The New Hampshire House voted 214 to 137 to decriminalize marijuana today, after recommendations from the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. However, the victory will be short lived (see link). Governor John Lynch has already said he will veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. The bill would have made possession of less than ¼ oz of marijuana a civil citation ($200) for people over 18. Currently the offense is a misdemeanor crime, punishable by a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. This isn’t the first time that the House passed this type of legislation. In 2008 the bill passed the house, only to die in the Senate after threats by the Governor’s Office that it would be vetoed.

When asked why Governor Lynch would veto the bill, he said, “Marijuana is a controlled drug that remains illegal under federal law. I share the law enforcement community’s concerns about proliferation of this drug. In addition, New Hampshire parents are struggling to keep their kids away from marijuana and other drugs. We should not make the jobs of parents, or law enforcement, harder by sending a false message that some marijuana use is acceptable.”

Rep. Joel Winters, D-Manchester, felt the bill was needed in order to keep prosecutors from pursuing small possessions. He said, “Prosecutors aren’t going to be able to threaten jail time for small amounts of marijuana.” Rep. Winters also pointed out that there is a provision in the bill that would require parental notification if a minor was in violation. Gov. Lynch vetoed medical marijuana legislation seven months ago, citing concerns over distribution and cultivation and the potential for abuse. Medical marijuana supporters said they would reintroduce the medical marijuana bill in 2011. I hope when Mr. Lynch is up for re-election, the voters of New Hampshire stick it to him. What a dick!

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100310/NEWS03/100319996/1030

Article http://www.theweedblog.com/new-hampshire-house-passes-decriminalization-bill/
Image http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/

In the Sixties hippies turned on with marijuana. In the very near future they may be using the same plant to turn off.

Turn off the bad gene that promotes the spread of aggressive breast cancer that is!
Sean McAllister, Ph.D., and Pierre Desprez, Ph.D. at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco have been testing cannabidiol.

We discovered that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic compound from the plant Cannabis sativa, can inhibit the processes that allow breast cancer cells to grow and spread (metastasis). The mechanism that would explain the inhibitory action of CBD in vivo (in a living organism) on breast cancer metastasis has not been elucidated. CBD is a novel inhibitor of a gene whose activity is intimately linked to the aggressiveness of human breast cancers; this gene has been termed Id-1.

Using cultures of breast cancer cells, we discovered that Id-1 was a key gene whose expression needed to be reduced in order for CBD to inhibit the spread of breast cancer.

About 40% of the cannabis plant is the compound cannabidiol. It does not contain THC.

The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Early test results on animals are very positive. The doctors hope to begin testing cannabidiol on humans within 2-3 years.

An important goal among breast cancer advocates is to find non-toxic therapies that specifically target metastatic breast cancer and not healthy tissues. Our targeted approach is expected to satisfy these criteria.

Additionally, due to the difficulties in accessing efficient screening methods, metastatic breast cancer is more likely to be diagnosed in women with poor social conditions. Therefore, these new therapeutic modalities may particularly benefit undeserved populations with aggressive cancers. CBD is a novel compound by which the growth and spread of breast cancer may potentially be inhibited through down-regulation of Id-1. We have outlined a strategy to create a family of breast cancer inhibitors that are even more active than the parent drug CBD. Additionally, we expect to discover the detailed mechanisms involved in cannabinoid inhibition of Id-1 and corresponding breast cancer cell aggressiveness. We are collaborating with a pharmaceutical company who is currently engaged in clinical trials testing the efficacy of CBD for indications unrelated to cancer. If CBD inhibits Id-1 and corresponding breast cancer metastasis in mouse models, there would be significant enthusiasm to move CBD toward clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. This process could be rapid since CBD is already being tested in the clinic for indication other then cancer and has an established safety profile. Our goal is to start clinical trials with CBD within three years. Our long-term goal is to follow up with second generation CBD analogs that are expected to be more potent and/or efficacious at inhibiting metastatic breast cancer in humans compared to CBD.

Article Source: http://www.examiner.com/
Image: Northern California Bud. Photo by Adrian Miles

Contact: President, Phil Saxby 021 069 4542 or 04 461 6631

VINCE WHARE’S TEN YEAR BAN FOR CANNABIS ANOTHER DRUG WAR INJUSTICE

The ten-year ban handed down to veteran rugby league player Vince Whare makes him another casualty of injustice in our 35 year-old war on drugs, said NORML President Phil Saxby today.

The Canterbury Bulls’ prop has just been suspended from any involvement in sport for a decade by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand after testing positive for cannabis use. He tested positive for cannabis twice before, once in 2005 and then again in 2006.

“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code requires third-time doping offenders to be banned for at least eight years, but cannabis is no more a performance-enhancing drug than alcohol”, Mr Saxby said. “What would happen to sport if all alcohol-using players were banned after 3 drinking offences?”

“This is blatant discrimination against a man who chooses to relax with a substance that’s better for his health than alcohol. That cannabis is illegal has no bearing on his ability to play rugby, nor his right to play the game.”

“If sports bodies are concerned about their image, the focus should be on alcohol, not cannabis,” said Mr Saxby. “Half of all serious violent offences and one third of all offences in New Zealand are committed by offenders who have been drinking; while alcohol is associated with almost fifty percent of all reported incidents of sexual violence.”

“How is it that Robin Brooke can be drunk and grope a girl and not get banned? Sports bodies have a double standard – you can be publicly drunk and behave indecently, but receive more lenient treatment than if you simply get caught for smoking a joint at home. Is that really what we want young people to believe?”

“Whare’s punishment at the hands of the Sports Tribunal is far harsher than any court would have handed down. For the next ten years, this man can no longer have anything to do with the game he loves and is very, very good at. He can’t coach, he can’t run the line, or referee or be an official. This sentence is almost medieval in its harshness!” Mr Saxby concluded.

Cannabis Revolution Examiner – Dev Meyers

HONOLULU, HAWAII — Yesterday, the Hawaii Senate passed by overwhelming, veto-proof margins three measures that will greatly improve marijuana laws in the state:

• SB 2213 passed 20-4, with one excused. This bill would allow counties to license medical marijuana dispensaries.
• SB 2141 passed 24-1. This bill would increase the ratio of plants, ounces and caregivers allowed for each medical marijuana patient.
• SB 2450 passed 22-3. This bill would remove criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of up to $300 for a first offense and $500 for a subsequent offense.

The bills now go to the state House.

“These votes show that Hawaii’s Senate supports sensible marijuana policies that will serve the best interests of state citizens,” said Eric M. McDaniel, a legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project. “Hawaii’s most vulnerable citizens deserve safe and reliable access to their medicine, and no Hawaiian deserves to go to jail simply for using a substance that is safer than alcohol. If House members agree, I would strongly encourage them to pass these measures as well.”

The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, headed by Pamela Lichty and Jeanne Ohta, and the Peaceful Sky Alliance, headed by Matt Rifkin, played crucial roles in getting these measures through the Senate.

With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

A Christchurch sports lawyer has questioned whether sports people using cannabis should be treated with the same severity as “true drug cheats” who take performance enhancing or masking drugs.

Ian Hunt represented Canterbury rugby league player Vince Whare, who has been banned for 10 years by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand for a third cannabis offence.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) code requires third-time doping offenders to be suspended for life although the ban can be reduced to a minimum of eight years. It does not draw a clear distinction in terms of penalties for recreational drugs like cannabis and sanctions for taking performance-enhancing substances.

Hunt argued before the tribunal that Whare should have received the minimum eight-year suspension because cannabis was not performance enhancing.

He told The Press yesterday he did not want to specifically comment on the Whare case but he had a general concern that the Wada code, as it reads, “doesn’t allow for recognition of the differences between non-performance enhancing drugs such as cannabis and performance enhancing or substance masking drugs, in terms of penalties”.

The issue was “the elephant in the room” in the anti-doping arena, Hunt said.

He believed the tribunal had accepted “there are distinctions to be made” between recreational and substances with performance enhancing or masking agent properties. “They also allowed, as I hoped they would, that the nature of cannabis as a substance could not be ignored when they were considering how to apply the Wada codes and the [Sports Anti-Doping] rules.”

But there did not seem to be any “latitude” in the rules, which were “black and white”. There was “no distinction whatsoever drawn between EPO, a steroid or cannabis. Yet, clearly, there must be some distinction drawn when you are talking about a substance that doesn’t have those enhancing properties, which is what we really think of as being a [drug] cheat.”

Hunt said a sportsperson guilty of a third cannabis offence received a much tougher penalty than those imposed by a criminal court for “possessing or smoking a small amount of cannabis”.

“You could argue that the kind of sanctions imposed on [Whare] – he can’t do anything, he can’t coach, can’t play, can’t run the line, referee or be an official in any Wada-recognised sport – are a pretty severe set of sanctions for anybody.”

Hunt said no-one had any problems with severe penalties issued to “Balco-type offenders” who used steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. They were what the tribunal had termed, “true drug cheats”.

“We all want drug-free sport. But we are talking about whether or not cannabis, which doesn’t enhance performance, should be treated the same way as performance enhancing drugs or masking agents.”

Hunt said the rules and the Wada code had been formed as an “agreed response” to the problem of doping in sport. “What I would question is whether or not it was contemplated when the rule was drafted that it had these kind of consequences for non performance enhancing [substance users].

“Did someone think through and say, `hang on, [what] does this mean for someone who’s caught for the third time smoking dope [but] doesn’t gain any advantage from it and it’s not masking any other substance? Are we really saying he, too, should face the same consequence as Marion Jones or Floyd Landis, or someone like that.

“Of course, they’re not third time offenders, but I’m talking about the seriousness of what they were doing.”

Jones was jailed for six months in 2008 after admitting taking performance enhancing drugs. She was stripped of the five gold medals she won at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Landis was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France cycling crown and banned from international competition until 2009 after returning a high ratio of the hormone testosterone to the hormone epitestosterone in a urine sample.

Hunt said the doping codes were introduced “not to change social behaviour, but to prevent athletes taking performance enhancing drugs from gaining an advantage.

“I suspect the reason for cannabis’ inclusion [on the prohibited substances list] has to do with quite powerful parties, such as the US, who for reasons to do with their own fight against drugs, generally, want it to be there.

“I think you’d find there are a lot of countries who would have some reservations about cannabis’s proper place in the whole regime, but it’s a consensus document.

“But this is the sort of case or outcome that raises questions as to whether it should be there.”

Hunt said almost every major sport in New Zealand had signed up to the Sports Anti-Doping Rules 2009.

It would be technically possible for a sport to adopt the rules in their entirety with a caveat that “in the event of a third cannabis violation the sanction will be a minimum of four years rather than eight [as set out in the Sports Anti-Doping rules and WADA code].”

But any sport doing that could potentially jeopardise its relationship with Sparc.

Source http://www.stuff.co.nz/

SENATE BILL 2450 WILL IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR HAWAII CITIZENS

Between 1,000 and 1,500 Hawaii residents are arrested annually for possessing one ounce or less of marijuana. Passage of SB 2450 measure would spare these minor marijuana offenders from criminal arrest, prosecution, and incarceration, as well as the emotional and financial hardships that follow — including the loss of certain jobs, students loans, federal and state subsidies, and child custody rights.

Most adult marijuana users act responsibly and consume marijuana solely within the privacy of their own homes. They are not part of the crime problem and they should not be treated like serious criminals. Senate Bill 2450 would maintain the monetary sanctions already in place for marijuana possession violations, but would spare offenders from being saddled with lifelong criminal records. This change would continue to discourage marijuana abuse, while halting the practice of permanently criminalizing thousands of otherwise law abiding citizens of Hawaii.

SENATE BILL 2450 WILL CUT COSTS AND IMPROVE PUBLIC SAFETY

Law enforcement resource allocation is a zero-sum gain. The time that a police officer spends arresting and processing minor marijuana offenders is time when he or she is not out on the streets protecting the public from more significant criminal activity. Passage of SB 2450 would allow law enforcement, prosecutors, and the courts to re-allocate their existing resources toward activities that will more effectively target serious criminal behavior and keep the public safe.

The move would also have the added benefit of saving state taxpayers’ money and raising revenue. Presently, state and county law enforcement agencies spend over $4 million per year to enforce marijuana possession laws; an additional $2.1 million is spent by the criminal courts. Passage of SB 2450 will offset these criminal justice costs while simultaneously raising state revenue through the imposition of civil fines of up to $100.

THE PUBLIC STRONGLY SUPPORTS SENATE BILL 2450

Public opinion strongly favors such a reprioritization of law enforcement resources. Marijuana ‘decriminalization,’ as proposed under SB 2450 presently enjoys support from the majority of Americans. According to a recent CNN/Time Magazine poll, approximately three out of four citizens favor a fine over criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana. In fact, thirteen states – including Oregon, Maine, Nebraska, Ohio, and Mississippi — have already enacted various forms of marijuana decriminalization, replacing criminal sanctions with the imposition of fine-only penalties for minor marijuana offenders. In no instance have lawmakers recriminalized marijuana after implementing decriminalization.

Further, in 2008, Big Island voters by a 3 to 2 margin approved Ballot Question 1, which sought to direct law enforcement to make activities related to the investigation and arrest of adults who possess up to 24 ounces of cannabis and/or 24 plants their lowest priority. However, it appears that local lawmakers and law enforcement have failed to consistently abide by this ordinance.

Contrary to the concerns of some, the passage of SB 2450 would not negatively impact marijuana use patterns or attitudes. Passage of similar legislation in other states has not led to increased marijuana use or altered adolescents’ perceptions regarding the potential harms of drug use. In fact, the only United States government study ever commissioned to assess whether the enforcement of strict legal penalties positively impacts marijuana use found, “Overall, the preponderance of the evidence which we have gathered and examined points to the conclusion that decriminalization has had virtually no effect either on the marijuana use or on related attitudes and beliefs about marijuana use among American young people.”

SUPPORT PUBLIC SAFETY: VOTE ‘YES’ ON SB 2450

Senate Bill 2450 seeks to reduce government expenditures and promote public safety. These are goals that lawmakers should support. House legislators should follow the Senate’s lead and approve SB 2450, and Gov. Linda Lingle should sign it. It makes no sense to continue to treat responsible adult cannabis consumers as criminals.

Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and is the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009). He may be contacted via e-mail at: paul@norml.org. For more information regarding Marijuana Is Safer, please visit: http://www.marijuanaissafer.com

From http://www.hawaiireporter.com/

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Voters in Vermont’s capital city have voted in favor of a measure calling on the state to decriminalize possession of marijuana

Read the article here

A longtime effort to decriminalize marijuana possession in Jacksonville Beach has expanded to Atlantic Beach, as well as to Orlando and Tallahassee.

The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy launched the Atlantic Beach effort last month after advocates saw that many people who wanted to sign a Jacksonville Beach petition couldn’t because they lived in Atlantic Beach, said committee Chairman Ford Banister.

“It seemed like we could do it just as easily and it’s close by,” Banister said.

The committee is collecting signatures to place the marijuana decriminalization amendment on the November ballot in the four cities. If voters approve the amendment, it would make possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana a civil infraction rather than a misdemeanor crime, for which state law calls for up to a year in jail and $1,000 in fines.

Since the fall, marijuana advocates have shifted gears and are working through the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, a political action committee that successfully lobbied for marijuana decriminalization laws in Massachusetts. Banister said the committee provides greater resources for advocates than the movement’s original sponsor, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.

One of the reasons the group took its campaign to Tallahassee is because of the case involving Rachel Hoffman, a Florida State University graduate who was murdered while acting as a police informant during a botched drug sting in May 2008, Banister said.

Hoffman had been busted by Tallahassee police and was promised a reduced sentence if she agreed to wear a wire and set up a deal with her suppliers to buy 1,500 ecstasy pills, 2 ounces of cocaine and a handgun. The case triggered the first law in the nation that requires law enforcement agencies to establish safeguards when using informants.

Banister said the committee is also stressing a Marijuana is Safer than Alcohol campaign that asserts that marijuana is less addictive, less toxic and less likely to lead to violence than alcohol.

Last summer, when marijuana advocates chose Jacksonville Beach as the first city in Florida to decriminalize marijuana use, they selected a town that has resisted them for at least a decade.

The conflicts date back to six years ago, when coordinators of a Hempfest at the SeaWalk Pavilion in Jacksonville Beach were arrested and five years before that, when Hempfest organizers sued Jacksonville Beach and won a court order forcing the city to drop the phrase “family-oriented events” from its special events permit.

Jacksonville Beach Mayor Fland Sharp has scoffed at the proposal, saying similar proposals may float in California, Massachusetts, or even Denver, where marijuana reform measures have passed, but not in his town.

“It’s a moot point because it’s never going to happen,” he said.

Banister said the atmosphere in Jacksonville Beach has improved and that police officers have been respectful of decriminalization groups’ protests and a November signature-gathering campaign by college students. Marijuana advocates are also knocking on doors to speak with residents and urge them to sign the petition, he said.

The group has collected about 300 of the 1,442 petition signatures needed to place the amendment on the ballot in Jacksonville Beach. In Atlantic Beach, the committee would need to get about 1,000 signatures, Banister said. So far, they have gotten 50 signatures there, he said this week.

Banister said he’s confident the committee will get the support it needs through citizen education and participation.

“I think we should be able to with the campaign invasions we’ve planned,” he said. “I think we can make it.”

Source http://www.mapinc.org/

Hypothesis:

Alarmist reports about marijuana will turn out to be wildly exaggerated and in some cases completely fictitious. Obvious inconsistencies will be overlooked by the press and widely available contrary evidence will be ignored.

Methodology:

I read various stories about marijuana and used basic logic and reasoning to determine whether their conclusions made any sense. In some cases, I used Google and other sources to search for other information that contradicted seemingly dubious claims.

Findings:

Marijuana Increases the Risk of Psychosis by 40%: This one turned out to be totally wrong. Apparently a correlation between marijuana use and psychosis doesn’t necessarily mean that marijuana caused the psychosis. Many of the researchers made this clear in their findings, but reporters left it out. Furthermore, none of the stories on this topic explained that the risk of psychosis is small, so a 40% increase isn’t that significant to begin with. Reporters also failed to observe that massive increases in marijuana use over the past century have not corresponded with increased rates of psychosis.

Smoking a Joint is as Bad For Your Lungs as 5 Cigarettes: This report also turned out to be almost entirely bogus. Shockingly, “air flow” was the only category (of several) in which marijuana was determined to be more harmful. Researchers stated that marijuana was 2.5 to 5 times more harmful than tobacco in this category, which reporters simply rounded up to 5 for the headline (behold the lofty journalistic standards of Reuters). Reporters also failed to mention conclusive research proving that marijuana does not cause lung cancer; a notable omission since “bad for your lungs” likely implies cancer for many readers. Finally, media reports failed to explain that marijuana users consume far less per day, and do not continue using for nearly as many years as tobacco smokers.

Marijuana May Cause Skin Cancer: I don’t know anything about skin cancer, so I won’t attempt to refute the findings of this Harvard study. The manner in which it was reported, however, leaves much to be desired. The FOX News headline reads “Study: Marijuana Use May Cause Skin Cancer.” Only upon reading the article does the reader discover that only one extremely rare form of skin cancer has been associated with marijuana, and that the researchers claim that more research is needed. Furthermore, only people with weakened immune systems are even susceptible to this infection. A more appropriate headline would have been “Study: Marijuana May Cause Skin Cancer Under Very Rare Circumstances.”

Conclusions:

Reading coverage of marijuana research in the mainstream press increases the risk of becoming misinformed by 50-300%. More research is clearly needed to identify further sources of flawed marijuana reporting. The risk of bad reporting remains stable despite concerted efforts to inform the media that hysterical claims about marijuana frequently lack scientific merit. Exposure to poorly researched news about marijuana is correlated with support for costly, ineffective, highly punitive marijuana laws.

Source http://stopthedrugwar.org/

NORML President Phil Saxby today called on Police Minister Judith Collins to restore public respect for law enforcement by calling an armistice in this country’s prolonged “war on drugs”.

In response to recent attacks on Police Officers, Ms Collins has been quoted as saying that “it’s extremely important to rebuild the respect and fear for the law.”

“Fear of the law isn’t the problem,” said Mr Saxby. “What has been eroding away in New Zealand is respect for the law and then by association, those who enforce it.”

“The Misuse of Drugs Act created the so-called “war on drugs” which is actually a war on ordinary Kiwis. After thirty-five years of criminalisation, the 400,000 people from all walks of life who currently use cannabis justifiably feel marginalised and discriminated against.”

“A large number of Kiwis aged 15 and older fear the police to some degree. Many have personal experience of heavy-handedness and intimidation by officers looking for cannabis. Over time, this fear turns into disrespect and resentment,” Mr Saxby said.

“Cannabis is not a violence-inducing drug. Cannabis smokers are not going to attack Police Officers. Alcohol is far more likely to be the cause of a violence, yet it can be bought in supermarkets.”

Mr Saxby pointed out that New Zealand continues to have the highest rate of arrests in the world for cannabis – mostly for simple possession. “While few people arrested for cannabis possession are sentenced to jail, but many of them will spend time in jail during pre-trial procedures.”

“If the Police Minister wants to restore public faith in our Police force then she should immediately call for an armistice on cannabis arrests. The United Nations and the Law Commission agree that police effort should be shifted towards drug suppliers, and away from criminalising users.”

“I believe all law-abiding New Zealanders want to feel safe around a police officer, and this includes cannabis users; the vast majority of whom see themselves as normal people and certainly not criminals,” Mr Saxby concluded.

ENDS