Medical marijuana issue heats up in Montana Legislature
The Montana Medical Marijuana Act is once again coming under fire in the state legislature. More than 150 people crowded into the Capitol in Helena on Friday as the Senate Judiciary committee addressed a bill which would repeal the Medical Marijuana Act.
The bill is sponsored by MT State Representative Mike Milburn (R-Cascade), who says there is no way to rein in the medical marijuana industry. Milburn says the rapid increase in the number of medical marijuana cards is out of control. He says it is a strain on law enforcement and it is getting into the hands of children.
Milburn's bill has already passed the House in a 63-37 vote. Now the bill is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cannabis whets appetite for cancer patients
People with advanced cancer said food tasted better when they took the active ingredient in cannabis compared with sugar pills, a small Canadian study showed.
Cancer patients commonly report decreased appetite and changes in their sense of taste and smell that can lead to weight loss, anorexia, a poorer quality of life, and decreased survival, according to several short-term studies.
To explore whether tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis — actually improves taste and smell perception and appetite, researchers in Montreal and Edmonton tested THC and placebo capsules in 21 adults with cancer. Of these, 11 were randomly assigned to THC and 10 to placebo.
Oregon medical marijuana activists protest new restrictions
Medical-marijuana activists demonstrated at the Capitol on Wednesday, protesting proposed legislation that would put new restrictions on legally permitted medicinal cannabis.
A rally on the Capitol steps drew about 60 participants. Some held signs reading "Cannabis is my friend" and "Don't tread on medicine."
Demonstrators decried a flurry of bills introduced in the 2011 legislative session that seek to narrow participation in the state's 13-year-old medical-marijuana program or enact other changes.
Colorado may impose a legal THC level for driving
The surge of medical marijuana use in Colorado has started another debate in the state Legislature: What constitutes driving while high?
Lawmakers are considering setting a DUI blood-content threshold for marijuana that would make Colorado one of three states with such a provision in statute - and one of the most liberal, according to Rep. Claire Levy, one of the bill's sponsors.
Under the proposal, drivers who test positive for 5 nanograms or more of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, would be considered too impaired to drive if the substance is present in their blood at the time they're pulled over or within two hours.
Levy, a Democrat from Boulder, said she's gotten resistance from medical marijuana advocates who fear it will restrict patients from using the drug.
"What I've tried to assure the patient advocates is that we're not talking about sobriety checkpoints, we're not talking about dragnets and massive stops," she said. "They're not going to be stopped if they're driving appropriately."
While it's already illegal to drive while impaired by drugs, states have taken different approaches to the issue. Twelve states, including Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Rhode Island, have a zero-tolerance policy for driving with any presence of an illegal substance, said Anne Teigen, policy specialist at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Minnesota has the same policy but exempts marijuana.
The IRS is starting to audit California marijuana dispensaries
The IRS is auditing marijuana dispensaries in California, and advocates have called for a change in federal laws.
The sale of medical marijuana is legal under state law, but illegal under federal law, and cannabis collectives say there is a problem because of the way they are being treated by the IRS.
Tax code 280-E does not allow drug trafficking organizations to deduct business expenses.
"If 280-E were applied strictly, we would not be allowed to deduct our rent, our payroll or any of the other normal and usual expenses that other businesses deduct," said Steve DeAngelo, Harborside Health Center.
Attorney Henry Wykowski is representing various dispensaries that are being audited, and he said 280-E was created in the 80s to go after drug lords, and it should be updated.
Medical Marijuana Clinics Quietly Take Root in Oregon
Since 1998, when medical marijuana use became legal in Oregon, the number of cardholders in the state has swelled.
As of last month, there are over 38,000 legal patients, and the number grows every day.
It's always been and will continue to be a controversial medicine.
But it may be gaining ground, especially in our historically conservative part of the state.
Case in point: Within the past three months, Central Oregon has seen at least five medical marijuana clinics or clubs set up shop here.
And as we found, there was at first, outcry, then indifference -- and now, it seems, acceptance.
Police seize more than 1,500 plants in East Oakland, California marijuana grow-up bust
A report of a burglary in progress Sunday morning at an East Oakland home led to the seizure of a stash of marijuana worth more than $400,000, including 1,500 plants in various stages of growth and bags full of finished product, and the arrest of the resident, police said Monday.
The seizure, one of the largest recently, began about 4:26 a.m. Sunday after police received a call that three men were trying to break into a house in the 2300 block of East 16th Street.
Officers arrived and found that someone had partially pried open a security gate in the rear of the house.
Montana House votes to repeal medical marijuana
State lawmakers are halfway to repealing Montana's medical marijuana law. By a vote of 62-to-37, legislators voted to advance the bill out of the House to the Senate.
House Speaker Mike Milburn says law enforcement can't control the sudden growth of the multi-million dollar industry and its rampant proliferation.
"It's going well beyond what people in Montana thought they were voting for," said Milburn, (R-Cascade). "Lots of support from the community, from the schools, from the law enforcement agencies, even from out of state law enforcement, that you can't control it. You can't put sideboards on it. You can't regulate it when it's gone this far."
Montana Poll: Leave cannabis law in place
This week’s Question of the Week received a heavy turnout in our unscientific online poll and no shortage of thoughtful comments on both sides of the issue. We asked whether the Legislature should overturn Montana’s medical marijuana law, which was approved by a ballot initiative in 2004.
Among more than 4,000 votes cast as of late Friday afternoon, 2,417 said the lawmakers should leave the law in place, while 1,666 votes came in in favor of repeal. Here’s a sampling of some of the comments from those who took the time to write:
- “The Republican manufactured hysteria is completely at odds with reality. They ignore many well-established statistics, such as high school pot use being down 27 percent, in favor of an anecdote or two. Anecdotes like kids are prostituting themselves for pot, our schoolyards are knee-deep in pot, and Montana, as a new drug central, now deserves mention in the same breath as Mexico and South America. I’m getting very tired of uninformed Repub’s catering to the religious right, and telling me how I must live my life. I wonder how many of these same Repub’s are getting big campaign donations from the alcohol industry?”
Marijuana smokers: Establish legal limit for THC-blood level
If people are allowed to drive after drinking — provided their blood-alcohol level is under the legal limit — then why shouldn't people be allowed to drive after smoking marijuana? That seems to be the question raised by a bill in the Colorado state legislature, which would set a legal limit of under five nanograms per milimeter of THC in a person's bloodstream.
As long as a driver's THC-blood level is under five nanograms, he would legally be allowed to drive. While some are in support of the current zero-tolerance policy, we agree with the idea of establishing a legal limit. If used responsibly, marijuana does not significantly impair a person's ability to drive. A 2004 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study shows that marijuana, if used responsibly, does not significantly impair a person's ability to drive.
Indiana may reassess medical marijuana laws
Indiana may not currently have much in common with California, but that could change due to recent legislation that would place the Hoosier state one step closer to
decriminalizing marijuana.
Senate Bill 192 successfully passed through the Senate Committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters on Tuesday with a vote of 5-3.
The bill would require an existing committee to research the effects of marijuana’s current illegal status.
According to the Indiana General Assembly’s website, the Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee would study marijuana’s possible medicinal usage, its effect on the Indiana justice system and whether or not it should be controlled and regulated like alcohol.
