Cannabis News – Page 82

8 Jun 2013

Colorado Regulators Ditch ‘Absurd’ Rule

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Marijuana-themed publications won’t be treated like pornography in Colorado, state regulators announced Thursday in the face of lawsuits.

The rule would have forced stores to keep publications with a “primary focus” on pot away from shoppers under the age of 21, and was mandated by a package of legislature-approved marijuana regulations signed into law by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper on May 28.

Colorado’s State Licensing Authority said the rule was unconstitutional and would be ignored. An “emergency rule” issued by the licensing authority said “such a requirement would violate the United States Constitution” and Colorado law.

The decision was made with input from the state attorney general’s office. “We support the laudable goal of keeping retail marijuana out of the hands of those under 21, but that has to be consistent with the Constitution,” a spokesperson for the state attorney general told The Denver Post.

Colorado’s marijuana-regulating legislation mandated that the licensing authority adopt a rule by July 1 “requiring that magazines whose primary focus is marijuana or marijuana businesses are only sold in retail marijuana stores or behind the counter in establishments where persons under [21] years of age are present.”

“We applaud the Attorney General’s decision to declare as unconstitutional this absurd rule that marijuana-related publications be treated like pornographic material,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“The idea that stores can prominently display magazines touting the joys of drinking wine and smoking cigars, yet banish those that discuss a far safer substance to behind the counter, is absolutely absurd,” said Tvert, who co-directed the successful Amendment 64 campaign that legalized pot in Colorado. “The fact that legislators passed this rule despite being informed it is a gross violation of the U.S. Constitution demonstrates the bigotry that still exists with regard to marijuana. It is time for our elected leaders to get over their reefer madness and recognize that a majority of Coloradans – and a majority of Americans – think marijuana should be legal for adults.”

It’s unclear if other restrictions might be deemed unconstitutional. Two federal lawsuits, one filed by the three pot publications – High Times Magazine, The Daily Doobie and The Hemp Connoisseur – and another by the ACLU on behalf of booksellers, had sought to have the rule declared unconstitutional in court.

Permanent rules for recreational marijuana will be crafted by Colorado’s State Licensing Authority with input from an appointed “representative group” of citizens over the summer. A formal rule-making hearing is scheduled for the week of August 19.

Source: U.S. News & World Report (US)
Author: Steven Nelson
Published: June 6, 2013
Copyright: 2013 U.S. News & World Report
Website: http://www.usnews.com/

8 Jun 2013

It’s Time To End Failed War On Marijuana

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Marijuana has become the drug of choice for police departments nationwide — a trend that is playing out with serious consequences here in Brown County.

According to a new report released Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, police have turned much of their zeal for fighting the failed War on Drugs toward the enforcement of marijuana laws in communities across Wisconsin and the country.

In 2010, cops in Wisconsin busted someone for having marijuana once every 28 minutes. The majority of these arrests are happening in communities of color. Despite roughly comparable usage rates, blacks in Wisconsin are nearly six times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.

These racial disparities are particularly bad in Brown County. Compared to other Wisconsin counties with more than 300,000 residents, in 2010 Brown had the third-highest rate of racial disparity for marijuana possession arrests.

Black people in Brown County are more than seven times more likely than whites to be arrested for the same offense — even though blacks constitute only 2.2 percent of Brown County’s population.

And across Wisconsin, these disparities are only getting worse. Between 2001 and 2010, racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests soared more than 150 percent. Only two other states in the nation had higher increases during this period.

The aggressive enforcement of marijuana possession laws in Wisconsin needlessly ensnares thousands of people in the criminal justice system, crowds our jails, diverts precious police resources away from focusing on serious crimes, and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars. In 2010 alone, Wisconsin blew as much as $73.1 million enforcing marijuana laws.

Legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana in Wisconsin would end racially biased enforcement. Taxing and regulating marijuana would also save millions of dollars currently spent on enforcement while raising millions more in revenue, which could be invested in community and public health programs, including drug treatment.

Barring legalization, state legislators should work with law enforcement to de-penalize marijuana possession by removing all civil and criminal penalties. Low-level marijuana possession should be decriminalized to a civil offense, and prosecutors should focus on more serious offenses.

Brown County police departments can take action by reforming policing practices, including ending racial profiling, unconstitutional stops, frisks, searches, and programs that create incentives for officers to make low-level drug arrests.

This is an issue of racial justice, fiscal responsibility and common sense. What’s happening in Brown County, all over Wisconsin and across the nation proves that it’s time to end the failed War on Marijuana.

Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette (WI)
Copyright: 2013 Green Bay Press-Gazette
Website: http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/
Author: Chris Ahmuty

6 Jun 2013

Americans See Pot War As Futile Fight

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It could happen as early as 2014.

In the wake of ballot measures legalizing marijuana in Washington state and Colorado, it’s not at all out of the question that Oregon voters will have another shot at legalizing marijuana in this state.

Now, it’s true that Oregon voters just last November rejected another initiative, Ballot Measure 80, which would have legalized marijuana. But our sense is that voters were reluctant to ratify that particular measure because — well, because it was loony.

If there’s a pot-legalization measure on the Oregon ballot in 2014 — and if the measure appears to have been crafted with somewhat more care than went into Measure 80 — our hunch is that the measure will pass.

And Oregon state law on marijuana will lurch into head-on conflict with federal law.

The Obama administration hasn’t given much guidance on this matter to its federal attorneys in Washington state and Colorado after the marijuana votes in those states. In fact, Obama himself said that his administration had “bigger fish to fry” than figuring out strategies to help cut through the thicket of contradictions between state and federal drug laws.

Now, though, it’s likely that the fish Obama famously blew off is just going to get bigger — and there’s the sense, as U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer told our editorial board last week, that the U.S. public is ahead of Congress on this issue. Recent national polls have suggested that, for the first time, a majority of Americans favor legalization of marijuana — and younger Americans are heavily in favor of legalization.

Congress has a bit of a window to try to unravel the growing conflict between state and federal law, but the window is starting to close. Blumenauer, who represents Oregon’s Third District in Multnomah County, pointed to a variety of legislation pending before Congress that could help cut through the bramble.

Some of those measures, such as a bill to clarify that farmers legally can grow industrial hemp, enjoy at least a measure of bipartisan support and frankly are long overdue.

Other measures pending before Congress, such as bills to legalize marijuana at the federal level to the extent it’s legal in each state, obviously are more controversial.

But the bottom line seems increasingly clear: Americans are growing weary of what they see as an increasingly futile war against marijuana. If Congress doesn’t take advantage of this opportunity to lead, Americans will take matters into their own hands, one state at a time.

Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Copyright: 2013 Lee Enterprises
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/HPOp5PfB
Website: http://www.democratherald.com/

6 Jun 2013

Pot Potential

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Maybe marijuana isn’t all that bad. A story titled “Marijuana waste helps turn pot-eating pigs into tasty pork roast” caught the attention last Tuesday, as it described how a five-acre farm north of Seattle has discovered how using weed waste into pig food could potentially revolutionize the hog industry and increase per pig profits.

The article went on to point out pigs who were supplemented with the “herbal remedy” ended up 20 to 30 pounds heavier than other pigs in the same litter, in turn creating more revenue for its owners.

Just as with the perceived positive impact of pot-smoking in the pork processing industry, if other countries and industries got on board with a law allowing grass-smoking, perhaps the pot puffing people would potentially create other particular positives for the general population ( I hope you enjoyed the alliteration ): – First off, there would be no one happier than the Cheetos’ cheetah.

After all these years of ( attempting to ) keeping his recreational activities hidden, Chester the Cheetah will finally be able to achieve his lifelong dream of being pictured on a chips bag holding a finely-wrapped toque rather than a cheesy snack.

And, just like modern-day athletes ‘coming out of the closet’ motivates their peers to do the same, Chester ‘emerging from the smoke’ may motivate cartoon-mates to follow.

It would explain why the Pillsbury Dough Boy continues to laugh every time a finger is wedged in to his belly ( when any normal being would have likely snapped like Tiger Woods’ ex by now ). Toucan Sam’s exploits and continuous flight attempts resulting in him soaring straight in to a tree would suddenly make sense ( don’t puff and pilot ). After various featured Wheaties’ box athletes have tested positive for some kind of drug or steroid, it would only seem fitting the wheatie character followed suit ( perhaps there’s more to being a champion than simply one’s breakfast ). And Tony, c’mon, those Frosted Flakes are good, but ar! e they really that Grrrrrrrrreat!? ( guess it depends on who yo! ur dealer is ). – Any business stalking food could forget about the ‘poor economy’. Grocery stores could expect evening hordes of half-hazed, red-eyed residents slowly filing into their store with zombie-like precision and intelligence with only three thoughts on the mind: cookies, chips and pizzas.

There would be an unequivocal growth in restaurant delivery sales, as well as requests for take-out menus ( a few puffs and things apparently start disappearing, too ). On the negative, there would be a sudden inflation in wage expectancy for restaurant telephone operator controllers as they’d have to decipher through calls that included periods of silence, giggling, and orders that comprised not of the actual name of the food wanted but rather orders by description such as, “I’ll take this one” ( as the caller points to the menu in their home, temporarily oblivious to the fact the person they are calling can’t see what they’re looking at ), or “I had it the last time…it was that g! ood one”, or “Anything with lots of cheese on it” followed by a followup phone call request of, “Can I get extra cheese on that”. On the positive, restaurant owners will no longer have issue with wrong orders; customers will either a ) call back giggling hysterically at the humorous prank pulled on them or b ) take the wrong order as a philosophical epiphany ( “I really did want lasagna instead of ribs. How did they know?” ). Delivery boys would also see a huge spike in tips ( although they would likely come in the form of hugs and compliments about how nice their uniform is ). -The NHL could see a huge spike in revenue.

The “Crime Commissioner” Brendan Shanahan would see his job become irrelevant as dirty hits would become self-eliminated by now-perenially-positive players, and fights would reach an all-time low ( with the only altercations being spurred on by a debate of which Bob Marley song is the all-time greatest ). Scoring would return to its golden years like in the pre-90′! s as either a ) goaltenders become complacent midway through the game wh! ile internally debating why they should stop the puck while no one else on their team is or b ) the keepers become distracted by the nacho tray sitting on the lap of a fan in the first row. Meanwhile, all special teams play would be eliminated as the men in stripes would allow players 30 seconds to talk and hug it out rather than make anyone sit on their own in the penalty box. -While making late-night arrests, lawmakers would no longer have to argue with citizens or worry about anyone resisting cuffs.

Training for officers will also change, as they would no longer be taught how to tackle, restrain or pursue culprits.

That training time would instead be used to ensure all recruits earn a minor in philosophy to instead cause criminals to fall in to submission through confusion or mental distraction. Meanwhile, the COPS television show would face an all-time viewership drop as available footage of chases and violence plummets ( although show producers would likely bring the show back to relevance after revamping its storyline to resemble that of a ‘Beavis and Butthead’ script and renaming it “The Great Cornholio!” ). Well that was fun! I’m sure this could continue on, but we’re out of space, so be sure to keep a smile on your face for the week and I’ll be sure to keep a soberly-induced smirk on mine as well.

Source: Neepawa Press, The (CN MB)
Copyright: 2013 Glacier Community Media
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.neepawapress.com/
Author: Kaiten Critchlow

6 Jun 2013

Democrats Promote Bills to Loosen Restrictions on Marijuana Industry

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During a press conference on Wednesday, Democratic congressmen from Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and California announced that they will push for legislation to loosen the restrictions on state-legal marijuana businesses.

The five representatives sponsoring reforms hope to ease the burden for businesses in the cannabis industry by allowing them to file for federal tax deductions, open bank accounts, and operate without fear of property or forfeiture claims. They plan to introduce three bills — the Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act, the States’ Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act, and an amendment to the IRS code relating to state-legal marijuana sales — and will seek to attach these measures to other legislation moving through Congress.

“These are relatively minor technical adjustments,” said Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, “and in times past, things like this would find their way to be part of larger pieces of legislation.” The Hill reported that the sponsors believe the bills have “little chance at moving on their own,” but that they may make it to the president’s desk if they are included in, say, the broader farm bill being debated before Congress.

The Democratic representatives were joined by businessmen involved in the sale of legalized marijuana for the announcement. Aaron Smith of the National Cannabis Industry Association told the press, “We are asking to be taxed. We are one of the only industries in the country coming to D.C. asking, ‘Tax us, but tax us fairly.’”

Supporters of the legislation claim that it will help end the dangerous “cash only” nature of state-legal marijuana businesses as well as solving conflicts between state and federal laws on the issue.

Link: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/350273/democrats-promote-bills-loosen-restrictions-marijuana-industry-lindsey-grudnicki#comments

Source: National Review Online

Author: Lindsey Grudnicki

5 Jun 2013

Blacks Are Singled Out for Marijuana Arrests

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Black Americans were nearly four times as likely as whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data.

This disparity had grown steadily from a decade before, and in some states, including Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, blacks were around eight times as likely to be arrested. During the same period, public attitudes toward marijuana softened and a number of states decriminalized its use. But about half of all drug arrests in 2011 were on marijuana-related charges, roughly the same portion as in 2010.

Advocates for the legalization of marijuana have criticized the Obama administration for having vocally opposed state legalization efforts and for taking a more aggressive approach than the Bush administration in closing medical marijuana dispensaries and prosecuting their owners in some states, especially Montana and California.

The new data, however, offers a more nuanced picture of marijuana enforcement on the state level. Drawn from police records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report is the most comprehensive review of marijuana arrests by race and by county and is part of a report being released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Much of the data was also independently reviewed for The New York Times by researchers at Stanford University.

“We found that in virtually every county in the country, police have wasted taxpayer money enforcing marijuana laws in a racially biased manner,” said Ezekiel Edwards, the director of the A.C.L.U.’s Criminal Law Reform Project and the lead author of the report.

During President Obama’s first three years in office, the arrest rate for marijuana possession was about 5 percent higher than the average rate under President George W. Bush. And in 2011, marijuana use grew to about 7 percent, up from 6 percent in 2002 among Americans who said that they had used the drug in the past 30 days. Also, a majority of Americans in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in March supported legalizing marijuana.

Though there has been a shift in state laws and in popular attitudes about the drug, black and white Americans have experienced the change very differently.

“It’s pretty clear that law enforcement practices are not keeping pace with public opinion and state policies,” said Mona Lynch, a professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

She added that 13 states have in recent years passed or expanded laws decriminalizing marijuana use and that 18 states now allow it for medicinal use.

In the past year, Colorado and Washington State have legalized marijuana, leaving the Justice Department to decide how to respond to those laws because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

The cost of drug enforcement has grown steadily over the past decade. In 2010, states spent an estimated $3.6 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws, a 30 percent increase from 10 years earlier. The increase came as many states, faced with budget shortfalls, were saving money by using alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. During the same period, arrests for most other types of crime steadily dropped.

Researchers said the growing racial disparities in marijuana arrests were especially striking because they were so consistent even across counties with large or small minority populations.

The A.C.L.U. report said that one possible reason that the racial disparity in arrests remained despite shifting state policies toward the drug is that police practices are slow to change. Federal programs like the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program continue to provide incentives for racial profiling, the report said, by including arrest numbers in its performance measures when distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to local law enforcement each year.

Phillip Atiba Goff, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that police departments, partly driven by a desire to increase their drug arrest statistics, can concentrate on minority or poorer neighborhoods to meet numerical goals, focusing on low-level offenses that are easier, quicker and cheaper than investigating serious felony crimes.

“Whenever federal funding agencies encourage law enforcement to meet numerical arrest goals instead of public safety goals, it will likely promote stereotype-based policing and we can expect these sorts of racial gaps,” Professor Goff said.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 4, 2013, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Blacks Are Singled Out For Marijuana Arrests, Federal Data Suggests.

Source: New York Times (NY)
Author: Ian Urbina
Published: June 4, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The New York Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/

2 Jun 2013

Bloomberg: MMJ One Of The Greatest Hoaxes

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks arguments for legalizing medical marijuana are half-baked. “Medical, my foot,” Bloomberg– who has admitted to enjoying smoking weed when he was younger– told John Gambling during his weekly radio show.

“There is no medical. This is one of the great hoaxes of all time,” he said, suggesting legalizing medical pot would just make it easier for recreational users to light up.

“The bottom line is, I’m told marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20, 30 years ago,” he continued, according to The New York Post. “That’s one problem. No 2, drug dealers have families to feed. If they can’t sell marijuana, they’ll sell something else. And the something else will be something worse.

The push to legalize this is wrongheaded.”

State Senator Diane Savino, who’s co-sponsoring a bill to legalize medical marijuana in New York, thinks otherwise.

“We’re talking about people with terminal illnesses, seizure disorders,” she told The Post. “We’re not talking about recreational use.”

Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, Associate Member of the New York Academy of Medicine and Vice-Chair of NY Physicians for Compassionate Care, also disapproved of Bloomberg’s comments.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s statement that medical marijuana is a hoax is tantamount to saying that the moon landing was faked,” he said in a statement. “Marijuana, given in oral and inhaled forms, has been shown in large, gold-standard, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials conducted at major medical centers to relieve pain and muscle spasm, and stimulate appetite and weight gain in patients with wasting syndromes.”

Earlier this week, the New York Assembly passed a marijuana decriminalization bill.

Source: Huffington Post (NY)
Published: May 31, 2013
Copyright: 2013 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

1 Jun 2013

Legalize Pot, It’s The Better Way

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There’s a better way to fund transit: Drug peddling.

No, I don’t mean selling copies of the ( alleged ) Rob Ford video.

Nor do I suggest using magic mushrooms or LSD to transport Torontonians without them leaving their La-Z-Boy.

And I would refrain from selling whatever the Metrolinx brass are smoking? No way. Bad trip, man, as they used to say long ago in my youth. Bad, bad trip. Horrible visions of HST, HOV lanes, gas tax hikes, parking levies, development fees and red monsters with three heads, yellow eyes and pointy teeth.

But we do need to get off the couch and build transit.

Now, inhale deeply and think of this: Canadian Business magazine estimates Canucks spend at least $3 billion a year on cannabis alone. That’s a third of what we spend on our national substance, which flows like Niagara, beer.

A study by two B.C. universities found legal pot would churn out $2.5 billion in licence fees and taxes over five years in that province alone.

The GTA has way more people, but there’s a reason B.C. is called Lotusland, so let’s call it a wash and say our revenue streams would be similar.

You could lay a lot of transit track for $2.5 billion.

Even more if the government actually gets involved in sales, a la LCBO, which had a profit of $1.7 billion last year.

Factor in export markets plus savings on enforcement and prosecution and I bet we’re close to the $2 billion a year Metrolinx says it needs.

We could buy subway cars of solid gold if we also legalize so-called party drugs, such as cocaine and ecstasy, though those are trickier, for health reasons.

Regular readers know I’ve preached legalizing pot for years.

The libertarian in me is baffled that we learned nothing from prohibition of nearly a century ago. A victimless crime ought to be no crime at all, but if you make it one, guess who shows up: Criminals.

On Bob Marley Day in February, I urged Mayor Ford to declare:

“WHEREAS…the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana do no harm and only make our citizens giggle and also increase sales of snacks at neighbourhood stores.

“NOW THEREFORE, I, Mayor Rob Ford, on behalf of Toronto City Council, do hereby declare Toronto an open tokin’ city. It’s legal, folks. Smoke it if you got it.” I was dumbfounded when Rob took a pass. Little did I know.

( And I hasten to add, I have not seen any crack video, though I won’t be shocked if it’s on Netflix next month. )

Until now, I pegged our new-found legal pot money for debt reduction or general tax cuts, as would any good libertarian.

But except for Mike Harris and Attila the Hun, name one politician who actually lowered your overall taxes.

So better we direct our new dope revenue to something specific, like transit. We could change Metrolinx’s name for the project from the Big Move to the Big Doob.

While Metrolinx insists its levies – $477 per household, and if you believe it’s that low I’ve got a gas-plant to sell you – would end once the Big Move is done ( ha-ha-ha, that’s a good one, Metrolinx! ) the Big Doob would give and give forever.

Times are changing. Colorado and Washington state have legalized marijuana. Canadians think we ought to do the same – for example, 73% of us old fogey baby boomers in a Forum Research poll last year. The Harper government’s tougher pot laws are out of step.

Sooner or later, legal dope will be a big part of our economy, just like booze, gambling and Senate bookkeeping.

We need to strike while the bong is hot. S— or get off the pot, so to speak.

In this era of polarized politics, it’s high time mass transit was rolled into… .a joint venture.

Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Mike Strobel

1 Jun 2013

Former Microsoft Manager Has Big Ideas About Pot

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Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants to create the first national brand of retail marijuana and to open pot trade with Mexico. Shively plans to announce that and more in a Thursday news conference he says will feature Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico. “Let’s go big or go home,” Shively said. “We’re going to mint more millionaires than Microsoft with this business.”

He’s acquiring medical-marijuana dispensaries in Washington and Colorado, he said, and plans to become the leader in both the medical and adult-recreational pot markets. He sees the marijuana market as the only one of its size in which there does not exist a single established brand.

He and Fox plan to announce a proposal for regulating the trade of marijuana between the two countries, he said.

Some details of the trade agreement remain to be worked out, such as how to get around international rules forbidding legal pot, Shively admitted.

“I don’t know how exactly that would be done, but I know it’s been done in other industries,” he said.

Alison Holcomb, primary author of the state’s legal-marijuana law, said Shively faces a huge obstacle in the federal government’s prohibition of marijuana.

“Having a national chain of marijuana-based companies is not only explicitly counter to the existing prohibition, but also counter to the government’s expressed concern about business growing too large,” said Holcomb, drug-policy director for the ACLU of Washington.

But Shively, 45, likened the federal prohibition to the Berlin Wall and said it’s crumbling, with fewer defenders every day.

He also said he’s created a way to shield investors from federal regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

And, he contends a venture this size is too big to operate recklessly and take risks — such as diverting legal pot to black markets — that the federal government is most concerned about.

“What we’re all about is making it extremely professional and having the highest quality and efficiencies,” he said.

What if the feds were to come after him?

Shively paraphrased Obi-Wan Kenobi. “He said ‘Darth, if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.’”

If she were Shively’s attorney, Holcomb said, she’d advise him to read the so-called Cole memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice. It “explicitly mentioned a concern with operations involving thousands of plants and millions of dollars” and is evidence of the federal concern with big pot businesses.

Shively, though, seems undeterred. He has become almost evangelical about pot and its benefits, particularly for medical patients, such as his father who has prostate cancer.

“I’ve just fallen in love with the plant,” he said. “Especially in the medical realm I’ve gone from entrepreneur to advocate to activist, seriously.”

Shively worked at Microsoft six years, he said, and had the title of corporate strategy manager. He said he’s been smoking pot for a year and a half.

Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Author: Bob Young, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Published: May 29, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/

1 Jun 2013

Medical Cannabis: Safe, Effective

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Where did you receive your schooling and training?

I have been a medical physician for more than 29 years since graduating from the University of Utah School Of Medicine. I completed training in general surgery in Los Angeles and plastic surgery in Utah. During my general surgery training I completed a one-year plastic surgery research fellowship at the University of Southern California. I finished my board certifications in both general surgery and plastic surgery, and set up private plastic surgery practice in Las Vegas. I practiced plastic and reconstructive surgery for six years until I underwent cervical spine surgery for herniated discs in the neck. The surgery left me with neck pain and bodily muscle pain that prevented me from returning to the practice of surgery.

After five years, I was well enough to re-train in pain medicine at the University of Utah under a group of renowned pain-medicine physicians, who have served as current and past presidents of prominent pain academies and societies in the United States. I hold memberships in the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the International Cannabinoid Research Society and the American Telemedicine Association.

What is your current practice?

I am a board-certified pain-medicine physician and owner of Hawaiian-Pacific Pain and Palliative Care ( medicalmarijuanaofhawaii.org ). The focus of my practice is the care of patients with chronic pain. In addition, I have a strong interest in hospice and end-of-life care. This practice is done on a voluntary basis and is based in Waimanalo at the Native Hawaiian Model Agricultural Village called Pu’uhonua O Waimanalo. Nearly all fees generated by the advocacy and clinical practice for medical cannabis therapies are used for expenses and Native Hawaiian programs.

Malama First Healthcare is a nonprofit initiative based in the village, and its goals are to improve the health care of Native Hawaiians worldwide. I serve as their chief medical officer on a voluntary basis.

How long have you been an advocate for medical marijuana?

I have been an advocate for the use of medical cannabis since 2008, when I was first exposed to a group of chronic pain patients on the Big Island who were using cannabis as their sole pain medication, or sometimes in combination with pain pills.

Having no personal experience with marijuana use, I found it quite fascinating that so many people found benefit and relief to their chronic pain conditions using cannabis.

From there, my professional opinion evolved to the point of full political and medical advocacy.

My formal training taught me that marijuana was a gateway drug and had no medical use, which I have since learned to be completely false. During my training, patients using cannabis often were denied opioid therapies and viewed as drug seekers and addicts.

During my training, no one explained to me how cannabis helped with pain, except one young man who suffered a severe neck injury in the Indonesia tsunami.

Our addiction psychiatrists were forcing him to quit the use of cannabis before the group would prescribe opioids. Thankfully, this is an out-of-date notion.

These restrictions should never be forced upon any patients who suffer severe, disabling pain. As I interviewed more people, I became more convinced of the usefulness of medical cannabis.

I thought to myself that thousands of Hawaii residents can’t be wrong.

Patients were finding significant relief from chronic pain conditions and syndromes that otherwise have poor or no effective treatments.

I then set off on an extensive endeavor to understand the medical science of cannabis, cannabinoid receptors, cannabinoid physiology and cannabinoid therapies.

At first I was shocked by the suppression of these safe and effective therapies because of irrational prejudices and political machinations. This was followed by professional and political disdain at government, politicians, entities and corporations with ulterior motives who are willfully causing millions of people to endure greater suffering because of their direct interference in the practice of medicine and medical research, and their suppression and denial of these therapies. Thankfully, the Hawaii State Legislature took a bold stand more than a decade ago, in the face of great political pressure, which still exists, and allowed for legal use by chronically ill and disabled people.

Chronic pain is the No. 1 medical condition in the United States, with an estimated 75 million to 100 million Americans living with it. At least 20 million to 25 million Americans live with severe pain. In Hawaii, it is conservatively estimated that more than 100,000 live with moderate to severe pain from all causes, including arthritic degeneration, trauma, metabolic conditions such as diabetes, and cancer or its treatment.

Where do things stand right now in the legislative arena?

This year, two bills out of many were vetted in committee and passed by both the Hawaii State Senate and House of Representatives and are expected to be signed by Gov. Abercrombie. The first and most important bill calls for the transfer of the medical cannabis program to the Department of Health. Patients and physicians have requested this transfer for many years.

It is more appropriate that a program for the health and medical welfare of patients be under the auspices of a health department and not law enforcement. The second bill attempts to improve significant shortcomings in the program itself. Safe access is our No. 1problem and concern.

The state allows for the use of cannabis as a medicine but does not allow the access to a safe source of that medicine.

From a medical point of view this is unconscionable. You would not make a diabetic grow and produce their own insulin or diabetes pills.

Currently, patients must obtain seeds, grow the plants, overcome the hostilities of growing by mold and bugs and then develop the yield that becomes their medicine.

The majority of patients are not in a position to even get started.

They don’t know how to grow. They don’t feel well enough to grow. They don’t have a place to grow. And there’s no guarantee that these efforts will result in an adequate medication supply.

The use of cannabis is not an alternative to the use of traditional medications it is a unique medication with unique medical effects.

It is not replaceable with anything else in existence.

Immediate access can only be solved by a dispensary or retail outlet.

A state-run system would be ideal. The other main issue is the failure to increase the qualifying diagnoses list, since cannabinoid therapy is uniquely helpful to a myriad of conditions. A large proportion of Hawaii’s cannabis users do it for medical purposes, but the law does not respect that and allow them to be legal because they are using it for conditions not allowed by law. Our combat soldiers are denied its legal use for PTSD after a decade of multiple deployments to war zones, and are thereby denied an effective and safe treatment for this difficult-to-treat condition. Cannabis is superior to all other modalities in existence such as anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, which have questionable effectiveness and many adverse side effects.

How effective is medical marijuana compared with other painkillers?

At the most recent meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, Dr. M. Moskowitz stated that “preclinical studies, surveys, case studies and randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials with cannabis have all shown its effectiveness in chronic pain conditions . Cannabis works to settle down the processing of wind-up ( or expanded pain processing in the brain ) and is the only drug known to do so. It reduces inflammatory pain in the peripheral nerves, and has a unique mechanism for pain reduction unlike any other medicine.”

Studies have shown that medical cannabis is as effective as opioid therapies. By using medical cannabis, many people are able to completely eliminate or significantly reduce their use of opioid pain pills. This eliminates or significantly reduces the numerous adverse side effects that opioids inflict.

The major medical benefit to the withdrawal of opioids is the removal of physical dependency. Most importantly, the mortal safety of a patient on an opioid regimen is dramatically improved with the addition of medical cannabis and a reduction in opioid dosage.

Every day, Americans are dying from the misuse and overdosing of opioid medications. There is an epidemic of prescribed opioid pill diversions, which can lead to death or ongoing drug addiction.

The use of cannabis in chronic pain also reduces the number of other types of medications needed for coexisting sleep and mood disorders, and myofascial spasms ( within tissue surrounding the muscles ) found in nearly all chronic pain patients.

There are no other single medications in existence that can treat all of these coexisting problems in addition to treating the pain. The removal of these other medications also removes their inherent adverse side effects and any medications needed for adverse side effects, such as drowsiness, constipation or nausea.

Anything you would like to add?

Medical cannabis is an effective and safe therapy that should not be denied to any human being.

Government policies are directly interfering with medical science and research, along with clinical care.

The prohibition of safe access is an ongoing major problem for patients in Hawaii and needs to be corrected by dynamic and outside-the-box thinking.

There are solutions to these issues.

The concerns of cannabis habituation, dependency and addiction, along with recreational or misuse in young people, are not valid reasons for the denial and suppression of these therapies for legitimate patients; otherwise, no controlled substances would be allowed in clinical practice.

I hear compelling, life-changing stories from patients almost daily. Just today, a mother expressed her gratitude to us for helping her son, who was practically bedridden for two years, get his life back. She cried when he tried cannabis and was able to get up and out of bed and start running around.

These are not isolated and rare occurrences.

The addition of medical cannabis as a replacement or adjuvant medication to the chronic pain patient’s medication regimen will greatly improve patient well-being and care, and provide increased patient safety.

Source: MidWeek (HI)
Column: Doctor in the House
Copyright: 2013 RFD Publications, Inc.
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.midweek.com/
Author: Rasa Fournier

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