Cannabis News – Page 99

31 Jul 2012

Indoor Pot Farms Pose Risks

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Despite indoor marijuana-growing operations having been the source of numerous local fires in recent years, city efforts to create an ordinance regulating these gardens have died due to the ongoing conflict between state and federal law.

While the state of California allows the use of medicinal marijuana and the cultivation of the plant, the federal government still classifies marijuana as an illegal drug. Because of this, public safety officials have realized that regulating marijuana cultivation is not currently possible.

Petaluma firefighters responded Saturday to a fire at an eastside home that officials say stemmed from faulty electrical wiring to an indoor pot garden. To prevent such fires, which have become more prevalent in recent years, the police and fire departments last year began jointly developing a safety ordinance aimed at regulating indoor medical marijuana growing operations, but ran into conflicts with federal law that prohibits growing marijuana at all.

“The ordinance was put aside because we realized that we cannot have an official fire ordinance that contradicts federal law,” Petaluma Fire Marshal Cary Fergus said. “So we had to stop working on it.”

Petaluma Police Lt. Tim Lyons said last year that the number of indoor marijuana garden-related fires had increased steadily over the past five years. He added this week that the ordinance the department had been developing is completed and sitting on the police chief’s desk, but that due to the federal conflicts, they have been told to shelve it for the time being.

Saturday morning’s 1525 Yarberry Drive fire, reported at 5:48 a.m., was caused by an electrical short circuit in the corner of the garage, officials said. Electrical fires are common at indoor marijuana gardens where electricity is often siphoned illegally to avoid the electrical usage and costs. When the makeshift circuiting fails, it can cause electrical fires that spread easily throughout surrounding structures.

Fergus said Saturday’s fire at the home of Reyes Mendoza displayed the dangers indoor marijuana gardens pose, since firefighters had to wait for PG&E crews to arrive and fully shut off electrical service to the home. This was needed because the short circuit had caused dangerous electrical arcing — during which electricity jumps back and forth between wires and metal surfaces — to occur underground.

Once PG&E had shut off power, fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze. The fire caused approximately $15,000 worth of damage to the home, according to officials. Fergus said that the department will be billing Mendoza for several broken chainsaws and the man-hours used to combat his fire if it is discovered it was the result of an illegal growing operation or electrical theft.

Petaluma Police Lt. Dave Sears said officers will be investigating the possible electric services theft and whether the grow house was an illegal operation. “There is some indication that it may have been a medical grow, but collectives don’t usually steal utilities,” he added.

In May of 2011, a fire related to a suspected marijuana-growing operation destroyed a duplex on Alma Court, while just four days later another indoor pot farm fire caused $80,000 in damage at a Cotati home.

Fergus added that police officers and firefighters must exercise extreme caution when entering an indoor marijuana-growing operation. He said that firefighters can be electrocuted if electrical arcing is occurring from stolen and makeshift electrical panels. “Because we don’t know where the power source is coming from, it is also nearly impossible for firefighters to ensure that power has been shut off completely,” he said.

Firefighters also do not know what they are dealing with when it comes to indoor growing operations that are almost never in compliance with safety standards, said Sears, who is leading the investigation on the Mendoza house fire. “Operations can cause structural hazards from high humidity and excessive mold growth that weakens walls and frames,” he said.

Mayor David Glass said that in light of the recent fire it would be prudent to put some sort of ordinance in place, but acknowledged that it would be up to the fire and police department to find a way to make it legal.

“It probably needs to happen, but if and when is another story,” Glass said.

Source: Petaluma Argus-Courier (CA)
Copyright: 2012 PressDemocrat.com
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.petaluma360.com/
Author: Janelle Wetzstein

28 Jul 2012

L.A.’s Medical Marijuana Mess

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The Los Angeles City Council is plainly out of its depth when it comes to regulating medical marijuana. This was already clear after years of fumbling and court-delayed attempts to limit the number or locations of cannabis dispensaries, but it became painfully obvious Tuesday when the council approved a ban on all dispensaries — along with a separate motion to draft an ordinance that would allow well-established pot shops to stay open, partially defeating the council’s own purpose.

Not that we can really blame the council for being confused. We’re confused about how to legally restrict a quasi-legal business too. For that matter, so is the entire state of California. And that’s causing even bigger problems than usual as the federal government, which considers marijuana an illegal drug, has begun a series of raids on California pot outlets.

Is L.A.’s new ban even legal? There’s no clear answer to that question, but a recent court ruling suggests that it isn’t. After Los Angeles County imposed a blanket ban on pot distribution in unincorporated areas in December 2010, it was challenged by a Covina collective, which won a key victory this month in the state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal. Writing for the three-justice panel, Justice Robert Mallano said the county’s ban was preempted by state law and contradicted the intent of the Legislature.

Of course, it isn’t that simple. The Los Angeles County ban would have closed all distribution outlets, whereas the city of L.A.’s ban would allow small collectives with three or fewer members to stay open. The city’s lawyers say that key difference should persuade the courts to approve L.A.’s “gentle ban,” and as ammunition they point to a separate ruling by a different 2nd District Court justice that suggested the city’s approach would neither constitute a true ban nor violate state law.

If thinking about all that isn’t enough to give you a migraine — which, on the plus side, is enough justification to get a medical recommendation for a dose of cannabis in California — there is the added complication that could arise if the City Council goes ahead with the separate ordinance to allow certain dispensaries to stay open. Specifically, Councilman Paul Koretz called Tuesday for staff to draw up a draft that would grant immunity from the ban to those facilities that were in place before a 2007 city moratorium on new dispensaries was approved. This brings up unhappy memories of L.A.’s years-long attempts to regulate billboards, when strict regulatory ordinances were undermined by council members carving out exemptions for certain signs in their districts. Courts tend to take a dim view of that kind of favoritism.

So let’s review: L.A. has banned all but the tiniest marijuana collectives. When it attempts to enforce this ban, it will be sued. Action will be delayed for months, or quite possibly until the state Supreme Court weighs in on a series of marijuana cases next year. Mission accomplished?

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Published: July 26, 2012
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.latimes.com/

23 Jul 2012

Pot-smoking Moms Defend Their Habit

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Which parent is worse: The one who smokes pot or the one who knocks back wine?

Some pot-smoking mothers are defending their habit and say they’re tired of being judged by other moms who religiously drink glasses of wine. “Any hypocrisy is hard to swallow. A drunk mother is pathetic and I often leave parties when I experience other mothers tying one on,” Margaret, a mother of two boys, told Today Moms.

And she’s not the only mom who feels this way. One mother recently raised eyebrows when she acknowledged that she takes care of her daughter when she’s stoned. And the Moms for Marijuana group has garnered close to 20,000 likes on Facebook.

Margaret, who didn’t want her last named used, told Today Moms that smoking marijuana helps her relax so she can get through her day without stressing. “It can make folding a pile of laundry fun. If I didn’t smoke, that’d be three piles later in the week.”

But she’s careful to keep her habit hidden. Margaret keeps her stash locked away from her kids and doesn’t tell other moms for fear of ostracizing her children.

“Marijuana parents aren’t perfect, but they’re far less imperfect than parents who use alcohol irresponsibly,” says Diane Fornbacher, the co-vice chair of the Women’s Alliance at NORML, the non-profit lobbying group working to legalize marijuana.

She told Today Moms that parents shouldn’t be judged if they’re using a substance that makes them more productive and causes no harm. “Cannabis can influence people to be nicer to one another. You rarely find a story that says two stoners beat each other up outside of a bar.”

In Canada, it is legal to use marijuana for medical purposes. But according to a recent poll, 66 per cent of Canadians believe possession of small amounts of the drug should be decriminalized.

But, of course, there are health concerns for parents who smoke pot around their kids, such as a higher likelihood that the child will use the drug or starting smoking it earlier. And those who smoke marijuana before 16 have a higher rate of psychiatric disorders, according to Today Moms.

23 Jul 2012

Medical Marijuana: The Facts

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Christie Administration Has Been Responsive on Issue

I was surprised and saddened to see the editorial Wednesday titled “Med marijuana: What’s the deal?” The Asbury Park Press’ editorial board is typically thorough and factually accurate, but in this instance it couldn’t be more off the mark.

While this program appeared to get off to a slow start, we have seen real, and substantial, progress over the past year, particularly the past few months.

The problem right now isn’t the program or the progress. The problem is the Press’ lack of factual followup. The same day the editorial appeared in the Press, an article ran in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Legal for some, pot crops up in N.J.,” highlighting the headway being made in our program.

The same people whom the Press quotes as taking issue with the administration – quotes from months ago – are quoted from the past few days praising the people in the Christie administration and the folks directly running the program. That is downright sloppy – and ultimately unfair to those of us who have broken our butts to get this program on track and moving forward.

One facility run by the Greenleaf center is already growing plants that are now a foot high. They should begin dispensing the much-needed medicine to patients as early as mid-September. A second facility run by the Compassionate Care Foundation hopes to have a crop ready by November. The claim that none of the centers around the state have begun operating is just plain wrong.

The editorial says the Christie administration is at the heart of the delays, yet the Journal article quotes Bill Thomas, CEO of Compassionate Care, as saying, “We have had complete cooperation with the Department of Health. They are helping us.” While these two facilities are moving forward, the other four are “searching or in negotiations for locations,” according to the Department of Health.

In my efforts to move this program forward, I have found the administration to be responsive to fair and legitimate questions or issues every step of the way. John O’Brien, the executive director of the medicinal marijuana program appointed by the governor, and Charlie McKenna, the governor’s chief counsel, have received well-deserved praise from the people legitimately trying to move their operations forward.

My office has reached out to every one of the approved entities. Some have really engaged and some have completely blown off offers of help – – now having only themselves to blame for their lack of progress. But no entity at this point can legitimately blame the administration for a lack of progress.

If all of the approved entities don’t begin to move forward, we will at some point have to consider revoking the approvals of those not moving forward, and reissue those rights to other entities. While the guidelines the Christie administration put in place are strict, it is the high bar set by those guidelines that has given our program here in New Jersey the extremely high level of credibility it has throughout the country. The programs in California and Colorado are complete disasters by comparison. The strict regulations in New Jersey destroy the arguments of anyone fear-mongering or casting aspersions on our program or medical marijuana in general.

We all want our patients suffering from illness and chronic pain to get relief, but we also need to make sure we put the right program in place and administer it thoroughly and carefully, to build credibility with a somewhat skeptical public. The polls show a majority of people favor medical marijuana, but too many folks then turn around and say they don’t want the facilities in their back yard. The comprehensive, clear, consistent and strict design of our program – a design devised by the Christie administration – should allay any reason for fear.

Source: Asbury Park Press (NJ)
Copyright: 2012 Asbury Park Press
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.app.com/
Author: Declan O’Scanlon

23 Jul 2012

Experts Warn On Impact Of Legal Pot

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Legalizing marijuana in even a single state could drive down prices dramatically across the country, encouraging more people to smoke the drug, a panel of experts said at a briefing Tuesday.

Last week, Oregon became the third state that will vote this November on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, joining Colorado and Washington.

“Legalization is unprecedented – not even the Netherlands has done it – – it is entirely possible it will happen this year,” said Jonathan Caulkins, co-author of “Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

“The effects will be enormous,” said Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, during an event at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Obama administration opposes legalizing marijuana and has taken action to shut down some medical-marijuana dispensaries in California and Colorado.

Caulkins said one of the main reasons for outlawing the drug is to make it riskier to produce and sell, driving up prices and curbing use. A price collapse after legalization in some states could undermine marijuana laws nationally.

Caulkins said Colorado’s proposition would allow residents to obtain a grower’s license fairly easily, making the state a good home for exporters of marijuana.

“They would be able to provide marijuana to New York state markets at one quarter of the current price,” he said, predicting similar price declines in other states.

Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said his advice to federal officials would be “to sit down with the governor of the state and say, ‘Look, we can make your life completely miserable – and we will – unless you figure out a way to avoid the exports.”

One option would be to impose strict limits on how much of the drug retailers could sell to each customer.

Washington’s proposal would present authorities with a different problem. The state is proposing to create a strong system of regulations with the aim of propping up prices. Caulkins said the federal government could strike down the regulations but would leave a free for-all behind.

“The federal government will face some really difficult choices where actions are like double-edged swords,” Caulkins said.

ource: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Author: Ian Duncan, Tribune Washington bureau

18 Jul 2012

3 States Mull MJ Legalization Experts Warn: Beware

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Legalizing marijuana in even a single state could drive down prices dramatically across the country, encouraging more people to smoke the drug, a panel of experts said at a briefing Tuesday. Last week, Oregon became the third state that will vote this November on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, joining Colorado and Washington.

“Legalization is unprecedented – not even the Netherlands has done it – it is entirely possible it will happen this year,” said Jonathan Caulkins, co-author of “Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

“The effects will be enormous,” said Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, during an event at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Obama administration opposes legalizing marijuana and has taken action to shut down some medical marijuana dispensaries in California and Colorado.

Caulkins said one of the main reasons for outlawing the drug is to make it riskier to produce and sell, driving up prices and curbing use. A price collapse following legalization in some states could undermine marijuana laws nationally, the experts warned.

Caulkins said Colorado’s proposition would allow residents to obtain a grower’s license fairly easily, making the state a good home for exporters of marijuana.

“They would be able to provide marijuana to New York state markets at one quarter of the current price,” he said, predicting similar price declines in other states.

Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA, said his advice to federal officials would be “to sit down with the governor of the state and say, ‘Look, we can make your life completely miserable — and we will – unless you figure out a way to avoid the exports.”

One option would be to impose strict limits on how much of the drug retailers could sell to each customer.

“The federal government will face some really difficult choices where actions are like double-edged swords,” Caulkins said.

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Ian Duncan
Published: July 17, 2012
Copyright: 2012 Los Angeles Times
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.latimes.com/

16 Jul 2012

1 in 8 with Fibromyalgia Uses Medicinal Cannabis

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One in eight people with the painful condition fibromyalgia self-medicate with pot and other cannabis products, according to a new Canadian study.

“That is not unusual behavior, in general, for people with chronic medical illnesses for which we don’t have great treatments,” said Dr. Igor Grant, who heads the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California and was not involved in the study.

“People start looking around, they look for other types of remedies, because they need the help,” he told Reuters Health.

The question is if self-medicating with cannabis is really helpful for people with fibromyalgia, researchers say.

Marijuana has been shown to ease certain types of pain in patients with HIV and other conditions. But Grant said he doesn’t know of any research showing the drug can relieve the pain associated with fibromyalgia.

And the question of whether it helps fibromyalgia sufferers regain some of their daily functions, such as housekeeping or working, remains up in the air, too.

“We don’t want to just see pain reduction, but an improvement in function,” said Peter Ste-Marie, a pain researcher at McGill University in Montreal, who worked on the new study. “If it’s not helping them get back into a daily life pattern, is it helping them?”

People with fibromyalgia typically experience pain in their joints and muscles and may also suffer from frequent headaches and fatigue.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about two percent of adults have fibromyalgia, which remains a mystery to scientists.

The condition can be treated with physical therapy, antidepressants, pain medications and other approaches, although none of them is a cure.

To see how many people turn to marijuana, Ste-Marie and his colleagues collected information from the medical records of 457 patients who came to the pain unit at McGill University Health Center. Their findings are published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

All of the patients had been referred to the clinic for fibromyalgia symptoms, although only 302 of the patients were confirmed to have fibromyalgia as their primary diagnosis.

About 10 percent said they smoked marijuana for medical purposes and another three percent had a prescription for a synthetic form of the active chemical in the cannabis plant.

“The popular knowledge of marijuana being available for pain would tend to demonstrate why 10 percent of patients would give it a try,” said Ste-Marie.

“There really is no miracle drug for fibromyalgia. We definitely understand that patients would try to find something else,” he told Reuters Health.

The researchers couldn’t tell from the study which of the patient had started smoked pot before their fibromyalgia developed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40 percent of U.S. adults have tried marijuana at some point.

The study showed that pot smokers and non-users had the same rates of disability and unemployment. However, patients who had unstable mental illness or had a worrisome use of opioid pain medications were more likely to report using cannabis – a finding that raised concerns with Ste-Marie and his colleagues.

“Before saying herbal cannabis has a future in fibromyalgia, there are multiple things that need to be looked at,” he said.

Newshawk: Konagold
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Author: Kerry Grens, Reuters
Published: July 13, 2012
Copyright: 2012 Thomson Reuters

13 Jul 2012

Alcohol Not Marijuana Triggers Drug Abuse in Teenagers

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If you want your kids to stay away from drugs, then you might want to keep teenagers off alcohol because a new study says that long term drug abuse is likely to occur due to alcohol, not marijuana, use.

The present study included data on more than 14,500 high-school students from 120 schools across U.S. The data was obtained from Monitoring the Future study.

Researchers analyzed the data to find out what substances were being tried by students. They checked for use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, amphetamines, tranquilizers and other narcotics. Alcohol was the first substance to be tried by students, the results showed.

“By recognizing the important predictive role of alcohol and delaying initiation of alcohol use, school officials and public health leaders can positively impact the progression of substance use. I am confident in our findings and the clear implications they have for school-based prevention programs. By delaying and/or preventing the use of alcohol, these programs can indirectly reduce the rate of use of other substances,” Adam Barry, an assistant professor and researcher in the College of Health and Human Performance at the University of Florida.

“These findings add further credence to the literature identifying alcohol as the gateway drug to other substance use,” Barry said.

Estimates from major surveys in U.S say that by age 17 most teenagers, between 59 percent and 71 percent, had consumed alcohol, 31 percent to 44 percent had tried cannabis, and 4 percent to 6 percent had tried cocaine, in a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Researchers say that parents should prevent teenagers from drinking. Alcohol is commonly available and isn’t considered as taboo as other substances but many studies have shown that alcohol abuse in early years can make teenagers more likely to abuse other drugs.

The study doesn’t clearly define how drug abuse actually starts but it does provide some idea about a good intervention program to keep children from becoming long-term drug abusers.

“Parents should know that a strict, zero-tolerance policy at home is best. Increasing alcohol-specific rules and decreasing availability will help prevent an adolescent’s alcohol use. The longer that alcohol initiation is delayed, the more likely that other drug or substance use will be delayed or prevented as well,” he said.

10 Jul 2012

Pot Prohibition Benefits No One

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You can’t visit a winery established in the 19th century without hearing about the heroic efforts made to preserve the ancient vines that provide the grapes, which with time and care, produce wine. From 1920 until 1933, the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcohol within the USA was prohibited. So called “Prohibition” was an effort to control the use of alcohol, especially among the working classes. Its roots stretch even earlier in our history. Before Prohibition began, the brewing, wine-making and distillery businesses in the nation represented about 14 percent of the economy, and employed thousands. It took the Great Depression to convince voters that maybe Prohibition was not such a good idea.

Prohibition began with the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Interestingly, drinking itself was never made illegal. Those who had the money could continue to consume alcohol as they pleased, from private stocks. Every President during the period, and over 80 percent of Congress had their own private stashes of alcohol. The people affected by this law were the working classes and the poor. The original thought was that if the sale of alcohol was made illegal, people would not consume it. We could control the risk of alcoholism, and reduce the problems often associated with it. Instead, people went to extremes to obtain it.

The advent of Prohibition was a bonanza for organized crime, bootleggers, and of all things, Canadian manufacturers.

Canada and other neighbors like Mexico never made the manufacture and sale of alcohol illegal. Alcohol was bootlegged into this country and then sold at great (non-taxed) profit, estimated by the end of prohibition to exceed $2 billion a year. Hence, the rise of Al Capone and the so-called mob. Home distilling became popular, and thousands died because of the lack of regulation.

Prohibition was repealed in 1933 with the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, in the heart of the Great Depression. Budweiser sent a truck-load of beer to the White House to honor the occasion, delivered by their famous Clydesdales.

We face a similar situation today around the pros and cons of the legalization of marijuana. An article in Sunday’s New York Times (”Cities Balk as Federal Law on Marijuana Is Enforced”) highlighted Arcata in the discussion about medical marijuana clinics. Many states, along with California, have decided that marijuana, at least for medical reasons, should be legal. Though the voters have spoken, the federal government continues to enforce its rules. Not unlike drinkers during Prohibition, marijuana users are forced to go underground. Illegal grow houses and trespassing on public lands are the result, with huge profits for those willing to take the risk. Needless to say, none of this is taxed or regulated.

Do we really want to continue down this road? No one benefits. Private citizens, not to mention law enforcement officials, are at constant risk because of people cultivating marijuana illegally, whether in grow houses which have become ubiquitous, or on public lands. Marijuana isn’t going away, no matter what the federal government says. The alternative to regulation is no regulation, and the chaos we experience is the result. Surely local governments are better able to determine which clinics are legitimate and which are not. By blindly threatening every clinic, as has become the federal government’s policy today, we shoot ourselves in the foot. The rich, as usual, can do pretty much what they want, as they always have. It is the medically legitimate marijuana users who are forced underground, into the black market, much as in Prohibition days.

For a small town, Arcata has a big reputation. We are known for many things, from big trees and beautiful beaches, to being capitol of the so-called “Emerald Triangle.” Perhaps we can also help the nation move forward in meaningful dialogue about the so-called war on drugs.

Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2012 Times-Standard
Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Author: Eric Duff

10 Jul 2012

Medical Marijuana Users Oppose Home Grow-Op Ruling

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Saskatchewan’s exempted medical marijuana users and growers are criticizing a decision by the federal government to stop individuals from growing the plant.

“I will be forced to purchase it from the government and that restricts me because I cannot produce the type that I like and that helps (dull the pain),” said Jason Hiltz, a medicinal marijuana advocate in Saskatoon who received an exemption in 2008 to grow the plants and take the drug.

Health Canada will no longer allow individuals to grow marijuana for medical use by 2014, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq told CBC News on Friday.

Aglukkaq was reacting to a CBC investigation this week that Health Canada is ill-equipped to inspect licensed growers. There are also complaints from critics who say sanctioned growers are abusing their permits and often growing far more than they need. The individual grow-ops also attract break-ins, critics say.

The health minister said previously Health Canada wants to tender licences to produce marijuana in a way the same way as conventional drugs – by companies, under tightly regulated conditions. There are around 1,200 patients and 200 growers in Saskatchewan, who are limited to providing medical marijuana for up to two patients.

Shutting down licensed medical marijuana growers will only push people to obtain pot illegally, said Kaylynn Colby, 25, a Regina head shop worker who obtained an exemption after a doctor prescribed medical marijuana for pain.

“All they’re doing is creating demand in the black market,” Colby said.

In her teens, Colby suffered a herniated disc in her back that was never diagnosed. She suffers from severe juvenile arthritis, she said.

“All of the other painkillers they were (prescribing) were causing a lot more damage,” Colby said. “This (growing medical marijuana) was definitely the safer way to go about it. Since then I haven’t taken more pain killers for my condition.”

For Hiltz, two car crashes in 2005 and 2006 left him with a fractured vertebrae and spinal stenosis, which compresses his spinal cord, causing pain and weakness in his neck, shoulder and left arm.

An expert horticulturalist, Hiltz says the medical marijuana he produces is far better at dulling the pain than the government’s medical marijuana he would be forced to access.

Hiltz also says he can grow his own medical marijuana for around $140 per month compared to $540 for Health Canada’s mail-order pot, which is produced by Saskatchewan-based Prairie Plant Systems Inc.

Colby agrees that the medical marijuana produced for Health Canada isn’t as effective.

“I’ve seen it, I’ve smelt it and I would not want anything to do with it,” Colby said. “-I’ve never heard anybody satisfied or happy with it at all. It’s low-grade, poor quality, and it often doesn’t even help the medical condition very much.”

She would like to see the government increase the number of patients licensed growers can provide for.

“By allowing people to grow their own medicine, which is something that hasn’t hurt anyone, that would be a lot more beneficial than more rules and more boundaries and more punishment,” Colby said.

Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Author: David Hutton

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