Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/4sgDry00
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

MEDICAL POT INEFFECTIVE ON MANY ILLNESSES, STUDY SAYS

CHICAGO (AP) - Medical marijuana has not been proven to work for many
illnesses that state laws have approved it for, according to the
first comprehensive analysis of research on its potential benefits.

The strongest evidence is for chronic pain and for muscle stiffness
in multiple sclerosis, according to the review, which evaluated 79
studies involving more than 6,000 patients. Evidence was weak for
many other conditions, including anxiety, sleep disorders and
Tourette’s syndrome, and the authors recommend more research.

The analysis is among several medical marijuana articles published
Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They
include a small study suggesting that many brand labels for edible
marijuana products list inaccurate amounts of active ingredients.

The researchers pooled results from studies that tested marijuana
against placebos, usual care or no treatment. That’s the most
rigorous kind of research, but many studies found no conclusive
evidence of any benefit. Side effects were common and included
dizziness, dry mouth and sleepiness. A less extensive research review
in the journal found similar results.

It’s possible medical marijuana could have widespread benefits, but
strong evidence from high-quality studies is lacking, authors of both
articles say.

“It’s not a wonder drug, but it certainly has some potential,” said
Dr. Robert Wolff, a co-author and researcher with Kleijnen Systematic
Reviews Ltd., a research company in York, England.

Researchers evaluated 47 brands of medical marijuana products,
including candy, baked goods and drinks, bought at dispensaries in
San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Independent laboratory testing for THC, marijuana’s leading active
ingredient, found accurate amounts listed on labels for just 13 of 75
products. Almost 1 in 4 had higher amounts than labeled, which could
cause ill effects. Most had lower-than-listed amounts.
__________________________________________________________________________
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/4sgDry00
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

MEDICAL POT INEFFECTIVE ON MANY ILLNESSES, STUDY SAYS

CHICAGO (AP) - Medical marijuana has not been proven to work for many
illnesses that state laws have approved it for, according to the
first comprehensive analysis of research on its potential benefits.

The strongest evidence is for chronic pain and for muscle stiffness
in multiple sclerosis, according to the review, which evaluated 79
studies involving more than 6,000 patients. Evidence was weak for
many other conditions, including anxiety, sleep disorders and
Tourette’s syndrome, and the authors recommend more research.

The analysis is among several medical marijuana articles published
Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They
include a small study suggesting that many brand labels for edible
marijuana products list inaccurate amounts of active ingredients.

The researchers pooled results from studies that tested marijuana
against placebos, usual care or no treatment. That’s the most
rigorous kind of research, but many studies found no conclusive
evidence of any benefit. Side effects were common and included
dizziness, dry mouth and sleepiness. A less extensive research review
in the journal found similar results.

It’s possible medical marijuana could have widespread benefits, but
strong evidence from high-quality studies is lacking, authors of both
articles say.

“It’s not a wonder drug, but it certainly has some potential,” said
Dr. Robert Wolff, a co-author and researcher with Kleijnen Systematic
Reviews Ltd., a research company in York, England.

Researchers evaluated 47 brands of medical marijuana products,
including candy, baked goods and drinks, bought at dispensaries in
San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Independent laboratory testing for THC, marijuana’s leading active
ingredient, found accurate amounts listed on labels for just 13 of 75
products. Almost 1 in 4 had higher amounts than labeled, which could
cause ill effects. Most had lower-than-listed amounts.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Website: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA EDIBLES OFTEN MISLABELED, NEW RESEARCH FINDS

Seattle Dispensaries Included in Study

Items From Here Had Less THC Than Indicated

Yet another sampling of marijuana products has found inaccurate
labeling of potency.

A new article in the Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) reports that all but one of the 23 edible products bought in
Seattle medical-marijuana dispensaries last year were improperly
labeled. Most of the baked goods, beverages and candy contained less
THC than their labels said. THC is the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

Previous research, including by The Seattle Times, has found similar
inaccuracies in medical marijuana and legal recreational pot. But the
JAMA study’s lead author said his research was more rigorous than
work by news organizations and others.

“If we want to recommend cannabis as medicine, patients should expect
reliability and consistency in what they’re buying. The failure to do
so is an injustice to the consumer and puts patients at risk,” said
Ryan Vandrey, lead author and associate professor at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine.

Risks amount to more than the severe anxiety New York Times columnist
Maureen Dowd wrote about experiencing with an edible snack in
Colorado. They can also include vomiting, hallucinations and
psychosis, Vandrey said.

The JAMA study examined edibles after purchase in three cities:
Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Seattle products were “severely overlabeled,” Vandrey said. “These
were products that contained far less THC than advertised,” he said.

One edible contained less than 1 percent of what it was supposed to
have, he said. Eight of the other 22 samples contained between just 3
and 33 percent of the labeled THC content.

Vendrey’s article does not name the three Seattle dispensaries at
which products were bought last fall. He and co-authors decided not
to call out individuals, he said. “Instead we wanted to point out the
problem as a whole and encourage regulation.”

Their decision might have been different, he said, if they had found
only a couple of manufacturers at fault. But because they found
inaccuracies across a range of products, he didn’t want the study to
be “construed as promoting or degrading certain companies.”

Samples from San Francisco, as in Seattle, tended to be weaker than
labeled. Los Angeles samples tended to be stronger than labeled.

In all, just 13 of the 75 samples from the three cities tested by
Vandrey were accurately labeled, meaning the key chemical content of
tested samples was within 10 percent of their labeling; 17 samples
were stronger than the label indicated and 45 were weaker.

The inconsistencies point to two main problems, Vandrey said. Because
all pot remains illegal under federal law, medical-marijuana products
lack the consistent dosing found in drugs regulated by the Food and
Drug Administration.

Medical-edibles manufacturers are not careful enough in their
testing, Vandrey said. A likely problem, he said, is that they’re
testing a corner of a cookie or brownie, not the entire edible.

For his research, Vandrey said products were crushed or mixed and
tested with highperformance liquid chromatography equipment.

Vandrey said he had no idea if manufacturers were deliberately
mislabeling products to encourage sales.

Washington and California do not require dispensaries to test their
products. But Washington does require its legal recreational
retailers to test products at state-certified labs for potency. “If
you ask me, that’s backward,” Vandrey said of Washington’s current rules.

Under changes made by the Legislature this year, medical marijuana
will require the same testing for potency as recreational weed in the state.
__________________________________________________________________________
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---
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Mike Gallagher
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n251/a03.html

DEA ASKED TO EXPLAIN DUKE CITY CASH SEIZURE

Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham and two other members of the U.S. House
Judiciary Committee want to know more about why federal narcotics
agents seized $16,000 from a 22-year-old African-American man in
April when the Amtrak train he was taking to Los Angeles stopped in
Albuquerque.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents made the seizure after
they had talked to Joseph Rivers about where he was going. He was not
charged with a crime, but the money was seized because agents said
they believed, based on their conversation with Rivers, that it was
somehow linked to narcotics trafficking.

Rivers’ plight - he said he was going to use the money to make a
music video in California - was first reported in a Journal UpFront
column by Joline Gutierrez Krueger on May 6. Headlined “DEA to
traveler: Thanks, I’ll take that cash,” it went viral and resulted in
thousands of visits to the Journal’s website, ABQJournal.com.

Lujan Grisham and fellow Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee and John
Conyers Jr., the ranking minority member, asked the DEA in a letter
this week for more information about the stop and to answer their
concerns that it might have involved racial profiling. “These stops
appear to involve individuals who have not committed any crime,”
Lujan Grisham said in a telephone interview. “Many of these people
don’t have the resources to fight a forfeiture action.”

The letter cited the Journal’s story on the so-called “cold consent”
search of Rivers, who was still on the train after it stopped at the
station in Downtown Albuquerque.

Rivers told the Journal he was on his way from Dearborn, Mich., to
Los Angeles to make a music video when the train stopped in
Albuquerque on April 15.

Rivers said he was carrying $16,000 in cash he saved and relatives
gave him to fulfill his lifelong dream of making a music video when
he was approached by a DEA agent who was asking passengers where they
were going and why.

The agent asked to search Rivers’ bags, he complied and the agent
found the cash in a bank envelope.

“I even allowed him to call my mother, a military veteran and
(hospital) coordinator to corroborate my story,” Rivers told
Gutierrez Krueger. “Even with all this, the officers decided to take
my money because he stated that he believed that the money was
involved in some type of narcotic activity.”

Rivers was not arrested or charged with any crime. But his money was
seized under civil forfeiture laws in an administrative process that
can last years.

Rivers said he was the only passenger singled out for a search by DEA
agents and the only African-American on his portion of the train.

The Judiciary Committee members said there are “disturbing issues”
related to the use of the technique of cold consent searches.

Of the $163 million seized by DEA Interdiction Task Forces around the
country from 2009 to 2014, about $8.3 million was eventually
returned, the committee members noted.

The money that is retained is used to pay for various Department
Justice programs, and some of it is shared with local law enforcement
agencies that participate in the task forces.

“This financial dimension, when paired with searches sometimes based
on dubious criteria and possibly involving racial profiling, adds to
the potential for government abuse,” the letter says.

“I expect some answers from DEA,” said Lujan Grisham. “It might well
be that we have to change the law.”

Cold consent searches like the one Rivers underwent are also called
“meet-and-greets” or “consensual encounters.” They have been part of
the DEA closet of techniques for years, employed at airports, train
depots and bus stations.

DEA agents have denied they racially profile people, arguing that
they use other indicators such as people buying expensive one-way
tickets in cash at the last minute.

The seizures, even those involving drugs, have been challenged in
federal court over the past several decades, but the government
usually wins unless the agents’ behavior was considered threatening
or coercive.

If a person refuses to allow an agent to search his or her luggage in
a “meet and greet,” the agents can take the luggage and seek a search
warrant that is subject to approval from a judge.

Under civil asset forfeiture laws, it is the money or property that
is considered the guilty party. The person carrying the money doesn’t
have to be charged with a crime.

The Justice Department’s Inspector General issued a report in January
that found such stops and seizures raise civil rights concerns and
the possibility of racial profiling.

This year, Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill that prohibits state
and local law enforcement from using civil asset forfeiture for
seizing money and property.
__________________________________________________________________________
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---
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xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jun 2015
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact: letters@chicoer.com
Website: http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861
Note: Letters from newspaper’s circulation area receive publishing priority
Author: Jay Bergstrom

WE’VE LOST THE WAR ON DRUGS, EVEN IN OUR PRISONS

Another week in Butte county, another butane hash oil operation
captured. Statewide - shocked, shocked I am to learn this week that
our state’s prison system is awash in drugs. After spending 40 years
and a trillion dollars creating the largest gulag in history, it
would appear that perhaps we are doing something wrong with respect
to intoxicants.

Of course, “American exceptionalism” will prevent us from even
looking at the results of other approaches to this problem. Portugal
and Switzerland provide examples that are studiously ignored by our
leaders, as they toe the line that retains their seat on the drug war
gravy train.

I greatly enjoy cannabis, and I am a good person. Perhaps it is the
cannabis addling me, but I vote every time.

? Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/lXStIWBx
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Wenzel

DENVER COUNTY FAIR STUBS OUT 2015 POT PAVILION AFTER LAWSUIT
The Denver County Fair has canceled its attention-getting Pot Pavilion following a class-action lawsuit that accused a vendor of handing out marijuana-laced chocolates at last year’s event, which was supposed to be drug-free.
About a dozen people complained of being given cannabis-infused edibles at the pavilion, which drew international attention amid the first year of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado.
The County Fair was not implicated in the lawsuit.
The law firm representing attendees, Frascona, Joiner, Goodman and Greenstein, P.C., said a settlement was reached late last week, but the terms are confidential. Neither of the Colorado marijuana companies involved, Full Melt Chocolate and LivWell (which operated together at the fair as Beyond Broadway LLC) returned multiple calls or emails Wednesday.
Fair organizer Dana Cain, however, said the Pot Pavilion ultimately was canceled because of a lack of interest this year.
“In the first year, we got tons of vendor support (and) waves of international attention,” she said. “But fast-forward a year later, and it’s completely old hat. There’s a huge overload of marijuana events in this town now.”
Known for its quirky offerings and hip twist on traditional county fair programming, the Denver County Fair’s Pot Pavilion included joint-rolling and marijuana plant-growing competitions, pot-brownie judging and paraphernalia displays.
In spite of the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized the sale and private use of recreational marijuana, public consumption of cannabis is still illegal in Colorado. That forced organizers to hold all judging events off-site at a licensed facility. Competitive joint rollers, for example, used oregano instead of weed in their competitions.
“The fact that we even got the National Western Complex (where the fair was held) to agree was a miracle, so we had to promise them there would be no pot consumption,” Cain said.
Cain said holding a marijuana-themed event without any actual marijuana may seem problematic to outsiders. But it was not the sole reason to retire the Pot Pavilion.
“We never wanted to be the Cannabis Cup,” Cain said, referring to High Times Magazines’ annual marijuana competition and industry festival. “We’re the Denver County Fair, so we’re celebrating everything that’s unique about Denver, and last year that was definitely marijuana.”
Cain also said pre-sales for vendor booths at the 2015 Pot Pavilion were less than 10 percent of last year’s at this time. The 2014 Fair included 57 vendors on the third floor of the National Wester Complex.
Attendance at the Denver County Fair was up 23 percent in 2014 over the previous year, with an estimated 20,000 people - most of them families with children under 18, according to Cain.
This year, the Pot Pavilion will be replaced with a Kitten Pavilion, which Cain said already is attracting out-of-state attention and visitors.
“We just didn’t want to overdose on marijuana,” she said.
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/2hDAsEkq
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@utsandiego.com
Website: http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it’s circulation area.

OPERATOR OF SIX POT SHOPS PLEADS GUILTY IN FORGERY
A man operating six illegal pot shops across San Diego County pleaded guilty Wednesday to forging a doctor’s signature so that patients could have access to medical marijuana.
Nelson Leone, 72, agreed as part of a plea agreement to shut down the six dispensaries, which are called Green Cross Evaluations and located in Pacific Beach, El Cajon, Poway, Mission Valley, eastern San Diego and near the Valley View Casino Center in the Midway District.
Leone faces maximum penalties of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for one felony count of identity theft, but is expected to receive a lighter sentence as part of his plea. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14.
“It is simply unacceptable to have someone forge a doctor’s signature for their own personal financial gain,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, noting that patients wrongly thought they were getting advice from a licensed medical professional.
Scott Chipman, a vocal opponent of medical marijuana dispensaries, said after the plea hearing in federal court downtown that Leone’s case shows how truly unregulated dispensaries are.
“We are pleased to see this federal enforcement as the medpot industry is fraught with lawlessness and fraud,” he said. “We have doctors issuing marijuana recommendations with no examinations or real concern for patients.”
Leone, who lost his medical license in 1995, hired Dr. Arnold Kaplan
at one of the dispensaries to write medical marijuana recommendations
? they aren’t called prescriptions because marijuana hasn’t been approved for medical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the others, Leone issued recommendations to customers under Kaplan’s name and license number, according to court documents. Those recommendations falsely certified that the customers were evaluated in the doctor’s office and suffered from a medical condition that may benefit from medical marijuana.
Four of the illegal pot shops are in San Diego, where city officials have struggled to close illegal dispensaries as the first legal ones begin opening this year.
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact: letters@northcoastjournal.com
Website: http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

MARIJUANA NOTABLES IN THE YEAR’S FIRST BIG RAID
The largest law enforcement operation against Humboldt County marijuana growers of the year was underway just a day after summer began.
Officers from the Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity county sheriff’s offices descended on Island Mountain, a remote region at the convergence of the three counties where marijuana growers have operated for decades, serving search warrants and taking down approximately 8,000 plants at three or four sites on Monday, June 22.
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Lt. Wayne Hanson said the operation would likely continue through the week, though he declined to say how many search warrants would be served in total. Agents from California Fish and Wildlife and the regional water board visited the sites as well.  As of press time, Hanson said no one had been arrested and no “critical incidents” had taken place.
News of the raid reverberated through southeastern Humboldt as large convoys were spotted heading out on rural roads, and California Cannabis Voice Humboldt Executive Director Richard Marks confirmed on Tuesday morning that members of his organization were among those targeted in the raids. CCVH, as the Journal has reported, is a political action committee that’s been attempting to bring growers out of the shadows and influence local and statewide marijuana legislation. The group hosted Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom at a marijuana farm last month and has been working on a proposed ordinance for outdoor cultivation in Humboldt County that received the ire of environmental groups.
Marks said some of the CCVH’s large financial donors were the recipients of Monday’s search warrants, but he declined to say who.
Marks said the raids were “totally unexpected,” and that he was frustrated by news that CCVH members were being investigated. “I don’t understand the timing,” he said. “They’re going after - in this case - private landowners. We’ve already said we’re against trespass grows. Why aren’t they going after the cartel grows?”
Hanson said the Island Mountain area was selected because of citizen complaints and sheriff’s office observations of the area from helicopter flyovers. He said the sites were commercial marijuana greenhouses that caused environmental damage and were likely sources of illegal water diversion. “There’s issues like this in all four corners of Humboldt County,” he said, adding that the operation is no different than busts the sheriff’s office has been running for 30 years, and that the county’s eradication efforts will continue through 2015.
Marks all but suggested that the CCVH members served in the raids were unfairly targeted, saying he had thought law enforcement had sharpened its focus on grows with illegal grading, pollution, water diversion and other environmental degradations, sites where “we’re happy that law enforcement would go after them.” But, he said, “To go after private owners who are trying to comply - it just seems counterproductive.”
Marks, addressing rumors, said it was unclear if law enforcement targeted CCVH members for their involvement in the organization. “I sure hope not,” he said. “But then the other part of me says, [police] know who they are.”
Hezekiah Allen, the executive director of the Emerald Growers Association, expressed concerns in a press release issued the day after the raids began.
“Today, [law enforcement] activity is ever more concerning because so many of our community members have courageously stepped forward and publicly proclaimed themselves farmers. They are seeking regulation, seeking increased collaboration with government agencies and research institutions.”
Marks echoed that sentiment.
“CCVH is quite concerned,” he said. “We’re trying to do something positive for the community. I sure hope this doesn’t harm the organization. I suppose it already has. It’s put people behind the shadows again.”
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Column: NJ Weedman’s Passing the Joint
Copyright: 2015 The Trentonian
Contact: letters@trentonian.com
Website: http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Ed Forchion, NJWeedman.com For The Trentonian

BENEFICIAL BANK: NO DYED HAIR FOR BLACK EMPLOYEES
I had a great Father’s Day with four of my five children. My one child, Ajanea, doesn’t communicate with me. Her mind was poisoned by her scorned mother, who refused to allow me to bond with my daughter for 15 years. The Burlington County Family Court judges helped her with this by preventing me from having a relationship with my daughter because I publicly spoke THE TRUTH about marijuana. Free speech didn’t exist in family court for me, and it ruined my relationship with my daughter. I hear I’m a grandfather, too, but I don’t know thanks to Judge Bell and her bigoted co-judges. I don’t hate too many things, but I’ll tell anyone who’ll listen: I hate the Burlington County Family Court judges, especially Judge Maria S.  Bell. If you think Blackmen get the short end of stick in the criminal system, take a look at family court.
Since becoming a columnist for The Trentonian and being viewed as a champion underdog by the community, I’ve been inundated by people presenting me with their problems and asking me to write about them.  I have for a few and feel bad for others I haven’t worked in, but here are a couple.
The family of a state parolee who doesn’t want his actual name in the paper (I’ll call him J.) contacted me about his parole officers. The family claim J.has an apartment here in Trenton, hasn’t gotten into any trouble, and is in compliance with everything the parole officers have ordered him to do until now. He successfully adjusted to the community. But when his parole officers visited his residence recently they claimed they smelled weed coming from a neighbor’s place and ordered him to take a pee test, which he passed. But why did he have to take a test? And he’s been ordered to move under threat of re-imprisonment. They claim he is in proximity to criminal acts.
What! I’m writing from my business, NJWeedman’s Joint (across the street from City Hall), while smoking a joint: Weed smoking is everywhere, get real parole officers. The guy doesn’t have any money and hasn’t done anything wrong, yet you create this hardship for him.
It even happens in my personal life. While out at Father’s Day dinner my third daughter Daeja said to me, “Dad, you know how you haven’t cut your dreads in 15 years despite everyone telling you to. Well, my boss at Beneficial Bank (in Burlington), said my hair color ‘wasn’t natural,’ and if I don’t color my hair back to black I’d be seeking employment elsewhere. She gave me until June 22 to change it. I don’t want to change my hair color, but my boss is threatening to fire me.  What should I do?”
I totally feel for this issue, whether it’s coming from my daughter or anyone else because it is so true; so many times I’ve had people (usually white people) tell me they’d take me more seriously if I cut my hair. Like my words would sound different if only I had hair white people could respect. From personal appearance I’ve found that white people at times don’t like or respect the ethnic, religious significance of the dreads I wear. I said to Daeja, “New Jersey is a right-to-hire state, but they can’t fire you for that. Plus, you were hired with your hair that color back in April.”
In fact, back in April I read about a similar case with a black Hooters employee. So I asked if this was company policy or this manager’s personal peeve. We looked in the employee handbook and there was nothing about hair color. I gave her a letter of warning to give to the manager.
Here’s what the Beneficial Bank employee handbook says about hair:
Employees must be well groomed at all times. Hair must be clean, neat, and styled in a professional and conservative manner.
Two years ago, just before my Daeja enrolled at Indiana University, she changed her hair to a mild maroon or auburn color usually worn by white women. She said she just wanted to re-invent herself. I personally liked it - it’s not a wild party color and looks professional to me. I never imaged she’d be fired for it, or have her job credentials questioned based on this color. I see plenty of white women wearing this coloration. My daughter and I concluded if she were fully white this wouldn’t be an issue. I told her to prepare to cut her hair or file a lawsuit.
We felt this threat was a blatant act of racial discrimination. My daughter is mixed; her mother is half white, and I’m not the darkest “Negro” myself. There are white women at Beneficial Bank with colored hair, and it’s a discriminatory practice to allow white women to dye their hair blond, red or auburn but not black women.
My daughter is a very nice suburban kid; she got good grades in high school, is attending college, and has never been in trouble. She’s the daughter of NJWeedman and she doesn’t even smoke weed! Yet as I sat down to write this week’s column about J., the parolee, Daeja called me and told me she was in fact fired when she showed up for work Wednesday with her non-negro colored hair.
I called Beneficial Bank, identified myself as a writer for The
Trentonian, and attempted to ask the manager these three questions:
If a white woman had hair this color, would she be fired?
Why isn’t hair color addressed in the handbook?
Was this firing a personal decision of the branch manager, or company policy?
After I told her why The Trentonian was calling, she said “no comment” and hung up, so I’m encouraging others to ask her and I’m seeking a lawyer for my daughter, so pass this joint to a barrister you know.
This reminds me of the recent Hooters Hairgate.
The restaurant chain Hooters doesn’t mind skimpy attire but apparently draws the line at black women with colored hair.  African-American waitress Farryn Johnson was fired from her Baltimore restaurant because “Hooters prohibits African-American Hooters Girls from wearing blond highlights in their hair because it is not a natural color for African-Americans,” as the lawsuit claimed. Johnson claimed racial discrimination was the root cause of the discriminatory practice that allowed white women to bleach their hair blond, but not black women.
A labor arbitrator awarded Johnson $250,000 in lost wages and attorney compensation after she was fired for having blond highlights in her hair. Hooters denied the allegations but paid as I predict beneficial will.
Johnson, who worked at the restaurant for over a year before a manager approached her about her highlighted hair, says, “The manager at the time literally said, ‘You can’t have blond because black people don’t have blond hair.’ I was shocked.”
Johnson refused to dye her blond locks but soon noticed her hours were being slashed and her shifts cut. She received several written warnings about her hair before she was ultimately fired from the Baltimore location in August 2013.
Daeja is making a trip to Baltimore tomorrow to meet with Andrew Levy, Ms. Johnson’s attorney.
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Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Column: The 420
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Ngaio Bealum

BUDS AND BABIES
Is there any consensus based on scientific data or professional opinion regarding the need for pregnant women to stop smoking cannabis? Also, how about just before becoming pregnant for both the future mother and father?
While my first question refers to the health of the fetus, my second question refers to the condition of the egg and sperm.
? Sacto Mike

Consensus? Hah! We are talking about cannabis.
There is no such thing as “consensus.” Everyone has an agenda.
That being said, the studies that were done in the ‘60s and ‘70s showed that cannabis use was not harmful to fetuses.
In fact, when Melanie Dreher studied Rastafarian women in Jamaica, she found that the babies of cannabis users were in better shape than the babies of nonusers of cannabis (http://cannabisclinicians.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Dreher-Pediatrics.pdf).  Everyone knows that cannabis is great for nausea and emesis (fancy words for feeling like you are gonna vomit, and actually vomiting).  As to the health of the egg and sperm, there seem to be no deleterious effects.
For a while, cannabis use was thought to affect the motility of the spermatozoa (I am full of big words today.
Must be all the coffee), but, and this is anecdotal, my dad sired five smart, healthy, awesome kids while puffing a yang of weed the whole time. My kids are also awesome, and my (now ex-) wife and I had no problem getting pregnant.
I AM NOT A DOCTOR, so I am not giving out medical advice, but I would say that cannabis use during pregnancy is a personal decision, and counsel moderation in all things.
Have fun trying!
I’ve always disagreed with the amount of cannabis one should be “allowed” to possess: No one has EVER proposed a set amount of alcohol you can buy at one time or possess.
So, why should we propose any “limit” to the amount of cannabis one can buy and possess? Alcohol is a dangerous drug. And the more one drinks, the more dangerous it is. If there’s no limit to either purchase or consumption of that, and cannabis is infinitely safer, what’s the reasoning to limitations about cannabis?
I think I know why: To make the ostensibly bitter pill easier to swallow for purposes of public and governmental acceptance, we’re soft-selling cannabis.
Sure, it needs to be legalized everywhere, but conflating arcane American moralistic ethos with our demand for legalization is completely absurd. We don’t need to suck on the asshole of draconian fucks who promulgate outright hypocrisy, i.e. alcohol is “good” because it’s “legal” but cannabis is illegal because we say so, scientific evidence to the contrary.
I know that you know this already but, really, this bullshit of soft-sell does us a disservice. I’d like to think that, by this point in time, we’d have the fortitude to tell it and sell it like it really is.
? LB

Strong words.
You answered your own question.
As it stands now, medical cannabis patients are allowed to possess up to 8 ounces.
I feel like a half-pound of weed is a pretty good stash.
No need to get the squares all riled up.
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Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: David Downs

A TECTONIC SHIFT
California Lawmakers Appear Ready to Finally Regulate Medical Marijuana
After nearly two decades of uncertainty, lawmakers appear ready to
greenlight policy regulating medical pot
Marijuana isn’t legal in California yet, but it could become even more legit going into next year’s legalization debate.
The Golden State’s billion-dollar medical-cannabis industry stands a good chance of getting its first-ever state-level regulations this year. Here in the Capitol, Assembly Bill 266 passed by a landslide vote-62-8-on the Assembly floor earlier this month, on June 4, and experts say it faces decent odds of passing the state Senate and being signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
If that happens, California finally will begin regulating the cultivation and distribution of medical cannabis, as called for by voters 19 years ago when they passed Proposition 215 and kicked off the modern era of medical pot.
“We watched history getting made,” said Nate Bradley, lobbyist for the California Cannabis Industry Association, referring to the Assembly floor vote. “The votes came out and it was just a powerhouse-boom, 50. Then it went to 62. Even some ‘no’ votes flipped. That many votes is nothing but a win.”
A.B. 266 is an unprecedented compromise-the merging of one police-crafted bill and one that was more industry-leaning. It is co-authored by local Assemblyman Ken Cooley, the Democrat from Rancho Cordova, and would spread regulatory authority over seven state agencies, with oversight by the governor’s office. It creates 20 specific business licenses for the commercial medical-cannabis industry.
“Local jurisdictions were on board-[along with] industry, patients, the reform movement, unions, the medical board; it’s really kind of historic that happened,” said Hezekiah Allen, director of the Emerald Growers Association, which represents small pot farmers.
Assemblyman Rob Bonta, who also co-authored the bill, said in an interview that his bill would benefit patients and collectives by “fully bringing the industry out of the shadows.”
The bill also could end the federal crackdown by installing the strong state controls, which the U.S. Department of Justice has demanded.
“By implementing this stronger regime throughout California, it adds a greater chance and a higher level of protection against that type of federal intervention we’ve seen in the past,” Bonta explained.
A.B. 266 now heads to the Senate, where medical pot regulations have already passed two key litmus tests, beginning with a health-committee hearing on July 7.
Last year, a regulatory bill from then-Senator Lou Correa cleared the Senate before it died in the Assembly. The Senate also voted this year to pass pot regulations from Senator Mike McGuire.
“I think that those are good signs,” Bonta said. “I think there’s some inter-house dynamics that can get tricky. This is when things get a little more difficult.”
Regulations could cost $10 million annually, but would be financed mostly by licensing fees. There are an estimated 40,000 cultivation sites throughout California, and an estimated 4,000 medical-marijuana dispensaries.
We’re also seeing unprecedented buy-in from California’s sprawling bureaucracy, and the Brown administration. Under the proposed law, the state Board of Equalization would have employees assigned full-time to a task force on cannabis taxation. The state water board would focus on water regulations. And other state agencies also would be mobilized.
“From what we’ve been told, divisions are already preparing,” Bradley said of the state agencies. “Everyone has people assigned to look at this issue.”
The bill also creates a first-ever oversight role for the governor’s office to ensure accountability and to sort out regulatory overlap.  Allen of the Emerald Growers Association said he had heard that the governor’s office “was part of the conversation through which the bills were merged.”
Opposition to A.B. 266 is mostly coming from hardcore marijuana activists and law-enforcement groups; the former want fewer regulations-and the latter simply want marijuana to be illegal.
The bill would have mixed effects on patient rights. The legislation exempts patients who do not “provide, donate, sell, or distribute cannabis to any other person” or entity from having to get a license, as well as primary caregivers who have up to five patients.
But the bill also continues the patchwork of bans and restrictions on cultivation and distribution that have been enacted by about half of California’s cities. Patients in places such as Sacramento County and Fresno, as a result, would remain behind enemy lines.
But statewide rules should ease local bans over time, Bradley said.  Local pot industry tax revenue is “also going to be another huge motivating factor.”
“It won’t address the patchwork overnight, but it will start standardizing the elements of regulations [that] locals can customize,” Allen added.
All in all, a tectonic shift in California policy is occurring. “A revolution is underway in how we talk about cannabis and nowhere is that revolution more obvious than in the legislature,” said Allen.
“We’re really excited with where this bill is,” Bonta said. “I think it’s historic. It’s unique. We’ve never seen a bill of this nature on this topic have this much momentum at this stage in the process.”
If California sorts out its regulations in 2015, the stage will be set for adult-use legalization next year in the eighth largest economy in the world, thereby possibly bringing the century-long war on marijuana to an end.
Next month, on July 7, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, which includes Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom as a member, plans to release its year-and-a-half-in-the-making report on the good and bad of marijuana legalization in California.
The report is considered a road map for groups aiming to legalize pot in California on the November 2016 ballot.
Groups such as ReformCA aim to put a marijuana-legalization referendum on the 2016 ballot and must gather at least 585,000 signatures to qualify.
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Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)
Copyright: 2015 The Spokesman-Review
Contact: editor@spokesman.com
Website: http://www.spokesman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author: Betsy Z. Russell

LICENSE PLATE PROFILING LAWSUIT DROPPED
BOISE - A discrimination case against the Idaho State Police for targeting a driver for a marijuana search because his license plates were from Colorado has been dismissed at the request of both sides.
That means the court won’t weigh in on license-plate profiling in this case. But a legal expert said Darien Roseen’s lawsuit, the release of the state trooper’s dash-cam video under the Idaho Public Records Law, and the subsequent national attention it drew helped shine a light on the practice and may cause law enforcement agencies to stick to “more traditional probable cause or observed infraction findings.”
“The lawsuit may have served its purpose without going to conclusion,” said David Leroy, former Idaho attorney general and now a Boise defense attorney.
Roseen, then a 69-year-old retired Weyerhaeuser executive who was driving from his daughter’s baby shower in Washington to his second home in Colorado, was followed by an ISP trooper within a mile after he crossed the Idaho border on Interstate 84 from Oregon on a snowy day in January 2013. When Roseen pulled into the “Welcome to Idaho” rest area, Trooper Justin Klitch followed him and insisted he must have marijuana in his vehicle.
Roseen refused to allow a search, but Klitch persuaded him to unload items from his truck and open a hidden compartment; Klitch then claimed to smell marijuana, though Roseen denied it. Klitch called other officers and took Roseen and his vehicle to the Payette County Sheriff’s Office, where Roseen was detained and his truck searched for hours. Nothing was found and he eventually was released.
He filed his lawsuit in April 2014 against Klitch, the ISP, and numerous officers from various agencies who were involved in the detention and search. He charged that his constitutional rights were violated.
“By law, it’s OK for an officer to be wrong, if there’s a reasonable basis for their error,” Leroy said. “But if the trooper was malicious, or is acting habitually without sufficient facts, that is a violation of a citizen’s rights.”
Since the case is at an end, Leory added that “it remains an open question” if Roseen’s rights were violated.
After the lawsuit was filed, a Spokane man told The Spokesman-Review he endured a similar detention at the same rest stop when he was driving with Washington license plates, with an ISP trooper demanding to search his car for marijuana. He refused and eventually was allowed to leave.
Unlike Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Oregon have moved to legalize marijuana, and most states surrounding Idaho permit the use of medical marijuana, which Idaho forbids.
Roseen’s Boise lawyer, Eric Swartz, said he received numerous calls and emails from others with similar stories. But he was unavailable for comment Wednesday, after his client and the state both agreed to drop the case, with each side bearing its own costs and attorney fees.
Klitch is the target of two other lawsuits alleging illegal search or seizure.
In March, U.S. Magistrate Judge Ron Bush dismissed the discrimination charge against Klitch, saying there weren’t sufficient facts presented to support the claim. Other charges still remained in the lawsuit illegal search and seizure, illegal detention and illegal operation of Roseen’s vehicle without his consent. But the case had hit numerous legal hurdles, including arguments by the state that law enforcement agencies have sovereign immunity.
Leroy said the missing facts about license-plate profiling could potentially have been proven by analyzing data about traffic stops and license plates. “But collecting that kind of data is a huge and expensive research undertaking,” he said.
Plus, if Roseen continued to pursue the lawsuit but lost, he could have been ordered to pay the state’s attorney fees and costs as well as his own. Idaho hired a private law firm, Moore & Elia of Boise, to handle the case, and as of May 15, according to state records, had paid the firm more than $50,000.
“It does point out that both civil and criminal litigation against the state or other police departments is typically conducted at considerable expense to the private parties who are bringing or defending that litigation,” Leroy said. “And the price of justice or defending oneself from injustice can be so high that sometimes the best interests of society are not vigorously prosecuted.”
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Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2015 Tucson Weekly
Contact: mailbag@tucsonweekly.com
Website: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: Maria Ines Taracena

SPLIT UP
The Marijuana Legalization Train Continues With Five Weed-Related
Initiatives Now Gathering Signatures
The group Safer Arizona officially parted ways with the Marijuana Policy Project, and joined ventures with the organization Arizonans for Mindful Regulation. The latter planned to re-file its own recreational pot ballot measure this week with amended language Safer collaborated with. (They hadn’t filed by press time.)
The relationship between MPP and Safer is, well, complicated. Earlier in the year - when some dispensary owners turned on MPP, saying they’d back up their own initiative - Safer announced they had a plan B all along, in case MPP did not comply with the issues Safer felt were most important aside from legalization - total decriminalization of marijuana, unlimited home cultivation rights and a broader retail structure that would prevent what they see as a marijuana monopoly within established dispensaries.
MPP and those dispensary entities eventually reconciled. But it pushed Safer away even further.
Amidst the changes, Mikel Weisser, Safer’s former political director, was let go last month over irreconcilable differences. Weisser felt that, although MPP’s measure didn’t include all of Safer’s suggestions, the Washington-based group had given them a middle ground he felt was fair. To members of Safer, the MPP initiative was written “by the dispensaries for the dispensaries.”
“At that point I would have just been someone they would argue with,” Weisser says. “I am still working with various dispensary leaders and working closely with MPP. This is a ballot measure that I helped write.” Still, it was unexpected and felt like a slap in the face, he says. “I had been trying to talk (Safer) out of it for months.”
Robert Clark, Safer’s co-chairman, says they tried to smooth things over with MPP, but once they felt the negotiations would go nowhere, they dropped out.
In the home cultivation realm, the Arizonans for Mindful Regulation’s measure (which is one of roughly five weed-related initiatives submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office gathering signatures at the moment. There are also a couple for hemp and another asking for the legalization of all drugs), would allow for 12 plants per individual with an unlimited amount per household. So, if you have proof that there are seven people living at your house, then you’d legally be allowed to grow 84 plants.
On MPP’s, the rule is six plants per person, with a limit of 12 per household, no matter how many people occupy the house.
“Where they can, they will destroy the ability of the people to grow marijuana on their own...they also give a city or county the authority to say that smoking marijuana or growing marijuana is a nuisance. We know most of the communities in this state are going to do that,” Clark says. “The ones who can afford expensive licenses are the only ones that will see an end to prohibition. For the others, MPP is setting up a new prohibition.”
The wording in the “what not to do” section in the MPP measure still includes the word “felony” as punishment for certain violations, which Clark sees as the continuous criminalization of weed and imprisonment of people over minor offenses for the profit of law enforcement agencies. In the Mindful Regulation initiative, any charges are never higher than a misdemeanor, with post-conviction relief.
Businesswise in MPP’s world, to start, the number of dispensary licenses would be limited to around 150, with a big chunk going to already-established dispensaries, Clark points out. And with the way the retail structure is set up, businesses like smoke shops will get the short end of the stick, and would probably die off, he adds. (As they begin the signature-gathering campaign, Safer will work closely with smoke shop owners for that exact reason.)
Mindful Regulation asks for roughly 1,500 retail licenses from the get-go. “People like Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, always say that there will be a pot shop in every corner, and 1,500 sounds like a pot shop in every corner,” Weisser says, adding that the higher numbers might scare off voters who are already on the fence about legalization.
MPP has always said it’s about legalizing pot for once and for all.  Other accommodations can be added on later. If certain weed Utopia proposals will scare off voters, then they’re not taking that route.
About MPP’s version of the proposed Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control, Clark argues it would destroy the medical marijuana program. Medical green should be left in the hands of the Arizona Department of Health Services, which is what Safer and Mindful Reg intend to do. MPP’s version of the department would also create a task force to ensure all weed rules are followed, or another “law enforcement agency,” as Clark describes it. Theirs would not do that, he says.
Also, “The new marijuana department, they’ll be able to set up regulations as to how much marijuana will be on the market, and whether we will need more dispensaries or recreational shops. There is a good chance that the number will never be greater than 160, because the people who control those elections are dispensary businesses that will be handpicked by the governor,” Clark says.  “They want people going to jail. We focus more on consumer rights.”
With taxation, MPP’s is set at 15 percent, while Mindful Regulation wants 10 percent. But for both, revenue would go toward health and education.
The two have until July 2016 to gather the about 150,000 signatures to make the ballot.
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Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2015 Boulder Weekly
Contact: letters@boulderweekly.com
Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker

IS DENVER READY TO ALLOW LIMITED PUBLIC CANNABIS CONSUMPTION?
A recent survey from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found that 13.6 percent of Coloradans admitted to using marijuana in the last month, about twice the 7.4 percent of Americans who acknowledge using cannabis on national surveys.
As anyone who reads this column knows, I’m not a big fan of surveys.  Yes, they do provide some kind of snapshot, but since cannabis is illegal for most Americans, just how honest do you think they are going to be on a survey? Since it’s now legal in Colorado, more people are probably willing to admit that they use cannabis than might have a few years ago. So let’s take all these data with a grain of hemp.
Still, that means there are more than 728,000 Coloradans, including more than half a million Denverites, not counting tourists, who use cannabis and a law that doesn’t provide many places where those folks can legally consume a legal product in the presence of other people.  Though the amendment was written and intended to treat marijuana like alcohol, there is no real provision for public consumption.
This was at least in part a sop to the prohibitionists to help pass 64. But as a result, there are few places outside your own home where you can consume cannabis legally. Club Ned in Nederland allows you to buy a day pass to consume your own cannabis on the premises. A growing number of hotels and hostels around the state allow marijuana usage, but some chains actively discourage it. All of which means that while you can purchase marijuana just as you can alcohol, there aren’t as many opportunities to use it.
What about a parent who wants to relax after work but doesn’t want it in his home because of her children? Or someone who just wants a respite with his vaporizer and the chance to chat with another human?  Or tourists who come to Colorado in part because of legalization and find themselves resigned to hiding in alleyways? It makes it appear that marijuana, which is still prohibited federally, is legal here - but just barely.
Though most municipalities are somewhat tolerant, in the first three quarters of 2014, Denver police issued 668 public consumption citations, a 470 percent increase from 117 in 2013. The few private clubs in the city seem in eternal conflict with the police and city officials. Arresting citizens for consumption of a legal product is a wasteful use of our legal system, especially since freeing up the courts was part of 64’s intent.
According to the survey, 18.5 percent, or more than half a million people in Denver use marijuana. Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project and attorney Brian Vicente, two of the main authors of Amendment 64, are readying “The Limited Social Marijuana Consumption Initiative” for the fall ballot there.
Tvert and Vicente met last week with state officials, and at press time, the initiative wasn’t quite finished, but Tvert calls it a narrow exemption to Denver’s current ban. “Ultimately, it will allow the limited social use of marijuana by adults in private establishments that decide to allow it,” he says. “The Clean Indoor Air Act will apply, so smoking would only be allowed in outside areas where smoking is allowed and which are not view able to the public.”
Tvert said that people would be allowed to consume non-smokable forms of marijuana (including vaporizers and edibles) inside businesses accessible to people 21 and older. If the business is open to those under 21, consumption can only take place in areas only accessible to people 21 and older and which are not viewable to those under 21 or the public.
It is similar to the approach the city of Pueblo has taken. “Theirs allows for cannabis-specific clubs and requires that people be members, among other things,” Tvert explained. “The Denver measure would allow for that type of club, but it is not limited to it because we did not want to take a ‘separate but equal’ approach.  Thus, it allows for the consumption of marijuana in non-cannabis-specific businesses - bars, venues, galleries, etc.”
It’s an intriguing proposal, and we’ll all be watching this one carefully as the election nears, especially since the survey says that 18.9 percent, or 58,000 Boulder County residents identify as cannabis users, all with the same problem.
“It’s about high time we have an open and public conversation about what open and public means,” said Rep. Jonathan Singer when asked about the initiative. “And that means making sure we have safe, successful places for people to consume marijuana so they’re not breaking the law and consuming safely.”
You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado
cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http://news.kgnu.org/weed
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Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jun 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/tmrcf496
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press

STUDY QUESTIONS IF MARIJUANA EFFECTIVE FOR MANY CONDITIONS
CHICAGO (AP) - Medical marijuana hasn’t been proved to work for many illnesses that state laws have approved it for, according to the first comprehensive analysis of research on its potential benefits.
The strongest evidence is for chronic pain and for muscle stiffness in multiple sclerosis, according to the review, which evaluated 79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients. Evidence was weak for many other conditions, including anxiety, sleep disorders and Tourette’s syndrome.
The analysis is among several medical marijuana articles published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They include a small study suggesting many brand labels for edible marijuana products list inaccurate amounts of active ingredients.  More than half of brands tested had much lower amounts than labeled, meaning users may get no effect.
The researchers pooled results from studies that tested marijuana against placebos, usual care or no treatment. That’s the most rigorous kind of research but many studies found no conclusive evidence of any benefit.
Side effects were common and included dizziness, dry mouth and sleepiness. A less extensive research review in the journal found similar results.
It’s possible medical marijuana could have widespread benefits, but strong evidence from high-quality studies is lacking, authors of both articles say.
“It’s not a wonder drug but it certainly has some potential,” said Dr. Robert Wolff, a co-author and researcher with Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd., a research company in York, England.
Researchers evaluated 47 brands of medical marijuana products, including candy, baked goods and drinks, bought at dispensaries in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
Independent laboratory testing for THC, marijuana’s leading active ingredient, found accurate amounts listed on labels for just 13 of 75 products. Almost 1 in 4 had higher amounts than labeled, which could cause ill effects.
Most had lower-than-listed amounts. There were similar findings for another active ingredient. Products were not identified by name.
Johns Hopkins University researcher Ryan Vandrey, the lead author, said he was surprised so many labels were inaccurate. The researchers note the results may not be the same in other locations.
Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C. have laws permitting medical marijuana use. Approved conditions vary but include Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, kidney disease, lupus and Parkinson’s disease.
An editorial in the journal says approval in many states has been based on poor quality studies, patients’ testimonials or other nonscientific evidence.
The editorial by two Yale University psychiatrists suggests enthusiasm for medical marijuana has outpaced rigorous research and says widespread use should wait for better evidence. Federal and state governments should support and encourage such research, the editorial says.
The psychiatrists note repeated recreational marijuana use can be addictive and say questions remain about the long term health effects of medical marijuana use and whether its use is justified in children whose developing brains may be more vulnerable to its effects.
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Pubdate: Thu, 25 Jun 2015
Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO)
Copyright: 2015 The Springfield News-Leader
Contact: http://getpublished.news-leader.com/Forms/LettersToEditor.php
Website: http://www.news-leader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129
Author: Farris Robertson
Note: Chaplain Farris Robertson is the director of Recovery Chapel.

LOSING THE SECOND BATTLE OF WAR ON DRUGS
We have lost the War on Drugs and are now losing the battle for an emotionally stable society. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 52 million Americans have used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes, that 54 percent of such drugs are obtained free from friends and relatives, and that 62 percent of teens that abused prescription drugs did so because they are legal, cheap, easy to get and provide plausible deniability when caught. Americans consume 75 percent of the world’s prescription drugs even though we only represent 5 percent of the world’s population. We also have the world’s largest percentage of population incarcerated for illegal drugs.
The mindset of health professionals is a big part of the problem.  They meet together and discuss how some of us are wired wrong, maladjusted or chemically imbalanced and what medicines to try. They help market dangerous psychotropic medications.
This issue is near and dear to me because I was a brilliant, maladjusted young man who had attention deficit disorder decades before it became popular. I found medicinal alcohol and drugs at age 15 and didn’t come out of that downward spiral for 16 years. Now, almost 30 years drug- and alcohol-free, predominantly sane, and sadder but wiser, it is important for people like me to speak.
Today I work with recovering addicts who are often chemically imbalanced. They are typically proscribed medications by practitioners who are modern-day witch doctors, trying this drug, then that one, then hurriedly changing to a third when the patient presents with antisocial behaviors. The pharmaceutical companies make money, the professional community stays busy, but the patients and taxpayers lose. Society pays for the addicted who are in jails and treatment centers.
I work with men who have been medicated so long they have lost themselves and become walking laboratories for psychotropic experiments. They are often overdosed and dependent on prescriptions.
My oldest son inherited my childhood hyperactive nature. He is now a scientist for the federal government and a brilliant scholar, but at age 6 a neurosurgeon wanted to experiment with him. The doctor looked at me and said, “I see where it comes from.” While he was right in his diagnosis, his solution was a dark cauldron. We refused treatment.
Some of the world’s greatest genius has come from imbalanced people.
I can testify:
1. God doesn’t make mistakes and created me with a chemical “imbalance.” Who’s normal?
2. God made me more temptable than most by alcohol and drugs, but He didn’t compel me to use them. I did that on my own.
3. God will use my wildness to bless the world if I cooperate and stay as pure as I can.

If we are to win the battle for emotional health, we need to teach people how to live with life’s frustrations without making excuses, engaging in antisocial behavior, or using drugs. Medicating them is only a stopgap measure at best and reinforces the many delusions that already accompany addictive living.
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Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jun 2015
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2015 The Providence Journal Company
Contact: letters@providencejournal.com
Website: http://www.providencejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: David L. Nathan
Note: David L. Nathan, M.D., is a clinical psychiatrist, writer and educator. He is a clinical associate professor at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
DON’T FALL FOR WARNINGS ABOUT POT
It’s no secret. Most Americans now favor making marijuana legal. The national numbers are similar to those in Rhode Island, where a recent poll showed that 57 percent of Rhode Island residents support legalization. Prohibitionists are rapidly losing the debate because the facts are against them. Nonetheless, they continue to repeat three arguments that have been thoroughly debunked by objective scientific research.
First, opponents of legalization claim that marijuana is a “gateway” to hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. Numerous studies over the past 70 years - including one commissioned by the White House - have discredited this hypothesis. Yet prohibitionists continue to claim that marijuana use leads to later use of heroin and other dangerous drugs. Roughly half of all American adults have tried marijuana. If marijuana is a “gateway drug” as opponents claim, why do we find that only 2 percent of Americans have ever tried heroin?
Second, prohibitionists commonly argue that making marijuana legal will lead to carnage on the highways. That has not been the case in Colorado, where the number of traffic fatalities in 2014 was on par with those of previous years. Furthermore, several studies have shown that marijuana causes far less driving impairment than alcohol intoxication.
Research released in February from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 or above increases the odds of a fatal car accident sevenfold.  The same study found that after adjusting for age, gender, race, and alcohol use, drivers who used marijuana were no more likely to be in a fatal car accident than drivers who had not used any drugs or alcohol prior to driving.
Third - and most importantly - opponents of legalization have insisted that marijuana use will skyrocket among teens when it is made legal for adults, but few of them acknowledge that marijuana is already widely available and used by adolescents under prohibition.  Since the 1970s, the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Study has consistently found that 80 to 90 percent of high school seniors report that marijuana is “fairly easy” or “very easy” to obtain.
While remaining legal for adults, alcohol and cigarette use among teens has steadily declined to historic lows in recent decades. But teen use of marijuana has risen despite its prohibition. In fact, marijuana prohibition could be increasing teen use. Alcohol and tobacco retailers check IDs and refuse to sell to minors, but unscrupulous street corner drug dealers will sell marijuana - along with hard drugs - to minors.
Although prohibitionists claim that making marijuana legal for adults “sends the wrong message to kids,” teen marijuana use in Colorado has remained level since legalization. The fact that prohibitionists’ dire prediction did not materialize may explain why polls show more Colorado voters now support legal marijuana than did in 2012.
My wife - who grew up in Pawtucket - and I don’t want our children to think that the legalization of cannabis for adults implies that it’s safe for them. But by making it illegal for everyone, our society is most definitely sending the message that there is no difference between use by adults and children, and kids know that’s not true. By creating a legal distinction between use by adults and minors, and by investing cannabis tax revenues into sensible education of children and teens, we can make clear that what is a permissible activity for adults is neither safe nor legal for minors.
Those concerned about the public health impact of marijuana use - and I count myself among them - are more credible and do a greater public service when they abandon talking points that run counter to available evidence and common sense. The hyperbolic claims that we have become accustomed to hearing from prohibitionists only serve to further alienate an already skeptical public.
Instead of doubling down and defending a failed policy with virtually no scientific basis, it is time to acknowledge that marijuana prohibition has failed, and that smart regulation is the solution.
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Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jun 2015
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Press Democrat
Contact: letters@pressdemocrat.com
Website: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Glenda Anderson

POT RAIDS UNCOVER ‘EGREGIOUS’ ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IN EMERALD TRIANGLE
More than 86,500 marijuana plants were seized this week during a four-day eradication operation in the heart of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle, where law enforcement officials from three counties also reported finding “egregious” environmental violations.
The plants, along with cash, firearms and thousands of pounds of dried pot, were confiscated from the remote Island Mountain region where Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity counties meet. Some 30 to 40 people - mostly law enforcement officers from the three counties’ sheriff’s departments, assisted by Fish and Wildlife and a handful of National Guard officers - participated in the assault on what they say were obviously illegal growing operations, most of which included more than 1,000 plants each.
Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman said Friday it was among the largest pot eradication operations since a six-county action in 2011, dubbed Operation Full Court Press, that removed some 630,000 plants from the Mendocino National Forest.
“This is one of the largest we’ve had,” he said. The entire area, composed of parcels ranging in size from 40 acres to 160 acres, contained one of the highest concentrations of illegal gardens in the three-county region, Allman said.
“This was the most abusive area,” he said.
Four people were arrested during the operation, including three in Mendocino County and one in Trinity County. In most cases, the growers took off before law enforcement officers arrived. Allman said he suspected they’d been tipped off by radio reports about the endeavor.
But investigations into the gardens are continuing and further arrests are likely, the sheriffs said.
The operation began to take shape in April, when Allman said he first discussed cracking down on the Island Mountain area with the sheriffs from Humboldt and Trinity counties. He said he’d received numerous complaints from area residents as well as pilots who had flown over the region and were appalled by the environmental degradation they saw.
Law enforcement officers found “egregious environmental issues,” Allman said.
Fish and Wildlife Lt. Chris Stoots said his department’s team found 97 environmental violations, 55 of them related to streambed alterations. Creeks have been dammed, filled in with dirt and diverted in order to make way for and provide water for the thirsty pot plants, which have been conservatively estimated to each use about 6 gallons of water a day. Investigators found large water tanks at several locations and, in one case, a gigantic bladder used by a marijuana farmer to store water.
Allman estimated the plants seized were sucking up some 500,000 gallons of water a day.
There also were cases of unlawful grading on a large scale, with half-acre pads being bulldozed for cultivation, Stoots said.
He said water in a nearby fork of the Eel River was hardly flowing and was full of algae, likely generated by runoff from fertilizer.
“There’s a broad spectrum of environmental damage there,” he said.
The raids come at a time when growers, state regulators and law enforcement leaders are trying to work together to hammer out rules in anticipation that California may follow other states and legalize marijuana for recreational use. An initiative is widely expected to go before the state’s voters next year.
“We need them to be partners and collaborators” in creating regulations, said Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the Emerald Growers Association, an advocacy group for medical marijuana farmers, business owners and patients.
The raids “are the absolute opposite of that,” Allen said.
Allman said the growers are well aware of current regulations and that they need to follow them until they change.
“The laws haven’t changed yet,” he said.
Marijuana advocates in Humboldt and Mendocino counties have said they don’t have personal knowledge of the pot farms targeted in the raids but they believe most were probably what they would consider small farms because they were growing smallish plants in a manner that gradually deprives the plants of light to fool them into flowering early. Allen said those plants produce between an ounce and a quarter-pound of dried marijuana, rather than the 2 to 4 pounds from larger plants.
Allen is listed as an owner of one of the parcels that was raided this week but said he’s not involved in growing pot and has previously attempted to remove his name from the deed.
“A thousand (of those) plants is a small farm,” Allen said. He said the smaller plants also use less water than tree-sized ones, in part because they have a shorter growing season.
Allman said the smaller plants can produce 2 to 3 pounds of processed pot.
Of the plants confiscated, 45,553 were in Mendocino County, 23,211 were in Humboldt County and 17,725 were in Trinity County. Humboldt County officials said the pot eradications they conducted were “average” for their department.
Mendocino County served nine search warrants during the eradication operation; Humboldt served seven; and Trinity served four, the sheriffs said.
Last summer and fall, the state’s 59-day Campaign Against Marijuana Planting - better known as CAMP - seized 66,818 pot plants from Mendocino County, 37,455 from Humboldt County and 90,283 from Trinity County. The figures do not include plants seized by local agencies without state assistance the rest of the year. Statewide, CAMP confiscated 833,966 plants last year, down from the 939,722 eradicated in 2013 and less than a quarter of the 4.5 million seized in 2009, according to CAMP statistics.
Allman said he and the other sheriffs plan to revisit Island Mountain in the fall and crack down on those who continue to flout the law.
“I have every reason to believe the grows will continue,” he said.
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jun 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Edmundo Carrillo, Journal North

SF DRUG PROGRAM GETS NATIONAL EXPOSURE
Law Officials to Talk at White House Gathering
SANTA FE - Law enforcement officials here will have the opportunity to teach agencies from around the country about a new program combating opiate use at a White House conference next week.
Mayor Javier Gonzales, District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco and state director of the Drug Policy Alliance Emily Kaltenbach will travel with other local officials to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to talk about a program that keeps low-grade drug offenders out of the court system.
The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program was implemented in May 2014. The program gives people over 18 who are found with three grams or less of opiates like pills or heroin the option to enter the program instead of facing jail time. Kaltenbach said Santa Fe is the second city in the nation, behind Seattle, to implement such a program, and that law enforcement agencies from across the country are gaining interest.
“As people look at dealing with mass incarceration and reforming our policing strategies and dealing with the failed war on drugs  we need a new approach,” Kaltenbach said. “It’s Seattle and Santa Fe that can teach the rest of the nation.
“Many of these folks are also engaged in small property crimes.  They’ll have a syringe on them, or it’s clear that they’re doing this to support an addiction. They can choose to participate in LEAD or go to jail. You don’t have that arrest record that’s hanging over you.” A new residential burglary or a history violence are disqualifiers.
The program gives allows the responding officer to give an offender the chance to enter the program before being booked or charged with an offense. Once in the program, the candidate is assigned a case manager that handles any needs they might have to fight their addiction. It’s all done in an attempt to curb incarceration numbers for nonviolent drug offenders and help them avoid felony charges.
“These people are either constantly going through treatment or the criminal justice system.” Kaltenbach said. “Treatment is housing, it’s job placement, it’s education, it’s childcare  if we can’t support those basic needs in the most humane way, then this person is never going to have a chance to be a productive member of our community.” About 36 people are now in the program, financed with city, county and private dollars, but plans are to triple participants as the program gains traction.
Law enforcement officials from San Francisco, Baltimore, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston will be in attendance at next week’s conference.  The Ford Foundation and the John and Laura Arnold Foundation will fund the trip for Santa Fe participants.
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Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/PydFLPa5
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24

CAUSE FOR PAUSE: ZEALOTS NEED TO INHALE THE FACTS
Ours is a hard-headed world cemented over with firm convictions.
Whether you’re a green environmentalist or a doubting “denier.” Whether you’re convinced of the medical virtues of marijuana or are determined to keep pot illegal. Whatever your perspective on the issues of the day, a defining characteristic of your viewpoint is that it is absolute. Beyond dispute. An analysis of 79 studies on the efficacy of marijuana did not turn out well for medical marijuana advocates. It shows pot provides little help to patients with medical disorders.
In many respects, we have forgotten how to put our beliefs to the test of counterarguments and force ourselves to accept the better of the two.
This will come as a shock to many of our most earnest issue advocates, but admitting the other side has a reasonable point is a sign of argumentative strength, not weakness.
We’re talking to you, medical-marijuana advocates. And to you, environmentalists. A recent evaluation of 79 studies involving more than 6,000 patients on the efficacy of marijuana in treating ailments did not turn out well for medical-marijuana advocates. According to the met analysis, medical marijuana appears to be helpful in alleviating muscle pain among sufferers of multiple sclerosis. Other than that, the evidence is thin that pot provides much, if any, help to patients with medical disorders.
Yes, we are inviting the very committed supporters of medical marijuana - as well as their ardent kin, marijuana decriminalizers - to come down on our heads for this.
But we’re only passing along the research we’ve found. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the states that have passed laws approving marijuana for treating conditions such as Alzheimer’s, epilepsy and glaucoma did so based on poor-quality studies, patient testimonials and other non-scientific evidence.
Likewise with committed, world-changing environmentalists.
A University of Chicago study has found that retrofitting your home with efficiency measures may not be quite the energy-saving miracle that advocates claimed it would be.
The study examining the economics of installing energy-saving add-ons, including big-ticket items like new windows, rarely made the kind of moneysaving impact they were promised to make. Projected energy savings, according to the study, were 2.5 times greater than real savings.
Considering the enormous investment governments, especially the federal government, have put into home improvement energy-saving programs, these findings should be cause for pause. Since 1976, the federal Energy Department has weatherized 7 million homes. In total, the $5,000 average cost of such weatherizing returns an average of $2,400 in savings. That is a huge investment that doesn’t seem to come close to penciling out.
Neither of these studies constitutes the last word on these issues, of course. But they should, at least, give advocates cause to stop and think.
Nothing is ever as perfect as we want it to be.
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Alvin Arnold

WHY IGNORE THE CARTELS WHEN WE DEBATE MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION?
Cautiously avoiding deadly contact with the third rail, we are shy about any mention of Mexican cartels in the context of marijuana.
Opponents of legalization hypocritically argue half-truths and lies about the evils of the weed, leaving us with the false impression advocates are attempting to introduce something to the public that is already supplied by the cartels.
Most criticisms of the drug are yet to be substantiated. And we complain about the rising expense of educating our children as if decent schools were an unaffordable luxury limited only to the comfortable rich. We should ask ourselves why we adamantly refuse to accept an obvious financial solution, readily available.
Because of an apparent danger of confronting the cartels, we persistently choose arguments about the consumption of a weed. A significantly large portion of our population, however, has clearly indicated, legal or illegal, marijuana is its choice for a recreational drug.
Alvin Arnold
Wickenburg
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/SxwUpOAq
Copyright: 2015 The Oregonian
Contact: letters@oregonian.com
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Authors: Andy Olson and Jeff Barker
Note: Republican Andy Olson, of Albany, represents Oregon House District 15, and Democrat Jeff Barker, of Aloha, represents Oregon House District 28.
MARIJUANA REGULATIONS MUST COVER PESTICIDE USE
The recent Oregonian/OregonLive investigation, “A Tainted High,” brought needed awareness on illegal use of pesticides in the medical marijuana industry. It also shines a light on what’s to come regarding pesticide use on recreational marijuana.
The pesticide residue levels reported in the article are concerning, especially considering that they are consumed. The Oregon Department of Agriculture, which regulates pesticides, and the Oregon Health Authority, which regulates medical marijuana, should be taking this issue seriously and conducting a thorough investigation.
Pesticides are registered and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level. Since marijuana is still federally classified as a Schedule I controlled substance, there are no pesticides approved for use on marijuana. This means that every application of a pesticide on marijuana is in violation of federal and state law. Unfortunately, some marijuana growers are ignoring those laws and using pesticides on their crops. This is not only illegal, but unsafe for patients and other consumers.
Before a pesticide is approved for use it goes through 10-12 years of development and testing. It is then labeled for use on specific crops at specific rates that have been scientifically verified for efficacy and safety.
None of this testing has been done on marijuana, so growers have no idea what pesticides, or how much, are safe to use. That is why it is not surprising to see The Oregonian/OregonLive find residues of pesticides on marijuana products that are far above the levels considered as acceptable by the EPA on food crops.
The scary truth is that the end users of these products have no assurances that they are not being exposed to pesticides at potentially harmful levels. This is particularly concerning as the products tested by The Oregonian/OregonLive are for medicinal purposes and are often used by a very vulnerable population that may already have compromised immune systems. No one should have to worry about whether their medicine is tainted with misused pesticides.
As we embark on the further legalization of marijuana after the passage of Measure 91, an entirely new regulatory structure is being created. Strong regulations are needed to ensure that marijuana products meet the same standards as other products on the market that people consume. These kinds of regulations are already in place for growers and food processors, but may seem onerous to marijuana growers who have operated outside the confines of regulation for many years. That is not an excuse to continue to ignore our laws.
Pesticide labels are the law and must be followed by all users. That includes marijuana growers.
It’s time for marijuana products to meet the same laws as every other product in this state. Our public and environmental health depend on it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/HukLPJq8
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@utsandiego.com
Website: http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it’s circulation area.
Author: Steven Greenhut

EVOLVING MARIJUANA VIEWS DRIVE NEW CALIFORNIA LEGALIZATION EFFORT
Sacramento - Regardless of one’s take on the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision on Friday forbidding states from banning same-sex marriage, it’s clear the ruling didn’t come in a vacuum.
Analysts said the court “created” a new civil right, but public attitudes have shifted dramatically in recent years. The court simply gave its blessing to a cultural change that already has taken place.
We see another long-in-the-making social change on the issue of marijuana. A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found 55 percent of likely California voters in favor of legalizing weed for recreational uses. Support for such an idea was barely perceptible decades ago.
But courts and legislatures usually lag far behind changing public perceptions. California legalized the use of medical marijuana with Proposition 215 in 1996.
But as this column reported recently, the state still hasn’t figured out a simple way for dispensaries to pay their taxes (they are banned from having bank accounts, but the Board of Equalization usually doesn’t accept cash). This year’s Legislature may finally create a “licensing and regulatory framework” for medical marijuana (AB 266), nearly two decades later. Meanwhile, the public has moved beyond “medical” marijuana.
In 2012, Washington and Colorado voters approved legalization for adults and in the 2014 midterm elections voters did the same in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. There are plans for initiatives in seven other states in 2016.
Legalization supporters have filed a few different initiatives in California - but none are likely to cause consternation among drug warriors because they may not have sufficient financial backing.
I attended a meeting of legalization heavy hitters recently in Sacramento. Going under the name of Reform California, this group is trying to agree on a “unity” initiative that not only satisfies the diverse group of legalization supporters, but is careful enough to win a statewide election. “Politics is the art of the possible,” said Jim Gonzalez, a senior adviser. “The California electorate is still very cautious.” He wants to make sure the language is palatable to assuage any fears it will turn California into Amsterdam.
But there’s no doubt we’re seeing a “cannabis revolution,” he adds, as public support grows. Gonzalez compares himself to Rip van Winkle:
He was campaign manager for Proposition 215 and now he’s involved in this effort again - but finds himself in a far-different political climate.
Reform California hasn’t issued ballot language, but its website details some general principles. Any initiative must provide protection for existing medical marijuana patients, make adult use of marijuana legal in limited amounts, allow a limited right to cultivate it, create a uniform tax system - while preventing sales to minors and combating drugged driving.
The group is waiting to see the fate of AB 266 given that any changes in marijuana-related law would need to be addressed in its ballot language. Supporters also are waiting for Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a legalization supporter, to issue in early July the final report from the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy.
The commission’s progress report, released in March, listed many thorny issues that need to be resolved. For instance, it addressed testing for drugged driving: “THC, the main psychoactive agent in marijuana, is fat-soluble and can remain in the body and blood for a long time.... A strict system that penalizes drivers based on THC levels in the blood could have the unintended impact of penalizing drivers who are not impaired.”
California voters were asked to legalize marijuana in 2010. But Proposition 19 would have “created a patchwork system where marijuana would only be legalized by city or county,” explained Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). A person could leave San Francisco with a legal product - and face felony charges a mile away in San Mateo County.
Nevertheless, that flawed initiative garnered nearly 47 percent of the vote. We’ll see what happens, but I’ll return to the gay marriage analogy - the battle already is over. It’s just a matter of time before the political and legal systems recognize it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jun 2015
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Prince George Citizen
Contact: letters@princegeorgecitizen.com
Website: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Pete McMartin
Page: 7

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?
Unlike Bill Clinton, I did inhale. I disclose this by way of making clear my position on the legalization of marijuana, which is: Wait, what? It isn’t yet? The feds are still frothing at the mouth over this? What’s wrong with these people? Are Conservative MPs the only ones that never got invited to the cool kids’ parties?
Did they shun sin so they could spend their weekends in study hall?
If so, why have we let these people run the country?
A better question might be: ARE they running the country anymore?
Think of the issues that preoccupy us - climate change, housing, transportation, the economy - and our cities and city governments are not only generating the ideas and solutions to address them, they have moved to fill the political vacuum that our senior governments have themselves created.
It’s no wonder, then, that the City of Vancouver has moved to regulate illegal marijuana dispensaries. It’s neither “historic” nor new, as it’s being billed, but it is a common sense reaction to a cultural shift, of which the feds seem incapable. Rather than criminalize marijuana use, something the city and police are loathe to do - because, after all, this is Vancouver - the city has moved to regulate the proliferation of dispensaries rather than begin another wasteful and fruitless war on drugs that the feds demand.
The Conservatives, anyway, seem more interested in scoring pre-election points than conducting an adult conversation about the issue.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose issued a statement Wednesday linking the city’s regulatory approach to “Justin Trudeau’s plan to make smoking marijuana a normal, everyday activity.” You know, like drinking, which is, of course, much healthier than smoking weed.
Once upon a time, ideas and innovations poured forth from our senior governments. Now we get bullying and moralizing. In the late 1960s and 1970s, senior governments poured funds into urban infrastructure not just out of an obligatory sense of duty, but to make city life better.
“It was a time of incredible optimism,” said Gordon Price, director of Simon Fraser University’s City program.
“We’d just come out of Expo ‘67, and senior governments were doing major funding down at the urban level.
“And out of that came the structures and innovations we live with today.”
Granville Island. The south shore of False Creek. Co-op housing and affordable housing. Innovations that revolutionized Vancouver and changed the city’s way of looking at itself.
And then senior governments began their long retrenchment. They got out of nation-building and into bookkeeping.
“Call it neo-liberalism, or the idea that government is the problem,” Price said.
“Its core idea was that government was wasteful, and the best thing you can do is cut off its funding and prevent it from innovating and producing new programs. And I think that political philosophy prevailed, won the day, particularly in the U.S. And I also think its effect spilled across the border and became the accepted philosophy of senior governments here. Less government is better. Less regulation. Less funding. The best thing you can do is cut taxes. And you’re certainly not going to get into the business of innovating social programs. In fact, you’re going to de-fund the ones you already have.”
Vancouver saw that in subsidized housing. The federal government (and to a lesser degree the provincial government) slashed its affordable housing programs. The housing problems didn’t go away, of course, so the city was forced to step into the political vacuum the feds had created.
“You don’t leave political voids empty,” Price said. “They get filled, just like in nature.”
The same thing, Price said, is happening today with transportation.
The provincial government, rather than take the initiative, deflects Metro Vancouver’s transportation problems by insisting on a plebiscite to fund improvements, the results of which are not binding.
“The cities are going to have to tap their tax base,” Price, said, “and they’re going to have to find innovative ways to do it - which sounds like a good thing, but if the senior governments are getting out of all of this stuff, the cities have to have a more resilient tax base, and they have to have the kind of expertise and political will on a scale appropriate to the programs.”
And what of the issue of climate change, where all of Metro Vancouver’s largest civic governments are in open revolt against the feds’ plans for oil pipelines and coal terminals? In face of the Conservatives’ disgraceful bullying and lack of impartiality, the cities have had to take on the role of opposition.
That’s why Vancouver is going its own way on drug policy, and why, in time, it will lead it.
It has had to face up to the realities of urban life as it’s lived now.
In the meantime, Ottawa blows smoke.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/g9lULoUw
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: letters@utsandiego.com
Website: http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it’s circulation area.
Author: Stefanie Loh

MARIJUANA BANNED BY MOST U.S. LEAGUES
The four major U.S. professional sports leagues prohibit marijuana use, though the NHL does not test for marijuana. Marijuana infraction policies vary from league to league but center around fines and suspensions.
Major League Baseball has a marijuana testing threshold of 18 nanograms of THC per millimeter of urine, and the urine samples of all minor league players are tested for marijuana, among other drugs.  Conversely, major league players are not tested for marijuana unless there is reasonable cause or a player is already in MLB’s treatment program.
The NBA’s threshold for marijuana testing is 15ng/ml - equal to the standard widely used for employment-based screenings. The first time a player tests positive for marijuana, he is entered into the NBA’s marijuana program. A second violation results in a $25,000 fine, while the third violation brings a five-game suspension and every subsequent offense brings a suspension that’s five games longer than the player’s immediate preceding suspension.
The NFL last fall raised its marijuana testing threshold from 15 ng/ml to 35 ng/ml. A first-time offender gets referred to the NFL’s substance-abuse program. Subsequent violations result in a two-game fine, a four-game fine, a four-game suspension, a 10-game suspension and, ultimately, a one-year banishment.
That’s why Cleveland Browns star receiver Josh Gordon will not play in the NFL this season. A positive marijuana test landed him in the NFL’s substance-abuse program, and his most recent offense - testing positive for alcohol - resulted in his current yearlong suspension.
Chronic offenders are an issue for teams: They don’t want a player on their roster to miss time because of substance-abuse problems.
“I think most teams now operate on a three-strike rule. If a guy has three failed tests, it shows he’s not able to make the smart choice overall and can’t understand how to manage his use of it so he can stay on the field,” said former Browns General Manager Phil Savage, speaking generally because he left the Browns before Gordon was drafted and can’t comment on that specific case. “That’s a red flag.  You don’t want to draft a player who’s not going to be available to you.”
On the international level, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibit marijuana only in competition - defined as the 12 hours leading up to an event and extending through the end of the event.
Both organizations’ 150 ng/ml THC threshold makes it impossible for athletes to test positive via secondhand smoke, and is high enough that some experts  including Dr. Marilyn Huestis, the Chief of Chemistry and Drug Metabolism at the National Institute on Drug Abuse say no occasional cannabis smokers, and only about half of all frequent cannabis smokers, would ever test positive, thus rendering the threshold irrelevant.
“From my research, no occasional user is ever going to reach that, no matter what,” Huestis said. “They could smoke until they went to compete and would never reach that. ... To me, that’s not preventing people from using the drug and competing.”
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: Kirk
Pubdate: Sun, 28 Jun 2015
Source: Aspen Times, The  (CO)
Author: Jill Beathard

BIOLOGY A FACTOR IN WHY WE GET HOOKED, DOC SAYS
Illness and changes that occur in the brain all can be factors in why some people get addicted to drugs and alcohol, a top national researcher said in an Aspen Institute Spotlight Health seminar Saturday.
There is a common belief that people become addicted to something because they enjoy the feeling they get from it, but the biological process of losing control over one’s behavior is more complex than that, said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in a session titled “oeThe Biology of Addiction - Why Do We Get Hooked?”
Rewards motivate humans to take certain actions, which is a crucial aspect of our biology because it includes behaviors such as eating and sex, Volkow said. But early in her research on addiction, Volkow questioned why someone would become so addicted to a pleasurable experience that they would lose their control over the behavior and choose it despite “catastrophic consequences.”
Abusing drugs creates a pleasurable feeling by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the reward centers of the brain.  Studying cocaine abuse by using methylphenidate, a safer drug that has similar effects when injected, Volkow found that the brains of addicts had less than half the pleasurable response to the drug that non-addicts did.
Volkow followed that by monitoring the reactions of a control group and addicts to images of people using drugs and paraphernalia.  Addicts would get a craving when they saw the images, causing the dopamine levels in their brain to rise, but then if they consumed, the pleasurable response did not occur.
“They’re not more sensitive to the rewarding effect but conditioned to it,”  Volkow said.
Research also has shown that receptors to dopamine are fewer in the brains of addicts. Activity in the frontal cortex, which helps with decision making and self-control, is compromised as well. Those phenomena can occur due to pre-existing conditions such as genetics and mental illness, but they also can occur as a result of changes in the brain due to substance abuse or a combination of factors.
“No one chooses to be an addict,”  Volkow said. “Their brains have been rewired in such a way to lead to an automatic response when they are in an environment (where the substance is available).”
Volkow believes treatment for addiction should take a multi-pronged approach of helping patients enhance their self-control, disrupt positive memories of past pleasurable experiences with substances and find other motivators that create positive reinforcement.
“Addiction can be prevented or treated, but we’re not doing either one,”  Volkow said, although later she said that she should have added “sufficiently,”  as the country has made great strides in combating tobacco addiction and some of the negative consequences of alcohol abuse, such as accidents and drinking among teens.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
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Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jun 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 Associated Press
Contact:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

LONG DRIVES, HIGH COSTS LIKELY IN LATEST MEDICAL POT PROGRAM
(AP) - There will be no baggies of pot awaiting patients this week when Minnesota joins 21 other states in offering medical marijuana.  Instead, the nation’s latest medical marijuana program is a world of pill bottles and vials of marijuana-infused oil.
For the qualifying patients seeking relief from pain, medical marijuana advocates and some lawmakers, Wednesday isn’t the finish line, but the first step. The state’s restrictive approach, unseen in the industry, is expected to mean high costs, long drives and reluctant doctors.
Minnesota’s medical marijuana advocates snatched an unlikely victory from the Legislature last year after years of failed efforts, but there was little celebration. What emerged was a program designed to assuage skeptical law enforcement lobbyists.
Smoking the plant is forbidden. Pills, oils and vapors are available only to patients suffering from severe conditions, such as cancer, AIDS and epilepsy. And the medicine can be sold in only eight locations, hundreds of miles away from some in Minnesota’s rural expanses.
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom