5 Reasons Washington's
Proposed Medical Marijuana Restrictions Have Patients Worried
It looks increasingly likely that Washington’s legislature
will approve new restrictions on medical marijuana by the end of its current
session a week from Thursday. The two leading bills both involve mandatory
registration of patients, sharp reductions in the limits on possession and home
cultivation, and elimination of “collective gardens,” including hundreds of
dispensaries operating under that label. The general thrust of the bills is to
ban the untaxed, unregulated outlets that otherwise would compete with
state-licensed pot shops, which are supposed to become the main source of
medical marijuana. Patients have several concerns about that plan. Please
click here to read more.
Marijuana: Do Risks
Outweigh Benefits in RA?
Rheumatologists should not currently be recommending the use
of medical marijuana to their patients for relief of chronic pain, researchers
stated. Among the reasons for this advice are acute and chronic risks, a lack
of evidence for efficacy, and the absence of data on appropriate dosing,
according to Mary-Ann Fitzcharles, MD, of McGill University in Montreal, and
colleagues. Please
click here to read more.
Medical marijuana ad
released
The first-ever medical marijuana commercial has aired on US
television, likening buying the drug to sushi.
In the ad, released by Marijuana Doctors, a suspect looking
seller asks the camera: "Yo, you want sushi?" He then runs through a
list of the raw fish delicacies, pulling out tiny slabs of raw tuna and raw
salmon from his overcoat: "I got the finest sashimi this area's seen in
years". The commercial continues with the seller telling the camera that
"you need me and I need you" before he discretely hands a tuna roll
over to a passerby. The ad ends with a voice over telling the audience:
"You wouldn't buy sushi from this guy, so why would you buy your marijuana
from him?"
Medical marijuana has been legalized in several US states but
it is still illegal under federal US law.
Click here to view this commercial.
‘Mommy lobby’ emerges as a
powerful advocate for medical marijuana for children
Standing in a Wisconsin State Capitol hearing room
surrounded by parents hugging their seriously ill children, Sally Schaeffer
began to cry as she talked about her daughter. Born with a rare chromosomal
disorder, 6-year-old Lydia suffers from life-threatening seizures that doctors
haven’t been able to control despite countless medications. The family’s last
hope: medical marijuana. Schaeffer, 39, didn’t just ask lawmakers to legalize
the drug. She begged. Please
click here to read more.
Magic' Overdose Drug
Works, But Demand and Price on the Rise
Calls to the fire department for suspected drug overdoses
are increasingly common in Revere, Mass. The department responded to 16
overdose calls in a single six-day stretch in February. Revere is not alone.
Across the country, communities are reporting a spike in opioid overdose
. And in several states, government agencies and health clinics are working to
provide an anti-overdose drug, Naloxone, to as many people as possible. But
even as use of the drug is rising, so is its cost. Please
click here to read more.
Marijuana May Hurt the
Developing Teen Brain
The teenager's brain has a lot of developing to do: It must
transform from the brain of a child into the brain of an adult. Some
researchers worry how marijuana might affect that crucial process. Please
click here to read more.
Law Enforcement Concerned
About Potentially Addictive Drug Kratom
Law enforcement officials are concerned about a potentially
addictive drug called kratom, which is sold as a tea in head shops, according
to USA Today. Young men are posting testimonials about the drug on YouTube, the
article notes. Kratom is a tropical tree found in Southeast Asia. Its leaves
are sold in the United States as a pill or powder to stir into drinks, the
article notes. “Kratom has been described as producing both stimulant and
sedative effects,” the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) states on its
website. “At low doses, it produces stimulant effects, with users reporting
increased alertness, physical energy, talkativeness and sociable behavior. At
high doses, opiate effects are produced, in addition to sedative and euphoric
effects. Effects occur within 5 to 10 minutes after ingestion and last for 2 to
5 hours. Acute side effects include nausea, itching, sweating, dry mouth,
constipation, increased urination, and loss of appetite.” Some people who abuse
prescription painkillers use kratom to alleviate the effects of opioid
withdrawal. Kratom can be addictive, according to the newspaper. The drug is
not monitored by any national drug abuse surveys, so it is not known how many
people use it. The drug is widely available on the Internet, according to the
DEA. It is not approved for any medical purpose in the United States.
Would you tell your kids
you got high?
President Obama talked openly last week about a candid
conversation with a group of at-risk kids in Chicago, and many of us parents
took notice. "I explained to them when I was their age, I was a lot like
them," the President said, referring to the African-American boys he met
with at Chicago's Hyde Park Academy High School on the city's south side last
year. "I didn't have a dad in the house. And I was angry about it, even
though I didn't necessarily realize it at the time. I made bad choices. I got
high without always thinking about the harm that it could do." The President's
honesty with teens about using drugs led many of us parents to ask: Would we do
the same with our children? Please
click here to read more.
Tax revenue from legalized
marijuana may not meet expectations
MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION was a hot topic at the recent meeting
of the National Governors Association in Washington, for obvious reasons —
among them the prospect of raising much-needed revenue by taxing pot sales.
“With all the bad weather we’ve had back home and all the potholes, we ought to
have the revenue go to infrastructure — ‘pot for potholes,’ ” Rhode Island Gov.
Lincoln Chafee (I) said. Such an experiment is underway in Washington and
Colorado, so it’s noteworthy that John Hickenlooper, the latter state’s
Democratic governor, did not echo Mr. Chafee’s enthusiasm about the tax
bonanza. “Going out and getting tax revenue is absolutely the wrong reason to
even think about legalizing recreational marijuana,” he said, since it puts a
state in the position of benefiting from use of a harmful substance — even if
it’s not the most harmful. Please
click here to read more.
Opinion: Marijuana
injustices need to end
I have no desire to smoke marijuana, partly because doing so
might drive me back to the cigarette habit I broke two decades ago. I don’t
want to be one of those “cool parents” who pretend to be as culturally advanced
as their kids. In my case, that’s a ridiculous aspiration anyway. And I agree
with those who call attention to the dangers of excessive indulgence in
marijuana and want to encourage people to resist it. Nobody wants us to become
a nation of stoners. Please
click here to read more.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta: 'I am
doubling down' on medical marijuana
It's been eight months since I last wrote about medical
marijuana, apologizing for having not dug deeply into the beneficial effects of
this plant and for writing articles dismissing its potential. I apologized for
my own role in previously misleading people, and I feel very badly that people
have suffered for too long, unable to obtain the legitimate medicine that may
have helped them. I have been reminded that a true and productive scientific
journey involves a willingness to let go of established notions and get at the
truth, even if it is uncomfortable and even it means having to say
"sorry." It is not easy to apologize and take your lumps, but this
was never about me. This scientific journey is about a growing number of
patients who want the cannabis plant as a genuine medicine, not to get high. Please
click here to read more.
Holder and Republicans
Unite to Soften Sentencing Laws
Shortly after Senator Rand Paul filed suit last month
against the Obama administration to stop its electronic dragnet of American
phone records, he sat down for lunch with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
in his private dining room at the Justice Department. Mr. Paul, a Kentucky
Republican, is one of the Obama administration’s most vocal critics. But their
discussion focused on an issue on which they have found common cause:
eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. The two
men are unlikely allies. Their partnership unites the nation’s first
African-American attorney general, who sees his legacy in a renewed focus on
civil rights, and some of Congress’s most prominent libertarians, who have
accused the Obama administration of trampling on personal freedom with drones,
wiretaps, tracking devices and too much government. Please
click here to read more.
Survey of Women Treated
for Addiction Finds Many Used Prescription Drugs, Heroin
A new survey of affluent women treated for alcohol and drug
addiction finds prescription medication and heroin are their leading drugs of
choice. The online survey of 102 former patients, conducted by Caron Treatment
Centers, found many women surveyed said they cared for their children, had
careers and volunteered during their active addiction. Seventy percent of the
women who abused prescription drugs said they were initially prescribed the
drugs legally for a physical or emotional ailment. The survey found 55 percent
of respondents who were treated for an addiction to illegal drugs were also
abusing heroin. Significant factors that led to addiction included a critical
internal voice, depression and anxiety. A majority of the women were married
with children, but they said they were most likely to abuse drugs or alcohol
when they were by themselves. The survey found 61 percent of respondents had a
household income of $100,000 or more when they entered treatment. Michelle
Maloney, Executive Director of Treatment Services at Hanley Center, a Caron
Treatment Center, said in a statement, “Female addicts often experience a lot
of shame about using alcohol and drugs. They often feel they are the only ones
with these problems. But we want them to know they are not alone. There are
millions of women in recovery and all women deserve to get the help they need
to live a healthy and productive life.”
Q&A: Anti-pot
legalization advocate makes his case
On Wednesday, panelists at a University of Alaska Anchorage
event debated Alaska's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana, which voters
will weigh in on Aug. 19. Ben Cort argued against legalizing pot. Cort is a
board member of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a Massachusetts-based group
founded by Patrick Kennedy that has emerged as a central counterpoint to
legalization advocacy organizations. Cort is a former addict who has been sober
for nearly 20 years and who has worked in the addiction treatment field and
currently works for the University of Colorado Hospital as a community liaison.
Please
click here to read more.
Q&A: Pot legalization
booster Ethan Nadelmann makes his case
On Aug. 19, Alaskans will vote on whether to legalize
marijuana.
On Wednesday night, those in Anchorage will have a chance to
hear from Ethan Nadelmann, the man known as the single most influential
architect of the decades-long movement to decriminalize pot -- a movement
that's been picking up steam in recent years with legalization victories in
Washington and Colorado. A 56-year-old New Yorker with a handful of degrees
from Harvard, Nadelmann is credited for engineering a national strategy that
has sought to frame regulating pot sales as a generator of tax revenues and a
way to refocus law enforcement on policing serious crime. Rolling Stone
magazine called him "the driving force for the legalization of marijuana
in America." Please
click here to read more.
Legalizing Medical Marijuana Gaining More Momentum in
Mid-Term Election Year
Plandai Biotechnology (otcqb:PLPL) is one of a handful of
publicly traded companies that are eagerly anticipating the legalization of
medical marijuana nationwide. Currently the drug is legal medicinally in 20
states and Washington, D.C., but in this election year, that number is likely
to grow. In each national election year, the frenzy begins again and with it, a
growing momentum that has the U.S. drawing closer to a nationwide acceptance.
Between dramatically shifting polls, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's documentary Weed that
highlights a number of patients who saw stunning improvements after using
medical marijuana, and an uptick in activity in the Obama Administration,
momentum is at an all-time high in favor of legalizing the drug. In November,
mid-term elections will see voters heading to the polls to take up the
legalization issue on a number of state ballots including Florida and Alaska. Please
click here to read more.
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