Archive for the ‘Medical’ Category
CA Supreme Court Strikes Down Medical Marijuana Limits
January 22nd, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
ohhburn.com: Unanimously the California Supreme Court struck down a law that looked to impose limits on the amount of weed a medical patient can legally possess! As a result of the voter-approved Proposition 215, passed in 1996, patients with a doctor’s recommendation were allowed to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana.
In 2003, there was this Legislation created to give law enforcement a guideline on when to make marijuana possession busts. The Legislature decided that patients could have up to 8 ounces of dried marijuana and grow as many as six mature or 12 immature plants. The law did allow, however, a patient to have more if a doctor stated that amount was insufficient and individual cities had the power to allow patients to grow and possess more marijuana, but not less.
A Doctor’s Case For Legal Pot
January 20th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
In most of my substance-abuse patients I am far more concerned about booze than marijuana.
By DAVID L. NATHAN
Most Americans are paying too much for marijuana. I’m not referring to people who smoke it—using the drug generally costs about as much as using alcohol. Marijuana is unaffordable for the rest of America because billions are wasted on misdirected drug education and distracted law enforcement, and we also fail to tax the large underground economy that supplies cannabis.
On Monday, the New Jersey legislature passed a bill legalizing marijuana for a short list of medical uses. Outgoing Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine says he will sign it into law. This is a positive step, as cannabis has several unique medical applications. But the debate over medical marijuana has obscured the larger issue of pot prohibition. Read the rest of this entry »
New Jersey: Medical Marijuana Bill signed into law
January 16th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
SERIOUSLY ILL patients in New Jersey, those who suffer from debilitating ailments like multiple sclerosis or cancer, won a victory in the State House this week.
Lawmakers approved a controversial bill that allows doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes. Governor Corzine signed the law on Tuesday, making New Jersey the 14th state to allow medical marijuana. It was the most significant legislation to come out of the lame-duck session.
It is a godsend for patients like Mike Oliveri, who grew up in Oradell and moved to California in 2008 to take advantage of that state’s medical marijuana law. Oliveri, who has muscular dystrophy, says marijuana is the most effective medicine to ease pain in his legs and back and to calm his stomach. Read the rest of this entry »
Medical Marijuana Bill Passes In New Jersey
January 12th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
TRENTON, N.J. (Associated Press) — The New Jersey Assembly has approved a bill allowing chronically ill patients access to medical marijuana.
The compromise bill now heads to the Senate, which had approved a less restrictive version.
Gov. Jon Corzine supports the legislation and could sign it before leaving office next week.
New Jersey would become he 14th state to allow medicinal marijuana use.
The bill would allow patients with ailments like cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis to buy up to 2 ounces of marijuana a month at state-monitored dispensaries.
Home growing would remain illegal, as would driving while high.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a bill co-sponsor, says New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Marijuana Act would be the nation’s strictest such law.
Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/11/medical-marijuana-bill-pa_n_419131.html
Cops & Judges Support Calif. Assembly Marijuana Legalization Votes on Tuesday — Law Enforcers Say Ending Prohibition Will Improve Public Safety
January 12th, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
On Tuesday, California state legislators will take historic votes on legalizing, regulating and taxing the sale of marijuana. A group of cops and judges who previously sent people to jail for marijuana offenses is supporting the legalization bill.
Sacramento, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) January 11, 2010 — A group of police officers, judges and prosecutors who fought in the failed “war on drugs” is cheering this Tuesday’s upcoming marijuana legalization votes in the California Assembly’s Public Safety and Health committees as a sign of increasing public frustration with the harms caused by prohibition and the widespread desire for a new approach.
LEAP logo
Judge Jim Gray, who retired last year from the California Superior Court in Orange County and is a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) said, “The mere fact that there will be votes in the Assembly to regulate and control the sale and distribution of marijuana would have been unthinkable even one year ago. And if the bill doesn’t pass this year, it will soon. Or, the bill will be irrelevant because the voters will have passed the measure to regulate and tax marijuana that will be on the ballot this November.” Read the rest of this entry »
Colorado: Judge Rules Pot Patients Have a Constitutional Right to Buy Weed
January 1st, 2010
Dakta Bourbon
Back in October the city of Centennial shut down the CanaMart dispensary in Colorado. They used a strategy adopted and deployed by a number of governments in the 14 states that allow medical marijuana; since weed is NOT legal, according to federal law, operating contrary to federal law violates a city’s land-use code.
Yesterday Arapahoe County District Court Judge Christopher Cross (not the same Christopher Cross dude who wrote “Sailing” or (gag) “Ride Like the Wind”) called bullshit and barred the city of Centennial from shutting down the dispensary!
“The city of Centennial cannot use the potential violation of a federal law to order a business legally operating under our state constitution to cease and desist its business,” Cross said. He also reminded the city that local governments CAN’T take it upon themselves to enforce federal law and that in 2000 Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing the use of cannabis for medical purposes. He also said the city violated CannaMart’s owners’ and patients’ constitutional rights, which he called “AN IRREPARABLE INJURY TO ALL OF US!”
Gourmet US Eatery Cooking with Marijuana
December 28th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Gourmet chefs are taking the art of cooking with marijuana to a higher level.
In Denver, US, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna.
Across town in the Mile-High City, a Caribbean restaurant plans to offer classes on how to make multi-course meals with pot in every dish.
Marijuana Legalization Zeitgeist In America To Continue Into 2010: Federal Government Lags Behind The States
December 14th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Already Four States Have Marijuana Legalization Bills In Play; Californians To Vote On Legalization in 2010
It can readily be said that 2009 was one of the busiest and most productive years in cannabis law reform since NORML’s founding in 1970. However, it appears as if 2010 is going to be an even busier year–notably marked by the increasing number of actual state legalization bills and a voter initiative in America’s most important state.
Currently, there is legalization legislation pending in California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and a legalization bill was just introduced this week in Washington. Frankly, most of these bills do not have a strong prospect in passing this time out, Read the rest of this entry »
Congress allows DC to implement 1998 medical marijuana law
December 10th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
From the trusted fellows at NORML.org
House and Senate negotiations for the 2010 Appropriations bill have been completed. This is the huge federal budget bill and it just so happens that Washington DC is a federal district and its spending is controlled by Congress.
In 1998, DC passed a medical marijuana bill overwhelmingly, but Congressional drug warriors led by Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia prevented DC from spending any federal money to count the votes Read the rest of this entry »
The American Medical Association is backing medical marijuana
December 9th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon