On Tuesday, in pharmacies across the Czech Republic, medical marijuana was made available to patients suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or psoriasis. Marijuana is available by prescription only, and must be imported from the Netherlands or Israel since a cultivation program is not yet included in the law.

The Czech Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of a medical marijuana bill earlier this year, and President Vaclav Klaus signed the bill into law on February 15.

The law does not mandate that medical marijuana be covered by health insurance nor does it allow for home cultivation by patients. Regardless, the country has some of the most lenient marijuana laws in Europe. Possession of five or less plants is merely a misdemeanor, and fines for possession of 15 grams or less are on par with parking citations.

Last year, the Michigan Legislature passed a series of bills tweaking Michigan’s voter-approved medical marijuana law, and most of those changes took effect yesterday. Among other things, the law now defines and requires a “bona fide physician-patient relationship” — which includes an in-person evaluation — between a patient and recommending physician. Also, newly issued registry ID cards will be valid for two years instead of only one. A requirement that patients transporting marijuana by vehicle keep it in a case in the trunk took effect in January.

Here’s our handout with full summaries of these new laws. More information, including new forms anyone applying for or renewing a registry ID card will need to use, is available at the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs website.

One change that we hope will take effect soon is state and locally recognized dispensaries. State Rep. Mike Callton (R-Nashville) and 16 other representatives are sponsoring HB 4271, which would allow cities and towns to choose whether or not to recognize and regulate dispensaries. If you are a Michigan resident, please ask your legislators to give patients more options for access by voting “yes” on HB 4271.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee

As of yesterday, April 1, 2013, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana is no longer subject to an arrest, a criminal charge, or the threat of jail time under Rhode Island law! Thanks to legislation sponsored by Sen. Josh Miller and Rep. John “Jay” Edwards and signed into law by Gov. Lincoln Chafee, individuals found in possession of up to an ounce of marijuana will now be given a civil citation of $150. Those under 18 will also have their parents notified and will be required to attend an alcohol and drug education course and perform community service. Third and subsequent violations within 18 months are still grounds for a misdemeanor.

This MPP-led effort is yet another step towards rational marijuana policy. Until marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol, sales will remain uncontrolled, and they will continue to prop up drug cartels instead of legitimate Rhode Island businesses. Repealing criminal penalties for marijuana possession slows the bleeding, but repealing marijuana prohibition will heal the wound.

If you are a Rhode Island resident, please email your lawmakers and urge them to support the Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act.

Last Thursday’s hearing on West Virginia’s medical marijuana bill was an overwhelmingly positive experience that resulted in some great media coverage. Many thanks to all the patients, medical professionals, and other advocates who testified — you made a huge impact on the House Health and Human Resources Committee!

Chairman Don Perdue

Remarkably, 18 people spoke in favor of the bill, and none were opposed. Chairman Don Perdue (D-Wayne) had been very reluctant to place this bill on the committee’s agenda, but he has now agreed to form a study committee that will give the bill the serious attention it deserves over the summer.

It’s unfortunate that the bill won’t be advancing to a vote in the legislature this year, but the outpouring of public support for HB 2961 has more than broken the ice — it has dramatically changed the way many West Virginia legislators view this issue.

Please enjoy these news links and share them with your friends and family so we can continue building public support for this sensible, compassionate reform!

* Beckley Register-Herald/Bluefield Daily Telegraph: “No Foes Speak at House Hearing on Medical Marijuana”

* WVNS-TV: “Is West Virginia Ready to Legalize Medical Marijuana?”

* WCHS-TV: “Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced to West Virginia Legislature”

A year ago today, Oakland’s pioneering Oaksterdam University was raided by DEA agents.
Its vocal founder, millionaire activist Richard Lee, also saw his home
raided, and subsequently he stepped down as leader of the school,
allowing ownership of it and the associate marijuana dispensary,
Coffeeshop Blue Sky, to be split among several employees. The school is
now a fraction of the size it once was, though it’s still operating, and
curiously, no charges have yet been filed against Lee or any of the people involved with Oaksterdam.

The University has now shrunk and relocated, with 15 to 20 faculty
and employees down from a high of 100 last April. And enrollment is
obviously smaller as well. The dispensary is no longer connected,
business-wise, to the University.

While Lee or others still could face federal prosecution, it seems as
though the entire raid was staged to make an example of the
high-profile center of the cannabis industry that Lee had set up, and to
show the city of Oakland that the government meant business when it
comes to meting out federal law in the face of such blatant celebrations
of semi-legal marijuana. As Oakland North
reports, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag won’t comment on the case, and
there’s little indication of how much further the Justice Department’s
2011 statewide crackdown on the industry will go. Kris Hermes, media
specialist for Americans for Safe Access, points out that
post-crackdown, there are still well over 1,000 dispensaries operating
statewide, and the industry is still "fairly robust … [and] shows no
signs of going away."

But state laws, and the even more liberal city ordinances like
Oakland has

Lawmakers have introduced a measure with stricter provisions than past failed efforts to legalize marijuana sales to New Yorkers who have a “severe debilitating or life-threatening’’ health condition.

The new bill, which ends such past ideas as letting people grow their own marijuana, would have the state Health Department regulate the process, which would include allowing a certain number of private for-profits or not-for-profits to grow the plants and sell the drug under new security protocols to patients with treatment plans approved by a physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.

The measure was introduced by its past sponsors, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat, and Sen. Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat. Savino has more political power this year as one of five breakaway Democrats who jointly run the Senate with Republicans.

The bill has 68 co-sponsors, including 10 Senate Democrats. It has previously sailed through the Assembly.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has opposed the idea of medical marijuana legalization, though advocates believe he could be flexible, especially since he is already promoting a plan to relax marijuana possession laws. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws.

Advocates say the measure will more strictly regulate the drug than prescription painkillers; patient advocates in the past have said marijuana will be cheaper, less addictive and less dangerous than many of the painkiller prescriptions they take.

The bill defines those eligible to be certified by the Health Department to obtain marijuana as someone with a “serious’’ health condition, including cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, diabetes, post-traumatic stress syndrome and others.

The patient would have to be under a doctor’s supervision. Patients who a doctor believes have less than a year to live also would be eligible to buy the drug. Medical marijuana also would be listed as one of the covered drugs on a new state prescription drug tracking system intended to reduce doctor and pharmacy shopping by addicts.

Marijuana could be grown and dispensed by hospitals, for-profit companies and not-for-profit corporations, and an excise tax would be imposed on the facilities, with part of the proceeds shared with local “host’’ communities.

“The bill is much more restrictive than the New York laws regulating highly dangerous drugs like morphine, Oxycontin or Valium,’’ Gottfried said.

“Anybody who ever had a family member suffer from a debilitating disease learns very quickly the limitations of modern medicine at treating pain,’’ added Savino.

The bill’s backers include the American Public Health Association, American Bar Association, New York State Nurses Association, Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, New York AIDS Coalition, the Independence Party of New York and the Drug Policy Alliance.

Critics, including some Senate Republicans and the state Conservative Party, have said marijuana could be diverted by patients to others not eligible for the drug and that the plan sends the wrong message, especially to teenagers, about a drug some call a gateway to stronger drugs.

Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Author: Tom Precious, News Albany Bureau
Published: March 28, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Buffalo News
Contact: lettertoeditor@buffnews.com
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/

Tin foil on the windows, children’s toys that never seem to move from their spot in the front yard and neighbours who don’t seem to live in the home they own.

These are just some of the signs of a marijuana grow operation residents should look out for in their neighbourhood, police repeatedly warn.

According to a 2007 Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on drug offences, 60% of offences related to marijuana production occurred in a residence.

And an Ipsos Reid study in 2012 – prompted by the Ontario Real Estate Association – said almost a quarter of Ontario residents have “seen or know of homes in their neighbourhood that have been used as a marijuana grow operation.”

No one wants to live in a mouldy ex-drug lab.  A past history of drug production can lower a property’s value for years by 15-20%, and make home insurance a pain to maintain.

That’s why Markham realtor Cathy Innamorato did not buy a grow-op home, despite the fact that it had been remediated, leaving little concern for mould.

A conversation with her insurance company left her walking away from the home, she said, because she ran the risk of increasing premiums in the future.

“And you have no recourse,” Innamorato said.  “So because of that I decided against purchasing this property.”

Despite remediation – the process of eradicating mould and other damage done to a building following it’s use for illicit drugs – a grow house never truly shakes its drug-related stigma, she added.  Remediation reports often don’t guarantee the home’s condition 100% and insurance companies are reluctant to accept them.

“How is the buyer protected?” Innamorato said.

A central grow-op registry would have all grow-op houses listed, making it easier for realtors to be open and for buyers to be confident of their purchase.

The Ontario Real Estate Association repeated its call for the registry in early March, supporting Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod’s recently tabled Clandestine Drug Operation Prevention Act.

“I think that there’s an appetite to protect our community and also crack down on this illicit activity,” MacLeod said.

The theft of hydro is a major related concern, as house grow-ops steal energy by rewiring, often risking electrical safety.

MacLeod said law-abiding customers wind up footing the bill for dollars lost to hydro theft.

“It’s quite significant, its a cost to our communities,” she said.

One man has made stigmatized properties his personal mission.

Barry Lebow, a GTA realtor and an expert in real estate stigma, said grow-ops can become long-lasting problems for homeowners and landlords when they try and sell their property in the future.

“Do you realize how many houses are stigmatized in this province?” Lebow said.  “Because the law is that there’s no such thing as a statute of limitations on stigma in Ontario.  It has to be reported forever.”

While he makes it clear he dislikes stigmatizing properties for housing as few as three or four marijuana plants – therefore causing no damage done to the home – he agrees a central registry disclosing grow-op homes ruined by organized criminal behaviour can help realtors and buyers.

“Where there’s been a professional criminal organization, that’s where I draw the line,” Lebow said.  “We have to quantify what they did to the house.”

There should be a difference between a home where a person has grown pot for recreational uses without touching the structure, and a home that has to be gutted after a massive grow operation, Lebow said.  Because the two aren’t the same.

“Therefore you have a problem on your hands because you’re stigmatizing people for something that really shouldn’t be stigmatized,” he said.

Lebow said he knows the impact of grow-ops on property owners.  He’s heard many stories of landlords who have returned to find tenants have ruined their investment homes by running grow-ops.  They take a huge loss of up to 20% in property value.

“Most of the houses that I’ve come across …  have been hardcore blue-collar people who have bought a house, put all their money in, and find out that they’ve got a 20% loss in value across the board,” Lebow said.  “Nobody can afford it but these people ( can afford the loss ) even less.”

Source: Sudbury Star (CN ON)
Contact: http://www.thesudburystar.com/letters
Copyright: 2013 Osprey Media
Website: http://www.thesudburystar.com
Author: Maryam Shah

The Stone-Cold Truth

I got a good bit of reaction to my last piece on cannabis and cancer, so I want follow up on it before moving on to other subjects.  Obviously, many folks out there are suffering and seeking relief, but I don’t want to peddle false hope; there is already too much of that going on.  However, if you already have a death sentence hanging over your head then you pretty much have nothing to lose.

One of the major medicinal advantages of cannabis, the clinical name for marijuana, is the absence of significant and unintended side effects ( no major harms ) associated with its medicinal use 3/4which is a lot more than can be said for many pharmaceutical drugs that come with a laundry list of side effects, which sometimes include death.

That said, the website of the National Cancer institute has recently added a page titled “Cannabis and Cannabinoids” [cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/cannabis/patient/page2].  The information on that page cites preclinical studies that indicate the following “antitumor activity” of cannabinoids ( the active substances in the marijuana plant ):

Studies in mice and rats have shown that cannabinoids may inhibit tumor growth by causing cell death, blocking cell growth, and blocking the development of blood vessels needed by tumors to grow.  Laboratory and animal studies have shown that cannabinoids may be able to kill cancer cells while protecting normal cells.

A study in mice showed that cannabinoids may protect against inflammation of the colon and may have potential in reducing the risk of colon cancer, and possibly in its treatment.

A laboratory study of delta-9-THC in hepatocellular carcinoma ( liver cancer ) cells showed that it damaged or killed the cancer cells.

A laboratory study of cannabidiol in estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast cancer cells showed that it caused cancer cell death while having little effect on normal breast cells.

It’s not about just a toke or two:It’s no wonder that people who have been told they are terminal are willing to try cannabis in an attempt to save themselves.  However, it is important to note that neither smoking, vaporizing nor eating cannabis-infused brownies alone can deliver an effective dose of cannabinoids to have the kind of effect patients are looking for from the plant.

That’s where something like Rick Simpson’s Hemp Oil comes in.  It’s a highly concentrated cannabinoid extract that Simpson and others claim has wondrous results, including its ability to cure many different cancers.

I can’t independently verify that claim, but when used along with conventional cancer therapy it seems to help.  After my last Higher Ground column about cannabis and cancer, a 66-year-old San Francisco woman named Michelle Aldrich contacted me.  Aldrich, and her husband Michael, have been longtime marijuana activists and received the High Times magazine lifetime achievement award in June 2011, so she’s obviously predisposed to have a favorable outlook about the herb, but her story is very compelling.

Aldrich was diagnosed with cancer in late 2011.  Further testing revealed lung cancer, three cancerous lymph nodes, a spot on her kidney and inflammation in her colon ( three polyps ) 3/4Stage 3A poorly differentiated non-small cell metastatic ad-enocarcinoma of the right lung with bulky lymph node involvement 3/4in January 2012.

Her main tumor was 30 by 31 millimeters.  The five-year survival rate for this type of cancer is about 25 percent.  Her doctors recommended that she undergo chemotherapy.  They would have added radiation except her lymph nodes were too close to her trachea for that.  The goal was to shrink the lymph nodes enough so doctors could operate and remove two lobes of her right lung.  Aldrich agreed to the course of treatment but was up front with her medical team that she was going to take what she called Milagro Oil, a variation of the Simpson extract, along with their recommended course of action.  In fact, she put together a complete holistic approach to dealing with her cancer.

“I needed to set a new course.  A course correction,” she said in a talk she gave at the sixth annual Women’s Visionary Congress in July 2012.  The talk was adapted and published in the spring 2013 edition of O’Shaughnessy’s, a journal focused on medical cannabis.”I needed to change my destiny.  I did not want to die of lung cancer.  I would do everything possible to restore my health: diet, chemo, acupuncture, and cannabis oil.  I knew I had a wonderful support group and a dream team of doctors.”

The oil she took contained 63 percent THC – she says it didn’t get her high – and she also used a CBD tincture.  Aldrich’s diet was strict: no dairy, sugar, wheat, alcohol or meat, except chicken once a month.  She said she ate a lot of fish, especially salmon.

Aldrich started chemo in early February and had the last of four courses on April 5, 2012, although she continued taking oil until mid-May.  An April 17, 2012 CT scan showed the tumor had shrunk by 50 percent.  On May 10, 2012, a PET scan showed no discernible cancer and her lymph nodes had completely shrunk.  She had surgery to remove the lymph nodes and the remains of the tumor which was “a thin rim surrounding a necrotic core.” In other words, it was dead.  Aldrich still suffered some of the bad effects of chemo such as nausea and loss of appetite, but in the end her primary doctor was amazed at the result.

“He had never seen lung cancer totally eradicated by chemo, much less in four months,” said Aldrich.  “I assume cannabis oil was the factor that made the difference.”

Cancer is not considered “cured” until it has been absent from a patient for five years, and doctors are loath to say that anyone’s cancer is cured, but testimonials such as Aldrich’s are becoming much more common.

Spread the word:Alternet, an alternative news service, picked up her story and distributed it last week; and testimonials of people’s claims of having cured several types of cancer or other ailments with some variation of Simpson oil can be easily found on the Internet.

Variations abound, with some folks adding other healing herbs that they trust to the mix, but the main ingredient is cannabis, preferably an indica strain.  They’re claiming healing or relief for Multiple Sclerosis, rheumatism, arthritis, psoriasis, eczema, diabetes, seizures, migraines and more.

“Anybody who looks at the sheer amount of these materials cannot deny that cannabis extract deserves mainstream medical attention immediately,” says Justin Kander, a board member of Phoenix Tears ( phoenixtears.ca ), the Rick Simpson organization that promotes cannabis oil.

“People don’t have time to wait for all the proper scientific channels.  We’ve been waiting years, and millions of people have died.  With pain, people don’t have a day to wait,” Kander explains.  “They don’t have 10 seconds to wait.  It’s irresponsible to hold it back.  The extract seems to work for virtually any condition.  That makes it less believable.  In theory, the reason that it works for so many things is the endocannabinoid system ( cannabinoid receptors in the human body ) maintains balance in the other systems.  All disease is some form of imbalance.  We need to investigate this further through science.”

In the meantime, a lot of people have decided not to wait.  They don’t have time.

We’ve been peddled various snake oils in the past.  So I would advise caution when treating yourself or a loved one, and it’s advisable to use cannabis oil in tandem with conventional therapies.  The bottom line is it may work, it may not work, but it won’t harm you.  And as they say on the playground – no harm, no foul.

Hash Bash: The 46th Annual Hash Bash will take place noon-1:30 p.m.  on Saturday, April 6.  Mason Tvert, who let the successful Colorado legalization drive, will headline the program along with NORML founder Keith Stroup, growing expert Ed Rosenthal and cannabis seed developer DJ Short.

Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Copyright: 2013 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact: letters@metrotimes.com
Website: http://www.metrotimes.com
Author: Larry Gabriel

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, which in Portland means it’s time for the annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest. Locals may notice something different about this year’s festival: a massive sign reminding onlookers that marijuana is safer than alcohol.

MPP’s latest billboard, located at Southwest 13th and Alder Streets, features a glass of beer, a glass of wine, and a marijuana leaf below the words “Beer,” “Wine,” and “Safer.”

“Our goal is to make this year’s beer and wine festivals as educational as they are enjoyable,” said Roy Kaufmann, MPP’s Oregon representative. “We know Oregonians are proud of our craft beer, wine, and spirits, but the objective fact remains that marijuana is less toxic and less addictive than alcohol, and it is far less likely to contribute to violent and reckless behavior.”

Despite what some may think, marijuana reform is not a rallying cry for simply one side of the political spectrum.

Sen. Rand Paul

In response to a comment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on “Fox News Sunday” that marijuana use wasn’t worth throwing people in jail for, Bryan Fischer, the director of issues analysis for the socially conservative American Family Association, tweeted: “Sen. Paul doesn’t want [to] send folks to jail for marijuana beef. Fine. Make ‘em pay a fine, like we do for speeding tickets.”

TV evangelist Pat Robinson has also spoken in favor of marijuana reform, publically endorsing ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington state.