Where's Weed Marijuana News Blog

Illinois could be the next state to institute medical marijuana

Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon said she is in favor of a bill ( HB1) allowing the medical use of marijuana, explaining Sunday that testimony from seriously ill veterans and other patients helped change her mind.

“As a former prosecutor my first reaction was, ‘I’m not interesting in changing our laws on medical marijuana,’” she told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday. But she said that after hearing from patients and reading up on the bill, she’s convinced the regulations are strict enough. Backers of the measure, which has cleared the Illinois House and awaits a Senate vote, have said the same thing.

The plan, touted as the strictest in the nation among states that have legalized medical marijuana, would authorize physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients with whom they have an existing relationship and who are living with at least one of more than 30 medical conditions, including cancer.

The proposal creates a framework for a pilot program that includes requiring patients and caregivers to undergo background checks. It also sets a 2.5-ounce limit per patient per purchase and sets out state-regulated dispensaries.

Supporters say marijuana can relieve continual pain without the detrimental side effects of prescription drugs. But opponents say the program could encourage recreational use, especially among teenagers.

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association are opposed to the measure, saying there’s no sure way to figure out whether a motorist is driving under the influence of marijuana.

But Simon told the AP the bill is strict enough to prevent misuse.

“It does a good job of both getting medical marijuana to people who need and keeping it away from those who don’t,” she said.

Gov. Pat Quinn, a Chicago Democrat, has been noncommittal whether he would sign the bill, saying instead that he is open-minded to the idea.

Simon is weighing a run for another statewide office instead of seeking another term as lieutenant governor. The Carbondale Democrat declined Sunday to say which office she will run for, saying she will wait to see how other shape up.

Simon is likely choosing between Illinois’ attorney general, comptroller or treasurer. In recent months, Simon has played up her law-related background and accomplishments including as a pro bono lawyer and prosecutor.

Her decision comes as the 2014 governor’s race is heating up and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is weighing a possible challenge to Quinn.

76% of doctors approve of medical marijuana

more than 76% of doctors approved the use of medical marijuana according to a recent survey by the New England Journal of Medicine. They polled 1,446 doctors from 72 differnt countries and 56 differen states and provinces in North America. Over 115 doctors even posted comments on why they believe it should be allowed for medical purposes!

"We were suporsed by the outcome of polling and comments, with 76 percent of all votes in favor of the use of marijuana for medicinal purpose- even though marijuana use is illegal in most countries," the survey authors wrote.

The surveyed doctors were given a hypothetical case about a woman named "Marylin", a 68-year-old woman who had breast cancer that had spread to her lungs, chest cavity, and spine. The doctors were asked if they woudl give her medical marijuana to help with her symptoms, and more than three quateres of the physicians approve the usage in this scenario.

Marijuana has been linked to a number of medical benifits and treatments, including pain relief, improve mood, and increase appetite. Doctors who said they would prescribe medical marijuana talked alot about their responsibilitiy to help minize the patient's suffering, and the known dangers of prescription narcotics and painkillers. Many also pointed out personal cases where medical marijauna was able to help a patient.

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Marijuana Prevents Brain Damage

The words “marijuana” and “brain damage” usually go in that order in medical literature. An Israeli researchers has flipped them around, finding that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, may help to heal some forms of brain damage in mice. Medical Marijuana is already is favored by those who suffer from chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, cancer, and several other debilitating diseases.

But pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University found that a minuscule amount of tetrahydrocannabinol may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, toxic drug exposure or a lack of oxygen.

The amounts wouldn’t qualify as much more than a second-hand whiff of kine bud – the quantity of THC is an order of 1,000 to 10,000 lower than that in a whole spliff.

The new dope on marijuana was published in Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, which are professional journals, not nicknames for HempCon or Burning Man.
Other researchers didn’t tend to Bogart the joint as much. They suggested using high — their word — doses within about half an hour after such injury. Sarne would spread a smaller dose over as much as a week.

The chemical is thought to jump-start biochemical processes that protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function.

Researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Fellow rodents in a control group got their brains bonked without the dose.
About a month or two later, the mice that got the THC treatment performed better in behavioral tests measuring learning and memory and showed they had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than the control-group mice.

Oddly, it may be brain damage on a small scale that causes the brain to shift into protective mode. Researchers theorize the THC causes minute damage to the brain that helps build resistance and triggers protective measures in the face of more severe injury.

The low dose and long window for administering it would have obvious benefits after an injury, but it also could mean that THC can be given prior to a procedure that may carry risk of brain injury, including interruption of blood flow to the brain during surgery. Sarne believes it also could be safe for regular use among epileptics.

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Geoffrey Mohan
Published: May 31, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times

Marijuana Prohibition: propagating racism with a trillion dollar price tag

Many families are still feeling the effects of the downtrodden economy. Despite the stock market’s recent gains many communities are still forced to tighten their proverbial belt. Even the government can’t escape the reality that money is tight, and with the States’ current haphazard spending habits communities may have to tighten their belt a few more notches.

There are many places our States could cut cost, but there is one egregious expenditure that stands out. The cost of enforcing laws dictating the use of marijuana is astronomical.

In 2010 it is estimated that States spent a staggering 3.6 billion dollars cracking down on marijuana possession, and that is on the low side of estimations. Upper fences gauge the real expense as high as 6 billion.

What’s worse is the amount of taxpayer money used in these cases will continue to climb. Each arrest for marijuana possession costs the state in which the arrest took place around 750$. Then it costs a little under 100$ a day to keep the offender in jail. Finally, the straw that threatens to break the camel’s back, every community spends two dollars a day on supervision of possible users. Added all up, over the next six years marijuana related expenses will cost an approximated 20 billion- per state That’s over 1 Trillion dollars over the course of the next 6 years!

To think this costly endeavor of preventing marijuana could turn into a lucrative bread winner for governments and the governed alike. Legalization of marijuana would provide ample opportunities to generate revenue for struggling neighborhoods and fiscal budgets, but alas this potential force of good is being used for the opposite of uplifting communities. It is forcing certain portions of the populace down.

Apparently “justice” isn’t as blind as we thought. A new study by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) apply named “The War On Marijuana IN Black and White” finds that nationwide blacks are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than their white counter parts. In some states it’s even more extreme. In Iowa a black person is EIGHT times more likely to be arrested in a marijuana related charge, the highest in the nation.

Communities have been under so much pressure of late. The last thing people need is State governments bleeding them dry to enforce a set of archaic laws, or worse yet, practicing racial discrimination.
The obvious solution of legalization won’t eliminate racism, but it will lessen its destructive hold on our legal system. If marijuana were to be made legal all that money spent in reckless pursuit would be where it rightfully belongs, in your wallet.

Marijuana and Children: still safer than hamburgers

A recent Huffington Post article pointed to 14 kids being admitted to Hospitals with side effects from accidently ingesting of marijuana. If you want to read the article then feel free, but let me save you some time: kids, just like adults, could have some side effects to marijuana.

These included: laughing, glassy eyes, acting goofy, and unsteady walking; but never death. The most serious result was a five year old boy who had trouble breathing. All of these children left the hospital fully recovered within a very short time frame.

Of course, any trip a child takes to the hospital should be taken seriously, but given the circumstances it could have been much worse. Those kids could have had a burger!

Recently there was a case in the state of Washington where several children had been sickened by an epidemic of food poisonings linked to Hamburgers bought at Jack in the Box. The popular fast food chain was suspected of not cooking hamburgers thoroughly, and this misstep is responsible in sending nine kids to Children’s Medical Center of Seattle. Of those nine eight children were on kidney dialysis, two more were in intensive care, and a nine year old girl was in critical condition.

However tragic the story of those kids are, they weren’t the worst of it. A two year-old boy died from the bacteria E. coli, which shut down his kidneys causing his heart to fail. The child’s grandfather was quoted as saying “he loved hamburgers”.

Of course this entire series of events was terribly tragic, but it goes to show that almost nothing is 100% safe. A hamburger, consumed by the millions every day, put thousands of people at risk, and that was something those kids were supposed to eat.

Those youngsters recently sent to Colorado Children’s Hospital were never meant to get their hands on their parent’s medical marijuana, but this kind of thing does happen. Kids are curious, and notorious for putting things in their mouth that they shouldn’t.

This fact is evident by the ten thousand calls to poison control every day. The only difference is if a toddler ingests bleach, laundry detergent, anti-freeze, or even common pain medications versus medical marijuana the consequences will be much more dire for the former.

With all the things parents should worry about their children ingesting, medical marijuana is a long way down the list. It’s even safer than peanuts, aspirin, a lack of exercise, and yes, HAMBURGERS.

It is the parent’s responsibility to keep things out of the hands of children in their house. This includes everything from guns, alcohol, household cleaners, prescription pills, and medical marijuana. The Huffington Post shouldn’t be blaming medical marijuana; it should be blaming the lack of attention some parents give their children.

Rabbi poised to open Marijuana Dispensary in D.C.

Washington, D.C. -- When you think of a rabbi, several words and phrases may come to mind, but "medical marijuana dispensary owner" is perhaps not one of them. That, however, is exactly what former Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn is.

Kahn and his wife, Stephanie Reifkind Kahn, hope to open the Takoma Wellness Center after Memorial Day weekend. It would be the second licensed medical marijuana dispensary to open in the nation's capital since the D.C. Council voted to make pot legal for medicinal purposes in 2010.

The only thing they are waiting for, Jeffrey Kahn told The Huffington Post, is the go-ahead from the D.C. Department of Health. They've already passed a final inspection from the department.

Before he retired in 2007, Kahn spent time as a rabbi all over the United States, including New Jersey and Chicago, and as far away as Australia. He now attends synagogues around the Washington area and cites religious scripture to explain his new career.

"I think Scripture is very clear that when we have the opportunity to help people, we must do it," Kahn told the Washington City Paper in 2010, when he and his wife first set out to open a dispensary.

When the two decided to establish the Takoma Wellness Center, they were honoring Stephanie Kahn's late parents, who both had illnesses the side effects of which can be alleviated with cannabis.

Jules, her father, had multiple sclerosis and "sought physician after physician, always searching for some relief from the severe spasms caused by MS," Stephanie Kahn, who is a nurse, wrote on the dispensary website. But when his father-in-law finally tried marijuana, Jeffrey Kahn told City Paper, "he was amazed" by the relief it brought him.

Stephanie Kahn's mother, Libby, was diagnosed with cancer in 2005. "Chemo robbed her of her appetite, and she fought constant nausea. The physicians again recommended marijuana. She couldn't find it," Stephanie Kahn wrote.

The Kahns' dispensary will help some of those suffering from serious illnesses like Jules and Libby to find relief. Under the regulations the city adopted in 2010, only those with HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis can obtain medical marijuana; they will need a recommendation from a doctor.

The shop will sell vaporizers and even a machine that makes marijuana butter, which can be used in baked goods, in addition to literature about the politics surrounding medical marijuana, according to NBC4.

Throughout the process of getting their dispensary up and running, the Kahns' message has remained steady: They want to help sick people.

"Our ward [Ward 4] has the highest cancer rate in D.C. ... There's a need for our dispensary here," Jeffrey Kahn told the City Paper.

And as for how a retired rabbi, who moved from New Jersey to Israel in 2007, ended up where he is today, Kahn notes that you can't always predict your future.

"When I retired from my [last] congregation, it was the furthest thing in my mind that I would end up in D.C. selling marijuana," he told New Jersey Jewish News in 2010. "You just never know."

University of Michigan kicks off 2.2 million dollar Marijuana Research Study

The University of Michigan has recently recieved a $2.2 million dollar federaral research grant to study marijuana's effects on pain. This funding comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and will pay for a two-year studty of 800 Michigan Medical Marijuana patients who are seeking to obtain a state medical marijuana card.

The team of University of Michigan Medical School researchers will approach patients at their first doctors visit, and will try to document medical marijuana's potential impact in a more scientific way. “With the ongoing policy debate and the growing popularity of medical marijuana programs in the United States, it is essential to understand the ramifications of medical marijuana use for individuals who seek access to it,” says study leader Mark Ilgen, Ph.D., “We hope that with this study can help inform the debate.”

“Marijuana is the most frequently used drug in the nation, and has been legalized for medical use in many ways, yet we have very little understanding of how individuals using medical marijuana do over time,” says Frederic Blow, Ph.D., a co-investigator on the study. “We hope this study will help provide much-needed data on the characteristics of those who seek medical marijuana, and the longer-term impact on their health and lives."

Massachusetts doctor recommending Medical Marijuana despite lack of dispensaries

Massachusetts' medical marijuana regulations officially went into effect on Friday, but thats not stopping one doctor from already recommending it to patients. Dr. Jill Griffin of Northhampton, Mass, began writing marijuana recommendations for her patients before dispensaries were even open in the state!

While she was not originally sold on marijuana's medical use, she took a chance by writing one recommendation for an elderly cancer patient. "She was able to eat and get up and go out and go shopping," said Griffin. Prior to recieving her mmj recommendation, the cancer patient had really been "housebound."

Part of the reason Dr. Griffin chose to open her office, she says, is the hesitance of many primary care doctors to recommend marijuana to patients. And though Griffin says many of her patients are new to her, she maintains the required relationship with them through follow-up calls and visits.

Keep up the good work Dr. Griffin! The majority of America stands behind you.

Thanks for joining us this weekend at the AMMP Expo! Check out our raffle ticket winners!

Thank you to everyone who came out to the American Medical Marijuana Professionals Expo this weekend in Detroit, Michigan. It was a fun filled weekend featuring tons of vendors, speakers, educational classes, and so much more. There was even a Magic Vapor bus that took patients back and forth between the medicating site!

We raffled off a few very nice pieces from Boro Boutique, including: a Chad G Mini Tube, a Hitman mini beaker, and a Relik dry pipe! Below are the winners for all of the glass pieces:

The Hitman Mini Beaker- Ticket # 754112

Chad G Mini Tube- Ticket #:753615

Relik Dry Spoon- Ticket #:753046

Chad G Lay Back Dry Pipe- Ticket #: 024006

The raffle winners have already been contacted via email, so make sure to go check yours!

Join us in Detroit, MI March 22nd-24th for the AMMP Expo

The 3rd Annual American Medical Marijuana Professionals Expo is kicking off this Friday in Detroit, MI! Join WheresWeed.com at the expo and experience hundreds of vendors, educational classes, speakers, and demonstrations. You can even catch a ride on the Magic Vapor Bus to the nearby medicating site!

The knowledgeable doctors will be there to quickly and easily evaluate atients to determine if medical marijuana is a viable treatment option. Their customer care representatives are there to help you through every step in receiving your medical marijuana card from the state of Michigan.

The expo will also have tons of live music from local bands, and a FREE concert featuring Afroman!

Be sure to stop by WheresWeed.com's booth to pick up loads of free give-a-way items, and enter into our raffle! We will be giving away a few amazing glass pieces from Boro Boutique, including an incredible Chad G worked mini tube.

The AMMP expo will take place from Friday, March 22nd until Sunday, March 24th at The Roostertail Event Center. Doors are open on Friday from 5pm-9pm, Saturday from 9am-9pm, and Sunday 9am-5pm.

We hope to see you there!

Colorado Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division Proposes Changes

The Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division has released the set of rules personnel hope to change over the next year in order tostreamline the state medical marijuana industry. See the full document below.

The seven page list, issued late yesterday, covers a wide range of subjects, ranging from cultivation standards to dispensary bookkeeping. There's a lot to cover, so here's a breakdown of the highlights:

The MMED wants to tackle issues in the area of licensing and application requirements, including laws concerning businesses in banned communities, validating the so-called 70/30 medicine rule, as well as licensing and application fees.

Transfer of ownership issues have been a problem for the MMED, as well as local municipalities, with dispensaries frequently changing hands over the last year. In addition to addressing them, staffers want to look at ownership interests like requirements for residency and reporting criminal history.

Vendor registration topics are on the list, as is laboratory registration -- something testing facilities have been requesting clarification about for quite some time.

The MMED is considering changes to existing video monitoring rules, with "more general, reasonable requirements requiring consistent and reliable video monitoring of specified areas of the licensed premises, with the corresponding obligation of providing video records to the division or local authority upon request and without unreasonable delay."

In regard to cultivation, the state wants to consider definitions for "cannabis plant: seed, seedling, cutting, grafting, immature plant-statutory definition, vegetation or sporophytic state, flowering or gametophytic state; stem, leaf, sweet leaf, trichomes, cannabinoid, Flower/Bud;Hashish/Hash, Kief, Bubble Hash, Hash Oil/Resin, concentrate, waste, etc."

Also on the table are guidelines authorizing extraction methods for MMJ (Hash/hash oil) that can't be defined as an MMJ-infused product, plus defining specific extraction processes like manual sifting, water hash and solvent-based extractions

Rules pertaining to prohibited processes, additives, chemicals and fertilizers are also on the list.

The MMED will be taking written comments from the public on the proposed changes until December 28, when employees will compile the suggestions and release draft language. That said, the MMED's release doesn't include where the suggestions should be sent. We've contacted the MMED for clarification, but in the meantime, its physical mailing address is:

Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division

455 Sherman Street, Suite 390

Denver, CO 80203

Public comment will be held January 11, February 15 and March 22 at the Jefferson County Courthouse. The final proposal will be available in early April.

"The division is hopeful that opening the discussion beyond the designated advisory panel will encourage the participation of those with valuable and constructive input," officials said in a release last week. "Before the meetings, the division will release the agenda and general guidelines for constructive participation."

Ireland pushes for legalisation of medical marijuana

Ireland has recently announced an initiative to bring legalisation of medical marijuana early next year. While the Misuse of Drugs Act currently prohibits possesion and distribution, the Irish Medicines Board has seeked permission to sell medical marijuana drugs.

While an exact timeline has not been set, legislators expect proposals in early 2013.

Source: Independent.ie

The Price of Legalization

Just as Prohibition bore Al Capones and strengthened the Frank Costellos and "Lucky" Lucianos, American drug prohibition has spawned a host of cartels south of its border. They wage war against each other for the rights to the most lucrative illegal drug market on Earth -- the United States -- which by some estimates, consumes two-thirds of all the illegal drugs in the world.

Yet there is a major difference between Capone's henchmen and the Mexican cartels: "The violence is not to the scale of what's going on in Mexico," Peck said.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929, one of the most heinous crimes of the era, left seven dead. That many could be murdered in a Mexican border town on your average Wednesday.

How big a hit the cartels would take if the United States legalized pot is a matter of debate, and conclusions vary widely. While U.S. officials said in 2009 that 60% of cartel revenue came from weed, the RAND Corporation said the following year that "15-26 percent is a more credible range."

A report this month by the Mexican Competitive Institute predicted Mexican drug organizations, namely the Sinaloa Cartel, could lose almost $2.8 billion just with the legalization votes in Colorado and Washington.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, states saw two immediate benefits aside from neutering the criminal gangs, the first being that they could regulate the product.

Under Prohibition, unscrupulous bootleggers had manufactured moonshines and bathtub gins that could render tipplers blind or dead. Once alcohol was legal, you had a return to quality control, Peck said.

The second immediate benefit? They could also tax the hooch.

"It was a huge consideration. The Great Depression was going on at that point," Peck said. "FDR pays for the New Deal with excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco."

In President Franklin Roosevelt's first two terms, federal taxes jumped from $1.6 billion in 1933 to $5.3 billion in 1940.

How that might translate to marijuana taxation today is debatable, and the ends of the gamut are nowhere near middle ground.

"Medical marijuana helped save the economy in California ... The counties north of San Francisco survived the recession through marijuana," said Aldrich, the marijuana historian.

He was referring to the Emerald Triangle, which is known for producing and exporting some of the country's highest-grade cannabis.

On the other side, you have President Barack Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, who emphatically denied that marijuana legalization would prove a boon to state coffers. Taxes on alcohol, he told CNN in 2010, amount to $14.5 billion a year, where as the social costs are closer to $185 billion.

Ahead of the recent ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington, the Colorado Center on Law & Policy estimated that legalization would yield $60 million in state and local revenue and savings by 2017, and perhaps double thereafter. And Washington's Office of Financial Management estimated that a "fully functioning" marijuana industry could bring in nearly $2 billion in revenue over the next five years.

"Fully functioning." Therein lies the rub.

Both the Colorado and Washington estimates came with caveats explaining the obvious: Any revenue projection is contingent on the federal government not enforcing the laws that still render possession of an ounce of marijuana illegal -- even in Colorado and Washington.

University of Virginia law professor Richard Bonnie, co-author of "Marijuana Conviction: A History of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States," said it's a tricky equation.

"There is something attractive about saying you've got this underground market that's not going away, that you're missing a tax opportunity," he said. "The amount of tax revenue you're going to derive from it is going to depend on what your regulatory approach is going to be."

Bonnie was part of the commission that futilely recommended marijuana decriminalization to President Richard Nixon in the 1970s, but he is quick to emphasize that states must step gingerly if marijuana is legalized.

There were many problems with regulating alcohol post-Prohibition, and there still are today. More than a third of eight-graders say they've used alcohol, and almost three-quarters of high schoolers have gotten drunk.

"You have to have a model that doesn't seem to actively encourage use in ways that are harmful to society and the individual," he said, noting the modern regulation of cigarettes provides an admirable model.

Though the Tax Policy Center reports state and local governments collected $17.3 billion in tobacco taxes in 2010, cigarette use, especially among youngsters, has dropped almost 33% since 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Colorado legalizes Recreation Marijuana with Amendment #64

November 6, 2012 11:00pm CST - Huffington Post shows voters are leading polls for passage of Amendment 64, legalizing marijuana in the state of Colorado. More specifically, this initiative legalizes the use and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.

With 42% reporting, polls show 53.2% in favor of the amendment. This is in stark contrast compared to an earlier initiative just six years ago, where 59% of the Colorado population voted against a similar amendment.

However in the recent years Gov. Bill Ritter introduced into law a bill legalizing medical marijuana. While only a small step forward at the time, this has cleared the path for legalization of recreational marijuana across all boards, including State Senator Shawn Mitchell who stated, "It’s clear the War on Drugs isn’t working, and we need to try different approaches to this in society.”

How exactly these initiatives will move forward remains unknown, however what is clear is that Colorado will be one of the first states to forge the path ahead for legalization of recreational marijuana.

Edit: As of 11:00pm CST Colorado has offically passed Amendment 64, legalizaing marijuana in Colorado!

Israel pushes forward with Medical Marijuana

Safed, Israel — Moshe Rute survived the Holocaust by hiding in a barn full of chickens. He nearly lost the use of his hands after a stroke two years ago. He became debilitated by recurring nightmares of his childhood following his wife's death last year.

"But after I found this, everything has been better," said the 80-year-old, as he gingerly packed a pipe with marijuana.

Rute, who lives at the Hadarim nursing home outside of Tel Aviv, is one of more than 10,000 patients who have official government permission to consume marijuana in Israel, a number that has swelled dramatically, up from serving just a few hundred patients in 2005.

The medical cannabis industry is expanding as well, fueled by Israel's strong research sector in medicine and technology — and notably, by government encouragement. Unlike in the United States and much of Europe, the issue inspires almost no controversy among the government and the country's leadership. Even influential senior rabbis do not voice any opposition to its spread, and secular Israelis have a liberal attitude on marijuana.

Now, Israel's Health Ministry is considering the distribution of medical marijuana through pharmacies beginning next year, a step taken by only a few countries, including Holland, which has traditionally led the way in Europe in legalizing medical uses of the drug.

Marijuana is illegal in Israel, but medical use has been permitted since the early 1990s for cancer patients and those with pain-related illnesses such as Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and even post-traumatic stress disorder. Patients can smoke the drug, ingest it in liquid form, or apply it to the skin as a balm.

A hot topic in America

In stark contrast, medical use is still hotly contested in the United States, with only 17 states and Washington, D.C., permitting medical marijuana for various approved conditions. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says smoked marijuana is not medicine, and "has not withstood the rigors of science." In Europe, Spain, Germany and Austria have allowed or decriminalized some degrees of medical marijuana use.

The numbers of patients authorized to use marijuana in Israel is still far lower than those in the U.S. states, where it is legal. Colorado, for example, has 82,000 registered users in a population of 5 million, compared the 10,000 in Israel, a country of 8 million people.

But Israelis seem enthusiastic about advancing the industry.

"When push comes to shove, and people see how suffering people are benefiting, I'm sure everyone will get behind it," said Yuli Edelstein, Israeli Minister of Public Diplomacy, as he toured Israel's largest marijuana growing farm, Tikun Olam, on Thursday and lauded the facility as an example of Israel's technological and medical advancements.

The Hadarim nursing home, which encourages medical marijuana use, gives its patients cannabis produced at Tikun Olam farm, tucked away on nearly 3 acres in the picturesque Galilee region.

The company, one of around eight government-sanctioned grow-operations in Israel, distributes cannabis for medical purposes to almost 2,000 Israeli patients who have a recommendation from a doctor. The cannabis can be picked up at the company's store in Tel Aviv, or administered in a medical center.

This year, the company also developed a marijuana strain used by a quarter of its customers, said to carry all the reported medical benefits of cannabis, but without THC, the psychoactive chemical component that causes a high. The cannabis is instead made with high quantities of CBD, a substance that is believed to be an anti-inflammatory ingredient, which helps alleviate pain.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. It's the future," says Zach Klein, head of research and development at Tikun Olam, whose logo reads "This is God's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes."

Itay Goor Aryeh, director of the Pain Management Center at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, noted that THC was first isolated in marijuana by Israeli scientists in 1964. "So we are really on the cutting edge of not just the growing and distribution, but also on the basic science of cannabis," he said.

Legalization allows research

He said legalizing medical cannabis allows authorities to conduct more research and learn more about how to regulate its use.

"It has to be researched more, it has to be regulated more, so we know what exactly we're giving the patient, which strains are better," Aryeh said. "If you don't allow it, you will never know."

Aryeh and other proponents say medicinal marijuana is cost-effective and dramatically reduces patients' needs for other pain medications, like morphine, that can produce unwanted side effects.

Ruth Gallily, a professor of immunology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has been studying the supposed anti-inflammatory effects of CBD for the past few decades. "We're finally reaching the stage where it's becoming accepted, and not thought of as 'bad,' but we still have a ways to go," she said. "Now the next challenge may be the major drug companies accepting the plant."

Inbal Sikorin, the head nurse at Hadarim Nursing Home, said the benefits of cannabis for her patients are undeniable.

"We know how to extend life, but sometimes it's not pleasant and can cause a great deal of suffering, so we're looking to alleviate this, to add quality to longevity," she said, while administering cannabis to a patient using a vaporizer. "Cannabis meets this need. Almost all our patients are eating again, and their moods have improved tremendously."

Rute, the nursing home resident, said the cannabis may not change his reality, but makes it easier to accept.

His small room at the residence is adorned with pictures of his deceased wife and figurines of chickens, which he collects because he sees them as a symbol of pain and hope from his years in hiding during the Holocaust.

"I've been a Holocaust child all my life," says Rute, recalling how his father died at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany, and how nights were cold in the barn where his neighbor kept him and his several siblings safely hidden.

"I'm now 80 and I'm still a Holocaust child, but I'm finally able to better cope."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121104/NATION/211040303#ixzz2BHkOX5aZ

Marijuana and the 2012 Elections

On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, and our failed experiment with alcohol prohibition was put to rest. Americans grew tired of the ever-worsening violence associated with the rise of the criminal alcohol market that developed in the absence of a legally recognized and properly regulated industry. As a society, we came to realize that the dangerous and unavoidable collateral markets created by prohibition were in fact more detrimental to society than alcohol itself. On November 6, 2012, some 79 years later, many Americans will have the opportunity to strike the very important first blows against another failed prohibition: marijuana’s.

The upcoming General Election will allow millions of Americans to bypass the legislative process and decide for themselves whether prohibitive marijuana policies should stand. Three states – Colorado, Washington, and Oregon – will be voting on measures to end the state prohibition on adult marijuana possession and use. Two states – Arkansas and Massachusetts – will be voting on whether exemptions should be carved out of their state criminal codes to allow possession and use for the seriously ill. One state – Montana – will vote on a referendum to repeal a law that gutted their previously enacted medical marijuana law. Finally, a host of cities and towns across the country will be voting on measures that either reform city codes or send symbolic messages that greater reform is needed.

State measures to end marijuana prohibition

Three states will be voting on measures to tax and regulate marijuana, and odds are at least one will pass. There has been steady majority or plurality support for both Colorado’s and Washington’s initiatives, and Oregon’s question has seen a recent uptick in the polls as well. If any of the three do pass, it would represent a sea change in American marijuana policy.

While the minutia of all three measures differ – and I highly encourage voters in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon to read their measures – they are born of common goals. The idea is to devise a system where marijuana sales are brought out of the criminal market and instead subjected to careful regulation and taxation. With tight controls, marijuana would be legally grown and sold by law-abiding, tax-paying businesses, as opposed to the criminal enterprises that currently hold a monopoly over the lucrative marijuana market. Creating a legal and regulated market ensures safety and transparency with regard to potency by allowing cultivators to legally test their product. Strict age limits on sales will create barriers to underage consumption by imposing penalties on businesses that sell to minors (when was the last time a drug dealer asked for ID?). A taxed and regulated market also means that states will see added revenue that can help with funding education projects, medical research, etc. The current system ensures that states capture no revue on marijuana sales.

So what will the effect of passage be and what will the feds do? The first question is pretty easy: if one, two, or all three of these pass, millions of Americans 21 and older will no longer be subject to arrest for the possession or private use of a plant proven safer than alcohol. It is clear that states can, and do, create their own criminal laws. In addition, 99% of all marijuana arrests are made under state law. So if states remove their criminal penalties against marijuana possession and private use, we can expect to see a significant drop in marijuana-related arrests.

The second question – how the feds will react – is difficult to predict. The feds can choose to allow the states to proceed with implementation of the regulatory structure without interference. This would be what I like to call the ‘laboratory of democracy’ approach. We already know the results of the marijuana prohibition experiment: control in the hands of criminals, laced product, exposure to all kinds of other illicit drugs, violence, and no decrease in use or abuse. It’s high time a state tests a different approach. Although taxation and regulation may not lead to a decrease in use or abuse, it will certainly eliminate or greatly reduce the negative collateral consequences that are inherent in marijuana prohibition.

The feds could also sue to enjoin the implementation of the new regulatory schemes. At first blush, this may seem scary, but as Dominic Holden recently stated, this too represents a major opportunity for change. A suit against Colorado, Washington, or Oregon would force us to have a national dialogue about our current marijuana policies. With 50% of the population – not to mention an ever-growing list of opinion makers – arguing for the end of marijuana prohibition, it’s a conversation that needs to happen. Look at the increase in support for gay marriage after the first lawsuit was filed challenging California’s Prop 8. If we can have an open and honest conversation, we can expedite policy reform.

Either way, we’re not going to know until a state votes to change their marijuana policies. If you live in Colorado, please vote “yes” on Amendment 64. If you’re in Washington, you’re voting “yes” on I-502. For those of you in Oregon, please vote “yes” on Measure 80. To all of you, I’m envious of your ballot.

State medical marijuana questions

In addition to the three states voting on measures to regulate and tax the adult sales of marijuana, two states have initiatives on the ballot that will create medical marijuana programs. Arkansas and Massachusetts, if passed, will become the 18th and 19th medical marijuana states. They will join the District of Columbia and 17 other states that currently recognize the legitimate medical use of marijuana.

The number of medical marijuana states continues to grow despite obstruction and interference from the federal level, and for the most part, the previously enacted laws continue to thrive. Passage of one or two more laws come November 6 will not only protect citizens of Arkansas and Massachusetts from arrest and prosecution for using a medicine recommended by their physicians, but it will further the momentum and send a loud message to federal policy makers: reform your punitive and unscientific marijuana laws.

Unfortunately, the federal government’s attempt to undermine state medical marijuana laws worked in at least one state, Montana. This past legislative session, Montana lawmakers debated a series of bills that proposed severe restrictions and even outright repeal of the voter-approved medical marijuana law. The amendments the legislature settled on are onerous enough that many took to calling it “repeal in disguise.” After passage, enough signatures were gathered to put the new restrictive law to the voters as an up or down referendum. By rejecting the ‘repeal in disguise’ law, voters in Montana can once again affirm their desire to see sensible marijuana policies.

Reform on the local ballots

Reform comes not just from the state level, but from the local level as well. Municipalities across the country will have marijuana policy related questions – some binding, others not – on their ballots.

Five municipalities in Michigan will be voting on marijuana policy measures. Kalamazoo will be voting on whether to allow three medical marijuana dispensaries to operate within city limits. Residents of Detroit and Flint will decide if their city codes should be amended to remove criminal penalties for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana on private property. Grand Rapids will ask its residents if the code should be amended to replace the possibility of arrest for marijuana possession with a nominal civil fine. Finally, Ypsilanti voters will decide on a measure to make the use and/or consumption of one ounce or less of marijuana by adults 21 years or older the lowest priority for law enforcement personnel.

In addition to voting on medical marijuana, voters in certain districts in Massachusetts will also vote on non-binding public policy questions that direct elected officials to support taxing and regulating marijuana. While they do not have the effect of law, passage of the questions would send a strong message to the representatives of those districts that their constituents support taxing and regulating marijuana. Further north, voters in Burlington, Vermont will be asked if the city should “support the legalization, regulation, and taxation of all cannabis and hemp products?”

Finally, many cities and localities across California will be voting on measures to allow or ban medical marijuana dispensaries from operating in their municipality. Unlike most laws with regulated distribution, California’s medical marijuana law allows localities to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries as opposed to the state.

High-level political support for marijuana policy reform

It is worth pointing out that marijuana policy reform is not just relegated to a ballot issue. There are many top-level politicians who are starting to either speak up, or speak louder, on the need to reform our marijuana policies. For instance, Gov. Pete Shumlin in Vermont has long supported decriminalizing the possession of marijuana. The Democratic Attorney General and candidate for Governor in Montana, Steve Bullock, opposes the recent assault on patients rights’ and will vote against IR-124. More impressive is the fact that the entire political delegation representing Seattle, Washington, including Mayor Mike McGinn, supports taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol.

The beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition

We very well may remember Wednesday, November 7 as the morning we woke up to discover marijuana’s been legalized. If not, then we most certainly will have seen the most support for a regulation and taxation measure to date. Regardless of the outcomes of the various questions, we will have advanced the conversation in a major way. Marijuana policy reform is not about letting a bunch of people get high. It’s about adequately addressing the harms that are associated with marijuana use while stamping out the atrocities that were born from marijuana prohibition. The ballot measures in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon would do just that, while the medical questions being asked of the citizens in Montana, Massachusetts, and Arkansas and the various municipal questions would impact the marijuana policy conversation as well. As a nation, we are moving ever closer to acceptance of a taxed and regulated marijuana marketplace; it’s now just a matter of time.

New site Tracks Politicians & Celebrities Who Support Legalizing Marijuana

SAN FRANCISCO, CA --(ENEWSPF)--October 22, 2012. Just over two weeks before voters in three U.S. states decide on ballot measures to legalize marijuana, a new website launches on Monday that tracks prominent people and organizations speaking out in favor of changing marijuana laws. MarijuanaMajority.com allows visitors to see just how mainstream this debate has become by viewing and sharing visually appealing lists of elected officials, actors, medical organizations and business leaders who support solutions like decriminalizing marijuana possession, allowing medical marijuana or legalizing and regulating marijuana sales for adult use.

In addition to tracking prominent people who have already spoken out, MarijuanaMajority.com has a social component that lets individual supporters play a role in convincing even more opinion leaders to publicly say they favor reform. Visitors to the site will be able to easily send targeted tweets to celebrities and politicians with just a few clicks, encouraging them to speak out and join the Marijuana Majority. Among the initial "Get Out the Quote" targets are Ben Affleck, Mark Cuban, John Cusack, Van Jones, Bill Nye ("The Science Guy"), Shaquille O'Neal, Rihanna and Kanye West.

"At a time when polls show that a majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana and that mega-majorities support allowing medical marijuana or at least decriminalizing possession, it makes no sense whatsoever that so many national politicians look at this issue as some kind of dangerous third rail of politics," said Tom Angell, founder and chairman of Marijuana Majority. "By allowing people to see in one place the prominent, respectable and numerous supporters of changing these laws, we hope to convince more elected officials that there's political opportunity, and not political peril, in jumping on board the marijuana policy reform bandwagon."

The site launches as national polls show -- for the first time ever -- that a majority of U.S. voters support legalizing and regulating marijuana like alcohol. Polling also indicates that voters in Colorado and Washington are poised to make history by voting to legalize marijuana on Election Day.

Aaron Houston, executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a Marijuana Majority board member, said, "Anyone who looks at the polls can plainly see that trends heavily favor the marijuana legalization movement. For a long time, young people have overwhelmingly supported replacing failed marijuana laws with a new approach. Savvy politicians who are looking to earn support should realize that a growing demographic wants them to speak out for marijuana reform, and that doing so can only help them at the ballot box."

Marijuana Majority advisory board member Sean Dunagan, who served as a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intelligence analyst for 13 years, added, "Ending marijuana prohibition enjoys support from religious leaders like Pat Robertson, business leaders like David Koch, entertainers like Morgan Freeman, world leaders like Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and -- by the way -- the majority of U.S. voters. No one who realizes that our failed marijuana laws cause tremendous violence and waste should be afraid to say so. The time to speak out and join the Marijuana Majority is now."

ABOUT MARIJUANA MAJORITY:

Marijuana Majority exists to help people understand that replacing marijuana prohibition with solutions like legalization, decriminalization and medical marijuana are mainstream, majority-support positions, and that no one who supports reform should be afraid to say so. More info at http://www.MarijuanaMajority.com.

Colorado Legalization Opponents Sneakily Omit Portions of Materials to Voters

Proponents of a measure to legalize limited possession of marijuana say they have filed a lawsuit to delay the printing of this year's ballot- information booklet. The booklet, known as the blue book, is sent to every voter in Colorado and provides details on the initiatives on the ballot.

Proponents of the marijuana-legalization measure, Amendment 64, argue that a legislative committee underhandedly struck from the blue book's final draft key language in the section describing arguments in favor of the initiative. Several lawmakers didn't realize they were voting to excise the language, the amendment's proponents said.

It takes a super-majority of lawmakers on the committee to make changes to the blue book.

"It's really just incredibly unfair," said Mason Tvert, one of the leaders of the pro-marijuana campaign. "It's beyond unfair."

Tvert said the blue book was to be sent to the printer this week. Instead, Tvert said, initiative proponents will have a court hearing as early as Monday to ask a judge to delay the printing and restore the contested language.

The contentious editing took place Wednesday at a meeting of the Legislative Council Committee, which gives the final sign-off on the blue book's contents. After testimony from initiative opponents, Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, expressed reservations about language in two parts of Argument No. 1 in favor of the initiative.

Scheffel said he objected to language in the first half of the argument that said marijuana legalization is a "more logical" approach. He also objected to language in the second half of the argument that stated marijuana is safer than alcohol and that penalties for marijuana crimes are too severe.

His initial attempt to strike both sections of Argument No. 1 failed. Trying again later in the meeting, Scheffel said lawmakers should split up the debate about the contested language in the two halves of Argument 1.

"You're trying to make two different arguments?" asked Rep. Lois Court, D-Denver.

"Correct," Scheffel said. "I'm just trying to divide this so we can tackle this paragraph in two parts."

Scheffel's subsequent motion, though, deleted both sections of Argument No. 1. That motion passed unanimously. Some lawmakers said they expected Scheffel to make a second motion to restore modified language about marijuana being safer than alcohol.

"I thought we were then going to go ahead and fix the next couple of sentences," Court said during the meeting.

Scheffel said that wasn't his intention.

Scheffel could not be reached for comment.

Rep. Mark Ferrandino, who did not want to delete the language, said he does not believe Scheffel was trying to pull a fast one. Still, Ferrandino was disappointed with the outcome.

"I don't think he was trying to cause confusion," said Ferrandino, D-Denver. "But it did cause confusion."

Court Rules Long Beach Marijuana Dispensary Ban Illegal!

A Los Angeles Superior Court ruling may have far reaching consequences for Long Beach's ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

According to a press release issued today by the law offices of Matthew J. Pappas, L.A. Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn struck down the city's ban of marijuana dispensaries, arguing that such a ban conflicted with state law, which allows medical marijuana patients to collectively cultivate and consume cannabis.

The two-page ruling, which the Weekly obtained from Pappas, is dated Aug. 17, and specifically overrules the city's prohibition of pot clubs, a civic ordinance known as 5.89. In it, Dunn wrote that the ban is "virtually identical" to an L.A. county ban that had already been struck down and "is therefore preempted by state law." The ruling gave the city 15 days to respond, and it is unclear if the city bothered to do so and if so, how the court responded to that effort.

Pappas had filed the case in Dunn's court back in May, alleging that his daughter, plaintiff Victoria Pappas, had been severely injured in an assault the previous year, and unlike patients who can easily obtain oxycontin and other addictive painkillers at the local pharmacy, had to risk being subjected to Long Beach's policy of raiding pot clubs just to obtain medication she was entitled to use via California's Compassionate Use Act.

After allowing cannabis clubs to apply for an expensive lottery system that was later ruled illegal in a case filed by Pappas himself, the city banned pot clubs on Feb. 14 of this year, allowing a select group of lottery-winners to remain open for six months, a deadline that expired in August, by which time most of those clubs had shuttered as well.

In an email, Pappas said that his secretary hadn't opened the ruling and had placed it in a large stack of mail, which is why he didn't discover it until yesterday. "Now, we'll go in to get an injunctive relief order, but the finding by the judge is substantive and it is a finding that 5.89 is preempted and invalid," Pappas stated.

In other words, Pappas, who represents numerous cannabis clubs in Long Beach, including many that were either shut down by the city or closed voluntarily after being raided, hopes to use Dunn's ruling that the city's ban violates state law to obtain a court order that would prevent the city from raiding any of his clients.

Stay tuned, since we'll be updating this story as more information--most importantly whether the city has responded to the ruling--becomes available. For now, however, it appears that Long Beach's ill-fated foray into medical marijuana policy has just become even more expensive for city hall.