The link between weed and schizophrenia is way more complicated than we thought

Study finds genetic overlap between cannabis use and schizophrenia

By Arielle Duhaime-Ross

(Alfredo Gayou / Flickr)

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The association between marijuana and schizophrenia is historically fraught. In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists thought that smoking weed could trigger psychosis in just about anyone. Today, these findings are more nuanced, but researchers still think that cannabis can trigger schizophrenia in people who are predisposed to the disease — meaning those with family histories of the disorder. Yet, in the last decade, some scientists have actually started to look at the effect in reverse. The resulting studies suggest that the neurobiology underlying schizophrenia might also put people affected by the disorder at increased risk for smoking pot. But these results haven't garnered nearly as much attention as studies suggesting the opposite.

part of the association might be caused by genetic overlap

Now, a new study, published today in Molecular Psychiatry, lends further support to the idea that schizophrenia plays a role in an individual's likelihood of smoking weed, by showing that the genetic variants predicting schizophrenia can also be used to predict a person's tendency to smoke pot, regardless of their mental health history. This, researchers say, demonstrates that the causal relationship between cannabis use and schizophrenia might not be clear-cut, and that at least a small part of the association might be caused by genetic overlap, where the same genes that predispose certain people to enjoying weed might also predispose others to developing schizophrenia — or both.

To tease apart this relationship, researchers took genetic data from recently published studies of schizophrenia, and identified genetic variants associated with the disease. Then, they applied that information to a random sample of about 2,000 healthy Australians to see if those variants could also predict cannabis use.

"more likely to use cannabis, and in greater quantities."

"There is a well-established link between people who use cannabis and schizophrenia," says Robert Power, lead author of the study and a genetic psychiatrist at King's College London. But this study indicates "that people who are at risk for schizophrenia are more likely to use cannabis, and in greater quantities," he says — which means the causal relationship might actually go both ways. 

Moreover, the genetic variants associated with schizophrenia were predictive for cannabis use in healthy individuals, so there appears to be some genetic overlap between the two.

"These findings are very valuable," says Eden Evins, a psychiatry professor at Harvard University who was not involved in the study, "and suggest that increased genetic risk for schizophrenia increases the chance that someone will use cannabis, and use it heavily." But Evins doesn't think these results rule out previous findings that cannabis use increases a person's risk for developing schizophrenia. "Both may be true," she says. 

This sentiment was echoed by Wolfram Kawohl, a psychiatrist at the University of Zurich, who said the results show that "the connection is more complicated than some people may have thought," and that "both connections may exist parallel along with possible others."

"I am suspect that this finding will hold out with the test of time."

But Lynn DeLisi, another Harvard University psychiatry professor, isn't convinced. "I am suspect that this finding will hold out with the test of time," she told The Verge in an email. 

DeLisi points to her own work, which showed there was no difference in family history of schizophrenia between people who smoke weed and people who don't. So, although there might be an interaction between smoking weed and schizophrenia, DeLisi said, it would be need to be shown in "studies of people using cannabis compared with those who don't, both having a family history of schizophrenia."

Furthermore, DeLisi thinks that today's high rates of cannabis use among teenagers and adults make it hard to link drug use to mental health issues or their genetic predispositions. "Everyone uses cannabis these days, and I don't think they necessarily have genetic predispositions to do so."

An ongoing debate

"The relationship is an ongoing debate in the scientific world — at least what the nature of the association is," said Matthew Hill, a cell biologist at the University of Calgary in Canada, who recently published an article dissecting this very relationship, in an email to The Verge. In the article, Hill argued that "there is little evidence that, at a population level, cannabis use during adolescence is a primary contributing factor in the development of psychiatric illness." But he also noted that "there is evidence that in high-risk populations, cannabis can be highly adverse, so arguments claiming that cannabis is innocuous are equally flawed."

Weed affects people with schizophrenia differently

When The Verge asked about the risks associated with cannabis use, Hill said that "there are detailed studies which have demonstrated that cannabis can have very different effects on the brain of someone who is at risk for schizophrenia than someone who isn't." One 2013 study, for instance, demonstrated that the increased release of dopamine from smoking marijuana is amplified in the brains of people with schizophrenia, as well as in their close relatives. The results of this amplification are poorly understood, but some scientists think that a chronic elevation of dopamine can increase one's likelihood of experiencing psychotic episodes, and make the disorder harder to treat. 

Moreover, some studies indicate that people who find themselves in the early stages of schizophrenia and who also smoke weed experience larger brain modifications — such as changes in their white matter — compared to those who don't.

"cannabis use worsens the course of schizophrenia."

"There is definitely some kind of genetic basis to increased vulnerability to these adverse effects [in people with schizophrenia] that go beyond the correlational association discussed in this paper," Hill says. 

Evins agreed. "It's well known that cannabis use worsens the course of schizophrenia," she said, "so people with schizophrenia should be discouraged from using it."

Furthermore, some studies have found that smoking pot accelerates the development of schizophrenia in those who are genetically predisposed, but that association took a hit in 2010, when researchers found that accounting for things like gender, lifetime mental health history, and socioeconomic status erased the effect. Still, some studies continue to point to this risk.

Perhaps the reasons for these contradictory findings is that some individuals with schizophrenia react more strongly to marijuana than others with the same disorder. This was the finding of one 2010 study that demonstrated that 44 out of 121 schizophrenic participants either developed schizophrenia within a month of beginning to smoke marijuana, or saw their psychosis amplified by drug use.

A complicated relationship

Given all of this conflicting evidence, it seems likely that the relationship between marijuana and schizophrenia is even more complex than we once thought. No single gene has been associated with either drug addiction or schizophrenia, so these illnesses are the result of many genes working in combination, Evins said, "each with a small contribution to the overall risk of developing the disorders." There's also a plethora of environmental factors that need to be taken into account — most of which we barely understand.

This "doesn't get a lot of attention."

Still, Hill said, the idea that cannabis use and schizophrenia share common genes "is interesting," partly because it highlights a dimension of this relationship that doesn't get a lot of attention. But causality is never easy to confirm, so this study will need to be replicated multiple times. And even then, Kawohl said, researchers probably won't be able to say that "cannabis use has no consequences for the risk to develop schizophrenia."

Regardless, it's important to remember that schizophrenia only affects a small number of people — about 1 percent of the US adult population — so "the vast majority of adolescents and young adults who use cannabis won't develop it," Evins said. And that's actually a crucial point, because despite all the studies that link schizophrenia and cannabis, few have been able to explain why schizophrenia rates have remained stable — and may actually be declining — in the face of pot's increasing popularity among teens.

the economic benefit of limiting pot use is "pretty small."

"There may still be a causal role between cannabis and schizophrenia, but our results suggest that this causal role may have been overestimated," Power says. This is important, he says, because some people have used cannabis' relationship with psychosis to argue against its legalization. "Already the actual economic benefit of limiting cannabis use in terms of schizophrenia is pretty small," Power says, pointing to a study that found that policymakers would have to stop at least 3,000 adolescents from smoking weed to prevent one case of psychosis from emerging.

Still, Power thinks people with a family history of schizophrenia should avoid weed. "The clinical advice is to stay away from events that might have a potential to cause stress," he says, because genes and environment are interconnected. Thus, "people who are at-risk should try to avoid things that might damage their mental well-being." These things, he says, include weed.

House Committee Votes to Block D.C. Marijuana Laws

Republicans vote to reimpose 1990s-era restriction, for the children.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., right, sponsored a spending bill amendment adopted by the House Appropriation Committee on Wednesday that would block the District of Columbia from reducing marijuana penalties. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., denounced the measure.

By Steven Nelson 

 

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted Wednesday to ban the District of Columbia from implementing its own marijuana enforcement laws.
The prohibition, attached as a budget rider to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill, is similar to legislation passed in 1998 to block medical marijuana in the District.
The committee’s 28-21 vote is almost certain to prompt a House floor fight, with marijuana reform advocates and supporters of local autonomy likely to attempt to remove the wording.

The House Rules Committee will probably allow an open amendment process when the bill is considered by the full House, meaning members can propose changes without preapproval, according to a committee spokesman, but a formal decision has not yet been made.
Appropriations Committee members approved the budget rider in a roll-call vote following a brief debate. Democrats complained it was an end-run around the formal procedure for blocking D.C. laws, which requires a motion of disapproval to be passed by both houses of Congress.

The restriction, proposed by Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., would not strike down any District law, but rather would ban the city government’s use of money to implement such laws.
Harris introduced the rider in response to a pending decriminalization law that would reduce District penalties for possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana to a $25 fine. But the measure may also affect the District’s medical marijuana program.
The city’s first medical marijuana dispensaries opened in July 2013 after congressional Democrats allowed the 1998 budget rider – passed after nearly 70 percent of residents voted for medical marijuana – to lapse in 2009.

The new rider says no funds “may be used to enact or carry out any law, rule, or regulation to legalize or otherwise reduce penalties associated with the possession, use, or distribution of any schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act.”
Harris boasted of his triumph in a Wednesday news release.
“Congress has the authority to stop irresponsible actions by local officials, and I am glad we did for the health and safety of children throughout the District,” he said.

Congress has not blocked decriminalization laws in more than a dozen states or gone after the 24 states that have legalized medical marijuana. It has not passed legislation attempting to end recreational marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, where the Department of Justice is allowing regulated markets despite federal law.
In fact, the House voted on May 30 to ban the Department of Justice from going after medical marijuana in jurisdictions, including the District, that allow it – with 49 House Republican joining 170 Democrats in the majority.

If the Senate also passes that prohibition, the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal prosecutors would be blocked from spending money to enforce federal law against patients and distributors complying with local laws.
The District of Columbia had a higher per capita arrest rate for marijuana possession than any of the 50 states in 2010, according to a 2013 American Civil Liberties Union report. More than 90 percent of those arrested were black. The racial enforcement disparity is one of the primary reasons cited by city politicians who support reducing penalties. The D.C. Council voted 10-1 in favor of the decriminalization measure in March.

“It is outrageous that members of Congress are trying to overturn a locally-enacted law that has the overwhelming support of D.C. voters and the D.C. Council,” says Bill Piper, director of national affairs with the Drug Policy Alliance. “That Rep. Harris is picking on a majority black district and no other jurisdiction with marijuana decriminalization is very telling. His own state has decriminalized marijuana but he’s not interfering with it.”

World's top drug lord held in swoop

• Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is escorted to a helicopter in handcuffs by Mexican navy marines at a navy hanger in Mexico City (AP)PA

A massive operation that mushroomed through the western Mexican state of Sinaloa last week netted the world's top drug lord, who was captured early today by US and Mexican authorities at a condominium in Mazatlan, officials from both countries said.

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 56, arrived at the Mexico City airport in the afternoon, looking overweight, bowed and much like his wanted photos. He was marched by masked marines across a tarmac to a helicopter waiting to whisk him to jail.

Guzman was found with an unidentified woman, said one official, adding that the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the Marshals Service were "heavily involved" in the capture. No shots were fired.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam described an operation that took place between February 13 and 17, presumably in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa, though he did not say what city.
Mexican security agencies came upon several houses where Guzman was known to stay, Mr Murillo Karam said, adding that they found tunnels connecting seven homes and the city's sewer system, presumably for escape.

The doors were reinforced with steel, which delayed entry by law enforcement, presumably allowing Guzman to flee several attempts at his capture before Saturday.
Mr Murillo Karam didn't say how authorities traced him to Mazatlan, but said they knew of his whereabouts several times. They were unable to mount an operation earlier because of possible risks to the general public, he added.
Guzman faces multiple federal drug trafficking indictments in the US and is on the DEA's most-wanted list. His drug empire stretches throughout North America and reaches as far away as Europe and Australia. His cartel has been heavily involved in the bloody drug war that has torn through parts of Mexico for the last several years.

His arrest followed the removal of several top Sinaloa operatives in the last few months and at least 10 mid-level cartel members in the last week. The information leading to Guzman was gleaned from those arrested, said Michael S. Vigil, a former senior DEA official who was briefed on the operation.
The Mexican navy raided the Culiacan house of Guzman's ex-wife, Griselda Lopez, earlier this week and found a cache of weapons and a tunnel in one of the rooms that led to the city's sewer system, leading authorities to believe Guzman barely escaped, Mr Vigil said.
As more people were arrested, more homes were raided.

"It became like a nuclear explosion where the mushroom started to expand throughout the city of Culiacan," Mr Vigil said.
Authorities learned that Guzman fled to nearby Mazatlan. He was arrested at the Miramar condominiums, a 10-story, pearl-coloured building with white balconies overlooking the Pacific and a small pool in front. The building is one of dozens of relatively modest, upper-middle-class developments on the Mazatlan coastal promenade, with a couple of simple couches in the lobby and a bare cement staircase leading up to the condominiums.

"He got tired of living up in the mountains and not being able to enjoy the comforts of his wealth. He became complacent and starting coming into the city of Culiacan and Mazatlan. That was a fatal error," said Mr Vigil, adding that Guzman was arrested with "a few" of his bodyguards nearby.
One American living in the building, who did not want to give his name, said he has lived there for two years and never heard or saw anything unusual.
Mr Vigil said Mexico may decide to extradite Guzman to the U.S. to avoid any possibility that he escapes from prison again, as he did in 2001 in a laundry truck - a feat that fed his larger-than-life persona.

"It would be a massive black eye on the (Mexican) government if he is able to escape again. That's the only reason they would turn him over," Mr Vigil said.
Because insiders aided his escape, rumours circulated for years that he was helped and protected by former Mexican president Felipe Calderon's government, which vanquished some of his top rivals.
In the bilateral assault on organized crime and Mexican drug cartels, Sinaloa had not only been relatively unscathed, but has seen its enemies go down at the hands of the government.

Aggressive assaults by the Mexican military and federal police have all but dismantled the leadership of the Beltran Leyva and Zetas cartels, both huge rivals of Sinaloa, as well as the La Linea gang fighting Sinaloa for control of the border city of Ciudad Juarez.
Mr Calderon congratulated Enrique Pena Nieto on the capture Saturday via his Twitter account. Many also noted the huge boost that capture gave to the credibility of the Pena Nieto government, whose commitment to fighting organised crime has been questioned since he took office in late 2012.

But there were rumours circulating for months that a major operation was under way to break the Sinaloa cartel.
Ismael Zambada's son was arrested in November after entering Arizona, where he had an appointment with US immigration authorities to arrange legal status for his wife.
The following month, Zambada's main lieutenant was killed as Mexican helicopter gunships sprayed bullets at his mansion in the Gulf of California resort of Puerto Penasco in a four-hour gunbattle. Days later, police in the Netherlands arrested a flamboyant top enforcer for Zambada as he arrived in Amsterdam.

But experts predict that as long as Guzman's partner, "El Mayo" Zambada is at large, the cartel will continue business as usual.
"The take-down of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman Loera is a thorn in the side of the Sinaloa Cartel, but not a dagger in its heart," said College of William and Mary government professor George Grayson, who studies Mexico's cartels.
"Zambada ... will step into El Chapo's boots. He is also allied with Juan Jose 'El Azul' Esparragoza Moreno, one of most astute lords in Mexico's underworld and, by far, its best negotiator."

Rumours had long circulated that Guzman was hiding everywhere from Argentina and Guatemala to almost every corner of Mexico, especially its Golden Triangle, a mountainous, marijuana-growing region straddling the northern states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua.
In more than a decade on the run, Guzman transformed himself from a middling Mexican capo into arguably the most powerful drug trafficker in the world. His fortune has grown to more than one billion US dollars, according to Forbes magazine, which listed him among the World's Most Powerful People and ranked him above the presidents of France and Venezuela.

His Sinaloa Cartel grew bloodier and more powerful, taking over much of the lucrative trafficking routes along the US border, including such prized cities as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez.
Guzman's play for power against local cartels caused a bloodbath in Tijuana and made Juarez one of the deadliest cities in the world. In little more than a year, Mexico's biggest marijuana bust, 134 tons, and its biggest cultivation were tied to Sinaloa, as were a giant underground methamphetamine lab in western Mexico and hundreds of tons of precursor chemicals seized in Mexico and Guatemala.

His cartel's tentacles now extend as far as Australia thanks to a sophisticated, international distribution system for cocaine and methamphetamine.
Guzman did all that with a seven million US dollars bounty on his head and while evading thousands of law enforcement agents from the US and other countries devoted to his capture. A U.S. federal indictment unsealed in San Diego in 1995 charges Guzman and 22 members of his organisation with conspiracy to import over eight tons of cocaine and money laundering. A provisional arrest warrant was issued as a result of the indictment, according to the US State Department.

He also has been indicted by federal authorities in the United States several times since 1996. The charges include allegations that he and others conspired to smuggle "multi-ton quantities" of cocaine into the US and used violence, including murder, kidnapping and torture to keep the smuggling operation running. He is also accused of conspiring to smuggle heroin into the United States and money laundering.
In 2013, he was named Public Enemy Number One by the Chicago Crime Commission, only the second person to get that distinction after US prohibition-era crime boss Al Capone.

Guzman faces a two-count indictment in Chicago charging him with running a drug smuggling conspiracy responsible for smuggling cocaine and heroin into the US. He is also charged in New York with drug trafficking, murder, kidnapping and other crimes.
Guzman is still celebrated in folk songs and is said to have enjoyed deep protection from humble villagers in the rugged hills of Sinaloa and Durango where he has hidden from authorities.

Pope Francis Speaks Out Against Legalization of Marijuana and Other Drugs

By Kira Bindrim

"The problem of drug use is not solved with drugs," Pope Francis told participants at a drug enforcement conference in Rome. Max Rossi/Reuters

After a several-week absence from the media spotlight, Pope Francis emerged on Friday as a speaker at the International Drug Enforcement Conference in Rome, where he said he was opposed to the legalization of drugs—including marijuana—for recreational use.
"The scourge of drug use continues to spread inexorably, fed by a deplorable commerce which transcends national and continental borders," Francis told conference participants. "Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called 'recreational drugs,' are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce desired effects."

 

 

 

While Francis has sometimes surprised constituents with his progressive views—on homosexuality, atheism and capitalism, for example—his stance on marijuana legalization, at least, is at odds with a growing push for it. In December, Uruguay became the first country to legalize the drug (Francis is from nearby Buenos Aires, Argentina). That law included regulation of the cultivation, production, storage, sale and distribution of marijuana, as well as an official registry of users' consumption.
"We will be able to get more information about the consequences of different alternatives," Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Group, told Newsweek at the time.

Earlier this month, Jamaica said it would legalize medical marijuana, and allow possession of up to two ounces of the drug for recreational use. In the United States, two states—Colorado and Washington—have legalized marijuana. Alaska could vote on legalization in November, and Oregon may vote on a similar measure later this year. Twenty-two states have legalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes—New York is poised to become the 23rd—and 16 have decriminalized it, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). In October 2013, a Gallup poll found that for the first time, a majority of Americans believe the drug should be legalized: 58 percent, compared with just 12 percent in 1969, the first time the question was asked.

Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, but in May the House voted to restrict the DEA from using funds to go after state-legal medical marijuana outfits. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a similar amendment in the Senate this week.
Pope Francis has spoken out against drug legalization in the past, and has visited with addicts both as Pope and when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. "A reduction in the spread and influence of drug addiction will not be achieved by a liberalization of drug use," he said during a speech at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last year. "Rather, it is necessary to confront the problems underlying the use of these drugs, by promoting greater justice, educating young people in the values that build up life in society, accompanying those in difficulty and giving them hope for the future."

Activists Are Planting Weed in Public All Over the UK

By Jake Lewis

Cannabis growing in Newport, South Wales (Photo via)

Historically, British cannabis campaigners haven’t had a lot of luck when it comes to the battle for legalisation. For whatever reason, politicians don’t seem to pay much attention to the thousands of stoner activists who gather in Hyde Park every year to get high in the rain, and all the other protests and petitions – often organised by different groups throughout the country – have mostly been too small to even generate any media interest, let alone bring about meaningful change.  
However, since other places – notably Uruguay and the couple of newly weed-friendly American states – started decriminalising and legalising, British activists have stepped it up, uniting previously fractured groups together under the UK Cannabis Social Clubs banner. The most recent action to come out of the UKCSC camp is an initiative called Feed the Birds, which basically involves people up and down the country planting cannabis seeds in public places in the hope that it will open a dialogue about Britain's current marijuana laws.
Last week I met up with “Finn”, who fronts Feed the Birds, outside Embankment tube station. We walked along the Thames while he planted more seeds and explained the reasoning behind the campaign.

VICE: Hey Finn. So what exactly is Feed the Birds?
Finn: It’s a collective of like-minded individuals who think that this a good way of raising conversation and awareness around prohibition and the current laws. By planting these seeds in public, we’re really showing the public first-hand that the laws have failed. We're also creating a nationwide peaceful guerrilla protest that can run 24/7. Also, there are an awful lot of protest groups out there, but there isn't one group that covers all the areas [of cannabis use], such as recreational, medicinal and the sustainable industry surrounding hemp and cannabis. Feed the Birds gives everyone a platform so we can all work together for the same cause
How are you hoping the campaign will help to change the cannabis laws?
By raising the debate, showing people it can grow publicly in Britain – and very easily; the UK has a fantastic climate for weed to grow. It also gives people who have a lot to say the chance to get out there and take a physical role in protesting the laws, instead of sitting behind a computer screen preaching on sites like Facebook. We also want to create a go-to place for easy access to factual, scientific information about hemp and cannabis, which is really important, as people need to understand and be educated on the matter to make the right choices.

Every plant on the walk from Embankment to London Bridge had been pulled, so Finn started planting more

And what are the benefits of giving these people seeds?
By giving people seeds, we’re giving them a bit of freedom. From medicinal to recreational, users are very much dependent on the black market. By giving them seeds, within three months they should be completely independent, therefore they shouldn’t have to turn to street dealers. I think that’s the responsible attitude to have.
Who’s participating in Feed the Birds?
People who are heavily involved are the cannabis clubs in the UK. We’re also aware of lone cells doing it – people who were doing it long before Feed the Birds came about and have now joined us. We get a variety of different participants; from gardeners to bankers to barristers, there are an awful amount of people who are actively interested in helping.

Another plant along the Thames

How can new people get involved?
There are many ways you can participate – maybe something as small as sharing our Facebook posts, to even contacting us or your local cannabis club to get some hemp seeds and start planting them around your local town.
What seeds are you using?
We're only using cannabis seeds – we had our hemp shipment postponed for "unknown" reasons. We’ve been giving out specific strains for specific regions. For example, in Scotland we’d give them a strain that would do well against cold and mould, and with a shorter flowering period. That’s also why the seeds were shipped north a little later than they were in the south – the seasons are delayed by a week or two – or three – sometimes. There are a lot things you have to accommodate for.

These plants reached a healthy size before being pulled

Which strains have you been handing out?
We've been giving out three landrace strains: a Jamaican one, Nanda Devi – which is Indian – and another from the Himalayas. Medicinal users have been getting all sorts of auto-feminised seeds. A lot of the seeds that have been given out have an ancestry based in the UK; most originally come from within the M25 corridor, so they're locally sourced and organic.
Why are the medicinal users given autos?
Because they’re a lot less effort to deal with. If someone who needs some medicinal cannabis is struggling to get started, this way they can plant it and the plant will do most of the work. Working with an easier variety will give them a firm grasp on how to grow that plant.

Seeds donated by a supporter of Feed the Birds, including White Widow, Dutch Passion, Weird Sleeve, Smelly Berry and Black Sugar.

Right. Is Feed the Birds funded in any way? Or is it just run with the help of the UK cannabis community?
We need more funding – we don’t have any funding at all. The only capital we’ve been able generate is from selling T-shirts on a Kickstarter page. So we’re self-funded. The activists fund it themselves, which is fantastic for many reasons, and most of our seeds come via donations.
How many seeds do you reckon you’ve given out so far?
Millions? Honestly, I couldn’t give you a true figure.
Have you had much opposition?
Not really. The police haven’t launched anything negative against us. I think they’re probably under too many time constraints to focus on people growing these plants in public, but a lot of the plants have been pulled.

A weed plant sprouting on a busy London street

Any idea who's been doing that?
It could be anybody – the public, the police or someone actively hunting down our plants – but we haven’t actually witnessed people pulling the plants out first-hand.
Have you seen many people interact with the plants in other ways?
Yeah, we’ve seen people going up to the plants and recognising them straight away, which always brings a smile to their face. We were all a bit more serious while planting them, but it seems to mostly be making people laugh. Quite simply, it must strike them as absolutely ridiculous that the current laws are actually failing right in front of their very eyes.

Cannabis growing in central London

Are there any planting spots you're focusing on in London?
Yup, there are. All sorts of public spaces have been done already, all across London and the UK. I think in the month to come, when the plants start maturing, we’ll start seeing a lot more coverage. Also, to my knowledge, we’ve had a lot of the guerrilla cells targeting politicians' houses. We’ve also had reports that there’s a grow on property owned by the crown. Hopefully we’ll see something come from that in the next couple of months.

Where do you see Feed the Birds going in the next year or so?
Ideally, I'd like there to be a really high functioning website that will produce a lot of information to teach people a little more about the positive aspects of re-introducing hemp into the environment. I’d like it to become more of a political discussion. I see this moving forwards by effectively captivating the politicians' imaginations in terms of what the industry could possibly become. The hemp industry was huge in Britain and it seems that the argument [for its legalisation] does touch on many different political subjects, such as the economy, the environment, communities and medicine. They’re all very important topics and really should be addressed.

As far as Feed the Birds goes, I think as soon as prohibition comes to an end, we’ll quietly merge into the background and get back on with our normal lives. As soon as the medicinal users and recreational users are no longer persecuted for wanting to have an alternative to alcohol or pharmaceutical drugs, we’d know that we’d done our job properly in informing and introducing the public and the government to the benefits of hemp and cannabis.

Jamaica anticipates a marijuana rush as decriminalisation looms – but is it too late?

The prospect of growing ganja for medical purposes has triggered a wave of heady economic optimism, but it faces stiff competition

 

André Wright

A farmer with his marijuana plants in Jamaica's central mountain town of Nine Mile. Photograph: David Mcfadden/AP

Hearing the drumbeat of the pro-marijuana lobby, you'd be excused if you believed the typical Jamaican was a Rastafarian pothead lazing on the beach amid the soporific sound of Bob Marley's One Love. Of course, most Jamaicans don't smoke pot, aren't Rastafarians and don't have access to many beaches.

The recently proposed decriminalisation of marijuana, widely called ganja by Jamaicans, has been long anticipated and much unfulfilled – like a World Cup goal by Wayne Rooney. Commissions and debates to review legislation on marijuana hark back to at least the 1970s, with the most comprehensive recommendations coming in 2001.
Jamaican governments haven't been known for their fortitude. Fearing those big-stick-wielding neighbours, the United States, would crack our backsides, politicians have avoided pressing the reset button on a law that has proved unwieldy, expensive and downright stupid. Seems they've finally grown a pair. And the fact that Washington state and Colorado have snubbed US federal law on smoking weed has undermined the Americans' moral authority as lecturer-in-chief.

Possession of a mere handful of marijuana has for decades clogged Jamaican courts with petty cases and distracted an undermanned police force from tackling the crime cartels pushing drugs and guns. What's worse, the criminalisation of marijuana possession has scarlet-lettered thousands of mainly poor young men with a police record that ruins their prospects of employment and migration, while exposing them to contagion with hardened offenders.

The declaration last week by the justice minister, Mark Golding, that the cabinet would be pressing ahead with legislative changes to make possession of as much as two ounces (0.057kg) of weed a mere ticketable offence, with no criminal record attached, is a welcome move that has been widely endorsed by Rastafarians, business leaders and even clerics of Jamaica's conservative churches.
However, the buzz over weed in the last year has triggered a wave of heady optimism. Michael Lorne, a Rastafarian lawyer, has vowed not to include Jamaican universities in plans for cultivation and research, for fear that middlemen will swipe the profits.

Another Rastafarian advocate, Iyah V, called for Rastafarians and the poor to have exclusive rights to operate marijuana farms, and threatened to turn Jamaica upside down if "all of a sudden now when the legalisation aspect comes, some rich people come to take it over".
Humour them. That's all hollow bravado.
All the noise about Jamaica taking a hefty slice of the $2bn (£1.2bn) medical marijuana and hemp-manufacturing industries may be just that: noise. Decades of government intransigence over calls to liberalise the marijuana sector means that Jamaica is light years behind western Europe and the US in terms of establishing laboratory and research infrastructure, official distribution networks, finding merchants untainted by the criminal underworld, and an organised framework of governance.

If this were an arms race, the sharpshooting drone would make toast of the rusty Jamaican six-shooter.
Don't bury Jamaica's dreams just yet, though. The little island has punched above its weight before in scientific research. Dr Albert Lockhart and Dr Manley West developed Canasol from cannabis for the treatment of glaucoma. Professor Henry Lowe, another long-time ganja researcher, has recently launched Medicanja in a bid to tap the medical marijuana and hemp markets.
Jamaican prospectors are sprinting at Usain Bolt-speed in the Great Green Gold rush of the Caribbean.

The exaggerated script: pharmaceutical start-ups will concoct vials that can cure cancer, HIV and the common cold; weed plantations will sweep the countryside to supply ships docked at Kingston harbour en route to the US and Europe; and the Jamaican economy will shoot into the stratosphere.
Even with the flurry of marijuana conferences and lofty goal-setting, I think Jamaica may have joined the party too late. And there may even be greater delay in refining the legislation with policy pushback from anti-smoking lobbyists and security stakeholders concerned about crime syndicates spreading their wings.
Maybe the ganja growers are on to something big, and I'm just being a party pooper. Or perhaps the huffs and puffs of overhyped hope is because they're just stoned.

Black Market Weed Rampant on Colorado Public Land

By Michael P. Tremoglie

 

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Black market marijuana, which many expected to disappear after the substance was legalized, is thriving. It is grown on public land owned by the federal government in the state. Worse it is controlled by Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs).
According to the latest information from the U.S. Forest Service, provided to MainStreet in response to an inquiry, marijuana production is booming. The facts are alarming.
The statistics for marijuana cultivation sites that are impacting U.S. Forest Service lands in Colorado indicate that six national forests are affected: Pike, San Isabel, Arapaho, Roosevelt, White River, and Gunnison.

For the period from 2008 to 2014, the Forest Service found 32 cultivation sites in 12 counties. They involve 100,507 plants.
"The black market retail value of marijuana varies from $2,500 to $4,500 per pound for high grade product," said Chris Strebig, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) spokesperson for the Rocky Mountain region. "Lesser grade [with lower THC content] ranges in price from $500 to $1,000."
The average price of marijuana is pegged at about $2,500 per pound. Each plant yields an estimated one pound.

This places the value of known black market pot grown on federal lands between about $50 million for low grade to $452 million for the high end product. It would be $252 million using the average price per pound. Whatever price one wants to use, the value is disconcerting.
More than 80% of the sites are on what is known as the "Front Range," according to the Forest Service. These are the foothills of the Rockies said Strebig. Approximately 50% of the sites were found in Douglas, Jefferson and Boulder Counties.

What is most disturbing is who controls these cultivations. According to the USFS, approximately 65% of the sites were believed to be operated by DTOs in 2013. Since 2008, almost 95% of marijuana located on USFS land are believed to be controlled by DTOs.
This marijuana is not being sold in the local state accredited retail outlet either. Strebig said there is no evidence or indication to date that the marijuana cultivated on national forest lands is sold through regulated marijuana suppliers in the Colorado system.

Fortunately, unlike other areas where pot is grown illegally, Forest Service personnel have not encountered any booby trap activity or violent incidents. But marijuana cultivation does cause environmental damage to the forests.
"Marijuana cultivation on national forests endangers public safety, degrades water quality, introduces invasive plants, leaves garbage and negatively impacts forest health," said Strebig. "Cutting down trees, diverting water and the use of chemicals are all effects of marijuana cultivation."
He also said that while it is too early to tell - it does not seem legalization has reduced illegally grown marijuana.

"This is the first growing season since the passage of Colorado's recreational marijuana law," Strebig explained. "As of yet, we do not have any evidence that the legalization of recreational marijuana has diminished the production or cultivation of marijuana on national forest system lands."
So it seems that for the time being, legalization has not lead to the demise of the black market. But advocates say the law is the problem.

"In general, regarding cannabis being grown on federal (or state) land is the pure outgrowth of prohibition," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "If federal and state law enforcement don't want illegal growers, then they need to stop supporting the status quo of prohibition as there are no legal problems in America with people illegally growing tobacco, grapes, hops, barley or apples on federal and state lands."

But opponents take the opposite perspective. They feel legalization leads to more crime.
"By legalizing marijuana in Colorado, we have become the black market for about 40 other states that we can document," said Tom Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. "So instead of eliminating it we have become it. We are also the black market for those under twenty-one."
"Will that fade away if the legal market prices drop? It is too early to say. But we know that commercialization of medical marijuana did not end the black market," he concluded.

Whether Colorado's legalization experiment will decrease black market pot remains to be seen. But studies indicate that while legalized gambling decreased illegal gambling - legalization increased the amount of gamblers.

Government of Canada announces proposed amendments to protect the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations against abuse

OTTAWA, June 13, 2014 /CNW/ – Marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada and has not gone through the necessary rigorous scientific trials for efficacy or safety.

Health Canada does not endorse the use of marijuana, but the courts have required reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana for medical purposes.

The Government of Canada believes that this must be done in a controlled fashion to protect public health and safety.

The Government of Canada is proposing to amend the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) and the Narcotic Control Regulations (NCR) to further strengthen public health and safety.

These amendments would require licensed producers of marijuana for medical purposes to regularly report to provincial and territorial medical and nursing licensing bodies which doctors and nurses are authorizing marijuana and in which quantities. The reporting will enhance their oversight by ensuring they have the ability to monitor for high dosages, multiple medical authorizations and multiple registrations with licensed producers, and can take appropriate action such as investigation, or discipline.

The proposed information provided is consistent with many established provincial and territorial drug monitoring programs for controlled substances.

The proposed amendments will be published in Canada Gazette, Part 1 for a 30-day public comment period. Interested parties are encouraged to submit any comments to Health Canada by July 13, 2014.

Health Canada will continue to work with healthcare partners to develop information to help meet the needs of the medical community regarding the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Quick Facts

• Marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada.
• The Marihuana Medical Access Program, introduced in 2001, went from a few hundred people to almost 40,000 which created consequences for public health, safety and security, as a result of allowing individuals to produce marijuana in their homes.
• The medical community and provincial and territorial medical and nursing licensing bodies have asked the Government to work with them and to share this information.

Quotes

“We have consulted with healthcare licensing bodies who expressed a need for the data on how doctors and nurses are authorizing marijuana to their patients and in which quantities. The proposed regulatory amendments will further strengthen public health and safety by ensuring appropriate oversight and monitoring.”
Rona Ambrose
Minister of Health

“The Federation of Medical Regulatory Authorities of Canada strongly supports the proposed amendments that will enable its Members to exercise their duty in the best interest of the public. Medical regulatory authorities require access to this information so they can hold physicians accountable to a high standard of care when they choose to authorize patient access to marijuana for medical purposes.”

Medical marijuana right drug for many

Patients in New York state should have the option to use prescribed pot to seek relief from a variety of ailments

By Richard Carlton,

At long last, the New York state Senate is scheduled to take up the issue of the Compassionate Care Act, a bill that would allow seriously ill patients access to medical marijuana (cannabis) under the supervision of their health care provider. The bill has been passed by the Senate Health Committee, and is now awaiting a vote in the Finance Committee.

As a physician and also as a caregiver, passage of this bill can't come soon enough.
I've carefully reviewed the scientific literature, and I know that medical cannabis can help a lot of patients who right now are forced to either suffer needlessly, break the law to get cannabis medicinals, or move to one of the 22 states that have passed medical marijuana laws. There are tens of thousands of journal articles on the medical uses of cannabis and cannabinoids. Over 110 of those articles are human efficacy studies that document the benefits of medical cannabis in treating a wide range of important diseases.

Some of those efficacy studies were based on double-blind, placebo-controlled "gold standard" studies, published in the peer-reviewed literature.
This literature makes clear that people living with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, migraines, neuropathy, pinched nerves, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, HIV/AIDS, ALS and numerous other conditions may all benefit from medical cannabis.

It is not just the potential for my patients that is moving me. As a caregiver to my wife of 40 years, who has Parkinson's disease that is poorly responsive to medications, I want to see if cannabis can relieve her suffering and improve the quality of her life. Clinical research has shown that cannabis significantly reduces Parkinsonian tremors and rigidity.
And yet, right now, because I refuse to break the law, I have to stand by and watch her suffer.

There's nothing more painful than watching someone you love decline in health, especially knowing that there is a medicine that could help him or her. If someone in your family were suffering, wouldn't you do whatever you could to help them?
The Compassionate Care Act is a carefully crafted piece of legislation that balances patient access with strict regulatory provisions to prevent diversion and misuse. In fact, under the bill, medical cannabis would be more tightly regulated than prescription opioids.

Seriously ill patients with certain conditions that have been shown in studies to benefit from medical cannabis would be able to talk openly with their health care providers about whether or not cannabis might help alleviate their symptoms. The bill would allow those that could truly benefit from medical cannabis to access it legally and safely.
That's why I am calling on the Senate's leaders, co-presidents Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos, to allow the bill to the floor for a vote. The Assembly has passed the bill five times. Over 80 percent of New York voters support access to medical marijuana. Hundred of New York doctors, like me, want this as a treatment option for patients.

It's time for doctors, not politicians, to decide the best treatment for patients. Too many people have suffered too long. It's time for the Senate to stand on the side of compassion and of science, and pass this bill now.


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Cannabis Therapy Corp. Applauds Measure to Limit Federal Interference at State Level

Bipartisan Actions by the US House of Representatives Offers Great Possibility for Growing Industry
Cannabis Therapy Corp. (OTCQB: CTCO) (the "Company") a development stage company aiming to become a leader in the research, development and commercialization of safe, all-natural, THC-free cannabinoid-based medicinal therapies and supplements (Nutraceuticals), is very pleased that the US House of Representatives passed a measure early on Friday May 30^th that could prohibit the federal government from interfering with states' medical marijuana laws.
The bill is the first time in history that any chamber of Congress has acted to protect medical marijuana businesses and users. It received bipartisan support with 170 Democrats and 49 Republicans voting in favor of the bill.

The measure was attached to a funding bill for several federal agencies, and it blocks the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration from using funds to prevent states from implementing their own medical marijuana laws.
Marijuana advocates praised the House's decision.
"Congress is officially pulling out of the war on medical marijuana patients and providers. Federal tax dollars will no longer be wasted arresting seriously ill medical marijuana patients and those who provide to them," said Dan Riffle, Director of Federal Policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, in a statement. "This is a historic vote, and it's yet another sign that our federal government is shifting toward a more sensible marijuana policy."

The measure will require approval from the Senate and President Obama to become law, but the historic vote appears to be part of the federal government's ongoing shift towards liberalized marijuana policies. In related news, the federal government recently increased the amount of marijuana allowed to be grown for medical research purposes and the administration has also taken steps to limit prosecutions against marijuana businesses that operate legally under state laws.

The opinion of many political pundits is that as congressional leaders gain more constituents that legally use marijuana for recreational and medical purposes, they will face increasing pressure to relax their stance on the drug.
Cannabis Therapy Corp President & CEO Soren Mogelsvang comments, "This is great news for the industry at a time where clarity and common-sense needs to prevail. Our approach has been to work within the legal framework while attempting to anticipate future changes.

This has been a key driver to our strategic planning. It is very gratifying and refreshing to see the House of Representatives undertake such a far-reaching and practical approach to lawmaking, especially in such a bipartisan fashion. We applaud the vision and foresight of this historic milestone which should lead to further legal measures that could stabilize and improve the overall business climate in this exploding sector."


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Police body: UK should review US cannabis law changes

The National Black Police Association wants UK forces and the government to monitor US cannabis legalisation.

Washington is due to follow Colorado in making sales of recreational marijuana legal to over-21s.
Campaigners and police in Seattle say they hope the legalisation will mean fewer young black men in the city are punished for minor drug offences.
The Liberal Democrats will speak to US politicians and police as part of a review of drug policy around the world.

A public vote to legalise the use and possession of cannabis was passed in Washington State in November 2012.
Alison Holcomb is a lawyer who led the campaign for legalisation.
She said: "We've not just changed policy in Washington State, we've blown open the debate nationally and internationally." She said the changes are about more than just allowing people to get high.
"Really this campaign has only minimally been about marijuana," she said. "It's about how we use the criminal laws.

"In Washington, a black person is three times as likely to be arrested and convicted of a marijuana offence than a white person despite the fact that whites actually use marijuana at a slightly higher rate."
Kevin Siplin, 25, smokes up to 15 joints a day and claims he is rarely stopped by officers when he is with his white friends but says it's a different story when he's on his own.
"If I'm not with a white face, I know if they smell any of my weed I'm getting stopped and I'm getting a ticket," he said. "I'm just hoping that these changes coming in mean I'm left alone to smoke without any hassle."

The Seattle Police Department says arresting adults for possession of cannabis has been its lowest priority for the past decade.
However, it hopes the changes will improve relations with young black men in the city.

Kevin Siplin

Sean Whitcomb, the department's head of public affairs, said: "With the passage of this new law we truly do believe fewer young black men will have enforcement related contact in regards to marijuana."
Nick Glynn is the Vice President of the National Black Police Association and also a police inspector with Leicestershire Police.
He said he believes the UK could learn important lessons from monitoring how legalisation works in cities like Seattle.

"We've had our current approach to drug laws for 20 years. If we can learn anything from the US I think we should to see whether we can get some better outcomes," he said.
"There about a million stop and searches carried out in England and Wales every year. Around half of those are focused on street possession of cannabis so there's a lot of time spent dealing with that very low level offence."
He added: "In the US they've done it in separate areas instead of across the whole country so maybe that's something we can replicate here."

The Liberal Democrats told Newsbeat: "Drug policy should be based on evidence of what works, not guesswork or dogma.
"That's why Liberal Democrats in Government are leading a Home Office review looking at drugs policy around the world.
"This includes looking at what is happening in Washington State and Colorado, including speaking to politicians, police and campaigners about the impact of these changes."

The legalisation in Washington means adults over the age of 21 will be able to carry up to an ounce of cannabis but they still won't be allowed to use it in public.
Medical marijuana was already legal in Washington State but it had no formal rules of its supply and distribution.
For the past few months authorities have been granting licences to those wishing to grow and sell the drug.
Shy Sadis runs the Starbuds dispensary chain in Seattle and said: "We're just going to check IDs and give people what they want. 
"We're here to educate them. A customer is going to be dealing with a bud tender who is going to give them the best knowledge of cannabis."


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3 Reasons Marijuana Could Be on the Fast Track to Legalization

Known by many names — like cannabis and THC — marijuana is gaining attention for its policy changes and also its medical benefits. The most common reason people receive medical marijuana is as a treatment for pain, Barth Wilsey said to WebMD. The source of such pain could be headaches, nerve pain, glaucoma or even cancer. It may also help treat symptoms related to conditions like Crohn’s disease, seizure disorders, and illnesses that cause appetite suppression.

Because of its medicinal properties, several states have legalized the substance for medical use. Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia allow patients to obtain and possess cannabis, of course, with some restrictions. Such restrictions include Connecticut allowing patients a one-month supply only and New Hampshire limiting patients to two ounces of usable cannabis during a 10-day time period. Many of the restrictions are designed to promote moderation in use and also to deter those who are legally permitted to possess the substance from selling it to others.

In Colorado, marijuana is now legal for recreational use. This means Colorado residents older than 21 with a valid ID can buy up to an ounce, and of-age non-residents can buy up to a quarter of an ounce. NPR recently reported on a food truck company called Magical Butter. Its Samich truck serves THC-infused lunch classics like PB&J and grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. Given there are, in fact, proven health benefits to marijuana and trucks like the Samich are already servicing Colorado customers, is marijuana on its way to complete legalization? Here are three reasons to consider why it could be.


1. Marijuana’s approval rating

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan think tank. It provides information on a variety of topics ranging from business to education to, you guessed it, marijuana. In 1969, Pew polled Americans, asking them how they felt about legalizing the green substance. Back then, only 12 percent were in favor of making marijuana legal. Today, the percentage of Americans who say they are in favor of legalization has jumped to 54 percent — a majority.

The group with the most supporters are millennials, with 69 percent in support of legalizing pot. Other groups, like Republicans and those older than 65, show less support, with only 39 percent and 30 percent approval ratings, respectively.
While not everyone from every group is in support of the drug, most people feel the substance is less hazardous to health than alcohol. Sixty-nine percent hold this sentiment, and 63 percent said they would feel this way even if marijuana were widely and legally available. These beliefs seem to hold some merit.

Around 17 million Americans have an alcohol use disorder and nearly 85,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually. Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Driving while intoxicated is a major concern still surrounding the legalization of marijuana. Data collected by CBS Local indicates that one out of every nine drivers involved in fatal car accidents tests positive for THC. Some may argue the relevance of such a statistic, considering THC stays in the system much longer than its effects last.


2. The other side of the coin: reported health benefits

Supporters of legalization often cite facts and figures that compare alcohol to marijuana. While these statistics often hold true, the other side of the argument is the overall goal to promote public health, and how it’s not necessarily wise to legalize another mind-altering substance on the basis that other legal substances are more dangerous.
Marijuana is a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act. This classifies it as having no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse and dependency.

Statistics from the National Institute of Drug Abuse indicate that around 9 percent of users become addicted to the drug and that it can cause adverse effects like increased heart rate, respiratory problems, and even temporary psychotic reactions.
On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly difficult to dispute the drug’s health benefits. Today, there is evidence to support claims that marijuana can help relieve conditions such as neuropathic pain.

It is approved in some states for conditions like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis. CBS News reports that although there is not an abundance of scientific evidence to support claims that marijuana improves these conditions, states continue to legalize it for these purposes. There is, however, scientific evidence to support a reduction in nausea and increased food consumption associated with marijuana.

3. Money, money, money

Marijuana is a billion-dollar industry. In January, Colorado earned around $2 million in taxes from its legalization of the substance, according to CNN Money. States that have legalized marijuana for medical use have also seen significant gains.  The California marijuana market is worth $980 million, and the national market is projected to grow to a potential $10.2 billion in the next five years, according to a report by Arcview Market Research.
If the substance remains illegal in some states, purchases in those locations remain illegal, black-market purchases.

In 2012, Drug War Facts reported around 750,000 arrests associated with marijuana, and together, the states spend billions of dollars enforcing possession laws. 
If Colorado continues to earn giant tax revenues from the sale of cannabis, will other states follow suit? At the end of the day, it is a matter of weighing the benefits and costs of the drug. Yes, there are several benefits, both monetary and medically, to legalization. However, marijuana comes with a lot of baggage and it is a drug that produces a high. It remains to be seen how things will move forward, but the leap toward full legalization does seem plausible.


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DR. MARK WEINER: How long must patients wait for medical marijuana?

• 
  

  I’m a physician and am board certified in the specialties of neurology and sleep disorder medicine. I’m a husband, a father, a grandfather – and now I’m a patient.

  I was cruising along running a private practice, as well as serving as medical director of a sleep lab in central Massachusetts, until it all came to a crashing end two years ago. I was diagnosed with cancer, aggressive malignant brain cancer.

  I shouldn’t be here today. With my diagnosis of glioblastoma multiforme the odds given to the last-place Boston Red Sox in spring training 2013 to win the World Series were far, far better than the odds of my watching the rolling rally victory parade this past fall.

  People call my story compelling. Inspiring. I just call it survival. But I didn’t reach this point without suffering.

  In my practice, I treated disease. But I also focused much of my treatment on the symptoms of disease: pain, insomnia, hypersomnia, fatigue. Treatment options were frequently limited to medication that had significant side effects– or worse, were addictive.

  Now, I’m the patient. I wouldn’t be here but for the care I received from my treating doctors and their teams at Dana-Farber; my wife, my wonderful family and friends. But I did not reach this point without suffering.

  During a year-long course of chemotherapy, the nausea was terrible. I lost about 20 percent of my body weight over just a few weeks. I was so weak that I couldn’t lift a soup spoon. My wife cradled me in her arms like a baby to try to spoon feed me.

  Bad got worse. Not eating or drinking led to dehydration. More weakness. Constipation. A trip to the ER I would not wish on my worst enemy. My doctors tried different concoctions of medicine. Nothing touched me except for the side effects. They made things worse.

  If only there were something I could take that might work. Not a medicine to cure me. Just something to let me eat again. Let me feel just a little bit human again. Well, there is: medical marijuana.

  But that was not something I could consider.

  What was I supposed to do? Send my wife out at midnight to meet a criminal in a dark back alley? Making it out alive would be the least of her problems. Then she would have to somehow make it home without being arrested.

  Not gonna happen. I’d suffer. And did I suffer. Boy, I did.

  The reality is that patients continue to go without any form of safe access.

  The law does allow patients to cultivate their own medicine. But for patients undergoing chemotherapy or struggling with other debilitating conditions, home cultivation is not a realistic option. Suffering severe fatigue, I can barely get off the couch, let alone start a new hobby as a vigorous gardener. I’m allowed to appoint someone to cultivate for me, but who? Even if I found someone, I would have to wait three or four months for the medicine to grow. And that’s assuming I could find a friend willing to risk arrest for growing at home, even with a doctor’s certification (yup, it happened).

  
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Inside the U.S. House’s Historic Vote on Medical Marijuana

An amendment that would prohibit the Fed from interfering in state medical pot laws is still up in the air.
By April M. Short
The GOP-controlled House surprised just about everyone when it voted 218 to 189 for a pro-medical marijuana amendment on Friday. The amendment, tacked onto the much larger criminal justice funding bill (H.R. 4660), would prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from using federal taxpayer funds to interfere with medical marijuana laws in 22 states that have passed them.

The House vote was historic. It was the first time since the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 that the majority of a chamber of Congress voted in favor of something that would alter national marijuana policy.
Unanswered questions linger about the amendment, however: Will the Senate allow the amendment to remain attached to the funding bill? Will it then acquire the necessary signature from Obama? And if passed, will this mark the beginning of the marijuana policy paradigm shift that a majority of American voters are hoping for? (Polls have shown more than 51 percent voter support for across the board legalization and there is 81 percent support for medical cannabis.)

The bipartisan amendment was co-authored by Representatives Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.). In the House, 170 Democrats and 49 Republicans voted in favor of the amendment; 172 Republicans and 17 Democrats voted against it.  (A complete breakdown of votes is available here.)
Do these numbers foreshadow an overall trend for Congressional Democrats in support of medical marijuana?  Until the Senate submits its own marked-up version of the DOJ funding bill next week, it may be too soon to surmise whether there is enough support to sign off on the historic amendment. But, marijuana proponents are optimistic.

In the last couple of years, the overall Congressional consensus on pot has been shifting as two U.S. states have legalized marijuana and regulated it like alcohol, and dozens of others consider and implement policy changes. People on both sides of the political coin are warming to the idea of changing national marijuana laws.
In a strange-bedfellow effort to gain the support of Libertarian-leaning members of Congress, Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance, worked with America for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist on an op-ed for the conservative Daily Caller. They wrote:

“[The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment] is the best way right now to stop the federal government from undermining both state laws and the will of a substantial majority of Americans.”
Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance said he is cautiously hopeful about the amendment passing the Senate.
“We will have a better indication [next week], but a number of senators have come out recently and said states should be able to set their own marijuana laws,” he said. He noted that those senators include John McCain, who represents a medical marijuana state.  “The Senate is always unpredictable but we have reason to be optimistic,” he added.

Hints from DC?
When the District of Columbia decriminalized the possession of small amounts of pot, some indication came as to where various senators stand on the issue. Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota said she sees her role in the matter as narrow. To “reverse what a city would do,” she said, would cause constitutional problems and serious fiscal consequences. She told CQ Roll Call she thinks, “the District is entitled to a whole lot of self-determination.”
Democratic Senator Thomas Carper of Delaware has said his views on marijuana are “evolving,” and—also in reference to DC’s decriminalization—Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Montana said DC’s government had the right to rearrange marijuana laws.

Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan said flat out that he had no problem with decriminalization.
Even libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, who proposed amendments to a budget autonomy bill in 2012 that would intervene in state abortion and gun control laws—is more relaxed when it comes to drug policy. The 2016 presidential hopeful has introduced legislation to relax federal drug sentencing laws, and “indicated he believes penalties for pot are too harsh,” as CQ reports.

What about Obama?
Even if the amendment does pass the Senate, the president still needs to sign off on it. While he worked with the attorney general to call the DOJ dogs off of Colorado and Washington’s recreational legalization and told the New Yorker he realizes pot is safer than alcohol, Obama’s medical marijuana policy has been relatively heavy-handed.
Before he was elected, Obama said he would halt federal raids on marijuana growers in states where it was legal, and in 2009 the DOJ sent out a memo stating that it wouldn’t use law enforcement to target those in compliance with state government laws. But the raids have raged on despite the rhetoric.

Hundreds of growers, dispensary owners and others have been arrested and imprisoned under the Obama administration.
It is unclear, though, how much of this policy has to do with Obama himself or the fact that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration chief, Michele Leonhart, has an apparent vendetta against all things pot. She is a vocal critic of the DOJ’s 2013 decision not to interfere with the implementation of Colorado and Washington’s legalization laws and has infamously said the day a flag made of hemp flew over the Capitol was the worst day in her career.
If both the House and Senate approve the bill with the amendment, it is likely Obama would sign it.

Does the Amendment Actually Do Anything?
If the bill does pass every remaining hurdle, amendment intact, it may not actually be the big game changer some are anticipating. In response to a Huffington Post article that claimed the amendment would, “restrict the Drug Enforcement Administration from using funds to go after medical marijuana operations that are legal under state laws,” Jeremy Daw, Harvard Law School graduate and editor-in-chief of The Leaf Online, argues that the language of the amendment is too weak. He writes that, as is, the amendment is unlikely to actually prevent federal raids of medical marijuana facilities:

“[The] amendment, assuming the GOP’s summary is accurate, would only prohibit [the DOJ] from targeting ‘States’ in attempts to interfere with their ‘implementing their own State laws’ concerning medical marijuana. That’s a clear reference to the federal authority, presently unchecked by act of Congress, to enjoin state governments from even trying to regulate medical marijuana industries. No protections for patients or collectives are specified in the amendment summary, despite HuffPost’s claims. Thus, while the Rohrabacher amendment is undeniably a win for medical cannabis advocates, its passage would merely codify a policy which the DOJ has already voluntarily agreed.”

In places like CA and Michigan where the laws aren’t specific, there are no new protections for patients or collectives in the amendment.
Additionally, the way it’s written the amendment only lists pre-existing medical marijuana states, name by name. So, if a state were to pass a medical marijuana law this year (New York, for example) they wouldn’t be protected by the amendment (see the amendment text below).
Sam Farr, who co-authored the amendment, said the House vote showed that Congress is ready to rethink the way America treats its medical marijuana patients.

“States with medical marijuana laws are no longer the outliers; they are the majority,” he said in a statement. “But while momentum is on our side, there is still work to be done to get this bill out of the Senate. In the meantime, the federal government can continue to prosecute medical marijuana patients. This is more than just a waste of taxpayer dollars; it needlessly destroys lives and tears families apart. The majority of states and now the House of Representatives have clearly stated this absurd policy needs to stop. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to pass this amendment and remove the burden weighing down on so many patients in our country.”


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