Tag: medical marijuana

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Court bans Feds from prosecuting medical marijuana users

Court bans Feds from prosecuting medical marijuana users by David Gutierrez, staff writer A federal court has ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is not permitted to use any of its money to prosecute people who are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. “If the federal government prosecutes such individuals, it has prevented the state from giving practical effect to its law,” wrote Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Twenty-five states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, while another four states plus the District of Columbia permit it for medical and recreational use. Citizens of another nine states will vote in November on whether to legalize recreational marijuana use. Ending the war on medical marijuana? Yet, […] Read More

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Jimmy Carter: “Medical Marijuana Cured My Cancer”

The Nobel winner thanked his doctors and family for their support through his brain cancer ordeal. He also thanked Terrance ‘Scooby’ Williams of Dr. Green’s Greenery, a pot dispensary in Oakland, CA, for helping him find the right strain of cannabis. Carter told his medicinal regiment to Sawyer“I smoke two joints in the morning, I smoke two joints at night, I smoke two joint in the afternoon, and it makes me feel all right. “Edibles are also good when traveling when smoking is not permitted.” The future is bright for the 91-year-old humanitarian. Carter has resumed his house building for Habitat for Humanity and continues his weekly prayer service. “Marijuana is God’s medicine. I find indica is better than sativa, but there are plenty of […] Read More

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No, Teens Don’t Smoke More Pot In Medical Marijuana States

A new national report dispels the common prohibitionist argument. The U.S. federal government stubbornly continues to classify marijuana as a Schedule I substance with no known medical uses. While our government blocks all research on the potential benefits of marijuana, clinical studies in Israel, Spain and elsewhere confirm what patients in the 23 U.S. states with medical marijuana programs already know: it’s a miraculous treatment option for many known diseases, with the potential to mitigate, and sometimes reverse, ailments ranging from cancer, PTSD and epilepsy to arthritis, skin abrasions, and chronic pain. Since so many of the arguments against cannabis medicine are crumbling, marijuana prohibitionists are resorting to fear-mongering about the “safety of the children” to defend their position. They insist that allowing marijuana in any form will give kids […] Read More

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House Voted (Twice) to Allow Marijuana Banking Services

Democrats were joined by a growing faction of Republicans. In a stunning change of tone on marijuana policy on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives voted on a pair of measures affecting the legal marijuana businesses in Washington and Colorado and medical marijuana businesses in 23 states and Washington DC. Almost all Democrats were joined by a growing faction of Republicans in approving the access to legitimate banking services. The House also quashed an attempt to stop the Department of Treasury from allowing banks to do business with legal marijuana firms. “Though this isn’t as flashy a win as some other drug policy reforms of recent years, banking regulations have been one of the most significant obstacles to creating a well-run, safe legal marketplace,” said […] Read More

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GOP-Controlled House Votes to Block Feds from Interfering in States with Legal Medical Pot

Drug law sanity from a place where usually there is none. The GOP-controlled House showed signs of sanity when it voted early Friday in favor of blocking the federal government from interfering with states that permit the use of medical marijuana. The 219-189 vote came about as the House debated a bill funding the Justice Department‘s budget, AP reported. Conservative GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, the first state in the country to legalize medical marijuana, was among those behind the amendment, pointing out that, “Public opinion is shifting.”  This is true even among Republicans. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 61 percent of Republicans support the legalization of medical marijuana. And in general, Pew found nearly three-in-four Americans (72%) believe that efforts […] Read More

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As Marijuana Refugees Flock to Colorado, Will Medical Community Force Rewriting of U.S. Drug Laws?

20 states and the District of Columbia have approved, and regulate in some capacity, marijuana for medical purposes. The following first appeared on Democracy Now!:  Currently 20 states and the District of Columbia have approved, and regulate in some capacity, marijuana for medical purposes. However, insurance companies do not cover the costs of such prescriptions. Federally, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, making it against the law to possess. But the debate over marijuana is growing. We speak to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dave Philipps of the Colorado Springs Gazette. His most recent article is “As success stories of kids fighting seizures with cannabis oil mount, legal landscape is changing.” We also speak to the pioneering medical marijuana doctor Dr. Margaret Gedde and a mother who […] Read More

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12 of the Biggest Myths About Marijuana Debunked

The arguments against legalization simply don’t hold up. For decades, cannabis opponents controlled the messaging around the popular plant and cultivated any number of lies about its effects. This built up a powerful stigma against marijuana, the effects of which have not worn off. The racist, expensive and failed U.S. war on drugs continues to rage on. The criminalization of cannabis users and distributors remains a top priority in that war. The government stubbornly classifies it as a dangerous Schedule I substance with no medical value, despite stacks of evidence to the contrary. While many acknowledge the truth about cannabis—that it is healthier than alcohol and more effective than pharmaceutical drugs in treating a number of illnesses—and more than half of all Americans want it legalized, […] Read More

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2014: Medical Marijuana Patients Are Forced Back into Hiding in California

Bans on dispensaries and home cultivation are sweeping the Golden State. The following article first appeared in the East Bay Express:  The pain started for Randy Barrett when he was thirteen years old. He was whipping a three-wheeled motorcycle around the hills of Martinez, California. Back then, riding ATVs was “just part of life,” he said. “This was the Seventies and Eighties. We had dirt bikes; we had three-wheelers — the ones with a big old front rubber tire. I was driving around in the dirt and hit a patch of concrete in the road that caught the front tire and shot me forward.” Barrett’s chest bent around the handlebar and he “flew off and flipped and landed in someone’s front yard,” he said. He […] Read More