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S-1220

Marijuana Industry News March 8, 2013

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Ex-DEA Officials Pressure White House to Go After New Recreational Marijuana States…

As we have previously reported at Marijuana.net, federal authorities have remained relatively quiet on the issue of legal marijuana ever since the voters of Colorado and Washington state decided to legalize recreational use.  The issue is gaining national acceptance as a recent Reason/Rupe poll suggested that 72% of Americans do not think marijuana users should be arrested.  The poll also found that 68% of respondents do not feel growers should be arrested.  Fifty three percent of those included in the national poll said they felt marijuana should be regulated in a similar fashion to alcohol.  Even with swelling public support, former DEA officials are trying to convince the federal government to overpower Colorado and Washington.  The retired DEA members feel that if the feds do not act now, they may lose the issue forever.  Peter Bensinger, a former DEA administrator recently told the Associated  Press that “My fear is that the Justice Department will do what they are doing now: Do nothing and say nothing.  If they don’t act now, these laws will be fully implemented in a matter of months.”  In a country where consensus is becoming a rare phenomenon, these soaring levels of support may already have signaled the point of no return.  As we start to feel the impact of sequestration and lack of compromise, DEA officials may find it a tough sell to continue using tax dollars to go after marijuana users and growers.  Additionally, federal law is actually preventing billions in potential tax revenue that is desperately needed.

 

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New Jersey Lawmakers Seeking to Keep Medical Marijuana Patients on Organ Transplant List…

Many lawmakers around the United States have long snickered at medical marijuana.  The easy and quick analysis is that it MUST be front a for those looking to circumvent the law.  However, for many this is the most serious issue they have ever encountered in their life.  As millions worldwide have improved their quality of life with medical marijuana use, naïve talking point politicians have been slow to research the issue.  One major problem for elderly medical marijuana patients is that they typically taken off organ recipient lists.  This places them in a difficult situation.  How does one value the long term (needed organ transplant) over the short term (immediate daily pain relieved by cannabis)?  New Jersey is attempting to fix this before it becomes a major issue in the Garden State.  Earlier this week, New Jersey’s Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee passed S-1220.  The panel stated that S-1220 “would provide that a registered, qualifying patient’s authorized use of medical marijuana would be considered equivalent to using other prescribed medication rather than an illicit substance and therefore would not disqualify the person from needed medical care, such as an organ transplant.”  It took New Jersey several years to cut through their bureaucratic red tape and institute a medical marijuana program passed under previous Governor, Jim Corzine.  However, it is reassuring to see that they are taking a compassionate approach with this issue.  In a press release by the bill’s co-sponsors, lawmakers said that removing patients from the organ recipient list because of medical marijuana use is a practice that is “unconscionable as the patients have followed their doctors’ orders and have taken a legal medication to reduce the pain and suffering associated with their illness. Transplant centers should not be able to discriminate against people for using this prescription pain killer.”

 

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Michigan Judge Rules that Medical Marijuana Patients Cannot be Denied Unemployment Benefits…

The story above highlighted a victory for patients in New Jersey.  We also have good news to report for those patients in Michigan.  Last August, a Michigan court ruled that the Michigan Marijuana Act of 2008 “does not offer any employment protection to card holders” and “does not regulate private employment.”  In September the decision was upheld when former Walmart employee, Joseph Casias, was let go for marijuana use even as he was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor.  He was also denied benefits after being let go.  This week, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette ruled that medical marijuana patients can receive unemployment benefits after termination of employment.  Medical marijuana has had a wild ride in Michigan over the course of the past several years since it was legalized in 2008. Even as Michigan lawmakers and state Attorney General, Bill Schuette, try to fight against medical marijuana, residents have made it clear they support a patient’s right to use medical cannabis.  Michigan has some of the most progressive medical marijuana laws and is one of the only states that allows for minors to receive legal marijuana for certain qualifying conditions.

 

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