Cannabis News

Medical marijuana advocates have a message for Democratic leaders and federal prosecutors with an eye on political office: Don’t mess with pot. Pushing back against a federal effort to stem the proliferation of medical marijuana operations, one of the nation’s largest drug policy groups claimed credit Wednesday for the defeat of a former federal prosecutor who was the early favorite to win the Democratic primary for Oregon attorney general.

As interim U.S. attorney, Dwight Holton called Oregon’s medical marijuana law a “train wreck” and oversaw efforts to crack down on medical marijuana clubs and grow operations that he said were fronts for illegal marijuana sales. Federal prosecutors have led similar crackdowns in other states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal use.

“Drug war rhetoric and tactics will not be tolerated,” said Jill Harris, managing director for the campaign arm of Drug Policy Alliance.

Retired state appeals court judge Ellen Rosenblum said she’d make marijuana enforcement a low priority. She easily defeated Holton with the help of Harris’ group and its allies, which chipped in at least a quarter of Rosenblum’s total campaign cash.

“What we’re hoping, and what we assume, is that any U.S. attorney who’s thinking of running for statewide office in a Democratic Primary anywhere in the country is going to think twice now before adopting a highly aggressive posture toward the medical marijuana law,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director Drug Policy Alliance and its campaign branch, Drug Policy Action.

Rosenblum downplayed the role of the marijuana vote in her victory in a brief interview following her victory Tuesday night. With most votes counted, she defeated Holton 64 percent to 36 percent.

“There’s lots of issues that played into my victory, and that may well be one of them,” Rosenblum said of the surprising emergence of medical marijuana as a defining issue.

About 55,000 people are registered marijuana users in Oregon.

Sixteen states allow people with a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana, an issue that has long been a source of tension with the federal government. Federal officials have said some state medical marijuana laws are being used as cover to grow and sell pot for the black market. Law enforcement agencies have cracked down on some pot growers, dispensaries and clubs in several states, including California, Colorado and Oregon.

Campaign finance records show Rosenblum raised $600,000 through May 9, including $80,000 from Drug Policy Action and $70,000 from John Sperling, Chairman of Apollo Group Inc., who has financed medical marijuana campaigns nationally. Oregon has no caps on campaign contributions.

Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement, a local organization working on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, spent another $40,000 to boost Rosenblum, much of it on radio ads attacking Holton over marijuana.

“We’re glad to have played a role in her victory,” said Bob Wolfe, one of the organization’s directors. “But I do think Dwight’s defeat is directly related to his stance on marijuana.”

Holton declined to comment. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Published: May 17, 2012
Copyright: 2012 The Associated Press

Smoking medical marijuana could help relieve some symptoms of multiple sclerosis, a small new study suggests. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego, found that people with MS who smoked cannabis had decreased pain and muscle tightness, called spasticity. However, the researchers warned that smoking the cannabis also led to problems with focus and attention.

The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, included 30 people — 63 percent of them women — with an average age of 50. More than half the participants needed aids for walking, and 20 percent of them were in wheelchairs. Some of the study participants were randomly assigned to have the cannabis, while others received a placebo.

At the end of the study, researchers found that people who smoked the cannabis had lower numbers on a spasticity scale, as well as a 50 percent decrease in pain scores.

But researchers found that the people who smoked the cannabis had decreased cognitive functioning, in that they scored lower on a test that measured their focus. This effect was only seen for a short term.

“Smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in symptom and pain reduction in participants with treatment-resistant spasticity,” researchers wrote in the study. “Future studies should examine whether different doses can result in similar beneficial effects with less cognitive impact.”

Just last year, a study in the journal Neurology also showed that multiple sclerosis patients who smoked medical marijuana have a doubled risk of developing cognitive impairments.

“Whatever benefits patients feel they might be getting from smoking marijuana might come at the cost of further cognitive compromise,” the researcher of that study, Dr. Anthony Feinstein, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Toronto, told WebMD.

Marijuana use is currently legal for medical purposes in 16 states and Washington, D.C., the New York Times reported.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the brain and spinal cord, according to the National Institutes of Health. It occurs when the myelin sheath, which is responsible for protecting nerve fibers, is damaged, causing symptoms of cognitive problems, muscle weakness, disturbed vision, strange touch sensations and balance and coordination problems.

While there’s no cure for the condition, current treatments for multiple sclerosis attacks include taking drugs called corticosteroids and undergoing plasma exchange (where blood cells and plasma are mechanically separated), according to the Mayo Clinic. Other drugs and even physical therapy can help reduce symptoms or even slow the disease down.

Source: Huffington Post (NY)
Published: May 14, 2012
Copyright: 2012 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Johnnie Scott Rice has held a lot of titles in her life: director of constituent services, advisory neighborhood commissioner, D.C. Council candidate. But there is one title she covets that has eluded her: District pot dealer.

Rice, 71, is part of the Green House, a self-proclaimed “group of old ladies,” that the city recently turned down for a license to sell medical marijuana. Three other rejected applicants, including a Bethesda eye doctor and a competitive bass fisherman, have gone to court in the past week to contest the city’s decision, said Ted O. Gest, spokesman for the D.C. Office of Attorney General.

Many of those turned down have said the selection process is confusing and opaque. They contend the D.C. Health Department did not provide clear explanations for its decisions — an accusation city officials deny.

Rice and her partners, who include a former lingerie store owner and a social worker, are disappointed, although they have decided not to pursue legal action. For nearly a year, the women have used their retirement savings to lease a dispensary location in Shaw, hoping to provide medical marijuana to people with glaucoma, AIDS, cancer, and multiple sclerosis. They want to know exactly where they fell short in their months-long application bid.

“We don’t want to waste their time or our time,” Rice said. “It’s confusing even to us.”

The health department, which is overseeing the roll-out of the medical marijuana program, relied on a panel of experts to score each application.

The agency told one applicant that much of the proposal was “adequate” but denied it. It dinged at least three of the unsuccessful applicants for not providing a sample label even though the application didn’t require one.

Rice’s group asked to see its scores through a request under the District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act. But the agency refused to release the scores or other material that would shed light on the panel’s decision-making process, arguing that a final announcement has not yet been made, and that such documents contain trade secrets. The scores are also part of confidential deliberations by government officials that the city is not legally obligated to disclose, said health department spokeswoman Najma Roberts.

That explanation troubles the applicants that were turned away.

“I don’t understand why this is so secretive, especially for something so high profile,” said Tom Lindenfeld, a local political consultant working with Compassion Centers, which is affiliated with an established dispensary operator in California.

The two other groups that have filed appeals are the Health Company, which is led by Michael Duplessie, a Bethesda ophthalmologist, and the Free World Remedy, lead by Jonathan Marlow, a competitive bass fisherman from Northern Virginia whose mother suffers from multiple sclerosis.

The legal challenges are the latest wrinkle in a selection process marred by glitches from the start.

Since passing a medical marijuana law in 2010, the District has taken a go-slow approach in an effort to avoid some of the mistakes that have been made in other jurisdictions, such as Colorado and California, where critics say medical marijuana has become little more than legalized drug dealing.

The District’s regulations are among the toughest in the country, with strict limits on how many plants can be grown, how much the dispensaries can charge and who can buy it. Only people with certain chronic conditions such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma qualify; they are allowed two ounces in a 30-day period with a doctor’s recommendation.

The city began accepting applications last year for licenses to operate up to 10 cultivation centers and five dispensaries. There were problems almost immediately. Some who had planned on applying were scared off by having to sign a statement saying they understood growing and selling marijuana was still illegal under federal law.

The health department initially rejected some applicants for minor errors, such as leaving off e-mail addresses, then later let them back in. Officials also rejected Duplessie’s application to operate a cultivation center because it was 90 minutes late — even though an evacuation of the agency’s offices was partly to blame.

The agency was supposed to announce the dispensary licensees earlier this spring but pushed the date back to June, forcing some of the applicants, including Rice’s group, to spend additional money to continue leasing space.

Last month the health department last month informed the 17 aspiring pot retailers which of them were still in the running. Only four made it through, and they must win approval from their local advisory neighborhood commissions.

The four that made it: Herbal Alternatives, which is looking to open a dispensary near 20th and M streets NW; Metropolitan Wellness Center Corporation, which is eyeing a location along Barracks Row on Capitol Hill by a fast-food restaurant and a tattoo parlor; Takoma Wellness Center, which plans to open near the Takoma Metro Station; and VentureForth LLC, which has a site by O and North Capitol streets NW.

So far, many of the groups that the city has tapped to grow and to sell medical marijuana have mainly been established pot dispensaries and cultivators from other parts of the country, including Abatin Wellness Center of Sacramento, the brainchild of former talk-show host Montel Williams.

Local officials, including D.C. Council member David Catania (I-At Large), had hoped for more local representation. The local players who have made the cut for either a dispensary or cultivation license are retired Takoma Park rabbi Jeffrey Kahn and his wife, Stephanie; lawyer Edward Grandis, executive director of the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals Association; financier Corey Barnette; and Capitol Hill liquor store owners Rick and Jon Genderson.

Deep roots in the city were a big part of the pitch that Rice, a third-generation Washingtonian, made at community gatherings in Shaw, where their dispensary was to be located, on the same block as social service agency Bread for the City.

Rice grew up in Trinidad, the daughter of a bricklayer, and has been a longtime fixture on the D.C. political scene. She has run for office, worked as an aide to Catania and served as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 7 for 10 years. She is also an insulin-dependent diabetic, has glaucoma and can no longer drive at night. Not long after the D.C. Council made medical marijuana legal, she heard from friends in California that cannabis could help people with glaucoma.

“It made me think about this,” she said. “If this medicine can improve these conditions in me, why not?”

Unbeknownst to her, Francine Levinson, 61, was also thinking about applying for a license. Levinson has started businesses before. She got into banking after she discovered she couldn’t get a loan without her husband or her father signing for her. She became a founding member of the First Women’s Bank of Maryland. Levinson later ran a lingerie store for nine years. She and Rice have been friends for years, but they didn’t tell each other right away about their interest in pursuing a medical marijuana dispensary license.

“Everybody was so timid about it,” Rice said.

After a mutual friend clued both of the them in, the two decided to partner up and even considered naming the business, “Frankie and Johnnie,” a reference to the classic song, until Levinson’s daughter, Stephanie Mantelmacher, 46, said, “no one is going to know what that means.” Seeing that her input might come in handy, Mantelmacher, a former executive with XM Satellite Radio, joined the group. Leigh A. Slaughter, 58, a lawyer and real estate agent, and former Whitman-Walker Clinic official Patricia Hawkins, 71, filled out the team.

If the city opens up the process again, Rice said, they would consider making another attempt. Until then, they can only imagine what might have been.

The people who will be coming to buy medical marijuana “don’t want to see some young kids selling dope,” she said. “Most of the clientele is going to look like us. We are the face of the users of medical marijuana.”

Source: Washington Post (DC)
Author: Annys Shin
Published: May 9, 2012
Copyright: 2012 Washington Post Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/

The Crown on Monday urged Ontario’s Court of Appeal to overturn a controversial ruling that struck down the federal legislation governing access to medical marijuana.

The case centres on Toronto marijuana activist Matthew Mernagh, who launched a constitutional challenge after being charged with producing marijuana illegally. The trial judge accepted Mernagh’s position that the federal Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) constitute an unfair barrier for sick people, and struck down both the MMAR and sections of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act banning marijuana production and possession. That ruling is on hold pending the outcome of the federal government’s appeal.

Before three Appeal Court judges Monday, Crown attorney Croft Michaelson rejected the trial judge’s findings as “extravagant and wholly unsupported by the record.”

Michaelson said Justice Donald Taliano made numerous errors in finding that Canadian doctors have engaged in a “massive boycott” of the medical marijuana program, leaving many needy patients with nowhere to turn.

“You cannot say on this record that the majority of physicians in Canada are opposed to the MMAR . . . It’s mere speculation,” Michaelson said, citing an insufficient evidentiary basis for the judge’s conclusions.

A large number of Mernagh’s supporters turned out for the court hearing, one hoisting a Canadian flag emblazoned with a cannabis leaf in place of the traditional Maple Leaf.

The hearing was slated to resume Monday afternoon.

A bill legalizing marijuana for medical purposes has passed the Connecticut Senate. The state joins 16 others and the District of Columbia in enacting such legislation.

State senators voted 21-to-13 in favor of the measure early Saturday, after nearly 10 hours of debate dominated by bill opponent Republican Sen. Toni Boucher.

Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has said he supports the measure, is expected to sign the legislation into law.

The bill moves away from the largely criticized precedent set in California, proposing a complex regulated system of cultivation, dispensing and licensing.

The Connecticut bill outlines specific diseases that would be treated under the drug. It requires a recommendation from an individual’s physician and establishes a system of licensing for patients, caregivers and growers.

Source: HuffPost News

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/05/medical-marijuana-connecticut_n_1483670.html

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi saw the writing on the wall and came out in defense of medical cannabis patients and dispensaries under assault by the federal government this week. San Francisco dispensaries served her a petition with thousands of signatures May 2. Subsequently, Speaker Pelosi released the May 2 statement saying:

“Access to medicinal marijuana for individuals who are ill or enduring difficult and painful therapies is both a medical and a states’ rights issue. Sixteen states, including our home state of California, and the District of Columbia have adopted medicinal marijuana laws – most by a vote of the people.

“I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana.

“Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include improving the quality of life for patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other severe medical conditions.

“I am pleased to join organizations that support legal access to medicinal marijuana, including the American Nurses Association, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, and the AIDS Action Council.

“Medicinal marijuana alleviates some of the most debilitating symptoms of AIDS, including pain, wasting, and nausea. The opportunity to ease the suffering of people who are seriously ill or enduring difficult and painful therapies is an opportunity we must not ignore.

“For these reasons, I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana, that respects the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill individuals, and that prevents the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law. I will continue to strongly support those efforts.”

In other news Berkeley Patients Group, the biggest victim of the crackdown so far, has said on Facebook that it will go delivery-only as it pursues another location to re-open.

Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Author: David Downs
Published: May 3, 2012
Copyright: 2012 East Bay Express
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan put his name on the dotted line Thursday, calling for marijuana to be taxed and regulated, along with seven other B.C.  mayors.

The open letter to Premier Christy Clark; Adrian Dix, leader of the B.C.  New Democrats; and John Cummins, leader of the B.C.  Conservative Party, comes on the heels of a similar letter from four former Vancouver mayors last December and one from four former B.C.  attorneys general in February.

Corrigan told the NOW in December that while he personally supported an end to pot prohibition, he would not make a public statement in his official capacity as a sitting mayor.

When asked why he changed his position on that, Corrigan said the health and safety concerns were a factor.

“I thought the fact that we had seen a coalition of ex-mayors, and ex-attorneys general and health professionals taking a stand on this issue really meant we had to take it to the next step, which is elected officials taking a position,” he said in a phone interview Thursday.

Prohibition has not stopped the production and distribution of marijuana, Corrigan said, but it has lined the pockets of criminals, much like alcohol prohibition before it.

“We know alcohol prohibition didn’t work.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t problems with alcohol because there are – it still is a serious problem in our society, but prohibition simply turned the distribution of alcohol over to a criminal element,” he said.

“We saw the rise of Al Capone-like figures making their money off of prohibition, and the same thing is happening with marijuana,” Corrigan added.  “People are making fortunes off of the distribution of marijuana illegally and in fact, we’re not curing the problem at all, we’re just pushing it underground.  I think it’s much better to take the attitude as we do with alcohol and cigarettes that while it is a vice, it’s something that should be done in an upfront manner, the government should regulate and tax it, and there should be controls placed on it.”

He disputed the idea that legalizing marijuana in Canada wouldn’t be worthwhile so long as it’s still illegal in the United States.

The effect on young Canadian’s lives is a factor as well, he said.

“I think that the fact that we continue to give young people criminal records for this offense and continue to have people who live with the stigma of a criminal record for the use of marijuana is a serious problem,” Corrigan said, “one that has individual effects that are way in excess of the act.”

While he doesn’t see things changing tomorrow, he hopes that provincial governments will begin to support a change to the current laws, he said.

“I think it is part of a building process,” Corrigan said.  “Polls and general public opinion indicate that the public wants to find a way to resolve the issue.  They want to find a way to regulate rather than prohibit, and they want to find a way that they can discourage the use of marijuana among young people, and end the lock that crime has on the production of marijuana and distribution of marijuana.”

He hopes this is a movement that spreads across the rest of Canada, and that the issue plays a part in the next federal election, he added.

The open letter – signed by Mayor Corrigan as well as the mayors of Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, the District of Lake Country, Armstrong, Vernon, Enderby, and Metchosin – was put forward by the Stop the Violence B.C.  coalition.

The criminal justice system is overburdened and needs to focus its resources on serious crime, according to Neil Boyd, a professor with Simon Fraser University’s school of criminology.

Boyd joined the Stop the Violence B.C.  coalition after being approached by Dr.  Evan Wood, who started the coalition.

Boyd spoke to the NOW in February, saying he has advocated for marijuana law reform for many years.

“Unlike the other illegal drugs, which are used by less than one per cent of the population, marijuana is used by more than 10 per cent of the population,” he said.  “Given that it isn’t nearly as dangerous a drug, for most people in most circumstances, from a public health perspective, as alcohol or tobacco.”

The focus on the issue by former and current public figures followed a number of public shootings in Vancouver and Surrey during the winter, which police have indicated are likely gang-related.

The most high profile incident was the shooting death of Sandip Duhre at the Wall Centre Hotel in Vancouver on Jan.  17.

An Angus Reid poll, commissioned by the coalition this winter, that found that 77 per cent of British Columbians did not agree that marijuana possession should be a criminal offence and that 78 per cent said they were dissatisfied with the way politicians at the provincial level responded to problems stemming from the illegal marijuana industry.

Julie Di Mambro, press secretary for federal justice minister Rob Nicholson, did not address the issue of legalization in her statement to the NOW in February but made it clear things are not going to change any time soon.

“Our government is committed to ensuring criminals are held fully accountable for their actions and that the safety and security of law-abiding Canadians come first in Canada’s judicial system,” she wrote in an email.  “We will continue to fight crime and protect Canadians so that our communities are safe places for people to live, raise their families and do business.”

For the entire open letter from the mayors, go to www.stoptheviolencebc.org and click on the link for B.C.  Mayors Call for Taxation and Regulation of Marijuana.

Source: Burnaby Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.burnabynow.com/
Author: Janaya Fuller-Evans

Federal Government Seeking To Uphold MMAR Provisions

Ontario’s top court is hearing an appeal of a ruling that struck down key provisions of the law governing access to marijuana for medical use.

In asking that the decision be set aside, the federal government will rely on what it argues is a series of “palpable and overriding errors” by Superior Court Justice Donald Taliano, who last year stayed a production charge against Toronto marijuana activist Matthew Mernagh.

The appeal, scheduled to begin on May 7, is the latest legal battle over the federal government’s medical marijuana scheme, aspects of which have been ruled unconstitutional by courts a number of times over the past decade.  The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the B.C.  Civil Liberties Association and a coalition of groups representing people who are HIV-positive have been granted intervener status by the Court of Appeal in R v.  Mernagh.

In his decision, Justice Taliano accepted Mernagh’s contention that the federal Marihuana Medical Access Regulations ( MMAR ) made it too difficult for patients in need to access the drug.  The Superior Court judge simultaneously struck down the regulations and the associated prohibitions against marijuana production and possession in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act-although the declaration of invalidity has been put on hold, while the case is before the Court of Appeal.

“The combined effect of the CDSA and the MMAR is to make sick people sicker,” said Toronto lawyer Paul Lewin, who represents Mernagh.

The federal Crown meanwhile, is arguing that the findings of Justice Taliano lacked an evidentiary foundation.  “He relied on inadmissible evidence, misapprehended the legal effect of amendments that were made to the MMAR, substituted his own opinions for those of the treating physicians, and engaged in speculation,” says Crown attorney Croft Michaelson, in written arguments filed with the court.

“There was simply no basis to conclude that medical practitioners in Canada had acted in any manner other than the best interests of their patient,” he adds.

The MMAR requires applicants to obtain a signed declaration from a doctor, before they can receive government authorization for medical use.

After a constitutional challenge to the scheme in 2003, certain conditions in the MMAR were relaxed so that doctors were no longer required to recommend a daily dosage of marijuana for patients or indicate that the benefits of such a treatment outweighed the risks.

But Mernagh - ​who uses marijuana to treat his symptoms from fibromyalgia, scoliosis and seizures - ​argued in court that the revised regulations remain illusory, saying he has been unable to find any doctor willing to sign a medical marijuana declaration.  He was therefore precluded from accessing the drug legally, Mernagh argues.

Justice Taliano noted: “The physicians of Canada have massively boycotted the MMAR and their overwhelming refusal to participate in the medicinal marihuana program completely undermines the effectiveness of the program.”

The Crown says the judge erred on a number of fronts, citing no evidence of a “massive boycott.” It stated that between 1998 and 2010, the annual number of doctors who signed medical marijuana declarations rose to more than 2,000 from fewer than 10.

The judge’s suggestion that physicians were failing to meet the legitimate demands for medical marijuana was additionally problematic, Michaelson wrote, because there was no evidence adduced at trial to determine how many Canadians had a valid medical need for the drug.

“The Charter does not mandate that physicians rubber-stamp their patients’ treatment preferences,” the factum states, noting that the only way to ensure marijuana is restricted to those with valid medical needs, is to require a doctor’s declaration.

Lewin disagrees.  He suggested the current regulatory framework simply encourages “doctor-shopping” among desperate patients.

“The doctors made it abundantly clear they are not knowledgeable with this unapproved plant therapy,” said Lewin.  “They’re not comfortable dealing with the potential legal repercussions.”

“The doctor-as-gatekeeper idea has been a bad fit from day one…and from day one the government has denied there was a problem,” Lewin’s responding factum states, noting some doctors became “hostile” or discontinued treatment when patients requested a marijuana declaration.

There are other ways to regulate marijuana use, such as creating a registry of doctors educated about marijuana where patients can turn for a prescription, Lewin suggested.

Source: Lawyers Weekly, The (Canada)
Copyright: 2012 LexisNexis Canada Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/
Author: Megan O’Toole

– While delivering his remarks at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, comedian Jimmy Kimmel addressed the issue of marijuana legalization.

“What is with the marijuana crackdown? Seriously, what is the concern? We will deplete the nation’s Funyun supply?” Kimmel said. “Pot smokers vote too. Sometimes a week after the election, but they vote.” Kimmel then posed a challenge to the crowd, which was made up of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and George Clooney.

“I would like everyone in this room to raise your hand if you’ve never smoked pot,” Kimmel said.

Few hands went up.

Noting the crowd’s reaction, Kimmel addressed Obama directly.

“Marijuana is something that real people care about,” Kimmel said.

Obama, who recently said he doesn’t “mind a debate” about drug legalization, has increased the crackdown on medical marijuana producers across the nation, including a recent high-profile raid on a California training school. He addressed the crackdown and attempted to clarify his 2008 comments that he was “not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws [on medical marijuana]” in a recent interview with Rolling Stone:

Speaking with Rolling Stone, the president tried to explain his original comments, claiming that the recent pressure on dispensaries and providers was in line with his intent.

“What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana,” Obama said. “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.”

The president continued: “I can’t nullify congressional law. 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.”

Source: Huffington Post (NY)
Author: Paige Lavender
Published: April 28, 2012
Copyright: 2012 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Recently, the Huffington Post ran an article stating that according to more than 300 economists, the U.S.  government could potentially save $13.7 billion dollars by not enforcing the prohibition and taxing it like tobacco and alcohol.

As someone who has always been pro-legalization, I found this interesting and saw it as a ray of light through the thunderstorm that is this ridiculous marijuana prohibition.

So, if it could potentially save the States billions of dollars, what about Canada?

According to the 2009 Angus Reid poll, 53% of Canadians were in favour of legalizing cannabis.

Obviously, possession, trafficking and growing of marijuana is illegal in Canada.

Simple possession ( anything under 30 grams ) can result in a maximum $1000 fine or six months in jail, and trafficking can result in anything from a slap on the wrist and a fine to jail time.

Drug prohibition in Canada started in 1908 with the Opium Act.  It forbade the sale, manufacture and importation of opium for anything other than medical use, and it later expanded to include morphine and cocaine in 1911.

It wasn’t until 1923, when the Opium and Narcotics Act came in, that cannabis was added to Confidential Restricted List.

While it was criminalized in 1923, it didn’t start getting attention until the 1930s, and the first arrest wasn’t made until 1937.  Even in the next two or three decades, it was barely a blip on police radar.

Between 1946 and 1966 cannabis only accounted for 2% of drug arrests in Canada.

In 2002, Jean Chretien’s Liberal government introduced a bill that would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana.  Possession of a half ounce or less would have only resulted in a fine, and those possessing up to a full ounce would be either ticketed or charged.  Up to seven plants for personal use would have also become a summary offence, but any more than that would have a more severe punishment.

It looked like the bill might have been able to pass, too, but it died when Parliament prorogued.

Not only that, but the DEA supposedly put a lot of pressure on our government, threatening to slow down border-crossings along the border just in case someone decided to try to smuggle our legal weed into their country.  As if that wasn’t happening already.

An identical bill was introduced again in November 2004 by Paul Martin’s Liberals, but it got shot down too.

So should it be illegal?

There are reports of cannabis use for medicinal purposes as far back as 2727 BC in China and apparently even Queen Victoria used cannabis to relieve her menstrual cramps.

In 1937 it is criminalized in the United States, and by 1965 over 1 million Americans had tried it, and that number jumped to 24 million by 1972.

Now, marijuana is America’s number one cash crop, raking in around $36 billion per year.

In 1996, California introduced Proposition 215, making marijuana legal for medicinal use, and since then around 14 other states, and Canada, have followed.

Of course, it’s not as easy as just flipping a switch and legalizing it.  There are a few things that would need to be considered: what about the price? The quality?

It makes sense that the illegality of the substance has influence on the price because of the risk factor.  If it was legal, would the price go down?

Would the government employ growers that are already in operation? And will the quality increase or decrease if the government gets their hands on it?

Recreational marijuana users and those who need compassionate care services ( medical marijuana – for more information, visit www.medicalmarijuanacure.com ) obviously want it to be legalized, and I would have to say that I agree with them.

Sure, weed is a drug, but so are alcohol and tobacco.  People are getting smarter since the “Reefer Madness” days, where everyone was afraid that one toke of weed would turn their poor innocent children into raving homicidal maniacs.

Anyone who has ever ingested the drug knows how false those claims are.

Marijuana is not physiologically addictive like alcohol or cocaine; it can be habit-forming but normally users do not report withdrawal symptoms like those of alcohol or other narcotics.

Also, to those of you that say that if it’s legal, more people will use it, I have this to say: In Holland, where marijuana is legal, it was reported that once it became legal, usage of marijuana and hard drugs dropped significantly.

As it is, there is practically unlimited access to weed whether it’s legal or not, so people are going to get it no matter what.

If it was legalized, the soft drug trade would stop feeding organized crime, stop congesting our prison system with nonviolent offenders and make obtaining the drug safe and risk-free, especially for those looking for compassionate care.

The way I see it, marijuana is just like alcohol.  Some people come home and relax on the couch with a beer, and some do it with a joint.

It has even been proven that alcohol does more damage to your body than marijuana does, and there have been no recorded deaths that could be directly attributed to using marijuana.

Besides, I don’t know about you, but I would rather be in a room full of stoned people than a room full of drunk people.

You never hear of a marijuana user getting high and coming home and beating his wife and children; the most damage he is likely to do is to his refrigerator.

So what do you guys think? Should it be legalized, decriminalized, or should the laws stay the way they are?

Source: Fairview Post (CN AB)
Copyright: 2012 Fairview Post
Contact: http://www.fairviewpost.com/feedback1/LetterToEditor.aspx
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Author: Jacquie Maynard