• Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy

    US MI: Who’s Making Money Off Medical Marijuana?

    Newshawk: Please Write a LTE www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
    Pubdate: Mon, 21 Jun 2010
    Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
    Page: 4A
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/ZU02YgTA
    Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
    Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
    Author: Katherine Yung, Free Press Business Writer
    Cited: Michigan Department of Community Health
    http://drugsense.org/url/nDFeNDPs
    Referenced: Michigan’s law http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

    WHO’S MAKING MONEY OFF MEDICAL MARIJUANA?

    It’s Not Who You’d Think; Growers Don’t Get Rich — Unless They Break the Law

    In a small second-story office on Main Street in Ann Arbor, Liberty
    Clinic is doing brisk business, selling medical marijuana for $360 to
    $400 an ounce. In just 3 1/2 months, 750 patients have come through its doors.

    In Lansing, Danny Trevino has expanded beyond his HydroWorld
    hydroponics store, adding two medical clinics, grow classes and a dispensary.

    And in Ypsilanti, Darrell Stavros and his partners have set up a
    medical marijuana service center, renting space to a support group,
    doctors and a bong shop. “This is creating an enormous amount of
    businesses that never existed,” he said.

    Medical marijuana, one of the state’s newest industries, is taking
    off. Dozens of hydroponics stores, medical clinics and grow schools
    are popping up. And at support groups, cafes and dispensaries,
    patients and growers are buying and selling the drug.

    As with any industry, there are challenges, such as crop failures and
    theft. And limits on the size of growers’ crops make it all but
    impossible for growers to get rich, though they can earn some decent money.

    “A few people will make a few bucks. Most people won’t make much,”
    said Adam Brook, organizer of the annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash.

    Entrepreneurs Cashing in on Services Tied to Growing

    [snip]

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n471.a09.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US CA: The Color of Pot Campaign Is Green, and Based in Oakland

    Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/PRmIjMrf
    Copyright: 2010 Bay Area News Group
    Contact: http://www.insidebayarea.com/feedback/tribune
    Author: Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
    Cited: Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act http://www.taxcannabis.org/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

    THE COLOR OF POT CAMPAIGN IS GREEN, AND BASED IN OAKLAND

    Win or lose, the marijuana legalization measure on November’s ballot
    proves one thing: The pot industry has arrived in California politics.

    Oakland’s most prominent purveyor of medical cannabis has almost
    single-handedly financed the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign – a
    once-unthinkable occurrence. Election experts say it’s a sign that
    the pot industry has reached a rarefied political pinnacle: Pot can
    afford to buy its way into voter-approved legitimacy.

    Just as PG&E spent $46.4 million to push Proposition 16 and Mercury
    Insurance spent $15.9 million to push Proposition 17 to further their
    own interests this spring, so too is Oaksterdam University in Oakland
    shelling out millions to invest in its own economic future.

    And Oaksterdam’s owner, Richard Lee, could arguably make a mint if
    the measure passes.

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    Does Sarah Palin Favor Legalization of Marijuana?

    By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

    No, Sarah Palin doesn’t favor legalization of pot. But in a recent appearance with Rep. Ron Paul on the Fox Business Network, the half-term former governor of Alaska sounded … sensible. She said that while she opposes legalization–we don’t want to encourage kids to try it–she thinks that the police probably have more important things to do than bust adults who quietly toking up in the privacy of their own homes.

    Here’s what she said (h/t Hot Air’s Allahpundit):

    Well, if we’re talking about pot, I’m not for the legalization of pot because I think that that would just encourage, especially, our young people to think that it was OK to go ahead and use it. And I’m not an advocate for that. However, I think that we need to prioritize our law enforcement efforts. And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else any harm, then perhaps there are other things that our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society that are appropriate for law enforcement to do and not concentrate on such a, relatively speaking, minimal problem that we have in the country.

    Pot as a minimal problem? But ambivalent about legalization? Is it possible Sarah Palin and I agree on something? Talk about feeling like I’m in an altered state.

    Of course as Allahpundit notes, Palin’s drug policy–it’s OK for adults but not for kids–is essentially how we treat alcohol. “If she’s going to go this far and basically call for cops to look the other way at non-violent adult users, why not go the whole nine yards and embrace legalization with age limits?” the blogger writes. “Or is that the next step once social conservatives acclimate themselves to her current position?” Good question.

    One final thought: We had a pretty good debate on the legalization issue. Former Drug Czar Lee Brown argued against it while former cop Peter Moskos made a strong argument in favor of legalization and regulation. Both pieces are worth reading.

    found @: http://mapinc.org/url/WJoTb2dD

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    My First Visit With My Husband, Marc Emery

    My First US Federal Prison Visit With my Heroic Political Prisoner Husband, Marc Emery by Jodie Emery – Friday, June 18 2010

    I went to visit Marc today for the first time at SeaTac FDC. Thankfully, I’m able to visit him even while he’s in SHU (“segregated housing unit”, solitary confinement). When I arrived at 1:30pm, it was very nerve-racking. I stepped up to the massive building’s entrance, got buzzed in, then found myself in a big lobby with a reflective glass booth and a little hole to pass ID and paperwork through.

    There was a table with the paperwork to fill out for visiting, but no pen. Thankfully there were some visitors there who had been through it all before and helped me figure out the process (and loaned me a pen), because you don’t get any answers from the staff. Visiting officially begins at 2pm on Fridays, but by 2:15 they just started processing, which took a very long time itself.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Hot Off The 'Net

    Why Californians Should Vote In Favor of Tax & Regulate

    By Ed Rosenthal

    Why Californians Should Vote In Favor of Tax & Regulate In Northern California there is a debate raging among commercial marijuana growers over whether they should vote in favor of the Tax & Regulate proposition that is on the November 2nd ballot in California. Some growers fear that legalization will bring in major corporations that will dominate the industry, reducing Humboldt into an Appalachian-type county once again They say, why should we vote for this? It might be putting us out of business.

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US MI: Marijuana Vote Is 1 Step Away

    Newshawk: Taking the Initiative http://www.drugsense.org/caip#take
    Pubdate: Thu, 17 Jun 2010
    Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
    Page: 7A, top of page, four column banner headline
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/i5kHhmhl
    Copyright: 2010 Detroit Free Press
    Contact: http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/opinion04/50926009
    Author: Naomi R. Patton, Free Press Staff Writer
    Cited: Coalition for a Safer Detroit http://www.saferdetroit.net/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis – United States)

    MARIJUANA VOTE IS 1 STEP AWAY

    Detroit Commission Must OK Language

    Detroiters are one step away from a November vote on whether to allow
    possession of small amounts of marijuana.

    The Detroit City Council’s Internal Operations Committee declined
    Wednesday to vote on amending a city ordinance that would allow
    anyone 21 and older to legally possess less than 1 ounce of marijuana
    on private property. The issue is now headed to the Detroit Election
    Commission for approval of the ballot language.

    Advocated by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit — the group that
    successfully got medical marijuana placed on the ballot in 2004,
    which passed — the ordinance would amend Chapter 38 of the city code
    regulating controlled substances.

    Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana user who filed the
    petitions, says the amended ordinance would “free up the Police
    Department to pursue crimes with actual victims.”

    In 2009, Beck said, there were 1,500 arrests for misdemeanor
    marijuana possession in Detroit.

    Detroit police spokesman John Roach said the department’s legal staff
    is still researching the impact of legalized recreational marijuana.

    The City of Denver and the State of Alaska have similar laws.
    Legislation in Seattle and California has been proposed.

    [snip]

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US CA: An Unlikely Evangelist for Legal Marijuana

    Pubdate: Sun, 13 Jun 2010
    Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
    Page: A – 1, Front Page
    Webpage: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/13/MN3N1DPDS1.DTL
    Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
    Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
    Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
    Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
    Author: Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer
    Cited: Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act http://www.taxcannabis.org/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Richard+Lee
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

    AN UNLIKELY EVANGELIST FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA

    At first glance, Richard Lee looks nothing like a man who regularly
    smokes dope and spent his youth working with rock ‘n’ rap gods from
    Aerosmith to LL Cool J. Or who gunned his Harley up and down Texas
    highways as a young man, and has a will as stubborn as iron.

    He looks like, well, a quiet business yuppie. In a wheelchair. With
    tidy slacks and button-down shirt, short-cropped hair and a shy smile.

    Even cops trained to assess people are surprised – especially once
    they learn that this quiet guy is the champion for one of the most
    revolutionary social-change movements of our time, the legitimizing
    of marijuana.

    Lee’s latest effort is the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act on
    the Nov. 2 ballot, which would make California the first state to
    legalize recreational marijuana use. Its passage would notch the
    47-year-old Oakland man a spot in the annals of pot.

    Such notice wouldn’t be all that new for him. From hemp activism in
    Texas to building a cannabis university empire in Oakland, Lee has
    been a pioneer in the marijuana movement for 20 years – something
    that neither he nor his conservative Republican parents could have foreseen.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    The federal government’s failure to find any positive use for marijuana

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 5-19-10

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 5-19-10. http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2902

    Question of the Week: Why has the federal government failed to find any positive use for marijuana?

    Let’s say that it did, but it didn’t.

    In his 1998 ruling called “In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition” the DEA’s Administrative Law Judge Francis Young recommended,

    “that the Administrator [of the DEA] conclude that the marijuana plant considered as a whole has currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, that there is no lack of accepted safety for use of it under medical supervision and that it may lawfully be transferred from Schedule I to Schedule II.”

    That ruling might suggest that the government found positive use for marijuana, but that was 20 years ago. Despite Judge Young’s ruling, marijuana still remains in the most restrictive Schedule I of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act along with heroin, LSD, and GHB.

    Flash forward almost 22 years to the column “Medical Marijuana and the Law,” that appeared in the April 22, 2010 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. This article revealed,

    “Restrictive federal law and, until recently, aggressive federal law enforcement have hamstrung research and medical practice involving marijuana.”

    Yet, despite federal policymakers having hamstrung research and medical practice involving marijuana, four patients continue to receive an ongoing supply of medical cannabis under the federal government’s Compassionate IND program established around the same time as Judge Young’s 1988 ruling. Further, a research review by Americans for Safe Access concluded that,

    “a privately funded study of these patients confirmed that they benefited from their use of medical cannabis.”

    To summarize, Judge Young appeared to find “positive use” for marijuana over 20 years ago, yet federal policymakers have “hamstrung research,” while at the same time provided an “ongoing supply” to four patients who have “benefitted from their use” of cannabis.

    And of course, you can also find facts concerning medical marijuana like these from the Congressional Research Service at Drug War Facts in the Medical Marijuana Chapter.

  • Cannabis & Hemp - Drug Policy - Question of the Week

    Teen use in states that have medical marijuana laws

    Drug Policy Question of the Week – 5-10-10

    As answered by Mary Jane Borden, Editor of Drug War Facts for the Drug Truth Network on 5-10-10.  http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2890

    Question of the Week: Is teen use of marijuana is higher in states with medical marijuana laws than in states without them?

    The Congressional Research Service took a look at this issue in its April 2010 report entitled, “Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies.”

    The report stated,

    “A statistical analysis of marijuana use by emergency room patients and arrestees in four states with medical marijuana programs—California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington—found no statistically significant increase in recreational marijuana use … after medical marijuana was approved.”

    The CRS report referred to

    “Another study [that] looked at adolescent marijuana use and found decreases in youth usage in every state with a medical marijuana law. Declines in usage exceeding 50% were found in some age groups,”

    The CRS report added,

    “California, the state with the largest and longest-running medical marijuana program, ranked 34th in the percentage of persons age 12-17 reporting marijuana use in the past month.”

    Finally, the CRS report concluded that,

    “No clear patterns [concerning teen use] are apparent … “ state-to-state and that “more important factors are at work in determining a state’s prevalence of recreational marijuana use than whether the state has a medical marijuana program.”

    The Federation of American Scientists maintains a collection of Congressional Research Service reports on its website at www.fas.org. You can find this extensive 51-page overview of medical marijuana there by searching on the key word ‘marijuana.’

    And of course, you can also find facts concerning medical marijuana like these from the Congressional Research Service at Drug War Facts in the Medical Marijuana Chapter.