011 survey in every category, but cigarettes and regular use of the prescription drugs of others.
Fewer Dublin students surveyed used drugs and alcohol than the national average in every category except prescription drug abuse.

"We really do have a majority of kids that choose not to use," Diniaco said.
To keep students from using drugs and alcohol, Diniaco said parents need to set a clear and consistent
message of no use and set boundaries.
The community also needs to be involved, Diniaco said.
"It's important for us as a family, community (and) sports club ... that using is not part of this," she said.

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Uruguay Unveils Details for World's First National Legal Marijuana Market

On Friday, Uruguay released its long-anticipated regulations accompanying the law that was signed into effect last December, which made Uruguay the first country in the world to legally regulate the production, sale and consumption of marijuana for adults.

Drug prohibition has devastating effects on people's lives around the globe, from the 650,000 marijuana possession arrests per year in the United States to the 100,000 drug war deaths in Mexico in the past seven years. Amidst growing consensus among political leaders in Latin America that the war on drugs isn't working, Uruguay made this bold move in an effort to regulate an existing marijuana market currently controlled by illicit drug traffickers and to generate public health benefits by using marijuana tax revenue to fund educational programs aimed at preventing problematic drug use.

The Uruguayan marijuana regulation system will allow Uruguayan residents over the age of 18 to choose between three forms of access to non-medical marijuana: domestic cultivation of up to 6 plants per household; membership clubs where between 15 and 45 members can collectively grow up to 99 plants; and sales in licensed pharmacies of up to 10 grams per week.

Marijuana consumers will have to register with the government for one of the three options. The registry data will be confidential and protected. Regardless of the form of access, each individual will only be able to possess 480 grams of marijuana per year. The government has also granted a 180-day amnesty period during which individuals can register their current plants, after which it will only accept applications seeking prior permission to grow marijuana plants.

The Uruguayan model places high emphasis on regulation, control and restrictions aimed at curbing potential negative effects of legalization. All forms of advertising and promotion of use are prohibited, as is smoking in closed, public spaces, in the workplace, and at health establishments, schools and sports institutions. Driving under the influence of marijuana is not allowed, and the newly created Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis (IRCCA), tasked with regulating and controlling the whole system, will set the THC limits and types of test performed for DUI.

The regulations also include strong education and health components. While educational centers may ban people who are impaired from marijuana consumption from entering the premises, they are then obliged to offer support and information on marijuana use. Membership clubs also must educate and inform their members about responsible marijuana consumption and the IRCCA must promote harm and risk reduction strategies related to problematic use of marijuana.

And though the price of marijuana was not set in the regulations, during Friday's press conference Presidential Under-Secretary Diego Cánepa announced that the price would be flexible, and would begin at roughly $1 per gram, in an effort to undercut the current illicit market for marijuana. The government will now embark on the implementation of the legal marijuana market, which is expected to be up and running by the end of 2014.

The war on drugs has not worked. It is refreshing to see a small, trailblazing country pave the way for more intelligent, coherent and humane drug policies. When other countries wake up to the fact that arresting people for nonviolent marijuana offenses and letting drug cartels control the market is completely counterproductive, they will follow the example being set by Colorado, Washington and now Uruguay.

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New rules in Uruguay create a legal marijuana market

(CNN) -- Can you imagine

legally growing marijuana in your backyard? How about walking down to the corner pharmacy to buy a gram or two of ready-to-smoke pot?

Starting Tuesday, this scenario will no longer be a pot smoker's fantasy in one South American country.

Uruguay has published regulations for a new, legal marijuana market, a measure approved by lawmakers there in December.

The law and the new regulations make Uruguay the first country in the world to have a system regulating legal production, sale and consumption of the drug.

In announcing the marijuana regulations, presidential aide Diego Canepa reminded everyone that the state will control the marijuana market from beginning to end, starting with setting prices.

"The value of the gram of marijuana sold at pharmacies in the regulated market will be set by the President's office through the control agency," Canepa said.

That's right. The Uruguayan government has created an agency whose mission is to regulate the pot market, known as the Institute for the Regulation and Control of Cannabis.

The proposed price starts at 20 Uruguayan pesos per gram (about 87 cents in U.S. dollars), Canepa said.

People can grow as many as six plants at home and produce a maximum of 480 grams per year, according to the published rules. Cannabis clubs of anywhere between 15 and 45 members will be legal.

Another rule allows people to buy as much as 40 grams of marijuana per month at state-licensed pharmacies.

Julio Rey, founder of a cannabis club and a spokesman for the National Association for the Regulation of Marijuana, told CNN in December, shortly after passage, that his organization was very pleased with the legislation.

"We will take care of the tools of this law to demonstrate that we, as the public, can objectively look at this project and comply with its proposed legality," Rey said.

This isn't about creating a free-for-all system, Canepa told reporters. It's about creating rules that will refocus government efforts on prevention and taking the market from the hands of ruthless drug traffickers that only care about money.

"What we now know is that we had a sustained increase in consumption during prohibition. This new reality, as we understand it, is going to change that, and it will be possible to implement better public policy to take care of those who abuse drugs," Canepa said.

For anyone considering traveling to Uruguay to smoke marijuana legally, President Jose Mujica, a big supporter of the law, says go elsewhere.

The law doesn't give foreigners the right to smoke or even buy the drug. In fact, consumers, sellers and distributors all have to be licensed by the government.

In an interview with CNN en Español in 2012, Mujica explained his reasons for promoting the legislation.

"If we legalize it, we think that we will spoil the market (for drug traffickers) because we are going to sell it for cheaper than it is sold on the black market. And we are going to have people identified," he said.

With the help of state-of-the-art technology, authorities will track every gram or marijuana sold, according to Canepa. Bags will be bar-coded. The genetic information of plants that are legally produced will be kept on file. This will allow police to determine whether illegal marijuana is being commercialized.

Governments and drug policy experts will certainly be watching closely how the Uruguayan model develops. The marijuana legislation places the South American country at the vanguard of liberal drug policies, surpassing even the Netherlands, where recreational drugs are illegal but a policy of tolerance is in place.

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15th Annual Global Marijuana March Brings Crowds to Potland

Bonnie King Salem

Oregonians put one foot in front of the other to end marijuana prohibition.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR-D) said the current U.S. approach to marijuana legalization is an "upside down world". Photos by Bonnie King.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) received applause and cheers from hundreds at Pioneer Courthouse Square when he spoke at Saturday's event. “Congressman Blumenauer is the first politician of his magnitude to come to this event in 15 years,” said Paul Stanford, CRRH Director. “We are honored that he is this year’s key note speaker.”

Nearly a thousand people of all ages and physical abilities marched through the streets of downtown Portland today for the 15th annual Global Cannabis March under cloudy skies and enduring intermittent rain.

There were musicians playing, people singing, kazoos humming. It was a colorful and entertaining time for one and all. Even the Portland Police seemed somewhat amused by the cannabis supporters en masse, as they held back the traffic and let the crowds walk through the rain soaked streets and intersections.

The all-day event began at 11:30 a.m. and there was a full schedule ahead, starting and finishing in “Portland’s Living room”.

Activists and interested citizens chanted “Hemp! Hemp! Hooray!” in the words of the late Jack Herer, and carried signs and posters with messages ranging from “Grow the Economy” to “Cannabis Helps Me Eat”.

A bio-diesel school bus laden with banners brought up the rear of the march, giving a stylish ride to the disabled while serving as an educational tool on wheels. 

300 other cities worldwide also marched to “end the failed war on cannabis” which continues to grow in popularity year after year.

Smiling, informed signature gatherers for Marijuana initiatives were at every turn. Campaigners for Oregon Initiative 21, a constitutional amendment to end prohibition and stop imposing criminal penalties for marijuana, were collecting signatures at the rally working on the 116,284 signatures needed by July 3rd for the Oregon Cannabis Amendment to qualify for the November 2014 ballot.

Initiative 22, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, is a proposed statute to regulate and tax marijuana, and allow farmers to grow hemp for fuel, fiber and food. Before today, the I-22 campaign needs 87,213 valid registered Oregon voters' signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Oregon I-53 is the Control, Regulation, and Taxation of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Act; they were collecting signatures to put social cannabis on the ballot.

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer went on stage immediately following the march that kicked off at high noon. Ending marijuana prohibition in the United States and around the world was the main thrust of the event. 

Blumenauer said the U.S. government should "reappraise what can be only described as a failed war on drugs," and discussed the importance of medical research on the effects of marijuana.

He said the current U.S. approach to marijuana legalization is an "upside down world".

"We have to a do a better job of breaking the stranglehold of this pernicious classification," Blumenauer said in regard to the Schedule I status of Marijuana/Cannabis according to the federal government. “That’s like saying it is the same as Heroin, or LSD.”

In fact, our government says that Cocaine is less dangerous than marijuana. Even Meth is a Schedule II drug, and it kills people every day. This clearly wrong definition of scheduling has incredible staying power, and has been a decades-long challenge for millions of Americans.

The DEA’s website says:

Schedule I
Schedule I drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence. Some examples of Schedule I drugs are:
heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), marijuana (cannabis), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), methaqualone, and peyote

Schedule II
Schedule II drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse, less abuse potential than Schedule I drugs, with use potentially leading to severe psychological or physical dependence. These drugs are also considered dangerous. Some examples of Schedule II drugs are:
cocaine, methamphetamine, methadone, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), oxycodone (OxyContin), fentanyl, Dexedrine, Adderall, and Ritalin

Blumenauer recently launched an ad on Portland TV stations telling the federal government to step aside on marijuana laws and allow states chart their own course. Saturday, he said the federal government should "stop interfering with people's lives."

The audience couldn’t agree more. Portland didn’t get the “Potland” term of endearment for nothing. Folks here are straightforward about their belief in the medicinal herb, whether for health or recreation. Some things never change. 

Oregon’s history is as a grass roots proponent of marijuana. “Oregon could be the explosion that breaks the dam!" Blumenauer said, encouraging the crowd that positive change is on the horizon.

“Oregon should be at the forefront of making the call on legalization,” Blumenauer said. Alaska has legalization on the ballot this November and he laughed that they shouldn’t beat Oregon to ending marijuana prohibition, "I don't think the land of the midnight sun and Sarah Palin" is up to that, he said.

Urb Thrasher was the emcee, and speakers for the rally included CRRH Director Paul Stanford; Paul Loney, Oregon NORML Legal Counsel; Leland Berger, a Portland Attorney and advocate for the group Compassionate Oregon; Rowshan Reordan, Oregon NORML; Anna Diaz of the NORML Women's Alliance; Madeline Martinez of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP); Russ Belville of 420 Radio; Oregon Attorney John Lucy IV; and Bonnie King, for Salem-News.com. 

The value and benefits of Cannabis were explained, and we were reminded that 800,000 Americans arrested and/or jailed every year for mostly simple marijuana violations is an insult to the “Life, Liberty & Happiness” promised by the Founding Fathers of our nation. Equality and justice for all is not achievable as long as those that make a choice to use marijuana are held in contempt by the federal government, regardless of their own state’s laws.

Bands, Mack & Dub and the Smokin' Section, The Sindicate, Disenchanter, and Justin James Bridges, kept the music coming before and after the march, until almost 4 p.m.

Rain or shine, the bands played on.

The Global Marijuana March is an annual attempt to educate, enlighten and motivate for the goal of ending marijuana prohibition, once and for all. Saturday’s march in “Potland” was another important step in that direction. Perhaps 2014 will be the year, as predicted by so many. 

The year Oregon ends marijuana prohibition, returns hemp to the farmers, and delivers freedom from fear of persecution and prosecution to all.

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Just how bad is marijuana for your health?

MARIJUANA 

A man smokes a marijuana joint in this AP file photo

 

By Brian Palmer

NEW YORK The Journal of Neuroscience recently published a study linking recreational marijuana use to subtle changes in brain structure.

The researchers, led by Jodi Gilman of Massachusetts General Hospital, identified increased gray matter density in the left nucleus accumbens and some bordering areas. The study was fine, but the media coverage was abysmal. Reporters overstated the findings, mischaracterized the study, and failed to mention previous research done on pot smoking and health. 

Goldfish may not have a three-second memory, but some journalists seem to. When a new paper comes out, it's often treated as the first ever and final word on the topic. There is a significant body of literature on the neurological and wider health effects of marijuana, and to ignore it when covering new studies seems to me a form of journalistic malpractice.

A press release from the Society for Neuroscience trumpeted the Gilman study's importance because it looked at casual users rather than regular pot smokers, who form the basis of most marijuana studies. 

That claim is dubious in the extreme. The subjects averaged 3.83 days of smoking and 11.2 total joints per week. Characterizing these people as casual pot smokers was a great media hook, but it defied common sense. Occasional users wondered if they'd done permanent damage, and parents were concerned that their teen-agers might face profound neurological changes from experimenting with pot. Any reporter who read the study, however, should have known not to take that bait. 

Even by the standards of past medical studies, it's a stretch to call these subjects casual pot smokers. Just two years ago, for example, Janna Cousijn and colleagues published a study on a group that she called "heavy" marijuana users. In the average week, they smoked 3 grams of cannabis — approximately 2 grams less than Gilman's casual smokers. (A joint has about 0.5 grams of cannabis.) The justification for calling Gilman's subjects casual smokers is that they didn't meet the criteria for dependence, but when you count up the joints, the study doesn't look so revolutionary.

Many stories also claimed that the Gilman study showed direct causation between pot smoking and brain abnormalities. That's wrong. The study looked at differences between pot smokers and abstainers at a single moment. Only a longitudinal study, examining brain changes over time, could have suggested causation. As a letter writer to the Journal of Neuroscience noted, it's possible that pre-existing brain differences cause some people to seek out marijuana. Gilman's pot smokers also drank more and smoked more cigarettes than the control group, which supports this interpretation and also raises the possibility that other factors led to brain structure differences.

The biggest problem with the coverage of the marijuana study was that it failed to put the new research into context. Valentina Lorenzetti of the University of Melbourne recently published a widely cited review paper synthesizing dozens of studies on marijuana and the brain. Taking the literature as a whole, there is evidence suggesting that marijuana use causes structural changes in three parts of the brain: the frontal lobes, temporal lobes and the cerebellum. 

The data also reinforces the idea that long-term, heavy smokers experience greater changes than casual users. The studies, however, have serious flaws. They are typically small and have been unable to show that the structural changes cause cognitive impairment. Gilman's study of 20 smokers is a good contribution to the literature, but it doesn't resolve those problems.

If you are considering smoking pot — or quitting — here is what you need to know. Smoking marijuana once is very unlikely to harm you. It takes at least 15 grams of cannabis to kill a person, and probably much more than that.

A healthy person would have to smoke dozens of joints in a single session to risk death from overdose. People who do die from the acute effects of marijuana die in accidents: A recent study suggested that more than 10 percent of drivers killed in car accidents test positive for cannabis.

The more likely risk from trying marijuana is dependence. There is a debate over whether marijuana is addictive, but you needn't bother with it — it's mainly about semantics. The fact is, approximately 9 percent of people who start smoking pot become dependent by ordinary medical standards. 

That's low compared with dependence rates for other drugs: More than 15 percent of people who drink become alcoholics, and 32 percent of people who try cigarettes get hooked. Still, you should think seriously about a 1-in-11 chance of addiction, especially if you have a personal or family history of substance abuse.

Studies consistently show that frequent marijuana smoking is associated with some forms of respiratory dysfunction. Smokers report problems with coughing, wheezing and phlegm. Lung cancer is a murkier issue. Cannabis smoke contains higher concentrations of some carcinogens than cigarette smoke does. 

Some large studies show increased prevalence of respiratory tract cancers in cannabis users, while others find no correlation.

The cognitive effects of chronic marijuana use are uncertain. If you're an adult who smokes occasionally, there appears to be little or no reason to believe your mental performance will suffer. Several studies also show that those who experience impairments may recover if they stop smoking. Heavy, long-term smokers may experience memory and attention loss.

 

As with alcohol and tobacco, it's fairly clear that minors should not use marijuana. Many studies show that kids who smoke pot do poorly in school, and some studies suggest that they commit suicide at higher rates. Although the causal relationship isn't clear, the risks are too great.

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Rastas rally for legalisation of ganja

BY NADINE WILSON

A truck travels in Trench Town, Kingston, during yesterday’s march, mainly by Rastafarians, calling for the legalisation of marijuana.

MEMBERS of the Rastarian community yesterday braved the scorching sun as they marched from Half-Way-Tree to Trench Town in Kingston, as they joined the growing call for the legalisation of marijuana.

The group, which had gathered early at Mandela Park for what was dubbed a "Ganja Legalise It Day March and Motorcade", left Half-Way-Tree just after 10:00 am as they made their way to St William Grant Park in downtown Kingston, and then to the Trench Town Culture Park for a rally. The event, which was organised by Solomonic Productions and the Rastafarian Millennium Council, was well supported by the Rastarians who were adorned in their green, yellow and red while chanting "Jah Rastafari" and "Free up the ganja", some carrying the Ethiopian flag.

One of the organisers, Maxine Stowe, said the Rastarians hope to be at the forefront of the discussion on ganja going forward, given the significance of the plant in their culture. Earlier this month, there was the official launch of the Ganja Future Growers and Producers Association which comprises political officials, medical entrepreneurs and academia who are currently lobbying for the lifting of the restrictions surrounding the use of cannabis.

"The debate is happening here in Jamaica and the Rastafarian community is the leading community in regard to the rights of ganja here. So we want to make sure that our community and our culture is protected as it is developed into a full-blown industry here in Jamaica," Stowe said.
She said the Rastarians also wanted to ensure that the plant is not misused by those looking to gain from it financially.

"We don't want no products to be developed like cigarettes that eventually came out of tobacco and made the thing cancerous. So we are also vigilant of all of this dissecting of the herb to make sure when you isolate the compounds, that you are not creating something that God didn't ordain for the herb," Stowe said.
She said the group has been in consultation with those who have been leading the talks on the legalisation of ganja, but they have not been in complete agreement with some of their principles.

"We have been negotiating throughout all that time and have been present at all their launches and presenting our position papers to the Government and to the Ministry of Justice. We met with Minister Mark Golding and we gave him all of our points and we eventually submitted our 'principles' with regard to the legalisation and the use of the sacramental spaces, etc. We are expecting that within the policy development that that will come forward," she added.

After their long walk, the Rastafarians were in a jubilant mood when they reached the Trench Town Culture Park and the unmistakably scent of ganja permeated the atmosphere as they partook in ritualistic dances, nyahbinghi chanting and drumming. Then came presentations from several high-profile individuals, including veteran reggae artiste Neville 'Bunny Wailer' Livingston who said he was pleased with the increased attention ganja has been getting.

"I have been a lover of high-grade from I was as small as four years of age. My dadda used to be a high-grade dealer, so I know high-grade from before a lot of you people," he said, adding that he was delighted that ganja is now the topic on 'Babylon's table'.
"I am proud and I am satisfied that although I don't sell marijuana I am now going to be able to plant marijuana.

Futuristically, I have 142 acres of land and we want more land because the amount of ganja that we are going to plant, Jamaica is not even big enough to hold it," he said.
Meanwhile, Louis Moyston lamented the oppression of Rastafarians over the years for the use of ganja due to what he termed "Government bureaucracy, white supremacy and the church". He also denounced claims that legalisation of ganja would inspire violence.

"A no ganja inspire violence; it is inequality and injustice [that] inspire violence and criminality and ganja must no longer be the scapegoat," he told the rally.
"[For] many people, it (ganja) is what keep them through their depression and what keep them to adjust to the reality of 'Babylon'," said Moyston.

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The Cannabgis Question: A Patient's Perspective

"I would use cannabis before any pharmaceutical," Kathy Rippentrop said. "I mean, I watched it. It was just- it was good."
The voices backing medicinal marijuana use in Minnesota are growing louder today. The bill has taken yet another step in the Senate and seems to be gaining momentum. Public Policy Polling says 65% of Minnesotans approve of legalizing medical marijuana, but the governor has said he won't sign it.

The Cannabis Question continues as Valley News Team's Hope Hanselman introduces us to the patients who are looking for relief and have, at one time, had to break the law to get it.
"The three of us were best friends, we did stuff all the time together," Kathy said holding pictures of her mother and sister. "It will be six years in May."
The bond between a mother and her daughters may be stronger than one of us, because long after Kathy lost her mother, Jane, to colon cancer she is still fighting for her.

"We all look back on that, and I am so thankful to God that we had that because when somebody you love that is very close to you is terminal it is very depressing. Very depressing," Kathy, the medical marijuana advocate, said.
Kathy says pot saved her mother in the last years of her life, "because she wasn't suffering. She would have been suffering without it. We weren't going to let that happen whether it was against the law or not."

At first, doctors had given Jane one year to live and a heavy chemotherapy regimen. Kathy explains the treatment made her mother extremely sick. Her family tried doctors and techniques all over the country, including Marinol, one of the few FDA-approved drugs containing components of cannabis. Her mother didn't find relief with it, however. The excessive vomiting caused by her chemo wouldn't keep the drug down.
Their last resort came from an unlikely source.

"So, dad got this wild idea that he was going to grow marijuana," she said. "I was shocked a the beginning."
But, it didn't take long to change either of their minds. Two and a half minutes, in fact. The amount of time inhaled cannabis takes for the active ingredients to reach the blood stream.
"Once she felt how good she felt, we didn't have to fight her on it."
Jane lived four years instead of one, traveled to countries around the world and left Kathy with a much happier image of her mother.

"To see mom laugh and have a good time, it would make us laugh and it would just make the whole experience not as bad," she said.
Kathy's story has been powerful for lawmakers, but perhaps not strong enough. They say an overwhelming number of medical marijuana patients aren't treating life-threatening illnesses. They're looking for relief from chronic pain. The typical patient is a man in his mid-30s, with a history of substance abuse... a person very much like Brandon Muhs.

"People assume that I'm a meth user because of my high anxiety levels; and I care not what people think about me," Brandon, who is clean from drugs including marijuana today. But, he says he's still suffering from stereotypes and severe pain.
"A good day for me would probably put most people down," he said.
Now, he says he doesn't want his past to influence his healthcare.

"I was paralyzed due to an illness of Meningitis Encephalitis in 2001. The lingering effects from that are severe nerve damage and chronic pain. Since I woke up, I was paralyzed from the mid-chest down," Brandon said.
Learning to walk again was a major milestone for Brandon. But, he didn't stop there. He wants relief for others like him.
"Overall, I get more sick from any kind of medication, any kind of pharmaceutical pills that I take has more of a detrimental effect to my body that's not worth it. I would rather suffer- which I do."

If Minnesota approves medicinal cannabis, Brandon would be approved for access. So would anyone else suffering from severe pain, multiple sclerosis, ALS, epilepsy, glaucoma, hepatitis-C and cancer.
"This just took the place of everything, as far as being nauseous and sick, as far as feeling better," Kathy said. "most of the drugs they give you would push you down, she wanted to live every minute of the life she had left."

Kathy's mom, Jane, is an example of a patient willing to break the law for relief. Brandon is an example of one willing to suffer so others won't have to. The two of them are a slice of a diverse population of Minnesotans seeking relief through marijuana.
"I could go somewhere where it's legal, but that doesn't do any good for the people who are here and need it," Brandon said.

Opponents of the bill are concerned legalizing medicinal use will be one step towards legalizing recreational use. They're also concerned over cannabis getting into the hands of kids and teens. The Senate bill has tried to reach a compromise by putting up some obstacles towards opening a dispensary, which would be called 'alternative treatment centers'. The application fee is $15,000 to open shop. 

If the state doesn't approve the applicant, the state keeps $1,000. The centers must be at least 1,000 yards from a school and may only be present in a city with a population of at least 20,000 people. Counties of 300,000 people or fewer may only contain one center. Anyone under 21 may not qualify for a medical marijuana card, work in an alternative treatment center or be inside one.

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What happened to NY’s marijuana initiative?

In recent months, polls have shown more than 80 percent of New Yorkers are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

By Laura Nahmias 

In the four months after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his plan to legalize medical marijuana through an existing law, evidence of progress has been hard to come by.
Despite unprecedented support in both houses of the Legislature, including Senate Republicans who were previously opposed to the measure, legalization advocates are skeptical that a more comprehensive bill will pass this year.

And while the state’s health department announced earlier this year that at least ten hospitals statewide were interested in participating in the governor’s plan, representatives for several of the institutions in question, including Roswell Park Cancer Center, Montefiore Medical Center and New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, told Capital they had not had any recent discussions with the state about how to move the program forward.
Cuomo’s plan, which would have legalized marijuana through an existing 1980 state law, was widely criticized as unworkable. It would allow just 20 hospitals statewide to dispense the drug and would require prospective patients to appear before a board of doctors to receive approval, which could create a bottleneck for thousands of patients seeking timely access to the drug.

Critics of the program’s limited scale, including State Senator Diane Savino and Assembly health committee chairman Richard Gottfried, said the governor’s plan also relies on an unstable source for the drug’s supply, and could potentially use marijuana seized by law- enforcement officials, instead of the purified and specially-grown strains developed to treat specific medical conditions. While medical marijuana stalls in New York, 21 other states have legalized it, including most of the liberal stronghold states along the Eastern seaboard—in recent years, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware and Connecticut have all legalized some form of medical marijuana.

While Democratic governors like Jerry Brown in California, Dannel Malloy in Connecticut, and Jay Inslee in Washington have said they are reluctant to legalize recreational marijuana use, each of those states hasalready made marijuana available for patients medicinally. New York, which Governor Cuomo has touted as the birthplace of progressive politics, is the exception to the rule. It may just be a matter of time, though. Support for legalizing medical marijuana has grown rapidly. In 2012, polls showed 57 percent of New Yorkers supported legalizing the drug for medical use. In recent months, polls have showed more than 80 percent of New Yorkers are in favor of it.

“I think he’s a little behind the curve,” Democratic political consultant Joe Mercurio said of the governor. Cuomo has expressed skepticism that a comprehensive bill to legalize the drug can pass the Legislature, but has yet to use his considerable political muscle to push for such a proposal. By contrast, another governor with presidential aspirations, Maryland’s Martin O’Malley, signed a bill in early April to expand the state’s medical marijuana program, after a more limited program was deemed a failure.

Maryland’s experience with that smaller program may turn out to be instructive for New York. In late 2013, it began a limited medical marijuana program, which would have allowed patients to get the drug only at academic medical centers. But hospitals, at risk of losing federal grants if they dispensed a drug that is still illegal under federal law, wouldn’t sign on to the state’s plan.

Democrats see it as a potential strategy for boosting voter turnout, particularly among younger voters who are more likely to support legalizing the drug. Democrats in Florida are hoping a constitutional ballot initiative in the state’s 2014 elections will help secure the governorship for Charlie Crist, the embattled former Republican-turned-Democrat, as he seeks to recapture the office he lost in 2011.

Cuomo may just be biding his time. And for now, it’s still plausible for him to blame holdout legislators for the fact that New York isn’t doing more on this score. But if a bill passes the Legislature and the governor fails to sign it? It would be an “utter disaster,” Mercurio said. “If the Republican Senate voted for medical marijuana, and he voted against it, I can’t even begin to imagine what that would look like politically.”

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