by Johnny Green
This weekend (June 21st to June 24th) mayors from across the country will convened at the 81st annual U.S. Conference of Mayors, held in Las Vegas. One of the topics up for discussion is a resolution “in support of states setting their own marijuana policies without federal interference”. The proposal – introduced May 22nd – is sponsored by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and 8 other mayors from cities across the country:
Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/marijuana-resolution-up-for-vote-at-u-s-conference-of-mayors/
Category: Cannabis News Corner
Why the drug war is worse than Prohibition
By John Stossel
Columbia University psychology professor Dr. Carl Hart, author of “High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery,” says “hard” drugs are not as dangerous as the media make them out to be. For 15 years, he’s studied the effects of marijuana, methamphetamine, crack cocaine and more on users.
“The data simply shows that the vast majority of people who use these drugs don’t go on to become addicted,” he said on my show. “In fact, some of these people go on to become president.”
Full Article:
http://www.good.is/posts/why-the-drug-war-is-worse-than-prohibition
Lack of evidence blows away marijuana intoxication defense
A worker was disassembling part of a steel roof of a store when he fell 15 feet and landed on a concrete floor. He sustained extensive injuries, including injuries to his brain. He sought workers’ compensation benefits. The employer agreed that he sustained work-related injuries in the course and scope of his employment due to the fall. The employer denied liability for paying workers’ compensation benefits because it alleged that the worker was voluntarily intoxicated from marijuana. The Kentucky Court of Appeals held that the worker was entitled to benefits.
Full Article:
http://www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=533354387
Federal nullification efforts mounting in states
In this April 5, 2013, file photo Kansas state Reps. Steve Brunk, left, a Wichita Republican, and Arlen Siegfreid, right, an Olathe Republican, confer during a Statehouse debate in Topeka, Kan., prior to passage of the Second Amendment Protection Act. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed the bill later and became the first to sign a measure threatening felony charges against federal agents who enforce certain firearms laws on guns made and owned in his state.
Photo by Associated Press /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
An Associated Press analysis found that about four-fifths of the states now have enacted local laws that directly reject or ignore federal laws on marijuana use, gun control, health insurance requirements and identification standards for driver’s licenses. The recent trend began in Democratic leaning California with a 1996 medical marijuana law and has proliferated lately in Republican strongholds like Kansas, where Gov. Sam Brownback this spring became the first to sign a measure threatening felony charges against federal agents who enforce certain firearms laws in his state.
Full Article:
John Legend: ‘I’m A Proud Member’ Of The Marijuana Community
Let’s end barriers to federally regulated cannabis research
Dr. Sue Sisley, M.D
In November 2010, the citizens of Arizona passed Proposition 203, thereby establishing a medical marijuana program. Despite many delays, Arizona is now in the process of awarding licenses to nearly 100 new dispensary operators. Yet as patients eagerly anticipate regulated cannabis, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a political battle they should not have to fight.
Arizona doctors seeking to utilize the program for their patients’ care must turn to the limited scientific literature on the efficacy of medical marijuana. Despite great demand for more FDA-approved research from Arizona and elsewhere, obstructive federal regulations are creating enormous barriers to new research and thwarting peer-reviewed studies of medical cannabis.
The call to open up marijuana research comes from a diverse cross-section of the medical community. Among the organizations seeking new research are the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the American Nurses Association. In June 2012, the Arizona Medical Association joined these respected organizations in requesting the elimination of barriers to research.
Full Article:
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2013/06/21/lets-end-barriers-to-federally-regulated-cannabis-marijuana-research/
Martha Stewart: ‘Of Course I Know How To Roll A Joint’
Screengrab (YouTube)
There is nothing that Martha Stewart can’t do. She can make a potato chip with a decorative leaf inside it. The woman befriended inmates in jail via crochet.
And so it stands to reason that when she smokes weed, she smokes weed right. The O.G. domestic goddessdid an interview with Andy Cohen of Bravo last week, and he asked her if she knew how to roll a joint.
Full Article:
http://laist.com/2013/06/21/martha_stewart_of_course_i_know_how.php
Marijuana Legalization Lobby Day at the U.S. Capitol
Chris Goldstein, PHILLY420 COLUMNIST
Photo by Elkahna Grogan / Freedomisgreen.com
Robert Playshorn (seated left) founder of The Silver Tour in a Congressional office lobbying for legal marijuana in Washington DC 6/17/13
Marijuana will not legalize itself. That’s why senior citizens, military veterans, college students and some of the most seasoned cannabis reform activists in the country gathered to speak with members of Congress on Monday, June 17th.
The “Lobby Days” were organized by campus organizers Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and The Silver Tour, a marijuana advocacy group comprised of seniors.
Full Article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/philly420/Philly420_Marijuana_Legalization_Lobby_Day_at_the_US_Capitol_.html
Veterans key to medical marijuana lobby efforts
By SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — When a constant, “sputtering” pain grips Jim Champion‘s arms and legs, the Army veteran says only one thing brings him relief: marijuana.
Champion, who suffers from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, hopes his experience with marijuana as medicine will help bring relief to other suffering veterans in Illinois. He’s told his story to Gov. Pat Quinn, who now faces a decision whether to sign a measure legalizing medical marijuana in the state.
The veteran, who met Quinn in 2011, says his illness started with blurred vision when he was in the military 25 years ago and ultimately left him a quadriplegic reliant on his wife for care. Pills he took to control pain, which causes violent tremors and leaves him at times unable to open his fists, killed his appetite and turned him “into a zombie,” he says. At the same time, the marijuana his wife adds to baked goods relaxed him.
“My nerves kinda shut off. They quit jumping, sputtering,” Champion said. “So far I’ve found no medicine that’s capable of doing that.”
Full Article:
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Veterans-key-to-medical-marijuana-lobby-efforts-4614744.php
A life sentence… for pot?
BY ERIC STERN
In March of 2011, federal agents in hazmat suits — guns brandished and sirens blaring — raided dozens of marijuana greenhouses and dispensaries in Montana, and arrested citizens who were growing pot in accordance with the state’s medical marijuana law. It all happened without warning — unlike in California and other states where fair notice, and lead time, was given to folks so they could close up shop. The timing of the raids was highly suspicious. They took place on the very day — the very hour, in fact — that the Montana legislature was holding a much-anticipated hearing on how to tweak the medical marijuana statute, so as to cut down on recreational use and sham prescriptions, and also to clarify several parts of the law that were ambiguous.
Full Article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/why_is_an_obama_appointee_launching_an_anti_marijuana_crusade/