Pot fight between DC mayor, Congress could cost the city

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new mayor of the nation's capital gave her constituents what they wanted — the ability to legally grow and share marijuana in private.
Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser had little choice, given the overwhelming voter support for the legalization initiative and the unanimous opinion from her legal team that Congress couldn't block it.

"D.C. residents have spoken," said Rica Madrid, 34, a public-relations consultant and activist who said she feels less anxious about smoking at home now that it's legal. "People here in this urban area, we see that the harm of the drug war is much more intense than the harm of the drug itself."
But that doesn't mean there won't be consequences for the District of Columbia.

Republicans in Congress are angry that the city went ahead and legalized pot Thursday, despite their warnings that it would violate federal law. They've even suggested Bowser and other city officials could go to prison. While that's highly unlikely, Republicans could get their point across by reducing or restricting some of the federal money that flows to the city every year.
"We provide half a billion dollars (annually) to the District. One would think they would be much more compliant with the wishes of Congress," Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican and one of the most vocal pot opponents, said in an interview Thursday.

Actually, the District received more than $670 million in federal funding last year to support its $11 billion budget. The federal money is earmarked for specific programs — including the city's court system.
Republicans will "find some areas where perhaps we have been very generous with the citizens of the District. That will all come with time," Harris warned.

Harris didn't mention any specific programs, but Congress could make another run at loosening the city's tough gun-control laws. It could also reduce funding for school construction, HIV prevention or a popular program that gives District residents a break on tuition at public universities in other states.
Even top advocates of city autonomy are preparing for tough times on Capitol Hill.

"I do believe it's likely this is a short-lived victory," said Kimberly Perry, executive director of D.C. Vote. "Members of the House are going to come after D.C. with a vengeance on appropriations for 2016."
The fight over pot illustrates the always-fractious relationship between the city's elected local leaders and Congress, which has the final say over the city's budget and laws. Bowser has pledged to strengthen the city's relationships on Capitol Hill and work together to advance common goals. Now, that might not be possible.

Congress has already ensured that the District can't allow marijuana to be sold legally, like in Colorado and Washington state. The new law makes it legal to possess up to 2 ounces of pot or up to three mature plants for use in the home. People can also give away up to 1 ounce.
Smoking in public and possession on federal property remain illegal. The main difference is that city police will no longer be issuing $25 civil fines for possession.

Before legalization took effect, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, sent Bowser a letter urging her to reconsider and warning her that the city is violating a law that bans federal agencies from spending money they don't have.
Bowser spoke with Chaffetz by phone just before announcing in a news conference Wednesday that she wasn't backing down. She emphasized that her goal was not to defy Congress, but to honor the will of the voters, said her spokesman, Michael Czin.

"I think that we're going to continue with our good-faith discussions with the chairman around the issues that are important to the District," she said Wednesday. "We do disagree on a matter of law. There are reasonable ways to resolve that without us threatening him or he us."
Bowser's predecessor, Vincent Gray, also had high-profile skirmishes with Congress, but was able to work with the previous oversight committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, to push for what District leaders call "budget autonomy" — the freedom to spend local tax revenue without authorization by Congress.

The warnings from Chaffetz and Harris suggest the District can't expect to win any more independence.
"Mr. Issa had a more pragmatic perspective and was willing to hear us out, work with us and not be public about the battles," said Janene Jackson, who was Gray's liaison to Congress and is now a lobbyist with Holland & Knight. "This is a very public difference of opinion. The letter stated severe consequences. It does not bode well."

Marijuana now legal in Alaska

State becomes 3rd to legalize recreational pot

Marijuana smokers now have a new place to put on their bucket lists: Alaska, which on Tuesday became the third state to officially OK marijuana use.
Following Colorado's lead, voters passed the Alaska Marijuana Legalization ballot measure in November. Legalization became official on Tuesday, which means that now "the use of marijuana (is) legal for persons 21 years of age or older."

There are limits to this law, as there are in similar ones in other states. People still can't legally have more than 1 ounce of marijuana on them. Nor can they harvest more than 4 ounces in their home. And consuming marijuana in public and driving while high are no-nos.
Then there's the fact that the law isn't fully implemented yet. The regulatory structure allowing for entrepreneurs to set up shops like those found in Colorado is still in the works, so right now no one can legally make a living selling the drug.

Not to mention that, under federal law, marijuana is classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic. That makes its use a federal crime.
Still, as in many states, there seems to be movement in Washington on that front. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told CNN in October he is "cautiously optimistic" on the subject of marijuana legalization. Holder said the Justice Department is focused on marijuana distribution to minors, interstate trafficking and drug violence, not incarcerating "low level people who are simply there for possessory offenses."

In the absence -- some might say in defiance -- of any sweeping federal change on marijuana, some states have taken the initiative.
Twenty-three states still prohibit cannabis outright. But the rest of them have either legalized medical marijuana or decriminalized marijuana possession.
Colorado became the first to go one step further in legalizing pot, followed by Washington state. And now there's one more in Alaska.

Marijuana Is Now Legal* In D.C.

Marijuana is now legal (well, kind of) in the District of Columbia, but don't expect D.C. to become the next Amsterdam. Or even the next Colorado. Under the new law, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. this morning, the possession, consumption, and cultivation of marijuana is now legal.
But don't spark up a celebration join in front of the Washington Monument, while remarking how the structure "looks like a giant joint." You'll get arrested for that. Here's what you need to know:
What You Can Do

• Possess up to two ounce of marijuana if you're over 21.
• Consume marijuana (yes, you can bake it into cookies, or whatever), in the comfort of your own home.
• Possess paraphernalia for consuming marijuana.
• Transfer up to one ounce of marijuana to a fellow human.
• Grow up to six marijuana plants in your home, with no more than three being mature at one time.

What You Can't Do

• Sell marijuana.
• Possess or consume marijuana if you're under 21.
• Smoke marijuana in public (especially on Federal land, which makes up 22 percent of the District).
• Consume marijuana in public housing.
• Drive while high.

Marijuana legalization is a big deal for pot enthusiasts in the District, but it's an even bigger deal for the culture of marijuana-related crimes, which, as statistics show, has disproportionately affected black men.
The crux of Initiative 71, and D.C.'s marijuana decriminalization law that was passed last summer, has always been to help ease the racial disparity in marijuana-related arrests. According to a report that shows arrests statistics between 2009 and 2011, 91 percent of all marijuana in arrests in D.C. were of black residents—mostly men—despite the fact that reported marijuana use between white and black residents is nearly split down the middle.

Of course, now that the city's marijuana laws have changed, what will become of those who have a record for marijuana-related crimes that are, as of today, no longer illegal? Under a bill passed in October, those with non-violent misdemeanor or felony marijuana possession charges on their criminal records can now have their court records sealed for good.

Though marijuana is now legal, D.C. still has a ways to go before it can be compared to Colorado or California. Despite threats from Congress, the law went into effect. But the promise of a proper taxation and regulation system, allowing residents to legally buy marijuana from grow centers, which would be taxed and regulated like alcohol, doesn't look to good.

Even with the District's new law, many questions remain, such as how will you find someone who will just give you weed? Or, if you want to grow, how can you obtain seeds, since you can't buy them? The legal answer is a big question mark. The non-legal answer is you get it the same way you got it before. Or, you can always try applying for a medical marijuana license and use that to legally purchase weed.

Trial Starts Wednesday, Feb. 25 in Widely Watched Federal Medical Marijuana Case of the So-Called ‘Kettle Falls Five’

Government continues prosecution despite Congressional ban on interfering with implementation of state law

Spokane, WA –(ENEWSPF)—February 24, 2015. Trial starts Wednesday in a widely watched federal medical marijuana case from eastern Washington State known as the Kettle Falls Five. The Obama Administration is aggressively pursuing marijuana trafficking charges against a family of patients who claim to have been growing for themselves in full compliance with Washington State's medical marijuana law. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is also choosing to try them in defiance of a recent Congressional ban on DOJ interference in the implementation of state law.

Last week, the federal government agreed to dismiss charges against Larry Harvey, 71, who has been diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer, but fought against the dismissal of charges against the remaining four defendants. Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O. Rice denied a motion to dismiss the charges against the Kettle Falls Five based on DOJ funding restrictions established last year by Congress, however the defendants have vowed to appeal.

"The Obama Administration has so far ignored a Congressional order to stop prosecuting patients in medical marijuana states," said Kris Hermes, spokesperson with Americans for Safe Access. "With no place to turn from a vengeful federal government, the remaining Kettle Falls Five patients will be forced to rely on jurors to do the right thing and acquit." Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, the prosecution can and always does omit all evidence from trial related to medical necessity and compliance with state law.

The prosecution will likely object to any mention of the phrase "medical marijuana" being used in the courtroom for the entire trial.
The Kettle Falls Five is made up of mostly family members, including Harvey's wife Rhonda Firestack-Harvey, 56, her son Rolland Gregg, 33, daughter-in-law Michelle Gregg, 36, and friend of the family Jason Zucker, 39.

Larry and Rhonda are retired and have a home in rural Washington State near the town of Kettle Falls. In August 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided the property and seized 44 premature marijuana plants, charging the five with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute marijuana, manufacture and distribution of marijuana, maintaining a drug-involved premises, and possession of firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

In a cynical prosecutorial move, the DOJ is claiming that the Kettle Falls Five grew marijuana in previous years in order to charge them with cultivating more than 100 plants, which carries a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence. The government is also seeking gun charges that carry another 5-year mandatory minimum despite the fact that the guns found on Harvey's property are used for hunting and protection from wild animals. As a result, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Even though Larry Harvey's charges were dismissed, he will still be seriously impacted by the trial. Specifically, Rhonda Firestack-Harvey, if convicted, will no longer be able to care for her ailing husband whose cancer has spread to his liver. The cultivation for which Harvey's family is being tried was on his property and tended to by the couple. "If Rhonda goes to prison, I don't know who will take care of me," said Larry Harvey in a recent prepared statement. "I thought the law passed by Congress and signed by President Obama was supposed to stop the DOJ from prosecuting my family, but so far, there's been little relief."

Further information:
Congressional measure restricting DOJ enforcement in medical marijuana states
With over 50,000 active members in all 50 states, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.

Debunking the Latest Pathetic Fear Smear Campaign Against Marijuana

No, smoking pot likely will not make you psychotic. 
The mainstream media was abuzz this week promoting an age-old claim: Smoking marijuana makes you crazy.
“Psychosis five times more likely for cannabis users: study,” a wire story from Agence France-Presse declared. The UK Mail on Sunday expressed similar alarm, declaring, “Scientists show cannabis TRIPLES psychosis risk.” Somewhat surprisingly, it was Fox News that took the most reserved approach, announcing “Smoking high-potency marijuana may cause psychiatric disorders.”

So what was the source of this latest round of sensational headlines? Writing in the February 18 edition of the British journal The Lancet Psychiatry, investigators assessed rates of cannabis use in a cohort of South London first-episode psychosis patients versus pot use frequency in a similar group selected from the general population. Authors reported that subjects with psychosis were more likely to recall having used “skunk-like cannabis” daily as compared to controls, whereas those participants who reported primarily consuming hashish possessed no elevated risk of having such a diagnosis.

(Researchers defined so-called skunk marijuana as cannabis possessing THC concentrations above 15 percent. Of course, since cannabis is illegal in Britain and the weed obtained on the black market is not subject to analytical potency testing, it is unclear how subjects in the study—or its authors—knew whether participants were consuming supposed "high-potency" herb or just regular, plain old weed.)

Authors also acknowledged that nearly half of patients with first-episode psychosis reported having smoked 100 cigarettes or more. These patients were also more likely to be black and were less likely to have completed high school compared to controls, though, predictably, none of these observed associations triggered international headlines.

“This paper suggests that we could prevent almost one-quarter of cases of psychosis if no one smoked high-potency cannabis,” senior researcher Sir Robin Murray, a psychiatric research professor at King’s College, said in the news release accompanying the paper’s publication. Murray’s statement, publicized widely by the mainstream media, was not only hyperbolic, but it also showed an apparent willful disregard for the scientific rule: association does not equal causation. In fact, patients with a variety of psychiatric disorders tend to consume numerous intoxicants, including pot but also tobacco, at elevated rates compared to the general population – many of whom are likely engaging in this behavior as a form of self-medication. But this overlap is hardly evidence that one behavior causes the other.

What’s Old Is New Again
Think you have heard these pot-drives-you-insane claims before? You have. In 2007, The Lancet published a meta-analysis similarly alleging, “People who have ever used cannabis, on average, have about a 40 percent increased risk of developing psychotic illness later in life compared with people who have never used cannabis." That the study’s authors cautioned that such an association "does not necessarily reflect a causal relation" between pot smoking and mental illness went largely unreported.

Yet, in the following years since, numerous (though far less publicized) studies have come to light downplaying the likelihood that cannabis use is a direct cause of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. Specifically, a 2009 paper in the journal Schizophrenia Research compared trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005. Authors reported that "incidence and prevalence of schizophrenia and psychoses were either stable or declining" during this period, even though pot use among the general population was rising.

They concluded: "This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. ... This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence."

Similarly, a 2010 review paper published by a pair of British scientists in the journal Addiction reported that clinical evidence indicating that use of he herb may be casually linked to incidences of schizophrenia or other psychological harms is not persuasive.
Authors wrote: "We continue to take the view that the evidence that cannabis use causes schizophrenia is neither very new, nor by normal criteria, particularly compelling. ... For example, our recent modeling suggests that we would need to prevent between 3000 and 5000 cases of heavy cannabis use among young men and women to prevent one case of schizophrenia, and that four or five times more young people would need to avoid light cannabis use to prevent a single schizophrenia case. ... We conclude that the strongest evidence of a possible causal relation between cannabis use and schizophrenia emerged more than 20 years ago and that the strength of more recent evidence may have been overstated."

More recently, researchers at Harvard University released a study further rebutting this allegation. Writing in 2013 in Schizophrenia Research, investigators compared the family histories of 108 schizophrenia patients and 171 individuals without schizophrenia to assess whether youth cannabis consumption was an independent factor in developing the disorder. Researchers reported that a family history of schizophrenia increased the risk of developing the disease, regardless of whether or not subjects consumed weed as adolescents.
They concluded: “The results of the current study, both when analyzed using morbid risk and family frequency calculations, suggest that having an increased familial risk for schizophrenia is the underlying basis for schizophrenia in these samples and not the cannabis use.  While cannabis may have an effect on the age of onset of schizophrenia it is unlikely to be the cause of illness.”

In fact, some researchers speculate that specific cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), may even be efficacious in treating symptoms of psychosis. According to a review published in the January 2014 issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology: “CBD has some potential as an antipsychotic treatment. … Given the high tolerability and superior cost-effectiveness, CBD may prove to be an attractive alternative to current antipsychotic treatment.” Specifically, a 2012 double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial assessing the administration of CBD versus the prescription anti-psychotic drug amisulpride in 42 subjects with schizophrenia and acute paranoia concluded that two substances provided similar levels of improvement, but that cannabidiol did so with far fewer adverse side effects.

Case reports in the scientific literature also indicate that some patients turn to cannabis for subjective benefits, though other studies indicate that pot use may exacerbate certain symptoms in patients with psychiatric disorders. Nonetheless, even a recent paper summarizing the “adverse health effects of recreational cannabis use” acknowledges, “It is difficult to decide whether cannabis use has had any effects on psychosis incidence, because even if a relationship were to be causal, cannabis use would produce a very modest increase in incidence.”

The Bottom Line? Mental Health Concerns Don’t Justify Criminalization
Is it possible that the habitual use of high-potency cannabis may potentially aggravate or even trigger psychiatric episodes in subjects predisposed to certain mental illnesses? Yes. However, such concerns are not persuasive justifications for continuing cannabis criminalization. Just the opposite holds true. There are numerous adverse health consequences associated with alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs, all of which are far more dangerous and costlier to society than cannabis.

It is precisely because of these consequences that these products are legally regulated and their consumption is restricted to specified setting and to certain consumers (the most vulnerable of which, such as pregnant women, are often explicitly warned of the drug’s potential adverse effects in this population). It is time to once and for all ended society’s nearly century-long love affair with reefer madness and applied these same common sense principles to cannabis.

Marijuana about 114 times less deadly than alcohol, study says

Worry that marijuana might kill you? Then rest easy: New research says that among things people take to get high or drunk, weed is the least fatal, the Washington Post reports.
Researchers evaluated the fatality risk of these substances by comparing lethal doses to the amount people normally consume. They say the deadliest is booze, followed by heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, and meth.

Anchoring the list is weed, which makes it 114 times less likely to kill you than alcohol, according to the study published in Scientific Reports.
In fact marijuana is the only drug in the study "that posed low mortality risk to its users," says the Post. This echoes 10-year-old drug safety evaluations, so it's more confirmation than fresh news, but comes as the national debate heats up over marijuana legalization.

This doesn't make marijuana safe, however. It's still addictive, dumb to smoke while pregnant, and a possible threat to cognitive functioning, according to an earlier Post story.
AAP News adds that marijuana seems particularly dangerous to children. And those who say marijuana is OK because it's "natural" and "medicinal" are also off-base (rattlesnake venom is natural, too, and prescription painkillers, which kill tens of thousands annually, are certainly medicinal).

But marijuana's lack of killing power suggests "a strict legal regulatory approach rather than the current prohibition approach," the researchers say. In fact, the Post adds, "it takes extraordinary chutzpah" to complain about marijuana and have "a glass of far more lethal stuff in the evening."

Marijuana study: Does smoking skunk really cause psychosis?

There’s a new study on the relationship between cannabis and psychosis, the apparent conclusion of which is that super-strong skunk is causing around one in four of new psychosis cases in the UK.
Data obtained from 780 south Londoners, more than half of whom were patients with first-episode psychosis, suggests that people who smoke particularly potent marijuana are more likely to experience a psychotic episode than those who don’t — or those who smoke hash instead.

It is, however, problematic to extrapolate on this small-sized sample, chosen specifically because of the area’s notorious cannabis predilection; the researchers themselves state their conclusions carefully.
As ever with these sorts of studies, there remain questions over the reliability of self-reporting and whether these skunk smokers were already psychologically vulnerable.

Though it might be a step to far to use as evidence that weed is to blame for a quarter of ‘all new serious mental disorders’ – as the Mail on Sunday did – the study’s findings are significant for the interrogation of pot potency and use frequency.

Federal Marijuana Legalization Bills Introduced

By Phillip Smith
Two congressmen from two states where marijuana is already legal under state law today filed two separate bills to legalize marijuana at the federal level. Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced a bill that would allow states to legalize marijuana without fear of federal intervention, while Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced a bill that would tax marijuana at the federal level, in addition to any state taxes. The bills were not yet available on congressional web sites as of this afternoon.

Polis’s Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act (HR 1013) removes marijuana from the schedule set by the Controlled Substances Act; transitions marijuana oversight from the jurisdiction of the Drug Enforcement Agency to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and regulates marijuana like alcohol by inserting language into the section of the US code governing “intoxicating liquors.”

“Over the past year, Colorado has demonstrated that regulating marijuana like alcohol takes money away from criminals and cartels, grows our economy, and keeps marijuana out of the hands of children,” said Polis. “While President Obama and the Justice Department have allowed the will of voters in states like Colorado and 22 other jurisdictions to move forward, small business owners, medical  marijuana patients, and others who follow state laws still live with the fear that a new administration – or this one—could reverse course and turn them into criminals.

It is time for us to replace the failed prohibition with a regulatory system that works and let states and municipalities decide for themselves if they want, or don’t want, to have legal marijuana within their borders.”
Blumenauer’s Marijuana Tax Revenue Act (HR 1014)would, after federal legalization, impose a federal excise tax on the sale of marijuana for non-medical purposes as well as apply an occupational tax for marijuana businesses. The bill would establish civil and criminal penalties for those who fail to comply, like those in place for the tobacco industry.

The bill also requires the IRS to produce periodic studies of the marijuana industry and to issue recommendations to Congress. It phases in an excise tax on the sale by a producer (generally the grower) to the next stage of production (generally the processor creating the useable product).  This tax is initially set at 10% and rises over time to 25% as the legal market displaces the black market.  Medical marijuana is exempt from this tax.

“It’s time for the federal government to chart a new path forward for marijuana.” said Blumenauer.  “Together these bills create a federal framework to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana, much like we treat alcohol and tobacco. The federal prohibition of marijuana has been a failure, wasting tax dollars and ruining countless lives. As more states move to legalize marijuana as Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Alaska have done, it’s imperative the federal government become a full partner in building a workable and safe framework.”

The federal bills come as marijuana is increasingly accepted in the US. Now, nearly two-thirds of Americans live in a state or jurisdiction that allows for some form of legal marijuana use. Four states—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington—and the District of Columbia have legalized adult use, while 23 others allow for medical marijuana. Eleven more states have passed laws allowing for the use of low-THC cannabis products to treat specified medical conditions.

By now, nearly half (46%) of all people 18 and over have tried marijuana at least once, and in the past few years, public opinion polls have consistently found support for legalization at or above 50%. But while states and localities have taken the lead in finding ways to accommodate legal marijuana, the federal government continues to not allow criminalize marijuana, but to classify it as among the most dangerous illegal drugs.
The Obama administration has taken a relatively laissez-faire approach to medical marijuana and legal marijuana in the states, but that is a matter of policy, not law. And as long as federal marijuana prohibition remains on the books, policy can change with a new administration, or even if this one decides to take a different tack.

The congressional bills were met with approval by drug reform movement groups.
“As more state marijuana legalization laws come on board it’s increasingly important for federal policy to catch up,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority. “The Obama administration’s enforcement approach over the past few years has created some room for Colorado and Washington to implement their laws and show the world that legalization works. And we even saw the Republican-controlled Congress vote last year to stop the DEA from spending money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

Now it’s time to fully and officially end the federal criminalization of marijuana so that states can move ahead with full certainty that the DEA won’t be able to step in whenever the drug warriors that run the agency feel like it.”
“Cops have better things to worry about than the recreational habits of responsible, nonviolent adults,” said Major Neill Franklin (Ret.), a former Maryland narcotics officer and now executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionals opposed to the drug war.

 “And dispensary owners have better things to worry about than whether the federal government is going to arrest them and/or seize their assets for acting in accordance with state law.”
“These bills would regulate and tax marijuana, taking cultivation and sales out of the underground market and allowing it to be controlled by legitimate businesses under the close watch of authorities. Marijuana would be grown in licensed facilities instead of national forests and basements in the suburbs.

It would be sold in stores that create good jobs and generate tax revenue, instead of on the street where it benefits cartels and criminals,” said Dan Riffle, director of federal policy for the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Congress has been ignoring our broken and outdated marijuana laws for decades,” Riffle continued. “Their failure to let go of prohibition is causing serious problems for state governments and interfering in the lives of countless Americans.

It’s time for our federal representatives to come to grips with the fact that marijuana is safer than alcohol and most people think it should be treated that way. Members who consider it unthinkable to return to alcohol prohibition need to ask themselves why they are clinging to the prohibition of a less harmful substance.”
The bills are there. Now it’s time to see whether Congress will act on them.

Colorado residents are first to ask feds to block legal pot

DENVER

Colorado already is being sued by two neighboring states for legalizing marijuana. Now, the state faces groundbreaking lawsuits from its own residents, who are asking a federal judge to order the new recreational industry to close.
The owners of a mountain hotel and a southern Colorado horse farm argue in a pair of lawsuits filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver that the 2012 marijuana-legalization measure has hurt their property and that the marijuana industry is stinky and attracts unsavory visitors.

The lawsuits are the first in a state that has legalized recreational or medical marijuana in which its own residents are appealing to the federal government to block pot laws.
"It is a bedrock principle of the United States Constitution that federal law is the supreme law of the land," said David Thompson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuits are also the first to claim that federal racketeering laws allow them to win damages from pot businesses that flout federal law. The plaintiffs have not specified amounts they would seek.
Experts say the racketeering approach is a new one.
"If these lawsuits are successful, it could be devastating for the industry," said Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who helped craft Colorado's pot regulations. "But it will be very difficult for the plaintiffs to prove damages directly attributable to the marijuana industry."

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman released a statement saying she would "defend the state's marijuana laws and our clients" if the lawsuits go to trial.
Marijuana legalization supporters say that states are free to stop enforcing certain drug laws, as long as they don't try to overrule the federal Controlled Substances Act.
"Colorado has every right to stop punishing adults for using marijuana," said Mason Tvert, who ran Colorado's legalization campaign and joined about a dozen other legalization supporters who marched to the state Capitol on Thursday. They carried signs saying, "Regulation Works!"

One legalization backer, Democratic state Rep. Jonathan Singer, said the pot industry has boosted tax coffers and hurt the black market.
"The sky hasn't fallen. We're doing the right thing," Singer said.
Technically, federal law making pot illegal for any purpose remains in effect in the 23 states that have authorized its use for people with certain medical conditions. However, it's not clear how far the federal government can go to compel states to enforce drug laws.

For nearly 20 years, the U.S. Department of Justice has said that marijuana is illegal and that the federal government can enforce even small-possession crimes. However, U.S. authorities have left most enforcement to the states, saying they focus on larger drug crimes.
One of the lawsuits came from the owner of a Pueblo County horse farm, Hope Reilly, who said Thursday that she's "been horrified" to see a marijuana cultivation facility go up next door.

"This land means a great deal to me," said Reilly, who says the pot facility mars "spectacular views" of the Rocky Mountains.
Also suing is the owner of a Holiday Inn, who argues that a pot shop opening nearby is keeping away families.
"Marijuana businesses make bad neighbors," the lawsuit says. "They drive away legitimate businesses' customers, emit pungent, foul odors, attract undesirable visitors, increase criminal activity, increase traffic, and reduce property values."

Nebraska and Oklahoma also are suing Colorado for legalizing marijuana in 2012. Nine former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration filed a brief Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the two states.
Colorado's pot law "impinges on the interests of all citizens and the United States in a uniform and coherent national drug policy," the brief says.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/health-fitness/article10667651.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/health-fitness/article10667651.html#storylink=cpy

Black Leaders Were Misled About Marijuana, Columbia Professor Says

On Sunday, Columbia University associate professor of psychology Carl Hart delivers  a major business conference keynote in San Francisco on spotting biased marijuana science. He’s also urging the crowd of largely white, affluent attendees at the International Cannabis Business Conference to diversify their new hires, and play a part in helping to correct centuries of racial inequality in America.

A Miami native, Hart grew up around drugs in the hood, and joining the US Air Force helped pay for his higher education. Hart obtained a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Wyoming, and did fellowship and post-graduate work at Columbia, Yale, and UCSF. He's also a father of three and Columbia University's first tenured African-American professor in the sciences.

In 2014, Hart won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award for his 2013 book High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery that Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society. That book details how drugs and drug addiction is a simple, easy scapegoat for much more complicated problems of race and poverty in society.

Almost all people who use drugs are responsible individuals, his research found. Yet American drug policy has helped make the US the world leader in incarceration. In the black community, US drug policy followed slavery and Jim Crow. Blacks are 3.73 times as likely as whites to be arrested for pot, despite similar usage rates nationwide. In some places, such as Washington DC, blacks were eight times as likely, a 2013 ACLU report indicated. In November, DC legalized marijuana by a landslide.

Wednesday, we published in print the first in a series of excerpts from of our conversation with professor Hart, wherein he details how biased pot research undermines science’s credibility, and contributes in — its own way — to things like anti-vaxxers, and inaction on global warming.

Here, on the Legalization Nation blog we excerpt another segment of our talk. You can listen to Hart’s full interview if you subscribe to our new podcast, The Hash (also on iTunes), which debuts a new season of stories in March.

Below, Hart addresses the black community’s concerns with pot legalization, as well as drug warriors who claim to be defending the hood.


Legalization Nation: In California, a frequently cited critic of Proposition 19 in 2010 was a self-appointed Bishop Ron Allen of Sacramento. I saw an echo of that in the Washington DC legalization campaign last year where the face of the local opposition was a young African-American. What’s going on here with the black religious community seeking to perpetuate the incarceration of their own flock?

Hart: It’s just part of them being miseducated and misinformed.

On the one hand, again I sympathize, in that they are trying to figure out what’s going on with black folks and such that we are getting left behind. And drugs has always been an easy tool to focus on and look at as the reason, because you don’t need much sophistication to point to a drug. You don’t need to even have much critical thinking abilities or skills. And the country has told them that for many years. During the Reagan era, and subsequently, they’ve been told these lies. That’s what High Price [is about]. I’m trying to help dispel some of this mythology — but they just don’t know.

When people are provided with good information they’ll make the change.

LN: It’s been pretty stunning to see former White House drug czar staffer Kevin Sabet try to take the moral high ground, and claim prohibition is about protecting poor communities that already have a disproportionate amount of liquor stores. How does that argument, from him, hit you?

Hart: On a personal level, just not as sort of talking about drugs or anything important, I like Kevin. I think he’s a nice guy, but when it comes to the whole drug thing, he’s disingenuous. That’s just — [sighs].

Simply, if Kevin was concerned about the hood, Kevin [would be giving more than] superficial lip service to over-incarceration.

Kevin is not the person to be talking about the black community in any way like he cares about the plight of the black community. It’s laughable.

It’s hard for me to really talk about this, because on the one hand, I like him he and I hang out just talking, but when it comes to these issues of great importance, particularly as it relates to black people, he should shut his mouth.

Support growing as Jamaican Senate passes pro-marijuana bill

Jamaica appears not to be waiting for fellow Caribbean trade bloc governments to decriminalize medicinal marijuana and cease filling up jails with people found with small quantities for personal and religious uses.
The island’s Senate voted to approve the Dangerous Drugs Amendment Bill, which makes possession of two ounces of weed a non-arrestable but ticketable offense that would not be part of the official record.

Last year, the cabinet approved the measures and took the issue to the two-chamber parliament for debate amid indications that a majority of the population supports decriminalizing marijuana, given the fact that the island of nearly 3 million people could begin exporting to destinations where medical marijuana is legal. And if there were any doubts about who supports the bill, Senate President Floyd Morris was among the loudest, saying there is medical proof that weed used in medically advised amounts helps people like himself with a history of glaucoma in their families DNA.

“I’m certain that thousands of glaucoma patients on the island would welcome the passage of such a bill,” Morris said, noting the growth of the medical industry in the U.S., which is believed to be worth approximately $2.5 billion already.
Additionally, the Tourism Ministry has said that the new approach would be good for the lifeline tourism industry, given the number of European and American visitors who flock to the island each year and indulge openly while law enforcement officers look the other way.

“I think from a tourism perspective, it would be good. The issue that we have is that we have to be careful how we do it,” he told the local Observer newspaper.
The island already has a reputation for growing the best and most potent varieties in the world and wants to cash in on this growing sector while colleagues in the Caribbean dither. Caribbean leaders debated the issue at their two most recent summits in the past year and are set to do the same in the Bahamas toward the end of this month.

A preliminary report has already been presented to them while a fuller and more
comprehensive study is being prepared. Most have, however, indicted a more progressive and tolerant attitude to possession and use of small amounts, even as criminal courts complain of laws that force them to jail offenders for what they consider to be misdemeanor offenses.

The elected Jamaican House of Representatives is scheduled to look at the issue in the coming months before any changes become law, but police have already taken their cue with people who stick to the confines recommended by the Senate.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Mark Golding says that a cannabis licensing authority will be established to regulate the hemp and medical marijuana sectors on the island.
“The licensing authority will, with the approval of the minister responsible for justice, make regulations treating with, among other things, procedures and criteria for applying for and retention of licenses, permits and other authorizations for cultivation, processing, distribution, sale and other handling of ganja for medicinal, scientific and therapeutic purposes,” said Golding.

Jamaican Senate Says Yes To Marijuana On Bob Marley's Birthday

Jamaica took one step closer to decriminalizing marijuana and it couldn't have happened on a more fitting day -- the birthday of Jamaican reggae superstar Bob Marley, whose public embrace of cannabis made him nearly synonymous with the culture of the plant.
On Friday, the Jamaican Senate passed a bill to decriminalize marijuana for medical, religious and scientific purposes. The bill, which would amend the country's Dangerous Drugs Act, would reduce possession of two ounces or less of marijuana for personal use to a ticketable offense, rather than a criminal one. Cultivation of up to five plants would be permitted. Under current Jamaican law, marijuana possession charges can lead to as much as five years in prison and a fine.

Registered health professionals would also be able to prescribe cannabis for various ailments, and accredited institutions could conduct scientific research with the plant. For the first time, Rastafarians -- members of a spiritual movement founded on the island that sees cannabis use as a sacrament -- would be able to legally smoke the substance for religious purposes, according to the Jamaica Information Service.


"The objective is to provide a more enlightened approach to dealing with possession of small quantities and smoking, while still meeting the ends of justice," wrote Jamaican Minister of Justice Mark Goldberg when he announced the measure last year. "The proposed changes represent an approach which will enure to the benefit of the persons concerned and the society as a whole, and reduce the burdens on the court system."
The country's House of Representatives must still review and vote on the bill, the Jamaica Gleaner reported, but it is supported by Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller and is expected to pass.

Friday marked what would have been Marley's 70th birthday. Marley, who died in 1981 from cancer at age 36, was popular worldwide with such hits as "Exodus," "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Jammin'." He used cannabis as part of his Rastafarian religious beliefs, which held that smoking marijuana was a natural, positive part of life that helped one's spiritual growth.

The official Marley website describes the musician as "a staunch supporter of the plant’s meditational, spiritual and healing abilities, and a fierce opponent to those ('political forces') who tried using marijuana as a vehicle for oppression, and to keep certain groups of people out of the societal mainstream."

"Herb, herb is a plant," Marley said in an interview from the late 1970s. "I mean herbs are good for everything. Why, why these people who want to do so much good for everyone, who call themselves governments and this and that. Why them say you must not use the herb? Them just say, 'No, you mustn't use it, you mustn't use it because it will make you rebel.' Against what?" Marley said.

In an interview with Quartz about his father's birthday, Ziggy Marley said the late musician's message was more than just "love and peace and smoke weed."
"Bob was a revolutionary. He was a person who wanted social justice in a real sense, in a real physical sense," Ziggy Marley said.
Bob Marley's family is working to make marijuana more broadly accepted. In 2014, the family joined with a private equity firm to launch the first global consumer marijuana brand, "Marley Natural."

JAMAICA: Senate passes Bill to amend Dangerous Drugs Act

 Jamaica Information / Story Highlights For Jamaica to reap the benefit of these reform measures, certain things will have to be in place. The changes will enable the use of ganja in religious engagements by stakeholders, such as Rastafarians. A Bill to amend the Dangerous Drugs Act, to decriminalize ganja for medicinal, religious, scientific and therapeutic purposes, was passed in the Senate on Friday, February 6, with five amendments.

Piloted by Minister of Justice, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding, the Bill seeks to make the possession of small quantities of ganja, amounting to two ounces or less, a non-arrestable but ticketable infraction, attracting a fine payable outside of the court, but not resulting in the possessor attaining a criminal record.

In his contribution,  Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator A.J. Nicholson noted that for Jamaica to reap the benefit of these reform measures, certain things will have to be in place.

"There will have to be no increase in the (illegal) export or transhipment of the drug. If the Bill having been passed and persons believe that this is a wonderful time now to just blow the smoke everywhere, then we could not say that the Bill is fulfilling its true purpose,? Senator Nicholson said.

The legislation prohibits the smoking of ganja in public spaces, subject to specified exemptions.

Senator Nicholson also noted that the passage of the Bill will not do any harm to the international agreements signed by the country with other parties.

The proposed changes to the Act will facilitate ganja being used for therapeutic purposes, as prescribed by a registered practitioner, or for scientific research conducted by an accredited tertiary institution or otherwise approved by the Scientific Research Council (SRC).

The changes will enable the use of ganja in religious engagements by stakeholders, such as Rastafarians. The Bill also makes provisions for the creation of a Cannabis Licensing Authority to regulate the proposed hemp and medicinal ganja industry in Jamaica.

Opposition Senator, Kavan Gayle, said that while ganja has potential benefits, it can also have adverse effects on individuals.

"Marijuana still remains a public health concern. Countries like Jamaica are obligated to cooperate with international and regional drug control strategies. Further research is needed to ascertain the impact of the drug on the Jamaica population,? Senator Gayle said.

He added that a more comprehensive drug policy should be adopted to include more prevention, treatment and other harm reduction strategies.

For his part, Senator Lambert Brown noted that the Bill was long in coming."We have come a long way in the fight to free the herbs. I want to hail all of those who, despite the persecution over the years, have stood firm. For me this is an important advancement in a long journey,? Senator Brown said.

Closing the debate, Senator  Golding noted that regulations will be required to establish the procedure for how the Minister will exercise his discretion in relation to exempt events, and designating lands for cultivation and for sacramental purposes.

He added that regulations will cover the process for the registration of places of Rastafarian worship, which will be exempt from the public smoking restrictions.

The Minister noted further that these regulations will establish an Advisory Committee comprising respected members of various groups within the Rastafarian community and other suitable persons to advise the Minister on the exercise of his discretion in particular cases.

"This discretion will not be arbitrarily exercised but will be dealt with in a respectful and prudent manner. The regulations for the development of the medical marijuana industry will be developed by the Cannabis Licensing Authority with technical support,? Senator Golding said.

Continue Reading Ganja Bill Tabled in Senate Minister Nicholson Defends Position on No Referendum for CCJ Authority To Be Set Up To Regulate Medicinal Ganja Industry Debate Begins on Bill to Entrench Local Government In Constitution

Jamaica Senate Passes New Marijuana Law

In Jamaica on Friday [Feb 7], the Senate passed Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2015 following two weeks of debate. The new law would see the possession of up to two ounces of cannabis a non-arrestable offence.

A Jamaican Gleaner report said, “The Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act 2015 will make the possession of up to two ounces of ganja a non-arrestable offence.
“Instead, possession of such small quantities of ganja would be a ticketable infraction, attracting a fine payable outside of the court.”

In other legislative news, the Jamaican Observer reported today that, “Regulations guaranteeing automatic removal of an offender’s criminal record for convictions relating to the smoking or possession of small quantities of ganja, are currently being drafted by the Ministry of Justice and should be ready next week.
“Providing details of this development, Portfolio Minister, Senator Mark Golding, informed that the Regulations are expected to be ready for him to sign by next week, after which they will be brought to Parliament to be approved.

“Golding said that having a criminal record “for what was in fact a very minor and common offence,” had serious disabling effects for persons, because it meant that they were unable to gain employment with the Government, and they could not apply for a visa successfully for certain countries.”

Surprising marijuana moments in (mostly) American culture

Let D.C. have its weed
At a meeting of the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday Feb. 6, 2015, acting U.S. Drug Czar Michael Botticelli said … “The president, as it relates to the District, I think was very clear that the District should stick to its home rule. As a resident of the District, I might not agree about legalization, but I do agree with our own ability to spend our own money the way that we want to do that.”
Botticelli is expected to be confirmed as the next director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in February 2015.

Updated Feb. 6, 2015 (Surgeon General’s statements are below and in second slide above): 
The latest White House figure to show some softening toward marijuana is …
At a meeting of the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Friday Feb. 6, 2015, acting U.S. Drug Czar Michael Botticelli said, “The president, as it relates to the District, I think was very clear that the District should stick to its home rule. As a resident of the District, I might not agree about legalization, but I do agree with our own ability to spend our own money the way that we want to do that.”
Botticelli is expected to be confirmed on Monday as the next director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy .
Vox.com has a good background summation:

In November, Washington, DC, voters overwhelmingly approved legalizing the possession, growing, and gifting of marijuana in the nation’s capital. The initiative is currently in front of Congress for a mandatory 30-day review period; if Congress doesn’t act — as is widely expected — it could become law in DC.
Congress passed a spending deal in December that attempted to block the legalization initiative from taking effect. But DC Council bypassed the spending deal, pushing the measure to the congressional review period anyway.

Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project (whose group apparently asked the question at the meeting) said in a news release:

“We’re sorry to hear he is opposed to making marijuana legal for adults, but at least he agrees states and the District should be able to. This is a big step for someone who works in an office that has for decades gone out of its way to keep marijuana illegal everywhere and at any cost.”

 Botticelli goes to Congress 
Of course if you remember U.S. House hearings from last year, you’ll remember Botticelli took quite a beating trying to toe the anti-marijauna line. That scene is here reproduced from our story of a year ago this month: “Answered: Can America’s drug czar tell the truth about marijuana?”
Last month (January 2014), President Obama said in an interview that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol. In the ensuing storm of backlash and high-fives, another big question emerged: Why the hell is marijuana federally labeled among the very worst drugs in the history of humankind if the president of the United States says it’s not as bad for you as alcohol?

On the one hand, we saw plenty of arguments that marijuana is as bad as and even worse than alcohol (though you have to leave out the simple fact that alcohol leads directly to tens of thousands deaths every year). And on the other, we saw calls for marijuana to be “downscheduled” or removed from the list of federally controlled substances. It’s currently sitting at “schedule I.”

And, we saw administration officials hauled before Congress to explain the “mixed signal” between Obama’s statement and his staff saying later that the administration still opposed legalization.
Then, on Feb. 4 (2014), the GOP-controlled U.S. House tried to beat up the Obama administration over the matter, but the anti-marijuana folks got pretty soundly beat up instead.
Of particular note, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Rep. Cohen mercilessly hammered away at the deputy drug czar Michael Botticelli and his reluctance to say anything other than marijuana was a godawful drug that would destroy the nation.

Blumenaur: “Let me just say, that I think your equivocation right there, being unable to answer something, clearly and definitively when there is unquestioned evidence to the contrary is why young people don’t believe the propaganda, why they think it is benign. If a professional like you cannot answer clearly that meth is more dangerous than marijuana, which every kid on the street knows, which every parent knows, if you can’t answer that, maybe that’s why we’re failing to educate people about the dangers.

I don’t want kids smoking marijuana. I agree with the chairman, but if the deputy director of the Office of Drug Policy can’t answer that question, how do you expect high school kids to take you seriously? … You, sir, represent part of the problem.
Cohen: “It is ludicrous, absurd, crazy to have marijuana at the same level as heroin. Ask the late Philip Seymour Hoffman if you could. Nobody dies from marijuana. People die from heroin.”

So that means … 
Then Cohen got to the heart of the matter.
Not only weren’t they buying that marijuana is worse than everything (though clearly it can be exceptionally bad for some people and kids, let’s just be honest), the congressmen weren’t even sure they were getting an fully honest answer from Botticelli.

Here’s Cohen: “Let me ask you this, You are prohibited by law from using any funds to studying marijuana legalization for medicinal purposes or any other reason? … Aren’t you troubled by these constraints and don’t you think that your expertise should be allowed to be used to study science and to contribute to a positive classification of drugs?”
Botticelli said he didn’t know that background.

C – Would you support legislation that would allow you to participate and to voice your opinion and use science as a basis for your determination?
B – What I would do is support that federal agencies have the ability to do that, so …
C – Yours is prohibited by law, should that restriction not be lifted?
B – … I think that it’s important that our office not involve itself in terms of a given legislation or given activity, and I believe that that was the genesis for that language, that the office not involve itself in state and local …
C -  … your job should be to have a sane drug policy not to be muzzled and handcuffed.
B – That has not handcuffed other offices and other federal agencies who are tasked with that work from an investigative (standpoint) …

So, he’s saying other agencies in the federal government, such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (an arm of the National Institutes of Health), aren’t muzzled so we can rely on what they say … !
But that means, unfortunately, that even if these other agencies came out with glowing recommendation for marijuana, the drug czar and his staff would have to continue breathing fire against any form of legalization or rescheduling.

Earlier post: What the Surgeon General said
Breaking with his fellow federal employees and hopefuls over at the Department of Justice and DEA, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on Wednesday said ”marijuana can be helpful” for some medical conditions.
And he appears to be standing by that statement, since his office tweeted the same message:

“We have some preliminary data that for certain medical conditions … marijuana can be helpful” – @Surgeon_General : http://t.co/Y3sfhwJ0DJ
— HHS Media (@HHSMedia)

Then again today they tweeted:

Add’l from SG: “Marijuana policy shld be driven by sci & subject to same clinical trials FDA applies to all meds” http://t.co/Y3sfhwJ0DJ
— HHS Media (@HHSMedia) February 5, 2015

The main point here is not just this one person’s opinion, but that to subject marijuana to the same standards that “applies to all meds,” cannabis would have to be moved from Schedule 1 (dangerous with no medical value) to something down the line that would then allow private and public institutions to grow, refine and experiment with the plant.
How many dominos have to fall before re-scheduling?

16 Facts That Prove Smoking Marijuana Is Good For Your Health

Before I even begin this article, I want to clarify that this is simply an opinion piece based off of my own research and finding. Please do not immediately jump to trolling. Although this is something I believe in, again after my own research,  it may not necessarily be yours. I don’t expect you to take what I say to heart, but if you a firmly against marijuana use, try to maybe open your mind to other possibilities.
With that being said: 6% of all studies of marijuana analyze its benefits for health purposes.
The State University of New York at Albany and the Oxford University Press released findings that marijuana’s medical properties were traced back as far as 2737 B.C., which was spread throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Here are some health benefits to smoking marijuana:

1. Although it will not increase lung capacity, smoking marijuana can reverse the effects of tobacco and improve lost lung function.

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2. In the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, studies showed that marijuana can actually prevent epileptic seizures.

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3.  Marijuana decreases the symptoms of severe seizure disorder called Dravet’s Syndrome.

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4. It can stop cancer from spreading.

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5. It can decrease anxiety, suppress nausea, and relieve pain.

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6. Not proven to cure, but can slow the progression of alzheimer’s disease.

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7. THC will reduce pain of nerves and muscles to control spasms, particularly useful for MS patients.

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8. Get this: marijuana is 86% effective in the treatment of Hepatitis C infections.

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9. Treats bowel diseases.

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10. Reduces inflammations and discomfort in people with arthritis.

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11. Even though potheads eat more, they actually have a stronger metabolism and respond better to sugars.

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12. Improves sleep for people with parkinsons disease.

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13. The plant can help reduce the affected area of the brain from stroke – or even protect the brain from damage.

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14. Increases sleep patterns – considered a sleep aid.

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15. Stimulates appetite for people who undergo chemotherapy.

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Basically how it works is that there are two components to marijuana that help prevent and fight infection or/and diseases. These two components are: tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidol (CBD). Both these active chemicals target a receptor found in the brain which is found to quiet the response to the brain. It also helps regress cancer cells from becoming aggressive spreaders by turning off a the ‘cancer gene.’
There is still so much to be said about marijuana’s benefits and its compounds. There is prominent evidence to the positive use of cannabis, hence why it’s become legal in 23 states.
If you really want to read into accessing the science behind the beneficial uses of marijuana, I highly suggest picking up the book of Marijuana As Medicine:: The Science Beyond the Controversy.

State may add three conditions to list approved for marijuana treatment

 Consumer Protection is drafting regulations to add three new conditions to the existing list of eleven that qualify for palliative treatment with medical marijuana in Connecticut.
On Jan. 14, the marijuana program’s Board of Physicians voted to recommend adding sickle cell disease, severe psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, and post-laminectomy syndrome with chronic radiculopathy, which is recurring back pain after surgery, to the list of qualifying conditions. The Board voted unanimously against adding Tourette’s Syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system that produces involuntary tics and vocalizations.

“In light of the Board members’ careful review and deliberation of the evidence involving the potential for marijuana to alleviate the pain, symptoms and complications of these debilitating conditions, as well as the benefit of avoiding the negative effects associated with opioids, I have concluded that these medical conditions should be added to the list of debilitating medical conditions under the Act,” Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan Harris said this week. “Accordingly, we will move forward immediately to promulgate a regulation to that effect.”

The regulation review process will include a hearing and public comment period before the proposed regulation is sent to the Attorney General for review and then to the General Assembly’s Regulation Review Committee for the final vote needed to add the conditions to the regulations.
The four conditions reviewed by the Board of Physicians in January were the first to be considered for addition to the original list set out in statute.

The conditions were presented to the Department of Consumer Protection in the form of written petitions that included specific, required information, including the extent to which the condition, or currently available treatment of the condition, causes severe or chronic pain, spasticity or nausea, supporting evidence from professionally recognized sources, and letters in support of the petition from physicians or other licensed health care professionals knowledgeable about the condition, treatment or disease.

Public Act 12-55, An Act Concerning the Palliative Use of Marijuana, was passed by the Connecticut General Assembly and signed into law on May 31, 2012. The Department of Consumer Protection was charged with developing the Connecticut Medical Marijuana Program, including establishing patient, physician, and caregiver eligibility guidelines and registration procedures and establishing a secure, controlled, production and distribution network for medical marijuana in Connecticut.

When followed, Connecticut’s law protects registered patients from state and local arrest and prosecution for possessing marijuana for palliative use, as long as it is handled within the strict guidelines of the program. Registered, qualifying patients may possess a one-month supply of marijuana — currently set at 2.5 ounces — unless the patient’s doctor recommends less.

The original 11 medical conditions set forth in Public Act 12-55 include: Cancer, Glaucoma, Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy, Cachexia, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, Crohn’s Disease, Positive status for Human Immunodeficiency Virus or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Wasting Syndrome and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

A physician initiates their patient’s access to this treatment by certifying that the patient is eligible for, and could benefit from, the palliative use of marijuana. Only Connecticut-licensed physicians with the appropriate state and federal controlled substance registrations may certify patients for medical marijuana. Doctor and patient must also have a bona fide relationship, in which the doctor has ongoing responsibility for the assessment, care and treatment of the patient’s debilitating medical condition or symptom.

U.S. Surgeon General Admits Marijuana Has Medical Value

Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I controlled substance by the United States government. In order for marijuana to be classified as a Schedule I substance, that means that the federal government considers marijuana to have zero medical value.

This of course is a slap in the face to science and logic, proven by the fact that the same federal government grows marijuana for medical reasons in Mississippi, supplies medical marijuana to four federal medical marijuana patients, and owns patents related to marijuana’s medical value. The hypocrisy increased even further this week when the United States Attorney General admitted in an interview that marijuana has medical value.

Dr. Vivek Murthy, the nation’s new surgeon general, says that marijuana “can be helpful” for some medical conditions, and wants science to dictate policy on the federally banned substance.
“We have some preliminary data that for certain medical conditions and symptoms, that marijuana can be helpful,” Murthy said during a Wednesday interview on “CBS This Morning” in response to a question about his stance on marijuana legalization.
While Murthy didn’t take the opportunity to endorse legalization of marijuana for medical or recreational purposes, he did add that he believes U.S. marijuana policy should be driven by science and what it reveals about the efficacy of using the plant for medical purposes.

It is way beyond time for marijuana to be removed from the list of Schedule I controlled substances. There is no scientific or logical basis for such a classification. Marijuana is medicine. Marijuana needs to be researched to see how it can help patients, and while there is private research being conducted, rescheduling marijuana would open the flood gates to research, which is something that would benefit the medical community greatly.

Officials discuss cannabis oil

Representatives from the Idaho Office of Drug Policy met with the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday to discuss clinical testing of cannabis oil, which is showing "promising results" in the treatment of seizure patients. The meeting was streamed live from Boise on idahoptv.org/insession - a collaborative effort among Idaho Public Television, the Legislative Services Office, and the Idaho Department of Administration.

Committee Chairman Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, said during the meeting that committee members have been getting questions about legalizing the oil for medicinal use.

Elisha Figueroa, administrator of the IODP, explained to lawmakers that cannabis oil, or cannabidiol (CBD) oil, is derived from one of the 60 compounds in a marijuana plant.
It does not contain THC, the psychoactive compound that gets marijuana users high.
"We are interested in this because there has been some anecdotal evidence that it could help with seizure disorders," Figueroa said.

In fact, she said, many states are legalizing CBD oil for medicinal purposes, but added she still has concerns about legalization.
Figueroa said first and foremost, marijuana is still ranked as a Schedule 1 drug at the federal level, and Idaho would be in violation of federal law if it did legalize it.
She said even though the U.S. Department of Justice has turned a blind eye, she said a new attorney general may not be as tolerant.

Figueroa also said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not regulating the production of the oils now, so consumers cannot be sure that what they are buying is safe.
"It also removes the medical community from the issue," she said. "You can't get it from a pharmacy, but you can get it from a bud dispenser in Colorado."

While the science is promising, Figueroa said they still don't know enough about possible interactions with other drugs and potential side effects.
However, she said there are two pharmaceutical companies manufacturing the oil and testing it through the FDA. One doctor in Idaho is reportedly going to participate in that study, she said.

GW Pharmaceuticals has been granted "orphan program" status from the FDA so it can study its new CBD oil called Epidiolex, which is being tested on children with a rare form of epilepsy.
Figueroa said she has been in discussions with regulators in Utah, which legalized CBD oil last year, and she has learned a lot from them.

"Some of them felt like their parents were sold a bill of goods," she said, explaining that parents were expecting a miracle drug. "And it scares them as state employees recommending something they don't know enough about."
Overall, Figueroa said, the IODP is supportive of the FDA study, and recommended the state wait to see the results before addressing the issue.

"At this point we don't have enough science to pass a law to legalize it," she concluded.
Committee members didn't have any questions for Figueroa, but Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, had an observation after looking at a map of states that have legalized marijuana in one form or another.
"In the west, it appears like Idaho and Wyoming would be the only states for businesses to locate if they are concerned about drug testing," he said, asking Figueroa if she has talked with the Department of Commerce about that.

Figueroa said she has not talked with other agencies about that, but said it was a good idea and she plans to pursue it.
"I for one am receiving a lot of questions about this," Heider said, adding he preferred to wait for the drug to go though the pharmaceutical process first.

A Marijuana First: Pot Vending Machines Dispense Weed

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By Miranda Leitsinger

Weed history is being made in Seattle: the first vending machines to dispense marijuana flower buds debuted Tuesday.

The machines, called ZaZZZ, are being placed in medical pot dispensaries, which helps to verify customer's age and identity since medical marijuana cards are required to enter the centers, said Greg Patrick, a spokesman for the maker of ZaZZZ, American Green. 

Though vending machines appeared for the first time in Colorado last year, those sold only edibles, or cannabis-infused foods, and not the plant's flower buds that are so often associated with smoking pot.

"It's historic, there's just no other way to state it. We saw the repeal of prohibition in the early 20th century and the mark that made on our country and the companies that did it right," Patrick said. "We're in that stage. This will only happen once in our country's history, the repeal of this prohibition."

The machines have a touchscreen where buyers can make orders, play video games and read medical information about the products. They swipe their medical marijuana IDs or driver's licenses to make sure they can legally purchase the goods and must pay in cash or bitcoin since the federal government doesn't allow debit or credit cards to be used in the sale of marijuana. 

Like machines that dispense soda or snacks, ZaZZZ intends to speed up the distribution for those who don't want to wait in a line at the dispensary.

"Once you swipe your ID, you can go shopping on the screen," Patrick said. "You can be in and out — literally — in a matter of minutes."

Pot vending maching

ZaZZZ vending machines in Colorado and Washington state, where legal recreational weed sales began last year, can dispense flower buds. But for the time being, American Green has to partner with growers in those states since the Tempe, Arizona-based firm — like others — can't ship medical marijuana product across state lines under federal laws.

Ultimately, American Green hopes to take the machines to other venues outside medical marijuana dispensaries as acceptance and awareness of the products grows. The company said the machine — which doesn't have a glass window that could be broken into — is secure against would-be thiefs.

"That machine is like a miniature little Fort Knox," Patrick said.

Daily Marijuana Use Doesn't Really Change Brains of Adults or Teens, Study Finds

muyuy74 via Flickr

Late last year, the press and marijuana-legalization opponents gave a lot of attention to a study suggesting that daily marijuana use shrinks users' brains. New research, reportedly using better techniques, indicates that claim and other reports of cannabis-caused changes to brain structure simply aren't true.

The authors of the new study, "Daily Marijuana Use Is Not Associated with Brain Morphometric Measures in Adolescents or Adults," published in the latest edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that alcohol use was responsible for previous studies finding brain changes.
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An abstract of the study's findings was published last week on the Journal's website. It describes how scientists could not replicate recent research that claimed the use of cannabis "is associated with volumetric and shape differences in subcortical structures..."
The study was conducted by a team of six researchers including Barbara Weiland of the Psychology and Neuroscience department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Brendan Depue of the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

The MRI brain-scan reports of 29 adults and 50 adolescents who use marijuana daily were compared with MRI scans of the same numbers of adult and teen non-users of marijuana.
"Groups were matched on a critical confounding variable, alcohol use, to a far greater degree than in previously published studies," the abstract states. "We acquired high-resolution MRI scans, and investigated group differences in gray matter using voxel-based morphometry, surface-based morphometry, and shape analysis in structures suggested to be associated with marijuana use, as follows: the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebellum.

No statistically significant differences were found between daily users and nonusers on volume or shape in the regions of interest."
The research team indicates that the lack of differences was so striking, there was no sign of even a "modest effect."
Locally, the new study means that MATFORCE, the Yavapai-county-based group fighting a potential 2016 cannabis-legalization measure, needs to update its propaganda. According to a recent "fact" sheet by the group, studies show "marijuana use causes damage to the developing brain, including a loss of IQ points."
The part of about pot use and teen IQ had already been debunked at the time MATFORCE published its information. Research suggests those results may also have failed to fully taken into account the use of alcohol.

Rand Paul Calls Out Jeb Bush's Marijuana "Hypocrisy," And He's Not Wrong

On Friday, the first major dustup of the nascent Jeb Bush presidential campaign hit the pages of the Boston Globe. And while it may not have been might of an issue for a left-wing, progressive-minded politician vying for the White House, for Bush, it’s actually quite a doozy. As it turns out, he was toking on the regular back in his college days, a fact he was forced to admit after a college friend came forward. Now, his possible primary opponent Senator Rand Paul is calling out Jeb Bush’s marijuana “hypocrisy,” accusing the former Florida governor of wanting to lock people up for doing the very same things he did in his youth.

And you know what? He’s not wrong. Paul has always been an interesting figure among the Republican right, possessed of a decidedly libertarian bent — he’ll say something that sounds refreshing and downright exhilarating one day, and something that makes your blood chill a little the next. But on the intersection of recreational drugs, race, and the American justice system, he’s one of the few nationally known Republicans willing to break with staid party orthodoxy. And in this case, it comes with a lot of political convenience. It never hurts to get an early start branding a likely foe as a hypocrite, right?

Speaking to The Hill, Paul shared his dim view of Bush’s admission, while also conceding that this was a problem for many “people on our side.”

I think that’s the real hypocrisy, is that people on our side, which include a lot of people, who made mistakes growing up, admit their mistakes but now still want to put people in jail for that. Had [Bush] been caught at Andover, he’d have never been governor, he’d probably never have a chance to run for the presidency. I think in politics the biggest thing, the thing that voters from any part of the spectrum hate worse than anything is hypocrisy. And hypocrisy is, “Hey I did it and it’s okay for me because I was rich and at an elite school but if you’re poor and black or brown and live in a poor section of one of our big cities, we’re going to put you in jail and throw away the key.”

Frankly, Paul is 100 percent spot-on in this analysis. Especially because the full context provided by the Boston Globe’s piece on Bush’s college years doesn’t merely expose him as a recreational cannabis user — a pastime countless people would sympathize with under different circumstances, myself included — but reported he’d helped his friend, Peter Tibbetts, acquire some hash (a heavily concentrated form of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana). And as anybody with a passing knowledge of U.S. drug enforcement knows, facilitating a drug deal is a good deal more serious than just blazing up yourself.

In fact, thanks to the folks at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), we can see precisely what price Bush would’ve paid under his own state’s system, if he’d been tried and sentenced in Florida for the things that Tibbetts alleges.

• Simple possession of marijuana under 20 grams would be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $1000. If Jeb ever had more than 20 grams in his possession? That’s a felony in Florida, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

• Smoking hash? Bad call, if Bush had to live under the same justice he governed over — in Florida, mere possession of hash is a third-degree felony, punishable by a maximum of five years in prison, and up to $5000.

• Helping his buddy get some hash of his own? Possessing more than 3 grams of hash with intent to sell, manufacture, or even just deliver, is yet another third-degree felony under Florida law. If it happened within 1,000 feet of his college campus, even worse — that bumps it up to a second-degree felony, carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and a fee up to $10,000.

Pretty mind-boggling, no? It’s also worth noting that convicted felons lose their voting rights under Florida law, even after their time has been served. So, chew on that — if Bush got busted the same way his state likes to bust people, he’d be committing voter fraud if cast a ballot. Of course, if he applied for executive clemency five years after getting out of prison, he might get lucky.
In spite of all this pretty compelling life experience (and who knows if he’s ever really reflected on it seriously), Bush didn’t show much sympathy for the humble marijuana user while governor. Nor has he lately, for that matter: he opposed a Florida medical marijuana initiative during the 2014 midterms, a pretty staggering fact in view of public opinion on the issue — a narrow majority of Americans now support outright recreational legalization, according to Gallup.

Basically, this is all a lengthy way of saying, yes. Rand Paul is right. By his own admission Friday — “I drank alcohol and I smoked marijuana when I was at Andover. It was pretty common.” — Jeb Bush is indeed a hypocrite. And, given the enormous number of lives that have been forever-shredded by both federal and state-level laws on marijuana, a pretty nasty one.