Medical Marijuana

Minimum Wage, Marijuana, Gun Control & Other Issues Win Voters’ Approval

November 13, 2016 Liz Essley Whyte, www.publicintegrity.org Create! Campaign Finance, Democracy, Education, Gun Control, Healthcare, Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Medical Marijuana, Minimum Wage

By Liz Essley Whyte for the Center for Public Integrity. Despite massive losses for Democrats in races from the White House to governors’ offices Tuesday, those on the left celebrated some significant victories with state ballot measures. From marijuana to minimum wage to gun control laws, they won many key initiatives among the 162 statewide measures — part of a concerted plan put in motion more than a year ago to circumvent Republican-led legislatures and take policy questions directly to voters. Progressive advocates appeared to lose major healthcare initiatives in California and Colorado, however. The Center for Public Integrity tracked how those fighting over these measures shaped their messages with TV ads, typically an expensive yet far-reaching endeavor. Media tracker Kantar Media/CMAG estimates that more than $384 million was spent through Monday just to air TV ads about such measures this election.

Court: Feds Cannot Prosecute Medical Marijuana In States Where Legal

August 26, 2016 Staff, www.Reuters.com Resist! Marijuana, Medical Marijuana

By Staff of Reuters - The U.S. Department of Justice cannot spend money to prosecute federal marijuana cases if the defendants comply with state guidelines that permit the drug’s sale for medical purposes, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, comes as voters in nine more states will consider allowing the recreational or medical use of marijuana this November.

Western Maryland Town Poised To Get Into Medical Marijuana Business

August 18, 2016 Pamela Wood, www.baltimoresun.com Create! Marijuana, Maryland, Medical Marijuana

By Pamela Wood for The Baltimore Sun - The small Western Maryland town of Hancock — population 1,545 — is poised to be a part-owner of a medical marijuana company after winning a license to grow cannabis plants this week. The town is in a unique partnership with an Arizona company that plans to grow cannabis in a town-owned warehouse and share profits with the Washington County town. After Hancock suffered an exodus of about 1,000 jobs over the past two decades, the cannabis industry could spark an economic turnaround for the town and surrounding communities, said Mayor Daniel Murphy.

The War On Weed, Part II

July 10, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com Educate! Corporatism, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, Monsanto

By Ellen Brown for The Web of Debt Blog. As detailed in Part I of this article, the health benefits of cannabis are now well established. It is a cheap, natural alternative effective for a broad range of conditions, and the non-psychoactive form known as hemp has thousands of industrial uses. At one time, cannabis was one of the world’s most important crops. There have been no recorded deaths from cannabis overdose in the US, compared to about 30,000 deaths annually from alcohol abuse (not counting auto accidents), and 100,000 deaths annually from prescription drugs taken as directed. Yet cannabis remains a Schedule I controlled substance (“a deadly dangerous drug with no medical use and high potential for abuse”), illegal to be sold or grown in the US.

Big Pharma Seeks to Capitalize On Cannabis

May 22, 2016 Maryam Henein, www.truthout.org Educate! Big Pharma, Corporatism, health, Medical Marijuana

By Maryam Henein for TruthOut. The medicinal properties of cannabidiol (better known as CBD), a compound found in the Cannabis sativa L. plant species, are quickly drawing the attention of scientists, plant-medicine lovers, dietary-supplement companies, venture capitalists,professional athletes and Big Pharma -- not to mention people living with serious, chronic medical conditions. Insiders predict the burgeoning market will be as profitable as the NFL. Today, if you run a search on PubMed.gov, a medical research database, you'll find more than 1,500 academic articles on cannabidiol. Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD has no euphoric properties whatsoever, and carries no street value. What it does offer, however, are a host of health benefits.

Congress Approves Medical Marijuana For Veterans

May 22, 2016 Aaron Rupar, www.nationofchange.org Create! Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, Veterans

By Aaron Rupar for Nation of Change. Congress approved measures prohibiting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from enforcing a policy prohibiting government doctors from prescribing medical marijuana to veterans. That essentially means doctors will now be able to recommend medical marijuana to veterans in the 24 states (plus D.C.) where it’s legal. Tom Angell, a longtime marijuana reform activist and chairman of Marijuana Majority, said the measure is important because it will allow some veterans to avoid taking opiates. “It’s looking like this could finally be the year the federal government stops making veterans jump through costly, time-consuming hoops just to get legal access to medical marijuana,” Angell said in a statement sent to ThinkProgress. “Cannabis has shown great promise in helping veterans deal with PTSD and treat chronic pain, and it’s an increasingly attractive alternative to opioids."

Feds Stop Efforts To Seize Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary

May 6, 2016 Phillip Smith, www.alternet.org Resist! Medical Marijuana

By Phillip Smith for AlterNet - In a stunning victory for California's marijuana industry, federal prosecutors have agreed to end their years-long effort to close and seize Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the nation's largest dispensary with more than 200,000 patients. Harborside broke the news with a press release Tuesday, followed up by a press conference attended by Oakland officials who have stood by the dispensary since then-U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag went after it in 2012.

Marijuana Advocates Light Up At White House

April 3, 2016 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Marijuana, Marijuana Legalization, Medical Marijuana

By John Zangas for DC Media Group. Hundreds of marijuana activists held a “smoke-in” civil disobedience protest outside the White House on Saturday. The action drew a spectrum of advocacy groups calling on the Obama administration to legalize cannabis by descheduling it under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). (Marijuana is currently scheduled in Schedule I of the CSA, the most restrictive schedule for the most dangerous drugs that have high risks and no medical uses.) They called for access to Cannabis for medicinal purposes and putting a stop to the War on Drugs. Secret Service were deployed in force and blocked 35 activists who tried to carry a 51 foot inflated “joint” onto Pennsylvania Ave. But protesters outwitted police by deflating the prop, taking it to the restricted area adjacent to the White House and re-inflating it. Secret Service looked on in consternation.

Court Orders DOJ To Stop Prosecuting Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

October 21, 2015 Nadia Pupris, www.commondreams.org Resist! Medical Marijuana

By Nadia Pupris for Common Dreams - In a huge victory for the medical marijuana industry in California, a federal court on Monday ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) violated the law when it misused an amendment in last year's federal spending bill to prosecute legal dispensaries in the state. Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court in northern California handed down a biting decision chastising the DOJ for its twisted interpretation of the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which bars the department or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from taking legal action against suppliers in compliance with state regulations.

War Veteran With PTSD Faces Life In Prison For Pot

July 5, 2015 Barry Donegan, truthinmedia.com Resist! Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, PTSD, Veterans

By Barry Donegan for TruthInMedia. US Marine Corps combat veteran Kristoffer Lewandowski, who served in three tours of duty overseas including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, reportedly faces up to life in prison for pot charges connected to a June 2014 raid on his Geronimo, OK home that occurred after his wife and neighbors called police to get him help for a post-traumatic stress disorder flare-up. However, rather than providing mental health resources, police responding on the scene searched Lewandowski’s home for contraband and found six marijuana plants, weighing in at less than an ounce of plant matter in total, and charged him with, among other offenses, felony marijuana cultivation, which, under Oklahoma’s unusually-harsh marijuana laws, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Truth in Media obtained an exclusive interview with Kristoffer Lewandowski’s wife Whitney Lewandowski in an effort to get their family’s story on the record.

8-Year-Old’s Death Prompts Medical Marijuana Rally

December 20, 2014 Carly Schwartz, www.huffingtonpost.com Organize! Medical Marijuana, New York (NY), Protest

Patients, advocates and family members of sick children staged a rally outside New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Manhattan office Friday to demand that the Democrat establish an emergency-access medical marijuana program for the state, one week after an 8-year-old from Niagara Falls died from brain cancer. "More than five months after Governor Cuomo signed a bill into law that was meant to bring vital treatment to our family, my daughter Donella is dead," Nate Nocera, whose daughter died Dec. 12, said at the event. "Governor Cuomo, I know you cannot turn back time to get us the medical marijuana that could have slowed the aggressive growth of the tumor in her brain ... but you have the power to end the needless suffering of so many New York families."

Holder Prosecuted Whistleblowers & Journalists, Not Bankers & Torturers

September 25, 2014 Kevin Zeese, greenshadowcabinet.us Educate! Bankers, Campaign Finance, Chelsea Manning, Corporate crime, Edward Snowden, Freedom of Speech and Assembly, Freedom of the Press, Julian Assange, Marijuana, Media, Medical Marijuana, Militarized police, NSA, Occupy, Occupy Movement, Police abuse, police brutality, police murder, spying, Torture, War On Drugs, Wars and Militarism, Whistleblowers, Wikileaks

We urge President Obama to replace Holder with a public interest not a corporate lawyer; that will put the rule of law before corporate power. This appointment is an opportunity to shut the revolving door between big business and government. We also hope the next attorney general will put rule of law ahead of the security state, prosecute torture and other war crimes, protect privacy from US intelligence agencies and protect Freedom of Speech, Assembly and Press. Finally, we hope to see an attorney general that will confront the war culture that has allowed the president to ignore the constitutional requirement that Congress is responsible for deciding when the US goes to war, not the president; and one who respects international law and requires UN approval before the US attacks another nation.

Congress Pushes To Expand Marijuana Research

June 21, 2014 Katie Rucke, www.mintpressnews.com Educate! health, Medical Marijuana

Thirty members of Congress signed a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Tuesday, asking that she make the process of obtaining federally-grown marijuana for medicinal research less burdensome for U.S. scientists. “Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing for the use of medical marijuana,” the letter said. “Over one million Americans currently use medical marijuana at the recommendation of their physician. There is overwhelming anecdotal evidence from patients, their family members, and their doctors of the therapeutic benefits of marijuana for those suffering from cancer, epilepsy, seizures, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, glaucoma, anxiety, chronic pain, and more.

Southern States Move Toward Marijuana Reform

June 15, 2014 Candice Bernd, www.truthout.org Organize! health, Medical Marijuana

States that have passed marijuana reform policies, including decriminalization, medical marijuana and full legalization, have mostly been in the northern half of the United States, with southern states sticking to the outdated "tough on crime" approach - but that may be beginning to change. Decriminalization and legalization groups in southern states are pushing bills through state legislatures, and are beginning to see some victories on medical marijuana bills. Broader marijuana reform policies may become possible in only a few years. However, this traction has been garnering little attention, with the national media spotlight mainly focused on legalization in states like Colorado and Washington.

Is Destructive Drug War Being Brought To An End?

June 3, 2014 Kevin Zeese, www.huffingtonpost.com Organize! Drug Policy, Drug War, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana

Majorities now support the outright legalization of marijuana and oppose the war on drugs. The public has overcome decades of misinformation to justify the drug war. The transformation struck me a few years ago when I was in a medical marijuana dispensary in California. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana. At the dispensary, people lined up -- as if they were waiting for a bank teller -- in a safe place to get medical-quality marijuana. The slogan of the Harborside Health Center was "out of the darkness and into the light." Now, the light is shining on former drug war assertions, and claims like the one that marijuana causes crime are being proven false. Since the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, violent crime has fallen by 6.9 percent and property crime by 11.1 percent. A 2012 study, "California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low," credits a state marijuana decriminalization for plummeting arrests for all crimes. Meanwhile, anApril 2014 study shows that legalization does not lead to increased adolescent use.

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