By Alan Collins – bio | email

 
BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) –
Marijuana for medical purposes is legal in 17 states. Birmingham representative Pat Todd would like to see it legalized in Alabama for those in pain.
“When you are at end of life, going through cancer treatment, or your have seizures or MS there is a proven medical benefit from the use of marijuana,” Pat Todd said.
Under Todd’s bill, the Alabama Public Health Department would issue cards saying a patient had a right to use no more than 10 ounces of marijuana a month for medical reasons.
“If your child was dying of cancer and they were in extreme pain and discomfort, you do everything in your power to eliminate that,” Todd said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.wsfa.com/story/20077070/alabama-lawmaker-seeks-to-legalize-medicinal-marijuana
 

By JOSEPH GRAF

Courtesy of: www.businessweek.com


According to the Indianapolis Star, Senator Tallian said on November 9 that she plans to re-introduce S.B. 347 and feels that her fellow senators and other government officials in Indiana have been increasingly accepting in their attitudes towards marijuana reform over her last couple years in office.
In addition to Senator Tallian’s never-ending push to get Indiana to at least discuss and research the idea of how Indiana could use decriminalization of cannabis to its benefit, another state lawmaker wants to introduce a separate proposal. According to the Indianapolis Star, Republican Senator Brent Steele has stated that he plans to introduce a new legislation that would change marijuana possession of 10 grams or less to an infraction, a much lesser charge than the misdemeanor that it currently carries.
 
Full Article:
http://www.iusbpreface.com/life/what-progress-has-indiana-made-in-marijuana-reform-1.2951213#.UKHFVuTLdMJ
 

The Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission will hold a special meeting after years of dormancy on Wednesday, Nov. 14 inFrankfort. This meeting was called at the request of a majority of the Commission’s members, including Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer.
 
Full Article:
http://www.kyforward.com/our-government/2012/11/12/kentucky-industrial-hemp-commission-will-hold-meeting-after-years-of-dormancy/

By Eric W. Dolan

 
California Gov. Jerry Brown said Sunday on CNN that the Obama administration should respect states that choose to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes.
“It’s time for the Justice Department to recognize the sovereignty of the states,” Brown said, noting that a number of states had medical marijuana laws. “I believe the president and the Department of Justice ought to respect the will of these separate states.”
Colorado and Washington state both legalized the recreational use of marijuana on Election Day. However, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug: the most restrictive classification, reserved drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medicinal value.

“We are capable of self-government,” he added. “We don’t need some federal gendarme to come and tell us what to do. I believe in comity toward the states, that’s a decent respect.”
 
Complete article:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/11/gov-brown-tells-the-obama-administration-to-back-off-on-marijuana/

Rory Carroll

A woman holds a sign at a pro-marijuana rally at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters
 
Another glass facade among a string of restaurants, boutiques and offices in downtown Denver, there is little to distinguish the premises save the logo with a green cross. The reception is bright and neat and, at first glance, non-descript. Community event notices on the walls, orchids on a desk, a visitor on a sofa filling in a form.
Copies of National Geographic adorn the coffee table but the eye is drawn to colourful hardbacks: The Big Book of Buds: Marijuana Varieties from the World’s Great Seed Breeders, volumes I to III. Beside them, another catchy title: The Cannabible.
Ean Seeb, the co-owner, offers a warm smile and handshake. “Other places put up Bob Marley posters and palm trees, but if you didn’t know us, this could be a doctor’s office.”
We pass a hallway display case filled with elaborate bongs, waterpipes and glass pipes and enter a sanctum where two employees in black T-shirts serve customers weed from glass jars labelled with names such as Bio-Diesel, Ultimate ’91 ChemDawg and DJ Short’s Flo. They chat about Barack Obama’s victory, check ID, swipe credit cards. It’s all rather routine, even banal.
That is the point. Denver Relief, one of 500 medicinal marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, offers itself as testament to the fact you can openly, legally sell the drug without the sky falling or drugged zombies rampaging.
Which is just as well, because on the same day that Obama won another term, Colorado and Washington voted to legalise marijuana for recreational use, landmark decisions with profound implications for the decades-old, US-led “war on drugs“.
 
Complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/11/colorado-marijuana-law

 
“U.S. servicemen and women have been asked to bear an unthinkable burden in the past decade —  and the military has prescribed them whatever drugs they need to keep fighting. But it’s a different story when veterans come home,” said Daniel Robelo, research coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance. “We arrest too many veterans for drug law violations and incarcerate them for too long, leaving them with criminal records that make it all but impossible to get a job, housing, education, and other services – often creating a vicious cycle of addiction and incarceration. We fail to take simple measures to prevent fatal overdoses, we deny proven treatments for addiction and dependence, and we allow the drug war to stand in the way of new and promising treatments for PTSD and other service-related conditions.”
 
Complete article:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/military-casualties/38218-drug-policy-alliance-releases-report-on-veterans-and-the-war-on-drugs-as-nation-commemorates-veterans-day.html

BY LENA BUTLER

 
Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who opposed the medical marijuana proposal, said he was surprised by the amount of people supporting marijuana legalization. More than 500,000 residents voted for the legalization of marijuana and only about 390,000 votes cast for Obama, according to the Associated Press.
 
Complete article:
http://hometestingblog.testcountry.com/?p=22786

By FOX 12 Webstaff – email
 
VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) –
Washington voters approved an initiative to legalize marijuana and it’s going to get some drug possession suspects off the hook.
Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik said Friday that all misdemeanor marijuana charges involving suspects at least 21 years old will be dropped in the county.
The cases will be dropped when the new law is scheduled to take effect Dec. 6.
Clark County is following the lead of King County, where lawmakers announced 175 such cases would be called off.
The cases that will be canceled involve the possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Charges against suspects under the age of 21 will still go forward, because the new law does not apply to them.
Initiative 502 passed 55 percent to 44 percent on Election Day.
Under the law, adults 21 years and older would be allowed to have up to an ounce of marijuana starting on Dec. 6, but you still aren’t allowed to light up in public.
 
Complete article:
http://www.kptv.com/story/20058679/clark-county-to-drop-marijuana-cases-due-to-new-law

NEW DELHI
 
What two American states, Washington and Colorado, have decided to do – legalize recreational use of marijuana – was the norm in India until 1985. All cannabisderivatives – marijuana (grass or ganja), hashish (charas) and bhang – were legally sold in this country. As a matter of fact, most state governments had their own retail shops to sell these drugs. India has known, consumed and celebrated ganja, charas and bhang for millennia.
Their consumption was never regarded as socially deviant behaviour any more than drinking alcohol was. If there was any bias against ganja or charas, it was that these were often viewed as the poor man’s intoxicant by the upper classes. But come Holi, these prejudices would melt away as rich and poor savoured the joyous high of bhang. Even now, despite a legal ban, recreational use of these drugs is widespread in India.
 
Complete article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/The-joint-campaign-Should-we-not-legalize-recreational-use-of-Cannabis/articleshow/17165613.cms
 

by Harry Dole
 
The countries of Spain, Portugal and The Netherlands have decriminalized the possession and personal use of cannabis in one way or another.  What effect has this had on their professional soccer organizations, which are the equivalent of American sports leagues?  Let’s take a closer look.
Since implementing decriminalization legislation, all three of the aforementioned European countries have had few, if any, high profile incidents involving professional athletes and marijuana use.  In fact, compared to narcotic incidents involving American professional and college athletes, marijuana is a non-issue in these European countries.  Certainly, from this perspective, it would appear that cannabis prohibition may lead to more problems than decriminalization.  European soccer is notorious for scandals involving game fixing.  There are very few scandals which involve illicit drug use by athletes.
Furthermore, all three European nations have had very successful national soccer programs.  Spain, who is the cream of the crop, won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 Euro Cup.  Cristiano Ronaldo, who is arguably the best soccer player in the world, is Portuguese.  As for the Netherlands, their national team has been a perennial fixture on the international scene since Johan Cruyff was named the top player of the 1974 World Cup.
Relaxation of marijuana laws in Spain, Portugal and Holland has in no way hindered the performance of their athletes on the national and international stage.  In addition, the more permissive drug laws have not led to any noticeable increase in criminal activity by athletes from these nations.  By using the European model as a frame of reference, it can be surmised that legalization of marijuana would have no adverse affects on American athletes from a performance standpoint.
Complete article:
http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2012/11/09/how-will-the-legalization-of-marijuana-affect-the-sports-world/