www.marijuana.org

Dennis Peron in Long Beach for Gay Pride May 18-20

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:59:18 -0700

Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Celebration kicks off the summer Pride season, and the 2012 theme “Pride Links Us Together” is a great way to start things off. This is the 29th annual celebration, which now attracts more than 80,000 participants over Saturday and Sunday alone. The Festival Celebration includes seven large dance areas including a main stage, which has featured musical artists such as Grammy Award Winner Jennifer Hudson, Maya, and India.Arie.

However, this year’s big score? Queen Latifah! That’s right, this is the first time the multi-award-winning artist has performed at a Gay Pride event and she will be singing on the Pride main stage Saturday night.

While the official Pride weekend is May 19 & 20, the party starts Friday night. Check out all the info below.

The Anti-Science Streak in Federal Marijuana Policy

Sun, 20 May 2012 10:50:09 -0700

Excerpt from The Atlantic (May 20, 2012):

Marijuana is nevertheless classified under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule One drug. Under the law, drugs placed in that category must meet all of the following criteria (emphasis added):

The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

Critics of the Obama Administration’s drug policy, myself included, have focused on the president’s broken promise about federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in jurisdictions where they’re legal. But an even less defensible aspect of Obama’s drug policy is how marijuana is scheduled.

As John Walker points out, the Controlled Substances Act gives the executive branch the power to unilaterally change a drug’s classification: …

John Entwistle notes: This is another good article pounding the drum for rescheduling. Read the whole article at the “Source” link below.

Marijuana mea culpa -- Last week, we got some stuff wrong — but here’s the straight dope -- DUID explained.

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:31:00 -0700

Excerpt from Metro Times (May 16, 2012):

When marijuana is ingested through smoking, some elements of the substance are released into the bloodstream. Most pertinent to this discussion are THC, CBD and a few dozen other cannabinoids. THC is the cannabinoid at the root of marijuana hysteria because it’s the one most directly responsible for the high. Most edible preparations of marijuana involve a process where THC (and probably some other cannabinoids) are infused into butter or oils. Although the Alice B. Toklas recipe called for throwing the plant material directly into a batch of brownies back in the day, marijuana cuisine has moved far beyond that stage.

Here’s where the nuance comes in. THC is only present in the blood for a very limited amount of time that varies based upon factors such as how much was in the marijuana to start with. That can vary from about 2 percent (not very potent) to about 35 percent (what some might refer to as “killer weed”). Other factors include how often a person uses marijuana, and, when it comes to testing, whether it is whole blood or plasma being tested and the sensitivity of the equipment being used.

For most people other than chronic users, the body processes the THC within several hours and turns it into the benign metabolite carboxy THC (THC-COOH). Targowski says that’s two to 12 hours for most people. But everyday users have THC in their systems most of the time — though this does not necessarily mean they are impaired by it all the time.

John Entwistle notes: DUID is the hot issue across the country right now. The Obama Administration has people lobbying in various states to pass state level mandatory blood level based standards for defining drugged driving. This is as stupid as testing for nicotine, cafeine or chamomille or any number of other substances that may or may not be present and have no effect on performance anyways. As medical marijuana users we need to learn everything we can about the chemistry of cannabis metabolism. Writer Larry Gabriel does a wonderful job of simplifying and explaining the fundamentals of how your body eliminates THC and why you should not be busted for that joint you smoked last week. Great research… speaks well for the whole community of Michigan medical cannabis users. Read the whole article at the “source” link below.

And in a related note: Colorado voted down its DUID proposal on Tuesday, May 15th. Read an excellent article about the Colorado Marijuana DUID debate here.

Watch our 1 hour long cable television show from San...

Tue, 15 May 2012 17:31:16 -0700

Watch our 1 hour long cable television show from San Francisco.

SF City Watch producer Tony De Renzo is teaming up with Brian Peron in uploading and hosting their monthly medical Marijuana Talk Show which they produce on Cable Access TV hosted by Dennis Peron and John Entwistle.

A Critical Review Of Washington’s I-502 Initiative

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:55:04 -0700

Excerpt from The Weed Blog (May 11, 2012):

From The ‘No On I-502′ Campaign

Initiative 502 has caused a rift in the cannabis reform movement. It never had to be this way. Here are a couple of quick, initial points that should have immediately set off alarms for those who wrote this initiative:

One of our Drug Czar’s top national policies is encouraging states throughout the nation to adopt a per se DUID policy(as mandated for cannabis in Initiative 502). This is because it makes it easy to prosecute unimpaired drivers simply for having cannabis in their system (potentially from days ago).

Some of the most renowned and respected organizations in the cannabis law reform movement have been fighting adamantly, for years, against the same type of limit mandated in Initiative 502. For example, the Marijuana Policy Project calls this same limit “absurd“; theNational Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws has warned us about these type of limits, and are currently doing an alert to stop the same limit in Colorado. In addition, many other legalization supporters have worked strenuously to stop per se DUID limits from catching on.

When voting to “legalize” cannabis, one doesn’t expect sharing (such as passing a joint/bowl in a circle) to continue as a class C felony, nor do they expect growing even a single plant to remain completely illegal.

[Read the rest at the Source link below…]

Medical Marijuana Raids To Continue After House Defeats Defunding Bill

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:33:02 -0700

Excerpt from the Huffington Post (May 10, 2012):

The failed bill’s text reads as follows:

None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.

Of the 190 Democrats in the House, 134 (more than 70 percent) voted in favor of the bill. Only 29 of the 242 House Republicans (less than 12 percent) did.

[Hit Source button for rest of story]

Last Words to an America in Decline -- Ernest Callenbach

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:27:29 -0700

[This document was found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012) after his death.]

To all brothers and sisters who hold the dream in their hearts of a future world in which humans and all other beings live in harmony and mutual support — a world of sustainability, stability, and confidence. A world something like the one I described, so long ago, in Ecotopia and Ecotopia Emerging.

As I survey my life, which is coming near its end, I want to set down a few thoughts that might be useful to those coming after. It will soon be time for me to give back to Gaia the nutrients that I have used during a long, busy, and happy life. I am not bitter or resentful at the approaching end; I have been one of the extraordinarily lucky ones. So it behooves me here to gather together some thoughts and attitudes that may prove useful in the dark times we are facing: a century or more of exceedingly difficult times.

How will those who survive manage it? What can we teach our friends, our children, our communities? Although we may not be capable of changing history, how can we equip ourselves to survive it?

I contemplate these questions in the full consciousness of my own mortality. Being offered an actual number of likely months to live, even though the estimate is uncertain, mightily focuses the mind. On personal things, of course, on loved ones and even loved things, but also on the Big Picture. … (Hit the source button to read the rest…)

US News & World report: Why The Oregon Attorney General Race Has National Implications For Marijuana Laws

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:22:57 -0700

Excerpt from US News & World report (May 11, 2012):

Holton had been interim U.S. Attorney for Oregon when federal agents executed search warrants on several marijuana farms in the state last fall. That and other actions from his office had irked medical marijuana and pro-legalization activists, including Greig, so Greig posted a message to a listserv of about 300 other activists suggesting that they begin publicly opposing Holton’s candidacy.

Other prominent activists quickly reached out to him, and soon afterward they launched a full-scale attack on Holton, one that has gained the attention of national pro-legalization and medical marijuana activists, several of whom are supporting Holton’s opponent, Ellen Rosenblum. A former Oregon Court of Appeals judge, Rosenblum will face off against him in the Democratic primary next Tuesday. No Republican has entered the race, so the winner of the primary will determine the November outcome. …

On Wednesday July 4, 2012 The Rally to Reschedule Marijuana as...

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:16:13 -0700

On Wednesday July 4, 2012 The Rally to Reschedule Marijuana as Medicine & 43rd Annual Smoke-In will take place in front of the White House and on the National Mall in Washington DC. Join medical marijuana activist Dennis Peron and friends as we rally to educate our elected officials and voters, march and demonstrate for our first amendment rights, and the right to choose the medicine we put into our bodies, marijuana. To become a volunteer visit smoke-in.org

The Rally starts at “High Noon” in Lafayette Park (North side of the White House).

Medical Marijuana Insurance -- Good article

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:39:51 -0700

Excerpt from KOMONews.com (May 5, 2012):

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia now have medical marijuana laws.

In just Oregon and Washington there are nearly 100,000 medical marijuana patients.

Now this once fringe culture has taken another step towards the mainstream – growers and grower cooperatives can now buy insurance policies to protect their crops and marijuana inventories against losses.

Insurance agent Dan DeChynne is one of the first to sell the pot policies in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

“It covers every kind of possible case; fire, rain, or wind, theft, even raids,” he told KATU On Your Side Investigator Thom Jensen. …

Connecticut's New Medical Marijuana Law -- How will it work?

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:34:07 -0700

Excerpt from the Hartford Courant (May 5, 2012):

After nearly 10 hours of debate Friday night, the state Senate voted 21-13 to approve a bill legalizing medical marijuana. The House of Representatives approved the measure 91-56 on April 25. The governor still needs to sign the bill for it to become law. Here’s how it will work:

Q: Who would be eligible to use medical marijuana, if the proposed legislation becomes law?

A: To qualify, a patient would need to be certified by a physician as having a debilitating medical condition — cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, Crohn’s disease or post-traumatic stress disorder — or any medical condition, medical treatment or disease approved by the Department of Consumer Protection and a Board of Physicians that would be established. Patients would have to be at least 18. Prison inmates would not qualify, regardless of their medical condition. …

John Entwistle notes: This is a good easy to understand primer on the new Connecticut medical marijuana law. Hit the “source” link below to read the rest. I think this law is unrealistic and will help very few people in the real world but we shall see and it is nice to see the folks in Connecticut doing something. They should just decriminalize personal cultivation and possession for anyone with a doctors recommendation or approval. But their theory is that is is better to keep 98% of the people who need this drug from getting it than to allow one person who “shouldn’t” use it to do so.

Also the USA today has a good article saying that the Connecticut Governor will sign the bill into law.

Photo

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:05:00 -0700

New Jersey -- Local doctors cleared to prescribe medical marijuana

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:27:33 -0700

Excerpt from NorthJersey.com (Apr 26, 2012):

Jagar is among four local doctors who have been approved by the state to prescribe medical marijuana, but none of the companies that were approved to dispense the marijuana when the law was passed more than two years ago have yet been permitted to do so. Most still do not have a facility to operate out of as the municipalities that they have been approved to operate in have had their zoning and planning boards turn down applications. The only one with a home, which is in Montclair, was given a permit last week to begin growing marijuana, but has not yet been permitted to sell it.

The law, which was signed in January 2010, allows for six alternative treatment centers (ATCs) across the state, two in each of the three districts (north, central and south) to dispense marijuana to qualified patients who have a prescription from a doctor who is in the program’s physician registry. The patients themselves must too hold an identification card from the program. A patient would be eligible to receive a maximum of two ounces of marijuana each month with a level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, not exceeding 10 percent.

John Entwistle notes: This is an interesting article for those following events in the garden state. to read, just click the “source” link below.

Hawaii News Daily's Medical Marijuana Update -- Great National Overview

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:01:29 -0700

Excerpt From Hawaii News Daily (May 3, 2012):

President Obama is taking flak from comedians and politicians alike over the federal crackdown on dispensaries. Meanwhile, raids and legal battles continue to rage across the country. Let’s get to it:

National

Last Thursday, Rep. Barney Frank criticized President Obama for the medical marijuana crackdown. “I think it’s bad politics and bad policy,” Frank said. “I’m very disappointed. I think it’s a grave mistake. It’s unfair and will hurt innocent people,” he told The Hill. Frank said he has told Obama personally that he is “making a mistake on this,” though he doubts medical marijuana will be an issue for the president in the 2012 campaign. “Not against Mitt Romney,” Frank said.

On Saturday, comedian Jimmy Kimmel confronted President Obama over the federal medical marijuana crackdown as he hosted the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “I do have one real question for you, Mr. President. What’s with the marijuana crackdown? I mean, seriously, what’s the concern, we will deplete the nation’s Funyun supply?” he quipped. “You know, pot smokers vote, too — sometimes a week after the election, but they vote.” Go to the link above for Kimmel’s complete marijuana segment.

California

The California legislature will vote on several bills that will seriously affect medical cannabis patients in the state, …

John Entwistle notes: This column by Phillip Smith at the Hawaii News Daily is the most comprehensive compilation of whats going on across the country that I tend to see. I really like it and will try to link to it every week. Read it by clicking the “source” link below.

Nancy Pelosi: Medical Marijuana Busts By Feds Of 'Strong Concern'

Fri, 04 May 2012 16:37:00 -0700

Excerpt from The Huffington Post (May 4,2012):

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday released a statement pushing back against the Obama administration’s interference with medical marijuana laws in California and beyond. Her statement comes after medical marijuana advocates delivered a petition earlier that day calling on Pelosi to defend patients from ramped up federal enforcement measures.

“I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California,” said Pelosi, “and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana.”

John Entwistle notes: Good words, nice start. I await her follow up eagerly. Perhaps she will finally sign on as a cosponsor for Barney Frank’s HR 1983 — The Reschedule Marijuana & Protect States rights Act. Anything short of a concerted effort to successfully remove pot from schedule one of the Controlled Substances Act leaves the problem in place to pop up later. In other words, Just not enforcing federal law is not enough — We have to change federal law. We note with disappointment that no mention of rescheduling or descheduling was made in the petition.

Berkeley Patients Group Closure Marks Biggest Casualty Of Pot Crackdown

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:02:00 -0700

With its only retail outlet due to close today, Berkeley Patients Group is set to become the biggest casualty so far in a bold and controversial legal offensive by federal prosecutors against California’s pot industry.

The group sent an e-mail to customers earlier today announcing the pending closure.

While dozens of other medical marijuana dispensaries around the state have been forced to shut down since California’s four U.S. attorneys launched the crackdown in October, none is as large or commands the same local political support as Berkeley Patients Group.

John Entwistle notes: The article in Huffpost is actually very good reading and carries much insight into the mindset behind many if not all of the dispensary operators in California. Greed! Some folks are very good at playing Monopoly but unfortunately ending/surviving the war on marijuana and making fortunes selling pot at black market prices are not always the same game. Of particular interest is the complaint document filed by Debby Goldsberry. And I though I was delusional, check these guys out…

Medical-marijuana dispensaries run into trouble at the bank

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:32:00 -0700

Excerpt from The Seattle Times (April 29, 2012):

The booming medical-marijuana industry in Washington is struggling to gain business legitimacy. Already on shaky legal footing because of the conflict between state and federal law, dispensaries are bogged down by troubles with banking and federal taxes. …

That’s in part because federal authorities have warned banks that handling receipts from marijuana sales remains illegal under federal law and could violate money-laundering laws.

The conflict is not isolated to Washington, one of 16 states — plus the District of Columbia — to allow therapeutic use of marijuana for certain patients. …

Advocacy groups are lobbying Congress for changes to banking law and the IRS code that acknowledge the legitimacy of an industry estimated at $1.7 billion.

Obama Accused Of Lying About Medical Marijuana Laws

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:24:05 -0700

Excerpt from: The Huffington Post (April 29, 2012):

President Obama is accused of lying about federal laws regarding marijuana.

The charge, from Fire Dog Lake’s Jon Walker, comes after the president’s interview with Rolling Stone, published this month.

In the interview, Obama was asked to reconcile his statement, as a presidential candidate, that he would not use “Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws [on medical marijuana],” with his administration’s recent severe crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Obama’s Marijuana Stance Skewered by Jimmy Kimmel: VIDEO

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:03:46 -0700

Obama’s Marijuana Stance Skewered by Jimmy Kimmel: VIDEO

Medical Marijuana & Jewish Law -- Excellent article.

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:15:21 -0700

Excerpt from The Jewish Standard (Apr 27, 2012):

Medical marijuana is used to treat patients with AIDS and those receiving chemotherapy — both of which are life-threatening scenarios — as well as those suffering from glaucoma, which Jewish law regards as equally hazardous. In fact, serious eye injury/disease was the only condition that was always regarded as “dangerous” because of the connection between the optic nerve and the brain. If one must violate the laws of Shabbat or of kashrut in such situations, Jewish law could also sanction an otherwise illegal drug, such as marijuana. In non life-threatening situations (e.g. chronic back pain, migraine headaches, etc.), medical marijuana might also be sanctioned by Jewish law if no other effective remedy is available. This is based on the concept that the halachic obligation/understanding of healing is not limited only to saving lives, but extends to the alleviation of pain and suffering, as well.