THCeeker

Tommy Chong declared cancer-free

2013-05-14T11:25:00.001-07:00

source SFGATE

Comedian and stoner icon Tommy Chong is celebrating after he was declared cancer-free.
The Cheech & Chong star revealed last June that he was suffering with stage one prostate cancer, but he decided against traditional medicine to treat the disease and instead opted to overhaul his diet and lifestyle.

Chong has now told fans he has overcome the cancer, and opened up about how he treated the condition.

In a blog post on CelebStoner.com, he writes, “After I came out with the news last June that a cancer doctor told me I had prostrate cancer and suggested a high frequency treatment that is not approved in America and could only be done in Mexico at the cost of $25,000, I immediately looked at alternatives. I contacted my nephew in Vancouver, who was about to become a doctor, and he suggested I meet with a Dr. McKinnon in Victoria, BC (British Columbia).

“That doctor changed my diet and put me on supplements, and within a year I brought my PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) numbers down drastically and eliminated the cancer threat. I also treated the condition with hemp oil (hash oil). With the diet, the supplements and the hash oil, plus a session with a world-renowned healer, Adam Dreamhealer, I’m cancer-free. That’s right, I kicked cancer’s a–! So the magic plant does cure cancer with the right diet and supplements. I’m due for another blood test, MRI, etc., but I feel the best I’ve felt in years.”

Tommy Chong (left) and Cheech Marin on May 06, 2013. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for The Lopez Foundation)

Cannabis health studies completed

CANCER - BREAST
CANCER - CERVICA
CANCER - COLORECTAL
CANCER - GLIOMA/BRAIN
CANCER - LEUKEMIA
CANCER - LUNG
CANCER - LYMPHOMA
CANCER - MELANOMA
CANCER - ORAL
CANCER - PANCREATIC
CANCER - PROSTATE
CANCER - RISK CANNABIS VS TOBACCO
CANCER - SKIN
CANCER - TESTICULAR
CANCER - THYROID
CANCER - VARIOUS/ UNNAMED

Seattle Interim Police Chief speaks to pro-cannabis crowd

2013-05-11T19:26:00.001-07:00

by ZAHID ARAB / KING 5 News- NWCN

In a historic move, Seattle Interim Police Chief Jim Pugel took part in a pot rally Saturday. He told the crowd he doesn’t endorse or condemn the drug, his focus is following the law.

“We are public servants and we want to make sure they help the police make sure what they voted for works,” said Pugel.

Last November, voters passed Initiative 502, which legalized the possession of marijuana for adults 21 and older. The measure also licenses and regulates the drug’s production and distribution.

More than a hundred people that took part in the “Cannabis Freedom March” say it’s a step in the right direction but it’s not enough.

“This is our step in the door and we have to just push it open,” said Melissa Hysom, an organizer.

Sharon Whitson, a Hempfest organizer, decorated a hearse for the event.

“We want to be mourning the death of prohibition,” she said.

The rally made its way from Volunteer Park to Westlake Center in Downtown Seattle. According to Pugel, his presence serves an important purpose. He called on pot smokers to respect law enforcement and obey the law.

“Don’t use it in public, don’t provide to minors, buy only from lawful dispensaries,” said Pugel.

The legalization of the drug has made police enforcement easier.

“Now police officers have a little bit more clarification on what the boundaries are,” he said.

While the future is hazy, organizers say the event ignites hope that cannabis laws will become clearer.

related articles

COPENHAGEN cannabis supporters take to the streets

2013-05-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

source; Copenhagen Post
Justin Cremer

While city officials continue their quest for legalisation, hundreds turn out to the city centre for '420 day'

Hundreds of supporters of legalising cannabis participated in a demonstration and march in central Copenhagen on a day that it is an unofficial holiday of sorts for smokers around the world.

Written the American way, April 20 is 4/20, a popular shorthand term for smoking marijuana and a day that has become a rallying cry for cannabis supporters.

In central Copenhagen, '420 Cannabis Day: Retten til et fri valg' (The write to a free choice), was organised by Khodr ‘Cutter’ Mehri, a vocal advocate of legalising cannabis who last year opened an Amsterdam-style 'coffee shop' that was shut down after nine months.

Mehri, who was recently released from jail after serving 24 days for an arrest on drug selling charges, told The Copenhagen Post that it is important for marijuana smokers be public about their use and their support for changing Denmark's current laws.

That, he said, was why he led the demonstration on a march from the town hall square, Rådhuspladsen, around Kongens Nytorv and back.

"It's important to be out and be seen," he said. "If other Danes, and tourists, see that many people openly support cannabis, then they might go home and think it is okay to smoke it tonight."

About 1,800 people signed up for the event on Facebook, and Mehri said he was very happy with the turnout though he wished that more "closet smokers" would have come out. He estimated the crowd at around 500, while a Copenhagen Police officer providing traffic support guessed the crowd at slightly over 300.

Participants tout legalisation

One of the marchers was 28-year-old Maria Pedersen, who said that, even though she had chosen not to smoke cannabis today because of plans later in the evening, she supports legalisation.

"If it was controlled and regulated, people could get a healthier and cleaner product," she said. "I think it would also cut down on violence - both the gang violence that goes with the illegal drug trade and the more casual violence from those who go out drinking. There would be a lot fewer fights if people could get legally stoned."

For David, a participant in a 'Cannabis = Medicine" t-shirt who did not want to provide his last name, the event was about free choice and promoting the various uses of cannabis.

"I believe that everybody should have a right to smoke it if they want to, but marijuana is also a plant with many medical and practical purposes. Hemp is a very eco-friendly and low-cost alternative for making clothing, animal feed, fuel and even homes."

He pointed to the success of hemp houses in South Africa, where according to a 2011 Associated Press report, entrepreneurs using a mix of hemp and lime have found success in building sustainable housing.

Nikolai Henriksen, 32, also pointed to the many uses of a plant that he said is misunderstood.

"The demonisation of cannabis has contributed greatly to this world's addiction to fossil fuels," Henriksen said. "The real 'green' solution is marijuana."

Nikolai Henriksen "bangs the drum of legalization", the political hopeful said

Henriksen, who will be seeking a place on the ballot in autumn's local elections representing the pro-cannabis Hampepartiet Frederiksberg, said the plant's most well-known use is also beneficial.

"Smoking cannabis frees people up somehow so that they can relax and enjoy the day instead of running around dealing with their jobs and everyday stress."

Deputy mayor asks for support

After the 90-minute parade through the city, Copenhagen's deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming (Enhdeslisten), spoke to the crowd about the city's efforts to legalise cannabis for a three-year trial period. Warming, along with a majority on the City Council, are pushing for legalisation by arguing that it would take the estimated one billion annual kroner generated by the illegal cannabis trade out of the hands of gangs.

"It's a lot of money and the gangs are so happy to have that money that they have begun shooting people in our streets for it," Warming said. "We think it is time to think differently."

Warming said that besides the gang violence, the current cannabis laws also slap unnecessary punishments on regular people who choose to smoke cannabis.

"Prohibition has criminalised a lot of people who aren't doing anything particularly bad," he said.

He added that he would rather that his 12-year-old daughter, if she were to become curious about marijuana one day, be able to buy the drug in a controlled environment.

"Prohibition creates insecurity because the many people who smoke cannabis are forced to interact with people who don't wish them well and want to sell them other, more dangerous substances,” Warming said. He added, however, that smoking too much cannabis, just like drinking too much beer or whisky, can be dangerous.

Although Warming and his cohorts on City Council support legalisation, and recently held a high-profile cannabis conference, efforts to get the national government to approve legalisation have yet to bear fruit.

But with a majority of city councillors from Mayor Frank Jensen's Socialdemorkaterne (S) party having formally adopted cannabis legalisation as a campaign plank, they will continue to apply pressure to national S leaders, including PM Helle Thorning-Schimdt and Justice Minister Morten Bødskov.

Warming encouraged the large crowd that marched past Christiansborg earlier in the day to push MPs to support the city's plan.

“If, against all of our expectations, the trial doesn’t work, we can always give all the money and cannabis back to the gangs after three years,” he said. “But I think it will work.”

Are All 50 States Headed Towards Legalization?

Recent Videos

Willie says thank you for all of the birthday messages.

8 views - 0 comments

Josh Smith - "OnlyYou"

29 views - 0 comments

HOW TO MAKE CANNABIS BUTTER

296 views - 2 comments

US Taxing Cannabis for 2013

Pot Smokers Can Be Fired In States with Legal Medical Marijuana, Rule Colorado Judges

2013-04-28T11:16:00.001-07:00

source: Medical Daily
By Ashik Siddique

Even in states where recreational and medical marijuana use is legal, pot smokers can be fired after failing drug tests, ruled judges in a Colorado court against quadriplegic plaintiff Brandon Coats.

Pot smokers can be fired by their employers in states where recreational and medical marijuana use is legal, ruled the Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday. Even if they only use cannabis while off duty and are unimpaired at work, their jobs are still on the line if they fail a drug test.

The plaintiff in the case is 33-year-old Brandon Coats, a Dish Network telephone operator, reported Reuters. Coats has been a medical marijuana user since 2009, after a car crash left him a quadriplegic.

He was fired by Dish in 2010 after a company drug test, even though there was no evidence of impairment from the effects of pot while on the job.

Coats sued to keep his job, and after a district court upheld his termination in 2011 he appealed the ruling. Judges in the Colorado appeals court upheld the decision in a 2 to 1 vote.

Medical marijuana use has been legal in Colorado since 2000, and recreational use was approved in November 2012. Since cannabis is still federally illegal, however, the court decided that pot smokers can be fired because they have no federal employment protection.

"This case not only impacts Mr. Coats, but also some 127,816 medical marijuana patient-employees in Colorado who could be summarily terminated even if they are in legal compliance with Colorado state law," Coats' attorney, Michael Evans, told the Associated Press.

Evans plans to appeal the decision that pot smokers can be fired in Colorado to the state's supreme court, he added to Reuters.

The federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance, with a high potential for abuse and no acceptable medical use, despite a well-established and expanding body of evidence regarding its therapeutic value. Among other conditions, medical cannabis is often prescribed for chronic pain, migraines, sleeping disorders, nausea, glaucoma, sleeping disorders, and anxiety.

Medical marijuana is currently allowed in 18 states including Colorado, and several more states currently have legislation in the works.

In other states with liberal cannabis laws, rulings similar to that of the Coats case have also found that pot smokers can be fired because of the conflict with federal policy.

Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization advocacy group, believes that employment law about marijuana use will soon catch up with shifting attitudes in the United States.

"Culturally, it will occur even more quickly, as a majority of Americans now think marijuana should be legal for adults," he told Reuters.

As Maine and other states look to legalize marijuana, funding cuts cloud medical research

2013-04-22T11:50:00.004-07:00

Source: BDN Maine

By Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg News

Posted April 20, 2013, at 10:09 a.m.

An employee of Ganja Gourmet in Denver, Colo., restocks "top shelf" medical marijuana on

April, 17, 2013.

SAN FRANCISCO — As more states embrace legalized marijuana, the drug’s growing medicinal use has highlighted a disturbing fact for doctors: scant research exists to support marijuana’s health benefits.

Smoked, eaten or brewed as a tea, marijuana has been used as a medication for centuries, including in the United States, where Eli Lilly sold it until 1915. The drug was declared illegal in 1937, though its long history has provided ample anecdotal evidence of the plant’s potential medicinal use. Still, modern scientific studies are lacking.

What’s more, the federal government is scaling back its research funding. U.S. spending has dropped 31 percent since 2007 when it peaked at $131 million, according to a National Institutes of Health research database. Last year, 235 projects received $91 million of public funds, according to NIH data.

That’s left the medical community in a bind: current literature on the effects of medical cannabis is contradictory at best, providing little guidance for prescribing doctors.

“What’s happening in the states is not related to science at all,” said Donald Vereen, a former adviser to the last three directors of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“It’s difficult to get good information,” said Beau Kilmer, co-director of RAND Corp.’s drug policy research center. Kilmer is also part of a group selected to advise the state of Washington on its legalization effort.

Two states, Washington and Colorado, have fully legalized the drug. A bill in the Maine Legislature calls for a statewide referendum to fully legalized and tax marijuana use for other than medical reasons.

A federal bill, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat who represents Maine’s 1st District, would no longer define marijuana use as a federal crime.

Eighteen states, including Maine allow its use for medical reasons and 17, including New York, have legislation pending to legalize it.

Vereen, the NIDA adviser, says that most doctors’ and policymakers’ knowledge on the subject stems from a 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, an independent nonprofit that serves to provide information about health science for the government. The group summed up its findings saying cannabis appeared to have benefits, though the drug’s role was unclear.

The IOM report recommended clinical trials of cannabinoid drugs for anxiety reduction, appetite stimulation, nausea reduction and pain relief. It also found that the brain develops tolerance to marijuana though the withdrawal symptoms are “mild compared to opiates and benzodiazapines.”
“We don’t know that much more than what’s in that report,” said Vereen.

Vereen, for one, says marijuana’s effects on pain without the withdrawal symptoms associated with other medications are deserving of further study to develop better pain drugs.

Subsequent research suggests marijuana may help stimulate appetite in chemotherapy and AIDS patients, help improve muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients, mitigate nerve pain in those with HIV-related nerve damage and reduce depression and anxiety. It’s even been suggested that an active ingredient, THC, may prevent plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s, according to a 2006 study by the Scripps Research Institute.

Still, fewer than 20 randomized controlled trials, the gold standard for clinical research, involving only about 300 patients have been conducted on smoked marijuana over the last 35 years, according to the American Medical Association, the U.S.’s largest doctor group.

A few small companies are trying to tap into an emerging market for marijuana therapies, which could exceed $1 billion in California alone, according to Mickey Martin, director of T-Comp Consulting in Oakland, Calif., which advises people who want to set up their own cannabis businesses.

His model of about 750,000 cannabis patients found that the estimated spending from California’s patient population is $1.1 billion, including $56 million in doctors’ fees and about $1 billion in medicine. That assumes roughly two-thirds of the patient population will pay $40 a week for medication, Martin said. Cannabis Science Inc., CannaVest Corp., and Medical Marijuana Inc. are among a handful of companies developing drugs based on cannabis research or medical marijuana itself.

Until more laws change, it will be difficult to study an illegal substance with the goal of turning it into a medication, researchers say. And since it’s illegal to grow, marijuana isn’t subjected to the rigorous quality control most medicines are, raising concerns patients may be at risk from contaminants, said Vereen.

Marijuana advocates point out inherent obstacles to conducting research: the National Institute on Drug Abuse controls all the cannabis used in approved trials, but the agency’s mandate is to study abuse of drugs, not health benefits.

This creates dilemmas. The Food and Drug Administration, for instance, has approved a clinical trial studying whether marijuana can relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The trial, however, which is in the second of three stages of clinical testing, is blocked. NIDA, which controls the legal testing supply of the drug grown at a University of Mississippi farm, has refused to supply the researchers with marijuana.

“NIDA is under a mandate from Congress to find problems with marijuana,” said Bob Melamede, CEO of Cannabis Science Inc., a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based company that develops medicines derived from marijuana. “If you want to run a study to show it cures cancer, they will not provide you with marijuana,” he said. “What you cannot do are the clinical studies that are necessary.”
Attempts to expand licensed facilities beyond the University of Mississippi farm, have been denied, including a petition from University of Massachusetts agronomist Lyle Craker. The Drug Enforcement Administration denied that request in 2011, reversing a 2007 recommendation from its own administrative law judge, Mary Ellen Bittner.

NIDA also administered the most projects from 2003 to 2012, overseeing $713 million split among 1,837 research efforts. The bulk of the funding in the past decade was devoted to evaluating marijuana’s risks, potential negative impacts on the brain and developing prevention and treatment strategies, according to NIDA.

“There’s been a significant amount of study, but not clinical research,” said Brad Burge, a spokesman for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a non- profit research and advocacy group. What’s lacking, says Burge, is “research intended to move marijuana, the plant, through the path to prescription approval by the FDA.”

For now, the research that does exist is often contradictory. A survey of 4,400 people found that those who consumed marijuana daily or at least once a week reported less depressed mood than non-users, according to a 2005 report in the journal Addictive Behaviors. A 2010, however, study in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse of 14,000 found that anxiety and mood disorders were more common in those who smoked almost every day or daily.

Still, people continue to swear by medical marijuana. Cathy Jordan, 63, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 36 and given 3 to 5 years to live. She smoked marijuana, a strain called Myakka Gold, on a Florida beach with friends, and from that day “the disease just stopped,” said her husband Bob, 65.

“All cannabis seems to work, and it’s slowed the progression,” he said in a telephone interview. They think marijuana may interfere with a neurotransmitter, glutamate, that can have harmful effects in the disease “but we’re just guessing here. All we know is when she doesn’t have it, she gets sick and when she does have it, she doesn’t get sick.”

On Feb. 25, they were raided for growing 23 plants for Cathy’s use. Bob was charged, though the prosecutors declined to press charges because of the medical records the couple supplied, he said. Currently, Cathy is the president of FL CAN, an advocacy group meant to generate support for changing marijuana policies.

Doctors’ attitudes are also shifting in favor of easing marijuana restrictions. The American Medical Association, the nation’s biggest doctor organization has called for a review of marijuana’s Schedule I status, a designation that declares it has no accepted medical use.

The American College of Physicians, the second-largest U.S. doctor organization with 133,000 members, also wants criminal penalties waived for doctors who prescribe marijuana and patients who smoke it. The drug could be useful to treat multiple sclerosis, nausea and pain, based on preliminary studies and pre-clinical lab work, the group said in a 2008 position paper calling for more research.
For the first time, a majority of Americans say they support legalization, according to a survey released April 4 by the Pew Research Center.

As those views trickle up to law makers, there’s little doubt that the easing of marijuana restrictions on the state level will continue.

“We are in the middle of the river,” said Roger Roffman, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington’s school of social work who has studied marijuana use more than 20 years. “Change is happening so rapidly with both medical marijuana and non-medical marijuana, that it is too early to know what’s likely happening in terms of the effect.”

Marijuana's $42 Billion Question

2013-04-16T21:41:00.001-07:00

source: Forbes
Quentin Hardy

The U.S. marijuana is a $113 billion annual business that costs taxpayers $41.8 billion in enforcement costs and lost tax revenues, according to a study to be published later Monday.

The study, "Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws," by Jon Gettman, contends that marijuana sales are mostly the province of teenagers and young adults. His numbers also imply that the industry is supported, in both demand prices, by a relatively few extremely heavy users.

The study used diverse sources including government studies, private research and even High Times magazine to determine that about 25 million Americans consume an estimated total of 31 million pounds of pot annually. The number of users, and the price paid for pot, have changed little over recent years, despite continual government interdiction and incarceration efforts, the study says.

Based on government assumption that some 28.7% of U.S. gross domestic product ends up as tax revenue on a federal, state or local basis, the $113 billion could yield $31 billion in taxes. Assuming that marijuana offenses, which are 5.54% of all arrests, take an equal share of the country's $193 billion in annual criminal justice expenditures, Gettman finds another $10.7 billion in annual savings.

Gettman, who has a Ph.D. in public policy from George Mason University and publishes extensively on the pot business, admits that his numbers are at best rough, but contends they represent an accurate study of what keeping pot illegal costs. "The real answers are somewhere inside the bands" of all the published studies, he says. "It would be interesting to see what the government did with another $42 billion."

The report is available at www.drugscience.org, the Web site of The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, Gettman's organization.

Away from the headline numbers, a closer examination of Gettman's work carries a couple of interesting surprises. The annual 31 million pounds of pot consumed works out to a daily consumption equivalent by American pot smokers of 1.5 to 1.75 of the 85-by-25-millimeter (length and circumference, respectively) standard joint that the U.S. government rolls for in its studies. Most users don't fire up that much, however.

Of the 25 million annual users, some 12.8 million people over the age of 18 use pot monthly, and about 23% of these smoke three or more joints a day. In this, marijuana seems much like the alcohol business, which relies on 20% of its consumers for more than half of its consumption.

In addition, Gettman's work says that 54.8% of children aged 12-17 and 52.8% of adults over the age of 35 say marijuana would be easy for them to get. The number spikes by as much as 20 percentage points for people between those ages.

In terms of drug selling, however, the numbers skew lower: According to a government study quoted in the report, 3.2% of kids 12-17 have sold drugs, while for those 18 to 24 the number is 6%. It falls to 2.3% for people 25 to 34, and to a mere 0.7% for the 35-and-over set. While this number applies to all drug sales, and not just pot, Gettman maintains that licit marijuana would drive many young dealers out of business.

"Right now, kids buy from other kids," he says. "The fixed costs of entry are quite affordable for a 16-year-old. We don't have that structure in the liquor business. There is an economic incentive for a child to do this, and no control under the current regimen."

Marijuana Legalization 2013: Respect State Marijuana Laws Act Would Ban Federal Crackdowns

2013-04-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

source: Louise Co nnelly

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress today would, if passed, protect individual marijuana consumers, as well medical and non-medical marijuana businesses operating in states in which they are legal. If the law is approved, it would shelte both medical and recreational users from prosecution under federal marijuana laws.

The legislation, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), would modify the Controlled Substances Act so that anyone acting in compliance with a state marijuana law would be immune from federal prosecution. The Respect State Marijuana Laws Act, H.R. 1523, would add the following provision to the current law:

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the pro-visions of this subchapter related to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State laws relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marihuana."

Republicans and Democrats are coming together in support of the legislation that would prohibit the government from interfering with state marijuana laws. Co-sponsors of the bill include Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Don Young (R-Ark.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

"This bipartisan bill represents a common-sense approach that establishes federal government respect for all states' marijuana laws," said Rohrabacher. "It does so by keeping the federal government out of the business of criminalizing marijuana activities in states that don't want it to be criminal."

The widespread bipartisan support for the bill reflects a national trend that, for the first time in more than four decades, shows a majority of Americans in favor of legalizing the use of marijuana. A survey released last week by the Pew Research Center found that 60% of Americans believe the federal government should not enforce federal laws prohibiting the use of marijuana in states where it is legal. The survey found that 65% of Millennials favor legalizing the use of marijuana, nearly double the 36% support in 2008.

There also has been a striking change in long-term attitudes among older generations, particularly Baby Boomers, 50% of whom now favor legalizing marijuana.

While the bill does not attempt to legalize the drug in individual states, it would immunize individuals in states taking measures to reform marijuana laws from federal prosecution.

Currently, 18 states and the District of Columbia allow patients with qualifying conditions to use medical marijuana with recommendations from their physicians. In November, voters in Colorado and Washington State took steps towards legalizing marijuana for adults 21 and older and directing state regulatory bodies to create regulations for businesses to cultivate and sell marijuana to adults.

"Marijuana prohibition is on its last legs because most Americans no longer support it," said Steve Fox, the national political director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "This legislation presents a perfect opportunity for members to embrace the notion that states should be able to devise systems for regulating marijuana without their citizens having to worry about breaking federal law."
Support for the bill arises from not just moral, but practical and financial grounds as well.

The Pew survey released last week found agreement across partisan and demographic groups that federal government enforcement of marijuana laws is not worth the cost. 78% of independents, 71% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans say government enforcement efforts cost more than they are worth. A 2007 study by Jon Gettman of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis estimates that the marijuana industry costs U.S. taxpayers roughly $42 billion annually in enforcement costs and lost tax revenues.

"If a state chooses to take marijuana sales away from cartels and the criminal market and put them in the hands of legitimate, tax-paying businesses, it should be able to do so without federal interference," said Fox.

Have an opinion either way? Write to your state representative to voice your thoughts. Those with high hopes for the bill can send an automated message through the MPP.

Picture Credit: CBS News

‘Guru of ganja’ tells Michigan crowd: Legalization ‘cured’ need for medical marijuana

2013-04-11T01:40:00.002-07:00

Source: The RAW STORY
By Stephen C. Webster

Speaking to a crowd gathered Saturday for Michigan’s annual “Hash Bash” and marijuana legalization protest in Ann Arbor, former “High Times” columnist and self-proclaimed “Guru of ganja” Ed Rosenthal declared that the successful legalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington last November have “cured” him of his need for medical marijuana.

“Up to then, I had been using marijuana medically,” he said. “Then, when the polls came in and it showed that marijuana was made legal, I found that I had been cured. Cured! I would no longer need a prescription to get it. Hallelujah!”

Rosenthal’s joking issuance of a clear
prognosis is likely to give ammo to drug reform critics who say that medical marijuana legalization is just another step down the road to regulating adult use and over-the-counter purchases. Still, thousands of onlookers cheered wildly as he spoke, laughing along with his sarcasm.

“Marijuana needs no defense,” Rosenthal insisted. “Talking to people about how good marijuana is here is like talking to the choir. Amen?”

The protest, held on the University of Michigan campus, also featured Michigan state Rep. Jeff Irwin (D), calling on reform advocates to begin communicating their desires to officials at all levels of government.

“I believe we need to legalize marijuana,” Irwin said. “The amount of blood and treasure we’ve spilled in this drug war is an embarrassment to our country.”

He added that numerous local initiatives across Michigan in recent years inspired him to move on drug reform in the legislature. “When I saw that kind of activity, I said, ‘I need to step up and do my part,’” Irwin explained. “‘I need to introduce a decriminalization bill in the state legislature.’”

Marijuana superstore opens in Seattle, Washington

2013-04-10T12:12:00.001-07:00

by JOHN LANGELER / KING 5 News

Instead of a state-run liquor store, a building in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood now holds “the Whole Foods of weed,” according to the man who owns the business inside.
Green Ambrosia opened last Saturday and is the city’s biggest medical marijuana dispensary.

The opening comes as Washington’s Liquor Control Board and lawmakers decide how to regulate recreational marijuana sales in the wake of Initative 502, which legalized the use and possession of small amounts of pot.

“This could be the face of what I-502 enabled pot looks like,” explained Green Ambrosia owner Dante Jones.

Jones’ business has operated since 2011, but only recently opened a storefront. Inside, behind a bamboo wall, is one large glass table loaded with jars of marijuana. There are restrictions on how much medical marijuana a business can have on sale.

While planning for whatever regulations may come from I-502, Jones said Saturday he is not sure how licensing will work.

“We’re preparing for it,” he said, “As a business owner, the only thing I can hope for is that they’re going to continue the same set of standards (included in the initative).”

Public forums are being held across the state on how to license recreational marijuana. No matter what the state decides, it is still possible the federal government could take action against Washington State since, according to federal law, marijuana is still illegal.

Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry starting to take shape

2013-04-09T18:19:00.003-07:00

source: The Daily Caller - Greg Campbell

People who plan to sell legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado will be spared the hassle and expense of having to grow it themselves, thanks to the suggestion of an ad hoc committee of state lawmakers hammering together a workable bill for regulating legal pot.

Lawmakers have less than a month to introduce and vote on a wide-ranging bill that addresses everything from labeling standards for marijuana-infused products to tax rates.

They’ve relied heavily on the recommendations of a special task force that has been studying marijuana’s myriad issues since shortly after voters legalized the drug in November.

But in opting not to require future retailers to grow most of the pot they sell, they’ve deviated from the task force’s advice, which was to follow the model currently in place for medical marijuana. Under that system, dispensaries are required to be vertically integrated and must grow at least 70 percent of the pot they sell.

This was originally meant as a way to track marijuana from seed to sale and ensure that the pot sold didn’t come from the black market.

But a withering state audit released earlier this year found that medical marijuana regulators weren’t properly monitoring the industry.

“(Regulators) do not regularly determine compliance with other key features of the vertical integration model, such as the requirement that dispensaries grow 70 percent of the medical marijuana that they sell,” the audit said.

Lawmakers have instead chosen to set up a system more like that governing liquor, in which people in the industry can either produce or sell.

The decision, taken on the committee’s last day of work Monday, was met with mixed reactions by those in the marijuana community.

On one hand, existing medical marijuana businesses — which are by and large expected to convert to recreational retail establishments once the rules are decided — have endured a seemingly endless gauntlet of onerous regulations to remain in business. That includes the “grow your own” rule that required dispensaries to take on the substantial added expense of establishing a commercial grow operation.

But those who are opposed to vertical integration think a more flexible approach will encourage competition.

Jessica LaRoux, a marijuana activist, emailed lawmakers that the requirement for vertical integration means that “only the most well-funded current medical entities from the big city will be able to expand into new locations,” according to the Denver Post.

It’s also an unnecessary “pain in the ass,” attorney Warren Edson told the Westword newspaper.
“Medical marijuana is one of the few industries, if not the only industry, where retailers are forced to own the whole line of production,” he said. “It’s a huge pain in the ass to run a business like that — and to force that model into retail is ludicrous, particularly given that Colorado voted to regulate marijuana like alcohol, and alcohol is just the opposite.”

The committee also tackled the thorny issue of taxing marijuana. The amendment passed by voters in November requires the first $40 million raised in an excise tax be spent on schools, but Coloradans are required to vote on all new taxes. Lawmakers are in the delicate position of needing an excise tax for education, and a sales tax high enough to pay for enforcing regulations but not so high that legal pot would be significantly more expensive than black market pot.

They’ve proposed a 15 percent excise tax and a new 15 percent sales tax on top of various other local taxes. In some communities, the Associated Press reports that recreational marijuana could be taxed at a nearly 40 percent rate.

Coloradans are expected to vote on the taxes in November.
Follow Greg on Twitter

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful.

Recent Videos

Unvarnished Truth #5

25 views - 0 comments

Weed Wins - Majority Now Favors Marijuana Legalization

9 views - 0 comments

Should We Legalize Marijuana?

59 views - 0 comments

Top 5 Reasons To Legalize Cannabis

60 views - 0 comments

Cannabis Research A to Z indexes a large number of scientific case studies related to the medical benefits of cannabis, and distributes this information through this website, an open source widget, as well as social networking, in as many languages as possible.

Cannabis & Health - Science & Research
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

World Seed Banks Get this Widget

Pew poll: Most say legalize marijuana

2013-04-04T10:55:00.003-07:00

Source: Politico
By KEVIN ROBILLARD

A clear majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana for the first time in 40 years, according to a poll released Thursday.

In the Pew Research Center poll released Thursday, 52 percent support legalizing the drug and only 45 percent oppose legalization. While support has generally tracked upward over time, it has spiked 11 points since 2010.

The first public poll on legalizing marijuana, taken by Gallup in 1969, found a whopping 84 percent of the country opposed.

In November 2012, voters in Washington and Colorado both decided to legalize marijuana, becoming the first two states to do so. Three-fifths of Americans said the federal government shouldn’t enforce marijuana laws in those states. And 72 percent said the government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they’re worth.

Support for legal weed use has increased across age groups, genders, education levels, ideologies and ethnic backgrounds since 2010. The largest jumps have come from Hispanics, where support rose from 35 percent to 51 percent, and moderate or liberal Republicans, who increased support from 36 percent to 53 percent. Support is lower among older people, and among Republicans and conservatives.

That increase in support has come as Americans move away from a moralistic opposition to smoking weed. In 2006, 50 percent of Americans said smoking marijuana was morally wrong. Today, the same number says it is not a moral issue.

The poll of 1,501 adults was conducted from March 13 to March 17. It has a margin of error of plus

Petition

Legalization of Marijuana in all 50 states - click here

Recent Videos

Top 5 Reasons To Legalize Cannabis

22 views - 0 comments

Doctor Cunsulting Marijuana Legalization in Washington

60 views - 0 comments

Are All 50 States Headed Towards Legalization Of Marijuana?

989 views - 1 comment

Problems Found with Colorado's Regulation of Medical Marijuana

2013-03-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

By Susan Graybeal

According to a report recently released by the Colorado State Auditor's office, Colorado's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division -- which falls under the Department of Revenue -- hasn't been following the law when it comes to regulating the industry in the state, has been underreporting tax revenue and has not been spending its money wisely. Here are the details.

* The Division was established in July 2010 to license and regulate businesses that grow, cultivate and sell medical marijuana products. As of October, the Division was charged with overseeing about 1,440 medical marijuana businesses, with the majority of its funding coming from medical marijuana business application and licensing fees.

* According to the auditor's report, the Division took an average of 23 months to issue final licensing decisions by the Aug. 1 effective date of a two-year moratorium on new medical marijuana businesses. 41 percent of the original license applications received by that date were still pending as of October.

* Some of the approved applications revealed potentially disqualifying information about the applicants, the auditor reported.

* Additionally, the Division spent about $1.1 million in the years 2011-12 to develop a marijuana plant tracking system. However, it fell short about $400,000 due to financial difficulties and still has not implemented the system.

* The auditor also found that the Division doesn't use the prescribed statutory process when confiscating marijuana due to disciplinary actions against a medical marijuana business and "has inadequate controls to ensure that seized marijuana is destroyed properly," the report stated.

* According to the report, the Division suffered 19 consecutive months of net losses, including a loss of $2.3 million in June 2011 because of large capital purchases including furniture, computer equipment and software for the marijuana plant tracking program.

* Some of the furniture purchases included $28,000 for seven desk extenders, $16,000 for three cubicles and $4,200 for four office chairs.

* "We reviewed these purchases and found that the Division did not take sufficient steps to ensure that these expenses were reasonable and appropriate," the report stated. "Specifically, the Division did not use a competitive bidding process to outfit its four offices and instead purchased the bulk of its furniture from Colorado Correctional Industries."

* The auditor's report also revealed that about $760,000 of sales tax revenue generated by 56 dispensaries in 2011-12 was not reported by the state's Department of Revenue.

* Due to financial difficulties, the Division laid off most of its staff in 2012, the report stated, adding that weaknesses in fee-setting, strategic planning and expense controls contributed to those financial problems.

* According to the Denver Post , when presented with the audit on Thursday, the legislative committee in charge of drafting a bill on recreational marijuana regulations began questioning whether the Division could handle the added responsibilities of recreational marijuana.

* "If they couldn't handle the little piece they have now," said Rep. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, "there's no way we can trust them to handle more.

Medical marijuana proposal would legalize (and tax) pot in New York for approved growers, patients

2013-03-27T13:16:00.002-07:00

source: syracuse

By Teri Weaver

photo - State Sen. Diane Savin

Syracuse, N.Y. – Medical marijuana would be legal – and taxed – under a proposal today from state lawmakers who say New York should join with the 18 other states that have approved pot for seriously ill patients.

But, in New York, medical marijuana supporters have a strong litmus test to pass: winning support from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who appears dead set against this expansion of drug use.

“I’m not in favor of it,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo late last year, and his position has not changed, a spokesman said today.

That hasn’t dissuaded Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, who today introduced otheir latest version of a medical marijuana bill.

The proposal would allow medical providers to recommend marijuana use by patients suffering from serious conditions, such as cancer, AIDs, glaucoma and epilepsy. Terminally ill patients would also qualify for marijuana use.

Specifically, doctors, physicians’ assistants and nurse practitioners could recommend patients for marijuana use to the state’s Department of Health. The department would create a registry of approved patients, who would have a photo identification card to buy up to 2.5 ounces of pot at a time from certified growers or dispensaries. The card would be valid for a year or less, depending on the recommendation from the healthcare provider.

The department would also be in charge of approving growers and sellers. Growers must cultivate pot at indoor, secure locations; sellers must ensure their distribution allows for no sales to anyone other than approved patients or caregivers.

And, this being New York, entities growing and selling would be taxed up to $250 a pound, according to the proposal.

The bill contains no additional penalties for patients, sellers or growers who take advantage of the legalization of medical marijuana. It also allows for children 17 and younger to apply to be an approved patient.

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York and the Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State support using marijuana for treatment; the Medical Society of the State of New York also supports it, specifically when all other options have failed.

Contact Teri Weaver at: tweaver@syracuse.com, 315-470-2274 or on Twitter at @TeriKWeaver.

US recreational cannabis use would violate international laws, UN anti-narcotics panel says

2013-03-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

source: United Nations News Centre

14 March 2013 – Implementing the decisions of popular votes held in the United States in Colorado and Washington to allow for the recreational use of cannabis would be a violation of international laws, the United Nations body tasked with monitoring the production and consumption of narcotics worldwide said today.

The move “would be a violation of international law, namely the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, to which the United States is party,” the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Raymond Yans, told the 56th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

In November 2012, the electorate in Colorado and Washington voted to legalize recreational marijuana use in their states. Medical marijuana businesses operate in Colorado, Washington and 16 other states, but the US Government continues to oppose any decriminalization of the drug.

The Office of the US Attorney General said in December 2012 that regardless of any changes in state law, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remained illegal under federal law.

Mr. Yans called the statement “good but insufficient” and said he hoped that the issue would soon be addressed by the US Government in line with the international drug control treaties.
Based in Vienna, the INCB is an independent and quasi-judicial monitoring body mandated to implement UN international drug control conventions.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue

UN anti-narcotics panel calls for better support for youth and marginalized

Copenhagen looking to import cannabis from the US

2013-03-14T11:28:00.001-07:00

source: COPENHAGEN post
Justin Cremer

Part of the city's plan to legalise cannabis, which will be presented at a conference on Friday, is to explore importing from two US states that recently legalised use of the substance

Ahead of a City Council cannabis conference on Friday, Copenhagen officials say they are ready to make another push to legalise the substance.

According to prepared documents from the council, the city is proposing a three-year trial, arguing that “the legal sale of cannabis will result in decreased gang criminality, more prevention and a better life for average cannabis users”.

An intriguing element of the plan calls for the possible import of cannabis from the US states of Colorado and Washington, where voters in November legalised its recreational use.
The Copenhagen Post spoke with the deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming (Enhedslisten), about the city's plans.

“If we get the three-year trial, it will be important to work as quickly and effectively as possible, so we are looking abroad for where we could import cannabis,” Warming said. “Yes, we are looking at Colorado and Washington, but we're also looking at places like Great Britain, where there is state-controlled production of marijuana for medical purposes.”

“We realise of course that there are a lot of international conventions and regulations to deal with, but we think it is possible,” he said, adding that despite the production of heroin being illegal, Denmark is still able to legally import it for use in municipal injection rooms.

“The US states of Colorado and Washington recently legalised marijuana for recreational use, so it makes sense to learn from their experiences and to explore the possibility of importing from them.”
Warming said that at this point there has been no formal outreach to officials in Colorado or Washington about the legality or practicality of importing cannabis, but one of the main speakers at Friday's conference will be Peter Holmes, the city attorney of Seattle, Washington.

“It would be strange not to use the occasion to address practicalities with Mr Holmes,” Warming said. He added that Copenhagen would not make any arrangements with Colorado or Washington without discussing the issue with the appropriate federal authorities in the US.

“It is vital that the production and import is legal on all levels,” he said, adding that although cannabis is still an illegal substance on the federal level in the US, he still thinks a solution could be found. “It's possible if there is the political will for it in the United States.”

Regardless of the feasibility of importing cannabis from the US, Warming said that the conference aims to put pressure on the national government to convince parliament that the legalisation of cannabis is a good idea.

“This is common sense,” he said. “As local politicians, we are closer to reality. The ban on cannabis has failed. People can get it anywhere, it is mixed with harder drugs and it finances crime.”
“If we get the trial, which would be a three-year experiment, we will try it and then see what the results are,” Warming said. “If it is successful, we will work towards permanent legalisation in Copenhagen and the whole of Denmark.”

Warming said that, in addition to questions about how to get legal cannabis if the proposal is approved, there are still several details to work out, including who would be allowed to purchase cannabis from city-run dispensaries. Warming said that, due to concerns over “hash tourism”, sales would only be made to residents of Denmark over the age of 18. However, Warming said sales could further be restricted to residents of either the Greater Copenhagen area or just residents of the city itself.

Mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession would be eradicated in new bill

2013-03-14T07:33:00.002-07:00

By Lauren McGaughy, NOLA.com

Possessing marijuana in Louisiana would not be subject to mandatory minimum sentences under the state's "three strikes" law if a bill filed in Baton Rouge on Tuesday passes during the legislative session that begins April 8. The bill would also lessen penalties for repeat offenders.

House Bill 103, sponsored by state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, would significantly reduce penalties and incarceration time for those convicted more than once of possessing natural or synthetic cannabis products, and remove possession of these products from mandatory minimum sentences under the state's habitual offender, or "three strikes" law.

Under that law, a state resident arrested on a charge of marijuana possession who had been charged with three previous felonies would receive a mandatory sentence of 20 or more years in jail. Such was the case for Covington's Patrick Carney, who was sentenced

to 30 years in 2011 for selling $25 worth of marijuana.

Badon's bill would bring current state law more in line with a provision passed by the New Orleans City Council in 2010 that makes marijuana possession, as well as other minor crimes, a municipal offense. Under this provision, police have the option to issue a fine rather than make an arrest.
Proponents of the change, which went into effect in January 2011, said it could reduce the caseload of the judges and prosecutors who handle serious felonies, and could spare the city the expense of housing and feeding these offenders in city jails.

However, the New Orleans lawmaker could encounter problems with the bill because it would allow for reduced penalties for the possession of marijuana as well as synthetic cannabinoids.
Often called "K2" or "Spice," synthetic cannabinoids are natural herbs sprayed with a chemical composition that mimics the effects of tetrahydrocannibol, or THC, the active constituent in marijuana.

In 2010, a state law was passed adding synthetic cannabis, which has been recently linked to acute psychosis in some users, to the list of Schedule I drugs. Badon co-sponsored this bill.

Badon's bill piggybacks on a law passed last year, which allows non-sexual, non-violent offenders to seek reduced sentences if they complete certified treatment and rehabilitation programs. Calls to Badon's office on Tuesday were not immediately returned.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has also expressed his intent to support legislation allowing for the conditional early release of non-violent first-time and second-time drug offenders who complete a 90-day detox program.

Marijuana possession penalties and incarceration time would be reduced significantly under a new bill proposed Tuesday by state Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans.

Marijuana Cases Dismissed In Michigan, More To Come

2013-03-14T00:51:00.000-07:00

Cannabis & Health - Science & Research
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

World Seed Banks Get this Widget

by Rick Thompson

1 6 cases dismissed, more to come as Oakland County admits dispensary raider went rogue; gutless Bouchard makes McCabe take the heat, refuses to issue charges

Michigan has seen some bad press lately- ranked the 7^th worst state for corruption and the Michigan State Police Crime Lab having their marijuana test results ruled to be not up to scientific snuff. The cannabis community has been abuzz with news that one of Oakland County’s drug warriors was fired by his superiors for lying to them, to prosecutors, to judges and to the people- and probably has been for years.

Former Detective Mark Ferguson, according to the January 29th Detroit Free Press, was fired from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department for breaking into a suspicious shipping container, discovering drugs, resealing the container and then swearing out a warrant to open it legally. During the trial, when he was under oath and directly asked if the container had been opened prior to obtaining the warrant, Ferguson denied it.

The Oakland Press revealed more details. “One of the witnesses said ‘The officer opened that package in my presence,’” Oakland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Paul Walton said. A second witness confirmed this. “At one point, detective Ferguson (asked) my client ‘What do you got in the box, 78 pounds of marijuana?’ That was before the box was allegedly searched,” defense attorney James Gaylon said. ” I was convinced Detective Ferguson was lying on the stand. I was convinced he was lying in order to keep his case solid.”

Complicating this story is the complete absence of Sheriff Mike Bouchard. He seems to delegate the duty of addressing bad news to his unfortunate subordinate Undersheriff McCabe, who is left to explain why Ferguson will not be charged with any crime. Perjury, breaking and entering, filing a false police report, conspiracy- the potential number of crimes committed is staggering- but McCabe claims no charges will be filed because Ferguson could get his job back if he is acquitted of the charges. “We can’t take the chance that the jury will acquit,” McCabe is quoted as saying.

In 2010 and 2011, the Oakland County NET team raided medical marijuana distribution centers in the entire southeastern Michigan area. Accusations of misconduct surrounding those raids has circulated continuously since that time. Ferguson admitted to making a fake medical marijuana card using his police computer and used it to gain entry to dispensaries that had previously rejected other NET team members. I have firsthand knowledge of this, since I was at Big Daddy’s in January 2011 when Ferguson, his partner Derek Myers and the NET team raided the Oak Park establishment; that court case is still ongoing.

Oakland County Prosecutors supposedly learned of Ferguson’s corruption in September of 2012. The Free Press report says prosecutors quickly dismissed the drug trafficking charges involving Anastacio Payan of California and the 78 lbs of marijuana, then reevaluated 100 open drug cases. Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper elected to dismiss 16 of them due to potential misconduct by Ferguson.

The Free Press reports that in the Payan case Ferguson called other team members to the shipping yard, and then picked the lock on the container. Ferguson was the only person on the squad that reported an overpowering smell of cannabis coming from the container. These facts were revealed after prosecutors, preparing for the Payan case, interviewed the witnesses involved and discovered the officer’s criminality. Where is the disciplinary action against the other narcotics team members that knew of, but did nothing to stop, Ferguson’s criminal behavior?

Ferguson, and other members of the NET narcotics team, are notorious for playing outside the boundaries of the law. The article notes that charges were dropped in the Kelley case from 2011 after it was revealed that Ferguson and Myers conducted a raid on a Pontiac home then obtained a search warrant afterward. Court documents obtained by The Compassion Chronicles detail Ferguson’s rebuke by the Michigan Court of Appeals for the improper questioning of Sylvester Giles. Per the COA document: “Detective Ferguson’s question to defendant constituted an interrogation under Miranda,” and, “…defendant was not read his Miranda rights prior to this interchange.”

In the Clinical Relief case there was a question of appropriate use of police force; court transcripts show Myers was asked under oath about a long rifle being held to the head of a restrained suspect. Myer’s response: “I don’t remember.” Detective Myers was involved in a tax evasion case: his accountant, Mr. Redinger, “admitted to willfully assisting in the preparation of a false 2001 Federal income tax return for Derek Meyers… an OCSD deputy, by claiming false unreimbursed expenses as itemized deductions.” Redinger plead guilty to falsifying 34 tax returns.

Yet another case involves Ferguson and fellow officer McLaughlin. During a traffic stop the officers were accused of inappropriately searching a vehicle, inappropriately towing that vehicle, and threatening “to have other officers falsely pin a murder charge on (the accused) when he initially indicated that he wanted an attorney.” That threat coerced the accused into making a confession, per the court documents. There is no evidence that Ferguson was disciplined for any of these offenses.
Attorneys involved in these dispensary cases knew that there was something amiss all along. Thomas Loeb, one of nine attorneys hired to represent the Clinical Relief defendants, said, “I think Oakland County is trying to make a political point and they are doing it in the wrong way.”

The shipping yard involved in the Payan case is all-too familiar to medical marijuana advocates. It is this location where Ferguson in 2011 trapped Dryden dispensary operator Randy Crowell and a female associate when they came to pick up a container sent from out-of-state. According to the Free Press report, the same employee clued Ferguson in on both the Payan and Crowell raids. It is reasonable to assume Ferguson used the same dirty tricks to trap Crowell that he used with Payan. A lawsuit against the Oakland County Sheriff Department seems likely- and the unfortunate taxpayers of Oakland County will be footing the bill.

“Everything he did is now going to be subject to scrutiny, and at great administrative costs,” said constitutional law professor Peter Henning from Wayne State University to the Free Press, in reference to Ferguson. “Sure, getting a warrant is a hassle, it slows down police work, but you don’t cut corners. It’s one of the reasons we had a revolution. It is at the core of the Constitution.”
The Oakland County dispensary purge in 2010 raises questions of conduct and credibility regarding the raid team’s methodology. All charges against the Clinical Relief dispensary operators were dropped in 2012.

The court documents detailing the undercover surveillance and surreptitious buys generated broad criticism in the media and the courts. Sheriff Bouchard held a press conference in which he told the world about an alligator being used to guard a medical marijuana grow room; the alligator, named Chubbs, was later revealed to be about eighteen inches long and living in a room separate from the plants.

The fake medical marijuana cards and alligator story became news fodder for ABC, CBS, NBC and every cable/Internet news outlet.

When the NET team raided Big Daddy’s they did not know who was in charge, who were employees and who were patients. They did not even know we ran the Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine from those offices. They swore out a search warrant for the home of the business owners- and then served it at the wrong house.

This Keystone Cops routine may not have been their fault. In January 2011, a new Attorney General was sworn in and he immediately agreed to share private and protected information with the DEA, information that his predecessor Mike Cox had refused to surrender. In response, the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers (MACC) hit the AG with a restraining order to halt the transfer of information. A few days later the Oakland County Raid Team was bursting into the offices of MACC- located in Big Daddy’s Oak Park facility, after what was obviously insufficient surveillance and investigation. The suggestion that the raid was ordered by Ferguson’s superiors- perhaps even from Lansing- has never been disproved, and these new revelations make it more likely that this was the case. Perhaps this is the real reason why Ferguson faces no criminal charges- is this final act of protectionism from Bouchard a desperate bid to buy his silence?

It’s not a crime to be used as a tool by people like Bouchard and the current Attorney General; it is a crime if you break the law to enforce the law. Convicted felons whose cases were made by Ferguson and the NET team are legitimately interested in suing the County and having their cases re-opened. Oakland County residents, prepare yourself for a long, expensive, embarrassing battle. I suggest you insist on your newly re-elected Sheriff to actually stand before a microphone and address you on the issue instead of watching Undersheriff McCabe do the denial dance.

“Legal Highs” Are Greatest Global Threat, Not Marijuana

2013-03-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

by Rick Thompson

The UN Admits Chemists In Asia Create One New Lethal Designer Drug Per Week But Still Choose To Focus On Marijuana Prohibition

New designer drugs are emerging in the global marketplace that simulate the effects of drugs like cocaine and heroin- but are completely legal, according to a new report issued by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

The pair of reports, which were issued on March 5, 2013, covering the year 2012 and analyzing statistical data from 2011, points a finger at chemists in southeast Asia as the creators of these new psychoactive drugs that are not subject to normal international treaties or other forms of control.

INCB President Raymond Yans identifies the United Kingdom as the origin point for much of the proliferation of legal psychotropics since the market developed there via online pharmacies, which then spread to America and the rest of the Western world.

The United States has struggled to keep up with the flood of new psychotropic drugs. The DEA has banned several of the precursor chemicals and individual states have taken steps to block sale or distribution of the drugs. K2, Spice, bath salts- these are just some of the chemicals Americans are familiar with from seeing videos of crazed users on network television and on cable news stations.
The British news source The Guardian reports: “Yans said

legal highs were now multiplying at an alarming rate, with more than one a week appearing on the market – almost 10 times the number that were being marketed a decade ago.” Yans cites Japan as a leader in combating the designer drugs- they have banned 53 of the emergent substances already. The UK has a system in place to identify and restrict these new drugs as they appear on the market.

The reports are also critical of United States marijuana policy- specifically the legalized personal use of cannabis in Washington and Colorado. The INCB also took issue with medical marijuana in states like Michigan and California. “In some US states they are being operated in a way that is completely inappropriate and outside of the (international drug) conventions,” the report claims.
Yans describes the medical marijuana laws as “a back-door to legalisation for recreational use”. He reported that the INCB has been reassured by US Attorney General Eric Holder that federal laws prohibiting cultivation and use of marijuana would stand. Yans described the personal use and medical use of cannabis as “a threat to public health and wellbeing.”

Read the full text of the UN Narcotic_Drugs_Report_2012
Read the full text of the UN psychotropic substances report 2012
Source: The Compassion Chronicles

Australian producers concerned about moves to set up a US hemp industry

2013-03-11T21:35:00.001-07:00

By Belinda Tromp

Australia's hemp farmers fear they will be left behind by moves in the United States to kick-start a hemp industry there.

A bill recently introduced into the US Congress is aimed at removing a federal ban on hemp growing, and there's strong congressional support from farming states, including Kentucky and Oregon.

Non-drug hemp seed products are a popular food ingredient in the US but have to be imported from Canada and overseas.

Phil Reader, from the Industrial Hemp Association of Tasmania and a hemp grower at Longford near Launceston, says he's frustrated that government authorities in Australia are delaying a final decision on whether to approve hemp as a food ingredient here.

"If that goes ahead, if things aren't changed in Australia, we're well and truly going to be left behind the eight ball with development of the industry, because it means there'll be more producers out there, more people looking for export markets out of the US, so they

PHOTO: Phil Reader, president of the Industrial Hemp Association of Tasmania. (Rose Grant)

Syndicated Content

Hawaii Hemp Bill Passes House, Advances to Senate

Maryland Medical Marijuana Bill Backed By Joshua S...

Marijuana Ban Ignored on Nepal's Holiest Holiday

Pot and politics mix at Colorado Springs

Pot and politics mix at Colorado Springs bring-your-own-marijuana smoking club

2013-03-11T21:22:00.001-07:00

by Tony Spehar - tspehar@koaa.com

Pot and politics mix at Studio A64, a bring-your-own-marijuana smoking club open in downtown Colorado Springs.

Owner KC Stark opened Studio A64 three-weeks ago, the club is members only and no marijuana sales are allowed on the premises. The club only sells drinks and snacks, members can smoke their own pot from vaporizers inside or through traditional means on the outside deck.

"According to our research we are the first private, licensed, insured, brick-and-mortar cannabis club in America," Stark said.

Stark said he is often worried the club may be shut-down by authorities, but so far that hasn't happened and leaders with the Colorado Springs Police Department say for now the club is legal.
"Until we get some direction from the state we're not really going to really enforce anything other than we can," explained Deputy Chief Vincent Niski.

So Studio A64 has a "green-light" of sorts and said he will continue to operate responsibly. Security is tight at the club and Stark is strict about public health, keeping pipes and mouth-pieces thoroughly cleaned after use. He claimed his club could be an example of how marijuana business could benefit the city.

"Regulate it, tax it, control it, acknowledge it, accept it," he said.

Studio A64 has become a headquarters of sort for a new force in city politics, the marijuana industry.
"We hope that we can leverage enough to create a voice and to show that our issue is important to the region," explained Mark Slaugh of iComply, a marijuana regulatory affairs company.

Slaugh, Stark and other marijuana business owners are trying to influence voters to pressure city leaders to allow the cannabis industry to grow. They've even put together a voting guide called "Cannabis Candidates" which endorses candidates for city council who are friendly to the marijuana industry, just like many other business sectors do to try and get supportive leaders elected.

"We have a new city council coming on board who will decide the responsible way to move forward with regulating this industry or banning it completely," Slaugh explained.

In the coming weeks before the city council election Studio A64 will be hosting fund raising events for their campaign.

Marijuana Ban Ignored on Nepal's Holiest Holiday

2013-03-11T21:15:00.001-07:00

Cannabis & Health - Science & Research
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

World Seed Banks Get this Widget

By Chris Roberts

Every once in a while it's good to remember that this magic plant milked for tax dollars and for reefer votes in America has an ancient history elsewhere in the world.

In Nepal, where some land-race strains of the cannabis plant we know today originated, marijuana is downright religious.

The Shivaratri festival was underway on Sunday in Kathmandu, and a central aspect of the Himalayan nation's holiest time is consumption of cannabis -- even though the plant once spread by Shiva in a time of mourning is still illegal, as Reuters reported today.

How do you get around the Nepalese police and consume ganja in public? It's as easy as becoming an ascetic.

For Hindus, Shiva is the god of destruction. His day -- Maha Shivratri, or the "night of Shiva" -- became a time for public cannabis consumption because, it is said, he sowed forests in Nepal with the cannabis plant following the death of a lover.

Supplied by nature or supplied by God, cannabis is denied nonetheless by wordly authorities, whose bounds are denied by the otherworldly seeking holy men. But it wasn't always this way.

According to Reuters, "authorities supplied the drug to holy men in the past but the practice was discontinued in the 1990s after critics said it amounted to promoting its consumption." So nowadays, the holy men have to provide their own supply, and are discouraged from sharing with with mere pilgrims.

As the news service reports:

Cannabis is illegal in Nepal, but permitted as a religious ritual for ascetics during the festival, which took place at the weekend. The only explanation for this is that the ascetics are imitating Shiva.

The ban is ignored during the festival for the ascetics, who are allowed to smoke inside the temple complex but not sell or distribute it to pilgrims.

One million people visited the city for the festival, Reuters reported. Imagine the hubbub -- and the accompanying pipe sellers and Bob Marley flag salesmen -- if this was in the States.

Maryland Medical Marijuana Bill Backed By Joshua Sharfstein, State's Health Secretary

2013-03-09T19:56:00.001-08:00

By BRIAN WITTE

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Maryland's health secretary is expressing support for a measure to allow medical marijuana in the state.

Secretary Joshua Sharfstein told lawmakers on Friday that Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration has changed its position from last year. He says that's because the federal government has not brought charges against any state employees in other states who may have been involved with distributing medical marijuana.

Last year, the administration didn't support a similar proposal, citing concerns about potential federal prosecution of state employees.

Sharfstein says the administration is supporting the bill sponsored by Democratic Delegate Dan Morhaim of Baltimore County, with some amendments.

The bill would create a commission to oversee the program at academic medical centers. Morhaim says it would be "the tightest and most controlled of any state" medical marijuana program.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful.

Syndicated Content

Drugs won the drug war: The world's lax narcotics

It's not just Colorado and Washington: The world

New Hampshire's well-crafted medical marijuana program

Marijuana Patient Gets His Weed Back; Sues State

Ontario Medical Marijuana Dispensary Operator

Exposing the webs.com scam? Customers reporting record loses

Hemp Gets The Green Light In New

Colorado Cannabis Measure Cannabis Legalization Goes Federal

A Labor Union Hopes Medical Marijuana Will Cure It

Drug enforcement groups criticize hemp efforts

Cannabis remains illegal in Canada after Appeal Court

Marijuana legalization: Is Canada missing out on billions $

Nigeria: Turning to a New Leaf

Czech Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

Hawaii Hemp Bill Passes House, Advances to Senate

2013-03-05T11:10:00.001-08:00

By Sativa Galore

HONOLULU, HI — A bill that would establish a two-year hemp pilot program in Hawaii has advanced to the Senate after passing unanimously on the floor of the House last week.
If passed, House Bill 154 HD2 would allow the Board of Agriculture to establish a two year industrial hemp research and biofuel crop pilot program.

A primary focus of the proposed research would be phytoremediation, a process by which the hemp plant draws toxins out of the soil and processes them safely through its roots, stalk, branches, and leaves.

House lawmakers passed an amended version of the original bill, which expands the research to include hemp’s value as an alternative biofuel for Hawaii.

“People now understand how industrial hemp can benefit Hawaii,” said State Representative Cynthia Thielen (R-Kaneohe Bay), who cosponsored HB154. “The hemp plant itself uses phytoremediation to cleanse the soil of pesticides, heavy metals, oil, and other toxins.”

“Adding industrial hemp as a source of biofuel is another avenue worth pursuing,” Thielen said. “Reducing our dependence on foreign oil through the use of a renewable resource would be very good for Hawaii.”

The bill was introduced by Thielen, Speaker Joseph Souki, Representative Derek Kawakami, Representative Sylvia Luke, and Representative Angus McKelvey in January.

Cultivation of industrial hemp is currently prohibited by the federal government, but legislation has been introduced in Congress to allow the commercial production of hemp in the United States, the only industrialized nation in the world to prohibit the cultivation of hemp.

Hemp products can legally be sold in the United States, but the hemp must be imported from other countries.

It's not just Colorado and Washington: The world is abandoning the US-backed drug war in favor of a more liberal approach to cannabis.

2013-02-28T14:23:00.004-08:00

Erin Cunningham and Heba Habib

Hookahs, hash and the Muslim Brotherhood

Millions of Egyptians get stoned regularly, despite — or is it because of? — the conservative Islamic government.

SAYEDA AISHA, Egypt — Um Salma’s tiny café is tucked in a maze of alleys in the Sayeda Aisha slum, home to the tomb of Aisha, the Prophet Mohamed’s youngest wife.

Pushing through the café’s saloon-style doors, a haze of acrid hash smoke assaults the senses. Inside, a dozen-odd workers sitting on wooden stools cluster around water pipes.

The water gurgles with each puff on the hookah’s long, slender hose. Traditional Egyptian music — the kind you can imagine a woman belly-dancing to, evoking the Sahara — rasps from an ageing cassette player.

Under the glare of neon bulbs, patrons banter about the slum’s latest news.

And they get utterly, convincingly high.

These men are a community, they say, but political discussions are "haram," or forbidden. Politics breeds divisions. Shared hits of Um Salma’s hash builds bonds.

Sixty-years-old, widowed and strictly religious in a gray-brown scarf draped over her hair and chest, Um Salma is an unlikely guardian of one of Egypt’s oldest pastimes. Although she enables an illegal activity, she is by no means an outcast here.

Her café “Dulab” — the Arabic word for a cabinet where prized possessions are kept from prying eyes — is one of this ancient city’s many sanctuaries for hash-smokers.

Despite Egypt’s conservative Muslim government and its harsh drug penalties, Um Salma’s guests don’t fear law enforcement as they smoke the sticky brown resin, or its sister schwag known here as “bango.”

They say they have an understanding with local police, who rarely bother them.

From the 19th-century laborers who shocked Napoleon with their unabashed love for the intoxicant, to contemporary elite professionals — including, it is rumored, former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat — Egypt is perennially up in smoke.

“So many people do it,” said 27-year-old salesman and Cairo resident, Hazem Amin. “My friends say it shouldn’t be a crime, because life is so difficult. People need a way to relax.”

Egypt traces its hash habit to roughly the 12th century, according to a Columbia University report. Back then, Muslim Sufi mystics smoked the drug to reach spiritual ecstasy.

Today, it is more popular among the vast working poor like those at Um Salma’s, who inhale pipes and joints to unwind amid the crescendo of political and economic turmoil.

According to a 2007 government study, 8.5 percent of Egypt’s roughly 80 million people are “addicted” to some type of drug, including hash. The number of casual hash smokers is believed to be much higher. Drug prevention workers and rehabilitation therapists in the capital say there are likely 10 million, but perhaps as many as 15 million, casual users.

Getting high is a cheap escape. At Um Salma’s, four “heads” of hash-sprinkled tobacco placed atop the water pipe and burned with coal cost just $0.75.

“It’s used by members of the lower classes who start using at events like weddings, or to reduce stress,” said Dr. Nagwa Ibrahim, director of a drug awareness initiative started by Amr Khaled, a popular Muslim television preacher in Egypt.

There’s a deep irony to Egypt’s widespread drug use. Using hash or other drugs is a serious criminal offense here. Trafficking illicit substances is punishable by death, while possession of small quantities can draw life sentences, for addicts and infrequent users alike.

Egypt is one of 32 countries that have laws mandating the death penalty for some drug offenses, though it ranks below places like Iran, China and Saudi Arabia for the number of offenders executed.

According to Amnesty International, over the last decade Egypt saw a marked decrease in the number of criminal executions. Because Egypt’s prisons are run by the highly secretive interior ministry, there are no statistics available. In 2010, a British citizen of Egyptian origin, Pierre Wassef, was sentenced for 25 years in an Egyptian high-security prison for drug trafficking, in a trial rights groups say was dogged by controversy.

These harsh penalties appear to stem from foreign influence, perhaps originating in Washington, DC.
Egypt’s drug laws were enacted under President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s. Soon after, Egypt came under the financial patronage of the United States.

Because the Egyptian government has long shunned transparency, it is impossible to know for certain whether the US pressured Egypt to adopt harsh anti-drug provisions. According to the Harm Reduction Coalition, a US-based advocacy network for policy and public health reform, countries that attempt an independent drug policy run the risk of losing crucial US aid. Egypt is one of Washington’s largest beneficiaries; a small part of that aid goes to training anti-drug agencies.

But as most Egyptians could tell you, the heavy-handed punishments have done little to stymie use.
Drug prevention workers say lax law enforcement since Egypt’s uprising two years ago has contributed to an increase in drug use and general flouting of the nation’s substance laws. Citizens smoke openly in the streets. If the security services intervene, a small pay-off typically fixes the problem. The country’s brutal police are still reeling from a near-nationwide assault on their ranks.
The authorities themselves are rumored to be involved in the trade.

“You go to prison and can still access drugs there,” said Wael, an addict-turned-therapist at one of Egypt’s few rehabilitation clinics for drug users.

In a nod to the population’s informal cannabis liberalization, plucky hashish-smoking netizens have launched an online pricing board for the capital’s cash-conscious smokers.

The website el7asheshbkam.com — or “How much is the hashish?” — allows buyers to anonymously post their location in Cairo, and the price they paid for a coin of hash, a pinky-sized quantity. The site keeps a running tab of hash prices. It has thousands of users.

Even with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood controlling the presidency, a long-standing belief that Islam doesn’t explicitly forbid hash is warding off appeals by more conservative Islamists to crackdown on the habit.

“My neighbor is quite devout. He prays five times a day at the mosque but smokes every day,” said 43-year-old Cairo resident, Shady Mohamed. “He says only alcohol is mentioned [as a forbidden substance] in the Quran.”

The Muslim holy book, does in fact include prohibitions on alcohol use — but does not mention hash as either forbidden or tolerated.

And while Islamists may oppose its use, hash-smoking and addiction should not be criminalized, some Brotherhood leaders say. They think rehabilitation is the way to treat what they see as a deepening social problem.

“We don’t believe in criminalizing it. We believe in treating drug users with kindness, as proscribed by Sharia [Islamic law] principles,” said Ali Ahmed Mohamed Omran, a leader of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party in Minya province. “It is criminalized now, but that has not prevented people from using drugs.”

Mohamed says the Islamists know better than to go after a habit so popular with the poorer classes, which make-up the core of their political base.

“They’ve talked about [banning] alcohol and bikinis and other things, but never drugs,” Mohamed said. “If they deny people hash, the people will get angry and stop supporting them.”

And so despite the specter of draconian penalties, Um Salma’s remains open for business.

A man smokes a hashish joint at his home in Cairo on April 4, 2010. There’s a deep irony to drug use in Egypt, trafficking illicit substances is punishable by death while possession of small quantities can draw life sentences for addicts and infrequent users alike. (Victoria Hazou/AFP/Getty Images)

Drugs won the drug war: The world's lax narcotics enforcement

2013-02-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

source: By Patrick Winn, GlobalPost

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — On the books, marijuana is illegal in Cambodia. But on the streets — in particular, the capital's main riverside promenade — travelers will find a poor man's Amsterdam.

Phnom Penh's downtown dealers are unabashed. After nightfall, they line Sisowath Quay, about a dozen blocks of Cambodia's finest riverfront real estate. Foreigners on an evening stroll down the main drag pass through a gauntlet of pot propositions: “You want smoke? Marijuana?”
They do not bother to whisper.

Those skittish of street deals can duck into one of several pizza shops, “Happy Herb's Pizza” or “Pink Elephant Pizza” among them. They are cannabis dispensaries concealed under a thin veil of innuendo. Pizzas ordered “happy” are dusted with flakes of ganja.

The effect: a high that fogs thought, puts lead in your footsteps, stokes the appetite (perhaps for more pizza) and throws a dull haze over the next 24 hours. That's right, 24 hours.

Traditionalists can order 10-gram bags from the kitchen stash for $20.

If the pizza shops aren't convenient enough, smokers can stay indoors and call the delivery hotline.
“Just don't smoke it on the street. That's all,” said a server at one of Phnom Penh's downtown pot-and-pizza joints. “Don't worry about police. Police know everything.”

Nations such as Portugal and the Netherlands have the most prominent reputations for rejecting the United States-helmed “War on Drugs” approach in favor of liberal narcotics laws. Latin American countries including Mexico and Colombia, bloodied by cartel carnage, have pushed the trend further by decriminalizing small amounts of pot.

But Cambodia — like Pakistan and Egypt — belongs to a lesser-recognized category: countries that have adopted U.S.-style pot laws under White House pressure but seldom enforce them. Its modern marijuana market offers a case study in de facto decriminalization.

Drug policy experts contend that nations such as Cambodia, impoverished and deeply reliant on US aid, must feign an anti-cannabis stance — even in the absence of political or popular support for police action against pot.

“If they didn't, there would be serious backlash from the U.S.,” said Benoit Gomis, a narcotics policy analyst with the London-based Chatham House research institute. “So is it worth making a big fuss about drug policy when you receive assistance for so many other things? Like your economy? That's a diplomatic calculation they have to make.”

The world says, legalize it!
Across the globe, pot tolerance is trending up. The list of nations that have to some degree decriminalized cannabis possession in small quantities grows by the year. An incomplete roster now includes Argentina, Australia, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain and Uruguay.

In Italy and parts of Australia, users may grow a small amount on their terrace. In parts of India, state-managed shops in certain provinces can sell “bhang” — hash balls — and mystics can indulge with impunity. In Spain's Basque Country, smokers are free to join “cannabis social clubs” that cultivate their own pot to meet members' needs.

Mexico is pursuing a radical change in its approach to drugs. After a six-year battle against gangs and traffickers that cost some 60,000 lives, the country's new president has announced a new emphasis on prevention. The government will spend $9.2 billion on social programs — including infrastructure, construction and longer school hours — in Mexico's 251 most violent neighborhoods.

“It's clear that we must put special emphasis on prevention, because we can't only keep employing more sophisticated weapons, better equipment, more police, a higher presence of the armed forces in the country as the only form of combating organized crime,” said President Pena Nieto in announcing the program.

Even in brutally authoritarian North Korea, police squads execute meth abusers while ignoring marijuana use, according to reports from Open Radio for North Korea and NK News.
But perhaps the boldest challenge comes from South America's Uruguay, where lawmakers are considering government-run marijuana emporiums. The proposed “National Institute of Cannabis” would sell pot at below-market rates, undercut the street traffickers and funnel the proceeds towards drug treatment centers.

This global loosening of pot laws is testing rigid United Nations drug conventions, which favor US-style prohibition and still regard marijuana as a dangerous narcotic.

“The starting point of the drug convention is that drugs are bad,”
Gomis said. “It says that if people are allowed to consume drugs legally, they'll consume way more drugs. And that will lead to more death and violence and social disorder.”

The UN conventions are clear: Countries that have signed on (as almost all sizable countries have) are not permitted to start up a regulated marijuana trade in the vein of booze and tobacco markets.
“Any shift away from the predominately zero-tolerance approach of the UN treaties generates a number of oppositional forces,” said David Bewley-Taylor, a drug policy specialist at Swansea University in Wales.

“The reach and well-established nature of the global drug prohibition regime,” Bewley-Taylor said, “ensures that most states are reluctant to deviate ... and risk being labeled by the international community a rogue state.”

But that standard is shaken now that the U.S. has developed its own rogue states: Washington and Colorado. Last fall, both passed referenda compelling the outright legalization of marijuana — although it remains to be seen how this will work while the federal government still bans the herb. Moreover, medical marijuana is allowed in a total of 18 states. America's position to “exert pressure,” Bewley-Taylor said, “has been undermined by the situation in Washington and Colorado.”
And politicians, long shy about an issue that could alienate soccer moms, are increasingly speaking out. Recently, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that people busted with small quantities of pot in the city will no longer spend the night in jail. He also called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to loosen marijuana laws.

The world, it seems, has reached a tipping point in the drug war.

Flouting a U.S. ultimatum
In the 1990s, when war-torn Cambodia was even more unruly than it is today, marijuana was traded openly. Vendors in Phnom Penh's downtown markets freely sold fat pillows of marijuana weighing a kilo or more. The herb grows naturally in the tropical nation of 15 million people, many of whom know pot as an old-timers' habit or an ingredient in upcountry soups.

But when the U.S. and other Western nations began showering Cambodia with aid in the 2000s, authorities suddenly deemed marijuana a nuisance and swept it from public view.

“The U.S. gave them an ultimatum,” said a UN drug analyst speaking on condition of anonymity. “They said, ‘You can either have foreign aid or legal cannabis.'”

Today, drivers of “tuk-tuks” (motorized rickshaw taxis) are Phnom Penh's go-to source for ganja. As in neighboring Thailand and Laos, tuk-tuk crews often act as intermediaries between travelers and vice: prostitutes, ganja or harder narcotics.

The pushy types park their tuk-tuks and work the riverside gauntlet. Some will advertise their wares by waving a still-fragrant, half-smoked joint under a tourist's nose. In plain view, they often swap US cash for bags of so-called “skunk,” marketed as a higher quality of pot.

But Chhon — plump, smiley and 30-something — is a less aggressive breed of downtown Phnom Penh dealer on wheels.

“I just ask a person if he wants a ride and then talk about ganja in the tuk-tuk,” Chhon said. “A lot of people want ganja. The police know what we do. If they catch you, they might ask for some small money but they don't stop it.”

That doesn't mean top authorities don't talk tough on pot. The national drug czar in 2008 went so far as to declare to a regional news outlet, The Mekong Times, that “marijuana is no longer available in Cambodia” after crop eradication campaigns.

But the government's own drug figures render such bold pronouncements absurd.

For four years straight, Cambodia hasn't managed to report arrests for pot possession to the regional UN narcotics database. In the last reporting year, 2008, authorities reported a scant six marijuana-related arrests.

The nation's crop eradication efforts are similarly meek. In all of 2008, amid the run up to the then-drug czar's proclaimed end of pot in Cambodia, drug police destroyed a mere 177 square meters of marijuana fields — a size comparable to a typical three-bedroom apartment. Even that was a bonanza compared to the most recent eradication figures: just 200 or so cannabis plants destroyed in 2011, according to government figures.

“We've noticed in the past five or six years, the quality of reporting coming from Cambodia dropped,” said Tun Nay Soe, a senior officer with the UN's SMART program, which monitors global drug use trends. “We know they have plantations of cannabis that are grown commercially. But methamphetamine is much more of a problem there.”

Chhon is somewhat mystified by young foreigners' deep appreciation for marijuana. According to a UN survey, marijuana is the fourth most-popular drug among Cambodians: crystal methamphetamine, meth and even inhalants are more widely consumed.

“Ganja is not so big for Cambodians,” Chhon said. “Most people with money want ice.”
This is Southeast Asian code for crystal meth, which grows more popular by the year. Its jumpy highs and wretched comedowns are totally unlike the marijuana high and the substance is now classified as the region's top threat among regional drug agents.

But even Cambodian authorities indirectly concede that the pot prohibition stance in Washington, D.C., never really took hold.

“The extent to which cannabis is used in Cambodia is unclear due in part to a level of tolerance for its traditional consumption,” the National Authority for Combating Drugs stated in an annual report.
This “traditional consumption” — sprinkling marijuana in select dishes — is also prevalent in surprisingly strict places: communist-run Laos, and the wilds of Indonesia's Aceh province, the only Southeast Asian enclave controlled by Islamic Sharia Law.

“Even in my country, Myanmar, it's quite normal for people to put cannabis in their food as a spice,” Tun Nay Soe said.

Whether Cambodia and other U.S. aid-reliant nations keep up their anti-pot charade may largely depend on whether more influential nations can take on the prohibition regime. Officials in Mexico and other Latin countries, the chief targets of America's foreign drug war, could feel emboldened to loosen pot laws further as select U.S. states opt for legal pot sales.

“There's been a realization almost everywhere that criminalization and the hard approach on drugs just isn't working,” Gomis said. “It creates a bigger black market. It creates more violence.”
But Chhon is ambivalent about the future of Cambodia's pot laws. After all, U.S. interference shifted pot from the market stalls to the streets, where he can sometimes make $20-25 — no small sum in Cambodia — selling just one overpriced $40 bag to foreigners.

“Now, you can still buy ganja, you can smoke. There is still no trouble and no problem,” he said. “Just stay away from the street and don't be stupid.”

THCeeker

Tommy Chong declared cancer-free

Seattle Interim Police Chief speaks to pro-cannabis crowd

COPENHAGEN cannabis supporters take to the streets

Pot Smokers Can Be Fired In States with Legal Medical Marijuana, Rule Colorado Judges

Even in states where recreational and medical marijuana use is legal, pot smokers can be fired after failing drug tests, ruled judges in a Colorado court against quadriplegic plaintiff Brandon Coats.

Pot smokers can be fired by their employers in states where recreational and medical marijuana use is legal, ruled the Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday. Even if they only use cannabis while off duty and are unimpaired at work, their jobs are still on the line if they fail a drug test.

As Maine and other states look to legalize marijuana, funding cuts cloud medical research

Similar articles from source:

Marijuana's $42 Billion Question

Marijuana Legalization 2013: Respect State Marijuana Laws Act Would Ban Federal Crackdowns

‘Guru of ganja’ tells Michigan crowd: Legalization ‘cured’ need for medical marijuana

Marijuana superstore opens in Seattle, Washington

Colorado’s recreational marijuana industry starting to take shape

Pew poll: Most say legalize marijuana

Problems Found with Colorado's Regulation of Medical Marijuana

Medical marijuana proposal would legalize (and tax) pot in New York for approved growers, patients

US recreational cannabis use would violate international laws, UN anti-narcotics panel says

Copenhagen looking to import cannabis from the US

Mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession would be eradicated in new bill

Marijuana Cases Dismissed In Michigan, More To Come

by Rick Thompson

1 6 cases dismissed, more to come as Oakland County admits dispensary raider went rogue; gutless Bouchard makes McCabe take the heat, refuses to issue charges

“Legal Highs” Are Greatest Global Threat, Not Marijuana

The UN Admits Chemists In Asia Create One New Lethal Designer Drug Per Week But Still Choose To Focus On Marijuana Prohibition

Australian producers concerned about moves to set up a US hemp industry

Pot and politics mix at Colorado Springs bring-your-own-marijuana smoking club

Marijuana Ban Ignored on Nepal's Holiest Holiday

Maryland Medical Marijuana Bill Backed By Joshua Sharfstein, State's Health Secretary

Hawaii Hemp Bill Passes House, Advances to Senate

It's not just Colorado and Washington: The world is abandoning the US-backed drug war in favor of a more liberal approach to cannabis.

Hookahs, hash and the Muslim Brotherhood

Millions of Egyptians get stoned regularly, despite — or is it because of? — the conservative Islamic government.

Drugs won the drug war: The world's lax narcotics enforcement