The crackdown against medical
pot shops across Southern California began as soon as the state’s
highest court ruled last month that cities could enforce their
dispensary bans,

Police have raided a legion of medical marijuana dispensaries across
the Southland, while legal threats have been issued to hundreds more.
From Santa Ana to San Bernardino, cities that had put the kibosh on the
pot shops now had potent legal ammunition in which to shut them down.

By late last week, San Bernardino had shuttered all but 10 of its 33
banned dispensaries

A series of letters from the DEA that have effectively closed a
handful of medical marijuana storefronts in Seattle might be an
indication of how the feds will fight back against Washington state

Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks arguments for legalizing medical marijuana are half-baked. “Medical, my foot,” Bloomberg– who has admitted to enjoying smoking weed when he was younger– told John Gambling during his weekly radio show.

“There is no medical. This is one of the great hoaxes of all time,” he said, suggesting legalizing medical pot would just make it easier for recreational users to light up.

“The bottom line is, I’m told marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20, 30 years ago,” he continued, according to The New York Post. “That’s one problem. No 2, drug dealers have families to feed. If they can’t sell marijuana, they’ll sell something else. And the something else will be something worse.

The push to legalize this is wrongheaded.”

State Senator Diane Savino, who’s co-sponsoring a bill to legalize medical marijuana in New York, thinks otherwise.

“We’re talking about people with terminal illnesses, seizure disorders,” she told The Post. “We’re not talking about recreational use.”

Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, Associate Member of the New York Academy of Medicine and Vice-Chair of NY Physicians for Compassionate Care, also disapproved of Bloomberg’s comments.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s statement that medical marijuana is a hoax is tantamount to saying that the moon landing was faked,” he said in a statement. “Marijuana, given in oral and inhaled forms, has been shown in large, gold-standard, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials conducted at major medical centers to relieve pain and muscle spasm, and stimulate appetite and weight gain in patients with wasting syndromes.”

Earlier this week, the New York Assembly passed a marijuana decriminalization bill.

Source: Huffington Post (NY)
Published: May 31, 2013
Copyright: 2013 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC
Contact: scoop@huffingtonpost.com
Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Where did you receive your schooling and training?

I have been a medical physician for more than 29 years since graduating from the University of Utah School Of Medicine.  I completed training in general surgery in Los Angeles and plastic surgery in Utah.  During my general surgery training I completed a one-year plastic surgery research fellowship at the University of Southern California.  I finished my board certifications in both general surgery and plastic surgery, and set up private plastic surgery practice in Las Vegas.  I practiced plastic and reconstructive surgery for six years until I underwent cervical spine surgery for herniated discs in the neck.  The surgery left me with neck pain and bodily muscle pain that prevented me from returning to the practice of surgery.

After five years, I was well enough to re-train in pain medicine at the University of Utah under a group of renowned pain-medicine physicians, who have served as current and past presidents of prominent pain academies and societies in the United States.  I hold memberships in the American Academy of Pain Medicine, the International Cannabinoid Research Society and the American Telemedicine Association.

What is your current practice?

I am a board-certified pain-medicine physician and owner of Hawaiian-Pacific Pain and Palliative Care ( medicalmarijuanaofhawaii.org ).  The focus of my practice is the care of patients with chronic pain.  In addition, I have a strong interest in hospice and end-of-life care.  This practice is done on a voluntary basis and is based in Waimanalo at the Native Hawaiian Model Agricultural Village called Pu’uhonua O Waimanalo.  Nearly all fees generated by the advocacy and clinical practice for medical cannabis therapies are used for expenses and Native Hawaiian programs.

Malama First Healthcare is a nonprofit initiative based in the village, and its goals are to improve the health care of Native Hawaiians worldwide.  I serve as their chief medical officer on a voluntary basis.

How long have you been an advocate for medical marijuana?

I have been an advocate for the use of medical cannabis since 2008, when I was first exposed to a group of chronic pain patients on the Big Island who were using cannabis as their sole pain medication, or sometimes in combination with pain pills.

Having no personal experience with marijuana use, I found it quite fascinating that so many people found benefit and relief to their chronic pain conditions using cannabis.

From there, my professional opinion evolved to the point of full political and medical advocacy.

My formal training taught me that marijuana was a gateway drug and had no medical use, which I have since learned to be completely false.  During my training, patients using cannabis often were denied opioid therapies and viewed as drug seekers and addicts.

During my training, no one explained to me how cannabis helped with pain, except one young man who suffered a severe neck injury in the Indonesia tsunami.

Our addiction psychiatrists were forcing him to quit the use of cannabis before the group would prescribe opioids.  Thankfully, this is an out-of-date notion.

These restrictions should never be forced upon any patients who suffer severe, disabling pain.  As I interviewed more people, I became more convinced of the usefulness of medical cannabis.

I thought to myself that thousands of Hawaii residents can’t be wrong.

Patients were finding significant relief from chronic pain conditions and syndromes that otherwise have poor or no effective treatments.

I then set off on an extensive endeavor to understand the medical science of cannabis, cannabinoid receptors, cannabinoid physiology and cannabinoid therapies.

At first I was shocked by the suppression of these safe and effective therapies because of irrational prejudices and political machinations.  This was followed by professional and political disdain at government, politicians, entities and corporations with ulterior motives who are willfully causing millions of people to endure greater suffering because of their direct interference in the practice of medicine and medical research, and their suppression and denial of these therapies.  Thankfully, the Hawaii State Legislature took a bold stand more than a decade ago, in the face of great political pressure, which still exists, and allowed for legal use by chronically ill and disabled people.

Chronic pain is the No.  1 medical condition in the United States, with an estimated 75 million to 100 million Americans living with it.  At least 20 million to 25 million Americans live with severe pain.  In Hawaii, it is conservatively estimated that more than 100,000 live with moderate to severe pain from all causes, including arthritic degeneration, trauma, metabolic conditions such as diabetes, and cancer or its treatment.

Where do things stand right now in the legislative arena?

This year, two bills out of many were vetted in committee and passed by both the Hawaii State Senate and House of Representatives and are expected to be signed by Gov.  Abercrombie.  The first and most important bill calls for the transfer of the medical cannabis program to the Department of Health.  Patients and physicians have requested this transfer for many years.

It is more appropriate that a program for the health and medical welfare of patients be under the auspices of a health department and not law enforcement.  The second bill attempts to improve significant shortcomings in the program itself.  Safe access is our No.  1problem and concern.

The state allows for the use of cannabis as a medicine but does not allow the access to a safe source of that medicine.

From a medical point of view this is unconscionable.  You would not make a diabetic grow and produce their own insulin or diabetes pills.

Currently, patients must obtain seeds, grow the plants, overcome the hostilities of growing by mold and bugs and then develop the yield that becomes their medicine.

The majority of patients are not in a position to even get started.

They don’t know how to grow.  They don’t feel well enough to grow.  They don’t have a place to grow.  And there’s no guarantee that these efforts will result in an adequate medication supply.

The use of cannabis is not an alternative to the use of traditional medications it is a unique medication with unique medical effects.

It is not replaceable with anything else in existence.

Immediate access can only be solved by a dispensary or retail outlet.

A state-run system would be ideal.  The other main issue is the failure to increase the qualifying diagnoses list, since cannabinoid therapy is uniquely helpful to a myriad of conditions.  A large proportion of Hawaii’s cannabis users do it for medical purposes, but the law does not respect that and allow them to be legal because they are using it for conditions not allowed by law.  Our combat soldiers are denied its legal use for PTSD after a decade of multiple deployments to war zones, and are thereby denied an effective and safe treatment for this difficult-to-treat condition.  Cannabis is superior to all other modalities in existence such as anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, which have questionable effectiveness and many adverse side effects.

How effective is medical marijuana compared with other painkillers?

At the most recent meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, Dr.  M.  Moskowitz stated that “preclinical studies, surveys, case studies and randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials with cannabis have all shown its effectiveness in chronic pain conditions .  Cannabis works to settle down the processing of wind-up ( or expanded pain processing in the brain ) and is the only drug known to do so.  It reduces inflammatory pain in the peripheral nerves, and has a unique mechanism for pain reduction unlike any other medicine.”

Studies have shown that medical cannabis is as effective as opioid therapies.  By using medical cannabis, many people are able to completely eliminate or significantly reduce their use of opioid pain pills.  This eliminates or significantly reduces the numerous adverse side effects that opioids inflict.

The major medical benefit to the withdrawal of opioids is the removal of physical dependency.  Most importantly, the mortal safety of a patient on an opioid regimen is dramatically improved with the addition of medical cannabis and a reduction in opioid dosage.

Every day, Americans are dying from the misuse and overdosing of opioid medications.  There is an epidemic of prescribed opioid pill diversions, which can lead to death or ongoing drug addiction.

The use of cannabis in chronic pain also reduces the number of other types of medications needed for coexisting sleep and mood disorders, and myofascial spasms ( within tissue surrounding the muscles ) found in nearly all chronic pain patients.

There are no other single medications in existence that can treat all of these coexisting problems in addition to treating the pain.  The removal of these other medications also removes their inherent adverse side effects and any medications needed for adverse side effects, such as drowsiness, constipation or nausea.

Anything you would like to add?

Medical cannabis is an effective and safe therapy that should not be denied to any human being.

Government policies are directly interfering with medical science and research, along with clinical care.

The prohibition of safe access is an ongoing major problem for patients in Hawaii and needs to be corrected by dynamic and outside-the-box thinking.

There are solutions to these issues.

The concerns of cannabis habituation, dependency and addiction, along with recreational or misuse in young people, are not valid reasons for the denial and suppression of these therapies for legitimate patients; otherwise, no controlled substances would be allowed in clinical practice.

I hear compelling, life-changing stories from patients almost daily.  Just today, a mother expressed her gratitude to us for helping her son, who was practically bedridden for two years, get his life back.  She cried when he tried cannabis and was able to get up and out of bed and start running around.

These are not isolated and rare occurrences.

The addition of medical cannabis as a replacement or adjuvant medication to the chronic pain patient’s medication regimen will greatly improve patient well-being and care, and provide increased patient safety.

Source: MidWeek (HI)
Column: Doctor in the House
Copyright: 2013 RFD Publications, Inc.
Contact: kberry@midweek.com
Website: http://www.midweek.com/
Author: Rasa Fournier

Former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively wants to create the first national brand of retail marijuana and to open pot trade with Mexico. Shively plans to announce that and more in a Thursday news conference he says will feature Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico. “Let’s go big or go home,” Shively said. “We’re going to mint more millionaires than Microsoft with this business.”

He’s acquiring medical-marijuana dispensaries in Washington and Colorado, he said, and plans to become the leader in both the medical and adult-recreational pot markets. He sees the marijuana market as the only one of its size in which there does not exist a single established brand.

He and Fox plan to announce a proposal for regulating the trade of marijuana between the two countries, he said.

Some details of the trade agreement remain to be worked out, such as how to get around international rules forbidding legal pot, Shively admitted.

“I don’t know how exactly that would be done, but I know it’s been done in other industries,” he said.

Alison Holcomb, primary author of the state’s legal-marijuana law, said Shively faces a huge obstacle in the federal government’s prohibition of marijuana.

“Having a national chain of marijuana-based companies is not only explicitly counter to the existing prohibition, but also counter to the government’s expressed concern about business growing too large,” said Holcomb, drug-policy director for the ACLU of Washington.

But Shively, 45, likened the federal prohibition to the Berlin Wall and said it’s crumbling, with fewer defenders every day.

He also said he’s created a way to shield investors from federal regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

And, he contends a venture this size is too big to operate recklessly and take risks — such as diverting legal pot to black markets — that the federal government is most concerned about.

“What we’re all about is making it extremely professional and having the highest quality and efficiencies,” he said.

What if the feds were to come after him?

Shively paraphrased Obi-Wan Kenobi. “He said ‘Darth, if you strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.’”

If she were Shively’s attorney, Holcomb said, she’d advise him to read the so-called Cole memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice. It “explicitly mentioned a concern with operations involving thousands of plants and millions of dollars” and is evidence of the federal concern with big pot businesses.

Shively, though, seems undeterred. He has become almost evangelical about pot and its benefits, particularly for medical patients, such as his father who has prostate cancer.

“I’ve just fallen in love with the plant,” he said. “Especially in the medical realm I’ve gone from entrepreneur to advocate to activist, seriously.”

Shively worked at Microsoft six years, he said, and had the title of corporate strategy manager. He said he’s been smoking pot for a year and a half.

Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Author: Bob Young, Seattle Times Staff Reporter
Published: May 29, 2013
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seatimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/

There’s a better way to fund transit: Drug peddling.

No, I don’t mean selling copies of the ( alleged ) Rob Ford video.

Nor do I suggest using magic mushrooms or LSD to transport Torontonians without them leaving their La-Z-Boy.

And I would refrain from selling whatever the Metrolinx brass are smoking? No way.  Bad trip, man, as they used to say long ago in my youth.  Bad, bad trip.  Horrible visions of HST, HOV lanes, gas tax hikes, parking levies, development fees and red monsters with three heads, yellow eyes and pointy teeth.

But we do need to get off the couch and build transit.

Now, inhale deeply and think of this: Canadian Business magazine estimates Canucks spend at least $3 billion a year on cannabis alone.  That’s a third of what we spend on our national substance, which flows like Niagara, beer.

A study by two B.C.  universities found legal pot would churn out $2.5 billion in licence fees and taxes over five years in that province alone.

The GTA has way more people, but there’s a reason B.C.  is called Lotusland, so let’s call it a wash and say our revenue streams would be similar.

You could lay a lot of transit track for $2.5 billion.

Even more if the government actually gets involved in sales, a la LCBO, which had a profit of $1.7 billion last year.

Factor in export markets plus savings on enforcement and prosecution and I bet we’re close to the $2 billion a year Metrolinx says it needs.

We could buy subway cars of solid gold if we also legalize so-called party drugs, such as cocaine and ecstasy, though those are trickier, for health reasons.

Regular readers know I’ve preached legalizing pot for years.

The libertarian in me is baffled that we learned nothing from prohibition of nearly a century ago.  A victimless crime ought to be no crime at all, but if you make it one, guess who shows up: Criminals.

On Bob Marley Day in February, I urged Mayor Ford to declare:

“WHEREAS…the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana do no harm and only make our citizens giggle and also increase sales of snacks at neighbourhood stores.

“NOW THEREFORE, I, Mayor Rob Ford, on behalf of Toronto City Council, do hereby declare Toronto an open tokin’ city.  It’s legal, folks.  Smoke it if you got it.” I was dumbfounded when Rob took a pass.  Little did I know.

( And I hasten to add, I have not seen any crack video, though I won’t be shocked if it’s on Netflix next month.  )

Until now, I pegged our new-found legal pot money for debt reduction or general tax cuts, as would any good libertarian.

But except for Mike Harris and Attila the Hun, name one politician who actually lowered your overall taxes.

So better we direct our new dope revenue to something specific, like transit.  We could change Metrolinx’s name for the project from the Big Move to the Big Doob.

While Metrolinx insists its levies – $477 per household, and if you believe it’s that low I’ve got a gas-plant to sell you – would end once the Big Move is done ( ha-ha-ha, that’s a good one, Metrolinx! ) the Big Doob would give and give forever.

Times are changing.  Colorado and Washington state have legalized marijuana.  Canadians think we ought to do the same – for example, 73% of us old fogey baby boomers in a Forum Research poll last year.  The Harper government’s tougher pot laws are out of step.

Sooner or later, legal dope will be a big part of our economy, just like booze, gambling and Senate bookkeeping.

We need to strike while the bong is hot.  S— or get off the pot, so to speak.

In this era of polarized politics, it’s high time mass transit was rolled into… .a joint venture.

Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2013 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: torsun.editor@sunmedia.ca
Website: http://torontosun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457
Author: Mike Strobel

The words “marijuana” and “brain damage” usually go in that order in medical literature. An Israeli researchers has flipped them around, finding that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, may arrest some forms of brain damage in mice. The loco weed already is favored by those who suffer from chronic diseases, not to mention fans of Cypress Hill, Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead.

But pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University found that a minuscule amount of tetrahydrocannabinol may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, toxic drug exposure or a lack of oxygen.

The amounts wouldn’t qualify as much more than a second-hand whiff of kine bud – the quantity of THC is an order of 1,000 to 10,000 lower than that in a whole spliff.

The new dope on marijuana was published in Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, which are professional journals, not nicknames for HempCon or Burning Man.

Other researchers didn’t tend to Bogart the joint as much. They suggested using high — their word — doses within about half an hour after such injury. Sarne would spread a smaller dose over as much as a week.

The chemical is thought to jump-start biochemical processes that protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function.

Researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Fellow rodents in a control group got their brains bonked without the dose.

About a month or two later, the mice that got the THC treatment performed better in behavioral tests measuring learning and memory and showed they had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than the control-group mice.

Oddly, it may be brain damage on a small scale that causes the brain to shift into protective mode. Researchers theorize the THC causes minute damage to the brain that helps build resistance and triggers protective measures in the face of more severe injury.

The low dose and long window for administering it would have obvious benefits after an injury, but it also could mean that THC can be given prior to a procedure that may carry risk of brain injury, including interruption of blood flow to the brain during surgery. Sarne believes it also could be safe for regular use among epileptics.

Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Geoffrey Mohan
Published: May 31, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact: letters@latimes.com
Website: http://www.latimes.com/

On Thursday, in a 36-21 vote, Oregon lawmakers approved a bill that would allow individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to register for medical marijuana cards.

Currently, Oregon’s medical marijuana program only permits patients with certain debilitating medical conditions such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, and Alzheimer’s disease to register. Senate Bill 281 would add PTSD to this list.

According to the National Center for PTSD, approximately 5.2 million adults in the nation suffer from the anxiety disorder during a given year.

Rep. John Lively (D-Springfield) revealed that he personally suffered from PTSD; he also has family and friends with the anxiety disorder. Rep. Lively’s fellow lawmaker Rep. Jim Weidner (R-Yamhill) stated that his son, who served in Iraq, had three friends who committed suicide.

The bill now heads to Gov. John Kitzhaber for approval.

MPP supports the state’s effort to help veterans and others trying to cope with PTSD and hopes Gov. Kitzhaber will make Senate Bill 281 a reality so that patients and their doctors have the opportunity to decide what treatment works for them.

 

UPDATE: Katz wrote this article Thursday explaining his voting history and personal feelings about medical marijuana.

On Wednesday, in an unofficial 80-59 vote, the New York Assembly passed legislation to reduce the penalty for publicly holding a small amount of marijuana. Only one Republican assembly member voted in favor of the bill: Steve Katz.

Originally a staunch prohibitionist, Katz voted against allowing medical marijuana in 2012, but a brush with the law this past March seems to have brought about a change of heart.

The state police stopped Katz for speeding on the state thruway and subsequently found less than 25 grams of marijuana in his vehicle; he later failed a drug test. Fortunately for the assemblyman, in accordance with a favorable plea deal, his drug charges will be dismissed after he completes a mere 20 hours of community service (and keeps out of legal trouble for six months).

Katz declined to discuss his vote on Wednesday when approached in the Assembly chamber. However, he did issue a statement later in the day saying he hopes the bill leads to “a broader discussion of our state’s policies.”

The bill, if passed, would lower the penalty for the public possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a violation. It now faces an uncertain fate in the Senate.

The imprisonment of Jerry Duval, a seriously ill medical marijuana patient convicted of distributing the drug, could cost taxpayers upwards of $1.2 million, reports the Huffington Post.

Duval suffers from Type 1 diabetes. He has received both a kidney and a pancreas transplant, and he also lives with glaucoma and neuropathy. Consequently, he has a strict medical regime, which prior to his arrest included medical marijuana.

Despite the fact that Duval was a registered Michigan medical marijuana cardholder acting in compliance with state law, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought the ailing farmer to court.

During the trial, Duval was not allowed to refer to his medical condition or the fact that he was acting in accordance with Michigan law, and in April 2012, he was found guilty of drug trafficking and given a 10-year sentence, which he will serve in a federal medical facility.

Now, Duval’s healthcare falls on taxpayers.

“The annual cost to preserve my kidneys and pancreas alone tops $100,000,” wrote Duval in a request for compassionate release.

“In addition, I require treatment for coronary artery disease and diabetic retinopathy, which has forced me to undergo nearly two-dozen eye surgeries. These expensive optical procedures will likely need to be repeated several times during the decade that I am in BOP custody.”

Once again, the DOJ’s refusal to acknowledge state laws has devastated a family and misused taxpayer dollars.