The Nation:The Next Frontier Of Drug Policy Reform
For those of us who fought long and hard to reform the notorious 100-to-one crack/powder cocaine disparity in federal law, the Fair Sentencing Act, signed by President Obama on August 3, is at once a historic victory and a major disappointment. It's both too little, too late and a big step forward.
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which punished the sale of five grams of crack cocaine the same as 500 grams of powder cocaine, reflected the bipartisan drug war hysteria of the day and was approved with virtually no consideration of scientific evidence or the fiscal and human consequences. The argument for reform has always been twofold: sending someone to federal prison for five years for selling the equivalent of a few sugar packets of cocaine is unreasonably harsh, and it disproportionately affects minorities (almost 80 percent of those sentenced are African-Americans, even though most users and sellers of crack are not black).
The haze surrounding medical marijuana in the District of Columbia
As the District of Columbia joins the small group of U.S. jurisdictions legalizing the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, it finally occurred to me to consider whether I'd ever ask for a prescription myself.
All of the 14 states (and now D.C.) that allow marijuana for medical purposes list multiple sclerosis (or the spasms associated with the disease) as a condition for which marijuana may be administered. Marijuana has been shown in some limited research to relieve muscle spasticity (stiffness or tightness), one of MS's common symptoms. (In March, the FDA approved the use of Botox for treating MS-related spasticity.)
Montreal researchers study shows marijuana is effective in reducing pain
A team of Montreal researchers has lent scientific credibility to the view that smoking marijuana can ease chronic neuropathic pain and help patients sleep better.
People suffering from neuropathic pain often turn to opioids, antidepressants and local anesthetics, but those treatments have limitations and the side effects can be punishing. Many physicians and policy-makers, however, are reluctant to advocate the use of cannabis since there has been little scientific research into its effectiveness, even though patients champion its use.
The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that pain intensity among patients decreased with higher-potency marijuana. It is one of a handful of scientific attempts to determine the medicinal benefits of the drug.
Canada’s Cannabis Car made with Hemp… step aside Carbon fiber
As we're faced with an increasingly large world population and ever-dwindling resources the race is on to produce cars that not only produce zero tailpipe emissions, but ones that are green to manufacture too.
But what is the ultimate material for cars? Steel is strong, but hardly light enough to make ultra-efficient vehicles. Many plastics are based on oil, and composite materials like carbon fibre are difficult and costly to manufacture and repair.
Enter the Kestrel. Designed and engineered by Motive Industries, a Canadian firm based in Alberta, the fully electric car features a body shell made of hemp--which may be better known as Cannabis Sativa L.
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Germany ready to approve medical marijuana
Medical marijuana will be available in Germany soon, with the centre-right coalition preparing to make groundbreaking changes to drug laws, a government health spokeswoman said this week.
Doctors could write prescriptions for cannabis, and pharmacies would be authorised to sell the plant once the law had been adjusted, a member of the junior coalition party, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), said Monday.
Marijuana would also be permitted for use as a pain reliever for the terminally ill in hospices and other care facilities, making it a legal part of their emergency pain-relief stocks.
“With this, the sickest people will always have a pain-relieving substance available,” said Ulrike Flack, the FDP’s health policy spokesperson.
The new law will end a long-running struggle between German officials, doctors and health insurers over use of the proven herbal therapy for treating the pain stemming from diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.
Know the Benefits of Cannabis
Do you know what the current medical laws sweeping the United States mean? Do you really know how they work? Some of you may think that anyone can get medicinal cannabis... but this is not the case.
According to some new state laws, you must have at least one illness that exists on a very specific list of conditions that qualify. This illness must be diagnosed by a real doctor who recommends cannabis as an appropriate medication.
The doctor provides the patients with a written recommendation that it will alleviate the symptoms of their condition. Patients then have several options open to them depending on which state's laws they live under.
The first option in many states is to simply take the letter of recommendation from your doctor to a medical marijuana dispensary. They will most likely keep a copy of your letter on file and then you can purchase your prescription pot from this dispensary from that point on. If you need to move or buy them from another location, you need only have the doctor's note with you.
The next option is for you to take the letter from your doctor and send it in with certain health department forms to your state government. Your state's health department will then send you a medical card. This card can then be used at various dispensaries within your state. This option is required in some states and not in others, but either way you must have a condition for which your doctor can write a letter of recommendation to ingest cannabis.
Most states also provide a third option for patients. You can acquire your doctor's letter of recommendation and then send it in to the state's health department with the necessary forms. This third option, however, requires you to request a medical card in order for you to grow your own medicinal cannabis. The laws in this area not only vary by state, but also by county in some cases.
A qualified patient can be in possession of anywhere from eight ounces of them to several pounds and they can grow and maintain from six to fifty plants of varying maturity depending on which county of the state they live in.
It may seem like the new laws allowing prescription cannabis for certain patients are legalizing pot, but this is not the case. The new laws such as proposition 215 in California are being instituted to allow people who suffer from certain illness to access the medicine they need to feel better.
420 Meaning: The True Story Of How April 20 Became ‘Weed Day’ – Happy 420!
Warren Haynes, the Allman Brothers Band guitarist, routinely plays with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, now touring as The Dead. He's just finished a Dead show in Washington, D.C. and gets a pop quiz from the Huffington Post.
Where does 420 come from?
He pauses and thinks, hands on his side. "I don't know the real origin. I know myths and rumors," he says. "I'm really confused about the first time I heard it. It was like a police code for smoking in progress or something. What's the real story?"
Depending on who you ask, or their state of inebriation, there are as many varieties of answers as strains of medical bud in California. It's the number of active chemicals in marijuana. It's teatime in Holland. It has something to do with Hitler's birthday. It's those numbers in that Bob Dylan song multiplied.
The origin of the term 420, celebrated around the world by pot smokers every April 20th, has long been obscured by the clouded memories of the folks who made it a phenomenon.
The Huffington Post chased the term back to its roots and was able to find it in a lost patch of cannabis in a Point Reyes, California forest. Just as interesting as its origin, it turns out, is how it spread.
Referendum would challenge Los Angeles pot dispensary law
Medical marijuana advocates are gathering signatures for a voter referendum to block a recently passed Los Angeles law that will shutter hundreds of pot shops.
The effort is designed to overturn the city's medical marijuana dispensary ordinance before it takes effect in May.
Monday is the deadline to turn in 27,425 signatures and organizer Dan Halbert says "it's going to be close."
Marijuana legalization? A White House rebuttal, finally
The Obama White House has finally laid out its most thorough, reasoned rebuttal to arguments for marijuana legalization – countering a campaign that is gaining alarming momentum at the state level.
The president’s tough position was delivered in early March by his “drug czar,” Gil Kerlikowske, in a private talk before police chiefs in California – which is ground zero for this debate.
“Marijuana legalization – for any purpose – is a nonstarter in the Obama administration,” said Mr. Kerlikowske, a former police chief himself.
It’s almost certain that California voters will be asked in a November ballot initiative whether to allow local governments to regulate and tax marijuana (similar to taxes on sales of alcohol). Other states are considering similar proposals, which are really a backdoor way to legalize pot.
(For a Monitor news story on the California ballot initiative, click here)
Thirteen states have decriminalized the use or possession of small amounts of marijuana, which is not the same as legalizing it. Selling it is still illegal except in states where it is used for medical purposes. And under federal law, any sort of marijuana use or sale is a criminal offense.
The drug czar’s remarks are worth notice for two reasons. First, they provide needed talking points for those who oppose legalization but who can’t seem to make their message resonate in the face of a well-financed, well-organized pro-marijuana effort. Second, they help clear up confusion about the White House policy on legalization.
Fake Weed, Real Drug: K2 Causing Hallucinations in Teens
Toxicologists at three universities and two governmental agencies have launched a study into the effects of a synthetic drug being used by some smokers as a legal substitute to marijuana. Credit: AP Photo/Kelley McCall
Teens are getting high on an emerging drug called "fake weed," a concoction also known as K2 and "spice" that is also causing hallucinations, vomiting, agitation and other dangerous effects.
In the last month, Dr. Anthony Scalzo, a professor of toxicology at Saint Louis University, has seen nearly 30 cases of teenagers experiencing these adverse effects after smoking the fake weed, a legal substance that reportedly offers a marijuana-like high.
"K2 use is not limited to the Midwest; reports of its use are cropping up all over the country," Scalzo said. "I think K2 is likely a bigger problem than we're aware of at this time." For instance, Atlanta has seen about 12 cases recently.
K2 has been sold since 2006 as incense or potpourri for about $30 to $40 per three gram bag – comparable in cost to marijuana.
"K2 may be a mixture of herbal and spice plant products, but it is sprayed with a potent psychotropic drug and likely contaminated with an unknown toxic substance that is causing many adverse effects," said Scalzo, who also directs the Missouri Regional Poison Control Center.
BREAKING: Los Angeles sued over new medical marijuana law
A lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges Los Angeles' crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, claiming it would force nearly all of them to close.
The suit by the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy group accuses the city of violating the state constitutional rights of pot clinic operators and claims the city ordinance "deprives the seriously ill of the medicine promised them by the electorate and the Legislature of California."
It wants a judge to permanently prevent the new law from being enforced and to award damages.
City attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan had no immediate comment.
California voters passed a law in 1996 that legalized marijuana use for medical reasons, but it didn't say anything about distribution. So some cities have permitted dispensaries to flourish while others, such as Costa Mesa and Fresno, have effectively banned them and arrested owners.
Los Angeles has been struggling for years with the issue of controlling dispensaries. The ordinance that the mayor signed last month caps the number of dispensaries in the city at 70.
City officials have estimated there could be as many as 1,000 outlets in the city and that some sell pot as a business. Last month, the city filed lawsuits and eviction notices against 21 dispensaries and arrested one owner.
