Grinding all the cannabis news feeds into one big fruit salad for you http://www.theherbgrinder.com/ Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:00:17 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.cannabisnews.org/wake-up-and-smell-the-pot/2012/02/03 Robert Whitt knew something was not right when his tenant gave notice that he was moving out but didn’t want Whitt to inspect the house – at least not right away. The tenant had lived in Whitt’s 1,600-square-foot home in southwest Santa Rosa for nearly three years and had not been a problem.  “He always paid the rent, but, to be honest, it was kind of odd because he always paid with a cashier’s check,” Whitt said. Finally, after not hearing from the tenant for a while, Whitt and his wife decided to pay a visit, and they were let inside.  “The second we walked in, it smelled like dope in the house.  And we knew,” he said.  “The bad thing about it is we had our kids with us.” The house was trashed, he said.  “The carpets were destroyed.  You could smell it in the walls,” he said.  “There were big holes in the ceiling, and there was duct tape around the windows that they couldn’t get off.” By all appearances, roughly half of the house was being used to grow marijuana. When he told the tenants they would have to pay for all the repairs, things went from bad to worse.  The tenant stopped communicating with him, hired an attorney and threatened to sue Whitt for violating his rights as a tenant and for causing distress to his girlfriend, who was on disability.  His attorney said the man had a legal right to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. Not knowing what to do, Whitt called the police but discovered they wouldn’t help.  They said it was a civil matter at that point. “I was blown away by all of this.  I had no rights,” he said.  “This guy had turned the tide on me.  Made me look the perpetrator, and nobody was helping me.” Sounds like a nightmare.  But for landlords, it’s become business as usual while more people come to the realization that marijuana growing is no longer something that concerns remote areas of the North Coast.  It’s something that has moved into the neighborhoods.  And it’s not going away. Consider these latest developments: * Hydroponics stores are cropping up all over Sonoma County.  While it’s nice to see new businesses doing well, no one should be confused that this is triggered by a sudden interest in indoor tomato plants.  As Staff Writer Julie Johnson recently reported, Santa Rosa now has nine such shops, the second most in the state. * Lake County is in full retreat on pot regulations.  As a result of a citizens’ petition drive that threatened a referendum, supervisors there have rescinded a marijuana ordinance that would have banned outdoor cultivation in residential neighborhoods.  A separate referendum drive last year resulted in the board rescinding its ordinance regulating marijuana dispensaries as well.  As this newspaper reported last week, it now appears county voters will be voting in June on a ballot measure that would allow up to 12 budding marijuana plants in residential back yards and 84 on parcels of seven acres or more.  In rural areas, such growing would be protected under the county’s “right to farm” laws. * And last week a judge gave permission to a Healdsburg man to seek restitution from thugs who, dressed as police officers, invaded his home, beat him and robbed him.  What is the man seeking restitution for? Six pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $18,000.  He had a medicinal marijuana card, of course. Is everybody catching a whiff of all this? This is not what most of us thought we would be getting when state voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996.  It was sold as a “compassionate” measure to ensure cancer patients and others would be able to keep up their appetites.  But it’s become a joke. In some areas, it’s easier to get a medicinal marijuana card than a library card.  One 20-something Santa Rosan recently told me that all of his is friends have one.  “They laugh about how easy they are to get,” he said. Under Sonoma County regulations, card-holding “patients” are not only allowed to have up to 3 pounds of marijuana but can grow 30 plants.  But what’s really being cultivated is an environment in which many people are growing for more than personal use, and neighbors and landlords are having to deal with the residue – snarling dogs, taped- up windows, home invasions and pungent backyards. Supervisor Shirlee Zane told me how in early October she accompanied sheriff’s deputies on a raid in a residential area off Stony Point Road just outside Santa Rosa limits.  There, four residences with conjoined backyards were the center of a massive growing operation.  Fourteen people were taken into custody and about 100 plants were confiscated.  In addition, “there were bins full of bags of marijuana,” said Zane.  “There were pit bulls, video cameras, weapons” as well as knives and ammunition.  “And there was also play equipment for children,” she said. “It was a really eye-opening experience,” she said.  “It made me even more convinced that we are headed in the wrong direction” concerning marijuana. That’s why, when supervisors meet on Feb.  7 to vote on a new marijuana ordinance, she wants tougher rules, such as a limit of seven medical marijuana dispensaries instead of the recommended nine.  The county decided it needed to overhaul its regulations after it become clear the old rules weren’t keeping pace with the North Coast’s burgeoning new green business. “There are people who absolutely benefit from medicinal marijuana for legitimate reasons,” Zane said.  “But it is also fair to say that the illegal, underground, black market ( cultivation ) of marijuana for recreation use is really thriving – especially in a down economy.” As for Whitt, “I never thought in my wildest dreams I would need legal representation,” he said.  But he did.  As part of a settlement that was negotiated, the tenants walked away while Whitt was able to keep the deposit, although it covered only a fraction of the cost of repairs. Whitt tried to be careful after that.  He next rented to a older couple with a daughter and two grandchildren who lived with them.  “But, believe it or not, they did the same thing,” he said.  When neighbors complained, he discovered they were growing outside and in the garage. Now, he states very clearly in person and spells out in the rental contract – and encourages other landlords to do the same – that marijuana-growing is prohibited. “You’ve got to call it out,” Whitt said.  “It’s really horrendous what is happening.” It seems to me that more people like Whitt need to call out what is happening and push back.  The idea of medicinal marijuana may be OK.  But let’s not let the North Coast go completely to pot. Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) Copyright: 2012 The Press Democrat Contact: letters@pressdemocrat.com Website: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/ Chuck Norris Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:06:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/legalize-pot-to-disarm-gangsters-expert/2012/02/03 In the last month, Surrey has seen eight shootings, four of them fatal. Police say it’s been an unfortunate spike in gun violence, but they also note that’s how violent crime presents itself – in peaks and valleys. Overall, police and politicians point out, the number of homicides in 2011 was down.  There were 12 killings in the city last year and the overall annual average for the past 10 years has been 13. Last week, Mayor Dianne Watts called on the federal government for stiffer sentences for people involved in gun crimes and a better guard against the number of guns flowing across the U.S.  border. “The City of Surrey is concerned about the number of gun crimes being committed in communities across the country,” Watts said in letters to federal Minister of Justice and Attorney General Rob Nicholson and Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews. “I am requesting the federal government toughen sentences for gun crimes and increase mandatory sentences for the illegal possession of a firearm.” The call for tougher penalties came after a 22-year-old man was shot while walking along a path in the 9300 block of 138 Street on Monday night ( Jan.  23 ). The man was found face down in a public walkway about a block from Surrey Memorial Hospital.  He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The victim spent Tuesday in surgery and is in stable condition, but police say he will have permanent mobility problems. Police say although they do not believe the attack is connected with gangs, the victim is known to police for drug and minor assault incidents, and the victim and attacker are acquaintances. Police are looking for a Caucasian male about 6′ wearing a ball cap. Simon Fraser University criminologist and policing expert Rob Gordon said Watts’ call for a crackdown on firearms is a familiar political refrain – popular with voters, but ineffective public policy. “That’s all nice and it would be good if it worked, but it won’t,” Gordon said. “What you’ve got to do is get at the underlying issue – the drug trade – - or tolerate the shootings,” Gordon said.  “It’s one or the other.” Upon closer investigation, Gordon believes police will find a large portion of the shootings in the last month have had some drug involvement – either directly or indirectly. Often shootings, even when not linked to selling drugs, are drug- fuelled or motivated by the need for drugs, he said. The fact that people are shooting one other, rather than stabbing or beating each other ( although there was one beating fatality and one severe aggravated assault during the last month ) has to do with the availability of firearms, Gordon noted. Part of the traditional drug swap in between U.S.  and Canada sees “B.C.  Bud” heading south, and guns and cocaine coming north. “Carrying a ( firearm ) can be a status symbol among some individuals, or groups of individuals,” Gordon said. He said brave policy changes need to be implemented in order to get guns out of people’s hands.  And for Gordon, that means ending the already lost war on drugs. “It’s widely recognized now that prohibition of any kind of widely sought after and widely used prohibited substance is just simply a cause of crime,” Gordon said. He believes adults should be allowed access to marijuana, while the substance is taxed and regulated, similar to alcohol and tobacco. It’s estimated that in B.C., the export of marijuana is a $6-billion- a-year industry. Watts noted that her call for harsher sentences is one piece of a much larger plan. In 2007, Watts unveiled a comprehensive Crime Reduction Strategy ( CRS ), which includes ways to address crime in Surey, including prevention, apprehension, rehabilitation and addressing perception/fear of criminal acts. The CRS calls for closed circuit TV cameras, community courts, and a sobering centre.  Senior governments have been slow to financially support the latter two. “I would have to say this, the wheels of government are extraordinarily slow, which for me, I find frustrating,” Watts said. Both Watts and Gordon agree that until something is done about illicit drugs, the gunplay will persist. Watts said legalization of drugs is an age-old argument that won’t solve the problem.  If pot was legalized, gangsters would quickly move into other markets, like methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Watts said prevention and education will be key in tackling both guns and drugs, and that must involve government, schools and parents. A month of gunfire * Dec.  24 – Bradley McPherson, 28, is shot and killed at a Christmas Eve party in the 13100 block of 67A Avenue. * Dec.  25 – 27-year-old Alok Gupta is shot and killed while covering a shift at Ken’s Grocery at 11779 96 Ave. * Dec.  26 – a 54-year-old woman is shot in the chest in an apartment in the 13300 block of King George Boulevard in Whalley.  It is non- fatal. * Dec.  27 – Surrey’s Apollo-Lyn Simpson, 28, is found dead on his front lawn in the 9500 block of 125 Street. * Jan.  3 – A man in Panorama Ridge is shot and seriously injured in what is believed to be a dispute over theft of alcohol. * Jan.  4 – A man was shot in the leg and dumped in South Surrey. * Jan.  19 – Two men are shot in the 13900 block of 56 Avenue in Panorama Ridge.  The shooting is deemed by police as gang related. * Jan.  23 – A 22-year-old is shot multiple times on a walking path near 93 Avenue and 138 Street.  He is taken to hospital and survives. Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC) Copyright: 2012 Peace Arch News Contact: editorial@peacearchnews.com Website: http://www.peacearchnews.com/ Author: Kevin Diakiw Chuck Norris Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:01:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/42-wash-lawmakers-ask-dea-to-reclassify-marijuana/2012/02/03 More than three dozen Washington state lawmakers sent a letter to the federal government on Monday, asking for marijuana to be reclassified as a drug that can be prescribed by doctors and filled by pharmacists. Reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule II drug would allow it to be prescribed by doctors and handled by pharmacists. Marijuana is currently classified a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it’s not accepted for medical treatment and can’t be prescribed, administered or dispensed. In the letter to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the lawmakers said they supported Gov. Chris Gregoire’s previous request on the issue. Seven Republican lawmakers were among the 42 in both the House and the Senate who signed the letter. In addition to the letter, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, introduced Senate Joint Memorial 8017 making the same request to reclassify medical marijuana. The joint memorial was scheduled for a hearing in the Health & Long Term Care Committee on Thursday. Gregoire and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee filed the petition with the DEA last November. Washington and Rhode Island are two of 16 states and the District of Columbia that have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana. Washington voters approved a medical marijuana law in 1998 that gives doctors the right to recommend — but not prescribe — marijuana for people suffering from cancer and other conditions that cause “intractable pain.” Last year, Gregoire vetoed most of a bill that made major reforms to the state’s medical marijuana law, saying state workers could be prosecuted under federal law the way the measure was written. A separate bill this year is attempting to provide medical marijuana patients with easier access to the drug. The new proposal would allow local governments to regulate nonprofit patient cooperatives, which could grow up to 99 plants. Under the latest proposal, nonprofit patient cooperatives would be prohibited in counties with fewer than 200,000 residents — mostly rural areas — unless local jurisdictions enact ordinances allowing them. The cooperatives would be allowed in counties with a population of more than 200,000 unless local jurisdictions opt out through an ordinance. The plan would create a voluntary registry for patients. Source: Associated Press (Wire) Published: January 30, 2012 Copyright: 2012 The Associated Press Chuck Norris Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:53:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/n-j-legislators-get-busy-removing-mmj-roadblocks/2012/01/31 Bipartisan legislation designed to remove local roadblocks to the long-delayed launch of medical-marijuana businesses in New Jersey is gathering steam. But Gov. Christie has hinted he may veto the measure. Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R., Monmouth) earlier this month introduced a bill designed to prevent local zoning and planning boards from rejecting pot farms and marijuana dispensaries based on residents’ complaints. The legislation would give the novel businesses protection under the state’s Right to Farm Act. The law protects farmers from restrictions sought by newly sprouted neighborhoods. O’Scanlon’s bill would allow marijuana growers to operate on publicly preserved farmland and in agricultural zones without “county or municipal interference.” “We should do all we can to get this drug in the hands of all people who need it desperately,” O’Scanlon said, explaining that only seriously ill people are eligible to buy the drug. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer) has signed on as a cosponsor. Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D., Union) plans to introduce an identical bill in the upper house Monday. “We are in our third year of the legislation on medical marijuana, and no dispensary has opened and no marijuana has been prescribed to anyone,” Scutari said, sighing. He was one of the cosponsors of the legislation that legalized the sale of medicinal marijuana, which former Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed in January 2010. So far, none of the six nonprofits approved to grow and sell marijuana has received all the approvals needed to move forward. When Christie was sworn into office in 2010, he initially refused to authorize the businesses because the federal government still deems marijuana sales illegal. Thirteen other states have legitimized the sales, relying upon the Justice Department’s assurances that it would not “spend resources” prosecuting as long as the businesses followed state regulations and dispensed the drug only to sick people. After reaching out to the Justice Department and reconsidering his position, Christie gave the medical marijuana program the green light over the summer. Since then, boards and committees in Maple Shade, Westampton, Camden, and Upper Freehold have rejected proposed marijuana operations, mostly because residents objected, citing fears of increased crime. The marijuana businesses promised 24-hour guards and video surveillance, but still could not get zoning approvals. Asked about the O’Scanlon bill at a Jan. 12 news conference, Christie said local officials should call the shots. “If they want a dispensary or a growing facility in their town, that’s up to them. If they don’t, then I will not as governor force them to take one. . . . I am not going to force this down the throats of municipalities,” he said. Christie went on to warn that the legislation was “not going to be received well at my desk.” Afterward, Michael Drewniak, the governor’s spokesman, wrote in an e-mail: “We won’t be saying how the Gov will handle that bill at this early stage. We have 45 days from passage in both houses to review it and make a decision to sign, veto, or conditionally veto.” O’Scanlon said he was not deterred by Christie’s remarks. “The governor has also shown repeatedly, as any administration . . . that they are perpetually open-minded,” he said. “The goal is to help people get through their fear and reset the debate and get this necessary drug and efficacious drug into the hands of people that need it.” O’Scanlon said that he had no relatives or friends who would qualify for marijuana treatment, but that he felt compassion for people with cancer, Crohn’s disease, seizures, AIDS/HIV, and other serious conditions that can be treated with the drug. The dispensaries, he said, “will have more security than your CVS on the corner.” His bill would require round-the-clock “manned security presence” or a security plan approved by a municipality. Scutari said the bill also “takes away the argument” of towns that say they don’t want to sanction a business not recognized as legal by the federal government. The legislation supersedes local ordinances that regulate marijuana operations. Scutari predicted the companion bills would receive bipartisan support but said he was concerned about the legislation’s fate upon reaching Christie. The medical-marijuana program “is the law of the land,” Scutari said, “but it is not moving along swiftly.” He said he hoped the bills would help the dispensaries get up and running this year. Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) Author: Jan Hefler, Inquirer Staff Writer Published: January 30, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. Contact: Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com Website: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/ Chuck Norris Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:40:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/wa-state-marijuana-legalization-headed-for-ballot/2012/01/29 Supporters of legalizing marijuana for recreational use have submitted enough signatures to put the matter to voters in Washington state in a bold move that, if successful, could put Olympia on a collision course with the federal government. The group New Approach Washington submitted nearly 278,000 valid signatures for the measure, more than required to put it on the November ballot, David Ammons, a spokesman for the Washington Secretary of State’s office, said in a statement. The move comes as federal prosecutors have sought to crank up pressure on several mostly western states, including Washington, that have legalized medical marijuana even as cannibis remains classified as an illegal narcotic under federal law. The proposal, if approved by voters, would allow marijuana sales to people 21 and older, permit state taxes to be collected on the drug, ban pot advertising and prohibit driving under the influence of cannabis. Supporters of legalizing marijuana, who include acting Seattle city attorney Peter Holmes, say the federal prohibition on the drug has not curbed use and that it enriches drug cartels. “This is the grown-up approach to regulating a relatively harmless drug,” Holmes said. Opponents of legalization say it would lead to more abuse of the drug, including by young people, and that underground sales would continue. “There will always be a black market. That’s been proven with cigarettes with the tobacco industry,” said Calvina Fay, head of the Florida-based Drug Free America Foundation. “Even though tobacco is legal and it’s regulated, there’s still a huge global black market.” Washington is one of 16 states that, along with the nation’s capital, have decriminalized medical marijuana. But federal agents have raided medical marijuana dispensaries in several states, including Washington, in recent months. Under state law, the recreational legalization initiative next heads to the Washington State Legislature, which has the option of avoiding a popular vote by itself enacting the proposal to legalize marijuana, Ammons said. The legislature could also allow the measure to go to the ballot alongside an alternative from lawmakers, Ammons said. Alison Holcomb, campaign director of New Approach Washington, has said she did not expect the legislature would enact the proposal on its own, but would leave the issue for voters to decide. In 2010, a measure to legalize marijuana in California lost at the ballot box when less than 47 percent of voters approved it. No modern, affluent nation has ever legalized commercial production and distribution of marijuana, according to research organization RAND Corp. In the Netherlands, famous for its Amsterdam cafes where guests buy and smoke marijuana, authorities allow adults to buy the drug but the country officially has a policy that commercial production of it is illegal, said Beau Kilmer, co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston Source: Reuters (Wire) Author: Alex Dobuzinskis Published: January 27, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Thomson Reuters Chuck Norris Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:01:00 +0100 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1201/S00322/billabong-pro-series-has-been-rescheduled.htm For immediate release New Zealand Billabong Pro Series has been rescheduled for 10th – 12th February at Whangamata. Chuck Norris Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/a-ballot-push-to-legalize-marijuana/2012/01/27 Proponents of marijuana have argued for years that the drug is safer than alcohol, both to individuals and society. But a ballot proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts in Colorado, likely to be on the November ballot, is putting the two intoxicants back into the same sentence, urging voters to “regulate marijuana like alcohol,” as the ballot proposition’s title puts it. Given alcohol’s long and checkered history — the tens of thousands of deaths each year; the social ravages of alcoholism — backers of the pro-marijuana measure concede there is a risk of looking as if they have cozied up too much, or are comparable, to old demon rum. “Why add another vice, right?” said Mason Tvert, a co-director of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which has led the ballot drive. “But we’re not adding a vice — we’re providing an alternative.” The goal of legalization, Mr. Tvert added, is not to make access to marijuana easier, but rather, “to make our communities safer by regulating this substance, taking it out of the underground market, controlling it and better keeping it away from young people.” The debate here and in Washington State — where members of a pro-legalization group have also submitted what they say are more than enough signatures to secure a spot on the ballot — is premised on the idea that marijuana has become, if not quite mainstream, then at least no longer alien to the average voter. Medical marijuana is already legal in both states. But greater familiarity with marijuana could be a double-edged sword, opponents say. Medical marijuana dispensaries, especially in Colorado, have exploded in number in the last few years — some with medical-sounding names, others garishly suggestive in their names and imagery of the intoxicating substances on sale within. More than 88,000 Colorado residents have medical marijuana cards, according to the most recent state figures, with young men in their 20s and 30s — many of them suffering debilitating pain, according to their doctor-signed certificates — disproportionately represented. And many Colorado communities have been actively debating medical marijuana — and saying no to it. Eighty-five Colorado communities have banned or halted openings of dispensaries, through popular vote or through their city councils or commissions, and where a municipality posed the question to voters, marijuana has lost 88.1 percent of the time, according to the Colorado Municipal League, an association of city governments. The federal government, meanwhile, in states from California to Montana, has also been cracking down on medical marijuana growers and sellers who prosecutors say have gone beyond what is allowed in their states. Some critics of legalization say that medical marijuana’s growth, and the abuse of medicines that leak out to become recreational, foreshadow the dangers if accessibility is increased. Washington’s measure would be a statutory legal change, while Colorado’s would amend the State Constitution. “It’s largely state-sanctioned fraud,” said Colorado’s attorney general, John W. Suthers, a harsh critic of the medical marijuana system who is speaking out against the ballot measure. “We have thousands and thousands of people lying to doctors, saying they have a debilitating medical condition.” And some doctors are going along with the ruse, Mr. Suthers said, “practicing sub-standard medicine by actually closing their eyes.” Supporters of legalization agree that medical marijuana — now legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia — has led to abuses, and that many voters are angry and disgusted with how things have unfolded. And that, they say, is the very problem that legalization would fix. Banning or improperly regulating a substance that large numbers of people will use anyway failed in the 1920s with alcohol — with the spread of speakeasies and corruption during Prohibition — and is failing now with marijuana, they say. “People don’t like the hypocrisy and the disrespect for law,” said Alison Holcomb, the campaign manager for New Approach Washington, a group backing the ballot measure, called I-502. But Ms. Holcomb said that hypocrisy is precisely where the comparisons with alcohol and Prohibition become apt. Millions of Americans disregarded the law in the days of Al Capone, and millions are doing so now with marijuana. “That’s what prohibition fosters,” she said. “We counter that not by going backwards, but by going forward.” The specter of California’s vote in 2010, when voters said no to legalization, and 2006, when a similar measure failed in Colorado, hangs over this year’s debate. And there is also division within the pro-marijuana community. A pro-legalization group in Washington, Sensible Washington, is arguing to voters that passing I-502 would create a false sense of security for marijuana users, since possession still remains a federal crime. The group also objects to a driving-under-the-influence standard in the proposal that it says would not fairly measure impairment, and that almost any medical marijuana patient would fail, hours and perhaps even days after consuming cannabis. “We are greatly concerned that innocent people risk conviction, and are left without a defense. In fact, this issue has created a huge rift in the anti-prohibition on cannabis movement in our state,” said Troy Barber, a steering committee member at Sensible Washington, in an e-mail. But things in Colorado have also significantly changed in the six years since the last referendum here. Medical marijuana providers now have money to back campaigns with advertising — in stark contrast to the effort in 2006, which had almost no financial backing — and are mostly supporting the ballot drive, said Jason Lauve, a spokesman for the Association of Cannabis Trades for Colorado, a trade group for medical providers. State tax revenues from medical marijuana sales have risen sharply as well, up to $5 million for the year ending June 30, 2011, from $2.2 million for the year ending June 30, 2010. The politics of the states’ rights movement, meanwhile, which holds that state authority should, in general, trump federal jurisdiction — argued by many libertarians and Tea Party groups — is adding its own quirky element to the mix. Representative Ron Paul of Texas, the Republican presidential candidate, has made the argument for state authority on drug laws, among other issues, a repeated refrain of his campaign. “I think the federal war on drugs is a total failure,” Mr. Paul said in Republican presidential candidates’ debate in November. “Why don’t we handle the drugs like we handle alcohol?” Mr. Paul asked. “Alcohol is a deadly drug.” Source: New York Times (NY) Author: Kirk Johnson Published: January 26, 2012 Copyright: 2012 The New York Times Company Contact: letters@nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Chuck Norris Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:18:00 +0100 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=ab951d850961224386344f0002c87c79 In Colorado, a proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts is likely to be on the ballot this fall, backed by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. Chuck Norris Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10781346&ref=rss Authorities say Hollywood actor Armie Hammer was arrested at a border patrol checkpoint in West Texas after a drug sniffing dog discovered marijuana in his car.The 25-year-old, who starred with Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar , spent... Chuck Norris Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:05:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10781313&ref=rss Brad Pitt has confessed he became a "doughnut" due to heavy cannabis use.The Moneyball star has revealed his marijuana smoking got out of control in the late 90s because he was trying to escape the pressures of fame.He told... Chuck Norris Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:18:00 +0100 http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120125/Changes-in-endocannabinoid-system-may-have-important-implications-for-psychiatric-disorders.aspx Changes in the endocannabinoid system may have important implications for psychiatric and addiction disorders. This brain system is responsible for making substances that have effects on brain function which resemble those of cannabis products, e.g., marijuana. Chuck Norris Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:27:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/lawmaker-urges-study-on-revenue-impact-of-mj-sales/2012/01/24 A Virginia lawmaker wants to study the possibility of selling marijuana through state-run liquor stores, but even the resolution’s sponsor thinks the provocative idea will likely go up in smoke. The proposal by Democratic Del. David Englin of Alexandria to look at the potential revenue impact of selling marijuana at the more than 330 ABC stores in Virginia joins a growing list of recommendations across the country to reform laws regarding the most commonly used illegal drug in the U.S. Englin, who also has filed a resolution asking the governor to petition the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to move marijuana from a Schedule I drug to Schedule II, cites other states with medical marijuana laws and societal changes. He said he’s aiming to bring in more money for the state amid moves to cut funding for core services across Virginia. “There are respectable members of society out there, secretly smoking marijuana on the side, and the money that they use to buy that is going to criminals,” said Englin, who said he has not smoked and does not use marijuana. “Seems to me that it’d be a better idea to take that money that’s already being spent and use it to benefit the commonwealth.” Under the resolution, eight members of the General Assembly would be selected to head a study on the feasibility and practicality of legalizing the use and sale of marijuana under certain conditions, and regulating that sale through the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Findings would be due by the first day of the 2013 legislative session. While most of the feedback has been positive, Englin doesn’t expect that the proposals, which have been referred to the House Rules Committee, to survive. “Anything like this faces a steep uphill climb but my purpose is to get the conversation going,” Englin said. “Hopefully we can start having rational, informed conversations about these issues instead of just emotional conversations.” But House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, who also chairs the House Rules Committee, said a study on the issue isn’t needed. “A lot of people do feel it’s a gateway drug, that it causes all sorts of problems, and I just don’t think we need to do it,” Howell said. “If you’re talking about raising money, you could probably raise a lot more by legalizing prostitution or having riverboat gambling or casino gambling in Virginia. I think those are all detrimental to society and probably not the kind of thing that the state ought to be involved with and I think the same thing with legalizing marijuana.” In 2010, then-Del. Harvey Morgan, a Republican from Gloucester County, startled colleagues and endured ribbing from both parties when he introduced a dead-on-arrival bill to decriminalize possession of marijuana in the Old Dominion. He also sponsored legislation to broaden the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. A late-1970s Virginia law allows for medical marijuana for cancer and glaucoma patients. Twenty-five to 30 states will entertain bills this year on reforming marijuana laws, said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Fourteen states already have some kind of decriminalization law, and 16 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws in place. “We would expect that the commonwealth of Virginia will be having this discussion for some years to come,” St. Pierre said. Ed McCann, executive director of the Virginia chapter of NORML, said the continued discussion should focus on gaining tax revenue and not spending money “in vain to control a pervasive underground market.” “It is now a question of what is the best way to implement a new policy … one that protects children by moving marijuana sales from the corner to the counter, from an uncaring dealer to a state-regulated clerk,” McCann said in an email statement. Source: Associated Press (Wire) Author: Michael Felberbaum, The Associated Press Published: January 23, 2012 Copyright: 2012 The Associated Press Chuck Norris Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:38:00 +0100 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1201/S00044/test-for-controversial-synthetic-cannabis-products.htm Canterbury Health Laboratories (CHL) has become the first laboratory in New Zealand to be able to screen for synthetic cannabis products such as “Kronic” at its toxicology laboratory. Chuck Norris Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10780388&ref=rss Sarah Mason of Gisborne stole the show, top-scoring during round 1 of the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships at Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast of Australia on Sunday.Mason picked off the best of what conditions had to offer,... Chuck Norris Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:26:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10780263&ref=rss An ingredient in a new herbal product that experts suspect may be smoked in New Zealand has been shown to cause tumours in rats and liver failure, says a toxicologist.The product, called "Sky" and which looks like cannabis, hit... Chuck Norris Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:30:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10780263&ref=rss An ingredient in a new herbal product that experts suspect may be smoked in New Zealand has been shown to cause tumours in rats and liver failure, says a toxicologist.The product, called "Sky" and which looks like cannabis, hit... Chuck Norris Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:30:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/medical-marijuana-effort-advances/2012/01/21 Ohio’s second proposed medical-marijuana statewide ballot issue took a step forward yesterday when it was certified by Attorney General Mike DeWine. The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment to the Ohio Constitution contains a “fair and truthful” summary and has the necessary 1,000 signatures of Ohio registered voters, DeWine determined. The issue next heads to the Ohio Ballot Board, which will determine whether it should appear on the Nov. 6 general-election ballot as a single issue or multiple issues. Secretary of State Jon Husted set a board meeting for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. If the board approves, supporters will be allowed to begin collecting the 385,245 valid signatures of registered voters necessary to qualify for the ballot. In October, the Ballot Board approved a similar medical-marijuana ballot issue, the Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment. Supporters are gathering signatures for that issue. Either issue, if passed, would allow Ohioans with qualifying medical conditions to buy, possess and grow marijuana for medicinal purposes. The Medical Cannabis Amendment, certified yesterday, is backed primarily by a group made up of patients seeking pain relief for medical conditions. The proposed language says Ohioans have “inalienable rights” under the Ohio Constitution, including the right to “be eligible to use cannabis as medicine as a result of a diagnosed debilitating medical condition.” The issue would establish an Ohio Commission of Cannabis Control to regulate medical cannabis in Ohio. The group’s initial proposal was rejected by DeWine last year because it did not fairly summarize the proposal. The other issue, the Alternative Treatment Amendment, would allow qualified medical practitioners to prescribe marijuana for patients at least 18 years old with a qualifying medical condition. Patients could obtain up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana at a time and could cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants. Both proposals are aimed at sufferers with specified medical conditions: cancer, Parkinson’s disease, HIV and AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, sickle-cell anemia, glaucoma and others. Backers of the competing amendments have been unable to agree to work together and decided to move ahead independently. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have some form of medical-marijuana law. Information about the Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2012 is available at: http://www.omca2012.org Information about the Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment is at: http://www.ohiommjballot.org/hometop.html Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH) Author: Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch Published: Saturday, January 21, 2012 Copyright: 2012 The Columbus Dispatch Contact: letters@dispatch.com Website: http://www.dispatch.com/ Chuck Norris Sat, 21 Jan 2012 06:59:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/drug-abuse/news/article.cfm?c_id=181&objectid=10780184&ref=rss Cannabis plants estimated to be worth more than AU $7.5 million have been seized in a series of raids across northern NSW.Drug squad detectives raided more than 60 rural sites over the past five days, including at Kippenduff, Rappville,... Chuck Norris Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:36:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/hallelujah-canadians-agree-its-time-to-legalize-marijuana/2012/01/20 A new poll suggests Canada may have reached the tipping point and a 66-per-cent majority favours legalizing marijuana. Hallelujah! Finally we might get a sensible public policy discussion in this country about what to do about a relatively benign substance that has been demonized and outlawed for a century yet is as readily available in schoolyards as cigarettes. The prohibition and a 40-year-long “War on Drugs” have led to pot being more widely accessible, taxpayers considerably poorer, gangs richer and thousands upon thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens branded “criminal.” Another 50,000 or so Canadians are busted every year for possession; throw in 20,000 or so traffickers and producers and this so-called war is costing us as much as $400 million annually in law enforcement, court and corrections. Bearing in mind a million dollars a year buys roughly 12 new cops, 14 teachers or public health nurses, ask yourself: Couldn’t all that money be better spent? The federal Liberal party obviously thinks so – 77 per cent of delegates at the weekend convention voted to legalize the herb, echoing the Senate special committee on illegal drugs (chaired by a Conservative), which 10 years ago urged the government to free the weed. Four decades ago, the LeDain Commission similarly called for an end to the criminal prohibition of cannabis. Across the country today, more and more people agree. Conducted Dec. 13 by Toronto-based Forum Research Inc. and released Tuesday, the latest poll of 1,160 respondents 18 or older showed that residents of B.C. were the most likely to support pot-law reform, with 73 per cent wanting change. Quebec had the lowest support for reforms at 61 per cent. (The interactive voice-response telephone survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.) Who’s leading the way? Those aged 55 to 64. Why? Yes, there are a lot of old hippies. But of all the age cohorts, the middle-aged and elderly, the late-boomers are learning faster than most that marijuana may be the Aspirin of the 21st century. Medicinal marijuana is changing the debate about pot across the continent. From cancer patients fighting nausea from chemotherapy to those suffering from glaucoma, Crohn’s disease and other ailments, pot brings therapeutic relief unavailable from pharmaceutical products. Its growing and widespread use is erasing old stoner stereotypes and triggering a more grown-up adult conversation about the weed. And money is driving it – not just the prospect of future tax revenue estimated in the billions, but fortunes are being made right now off medical marijuana. In some U.S. states with med-pot pro-grams, big box stores have opened selling hydroponic gear, specialized equipment and supplies for growers. The IRS says one single Oakland marijuana dispensary owes $2.5 million in back taxes. Another generates about $18.5 million annually in sales. There are 16 states that have medical marijuana programs and in the three west coast states, advocates are readying tax-and-sell or other legalization programs. Ending the criminal prohibition of marijuana does not mean making it freely available – it means regulating it as we do alcohol and tobacco, far more dangerous substances. Portugal legalized pot and other drugs a decade ago and the sky did not fall: European drug addicts did not flock to the country nor did Spain suffer the feared nasty side effects. This poll should spur the federal government to rethink its crime legislation and to begin a discussion about different models of legalization. Recreational pot smoking then could be dealt with as we have battled the much more deadly use of tobacco – with public-health campaigns and education. No one has gone to jail for taking a cigarette break or been busted for grabbing a quick puff, yet we’ve driven down usage and tobacco has far less cachet today. The hipster attraction of marijuana can be similarly attacked without exposing our children to criminal prosecution and the risk of a record following them for life. Let’s treat marijuana and other drugs as a health issue rather than a crime. It’s cheaper, better for our communities and safer for kids. It would let police focus on real criminals, ease the burden of overloaded, backlogged courts and save a fortune in expensive legal and penal costs. Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae summed it up pretty well in his closing speech: “Let’s face up to it, Canada, the war on drugs has been a complete bust.” Source: Vancouver Sun Author: Ian Mulgrew Link: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Hallelujah+Canadians+agree+time+legalize+marijuana/6013181/story.html Chuck Norris Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:58:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/legalize-weed-grit-delegates-say/2012/01/18 Youth Wing’s Motion Passes Overwhelmingly OTTAWA — Federal Liberals are taking some risky departures from the cautious political norm in a bid to put their once-mighty party back on the electoral map. Sunday, they overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for the legalization and regulation of marijuana — a position immediately endorsed in principle by interim leader Bob Rae, although it remains to be seen how, or if, the resolution translates into a platform plank for the next election. “Let’s face up to it, Canada: The war on drugs has been a complete bust,” Rae declared in a closing speech to a three-day Liberal renewal convention. Until now, Liberals have called only for decriminalization of marijuana, as has the NDP.  The new call to legalize it completely and regulate its production and sale, much as with alcohol, is in stark contrast to the policy of the governing Conservatives, who included stiffer penalties for marijuana possession in their omnibus tough-on-crime bill. The legalize-pot resolution came on the heels of another potentially risky gamble for the Liberals.  After a heated debate late Saturday, delegates agreed to invite all liberal-minded Canadians to take part in choosing the party’s next leader. The party will create a new class of Liberal “supporters” — anyone willing to register as believers in core Liberal values — who will not have to pay a fee for a membership card to participate in leadership contests. Wrapping up the convention, Rae heralded the two moves as a sign the chastened Liberal party is reaching out and renewing itself after last May’s humiliating rout, when the party was reduced to a third-party rump with only 34 seats in Parliament. “We Liberals have clearly and emphatically said to the people of Canada: ‘We embrace change and we embrace all Canadians as we rebuild this great national party.’ ” Delegates further embraced change by choosing Mike Crawley as their new party president.  He beat out Sheila Copps, a veteran former cabinet minister, who some Liberals felt symbolized the past, by a slim 26 votes. Rae maintained the convention underscores the difference between the Liberals and the more ideologically driven Tories and NDP, whom he described as dogmatic adherents to rigid “orthodoxies.” “If you want to be part of a group of free-thinking, innovative, thoughtful, pragmatic, hopeful, positive, happy people, come and join the Liberal party,” he exhorted, adding with a chuckle, “And after the resolution on marijuana today, it’s going to be a group of even happier people in the Liberal party.” Rae told delegates it makes no sense “to send another generation of young people into prison” for marijuana offences when “the most addictive substances that are facing Canada today are alcohol and cigarettes.” Though they were willing to take some risks, delegates balked at a resolution calling on Canada to consider cutting its ties to the monarchy, an idea that would open a constitutional can of worms. Both the marijuana and monarchy resolutions were put forward by the party’s youth wing, which argued the Liberal party needs to advance bold ideas that are more reflective of young people if it is to revive. “I think that there’s a certain amount of generational change happening in the party,” said Samuel Lavoie, president of the Liberal youth wing. “We’re willing to push the envelope and we have the numbers and we have the willpower to flex our muscles when it’s needed.” The marijuana resolution is not binding on the leader or party.  Delegates specifically rejected a proposal to remove the leader’s veto over the contents of future election platforms, so there’s no guarantee the party will ever actually campaign on legalizing pot. Under Jean Chretien’s government, the Liberals introduced legislation to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a ticketing, rather than criminal, offence. The bill was not pursued when Paul Martin took over the helm of the party and the Harper government has since dropped the idea entirely, moving in the opposite direction. Delegates also supported reforming the country’s electoral system, agreeing to promote the idea of preferential balloting in federal elections, rather than the current first-past-the-post system.  Preferential ballots, in which voters rank candidates, would ensure that only those who receive more than 50 per cent of the vote in their ridings would be elected to the House of Commons. If no one received more than half the votes right off the bat, the last-place candidate in a riding would be eliminated, with his or her supporters’ second choices then being tallied.  The process would continue until one candidate emerged with more than 50 per cent. They also endorsed a non-binding directive that all Liberal nomination contests be open, other than specified exceptions recommended by the leader and approved by the party’s national executive. Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB) Copyright: 2012 Winnipeg Free Press Contact: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/send_a_letter Website: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/ Author: Joan Bryden Chuck Norris Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:29:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10779518&ref=rss Sophisticated growing techniques have led to super-strength strains of cannabis, with some of the most potent dope coming from Northland, says a senior drugs investigator.However, a drug foundation spokesman says it is difficult... Chuck Norris Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0100 http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1201/S00024/540000-adult-new-zealanders-using-marijuana.htm About 1.1 million adult New Zealanders have tried marijuana once in their lives, while about 540,000 are using it each year, 259,000 of them every three months or more frequently and 70,408 each day. Chuck Norris Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:49:00 +0100 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10779518&ref=rss Sophisticated growing techniques have led to super-strength strains of cannabis, with some of the most potent dope coming from Northland, says a senior drugs investigator. However, a drug foundation ... Chuck Norris Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:24:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/marijuana-patients-speak-out/2012/01/15 Users: Cannabis Does More Good Than Harm “I will not issue you any more prescriptions because I’m not going to leave your children orphans.” When Dawn Jobe heard these words from her doctor years ago, she opted instead for marijuana. For years, Jobe had consulted specialists and downed countless anti-inflammatory drugs and other pain relievers to treat numerous traffic accident and work injuries. After alarming results of several liver function tests – blood tests used to help detect liver disease or damage – she was warned she’d have to find an alternative to treat her pain. “When he told me that I was no longer allowed to use pharmaceuticals, I started using marijuana on a regular basis, and was able to use it the way it’s supposed to be used – for medication,” she said. Today, Jobe uses the drug to treat her numerous ailments, including fybromyalgia, anorexia, degenerative joint disease, asthma, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. She’s been a medical marijuana patient for five years. “It’s not for everyone.  Some people may never need or find the use for it,” she said.  “But for a lot of people it’s the only thing that helps.” However, there is increasing pressure by those in the legal community and officials to regulate or stop the growing of medical marijuana altogether.  Abuses by those alleging they were growing it for medical purposes have pushed officials to seek a crackdown on growing marijuana. Jobe, 46, and a single mother of two, said she’s researched cannabis for years and says it does more good than harm. “They’re doing studies all the time about it, and if you really look into it, it’s been used as medication for thousands and thousands of years,” she said. “It’s just the stigma that our government put on it that has made people shy away from the benefits.” The drug, she said, only enhances what the human body can do naturally.  She said it helps the immune system, works as an anti-inflammatory, helps with asthma attacks, cures skin cancer and she claims it has been shown to reduce and kill tumors. “Alcohol kills the person that’s ingesting it.  It destroys the body from the first sip and you have the potential to harm others.” “There has not ever been one death caused by consuming marijuana,” she said. Jobe, who is currently unemployed but is a medical transcriptionist, is allowed by her doctor to grow a minimum of six mature plants or 12 immature plants. She grows them inside a large greenhouse that was built in the backyard of her north Porterville home by several patients who collectively garden with her. In the past, Jobe had grown in an open area of her backyard, but after several thefts, the group worked together to build a greenhouse large enough to grow the medication and other fresh herbs and vegetables. Jeff Faure helped build the greenhouse. Faure, who is single and lives in a one-bedroom apartment, has grown his medication in Jobe’s garden for a year. “She grows it for me because I have no room to grow, and she needs the help.  She’s not physically able to do the labor,” he said. The 48-year-old is a third-generation Porterville native and has been using marijuana since he was 14. It wasn’t until he became a medical marijuana patient that his parents “actually had a fit,” he said. “I found that it was great for my allergies – I’m allergic to 163 plants and dusts.” “Before that I was doing steroid shots twice a week, which were very painful.  I haven’t had a shot since,” Faure said. Now he uses it for several reasons, including chronic pain, migraine headaches and insomnia.  He also uses it in various ways. “I smoke it, use vaporizers, bongs, joints and pipes.  We eat it, use it as a topical oil, and drink it,” he said, adding that it makes for a tasty medicated pizza or cheesecake. Brushes with law enforcement “I have been thieved from. “And instead of our local law enforcement showing up to help us combat our problem, they spend their time trying to make us the criminal,” Jobe said. Her encounters with law enforcement, she said, have been unpleasant. On one occasion, thieves attempted to break into her garden, via her 80-year-old neighbor’s backyard. The thieves dug a hole and attempted to worm their way under the fence, but fled in fear and left behind a pair of shears and a shovel, Jobe said. When police arrived, Jobe’s neighbor showed officers the shears, shovel, and even footprints leading to Jobe’s backyard. “They asked why they wanted to get into my backyard and she told them it was because I was a medical marijuana patient,” Jobe said. “They looked over the fence and saw my garden and immediately told my neighbor, ‘This is no more than a dog.’” Officers reportedly rushed to Jobe’s home, pounded on her door and demanded to enter her backyard. After producing them with her doctor’s recommendations, they insisted on entering her backyard to count her plants and threatened they would obtain a search warrant if she refused.  She did. The officers reportedly took pictures of her plants from her neighbor’s backyard and never returned with a warrant. The constant helicopter fly-overs, she said, are embarrassing. “It’s an all-day, week, and weekend thing.” Last summer, Jobe counted 20, 15-minute fly-overs in her area, she said.  During one of those fly-overs, she ran inside her home, wrote down the number of plants she had in her garden on a large piece of paper, and held it up for authorities to see. She said the continual fly-overs are harassment. “They are not flying at the normal level, they are so low that I could literally thrown a rock at the copter, I could read the numbers clearly on the copter.” “Every dog in the neighborhood is barking, everybody is outside waving, it’s ridiculous,” she said. State vs local law Part of the reason medical marijuana patients in the area have such negative brushes with law enforcement, is the discord between state and local law, Jobe said. The intent of Proposition 215, or the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, is to ensure that Californians in need of marijuana for medical purposes can obtain and use it without fear of criminal prosecution. Most recently, the Porterville City Council met to review modifications to the city’s current medical marijuana regulations. At the Dec.  7 meeting, the city attorney presented the council with the proposed modifications, which, among other things, prohibit dispensaries and collective or cooperative cultivation or processing within city limits. “Medical marijuana patients want an ordinance.  We are not happy with the fact that we don’t have guidelines by our city and so we’re left to do what the state has told us we’re allowed.  When we do what the state law allows and we have an issue and call our local law enforcement, it’s turned around,” Jobe said. Faure and Jobe believe the regulations are too strict and say it violates their constitutional rights as medical marijuana patients. “What the city attorney is trying to do is to make it a crime to be a medical marijuana patient in Porterville,” Faure said. “We want to help them put together a reasonable program, that basically allows safe access to the medicine these patients need.  Where they don’t have to get the medication off the street, or have to travel outside to get it, or have to grow it inside their home.” The modifications would also add provisions to the city’s development code requiring cultivation to occur indoors. If a patient were to violate any of the proposed regulations, the city would be able to impose civil penalties, such as nuisance abatement, City Attorney Julia Lew said during the Dec.  7 meeting. “We can abate the nuisance and charge for the cost of abatement.  It may not have the same stigma that a criminal citation would have, but we can look at putting in the strongest penalties possible for nuisance abatement,” she said. “To say this is a nuisance…I don’t understand,” Jobe said about Lew’s comments. “It’s time people become aware that we aren’t stoners.  We are productive members of society.  We’re doctors, we’re CEOs of companies, we’re mothers, we’re fathers.  We are ill people.” According to Faure, city officials have agreed to meet next week with a group of medical marijuana patients to discuss the modifications, before the ordinance is brought to the council for a public hearing and possible final adoption.  City manager John Lollis said he expects the ordinance on the agenda at the council’s first regular meeting of February. “Several cities in California have adopted very reasonable programs that allow access to this medication.” Faure said. “It’s time for this town, which is the All-American City, to stand up and do what’s right for its citizens – all of its citizens.” Source: Porterville Recorder (CA) Copyright: 2012 Freedom Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.recorderonline.com/sections/editor-form/ Website: http://www.recorderonline.com Author: Denise Madrid Chuck Norris Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:42:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/alternatives-for-cannabis-policy/2012/01/15 How not to protect community health and safety” is the title of a report from the Stop The Violence BC ( STVBC ) coalition.  It tells of how cannabis policy with its focus on prohibition and extensive efforts on enforcement have both failed.  Quite spectacularly, too.  Cannabis is more available, cheaper and more potent than ever even after billions of tax dollars have been spent on prohibition.  Worse, organized crime is rolling in cash because of the same policies. It is time to think more clearly about cannabis policy.  This is why the Health Officers’ Council of BC ( HOC ) has stepped up with its support for STVBC.  The HOC is not saying that cannabis should be legalized and taxed because is it safe.  Rather, they are saying that proven public health approaches should be used to constrain its use. The STVBC report makes several clear policy recommendations. There need to be restrictions on the purchase and use of cannabis.  These could include age restrictions on sales and could impose restrictions on driving and operating machinery while intoxicated, limits on the hours of sale and outlet density, restricted bulk sales and limits on the potency of legal cannabis.  All of these ideas support the public health model to reduce the unintended health and social harms such as drug-related violence and homicide that accompany prohibition. Government should control the production and distribution of cannabis.  Existing conditional licensing of medical cannabis could be expanded and applied on a larger scale to the regulation and taxation of cannabis.  The system would include strict prohibitions on marketing and branding, standard labelling on content and health realistic health warnings like those for tobacco currently. Taxation is another tool in the arsenal of a new cannabis policy.  Taxing a product increases its price to the consumer and has been shown to affect consumption levels of alcohol and tobacco.  The price of cannabis could also be kept as high as possible to limit use, but low enough to avoid creating an incentive to produce cannabis for an illegal market. Other regulatory tools to consider include policies that restrict the location and circumstances of consumption, not unlike current policies on alcohol and tobacco.  The “Dutch coffee shop” model for cannabis should be considered as well. Prohibition has never worked.  We need only look at current cannabis policy to see that.  Not enough, look back at the efforts of the 1920s and 30s, and look at the results.  There is a better way.  We must consider it. Learn more about the STVBC report ( and download it ) from their website at www.stoptheviolencebc.org.  Or join the discussion on Facebook or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stvbc. Editor’s note: Dr.  Paul Martiquet is the Medical Health Officer for Rural Vancouver Coastal Health including Powell River, the Sunshine Coast, Sea-to-Sky, Bella Bella and Bella Coola. Source: Coast Reporter (CN BC) Section: Health Matters Copyright: 2012 Coast Reporter Contact: editor@coastreporter.net Website: http://www.coastreporter.net/ Author: Paul Martiquet Chuck Norris Sun, 15 Jan 2012 14:38:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/police-chief-to-give-pot-a-sober-second-thought/2012/01/13 Ottawa Police Chief Vern White Takes His Seat in the Senate February 20.  Cites His Work With Addiction Treatment As His Proudest Achievement As Police Chief As a senator, Vern White will be called on to give weighty questions a sober second thought – something he already does in Ottawa as chief of police. White will consider Bill C-10, the omnibus crime bill, which he supports in his current role. “I can’t speak to it as a future Senator because it would put me in a conflict right now,” he said, adding he will be willing to speak up on the bill once he is sworn in. The bill includes tougher penalties for growing and possessing marijuana.  White said Canadians should discuss decriminalization, but with caution.  Too often the discussion is oversimplified, he said.  For example, he’s often asked whether a teen should get a criminal record for smoking a joint. “You can say it, but it doesn’t really happen,” said White.  “If a 15-year-old is getting charged and convicted to marijuana, it’s not a joint.  Either he’s been trafficking in it or it’s secondary to another crime, like an assault.” The effects of marijuana on mental health should be part of the discourse, as should Canada’s relationship with the United States, he said. “A large amount of marijuana that’s produced in this country ends up in the United States.  What impact would that have on our relationship with the United States?” he said. Even if Canada decriminalized marijuana, that wouldn’t impact organized crime trafficking it to the U.S., he added. White said he is also keen to discuss national security, aboriginal affairs and mental-health issues when he becomes a senator. Source: Metro (Ottawa, CN ON) Copyright: 2012 Metro Contact: ottawaletters@metronews.ca Website: http://www.metronews.ca/Ottawa Author: Steve Collins, Metro Ottawa Chuck Norris Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:36:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/pot-smoking-not-so-harmful-to-lungs-study-finds/2012/01/12 Smoking a joint from time to time won’t damage the lungs, even after years of drug use, according to a study led by UCSF researchers that disproves one of the major concerns about marijuana – that smoking it must be just as risky as lighting up a cigarette. The study, results of which were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the lung capacity of people who smoked marijuana was not diminished by regular toking, even among those who smoked once or twice a week. Only heavy marijuana users – those who smoked 20 or more joints a month – saw a negative impact on the pulmonary system, but that level of marijuana use is unusual, researchers said. In fact, they said, it may be that marijuana smoke doesn’t affect lung function the way tobacco does simply because people don’t smoke as many joints as they do cigarettes. The results should reassure doctors and patients who are considering using marijuana for medical care, primarily to ease pain and nausea, said Dr. Mark Pletcher, a UCSF epidemiologist and lead author of the study. But that’s not to say that Pletcher or his colleagues are ready to give the all clear to anyone who wants to smoke pot. ‘Issue with Marijuana’ “This study shouldn’t be interpreted as marijuana is totally harmless,” said Dr. Stephen Sidney, a study author with Kaiser Northern California’s division of research in Oakland. “We don’t see marijuana having a big impact on lung function or lung disease. But it doesn’t mitigate the fact that we have an issue with marijuana, at least in terms of dependence on it.” Smoking cigarettes has such dramatic, long-term health consequences – including emphysema and lung cancer – that doctors have long assumed that marijuana smoking, too, must be detrimental. Heavy marijuana use may indeed turn out to be just as risky as cigarette smoking, but that will be tough to prove because so few people smoke as much pot as they do tobacco. And not all scientists are convinced that marijuana smoke is actually as deadly as cigarette smoke. “No one would ever claim that drinking water has the same effect as drinking vodka, even though they’re both liquids and you’re ingesting them the same way,” said Amanda Reiman, a UC Berkeley lecturer and director of research at the Berkeley Patients Group, a medical marijuana dispensary. “But for some reason we have assumed that because we know the negative outcomes with cigarettes, inhaling any plant material is going to have the same outcomes. “This study is challenging the preconceived notions we’ve had for some time about the dangers of smoking cannabis and the similarities to smoking tobacco,” she said. Occasional users For occasional users, smoking marijuana was actually associated with a small but statistically significant increase in lung capacity, according to the UCSF study. That increase wouldn’t be noticeable to the individual – and certainly shouldn’t be interpreted as a beneficial effect of smoking marijuana, scientists added – but it may be related to the deep breathing pot smokers use to draw the drug into their lungs. The study looked at 5,115 men and women over a 20-year period, starting in 1985, who were part of a national clinical trial meant to look at heart disease risk in young adults. The smoking researchers used data collected on tobacco and marijuana use, along with regular tests of pulmonary function. Pot and cigarettes Study participants were just about as likely to smoke marijuana as cigarettes, and many participants smoked both. People who smoked cigarettes, however, were more likely to be heavy users – on average about eight cigarettes a day – than marijuana smokers, who lit up on average two or three times a month. The study lumped together all types of inhaled marijuana use, meaning researchers did not differentiate among those who smoked joints or pipes or any other implement. The researchers noted that while most marijuana smokers may not experience long-term lung problems, they may still suffer from coughs and other temporary, relatively minor irritations to the throat and lungs. Dr. Stephen Ruoss, a Stanford pulmonologist who was not involved with the study, was quick to note that while the results may show that smoking pot isn’t terrible for the lungs, that’s hardly a robust endorsement for getting stoned. “If you inhale the smoke of a combustible organic material – either tobacco leaf or marijuana leaf – is that a good thing for your lungs? The safe answer is no,” Ruoss said. “The hunch is that the more you smoke, the greater the detrimental effect on your lung function. Even with marijuana.” Longtime pot smoker But Oakland resident La Wanda Martin, 44, said she’s always assumed that smoking marijuana was safer than smoking tobacco. She’s been smoking pot for more than 30 years, in part to treat back pain and anxiety. She is currently lighting up several joints a day, which she buys from Oaksterdam University, a cannabis industry training school. “Cigarettes are worse to use,” Martin said. “When you buy from a cannabis club, you know what you’re getting. I don’t know what they put in those cigarettes.” Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author: Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer Published: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Copyright: 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Contact: letters@sfchronicle.com Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Chuck Norris Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:04:00 +0100 http://www.news-medical.net/news/20120111/Occasional-marijuana-use-does-not-affect-lung-function-Study.aspx A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that an occasional drag on marijuana does not appear to have long-term adverse effects on lung function. Chuck Norris Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:57:00 +0100 http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=36c681d6f6330d5ba9f074f5df728b85 A large new government study has found that smoking marijuana on a regular basis, even over many years, does not impair lung function. Chuck Norris Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:44:00 +0100 http://www.cannabisnews.org/medical-marijuana-supporters-push-to-legalize-drug/2012/01/11 Narrowing access to medical marijuana is leading Michigan’s registered patients, supporters and lawyers to a new strategy: a campaign to gain limited legalization of marijuana in Michigan for all uses. Access to the drug has tightened as doctors increasingly refuse to sign the state forms to approve the drug, patients said. In addition, dozens of communities — including Birmingham and Livonia — are enforcing total bans on the drug, and dispensaries that once openly sold it have been raided and shut down by police. Detroit attorney Matt Abel, a state-registered user, is a chief organizer of the petition campaign that is to start Wednesday — the first day when signatures can be gathered within the 180-day period allowed before the July 9 filing deadline, Abel said. The goal is to be on the statewide November ballot with a proposal allowing Michiganders 21 and older to possess small amounts of marijuana, he said. “It would be for religious, medical and personal use, industrial use and agricultural use — we’re putting all that right in the wording,” said Abel, 53, of Detroit. In 2008, Michigan voters passed the state act to allow medical marijuana use with 63% yes votes. Law enforcement authorities, including Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, said the state’s medical marijuana act has been widely abused and used as cover for drug dealers. If a ballot proposal passes for limited legalization of marijuana, prosecutors and police said the drug would still be illegal in Michigan under federal laws. Still, proponents of the ballot proposal said state and local courts could not prosecute small-time marijuana users if their proposal passes. The state act allowing medical marijuana “doesn’t legalize marijuana, it creates an exception to illegality — but a constitutional amendment would be a stronger protection for the use of marijuana, medical or otherwise,” attorney and Royal Oak City Commissioner Jim Rasor said. The campaign for legalization “is a direct result of … Schuette and his obsession with destroying the medical marijuana act,” said marijuana activist Tim Beck, owner of a Detroit-based health care benefits firm. “People are getting desperate and saying, ‘We have to push ahead and get public opinion on our side,’ ” said Beck, 60, of Detroit, who in 2006 helped draft Michigan’s medical marijuana act. Access to medical marijuana has been squeezed as the number of doctors who approve the drug dwindle, patients said. In a Nov. 29 letter to patients, infectious disease specialist Dr. Charles Craig at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti wrote: “The Michigan Attorney General has declared the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act to be illegal (and) instructed law enforcement officials in Michigan to arrest anyone possessing marijuana, even if they have a card. “If I prescribed medical marijuana for you … I might be construed as being complicit in encouraging criminal behavior for prescribing what the AG has declared to be an illegal substance.” Craig declined to be interviewed. One of his patients — Steven Greene, 46, of Lyon Township — said he must find another doctor before his state registry card expires May 1. “I’ve been seeing Dr. Craig for 10 years, and he’s been signing my certificate (for medical marijuana approval) for three years now” for a chronic infectious condition, Greene said. The concerns of Michigan doctors were triggered in June, when Schuette issued an opinion in which he said: “The possession of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, even if it is possessed for medicinal purposes in accordance with the state law.” Schuette declined repeated requests in the last two months for interviews on marijuana. Other Michigan doctors also are retreating from signing medical marijuana forms, leading to more demand for approvals by doctors working in offices that do nothing but approve medical marijuana users, said Michael Komorn, a Southfield lawyer who handles medical marijuana cases. “We’re hearing this from a number of patients, but their doctors don’t want to talk about it,” Komorn said. Access to the drug further narrowed in December, when an Oakland County circuit judge ruled against a lawsuit by a Birmingham couple. The couple — she has multiple sclerosis, he has other ailments — hoped to overturn bans on medical marijuana in Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Livonia. More than 60 communities, counties and other government entities in Michigan have passed zoning ordinances that restrict or ban medical marijuana, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Access also tightened after a state Appeals Court decision in 2010 ruled as illegal some sales of medical marijuana at dispensaries, which supplied the drug to state-registered users. The ruling prompted Schuette to declare that all dispensaries were illegal, and it unleashed a fresh round of police raids to close dispensaries. The shrinking pool of cooperating doctors is one of many reasons that Michigan voters should support limited legalization of the drug, said Rick Thompson, editor of the Chesterfield Township-based Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine. “We’re seeing all kinds of ways that the authorities want to confuse the voters and contradict the intent of the state law, which was to provide safe use of this drug that has proven medicinal purposes,” Thompson said. More Details: Marijuana Symposium at Wayne State University: The “National and State Marijuana Reform — Social, Economic, Health and Legal Implications” symposium is 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Jan. 27 at Wayne State University Law School’s Spencer Partrich Auditorium. The keynote speaker is former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox. Other speakers include WSU professors of law and pharmacy, prominent Detroit-area attorneys involved with legalization efforts and speakers from nonprofit groups that favor legalization. The event is open to the public. To register, call 313-577-8032. Source: Detroit Free Press (MI) Author: Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer Published: January 8, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Detroit Free Press Website: http://www.freep.com/ Contact: letters@freepress.com Chuck Norris Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:20:00 +0100