Archive for the ‘Legalize’ Category
Marijuana Increases Brain Cell Formation in the Hippocampus
Often times, medical marijuana patients are stigmatized as “stupid” and “lazy.” As insulting as these assumptions may
be, marijuana activists have evidence that their medicine actually increases brain activity!
When comparing the positive effects marijuana has on brain activity in comparison to the harmful effects {on brain activity} of both alcohol and tobacco, the legalization of marijuana seems like a NO-BRAINER!
In 2005, Professor Xia Zhang, amongst some of his colleagues at Saskatchewan University, tested a synthetic form of THC (HU210) on a group of test rats to observe the effect that HU210 has on them. Particularly, the study focused on neurogenesis, which is brain cell formation and generation. The rats were given high doses of HU210, the THC-like compound, twice a day & everyday for ten days.
After the ten day study, the THC-like compound increased the rate of brain cell formation in the hippocampus by 40%! The hippocampus is the part of the brain used for memory forming, organizing, and storing. Symptoms of anxiety & depression in the rats also appeared to decrease.
While marijuana has been proven to have positive neurological effects, both tobacco & alcohol related studies show that each substance actually decreases brain cell formation. It is atrocious to think about the substances that the U.S. government allows its’ citizens to consume. Tobacco is literally the only legal product that will actually harm you if you use it correctly.
Why is the government heavily opposing marijuana if it increases the rate of brain cell formation? Well, too many people still think of marijuana users as “stupid” and “lazy.” With such a negative outlook on marijuana users, combined with false ideas they have about the medicine, citizens will unknowingly make judgments about marijuana.
More studies like the one presented above need to be released to the public by the mass. If the public knew the positive effects on marijuana, legalization will come much faster. Source: Nugs.com
Places that have decriminalized non-medical cannabis in the United States
Multiple places have decriminalized non-medical cannabis in the United States; however, cannabis is illegal under federal law. Gonzales v. Raich (2005) held in a 6-3 decision that the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution allowed the federal government to ban the use of cannabis, including medical use even if local laws allow it. Most places that have decriminalized cannabis have civil fines, drug education, or drug treatment in place of incarceration and/or criminal charges for possession of small amounts of cannabis, or have made various cannabis offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement.
Alaska
In 1975, Alaska removed all penalties for possession (not sale) of cannabis under 4 ounces in one’s residence or home. Also, the ruling allowed up to 24 private, noncommercial growing plants. Sale of less than 28.349 grams is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and up to a $5,000 fine;[1] at the time, in most states sale of less than 28.349 grams was a felony offense. 2006 court rulings have upheld the legal status of private possession up to the one ounce level relating to the particulars in that specific legal challenge. This leaves the one to four ounce range, and the live plant totals in a confused legal status, presumably involving criminal consequences.
With the 1975 Ravin v. State decision, the Alaska Supreme Court declared the state’s anti-drug law unconstitutional with respect to possession of small amounts of cannabis, holding that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution of Alaska outweighed the state’s interest in banning the drug
Arkansas
California
Smoke Signals
Marijuana legalization: How Colorado is following Alaska’s smoke trail
When the final tally rang on election night, hundreds of thousands of voters in Colorado and Washington rejoiced at the passing of their respective marijuana bills. In these states, the people had spoken: legalize it. Amid the hazy celebrations, however, one acknowledgement was conspicuously absent. Alaska had actually legalized marijuana first. Sort of.
Read more…
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2013/02/marijuana_legalization_colorado_alaska.php
Inside Medical Marijuana: Alaska In The Marijuana Debate
January 31, 2013
GRANITE FALLS, Wash. — Inside Mike Smith‘s marijuana grow room in Washington state, more than a dozen cannabis plants sit in rows, propped off the ground, closer to a large lamp hanging above.
“They like the air to move, they like it about 72 degrees,” says Smith. “Nothing crazy here or anything, it’s all simple.”
Smith says he is hoping to get four ounces of marijuana from each plant, which he uses for medicinal purposes. His Granite Falls grow room is legal in Washington, but not in Alaska, where card-carrying medical marijuana users are allowed to possess one ounce and grow up to six plants as long as no more than three of the plants are flowering.
Though Smith lives in Washington, he has strong ties to the medical marijuana climate in Alaska — his Anchorage business, The Healing Center Medical Clinic, has helped hundreds of Alaskans obtain a medical marijuana card since it opened in early 2012.
“There was a need. We had done some research and made calls and people really needed to see us. They were having a hard time finding a doctor up there that understood that medical marijuana does help,” Smith said.
The monthly clinic gives pre-screened patients a chance to sit down with a physician who is able to provide a recommendation for medical cannabis, if that patient has a qualifying condition like chronic pain or cancer. Smith says most of his clients are men in their fifties and sixties.
“They’re out there. There’s people from all walks of life dong everything with medical marijuana cards,” says Smith. “It’s about patients. It’s not about pushing drugs on people, it’s about the choice to use a natural plant for their pain remedy, if they so choose.”
Besides being a medical cannabis advocate, he is also in favor of decriminalizing marijuana in Alaska altogether. It is an issue one national group, is pushing for too. The Marijuana Policy Project is targeting Alaska as a 2014 ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana, on the heels of successful voter-driven legalization in Washington and Colorado.
“It came sort of from the bottom up. And I guess I would expect the same thing to happen here, if at all, to come from some initiative,” said Sen. Hollis French (D-Anchorage).
Marijuana was re-criminalized under Alaska law in 2006, even though opponents argued the bill that did so was a violation of privacy rights guaranteed by Alaska’s constitution.
“We’ve always been a little different because of that privacy clause, because of Alaskans sort of jealously guarding that right to privacy. But I think we’re not a state that condones marijuana usage either. There’s a tension between those two,” says French.
Recently, there hasn’t been a real push to repeal the 2006 law from any group in the state, but Smith hopes that changes.
“If it was on the ballot six months from now and people in the State of Alaska knew that they could legalize marijuana for their own personal use, I believe they would wholeheartedly,” Smith said.
Contact Abby Hancock:
http://articles.ktuu.com/2013-01-31/marijuana-debate_36667151
Huge turnout at Spokane forum on marijuana legalization
In one of the biggest turnouts in the state, more than 450 people packed the state Liquor Control Board’s public forum Tuesday night in Spokane to talk about Washington’s baby steps into the world of state-sanctioned sales of recreational marijuana.
The clearly supportive crowd at the Spokane Convention Center mostly raised objections to what’s perceived as the bureaucratic red tape set out by Initiative 502, which was approved by 55 percent of state voters and directs authorities to establish a system of production, distribution and sales of marijuana to people older than 21.
“It could be the next American industry,” said Ryan Park, of San Francisco, explaining that he has backers ready to support a marijuana store in Spokane. “We could be the country that smoked its way out of debt.”
However, several speakers pleaded with the Liquor Control Board members to ensure that limitations remain in place on advertising.
Hawaii Marijuana Legalization Bill Dies
A bill that would have legalized marijuana died in the state legislature Tuesday. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Karl Rhoads told the Associated Press he decided to kill it after a head count found the bill would come up short in the House.
The measure, House Bill 669, would have allowed people 21 and over to possess up to an ounce and grow an unspecified number of plants in a secure location. It would also have created a system of taxed and regulated marijuana commerce. It was sponsored by House Speaker Joseph Souki (D-8), leading proponents to hope his support could help push it through the House, but that was not to be.
A public hearing last week saw now familiar arguments reprised. County police departments, the state attorney general and the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii told legislators marijuana was a dangerous drug and that the social costs of legalizing it would be too high, while supporters of the bill, including the ACLU of Hawaii said legalization would save the state money and respect Hawaiians’ freedom of choice. They also argued that pot prohibition disproportionately impacts the state’s minorities.
Cannabis News Roundup: January 25, 2013
(ASA) // The US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC this week ruled against de-classifying cannabis as a dangerous drug, saying “adequate and well-controlled studies” on cannabis as medicine do not exist. An appeal is expected.
(Seattle Post) // “Very satisfying” is the way Washington state Governor Jay Inslee described a conversation Tuesday with US Attorney General Eric Holder concerning that state’s need to implement voter approval of recreational cannabis. There was no discussion of how the federal government might react in the future.
(HuffPost) // Here in California, the question remains: can a city pass an outright ban on cannabis dispensaries? Riverside and Upland think so. So did Los Angeles, for a while. But how can that be legal when state law permits them? Those are some of the questions to be considered next month by the California Supreme Court. [Holly Kernan and I touched on this topic in our on-air discussion of cannabis news on “Crosscurrents” last week.]
(SFGate) // President Obama’s second term started this week, generating reviews of his first term. Confusion on medical marijuana is one of five “broken promises” listed in this summary from his first four years.
I think this needs a clarification, though. The President said the Justice Dept. wouldn’t go after “medical marijuana users,” but he didn’t say it wouldn’t go after dispensaries. I know, I know: they’re two sides of the same coin. Where do users safely acquire cannabis if the dispensaries are shut down? It is a puzzlement.
And it’s a question that Matt Davies of Stockton had answered the hard way; he faces seven years in prison after his dispensaries were raided. Thisstory, by the Chronicle’s conservative columnist, points out that the Justice Dept. has always said that “significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana” are a priority, even though their activities may be legal under state rules.
(MJBusinessDaily) // That said, the Medical Marijuana Business Daily seespositive news for the industry in 2013, not the least being the list of states considering some sort of cannabis regulation.
New Horizons in the Pursuit of Marijuana’s Legalization
Reformers Must Win the Marijuana Information War
The passage of marijuana legalization initiatives in Washington and Colorado are exciting turning points in the long effort to end marijuana prohibition in the United States.
State level policies have always been>>>>>>>>>>>continue>>
Americans Decry War on Drugs, Support Legalizing Marijuana
Less than one-in-ten respondents would legalize other drugs, such as heroin, crack or “crystal meth”.
Two-thirds of adults in the United States believe the “War on Drugs” has been futile, and a majority continue to call for the legalization of marijuana in the country, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,017 American adults, 68 per cent of respondents believe that America has a serious drug abuse problem and it affects the whole country.
One-in-five Americans (20%) think the country’s drug abuse problem is confined to specific areas and people, and five per cent say America does not have a serious drug abuse problem.
Only 10 per cent of respondents believe that the “War on Drugs”—a term that has been used to describe the efforts of the U.S. government to reduce the illegal drug trade—has been a success, while 66 per cent deem it a failure. Majorities of Democrats (63%), Republicans (63%) and Independents (69%) agree with the notion that the “War on Drugs” has not been fruitful.
Across the country, 52 per cent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, while 44 per cent oppose it. Majorities of men (60%), Independents (57%) and Democrats (54%) would like to see marijuana legalized. Women (45%), respondents over the age of 55 (48%) and Republicans (43%) are not as supportive of legalization.
In four nationwide surveys conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion on the topic of marijuana legalization since 2009, support has always surpassed the 50 per cent mark in the United States, and opposition has not reached 45 per cent.
As has been the case in previous surveys, the enthusiasm for legalizing other drugs in the United States remains low. Only 10 per cent of respondents would consent to making ecstasy readily available, and less than one-in-ten would legalize powder cocaine (9%), heroin (8%), crack cocaine (8%) and methamphetamine or “crystal meth” (7%).
The DEA’s marijuana mistake
The DEA and the National Institute for Drug Abuse block serious research on medical uses of marijuana, creating a ridiculous circle of denials.
A pro-marijuana group lost its legal battle this week when a federal appellate court ruled that marijuana would remain a Schedule I drug, defined as having no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. (Alan Berner / Seattle Times / MCT / January 24, 2013)
For a muscular agency that combats vicious drug criminals, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration acts like a terrified and obstinate toddler when it comes to basic science. For years, the DEA and the National Institute forDrug Abuse have made it all but impossible to develop a robust body of research on the medical uses of marijuana.
A pro-marijuana group lost its legal battle this week when a federal appellate court ruled that marijuana would remain a Schedule I drug, defined as having no accepted medical value and a high potential for abuse. The court deferred to the judgment of federal authorities, quoting the DEA’s statement that “the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies…. To date, such studies have not been performed. Read the full story>> Latimes