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No wishy washy Medical Marijuana Acts wanted in Ohio

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The Ohio Medical Cannabis Act of 2012 Public Initiative signature gathering closed

They have collected signatures from the July 5th mailing deadline and are proceeding accordingly.  And, with 72% of registered voters supporting the initiative it looks like Ohio is likely to have a medical marijuana program sometime after November 2012.

Supporters are convinced that with your help, we can get your Amendment on the ballot and it will pass.

A Couple of Strong Points-

Data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports and the Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics show that approximately 99 out of every 100 cannabis arrests in the U.S. are made under state law, rather than under federal law. Consequently, changing state law will have the practical effect of protecting from arrest the vast majority of seriously ill and dying patients who have a medical need to use cannabis.

States are not required to enforce federal law or prosecute people for engaging in activities prohibited by federal law.  Therefore, compliance with this act does not put Ohio in violation of federal law.

Read more… The Proposed Ballot Language OMCA 2012

The International struggle to gain safe access to Marijuana has begun

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Safe access to medical grade cannabis internationally is nothing new, so what’s taking so long?

Cannabis, mistakenly known as Marijuana- prohibition has been the subject of debate and controversy for decades.  Cannabis is illegal to consume, use, possess, cultivate, transfer or trade in most countries.  Since the beginning of widespread cannabis prohibition around the mid 20th century, most countries have not re-legalized it for personal use. 

Currently only 10 countries tolerate (or have decriminalized) its use and/or its cultivation in limited quantities. 

Medicinal use of cannabis is also legal in a number of countries, including Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Israel and 16 states of the United States.

It has been accepted that small amounts of possession are dealt with in different ways around the world, and always changing according to a country’s political leaders.  This makes it very hard to find an accurate reference to the unspoken police attitude of casual decriminalization of cannabis in certain places.

In some places there are just not enough police, judges or prisons to enforce the law to the letter; and other countries have laws that are not as vigorously as prosecuted as others.

But other than the countries that offer access to medical marijuana, the majority of countries have various penalties ranging from “Easy” to “Cruel”, and everything in between.  Some infractions are dealt with more or less seriously depending on who you are; when it comes to regarding the cultivation, use, possession, or transfer of cannabis for recreational use.

However, simple possession can carry long jail sentences in some countries, particularly in East Asia, where the sale of cannabis may lead to a sentence of life in prison or even execution.  Which seems kind of strange to me because nearly any other strange depravity a person could want is normally widely available.

Political barriers

U.S. opposition-  The United States, one of the most influential Parties to the Single Convention, has tended to oppose loosening cannabis laws.  Describing the former-U.S. President’s position, an October 20, 1999 article in the Dallas Morning News noted, “Aides said Mr. Bush does not support legalizing marijuana for medical use”.

INCB opposition-  In addition, the International Narcotics Control Board has tended to have an unfavorable view of drug legalization.  This was perhaps most profoundly expressed by Philip O. Emafo, President of the International Narcotics Control Board, in the Board’s 2002 annual report.

Individual nations could withdraw from drug control treaties, but would still be subject to the pervasive influence of bodies like the International Narcotics Control Board, which can issue unfavorable reports and recommend sanctions.  The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs or the Convention on Psychotropic Substances could be terminated if the number of signatories fell below 40, but the Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances has no termination clause and therefore would remain in effect as long as there is even one signatory.

It’s a long road, but I believe we will soon see 16 countries; in addition to the 16 States that now have, at least, legalized Medical Marijuana.

What say you..?  Click on the comments and tell us how you feel about the repeal of Cannabis Prohibition Internationally.

An Apple a day keeps the Doctor away or you just cant get there.

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An apple a day keeps the doctor away. And a check-in a day helps power a truck full of doctors bringing care to disadvantaged kids in need of checkups.

Mobile Medical Clinics

The mobile medical clinics are the result of Check-In for Checkups, a joint campaign between Clorox and The Children’s Health Fund. From June through December, users are encouraged to go to the site and “check in” to simple, healthy behaviors like packing a nutritious lunch, walking to work or taking off their shoes when they get home.

For each checkin, Clorox will donate $0.10, up to $100,000 toward doctor’s office visits for children in need. That money will go to the Children’s Health Fund, which is aiming to provide half a million healthcare visits across the country.

If you’re stumped on what to do, the site offers a helpful scroll wheel of topics with tons of unique options. More headstrong users can write in their own pledges. Check-In for Checkups has also teamed with 10 social media activists, including Carlo Garcia and Bethenny Frankel, who have adopted their own healthy habits for the cause.

Perhaps the best part of the campaign is Clorox’s marketing restraint. Best known for its disinfectant wipes and washes, many of the healthy habits include pledges to disinfect daily objects, carry wipes or kill germs around the house. Those pledges, while clearly geared toward Clorox products, don’t carry any specific branding and instead focus on the health benefits of disinfecting daily objects like your keyboard rather than trying to push product. It’s a nice example of putting cause over corporate.

The campaign is especially prescient given all the debate around healthcare in the U.S. What do you think of the campaign? Let us know in the comments.

More About: check.in, checkup, children’s health fund, clorox, doctor, health, non-profit, social good

You want cannabis, Colorado Springs wants a million dollars

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There are no other businesses that Colorado Springs is licensing that are regulated through the city that have it like the cannabis businesses.

Medical Marijuana business fees could get $1.1 million into their treasury account; based on estimates of the proposed fees.  The number of active sales licenses issued by the city to dispensaries and grow operations stood at 160 in April.

Additionally, El Paso County commissioners approved modifications that make local regulations tougher than state requirements.  For example, the county won’t allow business owners to grow medical marijuana here for a center outside the county.  Under state law, businesses can export 30 percent of the product.

Centers are trying to keep patients coming to keep up with the money needed for city fees, state fees, attorney fees, equipment and employees.
To get an inside look at the medical marijuana business from dispensary owners, click HERE

 

5 Things Every Medical Marijuana Patient In Colorado Should Know

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Old Hippie

There are many changes currently underway in the state of Colorado in regards to medical marijuana, and it’s hard for some to keep up.  So we wanted to put together a list of some of the things patients in CO will need to know moving forward.

1) Starting at the end of July, medical marijuana caregivers will have to offer patients things like housekeeping, transportation, and meal preparation, causing more of a financial burden on caregivers, which will result in many of them going out of business.

2) Beginning July 1st, anyone not registered with the State will not be able to get their medicine from a medical marijuana center.

Continue reading….

See who gets hurt in the War On Cannabis

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Defenders of the War on Marijuana Don’t Have a Clue Who They’re Hurting.

The debate over New York City’s out-of-control marijuana arrest crusade is getting heated, which is exactly what needs to happen. Forced at last to defend this grand travesty before an angry public, the mayor’s office is now trying to convince everyone that this epidemic of constitutional violations and racial profiling is somehow good for the community:

The Bloomberg administration says that by arresting more than 350,000 people for having small amounts of marijuana since 2002, the police have helped drive down serious crime — and that the consequences for the people locked up have been minimal.

Nearly 90 percent of those arrested on charges of personal possession of marijuana are black or Latino, although its use by young white people is rampant in affluent quarters of the city.

Faced with criticism from members of the City Council and the State Legislature, aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg have emphasized that few of those arrested on pot charges actually end up with criminal convictions because most cases are dismissed and sealed after one year. In effect, they say, the arrest process itself — which can stretch for 24 hours or more, under squalid conditions in holding pens — is the extent of the punishment. (NYT)

 

It’s amazing enough that any sane person would make light of being thrown in a crowded, disgusting jail in New York City. With the exception of the apparently large number of minor marijuana offenders, I’d really rather not meet most of the people who had to be removed from the streets of NYC on a given day. But that’s just the beginning:

Yet there are other, hidden consequences, say lawyers and advocates who work with those arrested. People regularly lose jobs for missing work as they wait to see a judge or because their employers do not want anyone connected with even minor drug offenses on the payroll, said Marlen Bodden, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
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“They’re clogging the courts and ruining people’s lives, in terms of potential collateral consequences for housing, employment, immigration,” said Steven Banks, the attorney in chief of the Legal Aid Society, which represented 30,000 people in minor marijuana cases last year.

 

It’s incredible that someone would even have to explain how getting arrested for drugs actually does really, really suck. Obvious truths such as these are routinely and nonchalantly obscured by drug war defenders any time an issue like this comes into focus, and it’s easy to lose sight of how genuinely and uniquely ridiculous each and every such statement truly is. Getting arrested for marijuana isn’t a big deal? Seriously?

Apologists for mass marijuana arrests will compare the whole process to giving out parking tickets right up until the point when we propose legislation to actually treat marijuana that way, at which point they will predictably go ballistic. The same idiots who claim that we need tough penalties to “send the right message to our young people,” will turn around in an instant and announce in the newspaper that the punishment for marijuana is just a slap on the wrist. That’s how desperate, dishonest, and confused the proponents of marijuana prohibition have become, and it’s a step forward for reform any time we can force them to open their mouths.

Legal Medical Marijuana patient raided by police in AZ.

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The Gilbert PD may deal with suspected illegal marijuana swiftly, not efficiently.

Knowing that the suspect was only in possession of nearly two ounces of cannabis, after a DirectTV worker saw marijuana and hashish inside a bedroom closet of Ross Taylor’s Gilbert home during the installation process of a satellite dish, 12 Gilbert police officers wearing masks and riot gear busted into his house and took his medical Cannabis.

The homeowner, Ross Taylor, is a card-carrying patient under Arizona’s new medical-marijuana law, which allows people to qualify to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of pot legally. He’s also the owner of Cannabis Patient Screening Centers, a new patient-doctor clinic for medical marijuana therapy.

After handcuffing Taylor and his wife, the cops served a search warrant on the home and found two ounces of marijuana a small amount of hash. Police seized the patients “medicine” and some paraphernalia from an upstairs closet, even though the total weight of the cannabis was under the legal threshhold, then told Taylor he’ll probably be hearing from the prosecutor’s office about criminal charges.

Sergeant Bill Balafas, Gilbert PD spokesman, tells New Times that because Taylor bought the marijuana from another person, as opposed to growing it himself, the possession wasn’t legal despite his status as a patient.

According to Balafas, Gilbert’s drug-enforcement squad received information that Taylor had an ounce of marijuana in his home. Police had no idea Taylor owned a medical-marijuana company or that he had a valid registration card, Balafas says.

The Police went through the trouble of drafting a search warrant and having it signed by a judge, but apparently they didn’t bother to check in with the state Department of Health Services to find out if Taylor was in the patient registry, which he was.

Before the raid, police cut-off the power and water to the home, so the Taylors wouldn’t be able to flush away such a small quantity before being able to get everyone secured in cuffs. So, they banged on the door, yelling that they had a search warrant and Taylor says, he let them in.

Taylor, who’s from Phoenix but has lived for the last couple of years in Prescott, had just obtained title on his new Gilbert home the week before and was in the process of moving in.

Kevin Anderson, a manager with All My Sons Moving and Storage, says three of his employees were handcuffed after the cops — some with shields and holding shotguns — came in with the announcement that they were the “SWAT” team. The three movers were detained for about an hour until cops let them go, Anderson says.

Taylor informed the officers that he’d purchased his medication from another qualified patient, and police told him that means he wasn’t legally in possession of the medicinal cannabis.

We also believe, based on a reading of the law and interviews in the last few months with state officials and advocates of the law, that qualified patients can legally possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of cannabis no matter where it came from. According to Arizona statute:

A. There is a presumption that a qualifying patient or designated caregiver is engaged in the medical use of marijuana pursuant to this chapter.

1. The presumption exists if the qualifying patient or designated caregiver:

(a) Is in possession of a registry identification card.

(b) Is in possession of an amount of marijuana that does not exceed the allowable amount of marijuana.

 

The state DHS also weighs in on this issue in its FAQs about the law:

Q: Where can I legally buy marijuana if I am a qualifying patient?

A: Qualifying patients can obtain medical marijuana from a dispensary, the qualifying patient’s designated caregiver, another qualifying patient, or, if authorized to cultivate, from home cultivation.

 

“The hashish isn’t mentioned at all in the law,” says spokesman Bill Balafas, “so it’s always illegal.” (This has not been ruled to be correct, because hashish is in-fact only cannabis plant extract.

In the end, police seized his meds but Taylor didn’t end-up going to jail, but prosecutors could file charges weeks or months later, if they feel like it.

For now, the East Valley town just might be one place for qualified medical-marijuana patients to avoid.

Midland County judge declares medical marijuana unconstitutional

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By Kelly Dame – Midland Daily News
A Midland County judge has ruled the state’s medical marijuana act is unconstitutional, with the opinion carrying the potential to set precedent if it survives a challenge that is sure to come in the Michigan Court of Appeals.

The opinion, penned last week by Midland County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan E. Lauderbach, addresses two separate cases regarding probation conditions and the use of medical marijuana.

“Whether this is good or bad public policy for Michigan is not for this court to decide,” he wrote of allowing medical marijuana use, explaining all the nation’s courts are bound by the Supremacy Clause to be guided first by the U.S. Constitution and federal laws. That means even if defendants prove they are seriously ill and use medical marijuana to ease their symptoms, Lauderbach would conclude the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act of 2008 is unconstitutional and “therefore must be declared to be “‘without effect,’” his opinion states.