Zimbabwe legalises marijuana growing

• Written by VOA

Zimbabweans can now apply for licences to grow cannabis for medical and research purposes, the government has said in a legal notice, making the southern African nation the second country in Africa to legalize cultivation of the plant.

Lesotho last year announced the continent’s first licence to grow cannabis legally. Until now, it has been illegal to grow, possess or use cannabis in Zimbabwe, with offenders facing up to 12 years in jail.  

Health minister David Parirenyatwa published new regulations, seen by Reuters on Saturday, allowing individuals and companies to be licensed to cultivate marijuana, known locally as mbanje.

The five-year renewable licences will allow growers to possess, transport and sell fresh and dried cannabis as well as cannabis oil. Applications should include plans of the growing site, quantity to be produced and sold and the production period.

A licence can be refused when information has been received from a “peace officer, a competent authority or the United Nations” that an applicant was involved in the diversion of a controlled substance or precursor to an illicit market or use”, the regulations said.

“The minister may not oblige if the issuance, renewal or amendment of the licence is likely to create a risk to public health, safety or security.”

Blacks Disproportionately Arrested For Marijuana Despite Growing Acceptance Of Pot

Significant racial disparities exist, even in states and cities with lenient possession laws.

 

Written By Nigel Roberts

Although Americans are more receptive to the legalization of marijuana, that acceptance of pot is not reflected in the criminal justice system.

About 61 percent of Americans say marijuana should be legalized, a sentiment that has increased steady in recent years, according to the Pew Research Center. That hasn’t stopped the police from disproportionately targeting Black and Brown people for marijuana arrests. In states that legalized pot, overall arrests declined but racial disparities remain.

In New York City, progressive Mayor Bill de Blasio supported leniency for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Yet 93 percent of the NYPD’s pot possession arrests involved Blacks and Hispanics, according the Police Reform Project, an advocacy group that analyzed arrest data from the first three months of 2018.

“Arrests for marijuana remain in the thousands every year and are now the third most common NYPD arrest,” said the organization’s director Robert Gangi, adding that well-know data shows that Blacks and Whites use and sell marijuana at proportional rates.

Indeed, marijuana use is roughly equal among Blacks and Whites, yet Blacks are 3.73 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

That racial disparity continues in places like Colorado, one of the first two states to legalize pot in 2012, an analysis by the Drug Policy Alliance shows. While the arrest numbers declined, Blacks in Colorado get busted at almost three times the rate of Whites.

NYPD officials denied targeting Blacks and Hispanics. They claim that cops investigate drug crimes in places where they receive complaints from residents. Those communities happen to be predominantly Black and Hispanic, J. Peter Donald, the NYPD’s assistant commissioner of public information, told WNYC.

However, the police arrest Blacks and Hispanics disproportionately higher in neighborhoods where they are minorities, a WNYC analysis of arrest data found.

“There are neighborhoods where the Black or Hispanic population is 10 or 20 percent but they are 80 to 90 percent of the arrests,” Len Rodberg, a retired Queens College professor, told the news outlet.

How much marijuana is too much? Legalization means new questions for police

With legal pot looming, officials are working on training tools for Canada's cops

Catherine Cullen

A man smokes a marijuana joint during the annual 4/20 marijuana celebration on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, April 20, 2018. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

It's not an abstract question. Under the federal government's proposed cannabis legalization plan, 30 grams of dried marijuana is the maximum a person can legally possess in a public place. Carry any more and you could be subject to fines, jail time, or both.

Policing quantities is a big shift for police officers, who are used to viewing any amount of pot as a potential red flag, said Sandy Sweet of the Canadian Police Knowledge Network, an agency that provides online training courses for police officers.

"Now it's [going to be] a legal substance. They have to move on. So we have to train every police officer in the country what the law says they're allowed to do and not allowed to do in these new scenarios."

And while there's still plenty of uncertainty swirling about legalization — the exact timing, the possibility that the Senate will try to change the proposed law, the potential impact on the police — behind the scenes, policing experts are trying to figure out how best to get officers ready.

Sweet's group has been working with the RCMP and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to design online training for all of Canada's roughly 69,000 police officers; the plan is to launch the training by July.

The training likely will take officers roughly two hours to complete and will be filled with pictures, videos and interactive material designed to walk them through the federal legislation.​ The training will be available in both French and English.

Officers already are asking a lot of questions about legalization, said Genevieve Tremblay, the RCMP's director of national learning services.

"Our police officers are now wanting to make sure that they're not doing the wrong things as they uncover what's now a legal substance, but are also able to conduct the investigations in a proper manner," said Tremblay.

The RCMP already have held three days of meetings with subject matter experts to help decide what ground needs to be covered in the training.

Regional differences

On top of the federal rules, there will be some significant discrepancies going forward in provincial marijuana laws.

Federal law will allow people to grow up to four cannabis plants per household — but both Quebec and Manitoba intend to ban home cultivation. Ontario will only allow people to consume pot in private residences, and has proposed fines of up to $5,000 for those caught breaking the rules multiple times.

The plan is to include that information in the training where it's available, particularly as it relates to possession and distribution, said Tremblay. But communities may also have to provide some regionally-specific information to their officers.

As with other areas of policing, legalization's impacts will be different in rural communities compared to big cities, said Sweet. They'll also vary across the country.

"The challenges will be different in Waterloo, [Ontario] than in Antigonish, Nova Scotia."

Drug-impaired driving

Officials say training to deal with drugged driving will be dealt with separately. To coincide with legalization, the federal government is preparing to update its impaired driving laws; police will use saliva tests to detect whether drivers have drugs in their system.

Officers will have to be trained on the new equipment, but right now it's still not known which models of oral fluid testing devices law enforcement will use. The Canadian Society of Forensic Science's Drugs and Driving Committee is evaluating the equipment and will make recommendations. The group's chair couldn't say when their work would be done.

"We'll have to wait for a tool to be approved and then we'll be able to move on training," said Mario Harel, chief of Gatineau, Quebec's police force and president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

In the meantime, he said, police forces have been trying to increase the number of officers who have specialized training as Drug Recognition Experts, and to make sure officers know how to conduct the standardized field sobriety test. Both are used now to detect impaired driving.

About that math ...

So what does 30 grams of pot look like? It depends on what form it's in.

The federal government's proposed regulations would let licensed legal cannabis producers sell pre-rolled joints that contain up to 1 gram of dried pot, though producers could opt to sell smaller sizes too. That means a minimum of 30 pre-rolled joints.

And what if the pot is loose?

"It's sort of a baggie," said Sweet, who suggests a quick Google image search for a clear description.

The first pictures that pop up show a sandwich bag that's mostly full of marijuana.

He said pictures will be a big part of the online training.
 
"[That] really helps police officers put into perspective what that threshold when they go into, 'Okay, this looks like way too much'."

Marijuana use linked to nausea

By RONI CARYN RABIN

By the time Thomas Hodorowski made the connection between his marijuana habit and the bouts of pain and stomach upset that left him incapacitated every few weeks, he had been to the emergency room dozens of times, tried anti-nausea drugs, anti-anxiety medications and antidepressants, endured an upper endoscopy procedure and two colonoscopies, seen a psychiatrist and had his appendix and gallbladder removed.

The only way to get relief for the nausea and pain was to take a hot shower.

He often stayed in the shower for hours at a time. When the hot water ran out, "the pain was unbearable, like somebody was wringing my stomach out like a washcloth," said Hodorowski, 28, a production and shipping assistant who lives outside Chicago.

It was nearly 10 years until a doctor finally convinced him that the diagnosis was cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a condition that causes cyclic illness in heavy marijuana users and can be cured by quitting marijuana.

Until recently the syndrome was thought to be uncommon or even rare. But as marijuana use has increased, emergency room physicians say they have seen a steady flow of patients with the telltale symptoms, especially in states where marijuana has been decriminalized and patients are more likely to divulge their drug use to physicians.

"After marijuana was legalized in Colorado, we had a doubling in the number of cases" of cyclic nausea, said Dr. Cecilia J. Sorensen, an emergency room doctor at University of Colorado Hospital at the Anschutz medical campus in Aurora who has studied the syndrome.

Dr. Eric Lavonas, director of emergency medicine at Denver Health and a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians, said, "CHS went from being something we didn't know about and never talked about to a very common problem over the last five years."

Now a new study, based on interviews with 2,127 adult emergency room patients under 50 at Bellevue, a large public hospital in New York City, found that of the 155 patients who said they smoked marijuana at least 20 days a month, 51 heavy users said they had during the past six months experienced bouts of nausea specifically relieved by hot showers.

Extrapolating from those findings, the authors estimated that up to 2.7 million of the 8.3 million Americans known to smoke marijuana daily or near daily could suffer from at least occasional bouts.
"The big news is that it's not a couple of thousand people who are affected -- it's a couple million people," said Dr. Joseph Habboushe, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at NYU Langone/Bellevue Medical Center and lead author of the new paper, published in Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology.

Others questioned the 1-in-3 figure, however. Paul Armentano, the deputy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that even with more widespread use of marijuana, "this phenomenon is comparatively rare and seldom is reported" and strikes only "a small percentage of people."

And several physicians who routinely prescribe medicinal marijuana for conditions ranging from chronic pain to epilepsy said they have not seen the cyclic syndrome in their patients, but noted that they typically prescribe compounds that are not designed to produce a high and contain very low amounts of the psychoactive ingredient THC.

Habboushe said doctors in other parts of the country may be unfamiliar with the syndrome or mistake it for a psychiatric or anxiety-related syndrome. And even if they are aware of it, many regard it as a "rare, kind of funny disease," replete with anecdotes of patients who spend hours in the shower.

But the condition can be quite serious. A 33-year-old veteran who asked not to be identified described bouts of up to 12 hours in which he felt "like a puffer fish with sharp spikes was inflating and driving spikes into my spine from both sides. I've broken bones, and this blew it out of the water."

Habboushe said, "I know patients who have lost their jobs, gone bankrupt from repeatedly seeking medical care, and have been misdiagnosed for years."

"Marijuana is probably safer than a lot of other things out there, but the discussion about it has been so politicized and the focus has been on the potential benefits, without looking rigorously at what the potential downside might be," he said. "No medication is free from side effects."

Patients often arrive at the hospital severely dehydrated from the combination of hot showers and the inability to keep food or liquids down, and that can lead to acute kidney injury, said Habboushe.

But since many patients develop the syndrome only after many years of smoking pot, they don't make the connection with their pot habit and have a hard time accepting the diagnosis.

The confusion is understandable, Sorensen said. "Marijuana is viewed as medicinal, and it's given to people with cancer and AIDS. People know it's used to help with nausea and stimulate the appetite" and so it's difficult to get them to accept that it may be causing their illness.

It's unclear why marijuana can produce such discordant effects in some users. Sorensen often tells patients that it's similar to developing an allergy to a favorite food.

TOO MUCH
Getting the right diagnosis often takes a long time. The average patient makes seven trips to the emergency room, sees five doctors and is hospitalized four times before a definitive diagnosis is made, running up approximately $100,000 in medical bills, Sorensen's study found.

"They get really expensive workups, lots of CT scans and sometimes exploratory surgery" to rule out dangerous conditions like appendicitis or a bowel obstruction, Sorensen said. "At the end of the day they're told, 'You're smoking too much pot.'"

The symptoms often do not respond to drug treatment, though some physicians have had success with the antipsychotic haloperidol (sold under the brand name Haldol) and with capsaicin cream.

The good news is that the syndrome has a pretty simple cure: abstinence. Episodes stop when patients quit smoking, experts say. If they start smoking again, they are likely to have a recurrence.

Hodorowski quit smoking once he accepted that marijuana was the cause of his problems, he said, adding that he was in denial for a long time. He's telling his story so others can learn from his experience.

"I hope they'll be honest with themselves so they don't have to go through what I've been through," he said. "I'm very lucky to have survived this."

Dept. of Health considers cannabis for opioid addiction

By Andy Lyman

On April 20, a popular day for cannabis enthusiasts, headlines were filled with pot puns, promises of legalization from politicians and an announcement that Albuquerque ended criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. But after the smoke cleared, some medical cannabis advocates are still holding their breath, waiting to hear from New Mexico’s top medical cannabis decision maker on whether or not opioid addicts can legally obtain derivatives of the plant to aid in trying to defeat an opioid addiction.

New Mexico Department of Health Secretary Lynn Gallagher is expected to decide soon whether to accept or reject, for the third time, a recommendation from a board of medical professionals to add opioid use disorder to the list of 21 conditions that currently qualify someone to be a part of the state’s medical cannabis program. Gallagher has not indicated publicly if she will add opioid use disorder to the list of qualifying conditions.

Documents obtained by NM Political Report, through an Inspection of Public Records Act request, show staff discussions about recommended conditions an advisory board sent to Gallagher.

Throughout the month’s worth of records NM Political Report reviewed, there was little discussion amongst DOH staff regarding the pros or cons of adding opioid use disorder to the list of medical conditions. What little indications DOH staff did provide, pointed toward caution rather than eagerness.

One email thread includes a DOH doctor organizing a meeting of colleagues to discuss the possible merits or problems in approving eight new conditions such as eczema and psoriasis, Tourette Syndrome and opioid use disorder.

On February 27, DOH epidemiologist Michael Landen emailed four other department doctors and said Gallagher wanted more information.

“A couple of months ago I mentioned that Lynn Gallagher requested that a group of DOH physicians review the medical cannabis advisory board recommendations and that we wanted your help on this,” Landen wrote to the doctors.

Landen wanted to arrange an initial meeting to discuss the review process, assign one or two proposed conditions to each doctor and then arrange a follow-up meeting to discuss their respective findings.

The group met on March 1 and, according to minutes of the meeting provided to NM Political Report, discussed ways to uniformly and consistently research conditions recommended by the advisory board. The group planned to meet again in April.

A few hours before the March 1 meeting, Medical Cannabis Program Medical Director Leah Roberts, MD explained how colleagues should evaluate each recommended condition.

“In framing our reviews of the petitions and recommendations it is important to note the wording from Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act as well as the rules/regulations,” Roberts wrote. “The act was not intended for cannabis to be a treatment or cure for any medical condition or disorder, rather to allow for the use of cannabis to alleviate symptoms of debilitating medical conditions.” The emphasis is Roberts’.

Similar language showed up in the March 1 meeting minutes as well, though it was not attributed to any specific person.

An addiction specialist in Albuquerque says medical cannabis can indeed alleviate symptoms of opioid withdrawal.

Jeffrey Holland is a clinical social worker and director of Endorphin Power Company, a substance abuse recovery housing facility. He said using cannabis to help combat muscle cramps, nausea and severe anxiety is better than using medically administered opioids—such as methadone—to wean addicts off other drugs. Holland said using methadone adds another layer of withdrawals.

“I’ve experienced both and I can tell you that the withdrawal from methadone absolutely dwarfs the withdrawal from heroin,” Holland said.

Holland himself has been clean and sober for 15 years. He does not use cannabis and runs an abstinence-based treatment facility. But he is financially invested in a New Mexico medical cannabis production company. Holland said he’s not trying to promote his company or make money from an increased patient load. Instead, he called himself a “strong believer and proponent of this medicinal plant.”

“I would call it the most underutilized, most understudied tool and possibly one of the most useful tools that should be in our toolbox,” Holland said.

But plenty of people oppose adding opioid addiction to the list, too.

During the 2018 legislative session, when two lawmakers tried to expand the qualifying condition list, almost 20 people wrote to Gallagher, urging her not to add opioid addiction to the condition list.

Each of those opposition letters matched each other word for word.

The identical letters said it was the “marijuana lobby” pushing for medical cannabis expansion.

The letters also asserted that studies showing an opioid death decrease associated with increased legal cannabis access are “weak and shortsighted.” Those studies, the opposition argued, did not take into account other preventative measures like overdose reversal medication and treatment options like methadone or buprenorphine—the latter is often referred to by the trade name Suboxone, another medically-administered drug used to combat opioid addiction.

“Our efforts should concentrate on expanding these measures, not introducing another
addictive substance to the problem,” according to the letters.

The human brain reacts to both buprenorphine and methadone similar to opioids and both medications have been shown to create physical dependencies.

Another inference that Gallagher will deny opioid use disorder as a reason to use medical cannabis is an uncredited and unsigned document NM Political Report obtained through a records request titled, Evidence-based Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder. In it, the unknown author states that it is relatively easy to make a determination about the effect cannabis has on addiction symptoms.

“A literature review was completed looking at 3 possible treatments for opioid use disorder – 1) medication assisted treatment, 2) marijuana, and 3) medical detoxification,” the document reads.

“Marijuana treatment of opioid use disorder is the easiest to evaluate since there are no rigorous high quality studies that support its use for this condition.”

It goes on to say that treatment methods such as methadone and buprenorphine are ideal for addiction treatment, citing a New England Journal of Medicine article.

“Consistent data support the effectiveness of buprenorphine maintenance when compared to placebo and naltrexone,” the unknown author wrote. “When methadone and buprenorphine are compared, both approaches improve outcomes similarly but patient retention might be better in methadone maintenance (Schuckit 2016).”

Two staffers did share news or academic articles about recent studies that show cannabis can help with the national opioid epidemic.

Dr. Roberts shared two articles from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), both showing a decrease in opioid prescriptions in states that have expanded medical cannabis programs.

“I wanted to share two articles of significant interest and importance for our discussion next
week that were just published in JAMA on 4/2/18,” Roberts wrote.

Two days before Roberts’ email, a DOH environmental scientist sent a CNN story about the same study to a top medical cannabis administrator, with no explanation except a subject that read “Good article.”

NM Political Report reached out to a DOH spokesman to clarify issues like when Gallagher was expected to make a decision on the list of advisory board recommended conditions or who penned the internal Evidence-based Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder document and what role it might pay in the secretary’s decision.

DOH spokesman Paul Rhien initially said he was “glad to respond” to the questions but ultimately never did.

 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article209872004.html#storylink=cpy

B.C. introduces recreational marijuana use legislation

Rob Shaw

Cannabis leaders are mostly praising B.C. government legislation introduced Thursday in anticipation of federal legalization, though they hope to see some perceived flaws nipped in the bud.

Solicitor General Mike Farnworth tabled three bills in the legislature that will amend different B.C. laws to pave the way for legal recreational cannabis later this year. Ottawa had said legalization could occur by July 1 but it now appears likely to be delayed beyond that date. B.C. said it expects to open its first government-operated retail store by late summer, followed by online sales.

“This bill represents a balanced response to the federal government’s decision to legalize non-medical cannabis,” said Farnworth.

The legislation formalizes many of the details the B.C. government had indicated in February as it began grappling with the cannabis issue. They include a legal purchase age of at least 19, stand-alone public and private cannabis stores, which are not allowed to sell alcohol or tobacco alongside the cannabis, a provincial distribution network handled by the Liquor Distribution Branch and a personal possession limit of 30 grams for recreational use.

Language in the legislation that protects small industry and allows it to operate alongside larger licensed producers was welcomed by Deepak Anand, vice-president of business development and government relations for Cannabis Compliance Inc.

Anand, whose consulting firm provided the government with input on the legislation, said he supports provisions that incentivize people to transition from the illicit to legal market, and which allow B.C. to carry on that process for months after federal legalization.

“I think that the existing dispensaries are going to need more time to transition into the legal system and the B.C. LDB (liquor distribution branch) is going to need time to stock its shelves, so this provision allows them to extend that without criminalizing people that are currently operating dispensaries,” he said.

Cannabis lawyer Kirk Tousaw said he has concerns with how the government plans to warehouse and then distribute cannabis, which he said will quickly degrade product, particularly in flower form. He believes the province will need to revisit this issue but said that, overall, the legislation mostly shows that the government is on the right track.

“It continues to be a very positive sign — both in the legislation and the public comments around it — that the province is well aware of the need to transition the existing marketplace into the legal arena,” he said.

Still, Tousaw said, government continues to treat cannabis in a way that is more restrictive than alcohol, “which is just not empirically sound.”

Cannabis activist Dana Larsen said he believes that the legislation is “unduly punitive” relative to the treatment of alcohol, unfairly criminalizing cannabis users.

He said B.C. has done a better job with its legislation than most other provinces but “it would be very different” if he had written it.

“It’s reflective of the federal legislation, so all they’re doing is adding more curtailments around it,” he said. “They’re not pushing to open anything up or to challenge any of the federal legislation.”

Larsen said he wants parents to be allowed to provide their own children with a controlled amount of cannabis in the privacy of their home without the risk of fines or jail time. He said rules around smoking and vaping in public are too restrictive, particularly when people have limited access to outdoor property. He believes an allowance for vapour lounges would address part of this concern.

Larsen criticized language in the legislation that requires those who grow a federally-proposed four plants per household to ensure the plants aren’t visible from a public place, which likely means no sun-grown cannabis for apartment and condo dwellers, as well as the homeless.

Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang, who co-chaired the B.C. government’s legalization task force and sits on the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ executive, said he was pleased with a provision that any operator must first get approval from the local town or city council before gaining a provincial permit.

Jang said the legislation drew heavily on the experiences of Vancouver and Victoria, which have municipal police forces and allow dispensaries, and Surrey, which is policed by RCMP and shut dispensaries down.

He believes the proposed fines and jail terms for non-compliance will be effective in removing existing dispensaries which have failed to comply with local bylaws, while allowing “good operators” to stay.

“It takes all the effort and troubles, really, out of the hands of municipalities,” he said. “It’s everything that we’re looking for and more. (We’re) very pleased with it.”

The tax rates are being set by Ottawa. B.C. is still considering what price to sell cannabis for, and Farnworth said that must be carefully set.

“The pricing is still being worked on with the Ministry of Finance,” he said. “We are looking at all aspects of that including the PST. We’re mindful the price needs to reflect the fact that one of the key elements of legalization is to reduce the influence of organized crime. We’ve also learned from other jurisdictions if the tax rate is too high you just drive people to the black market.”

Private operators are going to have to undergo background checks, but Farnworth said “minor offences” related to cannabis in the past won’t necessarily disqualify a person from being able to operate a retail store.

“Minor offences are not going to prevent you from applying,” he said. “But certainly a serious criminal offence such as trafficking will.”

“In terms of existing stores I’ve said they are free to apply but there’s no guarantee they will get a licence,” Farnworth added. “They will be treated like any other application.”

If a currently-operating cannabis store tries to remain operational without obtaining a B.C. permit, they will face search and seizure by provincial officials with fines of twice the amount of the retail value of the cannabis found and sold in the store.

Minors will face fines up to $2,000 if caught with pot. Those found intoxicated in public, or who have exceeded the amount they can carry or grow, or intoxicated behind the wheel of a car, will also face fines up to $5,000 the first time or $10,000 on second offences, with potential jail ranging from three to six months.

How B.C. police will test drivers for impairment by drug use behind the wheel is also an unsettled point. Farnworth said he hopes Ottawa will unveil technology it believes can accurately test a person’s blood content.

“It’s something we believe needs to be communicated with the provinces ASAP,” he said. “The feds have told us there is technology they are confident in, but we have yet to know what exactly it is.”

Edible products also remain in limbo and not currently allowed in stores. However, Farnworth said he expects that issue to be tackled by the federal government soon.

B.C. is not worried there won’t be enough product available to put on the shelves of stores.

“We’re confident there will be enough supply available,” said Farnworth. “I am confident we will have a significant range of product.”
                                                      
More details from the legislation:
• A ban on smoking cannabis near children, including on school grounds, beaches, playgrounds, health facilities, restaurants/patios, provincial regional and municipal parks, common areas of apartment buildings, condos and college dorms, skate parks, sports fields and playgrounds, as well as inside vehicles, buses, trains, taxis or on ferries. Outside of this, municipal rules for public smoking and vaping tobacco will apply to cannabis, though municipalities may also decide to limit cannabis separately from tobacco as well.
• A limit of four plants grown per household, but they are not allowed to be visible from public spaces off the property.
• The power for strata councils and landlords to forbid growing plants inside condos and apartment buildings.
• A registration process for businesses that want licenses, including shops already in operation.
• A ban on new drivers in ICBC’s graduated licensing program from having any THC in their system, or using cannabis before driving.
• A new 90-day administrative driving penalty for those who are affected by drugs while driving, based on “analysis of a bodily substance or an evaluation by a specially trained drug recognition expert.”
• A new series of cannabis-related offences with fines ranging from $2,000 to $100,000 and jail time of three to 12 months.

Canadians Who Buy Legal Recreational Marijuana Could Be Flagged And Banned From The U.S.

Experts discuss the grey area around Canada's upcoming cannabis legalization.

@CBP San Diego

Eul Basa

Upcoming changes to Canada's marijuana laws will soon allow Canadians across the country to legally purchase marijuana for recreational purposes. But experts warn that this could affect one's ease of travel across international borders, particularly when journeying south to the U.S.

Those who buy legal recreational marijuana at licensed stores or online using credit cards will start to accumulate marijuana transaction histories, as organizations begin to collect consumer data. If such information reaches U.S. border officials, it could have lasting consequences for those individuals, including being banned from the U.S. for life.

According to lawyers, U.S. border officers have the authority to ban individuals they determine as "drug abusers," or those who lie about their marijuana use. A Canadian's marijuana transaction data could therefore be used against the individual at the border, as non-U.S. persons are only protected under Canada's Charter and not under America's Fourth Amendment.

 

In terms of data privacy, Canada's five major banks warn that an individual's financial information can be stored outside of the Canada and are subject to the laws of the country it's stored in. U.S. authorities can obtain Canadian credit card data under the PATRIOT Act, which was passed as an anti-terrorism law after September 11.

 “Any information that goes outside of Canada is up for grabs by local law enforcement,” says former assistant federal privacy commissioner. Heather Black to Global News. “It’s part of the globalization of data. It goes all over the place.”

Lawyers suggest Canadian travellers caught in such situation should refuse answering the question so that they will only get turned away on that one occasion, rather than get banned for life on the spot. Those who do get banned could always apply for a waiver that would allow them to cross the border, however it is an extremely burdensome and expensive process.

Marijuana laws are dictated on a provincial level and will differ between the regions. Quebec, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. will have their own online ordering systems and plan to keep all of the data in Canada. Ontario, Alberta, Newfoundland and New Brunswick will contract out online ordering, but require contractors to store the data only in Canada.

Where it gets tricky is Manitoba and Saskatchewan — the two provinces will allow licensed private-sector companies to facilitate online sales, which means storage of consumer data is not limited to just Canada.

  

Even more than this, many of the provinces have yet to declare how marijuana transactions are listed on credit card statements. The only province that has done so is Nova Scotia — there, pot purchases will be entered as NSLC (Nova Scotia Liquor Commission), which would effectively disguise the purchases in the data as alcohol. This seems to be the best way to solve the privacy problem.

At this point, the U.S. has not yet released an official policy statement on how the Department of Homeland Security will be dealing with Canada's upcoming marijuana legalization. Until then, Canadians will need to tread with caution when purchasing legal recreational marijuana, even with the new laws.

Scientists and startups are clamoring to research CBD, a compound in marijuana that doesn't get you high — here are its potential benefits

Erin Brodwin

• CBD, or cannabidiol, is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis that won't get you high.
• Researchers are beginning to study its potential health applications, which range from pain relief to curbing certain types of epileptic seizures.
• Scientists and startups working on cannabis-based drugs say the biggest hole in CBD research has to do with dosing — so they're tackling that first.

---

I knew I'd arrived in California when a friend offered me an edible — for my dog.

The treat didn't contain THC, the component of marijuana that's responsible for getting you high.

Instead, it was made with cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive compound in cannabis.

CBD is thought to be responsible for many of marijuana's therapeutic effects, including pain relief and reducing inflammation or swelling. Because of that, the compound may have a range of therapeutic applications, but research on it remains in its infancy — mostly due to marijuana's status as a Schedule I drug in the US, which limits the scope of medical research on it. 

Thanks to a wave of developments into new cannabis-based drugs, however, efforts to harness CBD's medicinal properties are likely to ramp up.

The most well documented application of CBD so far is as a potential treatment for some rare forms of epilepsy. Earlier this month, a US Food and Drug Administration committee gave a major green light to a medicine called Epidiolex, which is designed to treat two rare childhood forms of epilepsy.

If Epidiolex gets the final okay, it would become the first FDA-approved drug made with CBD.

Drug companies like GW Pharmaceuticals, which is behind Epidiolex, and a handful of startups — some of which have support from pharma giants like Johnson & Johnson — are now finding ways to study CBD. Researchers are looking into applications for mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, skin conditions, and diseases like arthritis.

'It’s the inconsistency from product to product that concerns me'

 
Shutterstock
In states where marijuana is legal, it is relatively easy to purchase products that claim to be packed with CBD.

But these items don't have to undergo the same federal approval process that drugs do, so there's a lot of room for error. CBD oils sold at dispensaries may have varying concentrations of the compound from batch to patch or even product to product. 

Laura Lubbers, the chief scientific officer of a non-profit called CURE that funds epilepsy research, told Business Insider that's a concern for parents who seek out CBD oil to help control their children's seizures.

"It’s the inconsistency from product to product that concerns me as a researcher," Lubbers said.

"You may get good results with one product and then go back to that dispensary and buy the same product and find that it may have a different effect."

Epidiolex, by comparison, is a well studied and well controlled product that is currently pending FDA approval to treat Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. 

Starting with the premise of dose control

Vapium Medical
Several startups are attempting to tackle the consistency problem in marijuana products — particularly those containing CBD.

One such company, a Toronto-based startup called Vapium Medical, is working to create a vape pen and connected app to help marijuana users track the effects of cannabis products and share their information with scientists. The product is called SmartFlow.

Lisa Harun, the CEO of Vapium Medical, told Business Insider that she started the company with a single goal: dose control.

"We believe that as with any medication, dosing is key," Harun said.

The SmartFlow pen and app launched to a limited number of people at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Users can track the cannabis strain they're using and its CBD-to-THC ratio, note the condition that they are trying to treat, and record the effects they observe. Clinicians at Vapium have access to that user data, which they can use to analyze potential links between certain strains and ratios and their perceived effects.

"The real question for us is what does a higher CBD ratio actually mean?" Harun said.

Vapium Medical's vape pen and app are being developed as part of Johnson & Johnson's JLabs Innovation network, an incubator program designed to give budding companies access to resources and leadership to help them get off the ground. 

"We aim to enable patients to use cannabis as medicine by giving them the data they need," Harun said. "It enables clinicians and patients to see if the medication they're using does what they think it does, and to home in on a treatment protocol." 

CBD shows promise for pain and epilepsy, but more research is needed

 
Shutterstock
Several studies analyzing the effects of various marijuana strains have been published in peer-reviewed journals, but most of that research hasn't isolated the effects of CBD alone. And many CBD-specific studies are still too small to determine what effects the compound is actually producing.

For example, scientists think marijuana may help reduce inflammation, which is a component of illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis. A preliminary 2005 study of 58 patients with that condition found that those who took a cannabis-based drug called Sativex saw "statistically significant improvements in pain on movement, pain at rest, [and] quality of sleep." But Sativex has a 1:1 ratio of CBD to THC, so it's impossible to say which compound is responsible for the observed benefits.

Epidiolex's research on CBD is the clearest example so far that the compound in isolation has therapeutic properties.

One clinical trial of the drug looked at its effects in 225 young people with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. The researchers split the study participants into groups and gave them either a high dose of the drug, a low dose, or a placebo for 14 weeks. The results, presented at an American Academy of Neurology meeting, showed that participants in the high-dose group saw their seizure occurrence drop by 42%. Those given the low dose saw a decrease of roughly 37%. By comparison, those given the placebo saw only a 17% reduction in seizure occurrence.

Several new studies aim to pin down CBD's effects on mental health

Future research on CBD's effects on anxiety, PTSD, and addiction could help nail down a range of potential uses in those areas as well. A review of preliminary research published in 2015 in the journal Neurotherapeutics suggested that CBD held promise for mental health applications including anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and PTSD.

No strong, well-controlled studies on the subject have yet been published, but the National Institutes of Health is helping to fund one study that aims to test whether CBD could help people with PTSD and alcohol use disorder drink less and curb PTSD symptoms. 

Another forthcoming study led by scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine is looking into CBD's potential for treating opioid use disorder. Some anecdotal research has hinted at that possible application, but that too has yet to be backed up by comprehensive studies.

Researchers are hopeful that once more findings start to emerge, we'll get a clearer picture of what CBD can — and can't — do.

At the very least, Vapium Medical's Lisa Harun said, there should be more standard procedures to ensure consistency in cannabis dosing.

"That's exactly what we're hoping to help create," she said.

Washington state cannabis pesticide tests worry small farms

By BART SCHANEMAN 

Washington state marijuana business owners are urging regulators to require cultivators to test adult-use crops for pesticides, a move that has triggered alarm bells among smaller growers.

Some cultivators hope such a move — already adopted in other states — would inspire confidence among consumers and bolster recreational marijuana sales.

But smaller growers — already squeezed by falling prices — worry they wouldn't be able to afford mandatory pesticide testing, which is estimated to cost up to $300 per test.

The move also could force small farmers to cultivate fewer strains to keep costs down, although regulators so far have not signaled they will require the testing.

"Fundamentally, requiring pesticide testing doesn't bother me," said Mark Greenshields, a cannabis grower in Seattle, "but technically, increasing the costs, that's a problem."

Regulators already conduct random pesticide checks. But a mandatory regimen would force growers to submit cannabis for pesticide testing along with the standard testing criteria the state already requires.

Steve Fuhr, a producer-processor in Seattle, said "numerous industry groups," including the Washington CannaBusiness Association and the Cannabis Alliance, have met and approached the state's Liquor and Cannabis Board and provided written suggestions that the agency adopt mandatory pesticide testing that follows other cannabis markets in the United States.

Fuhr said his interest in mandatory pesticide testing arose from hearing that cannabis testing labs in the state have found "troubling reports" of pesticide content when conducting blind tests of flower.
"We feel that it's a public safety issue and for the image of the industry," he said.

Other states take action
Washington would join other states, including Oregon, California and Colorado, in requiring cultivators to submit product for pesticide testing for recreational cannabis.

"We shouldn't have this great reputation of some of the best weed in the world and not back it up with scientific testing," said Shawn DeNae, CEO of Washington Bud Company in Smokey Point.

However, a Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesman said the state is not pursuing implementing mandatory pesticide testing at this time.

Washington has a little more than 1,000 licensed producer-processors.

Currently, the state requires adult-use cannabis producers to test for:
—Potency, including THC and CBD levels.
—Microbials, which are microorganisms including mold, fungus and bacteria.
—Mycotoxins, which are byproducts of the metabolism of certain species of mold and fungus.
—Water activity, which measures shelf stability to determine how likely the product will develop problems such as mold and fungus.

The business opportunities for testing labs could be on the upswing if state regulators decide to make pesticide testing mandatory for all cannabis.

Molecular Testing Labs in Vancouver, is authorized to conduct the full range of testing for both recreational and medical cannabis. Stuart Bennett, director of sales for the lab, said adding pesticides would add about $250-$300 per test.

"It would certainly increase our overall business if it is mandated," he added. "For every 50 recreational tests we do, we do one pesticide."

Added costs
From an operational standpoint, the addition of mandatory testing wouldn't change much for Greenshields because his cultivation facility uses predatory insects to control pests rather than pesticides.

But he is concerned about the added cost. When the state added mycotoxins to the list of required tests last year, his lab bill went from $60 to $105 per test, he said.

"I imagine throwing a mandatory test on there is not going to be cheap," he added.

At Washington Bud Company, adult-use marijuana is voluntarily tested for pesticides and heavy metals.

DeNae recently wrote a check to her lab for $2,800 to test less than 25 pounds.

"The extra money that it takes to pesticide and heavy metal test is certainly a hit," she said. "It's a commitment, and it takes a lot longer to go through the process."

Washington Bud Company periodically tests enough of its crop to prove its cannabis is clean.

The company charges a premium. An eighth of an ounce of retail indoor-grown flower sells for $40-$45.

Some outdoor-grown ounces of flower are selling for not much more than that in retail stores.

DeNae believes mandatory pesticide testing will be a good development for the state's market and help eliminate growers that use chemicals on their plants. But it also might drive some growers out of business.

"A lot of people have cut their margins down so short they wouldn't be able to survive the tests," she said. "That's a downfall of people not understanding what their bottom line is."

Extraction testing
Confidence Analytics, a cannabis testing lab in Redmond, charges up to $250 per lot to test for pesticides and heavy metals.

Shannon Stevens, the lab's quality assurance manager, said she hasn't seen much pesticide testing commissioned by growers since the recreational market supplanted the medical program. The bulk of the pesticide testing at her lab is from extractors who want to make concentrates.

"Since so many of the chemical residues will be concentrated along with the cannabinoids in that process," she said, "they want to make sure they're buying clean material before they potentially contaminate their extraction system.

"Obviously, if they create a product that would fail the state standards for residues, they're expected to destroy it."

DeNae would also like to see products for vaping and concentrates undergo mandatory testing.

"If they're using dirty bulk products and it concentrates in their extracts, then that's even worse," she said. "Extraction doesn't remove pesticides, it concentrates pesticides."

Limited strains
One noticeable impact that mandatory testing could have on small growers is a reduction in the variety of strains they grow.

If the lot sizes stay the same, where one test accounts for five pounds of cannabis per strain, and the costs increase by adding pesticide tests, then growers likely will grow fewer strains with higher plant counts to cut down on cost.

"It would shift us to grow larger amounts of less varieties," said Matt Sampson, owner of North Coast Growers in Anacortes.

Sampson has heard discussion of state regulators increasing the testing lot size to 15 pounds, which could help keep costs down.

Said DeNae: "No matter if you grow a crop that's 2 pounds or 20 pounds per strain, it's the same test with the same cost. So pesticide and heavy metal testing is more cost effective for growers who grow large quantities."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article209866064.html#storylink=cpyDENVER

Washington state marijuana business owners are urging regulators to require cultivators to test adult-use crops for pesticides, a move that has triggered alarm bells among smaller growers.
Some cultivators hope such a move — already adopted in other states — would inspire confidence among consumers and bolster recreational marijuana sales.
But smaller growers — already squeezed by falling prices — worry they wouldn't be able to afford mandatory pesticide testing, which is estimated to cost up to $300 per test.
The move also could force small farmers to cultivate fewer strains to keep costs down, although regulators so far have not signaled they will require the testing.

Latest news by email

The afternoon's latest local news

"Fundamentally, requiring pesticide testing doesn't bother me," said Mark Greenshields, a cannabis grower in Seattle, "but technically, increasing the costs, that's a problem."
Regulators already conduct random pesticide checks. But a mandatory regimen would force growers to submit cannabis for pesticide testing along with the standard testing criteria the state already requires.
Steve Fuhr, a producer-processor in Seattle, said "numerous industry groups," including the Washington CannaBusiness Association and the Cannabis Alliance, have met and approached the state's Liquor and Cannabis Board and provided written suggestions that the agency adopt mandatory pesticide testing that follows other cannabis markets in the United States.
Fuhr said his interest in mandatory pesticide testing arose from hearing that cannabis testing labs in the state have found "troubling reports" of pesticide content when conducting blind tests of flower.
"We feel that it's a public safety issue and for the image of the industry," he said.
Other states take action
Washington would join other states, including Oregon, California and Colorado, in requiring cultivators to submit product for pesticide testing for recreational cannabis.
"We shouldn't have this great reputation of some of the best weed in the world and not back it up with scientific testing," said Shawn DeNae, CEO of Washington Bud Company in Smokey Point.
However, a Liquor and Cannabis Board spokesman said the state is not pursuing implementing mandatory pesticide testing at this time.
Washington has a little more than 1,000 licensed producer-processors.
Currently, the state requires adult-use cannabis producers to test for:
—Potency, including THC and CBD levels.
—Microbials, which are microorganisms including mold, fungus and bacteria.
—Mycotoxins, which are byproducts of the metabolism of certain species of mold and fungus.
—Water activity, which measures shelf stability to determine how likely the product will develop problems such as mold and fungus.
The business opportunities for testing labs could be on the upswing if state regulators decide to make pesticide testing mandatory for all cannabis.
Molecular Testing Labs in Vancouver, is authorized to conduct the full range of testing for both recreational and medical cannabis. Stuart Bennett, director of sales for the lab, said adding pesticides would add about $250-$300 per test.
"It would certainly increase our overall business if it is mandated," he added. "For every 50 recreational tests we do, we do one pesticide."
Added costs
From an operational standpoint, the addition of mandatory testing wouldn't change much for Greenshields because his cultivation facility uses predatory insects to control pests rather than pesticides.
But he is concerned about the added cost. When the state added mycotoxins to the list of required tests last year, his lab bill went from $60 to $105 per test, he said.
"I imagine throwing a mandatory test on there is not going to be cheap," he added.
At Washington Bud Company, adult-use marijuana is voluntarily tested for pesticides and heavy metals.
DeNae recently wrote a check to her lab for $2,800 to test less than 25 pounds.
"The extra money that it takes to pesticide and heavy metal test is certainly a hit," she said. "It's a commitment, and it takes a lot longer to go through the process."
Washington Bud Company periodically tests enough of its crop to prove its cannabis is clean. The company charges a premium. An eighth of an ounce of retail indoor-grown flower sells for $40-$45.
Some outdoor-grown ounces of flower are selling for not much more than that in retail stores.
DeNae believes mandatory pesticide testing will be a good development for the state's market and help eliminate growers that use chemicals on their plants. But it also might drive some growers out of business.
"A lot of people have cut their margins down so short they wouldn't be able to survive the tests," she said. "That's a downfall of people not understanding what their bottom line is."
Extraction testing
Confidence Analytics, a cannabis testing lab in Redmond, charges up to $250 per lot to test for pesticides and heavy metals.
Shannon Stevens, the lab's quality assurance manager, said she hasn't seen much pesticide testing commissioned by growers since the recreational market supplanted the medical program. The bulk of the pesticide testing at her lab is from extractors who want to make concentrates.
"Since so many of the chemical residues will be concentrated along with the cannabinoids in that process," she said, "they want to make sure they're buying clean material before they potentially contaminate their extraction system.
"Obviously, if they create a product that would fail the state standards for residues, they're expected to destroy it."
DeNae would also like to see products for vaping and concentrates undergo mandatory testing.
"If they're using dirty bulk products and it concentrates in their extracts, then that's even worse," she said. "Extraction doesn't remove pesticides, it concentrates pesticides."
Limited strains
One noticeable impact that mandatory testing could have on small growers is a reduction in the variety of strains they grow.
If the lot sizes stay the same, where one test accounts for five pounds of cannabis per strain, and the costs increase by adding pesticide tests, then growers likely will grow fewer strains with higher plant counts to cut down on cost.
"It would shift us to grow larger amounts of less varieties," said Matt Sampson, owner of North Coast Growers in Anacortes.
Sampson has heard discussion of state regulators increasing the testing lot size to 15 pounds, which could help keep costs down.
Said DeNae: "No matter if you grow a crop that's 2 pounds or 20 pounds per strain, it's the same test with the same cost. So pesticide and heavy metal testing is more cost effective for growers who grow large quantities."

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article209866064.html#storylink=cpy

Are people of color arrested more often for marijuana in New York?

"Black and Latino people in NYC are arrested at TEN times the rate of white people for virtually the same rate of marijuana usage."

— Kirsten Gillibrand

By Dan Clark

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says legalizing marijuana would benefit communities of color, particularly in New York City.


Gillibrand says people of color are arrested for marijuana possession at a much higher rate than white people, despite similar marijuana use.

"Black and Latino people in NYC are arrested at TEN times the rate of white people for virtually the same rate of marijuana usage," Gillibrand tweeted.

New York state is exploring the possibility of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. The state Department of Health has begun a study on how legalization would affect residents.

So are blacks and Latinos arrested ten times as often as white people for marijuana?

New York City data
Gillibrand relied on data from a February article published by Politico New York, which cited data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. The agency provided that data to us for this article.

The numbers confirm Gillibrand’s claim: Eighty-six percent of people arrested for criminal possession of marijuana in New York City last year were either black or Hispanic. Five percent were classified as "other" by the agency. Nine percent of those arrested were white.

The agency tracked 17,880 total criminal marijuana arrests in New York City last year. Almost half of the people arrested — 8,565 — were black. Some 6,853 were Hispanic and 890 were identified as "other." Only 1,572 of the offenders were white.

There are a few caveats to the data. For one, it doesn’t include every marijuana arrest in the city.

The data only tracks arrests for burning marijuana in public or possessing more than 25 grams at a time. More severe crimes, like selling marijuana, are not included in the numbers.

The data also excludes cases where a more serious crime was involved. For example, if marijuana was found on someone pulled over for driving while intoxicated, the agency would not report the drug possession in this dataset.

Statewide data
The gap is not as wide outside New York City, state data shows.

There were 5,417 of the same type of marijuana arrests upstate and on Long Island in 2017, according to the data. Of those, about 31 percent were white, 37 percent were black, and 25 percent were Hispanic. The remaining arrests were marked as "other."

That still means about two-thirds of those arrested for marijuana possession outside New York City were people of color in 2017.

Marijuana use by race
Gillibrand also said the rate of marijuana use is the same regardless of race.

The Politico article cites data compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union to support that claim. Fourteen percent of blacks and 12 percent of whites reported using marijuana in the past year in 2010, according to federal data. The ACLU analyzed data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Jon Gettman, an associate professor of criminal justice at Shenandoah University, used the same data to calculate more recent numbers for this article. About 14 percent of whites and 16 percent of blacks reported using marijuana in the past year in 2016. Data previously compiled by Gettman for the Brookings Institution showed the rates of use by whites and blacks have been about the same since at least 2001.

Our ruling
Gillibrand said blacks and Latinos in New York City are arrested at 10 times the rate of whites for marijuana possession, despite using it at about the same rate as whites.

State data proves Gillibrand’s claim. Nine percent of people arrested for marijuana possession in the city last year were white versus 86 percent that were black or hispanic. Analyses of federal data also shows white people report using marijuana about as much as black people.

We rate her claim True.

Free them!

Article by
Barbados Today

A civil society group that advocates for the legalization of marijuana here is demanding the release of everyone jailed for using the illegal drug.

Cannabis Barbados is contending that the use of cannabis ought not be a criminal offence in the first place, therefore, it was wrong to jail people who use it mainly for recreation, but also for medical and religious purposes.

In any event, the group’s spokesman Peter Adonijah Alleyne said, the incarceration of so many young men will have a devastating effect on the country in the coming years.

“Cannabis Barbados is . . . calling for an end to incarceration for the use of cannabis and the release of all of those imprisoned for such, along with the expunging of records,” Alleyne told a panel discussion last Friday, April 20 – known as 4:20 or Weed Day – at Israel Lovell Foundation’s Headquarters in My Lord’s Hill, St Michael.

“We wonder if the social engineers who [are] supposed to be so bright have considered the future of what we consider an aging society when a large number of young men are being criminalized for a plant. Thirty years down the road what would the situation be? The young lions who should be out there forging a way in society are being locked up for the usage of a plant. That does not make any sense,” Alleyne stressed.

Cannabis Barbados said it was on a mission to educate the authorities and the public about the history, prohibition, spiritual relevance and the implication of legalization of the plant, which it refused to refer to as marijuana, because the word “comes out of a history of racism in terms of the discrimination of Mexicans about cannabis”.

Alleyne charged that the authorities had been bombarding the Barbadian public with “misinformation, wrong information and often downright lies” about ganja for a very long time and “it is our belief that the time has come to dispel the myths through the presentation of the facts surrounding this plant of which we have been told in the bible is for the healing of the nations”.

During the discussion dubbed, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, the advocate for ganja use told the mostly Rastafarian audience it was only a matter of time before Barbados joins Jamaica and some states in the United States in decimalizing the drug.

However, Cannabis Barbados wants the country to go even further and legalize it.

“The group wants the end of the persecution of people for the use of a natural plant, the benefits of which are being recognized a bit more every day all over the world. We are asking for legalization so that the full benefits – spiritual, medical and economic – could be explored by all. We are encouraged by the moves towards the first step of decriminalization by our neighbours, Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, notably. We have started to make full representation with the relevant authorities. At this point I should note that the Rastafari community, for a number of years, has engaged the Government of Barbados in discussions relative to cannabis,” Alleyne said.

Confident that the changes in legislation will come, Alleyne said he hoped big business would not be the ones to benefit at the expense of those who fought over the years to free the weed.

“We have also resolved to ensure that when the changes in legislation come – and make no bones about it, it has to happen and we have seen it happen all around us –  . . . when these changes come we want to make sure that the people who have suffered the most under these repressive laws that now exist, mainly Rastafari and all poor people, that we are able to benefit and not be excluded or sidelined when the big land owners decide to flex their muscles.

“What we do not want to see is that when the laws are changed that the people that have all the land decide that they are going to plant ganja and the people that have suffered the most under that repression fighting to get a [small part] in it,” he stressed.

Alleyne added that the development of a cannabis industry here would help the Barbados economy flourish through the many by-products that could be produced from the plant.

60 Reasons To Legalize Marijuana

by W. E. Messamore

1. Liberty – Well a good place to start is so that we can live out our own American values of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness by respecting every individual’s liberty to make their own choices about their own body, their own time, and their own money.

2. Conservatism – Conservatives have been complaining about “the nanny state” and “big government run amok” for decades now, so here’s a chance to curtail the excesses of government overreach, something very well in line with purported conservative values.

3. Liberalism – Liberals have been vocal supporters of each individual’s right to make their own choices about their own bodies for decades now as well, so this is a chance to bring reality in line with rhetoric and let people be responsible for their own bodies.

4. Libertarianism – If you don’t like marijuana, just don’t use it. That’s a lot more simple of a solution than waging an entire war on it.

5. Consistency – Then there’s the fact that alcohol and nicotine, which are both also intoxicating substances, are legal in the United States despite the overwhelming empirical reality that they are both incredibly, incredibly destructive to health and life.

6. Not Toxic Nor Fatal – In fact according to the NIH, tobacco is the first leading preventable cause of death in America and alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable death. And according to the DEA marijuana has killed exactly zero people ever in the history of the world. (Page 75 of the 2017 DEA report Drugs of Abuse)

7. Not Addictive – Not only is marijuana impossible to overdose on, unlike alcohol, according to former US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, THC, the psychoactive substance in marijuana responsible for the characteristic high is not even addictive like alcohol, tobacco, or even caffeine. While consumers can become tolerant to THC (the effects of the drug diminish over repeated consumption without a “tolerance break” of a few days), it does not cause dependence (the need for the substance to avoid going through an uncomfortable or painful withdrawal) like alcohol and tobacco.

8. Does Not Cause Violence – Another quote by Joycelyn Elders from the same interview: “Nobody says that marijuana causes violence. As we know alcohol can cause much more aggressiveness. You aren’t as likely to hurt someone from using marijuana as you are from using alcohol.”

9. Not A “Gateway Drug” – “Marijuana is not a ‘gateway’ drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study.”

10. Your Lungs – In a rigorous twenty year study of over 5,000 men and women published in 2012 by the American Medical Association, researchers at two American universities found that casual marijuana use (defined as smoking up to a joint a week for twenty years or even a joint a day for seven years) not only doesn’t harm lung function, but “was associated with increases in lung air flow rates and increases in lung capacity.” Seriously.

11. Cancer – From Cancer.org: “More recently, scientists reported that THC and other cannabinoids such as CBD slow growth and/or cause death in certain types of cancer cells growing in lab dishes. Some animal studies also suggest certain cannabinoids may slow growth and reduce spread of some forms of cancer.”

12. Chemo – Same source: “A number of small studies of smoked marijuana found that it can be helpful in treating nausea and vomiting from cancer chemotherapy. Smoked marijuana has also helped improve food intake in HIV patients in studies. Studies have long shown that people who took marijuana extracts in clinical trials tended to need less pain medicine.”

13.Opiates – Legalizing marijuana provides a safer alternative to highly addictive prescription painkillers that are killing so many Americans today it has become a major public health crisis.

14. Epilepsy – CBD, one of the cannabinoids in marijuana, has been scientifically demonstrated to help treat and reduce the severity of a very terrible form of treatment resistant epilepsy that tragically mostly affects small children.

15. Alzheimer’s – Marijuana and products made from it have been used to help Alzheimer’s patients gain weight and ease some of the agitated behavior that patients experience. Scientists have also found it slows the progress of protein deposits in the brain that scientists suspect may be part of what causes Alzheimer’s.

16. Arthritis – One study found that patients treated with marijuana derivatives had less arthritis pain and slept better. Several other studies have found that marijuana may help reduce inflammation.

17. Chronic Pain – Marijuana consumption has been shown to have a substantial analgesic effect.

18. Crohn’s Disease – Researchers have found that smoking marijuana provided relief for people suffering from ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. It lowered their pain, improved diarrhea symptoms, and helped patients gain weight.

19. Glaucoma – Scientists have found THC can lower pressure on the optic nerve while preserving nerve health, helping treat one of the leading causes of blindness.

20. Creativity – Researchers believe marijuana increases creativity and novel ideas by enhancing divergent thinking and the mental connection of seemingly disparate ideas.

21. Happiness – A 2017 survey study of California and Colorado residents found marijuana consumers are markedly more financially successful and satisfied with their lives than abstainers.

22. Sanjay Gupta – CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been calling for legalization since 2013: “I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have ‘no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse.’ They didn’t have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana neither of those things are true. It doesn’t have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications. In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works.”

23. The California Medical Association – Thousands of other doctors believe marijuana should be legalized and studied. According to the California Medical Association: “As physicians, we need to have a better understanding about the benefits and risks of medicinal cannabis so that we can provide the best care possible to our patients.”

24. The Constitution – Congress is only legally allowed to pass laws within the scope of the specifically enumerated powers in Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, and the 10th Amendment says: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”
That’s why there had to be an entire Constitutional amendment to allow Congress to prohibit intoxicating liquors with the subsequent Volstead Act. No amendment, no prohibition. There could not be a more clear historical-legal example showing why the Controlled Substances Act of the 1970s prohibiting marijuana and other drugs is definitely unconstitutional.

25. Bill Clinton – “When I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t inhale and never tried it again.”

26. George W. Bush – George W. Bush has not been as forthcoming in interviews as Clinton was about his past marijuana consumption, but he admitted it to his biographer, Doug Wead (yes, it’s pronounced “weed”).

27. Barack Obama – “When I was a kid, I inhaled, frequently. That was the point.” He was actually a total pothead in college and had a group of people he regularly consumed massive amounts of weed with called “the Choom gang.” It didn’t stop him from becoming POTUS, and tragically, continuing to wage Nixon and Reagan’s ugly, harmful War on Drugs.

28. Thomas Jefferson – From High Times: “In addition to farming hemp, Jefferson was Ambassador to France during the hashish era there. At risk of imprisonment if caught, Jefferson smuggled hemp seeds from China known for their potency to America.”

29. George Washington – – George Washington grew hemp for rope, fabric, and paper, but also wrote this in a letter: “Began to separate the male from female plants rather too late… Pulling up the (male) hemp. Was too late for the blossom hemp by three weeks or a month,” indicating he may have smoked marijuana (some speculate to help with his chronic toothache) because the female plants have higher amounts of THC.

30. John Adams – Adams was a hemp enthusiast who also wrote in a column advocating for hemp production in the Boston Evening-Post in 1763: “we shall by and by want a world of Hemp more for our own consumshon.”

31. John F. Kennedy – According to John F. Kennedy: A Biography, JFK consumed marijuana to ease his back pain. One excerpt reads: “On the evening of July 16, 1962, according to [Washington Post executive] Jim Truitt, Kennedy and Mary Meyer smoked marijuana together… The president smoked three of the six joints Mary brought to him. At first he felt no effects. Then he closed his eyes and refused a fourth joint. ‘Suppose the Russians did something now,’ he said.”(!)

32. Rick Santorum – “I admitted back when I was running for the Senate that when I was in college I smoked pot, and that was something I did when I was in college, and it was something that I’m not proud of, but I did it.”

33. Portugal – Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001. Ten years later drug consumption in the coastal European nation had actually decreased and drug abuse was down by half.

34. Compassion – That’s because when drug abuse is treated as a health problem and not a crime problem, this more compassionate and reasonable approach gets better results. That’s why the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recommends shifting drug policy to do exactly that.

35. Violent Crime – A 2010 study released by the prestigious nonprofit, RAND Corp., indicates that stricter drug policies might actually lead to an increase in crime. The study found “that when hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries were closed last year in Los Angeles crime rates rose in surrounding neighborhoods.”

36. Organized Crime – Neill Franklin, the retired Baltimore narcotics cop who now leads Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), argues that “If we legalized and taxed drugs… we’d make society safer by bankrupting the cartels and gangs who control the currently illegal marketplace.”
If we legalize the sale of marijuana, law-abiding corporations will sell it instead of criminals. You could buy a pack of marijuana cigarettes at the 7-Eleven down the street. Against their massive economies of scale and base of capital investments, the violent drug dealer on the sidewalk would be put out of business overnight and our cities and suburbs would start becoming a lot safer.

37. National Security – In 2012, the Mexican government updated its death toll figures from the war on drugs, “reporting that 47,515 people had been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderón began a military assault on criminal cartels in late 2006.”
Critics of U.S. drug prohibition argue that the violence in Mexico is a direct result of U.S. prohibition measures, which create a black market for marijuana, a black market that Mexican criminal cartels have found lucrative, using their profits to purchase more weapons and engage in more criminal– often violent– activity. It’s becoming a national security issue.

38. Outlaws – To borrow a common argument from Second Amendment supporters: If you outlaw the sale of marijuana, only outlaws will profit from the sale of marijuana. And they will use those profits to fund other criminal activities and to protect the profits themselves, violently if necessary.

39. Harmless – Research emphatically shows marijuana consumption does not cause psychosis (disordered thinking leading to a break with reality).

40. Helpful – In fact CBD, one of the other psychoactive compounds in marijuana may even lessen psychotic symptoms in suffering patients, leading researchers to say it holds potential for use as an anti-psychotic.

41. Peaceful – Dozens of studies have shown that marijuana does not increase violent crime, and actually has a pacifying effect on people inclined to violence.
A review of the evidence in a National Academy of Sciences study on violence concluded, “The majority of the evidnece in experimental studies with animals and humans, as well as most data from chronic users, emphasizes that cannabis preparations (e.g., marihuana, hashish) or THC decrease aggressive and violent behavior.”

42. Chill – On the other hand, alcohol, which is legal in the United States, is well documented to increase violent incidents with aggressive people by lowering their inhibitions and impairing their judgment. A 2003 article from the journal, Addictive Behaviors noted that “alcohol is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship,” and that “cannabis reduces likelihood of violence during intoxication.”

43. Compassion – Although there is little evidence that marijuana use increases the likelihood of criminal behavior, marijuana convictions are definitely likely to ruin lives and expose people to a life of crime behind bars. State laws differ, but in some places, possessing just one marijuana joint can be punishable by up to a year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

44. Racism – An ACLU report, which sorted marijuana arrests by race and county in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, revealed that black people are almost four times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana than white people. So it’s a violation of liberty that happens to a historically oppressed racial minority in marked disproportion to their numbers.

45. Football – The NFL prohibits players from consuming marijuana, but one former player says about half of all NFL players smoke marijuana. Needless to say, professional football is one of the most demanding and competitive activities in the world and its athletes are peak performance individuals. It’s proof that marijuana doesn’t decrease an individual’s productivity or dull their skills.

46. Efficacy – One oft-cited study found that prohibition doesn’t seem to have a deterrent effect on the insatiable demand for this highly valued plant: “Fear of arrest, fear of imprisonment, the cost of cannabis or its availability do not appear to exert much effect on the prevalence of cannabis use.”

47. Weddings – A couple years back Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said, “If I’m at a wedding reception here and somebody has a drink or two, most people wouldn’t say they’re wasted. Most folks with marijuana wouldn’t be sitting around a wedding reception smoking marijuana.” Wedding and chill. Great wedding idea, governor!

48. The Children – Nearly a decade after Portugal decriminalized all drugs a white paper by the Cato Institute reported that drug use by seventh through ninth graders fell from 14.1% to 10.6%; drug use in older teens also declined.

49. Savings – An ACLU study found that marijuana law enforcement cost states an estimated $3.6 billion in 2010.

50. Revenue – A report from New Frontier Data estimates the cannabis industry could generate $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue and add 1.1 million jobs by 2025 if it’s legalized for adult use in all 50 states.

51. Popular Sovereignty – “Americans continue to warm to legalizing marijuana, with 64% now saying its use should be made legal. This is the highest level of public support Gallup has found for the proposal in nearly a half-century of measurement.”

52. State Sovereignty – With 30 states having legalized marijuana for recreational or medicinal consumption, it’s time for the federal government to back off drug policy and let states decide for themselves.

53. Reform – The War on Drugs is a staggering policy failure. Shockingly, in the United States, there is a drug arrest every 19 seconds, making for a total of 1.6 million drug arrests in 2010 alone. The FBI also reports that 81.9% of all drug-related arrests in 2010 were for simple possession, not drug dealing, and 45.8% of all drug-related arrests were for possession of marijuana. After this many decades, this many arrests, this many wasted dollars, and this many ill-effects of the War on Drugs, does any serious policy analyst, pundit, or politician actually claim that the world’s half-century experiment in drug prohibition has worked?

54. Focus – With all these resources and time spent on persecuting non-violent drug consumers, there is a tremendous opportunity cost for justice and speedy trials, including a notorious rape kit back log, prison overcrowding, and an overtaxed court system.

55. Enjoyment – Mayo Clinic reports, “Cannabis sativa is widely used recreationally (inhaled or taken by mouth) to achieve increased feelings of well-being.”

56. Humanity – “It was terrible. It was the most frightening experience of my life. I thought it was a terrorist attack.” -Leona Goldberg, an 82-year-old survivor of a drug raid on the wrong house. Leona was scared and confused when six policemen with riot shields and assault weapons charged into her Brooklyn apartment and ordered her husband, Martin, to the floor. Martin, a decorated World War II vet, was 84-years-old when the raid happened.

57. Sanity – According to investigative journalist and former Cato Policy analyst Radley Balko, “…the vast majority of paramilitary raids are executed against drug offenders, and many of those against marijuana offenders with no history of violence. Which means that far from defusing violent situations, most SWAT raids actually create them.”

58. Prisons – The US has less than 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. Half a million people were locked up for marijuana offenses in 2008. In 2016, there was a drug arrest every 20 seconds, feeding this prison overpopulation problem.

59. Pat Robertson – Even the Moral Majority televangelist thinks marijuana should be legalized: “We’re locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing you know they’ve got ten years, they’ve got mandatory sentences, and these judges just say- they throw up their hands and say there’s nothing we can do, it’s mandatory sentences. We’ve got to take a look at what we’re considering crimes, and that’s one of them. I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kind of thing, it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people.” If even Pat is ready to legalize, it’s time.

60. The Flower – This short cartoon is one of the best arguments for legalizing marijuana ever made: