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Medical Marijuana Industry News April 27, 2012
President Obama Finally Addresses Medical Marijuana…
While it may not have been exactly what patients and activists were hoping for, the constant pressure from voters and media outlets may have finally forced the president into speaking about a topic he has tried so vigorously to avoid. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Obama may be shifting the blame on to Congress, somewhat. He told the popular culture magazine that “What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law.” He then went on to say “I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, ‘Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books. What I can say is, use your prosecutorial discretion and properly prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing folks damage.’ As a consequence, there haven’t been prosecutions of users of marijuana for medical purposes.” Even if the president does not agree with over 70% of Americans who agree with medical marijuana, it is a step in the right direction that he is finally addressing the issue and articulating his position, even if some consider it a policy shift. The President seems to have placed the issue in Congress and said there will be no legalization “anytime soon”. If Congress were to pass a law requiring his signature, it would prove to be an interesting situation. If he wins re-election maybe we will get the chance to see how it plays out.
Click here for a link to the Rolling Stone Interview
Marijuana Found in Mendocino Prosecutor’s Home…
An unfortunate trend seems to be making itself known. Another high profile public prosecutor has been caught defying marijuana laws. Recently, a prosecutor in North Bergen New Jersey was found to be aiding a highly lucrative marijuana smuggling ring. Now, we have another public official who has been caught with marijuana in his home. Deputy District Attorney Sergio Fuentes, The Mendocino prosecutor was supposedly found to have approximately 150 plants in his home, according to the County Sheriff’s Capt. Kurt Smallcomb. Since we are now seeing this occur often it may be time for authorities to re think their marijuana laws. If they cannot abide by them perhaps they should amend them, unless authorities find black markets too profitable to amend the law.
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Marijuana Vending Machine Tested in Santa Ana…
Perhaps replacing your red box movie dispenser could be an automated marijuana machine that is not bound to hours of operation. This story is quite surprising considering marijuana’s delicate legal situation. However, in Santa Ana a marijuana dispensary machine is being tested. The machine is called Autospense. There are high tech safety measures included such as a prescription card reader and finger print recognition. However critics will likely jump all over this concept. How would a community feel about a beer vending machine? That too may alarm residents. It is understandable that the community may not be in love with this, but it is interesting to take note of technology. The company responsible for creating the machine is known as Dispense Labs. They will not be filling the machine with marijuana. Dispense Labs clearly have done a great job from a technological standpoint and maybe a machine like this would be best used at a dispensary, such as ticket kiosks located inside the airport to provide quicker service.
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Global Marijuana March To Be Held Next Week…
Known by several different names including Million Marijuana March and World Cannabis Day, the Global Marijuana March occurs on the first Saturday of May every year. There have been 738 cities and 64 countries that have signed up for the event since its inception in 1999. This year is expected to have a large turnout as marijuana has gained significant traction over the course of the previous year.
Click here for more on this and to see about the Global Marijuana March Event in your area
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Expected to Open in Washington D.C. by Summer
With the iconic Berkeley Patient’s Group being forced to close its doors, the Federal government has demonstrated its desire to uphold not only its failed war on drugs, but also the war on patients. Interestingly enough, inside the belly of the beast, medical marijuana centers will be opening up within months.
Washington D.C. is expected to start serving medical marijuana patients by this summer. The process has already begun as cultivators are filling out the paperwork for leasing growing space. Sixty nine percent of D.C. voters approved a measure to legalize medical marijuana way back in 1998, but Congress stood in the way several times. In 2010, the City Council in D.C. approved another measure and this time Congress decided to respect the decision of both the council and residents of Washington. Residents who qualify will be purchasing marijuana within miles of the white house and congress, even as patients thousands of miles away fear raids and shutdowns.
The medical marijuana program in Washington D.C., like many other new states enacting programs, will have a much stricter set of guidelines than California’s system. This may be why the federal government, for the moment, seems to be far less concerned. California does not have a state run program, and municipalities have different interpretations of what rights are afforded under proposition 215. However this is all speculation and with little information available as to how the federal government selects its raid targets, advocates are left without an answer. Even if laws become stricter in California, many patients and advocates are hoping for a unified system so that everyone can operate legally.
Until the federal government decides to take the guessing game out of the legal realm, medical marijuana will remain in limbo. Although Washington D.C. will be allowed to serve patients now, no one can be certain of what the new faces in congress will decide after this November. No one wants a prolonged battle with the federal government, and a government should not be seeking to battle sick patients. The debate seems to be getting sillier each day and if our government cannot decide what they even want in their own backyard (City of Washington D.C), then can we really expect to look to them for leadership elsewhere?
The Shafer Report
In 1970, the Comprehensive Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Act rewrote the guidelines on drugs, sorting them into five groups, Schedule 1-5. Additionally, it engendered the Commission on Marijuana and Substance Abuse which targeted to review the results of Marijuana on People in america. The outcomes of the study were launched in 1972 and therefore are better termed as “The Shafer Report.” This research was presented before Congress on March 22 1972, titled “Marijuana, An Indication of Misunderstanding.” It was a landmark presentation because its goal ended up being to locate an honest knowledge of the results of Cannabis on people, without depending around the testimonies from the previous half a century of propaganda that were recognized as truth. The report is divided into five parts: The Issue of Marijuana, It’s Use and Effects, Its Social Impact, The Social Response, and Social Policy.
During the period of the 2 years the Commission had carried out clinical studies across the nation, in metropolitan areas for example Boston, Philadelphia, Bay Area and much more in it’s efforts to obtain the truth behind Marijuana. They carried out numerous interviews, had 1000’s of surveys as well as examined many different types of Marijuana to attain their goal. One conclusion attracted, “The emotions and condition of awareness referred to through the intoxicated appear to become much more interesting compared to objective condition noted by an observer.” In plain words, the researchers carrying out the experiments had much less fun performing them compared to people taking part in stated experiments. I believe we are able to all agree with that time.
Much more entered the research than asking people about use and watching intoxication. They have to know why people switched to Marijuana to begin with. What social factors brought people into Mary Jane’s hands? For individuals individuals who did not know, after Cannabis was criminalized and banned in 1937 its use dropped considerably. It wasn’t before the 1960’s it all of a sudden reemerged like a cultural pressure and it is use was common. It had been then broadly adopted by America’s youth included in the counterculture. As the Baby Seniors were busy protesting and becoming high, the relaxation of the nation was very scared of pot’s rebirth and just what it intended for society. The thing is, “the drug was assumed to become a “narcotic,” to render the consumer psychologically dependent, to impress violent crime, and also to cause madness.” You will find lots who still believe that it is a gateway drug which permitting its ongoing use would undermine the nation. Therefore the males behind the report requested important questions like, “Who uses marijuana?” and “When does use start?” “How lengthy do people still smoke marijuana?” “So why do they begin,Inch and “So why do they stop?” They recognized it needed to be divided for an individual level. For too lengthy Marijuana had only been talked about in simplification. Which kind of discussion goes nowhere.
Certain conclusions were arrived at, one being that almost all cannabis customers are functional, upstanding people of society. Many customers can start smoking in an effort to defy authority (ex: teens rebelling against their parents, university students protesting against illegal laws and regulations). But, they aren’t anarchic delinquents trying to bring lower things as they are. They’re only crooks since the laws and regulations in position make sure they are so. To be able to rank the possibility of marijuana, they needed to compare it with other legal and illegal drugs. Apart from not leading to physical dependency, they observed, “A careful search from the literature and testimony from the nation’s health authorities hasn’t revealed just one human fatality within the u . s . states shown to have resulted exclusively in the ingestion of marijuana. Experiments using the drug in apes shown the dose needed for overdose dying was enormous as well as for all logical reasons impossible by humans smoking marijuana. This really is in marked contrast with other substances in keeping use, most particularly alcohol and barbiturate sleep aids.Inch So, it will not kill you, it will not cause you to kill others. It does not produce the physical dependency that’s observed in cocaine and alcohol which in turn causes individuals to commit crimes to ensure that they might obtain more drugs.
After causeing this to be report, the Nixon administration quickly overlooked it. Nixon told Shafer, “What we are likely to do will make your commission just look bad as hell.” And consequently, today we’re still facing exactly the same problems that impeded progress within the Seventies. Today we’ve a lot more studies to attract upon that demonstrate the numerous benefits of legalizing medicinal marijuana but we’re in an impasse. This report is going to be 40 years old in a couple of several weeks. The Fight against Drugs turns forty this season. Yet a vocal most of people still think that Cannabis is much more destructive than alcohol and tobacco, which it warrants to stay illegal. Take the time to check out the data for alcohol-related and tobacco-related deaths and you choose which is much more harmful to society.
Medicinal Marijuana Industry News December 9, 2011
Australian Teen Charged with Marijuana in Indonesia Returns to Sydney
 
A 14 years old arrested in Indonesia for marijuana possession finally touched lower in the native Australia following a family trip converted into a nightmare. The youthful visitor was caught with 3.6 grams of marijuana and was needed to invest two several weeks in prison. Some worried that arduous Indonesia laws and regulations on marijuana would lead to a level longer sentence. The storyline has gotten lots of media attention because of the opportunity of a teenager being jailed (get more information at our previous coverage from the story) and accusations the boys parents are attempting to make money from the storyline.
 
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House Votes to Prohibit Chemical Substances of Synthetic Marijuana
 
With recent fear over reported health issues connected by using synthetic marijuana, particularly in teens, Congress has made the decision to consider the problem. Inside a election of 317-98, the home approved an invoice to prohibit the chemical substances present in synthetic items that mimic marijuana. Items like “K2 and Spice” are frequently promoted as incense, however, many experts feel they’re manufactured for any very different reason. Other states and metropolitan areas across the nation have passed their very own measures that outlaw synthetic cannabis. Many researchers believe that an artificial prohibit will difficult to enforce as new items could be launched that sidestep the banned compounds.
 
Congressman Bilbray’s Daughter Leader In Medicinal Marijuana Fight
Parents frequently come with an uncomfortable time once they discover their kids hold contrasting viewpoints to their personal. Unlike Congressman John Bilbray’s situation, these variations typically don’t play their way to avoid it in media.
John Bilbray is really a U . s . States person in the House of Reps serving California’s 50th district. He offered the 49th district from 1995-2001 and it has been at his present position within the 50th district since 2006. Lately, he’s been discussing the press spotlight together with his daughter Briana Bilbray. Briana is really a cancer survivor, getting pressed her Stage 3 melanoma into remission in August. Briana has stated “You seem like you want to die,” and “I didn’t even wish to breathe, I had been so tired” when explaining her encounters. In This summer she made the decision to talk out in support of using medicinal marijuana to deal with cancer and chemotherapy unwanted effects. Briana was trying to convince Imperial Beach City Hall to reconsider enacting their halt on marijuana shops. Although not successful directly, she’s directed considerable media and political focus on her situation and medical cannabis use.
John Bilbray has had a tough stance against medicinal marijuana (congressman Bilbray’s voting record) previously. Bilbray presently appears to become waiting his position on medicinal marijuana but mentioned “If this is actually the advantage that Briana thinks, we ought to have the ability to scientifically prove it making it available not only to California, however the relaxation of the nation too. But it ought to be according to science this is not on political pressure or slogans.” Many would reason that a lot of scientific evidence in support of marijuana has already been mounting. Bilbray doesn’t appear locked right into a position even while Republican strategists may worry that the situation similar to this weakens the party’s overall stance on medicinal marijuana. He was cited as saying “The truth is I had been a parent before I had been a congressman, with God’s help I’ll be a parent lengthy after I’m a congressman. And anybody that thinks that the political position is much more important than transpires with the kids clearly is detached from reality.”
Experts can discuss issues ad nauseam but frequently it takes a lot more than details to motivate change. The general public usually must link a face towards the title. Media surrounds us constantly and also the 24/7 news cycle delivers faster information than in the past but we are typically in will need a more personal connection. Lots of people support medical causes after a relative or public figure catches our attention. Possibly Briana Bilbray could be a catalyst for making congress interact and drive impotent federal law into remission.
Pushback After Federal Raids
Like many facets of our way of life, not so good news can frequently are available in waves. Medicinal marijuana lately experienced what might have been its worst bi weekly period since California passed the 1996 Compassionate Use Act. However, because the tide turns and also the waterline recedes, this news has moved toward sleep issues. There’s been considerable pushback within the wake from the federal government’s actions toward the California shops.
Most news shops happen to be confirming around the recent federal raids on California shops. Some companies as well as their land lords received 45 days to shut up shop or face further disciplinary action. Newspapers along with other media have been threatened by the us government about transporting ads for shops.
Stunned advocates of medicinal marijuana have experienced a lot more positive news in recent days because the raids. The doesn’t appear to become taking these occasions laying lower. The month of October has witnessed the medicinal marijuana restore its footing and return fire. The audience Safe Access has released a suit against the us government proclaiming that the current string of raids comes down to an “illegal assault on condition sovereignty.” Prominent house member Steve Cohen (D-TN) and eight other people of congress will also be with an finish towards the raids. Furthermore, Chicago (coincidentally where leader Obama has his political roots) has had the very first steps toward decriminalizing small quantities of marijuana.
You will find numerous proverbs relating to get affordable being released of the bad situation therefore we could save you the clichés for the time being. Is that this what the us government was seeking? With recent polls showing overwhelming support for medicinal marijuana along with a in the past high support for total legalisation, further raids may stimulate this conversation on the national level.