By Chris Hopper
On Saturday, Bob and Cathy Jordan set up a stand along Manatee Avenue Causeway, asking people to sign a petition to support the legalization of medical marijuana. (Photo: Chris Hopper, staff)
A Manatee County man has marched, petitioned, even been arrested all in an effort to legalize medical marijuana and make his wife’s life a little bit easier.
Bob Jordan has been fighting this fight for the better part of two decades.
“The whole thing is very, very frustrating,” he said. “I mean, if you would have told me 15 years ago I’d still be doing this, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
The inspiration to wage the battle comes from watching his wife Cathy fight her own war against ALS.
“My wife has Lou Gehrig’s disease, one of the most horrible things you could ever see,” Jordan said. “It devastates the whole body and you drown in your own fluids and you suffocate to death.”
The Jordans set up shop Saturday along Manatee Avenue Causeway, asking people to sign a petition to hopefully bring back a bill that will legalize medicinal marijuana for people who need it.
“You know, I use it so I can sleep, I can eat, I can go to bed on time,” said Jeffrey Gillard, who supports the legalization of medical marijuana. “You know, it’s got medical purposes. Alcohol is more dangerous, you know. We’ve got drugs more dangerous. This has got a medical benefit.”
Full Article:
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/7/20/manatee_couple_conti.html
Category: Cannabis News Corner
Euro MP calls for end to hemp ‘tax’ for farmers
Michael Pollitt
Euro MP and Norfolk farmer Stuart Agnew has urged home officer ministers to boost home-grown hemp production.
While visiting the Halesworth factory, he was told that Whitehall officials insist that farmers must pay £580 for a licence to grow the crop.
Mr Agnew, who is UKIP’s member of the European parliament’s agriculture committee, wrote to home office minister Theresa May to ask her to scrap an “unnecessary” tax on hemp growers.
Her home office rule was “restricting the opportunity for a UK industry to compete with others of a similar nature elsewhere in the EU.”
“Hemp is a minority crop on arable land in the UK that provides an excellent break crop for weed control and yet requires no pesticides whatsoever to be applied during its growing period,” wrote Mr Agnew, who is a former chairman of Norfolk National Farmers’ Union and a free-range egg producer.
Full Article:
http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/farming-news/euro_mp_calls_for_end_to_hemp_tax_for_farmers_1_2287631
World Anti-Doping Agency Raises Olympics’ Marijuana Limits, Ups Positive Test Threshold From 15 Nanograms Per Milliliter To 150
BY CHRIS WELLER
(Photo : Flickr, roland) The World Anti-Doping Agency has raised Olympics’ marijuana limits from 15 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml.
Amid the recent fervor regarding athletes using performance-enhancing drugs, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independently run organization started by the International Olympic Committee, has loosened its grip on marijuana consumption among Olympians.
The decision came back in May, when WADA voted to raise the previous threshold of 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 grams per milliliter. The decision was made in order to minimize cases where out-of-competition marijuana consumption yielded a false positive in competition testing. As the drug laws in many countries, including 14 U.S. states, grow more lax, the potential for such false positives rises, along with the risk of coloring an athlete’s reputation.
Full Article:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17594/20130719/olympic-marijuana-limits-wada-regulations-world-anti-doping-agency-drug-test.htm
The decision came back in May, when WADA voted to raise the previous threshold of 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 grams per milliliter. The decision was made in order to minimize cases where out-of-competition marijuana consumption yielded a false positive in competition testing. As the drug laws in many countries, including 14 U.S. states, grow more lax, the potential for such false positives rises, along with the risk of coloring an athlete’s reputation.
Full Article:
http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17594/20130719/olympic-marijuana-limits-wada-regulations-world-anti-doping-agency-drug-test.htm
Does Medical Marijuana Cure Crohn’s Disease? Study Finds Some Patients Had Increased Appetite, Sleep Function, No Side Effects
A new study suggests that daily medical marijuana use may be an effective cure for Crohn’s disease. Reuters
A new study suggests that the regular use of medical marijuana may achieve the “complete remission” of Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disorder.
The study, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, attempted to determine the effect that regular medical marijuana use had on patients with Crohn’s disease, Medical Daily reports. An examination of 21 subjects revealed that medical marijuana effectively treated symptoms in many patients, while achieving “complete remission” in others.
Full Article:
http://www.ibtimes.com/does-medical-marijuana-cure-crohns-disease-study-finds-some-patients-had-increased-appetite-sleep
Needless Suffering of Medical Marijuana Patient Embodies Federal-State Conflict: A Prison Extraction
Sunil Kumar Aggarwal
Associate Member of the New York Academy of Medicine, Senior Resident Physician at Large Academic Medical Center in New York City
When I was in the graduate school portion of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Washington in the Department of Geography, I had an opportunity to work with an intrepid defense attorney by the name of Douglas Hiatt, who brought me face-to-face with major health and human rights cases of persecuted, ill and disabled patients who were caught up in the federal-state conflict on medical marijuana. While the story I share below is from 2005, and was covered by the AP wire, it seems it is only in this age of majority support for ending the federal war on marijuana, when there is still doubt being expressed about the severity of marijuana prohibition enforcement, that people may be able to read and appreciate the full medical details of the following case. I did try to submit the write-up below to medical journals several years ago, but it seems like they were not yet willing to listen. Please lend me your ears and consider the consequences of a federal health policy built on denial of scientific fact of the medical utility of herbal cannabis. The pictures below are courtesy of John Brecher, independent photojournalist. I use the term “prison extraction” in the spirit of Dr. Paul Farmer, who used this term to describe in medical terms his efforts to free from jail local Haitian healthworkers who were swept up in politically motivated crackdowns.
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sunil-kumar-aggarwal/medical-marijuana-patient_b_3619067.html
Rick Simpson Darkcity Phoenixtears Compassion Club
Philadelphia Activists Brace for Smoke Down Prohibition VII
By Scott Gacek
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Final preparations by marijuana reform activists in Philadelphia are underway for Smoke Down Prohibition VII, the seventh in a series of monthly protests held at Independence National Historic Park.
After six successful rallies, The Panic Hour and Philly NORML, joint organizers of the event, will return to Independence National Historic Park, home of the Liberty Bell, to peacefully protest cannabis prohibition starting on July 26.
Unlike previous editions of Smoke Down Prohibition, which were one-day demonstrations, this event begins at 4:20 pm on a Friday, and taking a page from last year’s Occupy movement, will continue for as long as necessary — even if it stretches for days, weeks, or months.
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/24648/philadelphia-activists-brace-for-smoke-down-prohibition-vii/
Cannabis Oil and Me
by kellzzy
Cannabis oil has literally changed my life for the better. This is my story.
A year ago I found out I had breast cancer – a lump the size of a R5 coin on my left breast. I was 35 years old, a new mother and completely unprepared for the news that I had cancer.
When I received the results, I was at home alone with my 18 month old daughter. I didn’t quite know what to do, so I bundled her into a pram and we went out for a walk on a nearby farm. It was a beautiful day, far too beautiful to be dying of cancer.
Full Article:
http://kitchencures.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/cannabis-oil-and-me/
Medical Marijuana For Kids: Why I Give Cannabis To My 7-Year-Old
With news stories and opinion pieces popping up daily about medical marijuana legalization, dad Brandon Krenzler and his 7-year-old daughter, MyKayla Comstock, appeared on HuffPost Live this week to discuss what happens when a minor needs the drug. MyKayla has Leukemia and started taking it shortly after she was diagnosed.
Full Article and Video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/medical-marijuana-for-kids_n_3612839.html
Hemp for a healthy home
Jojo Newby
CHILL, IT’S ALL GOOD: Peter Cuming and Eshana Bragg outside their Maclean home, which will soon be extended with walls built with hemp, sand and lime.
“We were looking for a building material that would be really sustainable; that actually had something special about it.”
Ms Bragg said the hemp, sand and lime mixture provided good sound, heat and cold insulation.
The hemp is the consistency of chaff and cures and sets like concrete when mixed with sand and lime and a few other special ingredients.
Over time, as the walls cure, the hemp walls absorb carbon dioxide.
“It’s like the perfect building material to help stop climate change,” said Ms Bragg.
Full Article:
http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/news/hemp-for-a-healthy-home/1949372/