City Attorney wants pot clubs to address renter’s paradox

Posted on June 14, 2013 - 6:10 am by Bryan Cohen

Lucky Rabbit, originally uploaded by jillbertini.

Call it the renter’s paradox. When voter-approved marijuana legalization goes into full effect next year, renters will be able to buy weed, but may not technically have a place to smoke it.

The current law prohibits open use of marijuana “in view of the general public,” but allows it inside privately owned homes. That protection doesn’t extend to rental housing – of which, Capitol Hill has plenty. Many landlords are expected to ban marijuana in and around their buildings, just like cigarettes.

It’s not a new issue, but Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes is now asking the state to address it. In a letter dated June 10, Holmes asked the state’s Liquor Control Board to consider allowing for smoking clubs to curb public marijuana use. “Renters and tourists should not be forced to use marijuana in parks or on sidewalks,” he wrote.

City Attorney Pete Holmes

It’s unclear under I-502 if pot clubs are permitted.

Liquor Control Board spokesperson Brian Smith said the board would likely not take up the issue of pot clubs. The board’s primary concern is setting up a regulatory framework for people to buy and sell marijuana, he said.

Tim Seth, president of the Washington Landlord Association, told CHS he is advising all landlords to ban marijuana inside units and on building premises because “a majority of people don’t smoke” and “smokers have a higher propensity to be default tenants.”

“We look at it like cigarettes,” Seth said. “[Landlords] can ban cigarettes anywhere on the property. It’s the same with marijuana, with the exception being medical marijuana.”

But landlords are already facing their own paradox. Seth said many landlords use leases with clauses that prohibit the “use of illegal drugs,” which no longer applies to marijuana. Landlords cannot change the terms of the lease until the lease ends, meaning tenants may be able to smoke inside until their lease is up. Edibles will likely continue to be a viable option.

If smoking marijuana is prohibited in a lease, Seth said landlords will have the right to give a notice to comply and eventually evict tenants if they continue to use marijuana inside their buildings.

Some bars and businesses in the state have already tried their hands at pot clubs without the explicit go-ahead from regulators. Tacoma’s Stonegate Pizza made headlines in March, billing itself as the nation’s first legal pot club. For $20 customers get a year-long membership to vaporize (not smoke) marijuana from an upstairs lounge inside the shop.

In addition to pot clubs, the Seattle City Attorney also asked the board to consider specifying rules on marijuana delivery — something more than a few Capitol Hill entrepreneurs will be paying close attention to.

Moving Toward Legal Marijuana Commerce in Washington State [FEATURE]

by Phillip Smith, June 12, 2013, 11:42pm, (Issue #787)

Voters approved the marijuana legalization initiative I-502 in Washington state last November, and it is now legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana, but a full-blown marijuana commerce industry doesn't just happen overnight. The state is still months away from having a functioning system of state-taxed and -regulated marijuana cultivators, processors, and retailers, but the process is well underway, and by most accounts, it is going relatively smoothly.

This is how your Washington state marijuana will be labelled, according to the Liquor Control Board.

Last month, the Washington Liquor Control Board (LCB), the state agency charged with setting up the state's marijuana industry, issued its initial draft rules. It took written comments on the initial draft rules through Monday and will issue revised draft rules later this month. The LCB will hold public hearings on the rules for all three envisaged licenses -- grower, processor, and retailer -- in late July, promulgate final rules in August, begin accepting license applications in September, and begin issuing licenses in December.

From then, it is still likely to be months before the first legal marijuana is sold in Washington because only once growers are licensed will legal marijuana destined for retail sale be in the pipeline. It takes a minimum of three months to bring an indoor crop to harvest. But by sometime next spring, consumers should be able to go to their local pot shop and make their selections.

"These initial rules balance our goal of developing a tightly regulated system with reasonable access for small and large business models to participate within the system," said Board Chair Sharon Foster. "They are based upon hundreds of hours of internal research and deliberation, consultation with multiple industry experts and input from the over 3,000 individuals who attended our forums statewide."

The initial draft rules reflect the Board's stated goal of developing a tightly regulated and controlled recreational marijuana market. Included in the rules are elements that address out-of-state diversion of product, traceability of product from start to sale, youth access and other public and consumer safety concerns.

Here are some of the key elements in the initial draft rules: 

License Requirements

• Application Window -- The application window would open for 30 days for all license types and be extended or reopened at the Board's discretion. This approach was similar to how Colorado opened its medical marijuana system.
• Background Checks -- License applicants and financiers would be required to submit a form attesting to their criminal history, provide fingerprints, and allow criminal background checks. 
• Point System -- The WSLCB would employ a disqualifying criminal history point system similar to liquor. An exception would be allowed for two misdemeanor convictions of possession within three years.

Public Safety

• Producer Structures -- Producer operations would be allowed in both secure indoor grows or greenhouses.
• Traceability -- A robust and comprehensive traceability software system will trace product from start to sale.
• Violation Guidelines -- In addition to the $1,000 fine for certain violations established by I-502, the initial draft rules also include a strict tiered system of violation penalties over a three year period (similar to the current standard penalty guidelines for liquor).
• Security -- The rules direct strict on-site surveillance systems similar to Colorado's current system.  
• Advertising Restrictions -- I-502 restricts advertising within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks, transit centers, arcades, and other areas where children are present. The draft rules further restrict advertising as they pertain to children.

Consumer Safety

• Behind the Counter Storage -- No open containers allowed.  
• Package and Label Requirements -- Consumers will know contents and potency of products they purchase.
• Defined Serving Size -- Serving sizes equal 10 mg of THC. Products are limited to 100 mg.
• Lab Tested -- Uniform testing standards by independent accredited labs.

With the release of the initial draft rules, the period for written comment opened up. One of the first analyses -- not a formal comment -- came from the Henry Wykowski law firm, a San Francisco marijuana law practice that recently opened a Seattle office. Drafted by Wykowski attorney Rachel Kurtz, a longtime player in the Seattle marijuana reform scene, the analysis shined a light on some of what could be described as the rules' downsides.

"Hash will not be allowed for sale at the retail stores," the analysis noted. "According to the draft rules WAC 314-55-079, 'marijuana extracts,' such as, hash, hash oil, shatter, and wax can be infused in products sold in a marijuana retail store, but RCW 69.50.354 does not allow the sale of extracts that are not infused in products. A marijuana extract does not meet the definition of a marijuana-infused product per RCW 69.50.101."

The Wykowski analysis also warned that "fingerprinting will be required and sent to the FBI for anyone with an interest in the business being licensed, including financiers." That means anyone seeking a marijuana license is potentially incriminating oneself to the federal government, which continues to consider marijuana an illegal substance, even in states that have legalized it.

After Monday's deadline for comments passed, the LCB reported that while initial comments on the rules were relatively light, the agency received extensive written comment over the final weekend and throughout Monday from public and private organizations.

"In keeping with our goal of an open and transparent process for drafting the rules, we’re going to take an additional two weeks to consider the last-minute input we’ve received," said LCB Director Rick Garza. "The Board was prepared to issue the rules on June 19. However, it's our responsibility to carefully review and consider the comments we received."

Among those commenting were Washington NORML, the Washington Cannabis Association, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, organizations with concerns about impacts on minorities, and organizations with concerns about prevention, treatment, and public health, both led by the ACLU of Washington, whose Alison Holcomb took a leave of absence to lead the I-502 campaign to victory. The comments revealed a variety of interests -- some conflicting -- and concerns from various stakeholders in the issue.

The prevention, treatment, and public health groups called for tighter restrictions on packaging, labeling, and advertising, shorter hours for retail outlets, and getting rid of the logo that features a marijuana leaf centered over an outline of the state, while the minority groups called on the LCB to ensure that their communities did not become dumping grounds for marijuana retail outlets.

"Initiative 502 was designed to achieve better health and safety outcomes for our families and communities than marijuana prohibition has," said Holcomb. "It was not intended to 'mint marijuana millionaires' who prioritize profits over public health. The goal is to improve upon our experiences with alcohol and tobacco, not repeat them."

"We supported I-502 because we were very concerned about the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana possession on African-Americans and communities of color," said Jon Gould, deputy director of the Children's Alliance, which signed onto the public health comments. "Prohibition hasn't worked, and it has had damaging effects on children and families. We think regulation would be better."

"The Board needs to remember that it is setting a standard for marijuana regulation," said University of Washington professor Roger Roffman, who also signed on to the public health comments. "We have a unique opportunity to create a system that discourages glamorization of marijuana use and encourages respect for the public's health and wellbeing. Let's not waste it."

While the public health and minority communities were concerned with restraining the marijuana marketplace, other constituencies had other concerns.

"Most of our constituents are small growers with a hundred plants or less. We argued that when it comes to growing, priority should be given to individuals who are willing to have a garden of 99 plants or less," said Kevin Oliver, executive director of Washington NORML.

"Our constituency includes two separate US Attorney districts that have disparate levels of enforcement activity. If the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District gets wind of any marijuana operations, they shut them down. They're discussing zoning for grows the size of a football field in Seattle, and good for them, but that won't fly in eastern Washington. If they ignore the little guy, that's going to cut out anybody in eastern Washington, that's why we want them to prioritize for small growers under 99 plants."

The 99 plants number is based on federal mandatory minimum sentences that kick in at 100 plants, but is also based on the observation that federal prosecutors are unlikely to go after grows that small when there are bigger fish to fry -- and bigger punishments to hand out.

"Our concerns were very similar to most everyone else who was frustrated with the board's definition of what can be sold at retail and it's not allowing extracts like hash oil," said Kurtz, who worked with the Washington Cannabis Association in crafting its comments. "Nobody is happy about that. There are a lot of business people who were counting on that for their business model. The whole purpose of the initiative was to get rid of a black market, but by not allowing that retail, a black market will remain. We might as well actually regulate because it's going to happen regardless, but they don't seem very keen to change," she said.

"The draft regs also don't allow for outdoor grows, but I have some hope they will change that," Kurtz added . "They've heard back from a lot of people about the need for outdoor grows, including Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes. Forcing everyone indoors increases energy consumption, and growing outdoors is less expensive."

On the upside, the LCB seems to be crafting reasonable regulations for out of state visitors and for preventing diversion, although diversion probably won't be a big issue, Kurtz said.

"This doesn't limit out of state people at all," Kurtz explained. "You can buy an ounce at a time, which is the limit of what you can legally possess."

There is no integrated system to track purchasers, so out-of-staters could theoretically go from retail outlet to retail outlet, building their stashes an ounce at a time, but that doesn't mean there will be an issue with diversion to other states, Kurtz argued.

"Economically, it just doesn't make sense," she said. "If someone from North Dakota wants to sell pot there, they could come here, but they would be paying full retail and having to go to a bunch of stores, and they wouldn't have much of a profit margin paying retail. Or they could just grow some in their basement in North Dakota."

A larger issue is diversion from cultivation sites, but Kurtz argued that a combination of security and grower self-interest should limit that.

"There is going to be a lot of recordkeeping, an electronic system where growers will have to input data daily," she said. "There are product quarantines, there are security cameras. But more importantly, people are preparing to invest a lot of money in this to have a legitimate business, not to divert pot to the black market. I've been meeting a lot of people who I don't think would risk their licenses to sell to the black market."

Washington's legal, regulated marijuana commerce is still a work in progress, but stakeholders pronounced themselves generally satisfied with the process so far.

"We are in completely new territory in terms of creating a legal marketplace and we're being very vigilant. It's too soon to tell whether this new environment is going to adequately protect youth and be an effective public health approach," said the Children Alliance's Gould.

"This has been a good public process, with lots of transparency and broad engagement. They are doing a good job in terms of being open and transparent," he continued. "What is also really apparent is the enormous amount of competition this has created, with industries and individuals looking at this as an opportunity for profit. There are choices that need to be made, and we and others are speaking up, saying we need to choose public health and kids over profiteering. If the WSLCB creates an environment based on policies designed to make this more profitable, that could have a detrimental impact on children, youth, and the public health."

"We're getting there," said Kurtz. "Eventually we will have a good system, but it may take a few years to figure itself out."

And so marijuana begins the transition from illegal drug to legal commodity in Washington state. That is, if the federal government allows it to happen. So far, the federal government has given little indication it's going to do much of anything about it, but that could change. Stay tuned.

WA

United States

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ACLU Calls For The Legalization Of Marijuana

The American Civil Liberties Union is calling for the legalization of marijuana in response to the massive amount of resources and taxpayer dollars spent to curb the drug.

In a new study released Tuesday, the ACLU found that law enforcement was using billions in taxpayer money to combat marijuana. In 2010 alone, the report — which was based on data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program and the U.S. Census — said, "States spent a combined total of over $3.6 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws."

The enforcement of marijuana laws resulted in 8.2 million arrests between 2001 and 2010. Of those arrests, 88 percent were for the possession of marijuana. Additionally, the report found that marijuana arrests made up 50 percent of all drug arrests in the U.S. in the same time period.

As a result, the ACLU has come out in support of the legalization of marijuana through regulations, taxation and licensing. However, the ACLU said it would support punishing marijuana possession only with civil penalties.

"The aggressive policing of marijuana is time-consuming, costly, racially biased and doesn't work," Ezekiel Edwards, director of the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project, said in a prepared statement.

Edwards said the arrests for marijuana possession have a "detrimental impact" on the individuals involved and on the communities. "When people are arrested for possessing even tiny amounts of marijuana, they can be disqualified from public housing or student financial aid, lose or find it more difficult to obtain employment, lose custody of their children, or be deported."

In 2010, a person was arrested for marijuana-related charges every 41 seconds, according to the study. Of those arrests, black people were arrested at a higher rate than white people, even though marijuana use by both races is about the same. An overall increase in marijuana possession arrests from 2001 to 2010 is largely attributable to drastic increases in arrests of black people, the ACLU said.

The ACLU found marijuana arrest rates for black people were 3.73 times greater than those for white people nationally in 2010. In some counties, the arrest rate was 10 to 30 times greater for blacks.

When it comes to marijuana use, about 14 percent of black people and 12 percent of white people reported in 2010 that they had used the drug during the previous year, according to data that the ACLU obtained from the National Drug Health Survey, a Health and Human Services publication. Among younger people ages 18-25, use was greater among whites.

"The war on marijuana has disproportionately been a war on people of color," Edwards said. "State and local government have aggressively enforced marijuana laws selectively against Black people and communities, needlessly ensnaring hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal justice system at tremendous human and financial cost."

Police simply operate from the standpoint that "the use of marijuana is a crime," said Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police.

"We will try to educate our membership, to the extent the statistics are valid, to be aware (that) people other than blacks are smoking marijuana and to arrest them too," said Pasco, who had not yet seen the ACLU report.

Arthur Burnett Sr., a retired judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, said his 40 years on the bench showed him that police concentrate their numbers in black communities. It's easier to catch people with marijuana in communities where there are "open-air" drug markets, rather than looking in homes, basements or country clubs, said Burnett. He is the CEO of the National African American Drug Policy Coalition based in Washington.

Burnett said some black defendants, distrustful of authorities, may lash out, use profanities or be rebellious — behavior that makes it more likely that an officer will make an arrest. Burnett said his coalition supports forming a commission to look at scientific evidence on the effect of marijuana use and "overcriminalization" of it.

The commission would determine whether to treat marijuana like tobacco, in which people are warned about consequences of its use. It would also examine the harshness of penalties for using marijuana.

Edwards said the legalization of marijuana could be used to help states facing "budget shortfalls." The "taxing and regulating would allow them to save millions of dollars currently spent on enforcement while raising millions more in revenue — money that can be invested in community and public health programs, including drug treatment."

The issue of legalizing marijuana has been brought up before the Utah Legislature, but few lawmakers see it as a viable solution for the future. In 2011, then-Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful, said legalizing marijuana would send "absolutely the wrong message" to young people.

Marc Emery Locked Indefinitely In Solitary Confinement Over False Charges

Marc Emery, the Vancouver businessman and political dissident currently imprisoned in the US for his marijuana activism, has been locked in solitary confinement for an indefinite period over false charges.

Marc, who has been learning the bass guitar while locked up in the Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex in Mississippi, received permission from prison authorities to have photos taken of him performing music with his fellow inmates. According to Marc, permission was given by three separate administrators, including one at the prison's Special Investigative Services (SIS), and authorization paperwork likely exists.

Photos of Marc performing with his band were taken and developed by prison staff and then sent to Marc's wife Jodie through regular US and Canadian postal services.

Marc has now been put in the solitary cells at the prison Special Housing Unit (SHU) and told he is under investigation by the SIS, who say the photos may have been taken with a prohibited smart phone.

"Got to see Marc for 1.5 hours," Marc's wife Jodie posted in an online statement yesterday, shortly after a trip to visit him. "Prison has him in solitary confinement to 'investigate' the photos of his band that the prison itself approved! The investigation (could take months) is to see if Marc had a cellphone to take the band photos - despite proof the prison camera was used! The warden, guards, music/recreation admins - everyone - knows Marc got official permission for those photos. Yet they put him in solitary?!"

Prisoners in the SHU are locked up for 23 hours a day and receive none of the basic amenities afforded to regular prisoners.

"He had to beg for a pen and for a razor to shave," Jodie told Cannabis Culture. "All they give him to wear besides his orange prison suit is a pair of 4XL shorts with string tied around his waist to hold them up, and one pair of socks with enormous holes in them. I cried when I saw him, and he did too. Another SHU inmate set a fire and smoke filled the cells, and Marc thought he might die. It's Hell. We need to get him home!"

Cannabis Culture contacted Yazoo prison but was told no one would be available for comment until Monday morning.

Emery was sentenced to five years in prison in the US after being arrested and extradited for selling marijuana seeds and using the money to fund marijuana legalization activism, including publishing Cannabis Culture and Pot TV. The DEA admitted Emery was targeted for political reasons in a press release issued the day of his arrest.

Shortly after his extradition to the US in 2010, Marc was locked in solitary confinement for three weeks for unknowingly breaking an unwritten rule by having his wife record a phone conversation for publication as an online podcast.

Marc has 394 days until he is eligible for early release, and has submitted a transfer application to serve the rest of his sentence in Canada.

"Right now his transfer application to come home to Canada is in the US Government's hands," Jodie said. "We need everyone to encourage them to approve his transfer application and get him out of solitary confinement, out of federal prison in Mississippi, and on the way home to Canada!"

Support Marc by sending a letter to the US Department of Justice transfer division, requesting that he be approved for transfer home to Canada.

States That Legalize Health Benefits Of Medical Marijuana

Marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) is one of the first plants cultivated by man. Shrouded in controversy, the intriguing history of cannabis as a medication dates back thousands of years before the era of Christianity. Scientists believe the hemp plant originated in Asia. In 2737 B.C., Emperor Shen Neng of China prescribed tea brewed from marijuana leaves as a remedy for muscle injuries, rheumatism, gout, malaria, and memory loss. During the Bronze Age in 1400 B.C., cannabis was used throughout the eastern Mediterranean to ease the pain of childbirth and menstrual maladies.

More than 800 years before the birth of Christ, hemp was extensively cultivated in India for both its fiber and healing medicinal properties. William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, an Irish physician famous for his investigative research in pharmacology, is credited with introducing the therapeutic, healing properties of cannabis to Western medicine. During the 1830’s Dr. O’Shaughnessy, working for the British in India, conducted extensive experiments on lab animals. Encouraged by his results, Dr. O’Shaughnessy commenced patient treatment with marijuana for pain and muscle spasms. Further experiments indicated that marijuana was beneficial in the treatment of stomach cramps, migraine headaches, insomnia and nausea. Marijuana was also proven to be an effective anticonvulsant.

From the 1840s to the 1890s, hashish and marijuana extracts were among the most widely prescribed medications in the United States The 1850 United States Census records 8,327 marijuana plantations, each larger than 2000 acres. Recreational use of marijuana was not evident until early in the 20th century. Marijuana cigarettes became popular, introduced by migrants workers that brought marijuana with them from Mexico. With the onset of Prohibition, recreational use of marijuana skyrocketed. During the early 1930s, hash bars could be found all across the United States.

Although protested by the American Medical Association, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act banned the cultivation and use of cannabis by federal law. Under the law, cultivation, distribution and consumption of cannabis products for medicinal, practical or recreational was criminalized and harsh penalties were implemented.

During World War II, the United States government planted immense hemp crops to supplement the supply of naval rope. The exception was granted to make up for the loss of Asian hemp controlled by the Japanese. During the 1950s, the United States Congress passed the Boggs Act and the Narcotics Control Act. These acts laid down mandatory sentences for drug offenders, including cannabis cultivators, users and distributors.

Legalization of Marijuana

In 1996, the State of California was the first state to legalize marijuana. Following California’s lead in enacting the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, enlightened voters in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington decriminalized the use of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana is also legalized in the District of Columbia. Legalization removes state-level criminal penalties for possession, use or cultivation of cannabis by persons who possess current state issued written documentation authorizing the use of medical marijuana. As of May 2013, States with pending legislation to legalize medical marijuana include Alabama, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and New York.

In an orchestrated effort to increase state revenues, create jobs and provide unrestricted access to the healing properties of cannabis, Nevada and Hawaii legislators are presently endeavoring to pass laws legalizing the recreational use of marijuana by all adults: similar to the recent initiatives passed in Colorado and Washington State.

Rules, regulations, eligibility, fees and the amount of cannabis a patient or provider is able to cultivate or possess, varies widely from state to state. Legislation in states where medical marijuana is decriminalized has established confidential patient registries to manage records and issue state identification cards to qualifying patients.

Qualifying medical conditions also vary by state. Cancer, Crohn’s disease, decompensated cirrhosis, chronic pain, nail patella, glaucoma, HIV/Aids, anorexia, Alzheimer’s Disease, ALS, Autism, intractable skeletal muscular spasticity, Hepatitis C, severe muscle spasms including Multiple Sclerosis, painful peripheral neuropathy, seizures, epilepsy, severe nausea, and cachexia or wasting syndrome are a few of the qualifying diagnoses. For many patients suffering from any one of these dreadful, debilitating medical conditions, marijuana is their last hope: offering symptom management and relief from suffering.

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode Island voters have legislated that medical marijuana and cannabis products can only be obtained through medical marijuana dispensaries. In Arizona, if you live more than 25 miles from a dispensary, you can grow your own. In other states, you can grow your own medical marijuana or you can register with a provider, a growing cooperative or a medical marijuana dispensary.

In 2009, the United States Justice Department advised federal prosecutors not to pursue medical marijuana users and distributors in compliance with state laws. The welcomed announcement of federal policy, lead to the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in every state where dispensaries were legal.

State regulated medical marijuana dispensaries are locations where patients, with a state approved doctor’s prescription, are allowed to obtain medical marijuana, free from the fear of arrest, legal repercussion or prosecution of state law. However, under federal law it is still a federal crime to sell or possess cannabis.

The majority of medical marijuana dispensaries are storefront sites that offer a diverse array of medical marijuana strains and smoking paraphernalia including pipes, rolling papers and vaporizers. Many dispensaries offer specialty marijuana based consumables from cookies, cakes, ice cream and candies to teas and tinctures. Some dispensaries craft their own brand of healing ointments and pain relieving herbal salves infused with medical marijuana. Patients praise medical marijuana dispensaries as a convenient and safe alternative to buying their medication on the illicit market.

It isn’t easy to start a medical marijuana dispensary business. You cannot get a loan from a bank to open your venture. Banks are regulated by the federal government and cannot loan money for a business venue that is in violation of federal law. Many landlords shy away from renting to a tenant they may not be welcomed in the neighborhood or put the landlord in violation of federal laws. Many states, including Montana, require that the landlord sign a statement, submitted to the state that acknowledges that he is renting to a tenant who will be cultivating, processing and selling marijuana. Without the landlord’s affirmation, a license will not be processed.

In 2011, the tide of federal law turned. The federal government “back-pedaled” on their stated policy and started “cracking-down” and threatening to close medical marijuana dispensaries. In a series of raids in several states, including California, Washington and Montana, records, equipment and inventories were seized. The federal raids targeted large medical marijuana dispensaries believed to be manipulating state laws to conceal criminal activity including drug trafficking and money laundering.

Federal prosecutors stated they are not pursuing patients meriting a legitimate medical need for cannabis. Several states regulate that marijuana card holders cannot be delinquent on child support payments, student loans or have a criminal record.

Colorado is the only state that endorses dispensaries to function as a business and is the only “for-profit” marketplace in America. It is no surprise that Colorado is experiencing a pot boom. Colorado voter’s legalized medical marijuana in 2008. In 2008, the state issued medical marijuana cards to 2000 Colorado residents. By 2011, the number of legal cardholders had escalated to a base of over 127,000 legally carded, paying customers. Today, in Colorado, recreational cannabis consumption and cultivation is legal for everyone of legal age.

Safe And Natural

Marijuana offers safe, non-toxic relief from the pain and symptoms of over 50 different medical conditions. ProCon.org, an organization that promotes the legalization of marijuana, forwarded a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to determine the number of deaths caused by marijuana compared to the number of deaths caused by 17 FDA-approved drugs.

ProCon advises, “twelve of these FDA-approved drugs were chosen because they are commonly prescribed in place of medical marijuana while the remaining five FDA-approved drugs were randomly selected because they are widely used and recognized by the general public.” The data provided by the FDA covered a period from January 1997 through June of 2005. The eye-opening report indicates that while FDA-approved drugs were a primary factor in 10,008 deaths, the healing herb was not considered the primary cause of a single death.



News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: guardianlv.com
Author: Marlene Affeld
Contact: The Guardian Express | Contact
Website: States That Legalize Health Benefits Of Medical Marijuana | The Guardian Express

TruthOnPot.com – Low doses of THC could offer protection against heart attacks, according to a recent study conducted on mice.

The findings, published in the June edition of Biochemical Pharmacology, showed that a single dose of THC was able to reduce both the severity of a heart attack as well as the cardiovascular damage from suffering one.

Study: THC May Protect Against Heart Attacks

By TruthOnPot.com on June 10, 2013

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is one of the primary constituents of the cannabis plant and is known to act on both types of cannabinoid receptors – CB1 and CB2. Both receptor types have been identified in the heart.

(MORE: What Makes Marijuana a ‘Psychoactive’ Substance?)

To test its protective effects, researchers administered a 0.002 mg/kg dose of THC – approximately 1,000 to 10,000 times lower than the THC content of an average marijuana joint. The authors noted that, at such trace levels, THC does not induce psychoactive effects.

While a number of previous studies have already linked various cannabinoids – including CBD (cannabidiol) – with cardiovascular protection, the new study was able to identify a much wider window of therapeutic opportunity.

Protective effects were observed when THC was given either 2 hours or 48 hours before a heart attack, which led the authors to believe that THC could activate “long lasting protective mechanisms” in the heart.

Furthermore, the study showed a lack of desensitization from repetitive THC intake, as continuous THC treatment over a 3-week period seemed to offer the same level of benefit. In light of this, the researchers suggested that THC “may even prove beneficial as a chronic treatment for individuals who are at high risk of myocardial infarction [heart attack] or other cardiac diseases.”

The research was led by Prof. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Medicine, who has also investigated the ability of THC to protect against brain damage.

(MORE: Study – Low Doses of THC May Fight Brain Damage)

In a previous study, Sarne’s team found that low doses of THC could protect mice from long-term brain damage stemming from a number of sources, including epileptic seizures and a lack of oxygen.

Prof. Sarne plans to conduct further investigations on the cardioprotective effects of THC.

The study was conducted at the Rabin Medical Center’s Cardiac Research Laboratory (Israel) and supported by a Mauerberger Fellowship and The Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases and Shmuel Shalit Fund Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

Pot comes to Capitol Hill as U.S. marijuana movement blooms

Vanessa West, general manager, poses on May 29, 2013, at the Metropolitan Wellness Center, one of three medical marijuana dispensaries that will soon be operating in Washington, D.C. | Olivier Douliery/MCT

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• Graphic | Medical marijuana states
• On the Web | More McClatchy coverage of the nation's capital

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By Rob Hotakainen | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — As she prepares to open the Metropolitan Wellness Center above a Popeyes chicken restaurant a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, general manager Vanessa West isn’t worried that her medical marijuana shop will get raided.

West knows she’ll be selling a drug that’s illegal under federal law, even though the District of Columbia city council has approved sales for medical use, but she expects the city to have a tightly run system.

“I was explaining it to a toddler a few weeks ago. It’s like if you’re in grade school and they say it’s OK to chew gum inside the classroom but it’s not in the hallway,” West said. “It just makes no sense.”

Operating in the shadow of Congress, the center – expected to open later this month – will mark one of the boldest moves yet for the nation’s marijuana movement, which is in full bloom this spring. It will be one of three that are expected to be operating soon in the district.

In Illinois, legislators just passed a law legalizing medical marijuana, though it has yet to be signed by the governor. In New Hampshire, the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved medical marijuana bills, sending the issue to a conference committee. In Vermont, lawmakers voted to decriminalize pot, and the governor plans to sign the measure Thursday. In Colorado, the governor made history last week by signing bills to make his state the first to create a system to tax and regulate marijuana for recreational use.

Medical marijuana is now legal in 18 states, along with the District of Columbia. Two – Colorado and Washington state – have signed off on plans to allow recreational sales. Critics fear that more will follow.

“Medical marijuana has been a Trojan horse, really, for decriminalization and legalization. It’s the slippery slope toward legalization,” said Patrick Kennedy, a former congressman who’s the chairman of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), a national group that opposes legalization.

Kennedy said he regretted ever supporting medical marijuana and that he feared it would lead to more drug abuse among children.

“More kids smoke marijuana than smoke tobacco,” he said. “And the perception is, ‘Well, it’s medical, it must be fine.’ . . . What you end up doing is sending a very dangerous message.”

Opponents of medical marijuana hope to ramp up the anti-legalization message, saying they need to do a better job of reaching state legislators.

“It’s a reflection of the one-sidedness that they’re hearing on this,” said Kevin Sabet, an assistant professor and the director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, who teamed up with Kennedy to create Project SAM.

Sabet said the dispensary on Capitol Hill was making itself a target for legal action. But he predicted that the Obama administration will take a wait-and-see attitude to assess whether the dispensary fizzles out or begins growing.

“If they get more brazen, I can’t imagine there won’t be any action against them,” Sabet said.

Stuart Taylor, who studied the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws as a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Democratic-leaning research center in Washington, said allowing the dispensary would be “totally inconsistent with federal law.”

“It seems as though the administration wants to pretend nothing’s happening, and one way to pretend nothing’s happening is to have marijuana being sold right under their noses in the middle of D.C. and not do anything about it,” he said.

Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a pro-legalization group in Washington, said allowing the center to operate so close to the Capitol “is with some irony.” But he said the dispensary probably would be fine as long as it complied with conditions set by the District of Columbia’s Health Department.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

West, who once worked at a San Diego dispensary, said she didn’t understand the fuss.

“It’s just odd to me, you know. I feel like it’s not an issue,” she said. She said that anyone who’d lived in California or Colorado knew that marijuana was “just not a big deal.”

“So we’re a little bit behind the times, which is ironic, because D.C. passed this law back in 1998,” she said.

While D.C. residents did pass a medical marijuana initiative nearly 15 years ago, Congress intervened, delaying its start date until 2010.

With only three dispensaries set to open in the District of Columbia, West said the city would run a tightly controlled system, unlike California, where looser rules have resulted in hundreds of raids. She said there was another important distinction: Only D.C. residents who have recommendations from currently licensed doctors may buy marijuana, while California allows doctors who no longer are practicing to make recommendations, which she said made the system much harder to control.

The district’s other two dispensaries will be in the Takoma neighborhood adjacent to Takoma Park, Md., and on North Capitol Street, another location not far from the U.S. Capitol.

Noting his administration’s aggressive stance against medical marijuana in California, West called President Barack Obama “the worst marijuana president in the history of this country.” But she said Obama now had more important things to do than deal with marijuana issues.

“In every state where it’s legal medically and the program is done right, the feds don’t intervene,” she said.

West said she wouldn’t know exactly when the center would open until she got the green light from the city, once all her paperwork was in order.

The walls have fresh gray paint on them. The display jars are lined up in a glass case, but they’re still empty as she awaits the first delivery of cannabis from the city’s licensed cultivators.

She’s eager for her first customers.

“We need to teach them how to pick the best strain and how to pick the best way to ingest it,” she said. “Do you want to smoke it? Do you want to eat it? Are you going to roll a joint? Art you going to vaporize it? Are you going to put on your skin?”

The center will sell many different strains of marijuana, along with edibles, concentrates, dried cannabis and pot-laced drinks. Customers will be able to find paraphernalia, too.

“Anything that you see at a head shop, we can sell,” West said.

Email: rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @HotakainenRob

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Vet recommends medical marijuana for pets in pain

By SUE MANNING, Associated Press

Updated 2:13 pm, Wednesday, June 5, 2013

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Until she introduced "magic cheese" to her sick and aging bulldog, Laura Bugni-Daniel watched him suffer for two years. He'd spend his days lying down or throwing up.

Today, at age 12, he plays like a puppy through the day, his fur is soft and he sleeps at night, soothed not by magic, but by the dose of marijuana in that cheese.

Bugni-Daniel is part of a growing movement to give medical marijuana to pets in pain. Many urge caution until there's better science behind it. But stories abound about changes in sick and dying pets after they've been given cannabis — even though it isn't a proven pain killer for man or mutt, and it's an illicit drug under federal law despite being legal for people in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

Leading the charge is Los Angeles veterinarian Doug Kramer, 36, known as the "Vet Guru," who felt it was his duty to speak out while he has no family that would feel a verbal or financial backlash.

"I grew tired of euthanizing pets when I wasn't doing everything I could to make their lives better," he said. "I felt like I was letting them down."

Pot eased his Siberian husky's pain during her final weeks, after she had surgery to remove tumors. Not only did Nikita stop whimpering while using cannabis, but she started eating, gaining weight and meeting him at the door again.

It gave him six extra weeks with his dog before he had to euthanize her, he says. It wasn't a cure, but he thinks it freed her of pain and improved her last days.

Some other vets contacted said they share Kramer's view on pot, but they wouldn't talk on the record for fear of arrest or retaliation.

Kramer hasn't lost any clients over his view, but he was asked not to return to some of the clinics where he volunteered or relieved other vets because of concerns over the negative image his advocacy creates, he said.

Dr. Duncan Lascelles, a professor of surgery and pain management at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, thought about studying marijuana a decade ago. He didn't, not for lack of interest, but because the timing was wrong.

"I have been considering looking at that field again because I think it does have a lot of potential," he said.

He also figures those all-important grants needed for research will be available now.

Testing could take 10 years or more to be sure a pain killer will be effective and free of side effects, Lascelles said.

Kramer said it's unconscionable to let a decade pass, when millions of pets will die of illness and old age.

Vets who want traditional testing point to a study by two Colorado animal hospitals that compared the number of dogs treated for what appeared to be accidental marijuana overdoses between 2005 and 2010 with increases in the number of marijuana licenses issued. As registrations increased 146-fold, the number of sickened pets went up four-fold.

"Sometimes public sentiment and activity gets ahead of the scientific background and that can be dangerous," said Barry Kellogg, senior veterinary adviser to the Humane Society of the United States.

While two dogs with pot in their system died in the Colorado survey, hallucinogenic reactions may make dogs wobbly on their legs, raise their pulse and cause dribbly urine, said Dr. Karl Jandrey, an emergency and critical care vet at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at theUniversity of California, Davis.

But pot clinic managers say that a proper dose of the drug will prevent a bad reaction.

Jessica LeRoux of Twirling Hippy Confections in Denver made custom treats that helped extend the life of her last service dog, a black Lab-border collie mix named Thor.

"I got the 15th year out of that relationship because of the product I made for him," she said.

Old or ailing pets who take cannabis usually experience an immediate boost in appetite and relief from pain. That lets them get around, relieve themselves without help, sleep better and enjoy their families until age or disease catches up, LeRoux said in explaining how the cannabis helps pets.

At La Brea Compassionate Caregivers in Los Angeles, manager Megan Hanley recommends a drop of liquid marijuana extract marketed as Companion Cannabis for every 10 pounds of dog. It can be spread on cheese or bread.

"It's a revolutionary product and response to it has been tremendous in the last year," she said.

Bugni-Daniel, in Divide, Mont., is allowed to have four marijuana plants under state law for her medical needs. She turns that into extract for her and Rabito.

Marijuana has been like the fountain of youth for the American bulldog.

"It's really nice to see your sick pet, for his last moments or weeks or months, be happy and not real sick and dealing with needles and surgery," Bugni-Daniel said.

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AP writer Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.

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Online:

— Kramer: www.vetguru.com

— Companion Cannabis: www.companioncannabis.com