The Associated Press
By LISA RATHKE
by Anthony Johnson
New Hampshire joins the growing list of medical cannabis states. Illinois is now on the clock…
Freedom and common sense is on the march as New Hampshire becomes the 19th state (20th if you include Washington, D.C.) allowing the use of medical cannabis. Cannabis law reform activists have had the most success in states with ballot initiatives as we have been able to make our case directly to the people, who are ahead of politicians on the issue. But as public opinion has swung greatly in favor of medical cannabis, we are seeing more and more state legislatures pass medical cannabis laws and governors willing to sign them.
Full Article:
http://nationalcannabiscoalition.com/2013/07/new-hampshire-becomes-the-19th-medical-cannabis-state/
by Pat Anson
Mike McLean has battled chronic back pain for over a decade. It started when he was a sergeant in the Canadian army and eventually grew so severe it ended his 22-year military career.
“It causes an incredible amount of pain. It’s like a hot knife being slowly driven into my back,” McLean says. “The way the doctors describe it, my back is so screwed up there’s nothing that’s going to fix it again. They kind of gave up.”
“I tried every single treatment you can think of. Physical therapy, acupuncture, even a botox injection. I’ve also had nerve blockers, tons of different medications, including fentanyl patches, OxyContin and Percocet. Doctors throw all sorts of pharmaceuticals at you for physical pain.”
The painkillers helped deaden McLean’s pain, but also came with side effects; including constipation, night sweats and the threat of addiction.
Full Article:
http://americannewsreport.com/nationalpainreport/marijuana-helps-relieve-pain-of-disabled-vet-8820957.html
Angela Bacca
Sometimes I get really sick of talking about pot, but then I remember why I need to.
I have been immersed in the marijuana world for awhile now and it is easy for me to feel like all the things I know about marijuana are common knowledge; it wasn’t illegal until 1937, it cannot kill you, it is more effective in treating many illnesses than pharmaceutical drugs, it is only illegal because some people make a lot of money by keeping it that way. I am sick of talking about it.
But I was born, raised and live on the coast of California. I am surrounded by people who use it, grow it, sell it and people who fight for the right to do all of the above. The facts about marijuana have been normalized for me and many others like me.
Change is definitely happening in California, New York, Washington and Colorado– but we have to make more of an effort to reach out more. Real change happens in conservative states, low-population states, states with harsh drug laws, states where the prohibitionist propaganda is ingrained deepest.
For instance, did you know it would only take $50,000 to add Idaho to the list of medical marijuana states? I recently visited Idaho activist Lindsey Rinehart and learned not only does this Republican state of only 1.5 million people have an 84% favorable view of medical marijuana, it only would take 50,000 signatures to make it to a ballot where it would likely pass. $1 a signature, $50,000 total. Yet, the money isn’t there because activists in big liberal states still don’t believe it could happen, despite the facts.
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2013/06/10/how-and-why-you-should-talk-to-strangers-about-marijuana/
A history graduate from Surrey, Glynis Murray is the co-founder of Braham & Murray, owners of Good, a hemp food company that produces everything from protein powder and oils to milk. Hemp protein is free form allergens and genetically modified organisms: it’s a very pure and functional food source.
SoCal activist Lanny Swerdlow recently notified us that the California Democratic Party passed two historic resolutions on the issue of marijuana at its Executive Board meeting in Costa Mesa on Sunday, July 21.
“The first resolution called on President Obama to (1) respect the voters of Colorado and Washington and to not allow any federal interference in the enactment of their marijuana legalization initiatives, (2) end the federal raids on patients and providers in medical marijuana states and (3) appoint a commission to look into the reform of our nation’s marijuana laws.
“The 2nd resolution calls on our state legislature to enact statewide guidelines for medical marijuana distribution that respects the rights of local municipalities to regulate and license but will also provide marijuana ‘to all patients in all areas of California, rural as well as urban.’
“These are now official positions of the party and add another level of mainstream approval for medical marijuana and marijuana law reform – approval that will hold us in especially good stead when speaking with Democratic elected officials and candidates,” Swerdlow wrote.
Full Article:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2013/07/22/california-dems-say-no-to-medical-marijuana-crackdown-federal-interference-in-co-wa
By OLIVIA WILLIAMS
Cannabis plants are sprouting up all over a German town after pro-marijuana supporters planted tens of thousands of seeds last month.
Supporters of the group A Few Autonomous Flower Children spread several kilograms of seeds around the university town of Gottingen last month.
They say they are protesting its ‘demonisation’ in Germany’s ‘restrictive drug laws’.
Full Article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372554/Cannabis-plants-spring-German-town-campaigners-plant-thousands-seeds-protest-demonisation-drug.html
By Nolan Clay
Caddo County District Attorney Jason Hicks on Thursday defends his hiring of a private company to provide traiining to his task force on drug stops. STEVE SISNEY – THE OKLAHOMAN
HINTON — After seizing more than $1 million in cash in drug stops this year, a district attorney has suspended further roadside busts by his task force because of growing criticism over a private company’s participation.
His prosecutors have dropped all criminal cases arising from the drug stops, The Oklahoman was told. Some seized money is being returned. The attorney general’s office is investigating one complaint some seized funds went missing.
“I’m shocked,” a Caddo County special judge said July 2.
The judge spoke at a hearing after learning the private company’s owner pulled over a pregnant driver along Interstate 40 and questioned her even though he is not a state-certified law enforcement officer.
“For people to pull over people on I-40 without that license is shocking to me,” Special Judge David A. Stephens said.
Full Article:
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-da-halts-i-40-drug-stops-after-criticism-from-judge/article/3864488
By Doug Fine
As it has with thousands of PTSD patients nationwide, cannabis gave 32-year-old Augustine Stanley his life back. Already a decorated veteran, already the youngest Lieutenant at New Mexico’s Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center, he could survive IEDs in Iraq and prison gang member sequestration cells in Albuquerque. But it looks iffy whether his promising, unblemished career will survive a urine test.
Stanley led the team of corrections officers that handles the highest risk inmates in the Albuquerque area – not just violent criminals, but people at risk to themselves. “I was interviewing for promotion to Captain,” he told me. “I don’t even have a disciplinary file. Then last September I failed a urine test.”
This is, sadly and temporarily, not a unique case of what happens in the final days of cannabis prohibition when a patient who works in a “drug”-tested position and his family choose his well-being over even his livelihood and obligation to support, in Stanley’s case, his four kids. And when you talk to this local boy, he makes no bones about one truth: cannabis was and is a life-or-death necessity for him. Otherwise he would never have threatened a career that had logged 13 years toward a lucrative 20-year retirement plan.
In a steady, non-emotional voice, Stanley told me, “The Xanax (alprazolam anti-anxiety pharmaceutical) I was prescribed (after a traumatic tour in Iraq in 2005) just deepened my depression. I was a worse person to be around. I’d take even half the prescribed amount and fall asleep on the couch. I think of that time and the word that comes to mind is zombie.”
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/24696/new-mexico-corrections-officer-fired-for-medicating-legally-with-cannabis/