Serving The Medical Marijuana Community

THC Initiates Brain Cancer Cells to Destroy Themselves

Weed Warrior — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:02:00 GMT

This posting is from WorldHealth.net

THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, causes brain cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy in which cells feed upon themselves, according to a study conducted by Guillermo Velasco and colleagues at Complutense University in Spain. Using mice designed to carry human brain cancer tumors, the researchers found that the growth of the tumors shrank when the animals received THC. The study also involved two patients with glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer. Both patients had been enrolled in a clinical trial designed to test THC’s potential as a cancer therapy. The researchers used electron microscopes to analyze brain tissue taken before and after a 26- to 30-day THC treatment regimen. They found that THC eliminated the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. In addition, in what they described as a “novel discovery,” the specific signalling route by which the autophagy process unfolds was isolated.

“These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy,” says Velasco. The findings were published in the April 2009 issue ofThe Journal of Clinical Investigation.

According to Dr. John S. Yu, co-director of the Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program in the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “The findings were not surprising. There have been previous reports to this effect as well. So this is yet another indication that THC has an anti-cancer effect, which means it’s certainly worth further study.”

Dr. Yu warns cancer patients that they should not consider marijuana a potential cure for cancer and urges that people “not start smoking pot right away as a means of curing their own cancer.” However, Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, the Beirne Family director of Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University, says that’s precisely what many brain cancer patients are doing. “In fact, 40 percent of brain tumor patients in the U.S. are already using alternative treatments, ranging from herbals to vitamins to marijuana,” says Dr. Fisher. “But that actually points out a cautionary tale here, which is that many brain cancer patients are already rolling a joint to treat themselves, but we’re not really seeing brain tumors suddenly going away as a result, which we clearly would have noticed if it had that effect.”

News Release: Marijuana chemical may fight brain cancer www.webmd.com

News Release: Active ingredient in marijuana kills brain cancer cells www.forbes.com

www.webmd.com www.forbes.com

David Bearman, M.D. Speaks to Medical Marijuana 411 on the Medicinal Benefits of Cannabis

Weed Warrior — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:32:00 GMT

Research at the Hebrew University in Israel, reported in the journal Nature, shows that a cannabinoid, similar to the active ingredient found in marijuana and produced in the brains of many animals, protects mice from brain injury.

Mice that sustained brain injuries were discovered to have elevated levels of a compound known as 2-Arachodonoyl glycerol, or 2-AG. Theorizing that this cannabinoid was produced to prevent damage, the researchers administered more of the compound to injured mice and found it protected the brain.

Treatment

Currently, there is no effective drug for the treatment of traumatic brain injury. In the U.S., there are nearly 52,000 deaths and roughly 80,000 cases of severe disability related to traumatic brain injury every year.

There are more than 5.3 million people in the U.S. living with disabilities related to traumatic brain injury — numbers far greater than those for multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"Brain injury is not a one-shot deal. The primary injury occurs from the initial hit. Neurochemical injuries can cause secondary damage," said Dr. Ken Strauss of Temple University.

The secondary effects of brain injuries, such as swelling and the release of toxic chemicals, can be more damaging than the initial blow, said Dr. Esther Shohami, lead author of the study.

The cannabinoid, 2-AG, is believed to work in three ways. First, it reduces the levels of glutamate, a toxic molecule, released after injury. Second, it decreases the amount of free radicals and TNF (a chemical that induces inflammation) after injury. Third, it increases the blood supply to the brain. All three mechanisms are essential for limiting the damage done after the primary injury.

"The dose has to be very carefully controlled," Dr. Shohami said — noting that requirement is one of a number of reasons why marijuana, which can vary in potency, would likely be an unreliable treatment for head injuries.

She added that 2-AG must be administered within a four- to six-hour window after the injury to be effective.

Use In Humans

Although 2-AG has only been tested on animals, Dr. Shohami said she didn't "see any problems with using a drug from this family to treat patients." Other cannabinoids have been approved for use in humans, such as synthetic forms of THC used to stimulate appetite.

In fact, one pharmaceutical company is trying to develop a similar drug for humans. With the help of researchers at the Hebrew University, Pharmos is set to begin the final stage of clinical trials of Dexanabinol — a drug that is essentially the mirror image of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. Because it is not exactly like THC, it does not bind to the same part of the brain, and therefore does not have the unwanted side effects.

However, the drug appears to exert effects similar to other cannabinoids on the brain after injury — that is, a decrease in toxic chemicals and swelling. The first two phases of clinical trials were completed in Israel to test for safety. The third and final phase of the trials is set to begin in Europe in January, followed closely by trials in the U.S.

"Helmets are for preventing primary injury, and hopefully this work can protect people from the secondary effects," Dr. Strauss said.

Marijuana And Traumatic Brain Injury

ABC News - Oct. 5 2001

Marijuana Compound Shows Promise In Fighting Breast Cancer

Weed Warrior — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:19:00 GMT

Original article posted on ScienceDaily.com

A compound found in cannabis may prove to be effective at helping stop the spread of breast cancer cells throughout the body

CBD (cannabidiol) is one cannabinoid that has shown very positive results in tests and researchers hope that CBD will be part the answer for cancer treatment options.

The study, by scientists at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, is raising hope that CBD, a compound found in Cannabis sativa, could be the first non-toxic agent to show promise in treating metastatic forms of breast cancer.

“Right now we have a limited range of options in treating aggressive forms of cancer,” says Sean D. McAllister, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the lead author of the study. “Those treatments, such as chemotherapy, can be effective but they can also be extremely toxic and difficult for patients. This compound offers the hope of a non-toxic therapy that could achieve the same results without any of the painful side effects.”

The researchers used CBD to inhibit the activity of a gene called Id-1, which is believed to be responsible for the aggressive spread of cancer cells throughout the body, away from the original tumor site.

“We know that Id-1 is a key regulator of the spread of breast cancer,” says Pierre-Yves Desprez, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at CPMCRI and the senior author of the study. “We also know that Id-1 has also been found at higher levels in other forms of cancer. So what is exciting about this study is that if CBD can inhibit Id-1 in breast cancer cells, then it may also prove effective at stopping the spread of cancer cells in other forms of the disease, such as colon and brain or prostate cancer.”

However, the researchers point out that while their findings are promising they are not a recommendation for people with breast cancer to smoke marijuana. They say it is highly unlikely that effective concentrations of CBD could be reached by smoking cannabis. And while CBD is not psychoactive it is still considered a Schedule 1 drug.

This study was recently published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

The study was primarily funded by the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

Facebook Co-Founders Give $170K To Pro-Pot Measure

Weed Warrior — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:03:00 GMT

California’s ballot measure to legalize marijuana has a new friend: Facebook co-founder Sean Parker has given $100,000 to back the proposal. Parker’s donation was reported in Proposition 19 campaign finance filings this week.

And he’s not the first big Proposition 19 donor with ties to the social networking site. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has made two donations totalling $70,000, including a $50,000 contribution last month.

Neither Parker nor Moskovitz are still with Palo Alto-based Facebook, but both still have ownership stakes. Recent estimates put the value of the privately held company as high as $33.7 billion.

“What’s interesting here is that (Parker) is a member of the generation that really gets it,” said Stephen Gutwillig, a spokesman for the Drug Policy Alliance, the main beneficiary of Parker’s contribution. “We think he’s pivotal to the future of drug policy reform in the country.”

The 30-year-old served as Facebook’s first president and helped transform the company from dorm-room project to big business. Parker and Moskovitz have become household names since the recent release of “The Social Network.” The film chronicling the contentious origins of Facebook was No. 1 at the box office last week.

Pop musician and actor Justin Timberlake plays Parker in the movie, which portrays him as a hotshot who convinces Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to push out his friend from the burgeoning company.

In a recent Vanity Fair profile, the media-shy entrepreneur is described as a computer-programming prodigy with an uncanny knack for anticipating online trends and a penchant for designer clothes and partying.

At age 19, Parker helped develop Napster, the music-sharing software that turned the recording industry upside-down. He is now a partner at Founders Fund, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.

Parker did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment.

About $1.5 million of the $2.4 million raised so far in support of Proposition 19 has come from the measure’s main sponsor, Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee. The only other six-figure donation not from Lee came from adult entertainment entrepreneur Phil Harvey, who gave $100,000.

Parker’s donation came shortly after the Yes on 19 campaign committee reported having meager cash on hand heading into the final weeks before the election. The money from Parker and Harvey went to a separate committee to fund the Drug Policy Alliance’s work on behalf of the measure.

Much of the money will go toward a get-out-the-vote campaign targeting young voters and voters of color, Gutwillig said.

Facebook recently came under fire from some marijuana advocates who claimed it was turning away advertising on the site in support of Proposition 19. Facebook said in a statement that company policy prohibits images of drugs, drug paraphernalia or tobacco in paid advertising but that ballot measure supporters were still free to advertise using different images.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press
Published: Saturday, October 9, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Associated Press

College Dorms Ban Use Of Medical Marijuana

Weed Warrior — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:48:00 GMT

A statewide jump in medical marijuana card applications doesn’t seemto have affected college students much when it comes to living inresidence halls.

The majority of Colorado’s four-year public institutions requirestudents, with few exceptions, to live on-campus their first one or twoyears. None of them allows medical marijuana cardholders to smokemarijuana in residence halls.

Mesa State College is one of those schools, requiring freshmen andsophomores under the age of 21 who don’t live with a parent or spousein Mesa County to live in a college residence hall. In those halls,it’s against college policy to smoke or store marijuana, whether it’sused for medical reasons or not, according to John Marshall, thecollege’s vice president for student services.

“It’s simply not something we can accommodate,” he said.

Marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and nonprescription drugs are all bannedfrom Mesa State residence halls. Medical marijuana is not addressedseparately from marijuana in general in the student housing guide, butMarshall said that would be remedied by the fall.

So far, no students have asked the college to be released from thefreshman and sophomore requirement to live on campus so they can use amedical marijuana card off-campus, Marshall said. But some schoolshave experienced that, including the University of Colorado atBoulder.

CU Director of Residence Life Paula Bland said she is not sureexactly how many students at the school have asked to have theirhousing deposit returned so they can use medical marijuana. But it hashappened a handful of times this year, she said.

“It’s probably more this year than it was last year. Last year wejust started seeing students have medical marijuana cards,” she said.

Bland said all of the requests came midyear, when a student alreadyhad been living in a residence hall and wanted to move out.

Fort Lewis College spokesman Mitch Davis said he wouldn’t besurprised if the college received some requests from cardholders tolive off-campus, but so far that hasn’t happened.

Colorado State University spokesman Brad Bohlander and University ofNorthern Colorado spokesman Nate Haas said they haven’t heard of anystudents on their campuses asking to live off-campus to use medicalmarijuana.

As of Sept. 30, the average age of a medical marijuana patient was40, according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The department reported at that time Mesa County had the 10th largestamount of cardholders in the state.

Source: Daily Sentinel, The (Grand Junction, CO)
Copyright: 2010 Cox Newspapers, Inc.
Contact: letters@gjds.com
Website: http://www.gjsentinel.com/
Author: Emily Anderson

Marijuana Myths Abound

Weed Warrior — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:49:00 GMT

Marijuana, not to put too fine a point on it, is illegal. Itspossession and use is against the law.

People used to go to jail for possessing small quantities ofcannabis. That’s rarely the case these days, at least in Canada; theUnited States is a different kettle of fish where the ever-fearedmarijuaniacs are reviled in some conservative states.

Marijuana is a relatively benign drug, though still a drug that cancause harm.

That said, there are many persistent, if patently false, claims aboutthe evils of marijuana. One that seems to have some bite, in the lawenforcement community predominantly, is that marijuana is a so-called‘gateway drug’.

The theory is that if you use marijuana you are more likely to go upthe ladder of abuse to decidedly risky drugs such as cocaine andmethamphetamine.

The logic in the gateway theory is irrevocably flawed. In essencewhat this failed theory suggests is that marijuana use leads to theabuse of other drugs.

Succinctly, picking a number out of thin air, say 80% of cocaineabusers have used marijuana. According to the gateway theory thatmeans that marijuana use led to cocaine use. Logically, that isnonsense.

One could as easily assert that 90% of cocaine abusers have drankalcohol. Therefore, as this failed logic goes, alcohol consumptionleads to cocaine abuse.

Other theories abound. Most are wrong – logically andscientifically.

Many people I know use marijuana. They are neither criminals norabusers of other drugs. In fact, in my experience, it’s more often thecase that the people I know who smoke marijuana are strongly againstother drugs, methamphetamines and cocaine in particular. They knowthat using these drugs can lead to extreme mental and-or physical harm.

In balance, though, one must acknowledge that the immoderate use ofany drug can lead to emotional and physical problems. Alcoholics andcigarette smokers come to mind.

So what’s the attraction of marijuana?

It is both a soothing and, sometimes, mind expanding drug. It canalso, if exceptionally, cause wild mood swings, depression, erraticbehaviour and the like. Not unlike alcohol.

Decriminalizing marijuana will not, in and of itself, create atsunami of criminal activity. More likely, it would take away the hugeprofits organized crime enjoys. ( Though organized crime will alwaysfind a way to custom-make new drugs to which people will be attracted.

If taxed, like cigarettes, like alcohol, ‘legal’ marijuana couldgenerate millions in new revenues for government treasuries.

The bigger question, perhaps, is why we humans, many of us anyway,gravitate to drugs in the first place.

Why do I enjoy a nice cold beer? So much?

Alcohol, as marijuana, provides a relief. It is not a sign ofweakness that we seek release and relief from our stresses, it’shealthy that we seek to relieve stress.

Stress, as Canadian Hans Selye, who coined the term in the 1950s,showed, is a healthy part of everyday life. It makes us stronger. However, when stress goes beyond a tipping point, its damaging effectsaccumulate. Relief, through drugs, meditation, exercise – choose yourpoison – appears in this context a ‘natural’ mechanism to protectourselves.

The best stress reliever, however, is a strong community – of family,friends and acquaintances. Love remains the elixir that unburdens us.

Now there’s an addiction we can all live with.

Jim Mosher is the Editor of the Interlake Spectator.

Source: Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times, The (CNM
Copyright: 2010 Sun Media
Contact: http://www.stonewallargusteulontimes.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
Website: http://www.stonewallargusteulontimes.com
Author: Jim Mosher

Company Looks To Create Cannabis-Based Medicines

Weed Warrior — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:34:00 GMT

Robert Melamede first used marijuana at age 16 – just as “a goof,” he said.

“It was fun,” he said. “You’d laugh, you’d do silly things.”

These days, though, he’s quite serious about marijuana and what he sees as its myriad benefits.

Melamede, a biology professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, is president and CEO of Cannabis Science, “an emerging pharmaceutical cannabis company.” The startup, which is looking to establish its offices in the Springs, has about 10 employees, including a lab director. The company’s goal: to tap into the growing use of medical marijuana in Colorado and elsewhere by developing cannabis-based medicines. ( Cannabis is the botanical name for the plant that marijuana comes from. )

Cannabis-based medicines would have the same health benefits as marijuana, Melamede said, but with one key advantage: They could be covered by health insurance. Right now, “anybody who’s a medical marijuana user, they don’t have marijuana covered by health care.”

There’s precedent for such medicines. Sativex is a natural marijuana extract developed by a British company, GW Pharmaceuticals. Bayer Healthcare markets Sativex, which comes in the form of an oral spray, in Canada to relieve pain related to multiple scleroris and advanced cancer; in the United States, it’s been approved for use in clinical trials.

Cannabis Science, partnering with an international regulatory-compliance firm, is working toward approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a clinical trial using a cannabis-based medicine to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. After that, it’s targeting the chronic-pain market.

When all that might happen is one of the big unknowns.

“I couldn’t give you a time frame for getting this done because there are simply so many variables,” said Richard Cowan, chief financial officer for Cannabis Science.

Ideally, Melamede said, the company could submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration within a few months. After that, “it would very much depend on whether the FDA feels it is important enough to fast-track us.”

Early on, the company looked to follow in GW’s footsteps and eyed the Canadian market. But, Melamede said, “the Canadian bureaucracy is no better. And the market is much smaller. So why not just go for the gold?”

Bumpy Beginning

Cannabis Science has its roots in Cannex Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based company founded by Steve Kubby, an entrepreneur, medical marijuana user and former Libertarian Party candidate for California governor. Cannex became a public company last year through a reverse merger with an oil company, Gulf Onshore; a reverse merger is a fast-track way for a private company to go public without a conventional initial public offering.

Shortly after, the company was renamed Cannabis Science. In a rocky start, though, the board of directors ousted Kubby as president and CEO last July and replaced him with Melamede, who had been science officer. The public falling out involved accusations hurled against both sides; a filing by Cannabis Science with the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Kubby of “inappropriate and unauthorized” behavior on several fronts.

With the change in leadership, Cowan said, the focus of the company also changed: to Melamede and medical marijuana patients in Colorado.

“We re-focused everything around him and around Colorado,” Cowan said.

GW’s approach to developing a cannabis-based medicine was a conventional one for a pharmaceutical start-up, Cowan said, with millions of dollars raised upfront and everything “hush hush.” Cannabis Sciences’ leaner approach is to farm out as much as it can and to take advantage of starting in Colorado, “where the public is clearly and strongly behind medical marijuana. We have both patients and providers to collaborate with and study.”

Melamede’s reputation in the medical marijuana arena, meanwhile, is the company’s “secret weapon,” Cowan said.

Melamede is a medical marijuana patient himself, using it to relieve chronic back pain and other issues. At UCCS, he teaches a course on medical marijuana – “one of the only ones in the world,” he notes. He calls marijuana “an anti-aging drug with incredible health benefits.”

And one of the groups he sees reaping those benefits is soldiers struggling with PTSD.

A self-professed “old hippie” from the Vietnam War days, “I’ve learned over the years to really respect much of the military and separate the military from the government,” Melamede said. It tears at him, he said, to see soldiers suffering after their return from Iraq and Afghanistan – and the high rate of suicide among them.

Mitch Earleywine, an associate professor of psychology at the State University of New York in Albany and a member of Cannabis Science’s Scientific Advisory Board, conducted a survey of more than 1,300 veterans and others with PTSD. “Veterans reported that cannabis helped nearly all symptoms of PTSD, with special emphasis on three important components: sleep disturbance, irritability and disturbing memories,” he said in a release announcing the study.

A state lawmaker from Pueblo recently introduced an amendment to medical marijuana regulations that would have added PTSD to the conditions covered under Colorado’s medical marijuana program, but the amendment was rejected in committee.

Sensible Colorado, a medical marijuana advocacy group, had backed the amendment.

“We hear from dozens and dozens of veterans every year that say that this helps them get off pain pills or just helps them get through what’s going on in terms of their PTSD,” said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado. PTSD, he pointed out, is among the conditions covered by New Mexico’s medical marijuana program.

If Cannabis Science won approval for a PTSD treatment, it could have implications for a much wider group of patients, Cowan said.

“Twenty percent of prescriptions that are written are off-label use,” he said. “The point is – if, for example, in our study of PTSD that we determine cannabis helps them sleep, which we know it does, then a cannabis-based insomnia medicine could be prescribed to people with insomnia, whether they had PTSD or not.”

Decriminalization Favored

Cannabis Science, in its SEC filings, cites two big challenges as it seeks to move forward.

One is funding, but Cowan said undercapitalization is characteristic of most start-ups.

“Like everybody else, we’d like a little more money,” Cowan said. “But really, up to this point, that has not been a significant factor simply because we weren’t ready to proceed with anything that would take money.”

Given the current drought in venture capital, Cowan said the most likely sources of funding are “sophisticated investors who buy restricted shares in the company or from other possibilities, maybe licensing deals with larger companies.” Licensing is how GW got most of its financing, Cowan said.

The other issue for the company, the filings say, is “a significant prejudice against development of smoked cannabis medical products in the medical and law enforcement communities.”

Marijuana, the company notes, is still classified as a controlled substance by the federal government. But Cowan, who is the former executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and Melamede would like to see that change.

“We’re fully supportive of total decriminalization because it’s a God-given plant,” Melamede said.

If that happened, Cowan still sees a role for Cannabis Science, perhaps with over-the-counter, cannabis-based medicines at an affordable price. Sativex, he noted, is “terribly expensive,” and not everyone has the time or ability to grow his own pot.

“I live in an apartment,” he said. “I suppose I could grow somehow, but I don’t have a green thumb.”

Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2010 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Author: Bill Radford

Medical Pot Backers Hail Vote

Weed Warrior — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:14:00 GMT

Baltimore, M.D. — The Maryland Senate voted 35-12 on Saturday to give sick people access to marijuana,sending a strong message that the upper chamber is serious about the controversial idea. House leaders have said they will not take up the measure this year. The legislature’s 90-day session ends on Monday.

Nevertheless, advocates hailed the Senate vote as a victory. “We are very happy,” said Mike Meno, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization promoting medical use of pot. “To vote by such a margin means that the Senate is in line with public sentiment nationally and here in Maryland.”

Senators from both parties supported the measure, which builds on a Maryland law passed in 2003 that allows leniency to defendants charged with marijuana possession if they can show a medical need.

“I think the Senate recognized the plight of people who have sick and chronic conditions,” said Sen.David Brinkley, one of the lead sponsors and two-time cancer survivor.The Western Maryland Republican said he views the issue as a libertarian cause.

Fourteen states allow medical use of marijuana. Private dispensaries have become a cottage industry in California and Colorado, prompting a backlash from citizens who view the policy as de facto legalization. The Obama administration had signaled that federal authorities would not crack down on medical uses,though there have been federal raids in some states.

Sponsors said the Maryland bill was crafted to avoid the criticism that has arisen in other states. The plan would require patients to have a long-standing relationship with the prescribing doctor and requiring the state to license any dispensaries.

Opponents in the Senate included Lowell Stoltzfus, an Eastern Shore Republican who views marijuana as a“gateway drug” and worries about heading down a path toward full legalization. “It is a terrible idea,” he said.

The two doctors in the General Assembly have been split on the issue. Sen. Andrew P. Harris, a Baltimore County anesthesiologist who is running for Congress, said he’d be more likely to support the measure if the number of recipients were capped. Harris offered several changes to the legislation, but they were rejected.

Del. Dan Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and emergency room doctor, helped to write the bill saying he consulted with the Maryland State Police. He said he was“very excited” about Senate passage and said he hopes Saturday’s action“prompts the House to take a fresh look at it.” Both chambers met for hours Saturday, passing other key measures:

• The House approved the final version of the state’s $13 billion spending plan, which already has Senate approval.

• The House gave preliminary approval to a 3-percent tuition cap at public universities.

• The Senate delayed a vote on a ban on reading text messages while driving.

• The Senate amended a House-passed slots bill to allow card games at Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George’s County, a measure the House opposes.

• The Senate gave final approval to bill allowing a judge to shield records of peace orders or protective orders from public databases.

Baltimore Sun reporter Julie Bykowicz contributed to this article.

Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Author: Annie Linskey
Published: April 11, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Baltimore Sun
Contact: letters@baltsun.com
Website: http://www.baltimoresun.com/

Calif. Research Shows Pot Can Ease Muscle Spasms

Weed Warrior — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:50:00 GMT

Sacramento, Calif. — The first U.S. clinical trials in more than two decades on the medical benefits of marijuana confirm pot is effective in reducing muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and pain caused by certain neurological injuries or illnesses, according to a report issued Wednesday.

Igor Grant, a psychiatrist who directs the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, said the five studies funded by the state involved volunteers who were randomly given real marijuana or placebos to determine if the herb provided relief not seen from traditional medicines.

“There is good evidence now that cannabinoids may be either an adjunct or a first-line treatment,” Grant said at a news conference where he presented the findings.

The California Legislature established the research center in 2000 to examine whether the therapeutic claims of medical marijuana advocates could withstand scientific scrutiny. In 1996, state voters became the first in the nation to pass a law approving pot use for medical purposes.

Thirteen other states have followed suit, but California is the only one so far to sponsor medical marijuana research. After 10 years and nearly $9 million, the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research is preparing to wrap up its work next year.

Along with the studies on muscle spasms and pain associated with spinal cord injuries and AIDS, the center also has funded research on how marijuana effects sleep and driving, limb pain due to diabetes, and whether inhaling vaporized cannabis is as effective as smoking it.

A laboratory study supported by the center examined if pot could be helpful in treating migraine headaches and facial pain. In that study, rats given a cannabis-like drug exhibited reduced activity of nerve cells that transmit pain.

State Sen. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat who chairs a budget subcommittee on health and human services and supports medical marijuana, said he doubted there would be more financial support for the center given California’s ongoing budget crisis.

The federal government classifies marijuana as an illicit drug with no medical use but produces the only pot legally available for scientific research under a contract with the University of Mississippi.

Grant said obtaining some of the Mississippi crop and meeting the complex security regulations required by the Drug Enforcement Agency and other federal agencies was time-consuming and cumbersome.

Grant, however, had no problem with the quality of the government’s supply. Its consistency was helpful in determining that patients who smoked less-potent marijuana enjoyed the same amount of pain relief but less mental confusion than those who inhaled a more powerful strain, he said.

Such quality control is notably absent from the marijuana that patients with a doctor’s recommendation can legally obtain in California through hundreds of cooperatives and storefront dispensaries, Grant said.

He said more research was needed on how pot works and its side effects.

“Because we don’t know the composition of the strains that are on the street, we don’t know what patients really are getting,” he said. “As a doctor I feel some discomfort when someone says take X or Y pill or herb because we think that might be helpful.”

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Lisa Leff, The Associated Press
Published: February 17, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Associated Press

As attitudes shift, marijuana classes roll

Weed Warrior — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:11:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES — This school doesn’t have a problem with students not paying attention.

“They’re paying us to come, and our classes are full,” says Jeff Jones, chancellor of the Los Angeles branch of Oaksterdam University, where students learn the business of marijuana from seed to ash.

Attitudes are changing as 14 states now have laws allowing some form of legal marijuana use with a doctor’s recommendation. And with legalization comes a growing cannabis industry.

In California alone, the medical-marijuana business could be worth as much as $2 billion, says Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for NORML, a marijuana advocacy group. Prices vary widely, but dispensaries have advertised an ounce of dried marijuana for $340 or more.

“Ten years ago I couldn’t get a room full of people to talk about this,” Jones says. Now, people from across the country come to learn how to legally grow, distribute and profit with pot, even though it remains illegal under federal law.

Oaksterdam holds classes in three California cities and is expanding out of state. Students learn about the law and science of marijuana as well as how to lobby local government leaders and how to tamp down the pungent, tell-tale smell of cannabis gardens. Growers often worry about theft, and because of legal uncertainties, there is always the risk of a raid by authorities.

About 7,000 people have taken classes at Oaksterdam, says Executive Chancellor Dale Sky Clare, who oversees all branches. There are waiting lists to enroll — 850 students started courses this semester, and more than 300 have signed up for next semester, she said.

“It’s not just hippies in tie-dye,” Clare says.

Mixed group of students

Jeff Studdard, a former police officer, was among students at a recent class. Studdard, 46, of Riverside County, said he had been a school district police officer and a Los Angeles County auxiliary sheriff’s deputy trained to recognize drug users until a broken back forced him to retire. The pain, even after three surgeries, prompted him to try marijuana.

“I never smoked pot as an officer,” he says, but after the injury, “I know first-hand the benefits.” He was hoping to incorporate medical marijuana in a holistic treatment business.

Kenji Klein, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California-Irvine, is studying the emerging legal pot market as a basis for his doctoral thesis. “It’s interesting to me the way social change and entrepreneurship get linked together,” Klein said.

Many students, worried about legal uncertainties, did not want to be identified.

“We all like to have fun in this industry, but sometimes people go to jail,” says Sarah Diesel, an instructor.

Oaksterdam University opened in 2007 in Oakland. Its name is part Oakland, part Amsterdam, the Dutch city known for its permissiveness toward pot. Classes are offered in Oakland, Los Angeles and Sebastopol, north of San Francisco. Last year, it expanded to Michigan, where voters passed a medical-marijuana law in 2008.

On a recent weekend, 55 students in Los Angeles paid $250 each for Marijuana 101, a two-day introductory course.

They were instructed on key court decisions, how to work in a dispensary, which varieties of cannabis are best for various ailments and how to cultivate a good pot crop.

Oaksterdam is not the only school of its type. In Michigan, Nick Tennant, 24, opened Med Grow Cannabis College. “Our law is in its infancy,” Tennant says. “We’ve been doing very well. I think there’s huge demand.”

‘People come from all over’

Oaksterdam’s founder and owner, Richard Lee, is a successful medical marijuana entrepreneur. His Coffeeshop Blue Sky is one of four dispensaries licensed in Oakland. He recently financed most of a $1 million signature-gathering effort for a proposal on California’s ballot this fall to fully legalize pot while establishing state and local taxation.

“It’s been amazing, the response,” Lee says of his school. “People come in from all over the country.”

Special Agent Casey McEnry of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, wouldn’t comment on the cannabis school but said, “It is not the practice or policy of DEA to target individuals with serious medical conditions who comply with state laws.”

Much of the school’s teaching is devoted to helping students operate within the law, while acknowledging that gray areas remain 14 years after California approved the nation’s first medical-marijuana law.

“If you have a grow, don’t let anyone know,” Diesel warns.

In a recent Los Angeles class, there were students from states with medical-marijuana laws, such as Colorado and Nevada, and states without, including Arizona, Florida, Minnesota and Texas.

Source: 2010 USA TODAY
Link: http://tiny.cc/hB8Tk
Author: William M. Welch

Lawmakers: Dispensaries Stay, But As Non-Profits

Weed Warrior — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:25:00 GMT

Denver — State lawmakers today unveiled a bill that would make major changes to Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry, allowing retail-style dispensaries to remain open, but forcing them to re-organize as licensed, non-profit “health centers.”

The bill would also place an 18-month moratorium on new commercial dispensaries. The bill also would require dispensaries to grow the majority of the marijuana they sell, thus eliminating freelance growers.

Perhaps most significantly, the bill would draw a crucial distinction between small-scale and large-scale medical-marijuana providers.

Small-scale providers — people growing and supplying marijuana to five or fewer patients — would not have to be licensed and would qualify for the protection the medical-marijuana section of Colorado’s constitution gives to “caregivers.”

Large-scale providers, like dispensaries, would have less statutory protection, meaning cities and counties would have broad authority to regulate or even ban them from their communities.

“That’s not a right in the constitution,” state Sen. Chris Romer, a Denver Democrat who is one of the bill’s sponsors, said of dispensaries. “That’s a privilege we’re going to grant them with a license. If you want to organize yourself as a medical-marijuana center, then you have to play by the rules we set forth.”

The announcement of the bill, which is expected to be formally introduced this afternoon, drew sharp reactions from a handful of medical-marijuana advocates who attended the news conference unveiling its details.

Afterwards, Carla Boyd, a medical-marijuana patient and caregiver, told Romer she thought the bill would lead to monopolization in the industry. Dispensaries that couldn’t afford the new requirements for growing or security would be run out of business, she said.

“You’re taking away a lot of jobs,” she said. “…This is the Walmart of medical-marijuana, and it’s not right.”

Brian Vicente, the executive director of the medical-marijuana patient-advocacy organization Sensible Colorado, took a milder approach but still raised concerns.

Of the provision that could allow communities to ban marijuana clinics, Vicente said, “it could be seen as a significant weakening of the constitution. We don’t need patients bussing to get medicine.”

He said his organization has no objection to requiring dispensaries to operate as non-profits.

However, Vicente said he plans tomorrow to file a proposed ballot initiative with the state to take dispensary regulations directly to the voters.

The proposed initiative — which would need about 75,000 signatures to make the ballot — is a hedge in case lawmakers pass regulations the cannabis community finds unacceptable.

“State-licensed medical marijuana patients need storefront dispensaries in the same way that other sick Coloradans need pharmacies,” Vicente said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the proposed initiative. “Medical marijuana patients will not go without medicine in Colorado.”

The debate over medical-marijuana at the state Capitol this session has been the focus of an intense lobbying battle between law enforcement groups, which want to eliminate retail marijuana dispensaries, and medical-marijuana advocates, some of whom favor as few government regulations on the industry as possible.

Other medical-marijuana groups have been lobbying behind the scenes for moderate regulations on the booming industry, hoping that some government oversight will professionalize and legitimize the business.

Mike Saccone, a spokesman for state Attorney General John Suthers, said his office needs to review the bill more before taking a formal position on it. But he said the attorney general believes retail dispensaries are outside of what voters intended when they approved Amendment 20, the constitutional provision that legalized medical-marijuana in Colorado.

“Amendment 20 clearly laid out a model that, until a year ago, was doing pretty well with just patients and caregivers,” Saccone said.

Source: Summit Daily News (CO)
Author: John Ingold
Published: February 3, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Summit Daily News
URL: http://tiny.cc/hVUuE
Website: http://www.summitdaily.com/home.php

D.A.R.E. Generation Wants Marijuana Legalized

Weed Warrior — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:07:00 GMT

USA — D.A.R.E. America Chairman Skip Miller writes in his Jan. 28 Times Op-Ed article, “Don’t legalize marijuana,” that his organization has been successful in its efforts to reduce illegal drug use in the U.S. by educating schoolchildren. Indeed, protecting young people has long been used to justify marijuana prohibition. But in reality, our drug laws have failed to stop marijuana use among American youth but have succeeded in punishing them with damning criminal records, loss of financial aid for college and removal from after-school activities. As a graduate of D.A.R.E., I know all too well about the shortcomings of this program and of America’s war on marijuana.

The simple truth is that prohibition doesn’t work, and regulation and education do. Most young people will tell you that marijuana is easy to buy despite nearly a century of prohibition that has cost billions of tax dollars and put thousands of people behind bars.

Anti-drug groups such as D.A.R.E. refuse to acknowledge that today’s marijuana prohibition causes the same problems as alcohol prohibition did in the 1920s. It’s no wonder, then, that D.A.R.E. has been called ineffective by the National Academy of Sciences and, in 2001, was placed under the category of “ineffective programs” by the U.S. surgeon general. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2003 that there are “no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received D.A.R.E. . . . and students who did not.”

The fact is that legalizing, taxing and regulating substances reduces the harm caused by those drugs. A University of Florida study provided statistically overwhelming evidence that raising taxes on alcohol reduces consumption.

The Tax and Regulate initiative on California’s November ballot would levy a tax of $50 per ounce on marijuana; the money raised would help fund drug-abuse and prevention programs.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet, yet thanks to aggressive taxation in many areas and education efforts, cigarette use in the U.S. has declined sharply over the last few decades. We didn’t have to arrest, incarcerate or impose prohibition to achieve those results; we merely had to tell the truth to young people about the very real harms caused by cigarette addiction while imposing taxes and age restrictions. The most recent Monitoring the Future Survey, which asks students about their drug use, shows that more 10th graders now use marijuana than cigarettes.

Legalizing and taxing marijuana won’t cure California’s chronic budget woes. But should we really be cutting from education while spending all the money it takes to enforce our failed prohibition policies? Furthermore, the Tax and Regulate initiative would not allow the use of marijuana by people under 21. I certainly don’t want more young people smoking marijuana. But some of the teens I helped as a substance-abuse counselor told me that it was easier to purchase marijuana inside their own schools than it was to buy beer or cigarettes from a convenience store. This is not what a successful policy looks like.

Many Americans are coming around to this view. Depending on the poll, either a majority or near-majority of Americans say that marijuana should be taxed and legalized. Even the American Medical Assn. has called for the federal government to review its absurd classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which puts cannabis right alongside heroin and PCP.

D.A.R.E. can warn people all day about the harm associated with marijuana use. What it refuses to acknowledge is that these arguments only support ending prohibition. If marijuana is so dangerous, D.A.R.E. and its allies ought to support efforts to remove control over distribution from black-market drug dealers.

It’s time for D.A.R.E. to take a back seat to evidence-based drug prevention programs that don’t use scare tactics. It’s time to legalize marijuana.

Note: Taxing and regulating has worked with cigarettes and alcohol. Why not try it with marijuana?

Jonathan Perri is the Western regional director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Jonathan Perri
Published: February 1, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/

Marijuana Should Be a Medicine

Weed Warrior — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:21:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. — If my 93-year-old grandmother lived in a state where medical marijuana wasn’t verboten, she would be able to use medical marijuana to help with her glaucoma and her chronic arthritis. My father told me this not that long ago because of pending legislation in the New Hampshire General Court. Apparently, when he told my grandmother this fun factoid, she asked about the delivery method for this new-fangled medical cannabis.

He responded that he had heard that back in the day, circa the late ’60’s, hippy hoodlums would bake their dope into brownies, consume and wait for the effects. So, he suggested she could bake her medical marijuana into her much-loved cinnamon rolls and enjoy with breakfast. I immediately looked up two things: her recipe for cinnamon rolls and what medical marijuana is used to treat.

Unfortunately for my grandmother, the bill to legalize medical marijuana was narrowly defeated in the New Hampshire General Court. All jesting aside, I really do mean it when I use the word “unfortunately” to describe the situation in not only New Hampshire, but in all other states that have yet to realize the potential net positives that stem from the legalization of medicinal forms of marijuana.

The D.C. Council, in a moment of unconventional wisdom a few weeks ago, became the newest torchbearer in the fight for the legalization of medical marijuana. A bill that is supported by a majority of the council, according to the Washington Post, was recently proposed and awaits a formal vote and then a signature by Mayor Adrian Fenty. No doubt this act of sensibility will be confronted with plenty of baseless, partisan and obfuscatory hoopla.

Cross-country campaigns to legalize medical marijuana are not wholly initiatives that are gateways to the full legalization of marijuana for recreational use. The proposed legislation stipulates that medical marijuana is to only be used for “chronic or long-lasting, debilitating… intractable pain which does not respond to ordinary medical or surgical measures.”

Studies from Columbia University and the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine have shown cannabis to substantially aid in the coping with HIV/AIDS. Researchers from Harvard and the University of Madrid have shown cannabis to help the retardation of cancerous cells. Cannabis has also been suggested the world over as a non-addictive alternative to opioids. In this way, cannabis can solidly be considered a miracle drug for those who are afflicted with chronic pain and suffering.

The American Medical Association recently joined its colleagues in the American College of Physicians, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Nurses Association, and other organizations in calling on marijuana to be classified as a legitimate medicine and not as an illicit drug.

It is quite contradictory for us as a country to keep drug dispensaries on nearly every corner fully stocked with all sorts of nasty, side-effect-ridden and potentially fatal, dangerous drugs, while summarily excluding marijuana for unknown, if not purely political, reasons. Our very own Drug Enforcement Administration reports that prescription drugs are abused almost as much as the illegal marijuana. Yet somehow, in our infinite wisdom, we find it completely acceptable to continue to dispense narcotics while simultaneously blocking the use of medical marijuana.

I doubt many of my peers at GW are suddenly going to develop arthritis, glaucoma or severe chronic pain so they can use the medical marijuana dispensaries. It will be treated like any other drug that is used to help our fellow citizens cope with their ailments. This is not going to induce more illicit drug use or ruin the pinnacle of society.

I unequivocally applaud D.C.’s government for charging through and casting off the hypocrisy. Let our physicians practice medicine the way they see fit and let them have every tool at their disposal to help their patients through their darkest hours.

The writer, a sophomore majoring in international affairs, is a Hatchet columnist.

Source: GW Hatchet (George Washington U, DC Edu)
Author: Andrew Pazdon
Published: February 1, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The GW Hatchet
Contact: letters@gwhatchet.com
Website: http://www.gwhatchet.com/

IGrow: Walmart of weed opens in Oakland

Weed Warrior — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:44:00 GMT

Call it the Walmart of weed.

In a 15,000-square-foot warehouse just down the road from the Oakland Airport, an entrepreneur is opening a one-stop shop for medicinal marijuana cultivation that’s believed to be the largest in the state.

Don’t know the first thing about growing pot? The folks at iGrow have a doctor on site to get you a cannabis card and sell you all the necessary equipment for indoor, hydroponic cultivation – from pumps, nutrients and tubing to lights and fans.

Don’t know how to set it up? For a fee, on-site technicians will show you how to build it in your home and even maintain it weekly.

“A lot of people don’t know much about growing pot,” said Dhar Mann, 25, the owner, who stood in front of an array of Ikea-like displays, showing different rooms of cannabis cultivation systems. “Since there are no full-service resources like us, they take risks, like electrical fires.”

This is hardly a fringe business. When iGrow opens today, at least three City Council members will attend. So will most of the leaders of the cannabis industry in Oakland, a city long at the vanguard of medicinal marijuana.

Today’s opening also comes on a key day for proponents of a statewide ballot measure to allow recreational marijuana. They plan to turn in about twice as many signatures as needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

The supporters of that measure are being led by Richard Lee, owner of Oaksterdam University, an Oakland-based business that trains people for work in the cannabis industry.

The medicinal marijuana world is still unsettled. Cities from Los Angeles to Berkeley are grappling with how to permit and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

Oakland, where voters last summer agreed to have the city to tax and regulate “cannabis businesses,” has allowed only four licensed dispensaries.

Though iGrow provides all the supplies and know-how for cannabis cultivation, they don’t sell the seedlings – only dispensaries can. And even some of the vendors tread a delicate line.

Gabriel Goodhart, the owner of Easy Feed Systems based in West Oakland, was setting up one of the system displays at iGrow on Wednesday. His company has an explicit policy of not setting up any system where marijuana is visible when they show up – or even mentioning the word “marijuana.”

“Liability is shifting,” said Goodhart, a libertarian who is a registered Republican. “A small business like ours can’t take the risk.”

But, he believes, the issue is a moral one.

“It’s not fair to medical patients to put them in a gray area where they have to be involved in criminal activity to stay healthy,” he said. “That’s like not having health insurance.”

The cost of creating your own cultivation system or relying solely on a dispensary is vast.

At a dispensary, a patient might spend $120 a week for a quarter-ounce of marijuana.

However, it might cost $1,000 to set up an eight-plant system, said Zeta Ceti, one of iGrow’s “indoor growing technicians.” But in the course of a year, they might only use half of their harvest and be able to sell the remaining 3 pounds for $12,000 to a dispensary.

Link: http://tiny.cc/MS1mU
Source: Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Matthai Kuruvila

Cheech and Chong on N.J.’s Blazing Trail

Weed Warrior — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:09:00 GMT

Colorado Pot Dispensaries Welcome State Regulation

Weed Warrior — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 16:01:00 GMT

Denver — Colorado lawmakers have an unlikely ally in their first attempt to curb the state’s booming medical marijuana industry: owners of the some of the shops that sell pot.

Many dispensary owners say they’re on board with regulations if they give them uniform guidelines and avert a more severe crackdown like one approved this week in Los Angeles. Hundreds of Los Angeles pot shops face closure after the City Council voted Tuesday to cap the number of dispensaries in the city at 70.

The Colorado proposal—before a legislative committee Wednesday—would make it more difficult for recreational pot users to become legal medical marijuana patients. It would bar doctors from working out of dispensaries, make it illegal for them to offer discounts to patients who agree to use a designated dispensary, and require follow-up doctor visits.

Some patients worry it will cost them hundreds of dollars on top of the $90 annual fee they pay to register as a medical marijuana user.

William Chengelis said he can’t get his regular Veterans Administration doctors to sign off on medical marijuana and said buying pot illegally and paying the $100 fine would be cheaper than paying a private doctor for follow-up visits.

“I cannot afford this bill,” Chengelis told lawmakers.

While some advocates see any regulations as a violation of the medical marijuana law passed by voters in 2000, many dispensaries say they welcome the certainty that more regulation would provide.

“We’re saying we really can’t operate without any rules,” said Matt Brown, a medical marijuana patient and leader of a coalition of about 150 dispensaries and over 1,000 patients.

Erik Santos, who operates a dispensary out of an office building in a trendy part of Denver’s downtown section, thinks it makes sense to limit large marijuana growers to industrial areas and keep dispensaries out of residential areas. He wants lawmakers to pass laws now before even more dispensaries open up and prevent those with possible criminal ties from giving the industry a bad name.

Another bill still in the works could set up more regulations on dispensaries and suppliers.

Colorado cities are also looking to lawmakers to pass regulations. Hundreds of dispensaries have popped up across the state—in empty storefronts, office buildings and even a historic movie theater.

Some cities have passed moratoriums on pot shops as they figure out how to regulate them and wait for more guidance from the state. The Denver suburb of Centennial voted to ban dispensaries and close a shop that had already opened, but a court blocked that move.

“Everyone is waiting to see what happens this (legislative) session,” said Mark Radtke, a lobbyist for the Colorado Municipal League.

Colorado already has some rules in place for medical marijuana dispensaries, including prohibiting dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools, day cares and other dispensaries. Felons convicted within the last five years would be barred from running shops. Dispensary owners would have to be licensed, pass a criminal background check and pay a $2,000 application fee along with $3,000 a year to renew licenses.

The rules are set to take effect March 1, although they could change depending on what state lawmakers to decide to do.

Fear that dispensaries would attract crime has been raised by those concerned about the growth of dispensaries. But police in Denver are discounting that.

Police say medical marijuana dispensaries were robbed or burglarized at a lower rate than liquor stores or even banks last year. A memo reported by The Denver Post on Wednesday says they were hit at about the same rate as pharmacies.

Link: http://www.denverpost.com/localpolitics/ci_14279271
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Colleen Slevin, Associated Press Writer
Published: January 27, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Associated Press

Pot Deal Puts Noses Out of Joint

Weed Warrior — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:20:00 GMT

Los Angeles, CA — After years of wrangling, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a medical marijuana ordinance that slaps tougher restrictions on pot clinics and will likely shut down hundreds of dispensaries across the city.

The 9-3 vote drew loud protests from clinic supporters, who plan to challenge it in court, but was also blasted by medical marijuana critics who said allowing any clinics flies in the face of federal law.

“To us it looks like the council has a de facto ban on medical marijuana,” said Kris Hermes, spokesman for the pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access.

Under the new law, which is expected to be signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, clinics will be barred from operating within 1,000 feet of sensitive areas, such as parks, schools, libraries and churches.

While cash can be used to purchase marijuana, all sales must be documented and the dispensaries cannot make a profit; they can only recover operating expenses.

Over a several-year period, when a loophole-ridden moratorium on pot clinics was in place, the number of dispensaries in Los Angeles exploded to an estimated 800 to 1,000.

Officials hope the new ordinance can ultimately limit the number to 70 – although the 137 that were approved before the moratorium will be allowed to continue operating. Many of those, however, will likely be forced to move to new locations to meet the new restrictions.

Before it becomes law, the City Council has to approve a fee ordinance, which could take effect up to 60 days after approval.

Villaraigosa has said his concern was that the measure comply with all state laws.

Officials with the Los Angeles Police Department said they are working on a plan to close the shops that were not properly registered, but are hoping for voluntary compliance with the law.

The City Council has been working on the measure for more than three years and has had to deal with multiple versions after City Attorney Carmen Trutanich rejected the original proposals and called for a much tougher measure banning any sales involving marijuana.

Trutanich said he supported the final measure – which was difficult to craft because of the competing arguments.

“With the passage of the ordinance, Los Angeles is taking an important step forward to ensure that seriously ill and deserving patients have reliable access to safe and lawful sources,” Trutanich said in a statement.

Don Duncan, California director of Americans for Safe Access, said the measure represents a bittersweet victory – in that regulations were adopted, but have a wide-ranging impact in closing a number of clinics.

“Although historic, the passage of medical marijuana dispensary regulations by the second-largest city in the country has been undermined by restrictions that threaten to wipe out nearly all of the dispensaries in Los Angeles,” Duncan said.

Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a supporter of medical marijuana, voted against the measure because he believes it is too stringent. Council members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry also voted against it.

“This is just crazy,” Rosendahl said. “The voters approved medical marijuana and we should make sure it is available to people who need it.”

Clinic operators complained there are not suitable locations available – and that landlords are increasing rents because they know the operators have nowhere else to go.

David Backes, who operates a registered collective in Eagle Rock, said he will be forced to move.

“The closest location is nine miles away in an industrial area,” Backes said. “And the space available is 23,000 square feet. I only have 1,200 square feet now. It’s like moving a store front into an airplane hanger.”

But Councilman Parks, a former Los Angeles police chief, said the measure goes too far in allowing marijuana distribution.

“The last time I looked, it is still a violation of federal law,” Parks said. “As long as the federal government pre-empts states and municipalities, as long as it is listed as a Schedule One drug, I think it will be impossible to tell if it is being sold. As long as we have federal laws, I don’t think this will withstand challenges.”

Barbara Monahan Burke of the Studio City Neighborhood Council questioned if the city will be able to enforce the ordinance.

“You will need to give more money to Building and Safety to hire the inspectors to enforce this,” Burke said. “Every time we ask Building and Safety to do anything, they tell us they don’t have the people to do the job and can’t afford to pay the overtime.”

Source: Los Angeles Daily News (CA)
Author: Rick Orlov, Staff Writer
Published: January 26, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Website: http://www.dailynews.com
Contact: http://www.dailynews.com/writealetter

Los Angeles To Limit Marijuana Dispensaries

Weed Warrior — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:18:00 GMT

California — The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday that shutters roughly 80 percent of the nearly 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and makes the use of marijuana in the remaining outlets illegal.

The vote amounts to a major setback for backers of medical marijuana and a victory for community groups that have long complained about the proliferation of the dispensaries near residential neighborhoods, schools and parks. Los Angeles has more of the outlets than any other city in the states that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

“These are out of control,” said Councilman Ed Reyes, chairman of the planning and land-use management committee, which oversaw the writing of the ordinance. “Our city has more of these than Starbucks.”

The measure, which passed on a 9-to-3 vote, would impose stringent rules on the location of the dispensaries — essentially moving them to industrial zones — and restrict their hours. The ordinance, which city officials acknowledged would be difficult to enforce, would limit the number of dispensaries at 70 but suggested that even fewer would be permitted if there was not ample space under the new parameters to accommodate them.

The ordinance requires the signature of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa before taking effect, and will require council-approved fees levied on the dispensaries to cover the city’s cost of monitoring.

While medical marijuana use and sale have enjoyed general support throughout the city and among lawmakers, the aggressive proliferation of dispensaries in recent years has tried the patience of even the most liberal of groups.

“I’ve seen enough people come into my committee, and you can see they are hurting,” Mr. Reyes said. “So this is very difficult.”

The meeting was peppered with angry testimony from medical marijuana users, who threatened to run lawmakers out of office, as well as neighborhood association members who worried that enforcement would be lax.

California voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes in 1996, and cities across the state have since struggled with how best to regulate the distribution of the drug. Many cities have imposed restrictions on the number and location of dispensaries, and Los Angeles imposed a moratorium about two years ago while the City Council studied the issue. In the meantime, however, hundreds of dispensaries continued to open despite the ban.

Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Jennifer Steinhauer
Published: January 26, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Contact: letters@nytimes.com
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/

LA City Council OKs Plan To Close Most Pot Clinics

Weed Warrior — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:08:00 GMT

Los Angeles — The City Council gave final approval Tuesday to a much-anticipated ordinance that will close most pot dispensaries and curb the so-called “Green Rush” that swept through much of California in recent years. The ordinance, which passed 9-3, caps the number of dispensaries at 70 and provides guidelines that will push the clinics out of neighborhoods and into industrial areas.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa must approve the ordinance for it to take effect. City officials believe it will be at least 45 days before they can enforce the new rules.

Enforcement could be a major effort for the cash-strapped city. No one is exactly sure how many pot clinics there are in Los Angeles – the best estimate is somewhere between 800 and 1,000 – and getting the owners to comply with the ordinance will likely meet resistance.

“I don’t want to say this is an impossible task, but it’s going to take a lot more effort than maybe the city realizes at this point,” said Robert Mikos, a law professor specializing in federalism and crime policy at Vanderbilt University Law School. “Just because the city says, ’stop what you are doing,’ doesn’t mean (dispensary owners) are going to give up easily.”

One possible option for dispensaries is to seek an injunction to stop the city from enforcing its ordinance.

The ordinance calls for spreading the 70 clinics evenly throughout the city with a community districting plan. For instance, the Wilshire area west of downtown would have six clinics – the most under the new law – while places such as free-spirited Venice, with 17 currently, would only have one.

City officials would require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from “sensitive uses” such as schools, parks and other gathering sites. Most clinics would have to relocate, presumably to industrial areas, a move criticized by some medical marijuana advocates who say patients will have to travel long distances to get their medicine.

The number of clinics has exploded. More than 600 have opened over the past 10 months, despite a 2007 city moratorium prohibiting new medical marijuana dispensaries. The shop owners took advantage of a loophole known as a hardship exemption that allowed them to open while awaiting city approval.

More than 180 clinics qualified to remain open because they were established before the ban was enacted. About 137 of those sites still operate and would be allowed to remain open if they meet other requirements in the new ordinance.

City Council members have fumbled with an ordinance for years, trying to come up with language that jibes with state law. Only four dispensaries were open in 2005, when discussions first began.

The outlook for medical marijuana in Los Angeles remains hazy. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley has said he will target pot clinics that profit and sell to people who don’t qualify for medical marijuana.

While the ordinance says no collective can operate for profit, cash and in-kind contributions as well as “reasonable compensation” would be allowed.

The new ordinance follows a recent California Supreme Court decision that struck down a law seeking to impose limits on the amount of marijuana a patient can possess. It also came months before a possible ballot measure seeking the legalization of marijuana in California.

Fourteen states, including California, permit medical marijuana. The drug, however, remains illegal under federal law.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Greg Risling, The Associated Press
Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Copyright: 2010 The Associated Press

If Government Doesn’t Control Marijuana, Criminals Will

Weed Warrior — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:20:00 GMT

WHEN THE Assembly’s Public Safety Committee voted 12 days ago to approve the legalization and regulation of marijuana in California, knee-jerk reactions were sure to follow.

This was only a first step toward legislation, but San Mateo police Chief Susan Manheimer quickly described the looming possibility as “mind-boggling.”

John Lovell, speaking for the California Peace Officers Association, said it was “the last thing our society needs.”

It wasn’t hard to envision lawmen up and down the state nodding in agreement.

The viewpoint is understandable. It is part of the internal wiring of police agencies. The War on Drugs declared by President Nixon in 1971 has spanned four decades and seven administrations.

The thing is, it has failed. A far better idea is to legalize and regulate marijuana sales.

There are at least 1,500 current and former law enforcement professionals who agree. They are members of LEAP ( Law Enforcement Against Prohibition ), who base their opinions on years of experience.

Jack Cole, co-founder of the 8-year-old organization, is a retired New Jersey State Police lieutenant who served 12 of his 26 years on the job as an undercover narcotics cop. He describes the War on Drugs as “not only a dismal failure but a terribly destructive policy.”

Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief, used to kick in drug dealers’ doors early in his 34-year career. His opinion: “It has cost the national treasury obscene amounts of money. And for what?”

James Gray, an Orange County Superior Court judge for 20 years, remembers sentencing one dealer after another to no perceptible end. “The closer you get to the issue,” he said, “the more you see we couldn’t do worse if we tried.”

They liken the ban on recreational drugs to Prohibition, when the government’s ill-fated attempt to end the sale of liquor created a lucrative industry for criminals. Sound familiar?

LEAP has packaged its argument in a convincing 12-minute video ( http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=28 ), in which Cole explains that an estimated 1.3 percent of the U.S. population was addicted to drugs when the Harrison Act, a national anti-drug law, was enacted in 1914.

And 1.3 percent was believed to be addicted when the War on Drugs was unveiled. And 1.3 percent was addicted when a study was conducted in 2006.

So to sum up the 95-year battle against drugs: Nothing’s changed.

The bootleggers and speak-easies that circumvented Prohibition have been replaced by drug cartels and street dealers. Far smarter than banning drugs would be government regulation.

“It’s easier for teenagers to get marijuana than alcohol,” Gray said. “That’s because alcohol is regulated and controlled by the government, and illegal drugs are controlled by drug dealers. They don’t ask for IDs.”

In addition, dealers often recruit teenagers to sell. And when they do, they sell to other teens. “I’ve seen this too many times in juvenile court,” he said. “I am determined to put an end to it.”

James Anthony, a former Oakland prosecutor and member of LEAP, said the government errs in using a criminal justice approach to remedy a public health problem. Police should focus on public safety — stopping major crimes — not chasing bags of marijuana.

“I’ve worked closely with a lot of police officers who will admit, off the record, that the approach we’re taking is not working and never will,” Anthony said.

Among the obvious benefits to the proposed Assembly bill:

# Law enforcement resources allocated more wisely and a decline in the prison population.

# State revenues from sales taxes estimated at $1.4 billion.

# An end to the wrangling over medical marijuana.

# Revitalization of the hemp farming industry.

# Deglamorization of marijuana for recreation.

Gray calls the last bullet point the “Holland effect,” noting that legalizing marijuana in The Netherlands has lessened its appeal: Per-capita consumption is only half what it is in the United States.

“They have succeeded in making marijuana boring,” he said.

It would be foolhardy to suggest that change will come without cost. Even advocates concede there will be an initial uptick in users. The curious will inhale this opportunity.

Anthony said there might also be a knee-jerk reaction from drug dealers deprived of income.

“If people can’t make a living selling marijuana in the underground market,” he said, “you may see a spike in other crimes of economic opportunity — muggings, car burglaries, that kind of thing. We have to look at society as a total system.”

Legalization represents a major reversal in policy, but that doesn’t make it bad. When you find out you’ve been going in the wrong direction, the smart thing is to turn around.

Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Contact: ccnletters@bayareanewsgroup.com
Copyright: 2010 Bay Area News Group
Website: http://www.contracostatimes.com/
Author: Tom Barnidge, Contra Costa Times columnist