By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Giving up her idea of suing the federal government over Arizona’s medical marijuana law, Governor Jan Brewer said Friday she is directing the state health department to start accepting applications for cannabis dispensaries.

Americans for Safe Access

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer: “I have directed the Arizona Department of Health Services to begin accepting and processing dispensary applications, and issuing licenses for those facilities”

 
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2012/01/az_governor_directs_state_to_license_marijuana_dis.php#more
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erVd0-6TdAE&feature=share

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Y0CW10RTg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rghGo6RHhmc

Natasha Zouves

Michelle Singh Gori and Ryan

 
Michelle Singh Gori still remembers watching Ryan convulse on the floor, eyes rolled back into his head, foaming at the mouth. She still remembers the severe seizures that would grip her nine-year-old autistic son.
“As a mom, I’ve never felt so helpless. All you can do is stand there are pray that it ends,” said Singh Gori, of Danville, California.
Ryan’s mother said she was desperate for a solution. But she was still shocked when Ryan’s doctor recommended a controversial treatment for her son: medical marijuana.
“Cannabis? What do you mean, Pot? I just thought the man was crazy. I mean I thought he had really lost it,” said Singh Gori. “I’ve never even been stoned. To me, it went against everything that I was raised to believe.”
But, despite her reservations, she said she got a prescription for medical marijuana and sought out a dispensary. Even though she perhaps doesn’t look like she would possess the know-how—she is petite with long blonde hair—she started distilling marijuana essential oil on the windowsill of her kitchen.
And she said ever since she gave Ryan that first dose, she has never looked back.
“From that first day, of all the therapies we’ve ever tried on him, this one was the most instant in how it helped him,” said Singh Gori. Where once Ryan clung to a routine with the constant threat of meltdowns, Singh Gori said within hours he was focused, calm and seizure-free.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.neontommy.com/news/2012/01/ryan-s-story-medical-marijuana-and-autism
 

Tony Newman  Director of Media Relations, Drug Policy Alliance

 
No one has ever died from smoking marijuana. But getting busted with a small amount of marijuana has led to countless tragic deaths.
This week, Shelley Hilliard, a 19-year-old woman from Detroit, was killed after working as a police informant. On October 20, Hilliard was arrested for a small amount of marijuana. The police offered her a way out: She could set up a drug deal. She called a drug dealer and said she had someone who wanted to buy $335 of cocaine and marijuana. When the dealer showed up he was arrested. The dealer was released, and three days later Hilliard was found dead in the streets. The dealer has been charged with murder.
Hilliard tragic death brings back memories of Rachel Hoffman, the 23-year-old, Florida State graduate from Tallahassee who also worked as an informant after she was busted with a small amount of marijuana and Ecstasy. Hoffman was sent alone on a “buy and bust” and was given $13,000 to buy Ecstasy, cocaine and a gun. The men shot Hoffman five times, stole her car and credit card, and dumped her body into a ditch. This week Tallahassee approved a $2.6 million settlement with Rachel’s parents.
These two women should still be with us on this earth, but were instead pawns in an unwinnable drug war that led to their violent deaths.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/get-busted-for-marijuana-_b_1199896.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=541127,b=facebook
 

MEDFORD — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from an Oregon sheriff who denied a concealed handgun license to a medical marijuana user.
The high court’s decision means 54-year-old Gold Hill resident Cynthia Willis and others and can keep both their pistols and their pot.
Willis tells the Medford Mail Tribune her case has been a victory for medical marijuana users throughout Oregon.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/01/us_supreme_court_declines_to_h.html
 

PERUGIA, Italy, Jan 11, 2012 (UPI via COMTEX) — Italy’s Flavor University, part of the National Food Education and Culture Center, said cannabis is an “amazing ingredient” for cooking.
 
The school said Tuesday the cannabis recommended for cooking is cannabis sativa, which contains only trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, ANSA reported Wednesday.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?storyid={fd5e190f-a277-4838-9aef-21bd3a073eb6}&src=main
 

 
AsianScientist (Jan. 11, 2012) – In a world-first, researchers from the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Center (NCPIC), based at UNSW, are studying whether the pharmaceutical drug Sativex – registered for pain relief in multiple sclerosis patients – can help people better manage cannabis withdrawal symptoms as well.
It is estimated that there are at least 200,000 people dependent on cannabis in Australia, with one in ten people who try the drug at least once in their lifetime having problems ceasing use.

“One of the major barriers for regular cannabis users when they try to quit is withdrawal,” said NCPIC director Professor Jan Copeland.
“Withdrawal symptoms may include sleep difficulties, cravings and mood swings and although these are not life threatening, they are significant enough to cause marked distress and lead people to go back to using the drug.”

While tobacco smokers have nicotine replacement therapies to assist them when they stop cigarette smoking and opiate users have synthetic opioids like methadone, there is currently no targeted drug available to assist with cannabis withdrawal, Prof. Copeland said.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.asianscientist.com/tech-pharma/cannabis-withdrawal-drug-sativex-ncpic-australia-2012/
 

People who smoke marijuana for recreational or medical purposes might now breathe easier. Scientists report in the Jan. 11 Journal of the American Medical Association that occasional cannabis users don’t experience any loss of lung function.
In a 20-year study that included lung tests and a specific accounting of marijuana use, scientists also found that people who smoke more than 20 times a month and accumulate many years of use might have a slight drop in lung capacity over time. But the researchers are unsure of that finding since it was based on scant data.
The study is the longest ever conducted that measures cannabis smoking and lung function, uses standard lung measurements and includes thousands of volunteers, says Donald Tashkin, a pulmonologist at UCLA who wasn’t involved in the study. “That makes it important,” he says.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337499/title/Light_pot_smoking_easy_on_lungs