Archive for the ‘News’ Category

One Million Legal Medical Marijuana Patients!

According to a July 2nd article in the Huffington Post, “America’s one million legal marijuana users,” there arenow somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million people legally authorized to use marijuana in the U.S. This market generates between $2.3 billion and $6.2 billion worth of business a year. The author of this powerful piece, Russ Belville, serves as an Outreach Coordinator for NORML.org. Belville cites powerful statistics to support the idea that medical marijuana not only helps patients who suffer from chronic conditions like glaucoma, severe depression, and anxiety, but also makes America safer and more prosperous. Consider these stats that he cites about medical marijuana states:

• “Annual highway fatalities are down in every medical marijuana state, except Rhode Island;
• Incidents of workplace injuries and illness are down in every medical marijuana state;
• Monthly teen use of marijuana is down in every medical marijuana state except Maine.”

Different states use different systems, protocols, and laws to regulate the safe use of medical marijuana. But it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the dire — in some cases, cataclysmic — fears of medical marijuana have been forcibly refuted. As Belville notes, “after 15-years, 1 million patients and a million pounds of legal marijuana, few if any of the dire predictions by opponents of medical marijuana have come to fruition…. medical marijuana states like Oregon are experiencing their lowest ever rates of workplace fatalities, injuries and accidents. States like Colorado are experiencing their lowest rates in three decades of fatal crashes per million miles driven.”

Sure, more data would be useful. And marijuana can, indeed, have ill effects if taken improperly or without supervision or abused. (Of course, the same thing could be said of over-the-counter medications like Advil, Pepeto-Bismol and Preparation H, by the way.) But if you’re just trying to look at the data to establish the safety and efficacy of the efforts to legalize medical marijuana,the arguments are pretty powerful.

Organic Marijuana

What constitutes an “organic” medium? According to a recent article in High Times, “an organic product can be broadly described as any product that’s derived from a recently living organism. To grow organic pot means that your growing medium and plant foods result from natural sources and not synthetic compounds dreamed up in the lab.”

Essentially, the medium in which organic pot grows contains things like guano, manure,composts, fruit vines, sea kelp, and even steamed bone. These different media yield up notably different flavors, textures, and buzzes. Organic marijuana typically grows slower than marijuana grown through hydroponic methods.

The process of cultivating organic marijuana is complicated, but more and more newer dispensaries are turning to these methods to design and deliver unusual products. Anecdotalreports suggest, at least, that organic marijuana packs a potent THC crystal count, burns “clean”and contains various nutrients and phytonutrients not typically present in marijuana grown using fertilizers, soil, or prepared with pesticides.

One reason why organics are becoming increasingly popular among medicinal marijuana users is that people who are sick and in pain from conditions like glaucoma, fibromyalgia, MS, cancer,and arthritis want to minimize exposure to toxic contaminants. Non-organic pot – grown, forinstance, with the help of heavy pesticides, anti-fungals, and other synthetic elements — couldquite possibly leach unwanted compounds into the marijuana.

Again, the science here is still relatively young. It’s hard to find conclusive clinical studies that show that this or that compound in the marijuana growth medium will hurt you (or help you). But it intuitively makes sense to avoid blatantly synthetic compounds in your medium.

Tweet with us on Twitter @marijuana_id

California-based Institute, 420 College, Reaching Out To Arizonans

Clashes Over Cannabis In California Continue …

Medical marijuana TAX- smoke and mirrors

Prop 19, the ballot measure that would have legalized recreational use of marijuana in the state of California, was earlier this month rejected by voters.  This is the very same state in which the drug was approved for medical use almost fifteen years ago.  Go figure.  Ostensibly there remains some conflict among Californians as to whether a distinction ought to be made between the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana.  If that is the case, is it merely a concept or reality?  Whatever the answer, it has not stopped numerous local jurisdictions in California from levying taxes on sales of the drug, now the state’s largest cash crop.  Advocates for medical marijuana decry the notion that the drug continue to be regarded solely in its traditional sense, i.e., that of a mood-altering substance, suggesting instead that because it has been officially sanctioned as a ‘medicine’ not only in California but more than a dozen other states, it therefore belongs in the same category as prescription medications, which are not subject to taxation. The irony of Prop 19′s defeat lays in the decision of California voters approving tax levies on medical marijuana similar to those imposed on alcohol and tobacco.  This lends credence to the attitude that the drug being sold legally under state law for “medicinal purposes” is really just smoke and mirrors.

Medical Marijuana Spreading Its Roots

Whatever your thoughts and feelings on the medical use of marijuana (cannabis), consider that sixteen states in the US have now legalized the drug for this express purpose.  The implication here is “medical use” as opposed to “recreational use”, the latter having gained some momentum recently and taken the form of a ballot measure in the progressive state of California where it was soundly defeated this last election.

But will the medicinal attributes—and there are many, some unanimously confirmed in the scientific community, and others yet disputed—of cannabis receive at least some acknowledgment if not support from the rest of the US?  Indications seem to suggest that this is indeed the case, as six states currently have ballot measures or pending legislation.  Inviting goverment control over so contentious an issue may, for some, inspire a false sense of security.  But to oversimplify either way, pro or con, what is unarguably a very complicated topic, is to demonstrate a dangerous ignorance.

Its known addictive properties notwithstanding, medical marijuana has gained national attention and perhaps overall a much more receptive audience than in the past.  This may be attributed to many factors but likely relies rather heavily on the fact that there is physician involvement which in itself suggests a significant reduction in the odds of abuse occurring among patients.  But additionally, there is now the implied acknowledgment that legitimate alternatives (however unsavory to some), perhaps more holistic in nature, to traditional methods of pain relief do indeed exist and ought to garner enough national support to merit further study.  As with any substance, controlled or otherwise, moderation and strict oversight are key both from a patient and physician standpoint, and the material provider as well.

A $100 fine is the maximum penalty of being caught with less than an ounce of marijuana in California, after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Bill 1449 into law Thursday night.

What used to result in a criminal misdemeanour charge is now no more than a civil infraction in the Golden State. Those caught with less than 28.5 grams of marijuana will no longer have to appear in court and face a criminal record.

Californians with a Medical Marijuana Identification Card are exempt from the fine.

The California bill was passed by the Senate in June and the Assembly at the end of August, but it didn’t become law until Schwarzenegger signed it. The bill was among nearly 800 gathering dust on his desk; the governor sent a Tweet from his iPhone after he got through the stack.

“With my fantastic legislative unit after finishing acting on all 772 bills that were on my desk,” he wrote.

Green Oak Township residents on Thursday will have their say on minor zoning-ordinance changes that would incorporate state-approved medical marijuana use, possession and growth into the township’s rules for building uses.

The township Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the draft zoning amendments at its regular meeting Thursday.

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Program began last year after voters approved it at the ballot box in November 2008. More about this Medical Marihuana story here