Posted by Max Brantley
A group that advocates legalizing medical marijuana will bring exhibits and advocates to the state Capitol Jan. 12-13 to educate legislators and others on the cause. Details follow:
NEWS RELEASE
Advocates Push for Arkansas to Join Fifteen Other States and Washington DC With Medical Marijuana Laws: Doctors, law enforcement officials and patients will gather in January at the Arkansas State Capitol Rotunda in an effort to educate legislators about the need for Arkansas to enact a medical marijuana law.
The “Medicinal Cannabis Educational Roundhouse: Putting it in Perspective,” culmination of a year-long civic activism project organized by Arkansans For Medical Cannabis (A4MC), happens 9am to 2pm, Wednesday and Thursday, January 12-13, 2011 in the Rotunda of the Arkansas State Capitol building, Little Rock, Arkansas.
According to A4MC organizers, the purpose of the event is to instigate ‘dynamic networking’ among Arkansas legislators, health care professionals, law enforcement officials, media, all members of the general public and leading experts on the use of cannabis as medicine.
Category: Cannabis News Corner
Medical marijuana to treat PTSD? Army personnel form MMJ advisory board.
By Joel Warner
In September, Colorado’s health department rejected the use of medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, a common affliction for veterans. But that doesn’t mean the military and MMJ have been divorced once and for all. Cannabis Science, a Colorado Springs marijuana pharmaceutical company, has formed a military advisory board featuring military officials to advocate for easing restrictions on injured veterans who want to use marijuana for relief.
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/12/medical_marijuana_ptsd_military_advisory.php
Merle Haggard Sticks Up For Willie Nelson, Pot Legalization
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
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Photo: World News |
Merle Haggard: “I think it’s silly to put someone in jail for marijuana possession” |
”We don’t smoke marijuana in Muscogee,” Merle Haggard sang back in 1969. But Merle’s changed his tune these days. The plain-spoken 73-year-old is still making music, winning awards and taking a stand for what he believes — including the legalization of cannabis.
“There are some people in this world that have no idea what the real deal is,” Haggard told Jennifer Self of the Bakersfield Californian when asked about his friend Willie Nelson’s recent pot bust. “I think it’s silly to put someone in jail for [marijuana possession]. I think it’s a threat to the pharmaceutical industry that you can go to the garden to grow something that might keep you from having to use Lipitor.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/12/merle_haggard_sticks_up_for_willie_nelson_pot_lega.php#more
Woman Fired Over Medical Marijuana To Get Day In High Court
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
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| Graphic: Working World |
Should companies be able to fire employees for using medical marijuana — at home, with no effects on job performance — even in states where the medicinal use of cannabis is legal?
Washington judges and lawmakers will be wrestling with that question next month as the state Supreme Court hears the case of a woman fired for legally using pot medicinally, and the Legislature looks at a bill to expand patient protections in the state’s 12-year-old medical marijuana law, reports Vanessa Ho of the Seattle P.I.
Australian Farmers push to overturn hemp food ban
By Jacqueline Street
Australians may have consumed a lot of food over the Christmas weekend but it is unlikely many thought about eating hemp.
Products like hemp chocolate and hemp ice cream are available in other countries but are banned in Australia
Now a group of Tasmanian farmers is renewing a push to overturn the ban.
They say industrial hemp will not make you high and has many health benefits.
Phil Reader, who has been growing industrial hemp in northern Tasmania for five years, says the plant’s similarity to cannabis ends at the leaves.
“There’s absolutely no drug in it; it’s below 0.35 per cent THC, so it cannot be confused with marijuana,” he said.
Mr Reader says Tasmania has the ideal climate for growing hemp seeds, but his crop is tightly controlled because under state law hemp is classified as a poison.
“The reason it hasn’t taken off is the legislation. In Tasmania we come under the Poisons Act,” he said.
“It’s not a poison; there’s no reason for that to be called a poison.”
Mr Reader says industrial hemp is not regarded as a drug crop anywhere else in the world.
“It’s only in Tasmania that we have this problem and that means a whole host of issues with regards to licensing, administration and where we can sell the crop,” he said.
Hobart hemp producer Brandt Teale says he is frustrated because he believes hemp could be a profitable food product in Tasmania and other states.
“The products being made from it include chocolate bars, food drinks, granola bars like sesame seed-type bars,” he said.
Mr Teale says hemp has many health benefits.
“It’s proven scientifically to have the highest omega 3 and omega 6 levels of any of the oils, leaving fish oil for dead, leaving flax oil for dead,” he said.
Read complete article here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/27/3102323.htm?section=justin
Hemp Wanted
Once illegal material promises dizzying array of green energy uses
by Miles Howe
The Dominion – http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The seeds are currently the only part of the hemp plant that are processed and sold in Canada. cc Photo: Yesica
HALIFAX—Wanda Beattie, president and CEO of Atlantic Healing Hemp, paces the floor of her flagship store in Berwick, Nova Scotia. She is a woman on a mission. The shelves around her are lined with hemp salves, hemp balms, cold-pressed hemp seed oil and vacuum-sealed bags of crushed hemp seeds. The hemp is top quality and Canadian grown, but it’s definitely not local—and that’s something Beattie would like to change.
“At the moment I’m bringing in hemp oil in large quantities from Winnipeg,” she says. “That’s the hemp heartland. There was an attempt to grow hemp in Nova Scotia, back in 2000, but it wasn’t feasible because there wasn’t a market for the product. There was some amateur processing being done, but nothing of any scale.”
Beattie’s mission: to resurrect the deep-seeded relationship between Nova Scotia soil and hemp.
Port Royal, Nova Scotia, was the site of North America’s first recorded hemp crop, in 1606.
Hemp stalk can be processed into various materials, including durable, waterproof cord. There are currently no hemp stalk processing facilities in Canada. cc Photo: SnapKracklePop
But by 2009, Saskatchewan had 5,090 acres licensed for hemp and Manitoba had 6,015 acres. Nova Scotia had none.
“The issue is not related to soil,” says Beattie. “There is wonderful soil here in the Annapolis Valley. You can grow hemp here. Top quality hemp. In 2000, Nova Scotia farmers proved it could be done. There’s simply not enough of a market.”
The hemp plant has had many uses. Christopher Columbus swore by hemp sails. Hemp rope, even 50-year-old hemp rope, is still highly sought after for its water-resistant qualities. Anything oil, lumber or cotton can do, hemp can do better. The seeds can be eaten or pressed into oil. Both methods of ingestion are extremely healthy.
As Beattie will tell you, hemp seeds contain all the essential fatty acids. Her hemp cream also goes on smooth after a shave.
Re-education is a large part of Beattie’s campaign to get hemp back into the Nova Scotia diet and consciousness. She and her husband Brian offer weekly, one-hour information sessions out of the Berwick store. She also offers free presentations to Nova Scotia groups and businesses.
“People in the area just don’t know about the benefits of hemp. We grew up in a generation that didn’t hear anything about hemp. Consumers are looking at our products now, and they know they have a value, because they have been used for thousands of years. Younger people are using hemp as a preventative, incorporating it into their diets to stay healthy.”
Hemp was banned in Canada and the US in 1938. Jack Herer, in his book The Emperor Wears No Clothes, highlights the link between DuPont’s patenting, that same year, of the processes of making plastics out of petroleum and paper out of wood pulp, and the continent-wide ban on growing hemp. In 1998, amid growing interest in textile alternatives, Health Canada lifted its ban.
Read complete article here:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/3789
Ed Rosenthal: Letters #7-8 from Eddy Lepp via Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution
Eddy in prison, November 2010
Dear Ed and Angela [Ed’s Assistant],
Sorry it took a minute to write this but it is a tough subject for me because now it is hitting very close to home. I have mentioned the horrid diet and all the deaths and heart attacks inside here.
This last week I tested positive for possible colon cancer. I have been told that if caught in the very early stages it is 90% curable but if caught in the later stages it is fatal 90% of the time. I just wonder if I will have to wait 6-12 months to navigate the Federal Prison medical system.
The medical staff tries to help us all they can but the system is defective. I have to travel to the Medium Security Federal Prison [at Lompoc] to see a doctor, it takes hours to do simple appointments.
I fear I may be allowed to die like so many others I have seen in the 18 months I have been in. These and many other issues really must be addressed by someone someday. To call this the land of the free is a joke. The home of the brave is even more laughable.
As one politician after another is elected by screaming he is tough on crime only to abuse the pages, take the bribes, screw those who elected him while touring the country and world on lobbyist money as he or she sells their soul, we suffer.
If you care (VOTE!) call someone and complain about it.
Respect All
Hurt None
Love Another
Eddy
Original blog here plus another letter from Eddy.
Shock: Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson favors marijuana legalization
By Stephen C. Webster
Robertson a welcome addition to drug reform circles, former narc tells Raw Story
Count this among the 10 things nobody ever expected to see in their lifetimes: 700 Club founder Pat Robertson, one of the cornerstone figures of America’s Christian right movement, has come out in favor of legalizing marijuana.
Calling it getting “smart” on crime, Robertson aired a clip on a recent episode of his 700 Club television show that advocated the viewpoint of drug law reformers who run prison outreach ministries.
A narrator even claimed that religious prison outreach has “saved” millions in public funds by helping to reduce the number of prisoners who return shortly after being released.
“It got to be a big deal in campaigns: ‘He’s tough on crime,’ and ‘lock ’em up!'” the Christian Coalition founder said. “That’s the way these guys ran and, uh, they got elected. But, that wasn’t the answer.”
His co-host added that the success of religious-run dormitories for drug and alcohol cessation therapy present an “opportunity” for faith-based communities to lead the way on drug law reforms.
“We’re locking up people that have taken a couple puffs of marijuana and next thing you know they’ve got 10 years with mandatory sentences,” Robertson continued. “These judges just say, they throw up their hands and say nothing we can do with these mandatory sentences. We’ve got to take a look at what we’re considering crimes and that’s one of ’em.
“I’m … I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That’s not a good thing.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/shock-christian-leader-pat-robertson-favors-marijuana-legalization/
Arizona More Progressive Than California? When it Comes to Marijuana, Yes.
In Arizona, what he does on his own time is his business. Not so in the Golden State.
Arizona’s taken quite the beating from Californians recently, what with the red state’s anti-immigrant, anti-civilization stance creating both headlines and policy. But Arizona’s not all bad — in fact, it can be downright progressive. In at least one instance, more progressive than California.
The Retiree State became the 15th in the union to approve medical marijuana in November, when its voters gave the green light to Proposition 203 by a razor-thin margin. Most California marijuana users would think the Arizona law sucks: It’s much more difficult to get a recommendation (“anxiety” or “insomnia” won’t work), possession is limited to 2.5 ounces (compared to at least eight in California — more in some counties), no patient can grow more than 12 plants, and patients can’t grow any plants at all if they live within 25 miles of one of the few dispensaries to be allowed in the state.
Nobody is going to mistake Maricopa for Mendocino County anytime soon, but medical cannabis patients in Arizona have one gigantic leg up over their California counterpart: Employment protection.
That’s right, kids: In California, a positive drug test can still get you fired from your job, recommendation or no recommendation. In Arizona, unless you show up to the job blitzed out of your mind with a joint hanging out of your mouth, you’re good.
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/12/marijuana_arizona.php
The Today Show: Women and Marijuana
The Today Show on NBC discusses the growing number of “educated, career-minded women who regularly smoke marijuana.” Guests include a professional woman who enjoys using marijuana, as well as Marie Claire editor-in-chief Joanna Coles and Dr. Julie Holland, a psychiatrist at the NYU School of Medicine. All three women seem to agree that marijuana poses far fewer negative side effects than alcohol, and that there should not be such a stigma surrounding it.