Marijuana.com - The Drug War Headline News http://www.marijuana.com Breaking headlines involving The Drug War. Guest posting enabled. en Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:13:19 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.marijuana.com/images/misc/rss.jpg Marijuana.com - The Drug War Headline News http://www.marijuana.com Marijuana_Headline_Newshttp://feedburner.google.com MEX : Extra troops fail to staunch Mexico bloodshed http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/T4racqjNKao/125344-mex-extra-troops-fail-staunch-mexico-bloodshed.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:27:46 GMT Extra troops fail to staunch Mexico bloodshed
7/3/09|Mail & Guardian| by Oscar Laski

Scorched by a blistering desert sun, military troops near Ciudad Juarez form the frontline security cordon in a bitter battle against crime playing out in the heart of Mexico's bloody drug wars.

The post lies 35km from Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1,3-million inhabitants that borders the United States and has become the crime capital of the Latin American country.

Hundreds of men, who painstakingly search vehicles for drugs and weapons, are at the frontline of the massive military deployment Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered following his 2006 election.

The conservative leader has mobilised 36 000 troops and policemen, including more than 10 000 in Ciudad Juarez alone, seeking to achieve his top domestic priority: a return of security.

But just days before Sunday's legislative elections, the death toll in the vicious war that has pitted drug cartels against each another remains stubbornly high.

While Calderon insists the crime rate is falling, a steady stream of bodies fills the morgue in Ciudad Juarez, which takes in an average of seven victims a day, according to Hector Jaule, who heads the city's Centre for Expert Services and Forensic Science.

One swathed body lay on a stretcher, while another two were stacked on pallets, suffusing the morgue with a powerful stench, the smell of death that is ever present in this violence-plagued city.

The morgue is located in a modern complex where 110 people work in criminology, ballistics, chemistry and genetics as well as anthropology, all trying to unveil the hows and whys of the dozen murders that take place almost every day.

On June 23, figures from the centre showed 1,164 people had already been killed this year -- most victims of organised crime -- compared with 2,392 for the whole of last year.

"I think that there will be more this year than in 2008," said chemist Rosa Almeida.

Most of the victims are young drug dealers, sometimes minors, who fight a bloody battle to control neighbourhoods street by street.

Powerful cartels

But this fight pales in comparison to the war between the powerful Juarez and Sinaloa cartels to control drug-trafficking routes toward the United States, the world's biggest consumer of cocaine.

The local forensics centre's ballistics department resembles a military arsenal.

"This is the most powerful weapon confiscated in Juarez: a Barrett .50-caliber sniper riffle, which can pierce through any armour," explained ballistics expert Adriana Saenz.

Despite controls on the Mexican side of the border, firearms continue to flow into the country from the US. On the side of the road that leads to Chihuahua, capital of the northern Mexican state of the same name, the military is at pains to confiscate illegal weapons.

And despite state-of-the-art equipment, including a huge metallic arm with gamma rays that can detect even the smallest trace of drugs in a truck, drug seizures remain pitifully small.

"Since this system was installed this year, the biggest seizures have been 51kg of marijuana in a van and 5,8kg of the same drug in a semi," said Mariana, a federal police officer who declined to give her last name.

In Ciudad Juarez, 1 800 federal agents and 8 500 troops regularly patrol the main avenues, but in tense neighbourhoods, among them "Heroes of the revolution", located north of the airport, such patrols are less frequent.

"The situation hasn't changed. The military and federal police no longer come here," said Maria Contreras, a 35-year-old pastry cook.

Collaboration between federal reinforcements and local police is also at a bare minimum.

"We work little with the local police because they are not reliable. Many have been fired, but not all," a top federal police said.

Troops are relieved every 30 days to avoid them building up links with the wealthy cartels.

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]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125344-mex-extra-troops-fail-staunch-mexico-bloodshed.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125344-mex-extra-troops-fail-staunch-mexico-bloodshed.html CA : Argument in favor of legalizing pot builds potency http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/at_bbaH0eUA/125340-ca-argument-favor-legalizing-pot-builds-potency.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:02:07 GMT Community column: Argument in favor of legalizing pot builds potency
7/3/09|Salinas Californian| by Norm Morris - Opinion



A recent article in this space was titled "The price of legalizing pot is too high." Ignoring our past national experience with alcohol prohibition, the author opined as to how an "open market" causes greater harm. We obviously need our government (not the one we formed in Sacramento as an independent California Republic) to mandate what's good for us.

Another article offered the oft-heard sophism that pot along with alcohol is one of the "gateway" drugs to meth and heroin. Actually, not to make light of such an obviously unanalyzed observation, but the real gateway substance to harder drugs is breast milk, or formula, if you prefer. Virtually'100 percent of all drug users were bottle- or breast-fed, so I think we need a new agency to oversee the intravenous feeding of all newborns until they can feed themselves! One non sequitur is just as logical as the other.

Seriously, it seems some truths remain constant but require rediscovery every few generations. One truth is that there is an almost pathological overwhelming urge on the part of some people to regulate the behavior of others. I don't want you smoking pot because, well, just because. I'll feel free to distill, sell, transport, regulate and enjoy alcohol, but if you choose to do the same with a plant that grows naturally in the wild I'm going to pass laws that specify your arrest and the seizure of your property.

After the disastrous'18th Amendment in 1919 that kicked off what amounted to a 14-year crime wave in the United States, you'd think people would remember the bitter lessons learned. But as soon as one substance was again deemed legal to sell and consume, another was suddenly deemed illegal. Could it be that the newly idled army of Treasury agents who had spent years chasing bootleggers needed work?

In an excellent article titled "Marijuana, Prohibition and the Tenth Amendment," Internet columnist Susan Shelley points out that the reason Congress required the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol is that the Constitution did not give them the power to do so outright.

She asks, "Why did the country go to all that trouble if Congress could simply have declared alcohol a Úcontrolled substance' and made it legal or illegal with a simple majority vote and a presidential signature? If marijuana is grown, distributed and consumed within state borders, and the state government decides that under some circumstances that is not a crime, by what authority does Congress override that judgment? Why is marijuana [today] different than alcohol in 1919?"

It isn't. Washington is simply doing an end-run around us, something that's become increasingly more common as our policymakers bypass our old "outdated" Constitution, with its many inconvenient proscriptions against their minding our collective state business.

The combined will of 37 million Californians in their united Republic is nothing next to a simple decree of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. We've been told our decisions as a state are to be ignored. Our sick emaciated citizens suffering with chemo-induced nausea can't smoke a joint to ease their misery because, well, just because. Too bad. Pour me a drink, Sam.

If you drink and drive, you should go to jail. If you smoke and drive, you're likewise a fool and a menace to everyone else on the road. However, subsequent to regulations setting sensible restrictions on these substances, shouldn't you be able to indulge in them without fear of arrest? Pay the taxes, show ID, buy a license to sell, don't drive under the influence; how would that differ from alcohol as far as the law is concerned?

The pluses would be many: a $15 billion to $20 billion industry would spring up instantly, an enormous and expensive bureaucracy would be dismantled, prison populations would be reduced as casual users were released, or not arrested in the first place, freeing up more beds for hardened criminals, and drug gangs, especially those butchering thousands at our southern border would be crippled overnight.

Most important, the assaults on our civil liberties would end. Institutionalized theft in the form of asset forfeiture would cease, and our sickest citizens could get the medicine they need.

By the way, anticipating the attacks, I'll state it for the record: I value my lungs so don't inhale anything; Negra Modelo and Cuervo 1800 are my informed choices for adult substances. However. I feel that your choices should be your own.

]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125340-ca-argument-favor-legalizing-pot-builds-potency.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125340-ca-argument-favor-legalizing-pot-builds-potency.html RI : Medical marijuana should be made legal http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/uF9z_SuvrU4/125334-ri-medical-marijuana-should-made-legal.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 17:06:27 GMT Medical marijuana should be made legal
7/5/09|Portsmouth Herald| Editorial



Governor Lynch should sign the legislation allowing the use of small amounts of marijuana for medical purposes. It's the humane thing to do.

As he weighs the arguments for and against the bill, people are suffering, are in pain because the use and possession of any amount of marijuana in New Hampshire is against the law.

Technically, a cancer patient using marijuana to ease his or her suffering could be arrested.

And that's just not right.

Studies have indicated medical marijuana is helpful in treating many diseases, including several forms of cancer, Alzheimer's, migraines, fibromyalgia and many more.

But law enforcement, for the most part, remains steadfastly against anyone using marijuana for any purposes.

Here's what the soon-to-be former police chief in Portsmouth had to say about it last week: "Calling it medicine doesn't make it so. It's not FDA-approved and there's no quality control. It leads to higher drug use and it impairs driving. I think it sends the wrong message to our kids."

But it IS medicine to those who need it.

How much quality control is needed? New Hampshire's proposed law provides such control.

It leads to higher drug use? That tired argument has been around since the start of the "War on Drugs" 30 or 40 years ago. And we're not talking about teenagers using it. We're talking about adults, some of whom are dying. They're not likely to work their way up to heroin any time soon.

They're also not likely to be out driving cars.

And, last but not least, he thinks it sends the wrong message to our kids. What might that be? That the state of New Hampshire thinks it is beneficial and merciful to allow sick people to use a little pot to ease their pain or discomfort? And that's the wrong message?

The bill that sits on Lynch's desk would allow patients with debilitating illnesses to possess and use small amounts of marijuana. It would not allow patients to grow their own marijuana at their homes, but would require "compassion centers," not-for-profit organizations that would be required to receive state certification, for distribution of the drug. This is similar to laws in California, New Mexico and Rhode Island.

The bill also has increased oversight by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

While New Hampshire debates and awaits Lynch's decision, our neighbors to the south in Massachusetts voted last year to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a non-criminal offense. Those caught with that amount of marijuana now get what amounts to a $100 ticket.

Thus far we haven't read about an explosion of pot smokers.

But it does make things easier for people who might want the drug for medicinal reasons. However, it's still illegal.

The bill on Lynch's desk would take that stain of illegality away for residents of New Hampshire whose doctors think the drug, like so many other drugs, might be beneficial to their patients.

But that's not enough to convince the police chief. He says efforts in other states that have medical marijuana laws have turned out to be "a joke."

Perhaps he should ask the patients in New Hampshire, or Portsmouth, whose lives stand to be improved by medical marijuana if they are laughing.

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]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125334-ri-medical-marijuana-should-made-legal.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125334-ri-medical-marijuana-should-made-legal.html NC : Medical marijuana: Just what the doctor ordered for North Carolina? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/jg1KKtqtoYM/125333-nc-medical-marijuana-just-what-doctor-ordered-north-carolina.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:57:07 GMT Medical marijuana: Just what the doctor ordered for North Carolina?
7/4/09|Gaston Gazette| by Corey Friedman



Prescription painkillers made her retch. Muscle relaxants ravaged her liver. So Jean Marlowe put down her pills and rolled a joint.

"I tried marijuana, and in five minutes, my stomach stopped shaking for the first time in five years," said Marlowe, who has used marijuana as medicine since a doctor recommended the drug in 1990. "It really does work."

The founder and executive director of the North Carolina Cannabis Patients' Network, Marlowe is asking state lawmakers to pass a bill legalizing medical marijuana use. The bill is currently in the House of Representatives' Health Committee, and two of Gaston County's three House delegates who serve on the committee have indicated they would likely vote against it.

House Bill 1380, the N.C. Medical Marijuana Act, would allow patients access to medical-grade cannabis with a signed statement from a physician. Growers and dispensaries would be licensed and regulated by the state Department of Health and Human Services.

"All of these people who have been kindly, caringly, lovingly sticking their necks out to grow a little bit of high-quality medication for patients could actually come forward and get a license and be legal," Marlowe said.

North Carolina would become the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana and would see estimated annual tax revenues of $60 million within four years of the bill's passage.

No local support

Reps. Wil Neumann and Pearl Burris Floyd said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would have to approve marijuana for medical use before they would consider writing an exception into the state's cannabis ban.

"The FDA needs to make the determination of whether it has medical benefits or not," Neumann said. "I would not favor it until the FDA comes out and wants it properly cultivated and harvested for medicinal properties."

Marijuana faces a political minefield in the fight for federal recognition. The FDA discounted its potential medical application in a 2006 review, contradicting a 1999 study from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine that found it "moderately well suited" for treating certain conditions.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration calls marijuana the nation's most abused illicit drug and classifies it as a Schedule I controlled substance, indicating "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States."

Floyd challenges those who support medical marijuana to seek FDA approval.

"It would be nearly impossible to regulate an illegal recreational drug even with a good doctor's prescription," she said in an e-mail. "If it is such a great idea and an untapped source of revenue, then it would meet the rigors of the FDA approval process."

Rep. William A. Current said he is "skeptical" of medical marijuana but has not studied the issue enough to have an informed opinion.

"I just haven't heard enough to reach any kind of decision on it, but from what I know, I would be hesitant to open this door unless we had really tight controls," he said.

Current, a private-practice dentist, said he would rely more on medical and scientific evidence than personal feelings when deciding which way to vote.

"I think the medical community is going to have to step up on this issue and help make this decision," he said. "People in political realms are not equipped to make these decisions without their guidance."

Marijuana as medicine

Marijuana is "moderately well-suited for particular conditions" including nausea and vomiting from cancer patients' chemotherapy and the rapid loss of body weight known as "wasting" in AIDS patients, according to the 1999 Institute of Medicine study, "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base."

Long lists of side effects accompany many prescription drugs, and overdosing can be fatal. Advocates say by comparison, cannabis offers a safe alternative to pharmaceuticals.

"There are no side effects that are harmful," Marlowe said. "There has been over 5,000 years of documented medical use of cannabis, and not a single death has ever occurred."

Marlowe said a user would have to smoke 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes - a physical impossibility - to ingest a toxic dose.

"There is no such thing as a lethal dose," she said.

Muscle relaxants can weaken patients by gnawing away at their muscle tissue, Marlowe said, but cannabis allows them to maintain their strength.

"Almost every one of the muscle relaxers helps with muscle spasms, but they also atrophy the muscle over a period of time," she said. "One unique property of cannabis is it can stop smooth muscle spasms while maintaining the muscle mass."

Marijuana increases users' heart rates and may decrease blood pressure, according to a 2001 American Medical Association report. It can impair short-term memory, motor skills, reaction time and information processing skills. Chronic users can experience withdrawal symptoms, but doctors conclude that cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco products.

"Although some marijuana users develop dependence, they appear to be less likely to do so than users of alcohol and nicotine, and the abstinence syndrome is less severe," the AMA states in Report Six of the Council on Scientific Affairs.

In the 2001 report, AMA doctors encouraged researchers to develop a smoke-free inhaled delivery system for delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive substance in marijuana.

"Like tobacco, chronic marijuana smoking is associated with lung damage, increased symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and possibly increased risk of lung cancer," the report states.

Marlowe refutes the belief that marijuana is a gateway drug that leads users to try more harmful substances. She points to members of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network who were formerly prescribed heavy-duty painkillers.

"Not only have none of them gone to hard drugs, they've all come off of narcotics," she said. "Marijuana is not a gateway drug. The most recognizable, easiest gateway drug that most people run into is tobacco."

A continuing crusade

An institute in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park processes and distributes medical marijuana to select participants in a nationwide federal study, according to the text of HB 1380. Meanwhile, the 386 patients of the N.C. Cannabis Patients' Network cannot legally obtain the drug themselves.

"Our oldest patient is an 86-year-old World War II veteran who suffered nerve damage to his feet from the heavy packs he carried during the war," Marlowe said. "Now he's suffering, and he has to be considered a criminal."

Marlowe, too, has been considered a criminal for her medical use of marijuana. The Mill Spring resident said she uses the drug to treat her numerous medical conditions, including muscular dystrophy, rheumatoid arthritis and degenerative disc disease.

She was arrested in 1998 when U.S. Customs agents intercepted a package of cannabis she ordered from a farm in Switzerland.

A judge sentenced her to six months on house arrest and two years of probation, but Marlowe was soon convicted of a probation violation because of her continued marijuana use.

She spent 10 months in a federal prison camp in West Virginia.

"It's been a battle," she said. "I've been doing this for 17 years."

HB 1380's future is uncertain. Health Committee members did not vote on the bill after a June 18 hearing, which included testimony from Marlowe and other NCCPN patients.

The bill's primary sponsor, Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford), said he will seek a vote to move the bill out of committee without prejudice. The Health Committee would not vote on the bill's merits, but majority approval would allow it to proceed to the House Finance Committee.

"It's just one step closer to a full debate on the floor, and that's what I really desire more than anything," Jones said. "Every time the public hears more about this, many myths are dispelled, and we see an increase in support."

Jones also filed a companion bill, HB 1383, which proposes a referendum on medical marijuana. The mechanism for licensing growers and dispensaries is identical to the one proposed in HB 1380.

"There are those who continue to feel some trepidation about it because it's a political liability," he said. "One option would be to allow the citizens of the state of North Carolina to vote on it."

]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125333-nc-medical-marijuana-just-what-doctor-ordered-north-carolina.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125333-nc-medical-marijuana-just-what-doctor-ordered-north-carolina.html GBR : Study Debunks Claim that Smoking Pot Causes Mental Illness http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/AkVdrwB3ij8/125301-gbr-study-debunks-claim-smoking-pot-causes-mental-illness.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:43:26 GMT Study Debunks Claim that Smoking Pot Causes Mental Illness
7/2/09|Opposing Views| by Paul Armentano - National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws



Much has made — by the mainstream media and others — of the claim that cannabis use causes certain types of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia and psychosis.

Most notably perhaps, a team of researchers writing in the July 28, 2007 edition of the prestigious scientific journal The Lancet, boldly proclaimed that smoking cannabis could boost one’s risk of a psychotic episode by 40 percent or more.

Naturally, this alarmist rhetoric received wall-to-wall coverage by the mainstream press. Even more troubling, the supposed ‘pot-and-schizophrenia’ link was one of the primary reasons cited by British PM Gordon Brown, ex-Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and others as the impetus for reclassifying cannabis (from a verbal warning to a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in jail) in the United Kingdom.

Of course, there was a fatal flaw with The Lancet’s argument — one that, oddly enough, every single MSM outlet failed to mention. Empirical data did not support the investigators’ hypothesis that smoking marijuana was associated with increased rates of schizophrenia or other mental illnesses among the general public — a fact that even the authors begrudgingly admitted when they declared, “Projected trends for schizophrenia incidence have not paralleled trends in cannabis use over time.”

Which brings us to 2009.

Two years after The Lancet’s dire predictions, a team of researchers at the Keele University Medical School have once and for all put the ‘pot-and-mental illness’ claims to the test. Writing in a forthcoming edition of the scientific journal Schizophrenia Research, they compare long-term trends in marijuana use and incidences of schizophrenia and/or psychoses in the United Kingdom. And what do they find?

“[T]he expected rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia and psychoses did not occur over a 10 year period. This study does not therefore support the specific causal link between cannabis use and incidence of psychotic disorders. … This concurs with other reports indicating that increases in population cannabis use have not been followed by increases in psychotic incidence.”

Should we expect an apology — or even better, a change in policy — from the Gordon Brown regime any time soon? Or at the very least, will some sort of ‘correction’ be forthcoming from the mainstream news media?

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

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]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125301-gbr-study-debunks-claim-smoking-pot-causes-mental-illness.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125301-gbr-study-debunks-claim-smoking-pot-causes-mental-illness.html PRT : Marijuana Legalization Legislation in the Works in Portugal http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/jyHszJYlNFw/125299-prt-marijuana-legalization-legislation-works-portugal.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:28:20 GMT Marijuana Legalization Legislation in the Works in Portugal
7/3/09|StoptheDrugWar.org| from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #592

Portugal has been the subject of a lot of attention lately over its decriminalization of drug possession. Although decriminalization has been in place for eight years now, it is only this year that it has caught the world's attention. The success of Portugal's approach was the subject of a piece by Salon writer Glenn Greenwald commissioned by the Cato Institute that was widely read and commented on earlier this year, and last week it earned kind words from a most unexpected place: the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which could find little to complain about for its 2009 World Drugs Report.

But Portugal isn't resting on its laurels, and at least one political party there is preparing to take the country's progressive approach to drug reform to the next level. The Leftist Bloc (Bloco de Esquerda) is preparing legislation that would legalize the possession, cultivation, and retail sales of small amounts of marijuana, as well as providing for regulated wholesale cultivation to supply the retail market.

The Bloc is also now actively encouraging the participation of ENCOD, the European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, in developing new drug laws. The alliance comes too late to influence the marijuana bill, but will provide an entree for drug reformers in the process in future drug legislation, or even revising the current marijuana bill if it does not make in through parliament this year.

"The contacts between ENCOD and the Bloc were arranged by common activists and members," explained ENCOD steering committee member and Portuguese law student, journalist, and activist Jorge Roque.

Under the draft bill, a copy of which was made available to the Chronicle, marijuana consumers could purchase "the amount needed for the average individual for a 30-day period," as determined by the existing decriminalization law, or 15 grams of hashish and 75 grams (almost three ounces) of marijuana. The average daily dose is a half-gram of hash and 2.5 grams of pot. Individuals would be allowed to grow up to 10 plants, and could possess the 30-day amount as well as up to 10 plants.

The draft bill calls for licensed retail sales outlets authorized by municipal councils. Such retail establishments would not be allowed to sell alcohol or allow it to be consumed on the premises, would not be allowed within 500 meters of schools, and would not be allowed to have gambling machines. No one under 16 would be allowed to enter, nor would people adjudged to be mentally ill.

The draft bill prohibits advertising, but requires that packaging for marijuana products intended for retail sale clearly reveal the source, the amount, and a statement giving the World Health Organization's position on the effects and risks of consumption.

The bill also provides for the Portuguese National Institute of Pharmacy and Medicine to license the wholesale cultivation of marijuana to supply the retail trade. And it provides for an excise tax on cannabis sales to be determined during the budgetary process.

People who traffic in marijuana outside the parameters set down in the draft would face four to 12 years in prison for serious offenses, and up to four years for less serious offenses. Licensed retailers or wholesalers who breach the regulations could face imprisonment for up to three months or a fine of up to 30 days' minimum wage.

The bill's immediate prospects are uncertain. The Leftist Bloc is a small party, holding only eight seats in the 230-seat parliament. But the government is controlled by left-leaning parties, and the Bloc has a reputation as a "hip" party in the vanguard of political change in the country.

"Honestly, at first I thought this would never pass, but with time and after discussing this with the deputies, I am much more optimistic," said Roque. "Of course, the Left Bloc alone cannot get it passed, but as usual, they provoke the debate of ideas, and then, since they are seen as an intelligent and humane group, they can pick up support among other political parties."

While it is too late for ENCOD to influence this legislation, the group can still play a role in the debate, said ENCOD coordinator Joep Oomen. "ENCOD could contribute with information on the need to make consistent moves and no half-measures, as has been the case before with the decriminalization of possession. Portugal should learn from the experiences in the Netherlands. Here liberal cannabis policies that have proven successful during more than 30 years are now in danger of being abolished because of the pressure of Christian parties who continue blaming these policies for problems that in fact are caused by prohibition," he said.

Oomen was alluding to Holland's "backdoor problem," where the sale of marijuana is tolerated, but there is no provision for legally supplying Dutch cannabis cafes. That has led to the growth of organized crime participation in the pot business in Holland.

"It is quite simple," Oomen said. "When you allow people to use, you should allow them to possess, and if you allow them to possess, you should allow them to cultivate, produce, buy or sell. If you only go halfway, and refuse to regulate the first necessary element in the process (cultivation or production) you create more problems than solutions."

For Roque, Portugal's experience with decriminalization was critical in laying the groundwork for the legalization bill. "Decriminalization helped us lose the taboos and break the fear of being persecuted for drugs, and Portugal nowadays is much more ready to move forward," said Roque.

One big remaining taboo is the UN drug conventions, but neither Oomen nor Roque appeared to be very concerned about them. "Portugal does not need to openly challenge the UN conventions," said Oomen. "As long as the new bill is aiming at regulating cultivation of cannabis for personal use, it cannot be considered as a violation of international conventions, which leave it up to national authorities to deal with the status of drug use."

Roque was a bit more combative. "The international conventions and the Lisbon treaty don't provide solutions in these matters, and the UN conventions were ratified by the specific will of one country," said Roque. "When the UN conventions don't present any solutions that are good for the national interest, only a stupid country will follow them forever."

Now, Portugal can put the conventions and their interpretation to the test, if its parliament so chooses.

]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125299-prt-marijuana-legalization-legislation-works-portugal.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125299-prt-marijuana-legalization-legislation-works-portugal.html <![CDATA[MI : It's actually very easy to argue against legalizing marijuana]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/0SGiErFgFe8/125298-mi-its-actually-very-easy-argue-against-legalizing-marijuana.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:12:55 GMT Other Voices: It's actually very easy to argue against legalizing marijuana
7/3/09|Michigan Live| by David Thompson - Opinoin



In response to the June 21 Other Voices titled "Economic case for legalizing marijuana hard to argue with" by April Marshall: Actually it is very easy to argue against legalizing marijuana.

The statistics quoted by Ms. Marshall are exceptionally inaccurate and totally disregard the nature of marijuana as a drug. The states will not realize any so-called profit and will end up making their citizens pay more. It is the common fallacy of those advocating marijuana to compare it with both alcohol and tobacco. This is comparing apples to oranges and doesn't work. It is true they are both round and, in this case, they are mood-altering and addictive drugs. Beyond that, all comparisons break down.

First; Why would anyone pay a tax for something they can grow in their back yard? Right now, due to the illegality of marijuana, most people won't risk growing it nearby. Make it legal and everyone can and will readily grow their own with no skill whatsoever. Who would pay a tax? If the state wants to legalize marijuana but then say a citizen can't grow it themselves, you will have a policing problem the likes of which you can't imagine. Ms. Marshall tries to compare alcohol and marijuana for drunken driving and she cites the current laws for Michigan. She and others fail to understand the nature of these two drugs. Alcohol readily dissolves in water; marijuana does not. Alcohol's metabolites are readily exhaled in human breath and can be quickly measured using a portable breath analysis device or "breathalyzer." This gives a very good reading of the blood alcohol level (despite defense attorney arguments) and is used universally to determine legal limit compliance. This can not be used for marijuana.

Levels of cannabis can only be determined by either a blood draw or urine analysis, both of which require the officer to transport the suspected user to a controlled facility, obtain a warrant and secure the specimen and then wait for results before determining whether the user is "intoxicated." This time-consuming process will take officers off the streets and tie up medical facilities and generate expenses not currently incurred.

Related to this, we can see an immediate increase in automobile insurance premiums for everyone in the state. You don't think the insurance industry will let you legalize a mood-altering drug that increases the risk for accidents and injury and not charge for it, did you?

Now to "medical" marijuana. Did we forget everything we had and have learned about smoking? We now think it is a good thing for sick people to fill their lungs with toxic smoke for their health. Did we collectively lose our minds? Let's worsen their lungs adding asthma, emphysema, pneumonia, COPD, bronchitis, and lung cancer? Our state is finally going toward tobacco smoke-free status, and millions of us are delighted to be smoke-free in the workplace and elsewhere. Now we want to legalize smoking marijuana? Please note, marijuana in capsule form is readily available for medical use and has been for years, so the argument for medical use is bogus.

My biggest concern is for infants, children and young adults who will be exposed to marijuana smoke in their homes and how this toxic chemical mix will affect them. They are helpless to defend against exposure.

Although children do drink their parents' alcohol and are accidentally poisoned by their parents' drugs, ambient smoke takes drug exposure to a whole new level in a small developing brain and body. I'm sorry, but "pot heads" are not too responsible about this, especially when high so they won't be going outside to light up.

Ms. Marshall talked about international issues, namely in Mexico. I would point out that Michigan shares a huge international border with a foreign country -1 Canada. The Detroit-Windsor, Port Huron-Sarnia, and Sault Ste. Marie are huge international crossing points both for industry and pleasure. Just because Michigan legalized marijuana does not mean that Canada or the United States governments would and both tend to be very strict about use and possession of illegal (for them) drugs. This will cause a major slowdown in crossing these borders and closer examination of returning citizens.

The "500" economists that endorse the legalization of marijuana also seem to know little about addictive drugs. Make no mistake, cannabis is addictive and additional addictive substances that increase our health costs like alcohol and tobacco has done will never be economically viable.

Having said all this against the arguments for legalization being economically useful, let me clearly state that I believe "decriminalizing" possession of small amounts does reduce police and court costs. Beyond that, it is a very bad idea.

David Thompson of Ann Arbor is a retired substance abuse therapist who holds a certified addictions counselor license for the state of Michigan.

]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125298-mi-its-actually-very-easy-argue-against-legalizing-marijuana.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125298-mi-its-actually-very-easy-argue-against-legalizing-marijuana.html <![CDATA[CA : Calif. regulators warn of pot's cancer capability]]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/bKalkzCUxrw/125296-ca-calif-regulators-warn-pots-cancer-capability.html Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:48:49 GMT Calif. regulators warn of pot's cancer capability
7/4/09|The Houston Chronicle| by Marcus Wohlsen - Associated Press Writer

It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law. The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients' suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

State environmental regulators last month voted to place marijuana smoke on its list of hundreds of substances known to cause cancer. The decision could lead to warning signs in medical marijuana dispensaries and labels on packaged pot within a year.

A voter-approved measure made medical marijuana legal in California in 1996. Key backers included patients with serious illnesses such as cancer and AIDS who said pot helped them manage pain and nausea.

Medical marijuana advocates sought to downplay the significance of the state's decision, arguing researchers have long known that the smoke contains cancer-causing compounds.

"This does not mean in any way that those carcinogens that appear in smoked marijuana, smoked cannabis, have any kind of causal relationship to cancer," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group.

Regulators disagree. Scientists with the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reviewed 27 studies of the links between marijuana and cancer in humans. Though not all the studies showed a link, regulators found that "marijuana smoke was clearly shown, through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles, to cause cancer," according to an agency statement.

Dr. Thomas Mack, a University of Southern California epidemiologist and chairman of the committee, said the decision to list marijuana smoke as a cancer-causing substance should not surprise anyone.

"If you take a piece of vegetable material, a leaf, and burn it, you're going to get the type of compounds that cause cancer," Mack said.

Marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke share 33 of the same cancer-causing compounds, according to agency scientists.

Even so, the existing evidence is merely "suggestive" of a link between marijuana and cancer in humans, Mack said. Only in tests that subjected animals to ultrahigh doses of marijuana was the connection between the drug and cancer totally clear, he said.

To counter the conclusion that smoking marijuana carries major health risks, advocates were quick to jump on the flaws in studies reviewed by the committee.

For instance, regulators reviewed three studies that found connections between marijuana and lung cancer. Of those, two were conducted in North Africa, where smokers regularly mix marijuana with tobacco, a problem the committee acknowledged.

The committee also considered a large 2006 study that found not only did marijuana smokers show no higher risk for cancer than nonsmokers but possibly even less.

"If they want to classify marijuana smoke as carcinogenic, then that is true. It contains carcinogens," said Donald Tashkin, a longtime University of California, Los Angeles marijuana researcher who led the study. "That doesn't mean it causes cancer."

One possible explanation is that marijuana contains chemicals that have an anti-cancer effect that cancels out the carcinogens, though that has not been proven, Tashkin said.

Marijuana supporters have hailed Tashkin's findings as evidence that pot can actually protect against cancer. He said he doesn't know whether marijuana has that power or not. But Tashkin himself believes the carcinogens present in pot mean it will never be approved by federal regulators as medicine.

The decision to list marijuana smoke as a cancer-causing agent falls under California's Proposition 65, a voter-approved measure that instructs regulators to identify substances that can cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. The law also requires warnings on products and in buildings where chemicals on the list are present in potentially unsafe levels.

Since the law was passed in 1986, the list has grown to nearly 800 substances, including such common products as aspirin, gasoline and acrylamide, a naturally occurring chemical in potato chips and french fries. Critics contend the list has grown so long that the warnings have little impact on consumers.

Dr. Frank Lucido of Berkeley has recommended pot to his patients since medical marijuana became legal in the state 13 years ago. He has become so convinced of the drug's potential that he now serves as vice president of the recently formed American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine, a group of physicians who study and set standards for medical marijuana use.

Lucido said he will not stop recommending pot. But he might suggest patients take the drug in other forms, such as marijuana-infused foods or vaporizers, which pass hot air through marijuana to create a smokeless way to inhale the drug.

"Obviously, it's never good to breathe smoke if you can avoid it," Lucido said.

]]> The Drug War Headline News Pompo http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125296-ca-calif-regulators-warn-pots-cancer-capability.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125296-ca-calif-regulators-warn-pots-cancer-capability.html USA : Honor Our Hemp-Raising Patriot Heroes http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/J7LFux7S6ig/125257-usa-honor-our-hemp-raising-patriot-heroes.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:59:33 GMT Honor Our Hemp-Raising Patriot Heroes
It is our patriotic duty to honor our Founding Heroes, America's greatest hemp growers.
7/02/09|Daily Kos| by Thomas Paine



It is our patriotic duty to honor our Founding Heroes, America’s greatest hemp growers.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison---virtually all Revolutionary Americans who had access to land---embraced hemp’s critical role in our early economy.

Accordingly, they raised it in mass quantities.

We must now honor them by demanding its immediate legalization, to save our economy and our ecology.

For rope, for paper, for clothing, for food, for fuel, this miracle plant has been a critical crop for cash and survival for 6,000 years, since the onset of ancient China.

Today it is a multi-billion-dollar product there and in Germany and Canada, among other major economies.

There is no rational reason for hemp to be illegal. Some law enforcement “experts” say it resembles marijuana, and therefore must be banned.

What are they smoking? Certainly not hemp, which gives its imbibers little more than a splitting headache and a nasty cough.

Today, marijuana is the largest cash crop in many states and regions of the United States. A billion dollars-worth of it was purchased under medical auspices last year in California alone. Properly taxed, its users freed from our overcrowded prisons, pot’s legalization could offer a giant step out of our financial morass.

But as an agricultural staple, marijuana pales alongside hemp. This miracle weed returns on its own year after year, requiring no pesticides, herbicides or special fertilizers. It is hardy, fast-growing and supremely productive.

A single hemp plant can provide the basis for very high-quality rope, sails for ships, cloth for clothing, paper for documents, seeds for food and oil, the cellulosic base for ethanol, and much more. It is the feed of choice for untold numbers of birds and land animals. It can be the basis for innumerable stressed eco-systems where it survives and thrives with virtually no human input.

As a staple spread across the Great Plains and through the rest of America’s battered farmland, it could help restore our shattered crop base and our devastated rural economy.

Presidents Washington and Jefferson---both of them extremely advanced agronomists---cataloged their techniques for growing hemp at great length. They would simply not comprehend the concept---let alone the reality---that hemp might be illegal.

Early drafts of both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written on sturdy paper made of hemp.

Now, more than ever, we need the essence of both the documents and the crop.

Save Our Planet! Stimulate Our Economy!!

Honor our Founders!!! Be a Patriot!!!! Legalize Hemp Now!!!!!
]]> The Drug War Headline News allenlovesgreen http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125257-usa-honor-our-hemp-raising-patriot-heroes.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125257-usa-honor-our-hemp-raising-patriot-heroes.html <![CDATA[World : Narcotics are moved by markets, not the 'war on drugs']]> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/iCoM0qxuZq4/125256-world-narcotics-moved-markets-not-war-drugs.html Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:43:00 GMT Narcotics are moved by markets, not the 'war on drugs'
7/03/09|MoneyWeek| News



After a series of record harvests since 2001, the cultivation of crops used to make illegal drugs is falling at last, according to the annual UN World Drugs Report[pdf].

Opium poppy cultivation is down 19% in Afghanistan, which produces 93% of the world's opium, while coca leaf cultivation has fallen 18% in Columbia, which produces more than half of the world's cocaine. And despite falling production, opium prices have halved in Afghanistan to about $75 per kilo in the past five years, further reducing the incentive to grow it.

And the "global cocaine market is undergoing seismic shifts... purity levels and seizures in the main consumer countries are down, prices are up", says Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

So, is the "war on drugs" finally having an impact on illicit drug use and cultivation?

Let's not get too excited, says Tom Coghlan in The Times. "Self-congratulation on the part of the West should be tempered by an acknowledgement that elementary market forces were as significant a factor in the reduction as the billions poured into counter-narcotics programmes."

The supply of opium in Afghanistan has outstripped demand – fundamental economics dictates that this will result in a fall in price. "Afghanistan's drug industry has become a victim of its own success." Another factor has been last year's rise in wheat prices – many farmers who once cultivated opium "opted to focus on basic food production" instead.

But can it last? Wheat prices have already started to fall and the shortage of heroin will soon push prices higher. "The drugs trade is free-market economics in its purest form" and "constant demand" will ensure that trade continues.

Indeed, says Alan Travis in The Guardian. Costa has a "passionate, abusive approach to those who argue for drug legalisation". But while the report may offer some solace to supporters of UNODC policies, it does not represent a sustainable change in global illicit drug cultivation or act as proof of successful policies.

"Despite the ongoing attempts to put positive spin on the data there is no hiding the reality… the UNODC oversees the system that gifts the vast illegal drug market to violent criminal profiteers."

The good news is that "the taboo on questioning drug prohibition" has been broken by the countries most affected, says The Economist.


The Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, headed by three former presidents, recently published a report [pdf] arguing that the "violent crime and corruption generated by drug prohibition is under*mining democracy".

They also said that the war on drugs has "failed" and called for a debate on the alternatives, including the decriminalizing of marijuana.

Costa "smears his critics as pro-drug" and implies that supporters of legalization are just looking for easy sources of tax revenue to bail out banks. But "this kind of hysteria smacks of an organisation that is not just losing an unwinnable war but losing the argument".

How heroin use has changed since 2008

]]> The Drug War Headline News allenlovesgreen http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125256-world-narcotics-moved-markets-not-war-drugs.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125256-world-narcotics-moved-markets-not-war-drugs.html CA: Medical pot users, growers can sue over raids http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/HLe_m4g_gHY/125192-ca-medical-pot-users-growers-can-sue-over-raids.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:55:58 GMT Medical pot users, growers can sue over raids
07/02/09 | San Francisco Chronicle | Bob Egelko

Medical marijuana patients and growers can sue police for illegally raiding their property and destroying their plants, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The 2-1 decision by the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento was the first in the state to allow a patient or grower to sue claiming that their rights to cultivate and use medical marijuana have been violated. Those rights are protected by state law but banned by federal law.

Officials in Butte County, where the case arose, argued that patients and suppliers can invoke the medical marijuana law only as a defense to criminal charges, not to sue for damages. The court's dissenting justice said no one is entitled to compensation for the destruction of a drug banned under federal law.

But the court's majority said a marijuana patient or member of a collective has the same right as anyone else to sue officers who violate the constitutional ban on illegal searches and seizures.

The plaintiff, David Williams, is relying on "the same constitutional guarantee of due process available to all individuals," Justice Vance Raye said. He said Williams is not required to go through "the expense and stress of criminal proceedings" to assert his rights.

Williams belonged to a seven-member collective near the town of Paradise. When a sheriff's deputy came to his door without a warrant in September 2005, Williams showed doctors' recommendations for all seven patients that allowed them to grow and use marijuana, he said.

He said the officer had questioned the legality of the collective and ordered him to destroy 29 of the 41 plants on his property or face arrest. He complied, then sued the officer and the county for damages. Wednesday's ruling upheld a Superior Court judge's refusal to dismiss the suit.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Fred Morrison said Congress should ease the federal ban on marijuana to accommodate California and 12 other states that allow medical use. But as long as the ban exists, he said, no one has the right to use the drug, and police are entitled to confiscate it.

Brad Stephens, a deputy county counsel, said the county would probably appeal to the state Supreme Court.
]]> The Drug War Headline News ITG http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125192-ca-medical-pot-users-growers-can-sue-over-raids.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125192-ca-medical-pot-users-growers-can-sue-over-raids.html DC: 4th of July Smoke-In http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/aL04KBRXHWs/125190-dc-4th-july-smoke.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:50:52 GMT 4th of July Smoke-In 07/01/09 | Washington City Paper (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=37501) | Mike Riggs A few weeks after being sworn into office, President Obama told the Oregon’s Mail Tribunethat the “basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors…is entirely appropriate.” Convinced that one liberalization would lead to another, smokers everywhere rolled off their beanbag chairs and gave one another tepid high-fives. But then just this month California medical marijuana dispensary owner Charlie Lynch was sentenced by a federal judge to a year and a day in prison. As a result, expect more than a few promise-breaker signs at this year’s Fourth of July Smoke-In, D.C.’s longest-running annual pro-marijuana rally. The mile-long parade wraps up with tunes from Lloyd Stuart Casson, San Francisco jammers Ashpool, and Bad Brains singer H.R.’s Human Rights. Organizers advise against bringing “large quantities of contraband” through security—in other words, a spliff or two, toked in moderation, should be enough to celebrate the day. THE PARADE BEGINS AT 2:45 P.M. AT LAFAYETTE PARK AND ENDS AT 23RD STREET AND CONSTITUTION AVENUE NW. LIVE MUSIC UNTIL 9 P.M. FREE. (202) 251-4492. 4th of July Smoke-In
07/01/09 | Washington City Paper | Mike Riggs

A few weeks after being sworn into office, President Obama told the Oregon’s Mail Tribunethat the “basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors…is entirely appropriate.” Convinced that one liberalization would lead to another, smokers everywhere rolled off their beanbag chairs and gave one another tepid high-fives. But then just this month California medical marijuana dispensary owner Charlie Lynch was sentenced by a federal judge to a year and a day in prison. As a result, expect more than a few promise-breaker signs at this year’s Fourth of July Smoke-In, D.C.’s longest-running annual pro-marijuana rally. The mile-long parade wraps up with tunes from Lloyd Stuart Casson, San Francisco jammers Ashpool, and Bad Brains singer H.R.’s Human Rights. Organizers advise against bringing “large quantities of contraband” through security—in other words, a spliff or two, toked in moderation, should be enough to celebrate the day.

THE PARADE BEGINS AT 2:45 P.M. AT LAFAYETTE PARK AND ENDS AT 23RD STREET AND CONSTITUTION AVENUE NW. LIVE MUSIC UNTIL 9 P.M. FREE. (202) 251-4492.
]]> The Drug War Headline News ITG http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125190-dc-4th-july-smoke.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125190-dc-4th-july-smoke.html OR: Oregon set to reschedule marijuana from I to II, III, IV, or V by 2010 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/6noR-V8MXU0/125188-oregon-set-reschedule-marijuana-i-ii-iii-iv-v-2010-a.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:41:18 GMT Oregon set to reschedule marijuana from I to II, III, IV, or V by 2010
07/01/09 | NORML Audio Stash | Radical Russ

Oregon Senate Bill 728 passed the Senate by a vote of 26-2, the House passed it 58-1, and the Senate concurred on amendments 26-3. It now awaits Gov. Kulongoski’s signature. The measure adds new sections to Oregon’s law on controlled substances:

SECTION 2. The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana as a controlled substance in Schedule II, III, IV or V.

SECTION 4. (1) The State Board of Pharmacy shall classify marijuana in accordance with section 2 of this 2009 Act no later than 180 days after the effective date of this 2009 Act.

Oregon’s drug scheduling definitions mirror those of the federal government, so what this means is that Oregon no longer considers marijuana to be a drug with “a high potential for abuse” that “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” and no “accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.”

Instead, no matter where Oregon places marijuana on the scale from II to V sometime in early 2010, the state recognizes that marijuana “has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

This doesn’t mean that Oregon doctors will begin prescribing marijuana; the federal Schedule I classification will still be in effect and doctor’s ability to prescribe narcotics usually requires a federal license. However, it does mean that the entire sentencing structure for “crimes” involving marijuana changes in Oregon. It also provides another point for those who challenge the federal assertion that marijuana has no recognized medical use in the United States – one of your states has written it into the law!

Oregon activist Laird Funk notes:

"While the bill’s author, Sen Prozanski, opined at hearings that mj should probably end up in schedule 3, the Board will make its decision based on the result of evidence presented at a hearing or hearings. There is significant evidence that mj should be lower than schedule 3 and part of that evidence is contained in SB 728 itself, where it discusses schedule 4 substances which cause death. If schedule 4 substances can cause death, and cannabis has never caused death, (a fact I pointed out in the House hearings on 728) then logically it should be in schedule 5, given the mandate of the bill to place it in 2 thru 5.

"I am asking all folks involved in cannabis reform efforts nationwide to take advantage of this opportunity and help Oregonians prepare the needed convincing evidence to place mj as low as possible. To that end, I am asking all who read this, who are on other lists to please re-post this to those lists so that all might be best prepared to make this opportunity to reschedule work best for us all.

"I will be contacting the Board of Pharmacy soon to ascertain their thoughts on the scheduling of the hearings and other parts of the process and will keep all informed as to the results of that contact. With a collaborative approach, we may be in a position to guide the Board to the right conclusion."
]]> The Drug War Headline News ITG http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125188-oregon-set-reschedule-marijuana-i-ii-iii-iv-v-2010-a.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125188-oregon-set-reschedule-marijuana-i-ii-iii-iv-v-2010-a.html CO: Colo. medical marijuana users surge in number http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/0mipbGij3wo/125187-co-colo-medical-marijuana-users-surge-number.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:32:32 GMT Colo. medical marijuana users surge in number
07/01/09 | Fox KDVR | Charlie Brennan

DENVER - Colorado saw a record number of people register with the state as users of medical marijuana, which many attribute to the Obama administration's statement earlier this year that it did not intend to continue with federal raids on some marijuana dispensaries.

Even though states have approved the use of medical marijuana, it does not change the fact that pot use remains prohibited by federal law.

In May, 1,230 Coloradans were approved as "patients" who could obtain marijuana from a designated caregiver, providing they have a documentation of a diagnosis from a physician who is recommending marijuana for a debilitating medical condition.

The May figure represents a significant surge from the 1,022 new patients in April, and is more than double the number for March, which was 602. The total number of patients who currently possess valid registry cards is 7,630.

The average age of all patients is 24, and 72 percent of approved applicants are male.

Those numbers are in-line with a similarly strong surge in the number of storefront clinics that dispense the drug, for complaints ranging from the effects of cancer to a category simply labeled "severe pain." Although the state does not license - nor does it keep track of - medical marijuana clinics, it is estimated that there are now at least 35 in the Denver metro area, where a year ago there were roughly a half dozen.

"The rate of increase appears to be growing," said Ron Hyman, state register of vital statistics for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "The fact that the federal government has, in the last six months, indicated that they aren't going to be doing significant law enforcement activity with these individuals, may be a factor."

Diana McKindley, who with her husband is opening the NatuRx clinic in Wheat Ridge on Saturday, agreed.

"Most people that I dealt with for many, many years were very scared that the feds would still come in and raid, like they did in California," she said. "When the federal government said they would back off, and they would let the states control it, people felt more comfortable to be able to do what they felt was right for themselves, instead of being scared.

"We had a lot of closet patients back then, and now they are able to come out and do this publicly, and be normal citizens and pay taxes on it, just like the rest of us. The word is out that it's safer now. It's just safer. They no longer have to worry about being raided, as long as they follow state laws."

But laws could be changing in Colorado.

A public hearing is set for July 20 before the Colorado Board of Health, at the Tivoli Student Union on the Auraria Campus in Denver. Prominent among the changes under consideration is a provision that would limit the number of patients a provider, or "care-giver" could serve, to five. Supporters of setting such a limit say it's being proposed in the spirit of ensuring that there is truly a "care-giver"-patient relationship between the person providing the medical marijuana, and the person receiving it.

McKindley said such a limit would be "awful."

Prior to opening a dispensary - which also promotes other healing services such as massage, herbology and meditation - McKindley was providing medical marijuana on a smaller scale.

However, she said, "Five patients would call me in a day. The demand is so high, there is no way I could have taken care of the demand that was calling me, and I was just one person and doing minimal advertising. We have too many patients and not enough caregivers. I had to turn into a dispensary, because my demand became so high, that I couldn't take care of them all myself, so I grew into a dispensary.

"There numbers are going to continue to grow. And to stop us is only going to hurt the patient. It's going to devastate the patient."

Asked if she could run a viable storefront clinic, limited to five medical marijuana patients, she said, "Absolutely no way. Absolutely no way." With only five, she said, "I would be doing it still at home, out of my garage, like I was before."

Hyman said that, in considering an adjustment of the state rules implementing Amendment 20, passed in 2000, state officials were not focusing on the commercial viability of the clinics that have cropped up to supplement the services of private growers providing just a handful of patients.

"Amendment 20 and the laws and regulations that were put in place to support amendment 20, do not refer to dispensaries or clinics at all," Hyman said. "They are not mentioned whatsoever, and we have no relation with those entities."
]]> The Drug War Headline News ITG http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125187-co-colo-medical-marijuana-users-surge-number.html http://www.marijuana.com/drug-war-headline-news/125187-co-colo-medical-marijuana-users-surge-number.html RI: Senate commission to study marijuana decriminalization http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Marijuana_Headline_News/~3/6MBT0rrqEAQ/125185-ri-senate-commission-study-marijuana-decriminalization.html Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:25:00 GMT Senate commission to study marijuana decriminalization 07/02/09 | The Providence Journal (http://www.projo.com/news/content/marijuana_legalization_study_07-02-09_HKETR01_v20.38b3169.html) | Katherine Gregg PROVIDENCE — Weeks after legalizing the sale of marijuana to sick people, lawmakers have voted to explore how much Rhode Island might collect in revenue if it were to make all sales of marijuana legal and impose a “sin tax” of $35 per ounce. During the General Assembly’s aborted rush to adjournment Friday, the Senate approved a resolution — introduced earlier the same day — to create a nine-member special commission to study a swath of issues surrounding marijuana. Among them: “The experience of individuals and families sentenced for violating marijuana laws ... The experience of states and European countries, such as California, Massachusetts and the Netherlands, which have decriminalized the sale and use of marijuana.” The sponsors of the eleventh-hour measure — which requires no further action — include Senators Joshua Miller, D-Cranston; Leo Blais, R-Coventry; Rhoda Perry, D-Providence; Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, and Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown. In a brief interview Wednesday, Miller said the resolution was sparked by the referendum-driven move to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts, and by what he perceives as “a national trend towards decriminalization.” In November 2008, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100. Asked why he waited until what was to be the last day of the session to introduce the measure, Miller said he and his fellow sponsors felt it was “very important” for this study to be “defined as an issue” completely separate and apart from the passage — over Governor Carcieri’s veto — of legislation allowing the creation of state-regulated dispensaries to sell marijuana for medicinal use. Miller said it also “took that long for it to be taken seriously.” The resolution creates a “Special Senate Commission to Study the Prohibition of Marijuana” made up of “elected members of the Rhode Island Senate, local law enforcement officials, physicians, nurses, social workers, academic leaders in the field of addiction studies, advocates or patients in the state’s medical marijuana program, advocates working in the field of prisoner reentry, economists, and members of the general public.” The measure poses a number of specific questions for study, among them: “Whether and to what extent Rhode Island youth have access to marijuana despite current laws prohibiting its use. ... Whether adults’ use of marijuana has decreased since marijuana became illegal in Rhode Island in 1918. ... Whether the current system of marijuana prohibition has created violence in the state of Rhode Island against users or among those who sell marijuana. ... Whether the proceeds from the sales of marijuana are funding organized crime, including drug cartels. ... Whether those who sell marijuana on the criminal market may also sell other drugs, thus increasing the chances that youth will use other illegal substances.” The resolution also cites questions about the “dangers associated with marijuana resulting from it being sold on the criminal market, including if it is ever contaminated or laced with other drugs.” The panel has until Jan. 31, 2010, to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate, though it would stay alive through Jan. 31, 2014. Miller, a bar owner who says he does not use illegal drugs — or even drink liquor more than a few times a year — said he is not hoping or expecting any specific outcome. “I am more open-minded that that,” he said. “I am hoping to react to the best research and data we can get out of looking at it.” A year ago, Carcieri vetoed a joint House and Senate call for a study of the wisdom of creating state-regulated marijuana dispensaries. But “since this was only a Senate resolution, it does not come to the governor for his approval,” Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said. In February, one of the cosponsors, pharmacist Leo Blais, proposed a bill — The Sensible State Marijuana Policy Act — that would have decriminalized the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, reducing it to a civil offense for which anyone age 18 or older would face a $100 fine and forfeiture of the marijuana. The bill never made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As of Wednesday, no person or group had formally applied for the license to run the first of the three marijuana dispensaries allowed by the so-called “compassion centers” bill. Both the House and Senate have each passed, for the second year in a row, their own versions (S39 and H5007) of a bill to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes. But no one version of the measure has yet cleared both chambers, in this year when the House and Senate went on hiatus, with no certain return date, and no final action on a bevy of high-profile bills. Senate commission to study marijuana decriminalization
07/02/09 | The Providence Journal | Katherine Gregg

PROVIDENCE — Weeks after legalizing the sale of marijuana to sick people, lawmakers have voted to explore how much Rhode Island might collect in revenue if it were to make all sales of marijuana legal and impose a “sin tax” of $35 per ounce.

During the General Assembly’s aborted rush to adjournment Friday, the Senate approved a resolution — introduced earlier the same day — to create a nine-member special commission to study a swath of issues surrounding marijuana. Among them: “The experience of individuals and families sentenced for violating marijuana laws ... The experience of states and European countries, such as California, Massachusetts and the Netherlands, which have decriminalized the sale and use of marijuana.”

The sponsors of the eleventh-hour measure — which requires no further action — include Senators Joshua Miller, D-Cranston; Leo Blais, R-Coventry; Rhoda Perry, D-Providence; Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, and Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Miller said the resolution was sparked by the referendum-driven move to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts, and by what he perceives as “a national trend towards decriminalization.” In November 2008, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making getting caught with less than an ounce of pot punishable by a civil fine of $100.

Asked why he waited until what was to be the last day of the session to introduce the measure, Miller said he and his fellow sponsors felt it was “very important” for this study to be “defined as an issue” completely separate and apart from the passage — over Governor Carcieri’s veto — of legislation allowing the creation of state-regulated dispensaries to sell marijuana for medicinal use.

Miller said it also “took that long for it to be taken seriously.”

The resolution creates a “Special Senate Commission to Study the Prohibition of Marijuana” made up of “elected members of the Rhode Island Senate, local law enforcement officials, physicians, nurses, social workers, academic leaders in the field of addiction studies, advocates or patients in the state’s medical marijuana program, advocates working in the field of prisoner reentry, economists, and members of the general public.”

The measure poses a number of specific questions for study, among them: “Whether and to what extent Rhode Island youth have access to marijuana despite current laws prohibiting its use. ... Whether adults’ use of marijuana has decreased since marijuana became illegal in Rhode Island in 1918. ... Whether the current system of marijuana prohibition has created violence in the state of Rhode Island against users or among those who sell marijuana. ... Whether the proceeds from the sales of marijuana are funding organized crime, including drug cartels. ... Whether those who sell marijuana on the criminal market may also sell other drugs, thus increasing the chances that youth will use other illegal substances.”

The resolution also cites questions about the “dangers associated with marijuana resulting from it being sold on the criminal market, including if it is ever contaminated or laced with other drugs.”

The panel has until Jan. 31, 2010, to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate, though it would stay alive through Jan. 31, 2014.

Miller, a bar owner who says he does not use illegal drugs — or even drink liquor more than a few times a year — said he is not hoping or expecting any specific outcome. “I am more open-minded that that,” he said. “I am hoping to react to the best research and data we can get out of looking at it.”

A year ago, Carcieri vetoed a joint House and Senate call for a study of the wisdom of creating state-regulated marijuana dispensaries.

But “since this was only a Senate resolution, it does not come to the governor for his approval,” Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said.

In February, one of the cosponsors, pharmacist Leo Blais, proposed a bill — The Sensible State Marijuana Policy Act — that would have decriminalized the possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, reducing it to a civil offense for which anyone age 18 or older would face a $100 fine and forfeiture of the marijuana. The bill never made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As of Wednesday, no person or group had formally applied for the license to run the first of the three marijuana dispensaries allowed by the so-called “compassion centers” bill.

Both the House and Senate have each passed, for the second year in a row, their own versions (S39 and H5007) of a bill to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes.

But no one version of the measure has yet cleared both chambers, in this year when the House and Senate went on hiatus, with no certain return date, and no final action on a bevy of high-profile bills.
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