NOW THERE ARE 16 STATES

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #468 – Saturday, May 14th, 2011

Today the front page of The News Journal, Delaware’s major newspaper,
printed the article below. Will this, the most restrictive law any
state has, ever actually help patients? Will the federal government
allow the state to have three not-for-profit dispensaries?

You may read the law at
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS146.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+17

If you have been following the news at http://www.mapinc.org/find?253
you know that the feds are continuing to attack medicinal marijuana
providers in various ways. Until Congress passes a law supporting
medical cannabis that is not likely to change.

Please consider House vote tallies for the Hinchey/Rohrabacher
medical marijuana amendment at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll733.xml

You will notice which party tends to give medical marijuana the most
support. The vote also shows that much needs to be done before
federal laws will be changed.

Please contact your Members of Congress. Please write letters to the
editor of newspapers. It Is Not What Others Do, It Is What You Do.

If you need medicinal cannabis facts please visit
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54

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DELAWARE GOV. JACK MARKELL SIGNS LAW ALLOWING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Regulatory, Licensing Process Begins for Three Dispensaries

Gov. Jack Markell signed legislation Friday legalizing marijuana
growing, distribution and use in Delaware for limited medical purposes.

The General Assembly sent Markell the medical-marijuana legislation
on Wednesday.

The governor signed the bill Friday morning without the usual
ceremony in order to initiate a one-year regulatory and licensing
process for three not-for-profit dispensaries that will be authorized
to sell marijuana to qualified patients, according to his office.

Under Senate Bill 17, physicians could recommend marijuana for
patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s disease and
post-traumatic stress disorder.

People with other chronic disease or debilitating medical conditions
could qualify if other medicines or surgical procedures have failed
to relieve their pain or caused seizures, severe or persistent muscle
spasms and intractable nausea.

Physicians and patients would have to have a “bona fide
physician-patient relationship” and other medical treatments would
have to be exhausted before marijuana is recommended, according to
the bill and its legislative sponsors.

Qualified patients who get a doctor’s recommendation and a
state-issued identification card will be able to purchase up to six
ounces of marijuana at one of the dispensaries.

Marijuana growing and purchases will be limited to the dispensaries.
Patients will not be allowed to grow their own cannabis.

“We made clear that this would need to be very limited in scope and
actively targeted to only Delawareans with profound and chronic
illness like cancer and ALS. It is. This bill needed to be about
giving targeted help to the most sick in a way that made medical
sense, and it is,” Markell said in a written statement.

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Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

===
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DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
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Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
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(800) 266 5759
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DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

MICHIGAN MARIHUANA ACT UNDER ATTACK

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #467 – Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

More than 1.3 million adults read the Sunday Detroit Free Press so
what it prints is influential.

Today two items focused on medicinal marijuana.

The first, an in depth editorial, is at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n218/a09.html

The second, a detailed article, is at
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11.n219.a01.html

Please consider writing LTEs to the Michigan newspapers shown here
http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-mi

To follow press clippings about Michigan cannabis use this link
http://www.mapinc.org/find?275

And please send this Alert to others who may be interested. You may
also send it as a link to this Alert from the DrugSense Blog
http://drugsense.org/blog/category/wycd/alerts

It Is Not What Others Do, It Is What You Do.

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

===
.
DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media
Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards
and Paypal. Or, mail your check or money order to:
.
DrugSense
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA 92604-0326.
(800) 266 5759
.
DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.

WILL MICHIGAN’S LOCAL REFORM LAWS BE REPEALED?

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #466 – Thursday, March 10th, 2011

In the months ahead the following local Michigan laws could be repealed:

Ferndale Medical Marijuana Ordinance http://www.drugsense.org/cms/node/49

Flint Code Amendment-Medical Marihuana http://www.drugsense.org/cms/node/42

Traverse City Medical Marijuana Ordinance http://www.drugsense.org/cms/node/50

Ann Arbor Medical Marijuana Ordinance http://www.drugsense.org/cms/node/52

Plus Detroit’s needle exchange and medicinal marijuana laws as well
as other progressive drug policy reform laws in other cities.

Please read Michigan House Bills 4216, 4217, and 4218 at
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/

If these bills become law all that is needed is for the Michigan
executive branch to make “a finding of probable financial stress” for
any local government unit within the state. The very large majority
are now suffering financial stress. Once the finding is made an
“emergency manager” appointed by the executive branch takes over
that government and has unbelievable powers to change anything that
may have a financial impact. Thus if our reform laws have a
financial impact in one person’s opinion they can be struck down.

We were alerted to this possibility by folks who watched these two TV
shows – http://drugsense.org/url/wXxPawCG and http://drugsense.org/url/gz0evdaG

What can you do? If you live close enough you could join the tens of
thousands protesting this power grab at the state capitol.

Plus consider writing LTEs to the Michigan newspapers shown here
http://www.drugsense.org/cms/geoview/n-us-mi

And please send this Alert to others who may be interested. You may
also send it as a link to this Alert from the DrugSense Blog
http://drugsense.org/blog/category/wycd/alerts

It is not what others do, it is what you do.

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

===
.
DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media
Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards
and Paypal. Or, mail your check or money order to:
.
DrugSense
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA 92604-0326.
(800) 266 5759
.
DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
.
Unsubscribe: http://drugsense.org/unsub.htm

WILL NEW MEXICO REPEAL ITS MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW?

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #465 – Saturday, February 26th, 2011

It seems more likely than not that the New Mexico Legislature
http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/ will repeal the state’s medical marijuana law.

New Mexico became the 12th state in the country to allow legal access
to medical cannabis. The bill, the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use
Act, passed the New Mexico State Legislature and was signed into law
in the spring of 2007.

News clippings about this effort to repeal the law will be found at
http://www.mapinc.org/states/NM/

If the law is repealed it will encourage similar efforts in other
medical marijuana states.

Please do whatever you can to help stop this effort. Tell your
friends. Forward this alert or send links to it. Support
organizations opposing the repeal effort.

Below is an Associated Press wire authored by Sue Major Holmes which
provides details.

Please note that the alert “Will Montana Repeal Its Medical Marijuana
Law?” is still valid as there has been no final decision by their
legislature. http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0464.html

Verified facts about medicinal cannabis are found at
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/54

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MEDICAL MARIJUANA REPEAL POSSIBILITY

NM Lawmaker Wants to Repeal Medical Marijuana

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – A freshman New Mexico lawmaker who’s a high school
teacher in civilian life is trying to repeal the state’s medical marijuana law.

The law “sends a bad message to kids, that somehow marijuana is good
for you,” said Republican Rep. Jim Smith of Sandia Park, who teaches
at East Mountain Charter High School east of Albuquerque.

Gov. Susana Martinez said during her campaign last year the state’s
medical marijuana law put state employees in the position of
violating federal law. The federal government classifies marijuana as
a Schedule 1 drug, a category reserved for drugs that have “no
currently accepted medical use.”

But after taking office Jan. 1, the Republican governor focused on
New Mexico’s pressing budget issues and said repeal was not a
priority in the 2011 legislative session.

Smith said, however, he was encouraged by an effort in Montana to
repeal that state’s medical marijuana law. Montana House Speaker Mike
Milburn argues the multimillion dollar marijuana industry has gone
far beyond what voters envisioned when they voted for it in 2004.

Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said she would sign a repeal of New
Mexico’s medical marijuana law if it reached her desk.

Some legislators who voted for the law originally said earlier this
month they were troubled by the expansion in medical conditions that
qualify for the program and the growing number of people using it.

Only patients with conditions approved by the health secretary can
legally use medical marijuana. When New Mexico’s law went into effect
in July 2007, the state had seven approved conditions, including
cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and HIV-AIDS. Now
there are 16, plus some people in hospice care can qualify. The
program is overseen by the state Department of Health.

As of Feb. 16, the day before Smith introduced his bill, New Mexico
had 3,218 active patients.

Smith’s measure is expected to be heard next week by the House
Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, whose vice chairman is
Democratic Rep. Antonio Maestas of Albuquerque, who sponsored the
medical marijuana law in the House.

Maestas said the program has proved to be more valuable than
expected, with soldiers returning from war using it to treat post
traumatic stress disorder.

“Moving medical marijuana out of the criminal justice realm is
difficult for many people to accept, but I believe the vast majority
are in agreement it was a great decision and should not be rolled
back,” he said.

Smith said it’s hard to argue against people in pain who say medical
marijuana makes them feel better, but he believes there are medical
alternatives.

He said he’s encouraged by the 27 co-sponsors, both Republicans and
Democrats, who signed onto the one-page bill when it was introduced
earlier this month.

“The people I got to sign the bill were very passionate about wanting
to get rid of medical marijuana,” Smith said.

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

===
.
DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media
Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards
and Paypal. Or, mail your check or money order to:
.
DrugSense
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA 92604-0326.
(800) 266 5759
.
DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
.
Unsubscribe: http://drugsense.org/unsub.htm

WILL MONTANA REPEAL ITS MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW?

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #464 – Thursday , February 17th, 2011

It seems more likely than not that the Montana Legislature
http://leg.mt.gov/ will repeal the state’s medical marijuana law.

In November 2004, Montana passed Initiative 148
http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/medicalmarijuana/i148text.pdf , allowing
certain patients with specific medical conditions to alleviate their
symptoms through the limited use of marijuana under medical
supervision. Montanans overwhelmingly endorsed the 2004 initiative by
62 percent to 38 percent.

News clippings about this effort to repeal are at
http://www.mapinc.org/states/MT/

If Montana’s law is repealed it will encourage similar efforts in
other medical marijuana states.

Please do whatever you can to help stop this effort. Tell your
friends. Forward this alert or send links to it. Support
organizations opposing the repeal effort.

It is not what others do, it is what you do.

**********************************************************************

Prepared by: Richard Lake, Focus Alert Specialist www.mapinc.org

===
.
DrugSense provides many services at no charge, but they are not
free to produce. Your contributions make DrugSense and its Media
Awareness Project (MAP) happen. Please donate today. Our secure Web
server at http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm accepts credit cards
and Paypal. Or, mail your check or money order to:
.
DrugSense
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA 92604-0326.
(800) 266 5759
.
DrugSense is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to raising
awareness about the expensive, ineffective, and destructive “War on
Drugs.” Donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
.
Unsubscribe: http://drugsense.org/unsub.htm

OUR LETTER WRITING HEROES

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DrugSense FOCUS Alert #463 – Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Since the Media Awareness Project was started as an email list over a
decade and a half ago a major goal has been to empower folks who
write letters to the editor in support of drug policy reform.

It is with great pleasure that we announce today that Robert Sharpe
is our Letter Writer of the Year for 2010. Robert had 176 letters
and three OPEDs published during the year, bringing the total letters
published that we know of to 2, 414. He writes to newspapers all
over the world from his home. Robert writes as a volunteer for Common
Sense for Drug Policy. His published letters often have versions of
the title “Policy Analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.” and sometimes a link to their website http://www.csdp.org/

You may read his published letters at
http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Robert+Sharpe

Robert has provided his tips for letter writing success on this
webpage http://www.mapinc.org/resource/tips.htm