Reschedule Cannabis

Despite the constant fight continuing on the mainland continental United States, the Alaskan medical marijuana plan (yes, they have one) seems to be doing fine without a single arrest or problem. Imagine that.

Last week, the Obama Administration’s Justice Department announced it would no longer prosecute users and suppliers of medical marijuana — as long as they’re complying with the law in Alaska and 13 other states where medicinal pot use is legal.

But prosecutions have never been much of an issue in Alaska, where voters in 1998 passed a ballot measure that allows people who obtain permission from a doctor to possess and use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Only about 200 people currently have permission to use medical marijuana in Alaska. And since the law took effect in 1999, the state of Alaska hasn’t prosecuted a single case connected to the medical use of the drug, said Bill McAllister, a spokesman for Attorney General Dan Sullivan.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage also hasn’t ever prosecuted any cases in Alaska connected to the use or possession of medical marijuana, said spokesman Chuck Farmer.

Most of the cases have been in California, where within weeks of Obama’s inauguration, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided several pot dispensaries in Los Angeles. Those raids and others in California led some to question whether the Obama administration’s drug enforcement policies had changed much from the Bush-era policies.

But as usual, those who think they can control what the people already voted for and want, want to change the medical marijuana laws there too.

In Oregon, Washington and Alaska, there simply aren’t any dispensaries, and that lack of retail availability changes the dynamic and doesn’t lend itself to raids, St. Pierre said. For that reason, it simply isn’t on the radar of local law enforcement, either.

“We won’t be open to the kind of nonsensical fraudulent use they have in California,” said Lt. Dave Parker of the Anchorage Police Department.

Oh look, another cop who think he knows what is and what is not medicine. let me ask you, Lt. Dave Parker, are you a licensed doctor? Have you studied medicine? Ah, the answer is no, so you aren’t really qualified to make that comment above are you?

The above police quote is fine example of how cops are given leeway to say what they want in the media, when they are not only unqualified to do so, but are doing so for their own agenda. To keep marijuana illegal and profit from keeping it so.

In Alaska, anyone who wants to use marijuana to help treat an illness must get a prescription from an Alaska-licensed doctor, said Phillip Mitchell, who oversees the state’s medical marijuana registry for the Bureau of Vital Statistics within the Department of Health and Social Services.

The patient must have a “chronic or debilitating disease” that the physician certifies would be alleviated by medical pot. The diseases include cancer, glaucoma, positive HIV status, AIDS, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures and multiple sclerosis.

Those who obtain the prescription can then apply to the registry. The number of people on the registry has fluctuated, beginning with 28 in 1999 and 228 this year. They must reapply every year.

Despite their attempts, the program is increasing in popularity and the numbers of those who are using it will only increase as well.

Anyone on the registry may posses up to 1 ounce of marijuana in a usable form, and up to six plants. No more than three of the plants can be producing or flowering at any time.

As usual though they are clueless on the amount of medical marijuana a person should be allowed to have.

For one, you HAVE to allow more than six plants, it is simply not enough. Sick patients cannot get enough medicine off of three flowering plants, this is absurd and severely limits what a patient can produce for him/her self.Keeping the amount of plants to three like this makes it fairly impossible for a patient to grow his own medicine to last an entire year.

Three plants, can only produce about three ounces of marijuana every three months. Which equals about an ounce per month for medicine, that is in no way sufficient to those who must consume the plant by ingestion method. An ounce of marijuana does not go very far, and to see the police limit medical marijuana patients like this is a thinly disguised ban.

You MUST RAISE the allowable six plants to at least 20.

I am so tired of hearing police claim that medical marijuana is a front for the Mexican Drug Cartel, this is false and the police and DEA would find better use of it’s time fighting the actual Mexican Drug Cartels instead of putting out public campaigns against medical marijuana.

As the east Oregonian reports: “Eleven years after Oregonians voted to allow the cultivation and use of marijuana by prescription, the Justice Department finally has conceded the obvious: Drug agents have more important things to do than fight medicinal pot.”

The decision amounts to switching on a grow light for states to cultivate medical marijuana laws without interference from the federal government. Where all this ultimately leads is unclear, but it seems likely that one or more states - perhaps including Oregon - may vote in the next year or two on even broader legalization of marijuana.

Besides Oregon, there are 13 states that have already legalized medical marijuana. But the new Justice Department guidelines are aimed primarily at California, which allows dispensaries that sell marijuana and advertise their services. Since June 2005, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government could enforce federal marijuana laws even in states permitted medical marijuana, federal agents have conducted more than 200 raids in California alone.

The people not only want access to medical marijuana, but as stepping up for their rights to do so legally and signing up for the program in record numbers.

Unlike California, Oregon doesn’t allow dispensaries or any over-the-counter sales of marijuana. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, which was approved in 1998, two years after California’s law, permits the cultivation, possession and use of small amounts of marijuana by prescription by patients with certain medical conditions.

As of Oct. 1, according to the Department of Human Services, which administers the law, 23,873 Oregonians held medical marijuana cards issued by the state. The permits allow them to possess six mature cannabis plants, 18 seedlings and 24 ounces of usable marijuana. About 7,000 of the permit holders reported suffering from muscle-spasm disorders such as multiple sclerosis. More than 1,000 have cancer. About 4,000 suffer from nausea.

After all these years, the scientific debate over the medicinal qualities of marijuana is beside the point. There are tens of thousands of people in nearly a third of the U.S. states now using marijuana because they believe it relieves the symptoms of their illnesses.

Although patients should be allowed to grow more than six plants, this is step in right direction for now.

If there’s a drug war to be fought and won, it’s not with these people suffering from cancer or multiple sclerosis. It’s with the violent Mexican drug cartels which are using the enormous profits from their marijuana and methamphetamine sales in the United States to support other criminal enterprises.

But the police and DEA need to go after Mexican Drug Cartels and leave us American citizens alone.

You know how much better our country would be if they stopped filling the jails with pot smokers and started going after the killers and rapists on the streets? A huge amount of our police force is used up every day chasing people for a joint in their pocket instead of cops going after real killers and criminals.

Looks like our good friends in Illinois could be next to legalize medical marijuana?

Northwestern news says Don’t book that flight from Chicago to Amsterdam this winter just yet; medical marijuana may be on its way. Illinois, in a joint effort with the Obama administration, could very well be the next state to hash out a plan to legalize medicinal cannabis. Recent legislation and a new federal stance on the drug have made possible a whole new way of healing.

The United States Justice Department announced last week that they will stop prosecuting those who use marijuana for medicinal purposes, as long as the users comply with local laws. In a sharp departure from the Bush administration’s stance on marijuana, United States Attorney General Eric Holder said, “It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana.”

Although medical marijuana isn’t yet legalized in Illinois, legislation in the Illinois State Senate regarding the issue has passed. SB 1381, The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, passed through the upper house of the Illinois legislature last May. But it wasn’t easy.

According to the bill, a patient with a debilitating medical condition, as diagnosed by a physician, can be issued a registry identification card by the Department of Public Health which would allow them to have no more than seven dried cannabis plants and two ounces of dried usable cannabis. After a roll call vote that followed nearly an hour of debate in the Senate, it was reported that the gallery erupted in applause when the bill passed by a narrow 30-28-1 margin.

Off to a good start! But does it have support? You bet it does…

The Senate may have lit up with elation, but the Illinois House of Representatives hasn’t been as vocal. Representative Lou Lang, a Democrat from Skokie who is sponsoring the bill in the House, said in an interview that, “If every legislator who told me we should pass this bill actually voted for it, we’d pass it tomorrow […] but we have too many legislators who don’t have the courage of their convictions.” Essentially, many of the legislators who compose the heavily liberal-leaning House have privately stated that they want to legalize medicinal marijuana, but they are afraid to state the same in public.

Keep pushing the issue, you already have the support of the people! DO YOUR JOB and MAKE OUR MEDICINE LEGAL! Notice how its politicians procrastinating that often holds back progression???

In a state where 68 percent of people support legalizing medical marijuana and both the governor and his Democratic primary opponent are in favor of such a bill, it’s puzzling that the state legislature hasn’t been as supportive. Marijuana seems financially lucrative as well, as demonstrated by California, whose medical marijuana industry raked in $2 billion a year from sales and $100 million in taxes. Despite these reasons, though, support for legalization is far from uniform.

The people want medical marijuana, the Governor supports medical marijuana, should it surprise you that citizens are buying it too? LOL

It astounds me everytime I read articles like this that showcase the public DEMAND and SUPPORt for medical marijuana but it is always some cops or politician who is actually standing in the way. Did either of you (cops and careeer politicians) forget that you work for US? We TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, you don’t tell us what to do. You are to protect and SERVE us, remember?

So stop arresting us, and stop procrastinatiing on passing something the people already showed they want, and get the fine people of Illinois LEGAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA NOW!

When I mentioned this to a friend the other day he looked very puzzled. I asked him, “Did you know now you can fly on some airplanes with ounces of pot legally?” He replied, “No, are you serious?” I said “yep, isn’t life great in California?”

I don’t think he believed me, but I DO have the news articles to back me up.

Bay Area news reports that Considering the haziness surrounding medical marijuana laws, it may be surprising that some of the most uptight places in the Bay Area — local airports — are also some of the most laid back when it comes to medical pot patients.

San Francisco police, who patrol San Francisco International Airport, say they allow card-holding medical marijuana patients to carry up to 8 ounces of dried cannabis when traveling. The SFO policy follows the guidelines police use within the city of San Francisco, said Sgt. Wilfred Williams.

Isn’t that nice? You can actually board and travel on airplanes in California with your medicinal pot now without fear of arrest.

Then-San Francisco police Chief Heather Fong enacted the policy in November 2008 through a three-page bulletin to officers. It instructs officers to leave medical marijuana patients and their drugs alone if they are using the marijuana for medical purposes and not for criminal activity.

And when it comes to air travel, local police — not airport officials or federal authorities — determine which passengers can fly with medical pot.

The reason it is allowed is because local police, not federal police determine who is allowed onto planes.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said airport security officers are trained to check for dangerous items such as explosives when screening departing passengers, their carry-on bags and checked luggage.

If the local police force allows the passenger to keep their medical marijuana, the TSA would not stop them from traveling with the drug, she said. Likewise, SFO spokesman Mike McCarron said officials at the transportation hub have nothing to do with enforcement of medical marijuana laws at the airport.

Isn’t informing yourself great? I bet most Americans would fail this question for a $1 million dollar prize. ”

“Are Americans allowed to board planes carrying marijuana?” The answer is now, YES! And it is NOT just in the Bay Area…

At Mineta San Jose International Airport, enforcement of medical marijuana laws is left to San Jose police, said airport spokesman David Vossbrink.

San Jose police Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said they also do not arrest or cite passengers with medical marijuana at the airport or seize their drugs. They do, however, write a report and send it to federal authorities, who determine whether to file charges, he said.

Although filing any kind of report for a person carrying their medicine legally is a bit fascist, at least this policy is continuing at other airports in the state.

However, although we can fly in California with pot, this does not extend to other states where the drug remains illegal.

In the East Bay, the Alameda County Sherriff’s Office enacted a specific policy last year that allows medical marijuana users to travel from Oakland International Airport with the drug. As at SFO, a qualified patient or primary caregiver as defined by California law can carry up to 8 ounces during travel out of Oakland.

Of course, just because passengers are allowed to take their marijuana out of the Bay Area does not give them full immunity from prosecution, as more than 30 states ban medical marijuana. If a Bay Area traveler lands in a place where the drug is illegal, they could be prosecuted by state authorities.

The fight continues. Keep toking your medicine and never give up fighting for our right to use natural and effective medical marijuana, as well as, our right to fly anywhere in the U.S. with our cannabis. Our day is coming, the time is now!

You’d think the world’s most active force against marijuana might actually know a little bit about it, but no, the cops are as clueless as always and continue to publish distorted facts as truth and try to link medical marijuana to the “mexican Drug Cartel.”

Denver Post says Demand for medical marijuana in Colorado has grown so fast in the past few months that it has outstripped the production of legal “grow” operations and is now probably being supplied by international drug cartels, say some local sheriffs and agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bold faced lie. Here’s why and anyone who smokes medicinal cannabis can vouch for this.

Fact: Medicinal grade marijuana is not grown in large outdoor plots of land like crappy dirt weed the Mexican cartels send to America. It is grown mostly by highly sophisticated indoor hydroponic set ups by legal American growers/caregivers. Having lived in California where people smoke hydro/indoor marijuana as medicine, I can tell you first hand, a medical marijuana patient would take a puff of mexican dirt weed or “swag” and cough endlessly until they got a headache and prefer not to use the stuff as it does not contain the amount of THC in medicinal grade plants.

I have used cannabis for decades and can tell you, when you inhale mexican Cartel Swag weed it immediately makes me choke and gives me a headache, but using a vaporizer with some good Cali Indoor Chronic will set my migraines at ease and the nausea recede. The opposite happens when you smoke illegal Mexican weed. Any medical marijuana patient can vouch for this, no matter what the cops say… they are not patients or cannabis users and honestly have no idea what the hell they are talking about.

These cops are simply trying to lie to the media to make medicinal cannabis look bad. Fact is, they need to allow people to grow MORE THAN 6 PLANTS and they rather link medicine to drug cartels in another country?

“Dispensaries are popping up like mushrooms,” said DEA special agent-in-charge Jeffrey Sweetin. “Now we have thousands of 20- to 25-year-olds carrying cards. And the cartels are getting rich off this law.”

So lemme get this straight, you have thousands of law abiding citizens with medical marijuana cards, following the law, and the problem is????? This is proof the DEA simply doesn’t like the popularity and social acceptance they are witnessing. People have grown used to medical marijuana and welcome it with open arms now. STAND ASIDE and bow to the people’s will.

Last summer, the Colorado Board of Health declined to limit the number of patients that medical marijuana dispensaries could service.

The result, health department spokesman Mark Salley said, was a boom in the number of people who received cards allowing them to purchase medical pot. There are now 13,000 people in possession of such cards.

Colorado, which approved medical marijuana in 2000, is one of 14 states that permit it.

Police simply do not want American citizens to use pot as medicine, but the truth is, WE DON’T CARE WHAT COPS WANT. The people are abiding by state law and purchasing medical marijuana cards and police need to STEP ASIDE and let the people do, as the people wish. The program is obviously popular for a reason and people participating in the state program are not breaking laws, so get out of the way.

Legal grow operations linked to dispensaries are limited to six cannabis plants each.

The bottom line and answer to this is to allow more than six plants, I have been saying this for years as a medical marijuana patient. The demand for medical grade marijuana is so great that we need to allow patients to grow more than six plants and stop with the silly propaganda about Mexican Drug Cartels selling Marijuana Dispensaries crappy outdoor pot.

NO DISPENSARY would buy Mexican Swag Weed grown outdoors without fertilizers and never cured properly or even grown correctly. I know plenty of people who work in and are part of legal medical marijuana dispensaries in California and can state with 100% certainty they will not and do not buy swag weed grown illegally. It is not potent enough, is usually covered in disgusting chemicals/pesticides and is never cured properly or taken care of. In fact, any dispensary known to sell that type of weed would be SHUNNED BY THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS it would try to sell it to. They go to dispensaries for medical grade pot, not your dads swag from 1960’s. The pot sold in dispensaries is way better and you can tell by simply looking at it, as well as inhaling it. but cops wouldn’t know this, they only kick in doors, they haven’t spent the time we have with patients and with growers and with dispensaries.

Curing is a major part of marijuana potency and guess what, Mexican Drug Cartels sell weed that gives you a headache more than a “high” because its never cured properly. These cops should do some research before going to the media with lies.

Cops and politicians will be the main opposition, but the fat is, it is not up to them. Cops enforce laws, they do not make them. When the people vote and stand up and want medical marijuana, cops should stand aside and never try and act as a tyrant to control what the people can do, within state law.

Police simply want federal money to fight pot, and to do so, they need to keep it a “bad drug.” It is time for the people to stand up against the cops and tell them to get out of the way and stop telling lies about medical marijuana.

Any cop who disobeys state law and tries to arrest medical marijuana patients should have badge taken away.

By contrast, most of the street pot comes from big, outdoor grows, such as the three operations — within a 5-mile radius of Chatfield Reservoir — busted by DEA officials last summer. Sweetin said one grow had 14,000 plants that averaged 5 to 6 feet tall.

He said the average illegal indoor grow is 100 to 200 plants averaging 3 feet tall.

Sheriff Bill Masters of San Miguel County, which includes Telluride, said the number of medical-marijuana users in his county has grown so fast that he, too, is concerned about where the dope is coming from.

“The numbers don’t seem to add up to me,” he said. “It seems difficult to supply people with the number of plants allowed. My suspicions are that marijuana might be coming from other growers.”

Competition among dispensaries has become intense, and security concerns are rising.

Last month, several men wearing jackets identifying themselves as federal agents attempted to rob a marijuana dispensary in the 1900 block of South Cherry Street in Denver.

According to police, the dispensary operators drew weapons and a gunfight erupted in the street. No one was reported injured and no arrests were made, police said.

Last weekend, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a directive advising prosecutors not to pursue cases against medical-marijuana users and suppliers who follow state laws.

“Supply (of marijuana) is not directly addressed in (state law), and we think it’s one of the areas that could lead to criminal elements being involved,” said Longmont city attorney Eugene Mei, noting that the city is seeking a 90-day moratorium on new dispensaries.

Notice how instead of addressing the number of plants patients/care givers can grow they simply try and tie medical marijuana to illegal operations? To fix the problem of supply and demand of medical marijuana, legal growers should be allowed to grow at least 10+ plants per patient, but no, the cops don’t think for themselves, they just want bigger guns and vests to fight the War on Drugs. Get a new job copper, the war on marijuana is ending, and you need to find something else to do.

In the wake of the Justice Department advisory, the DEA’s Sweetin said “it’s business as usual” in terms of enforcement. “We’re leaving cancer patients alone,” he said. “But we’re not being told to leave the dispensaries alone.

And as I said in yesterdays entry, Justice Department says one thing - “no more raids on dispensaries”, but the DEA says another. They will continue to raid and kick in doors on legal dispensaries instead of going after meth dealers, and cocaine etc… dispensaries are within state law and the people need access to them, again I say to the cops, GET OUT OF THE WAY LIARS.

Become an activist today and stop letting cops tell lies to stop you from taken your medicine. get involved, never back down, especially in the face of cops.

Although there has been raids under his watch, we can only hope he actually means what he says.

Advocates of medical marijuana praised a Justice Department decision yesterday not to target cannabis-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in the 14 states that allow marijuana use

But haven’t we heard this before?

Federal prosecutors were told about the new policy in a legal memo issued by the department yesterday. Cannabis-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in the 14 states that allow medicinal marijuana, prosecutors were told.

The guidelines make it clear, however, that federal agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medicinal marijuana as a cover for other crimes.

The memo advises prosecutors they “should not focus federal resources in your states on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.’’

Exactly, let them focus on other problems in this country instead of kicking in the doors and taking medicine from sick people who are following state law.

The policy is a shift from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-marijuana laws regardless of state codes.

“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal,’’ Attorney General Eric Holder said.

While this way sound like good news, Holder already said this same stuff back in January and there have been raids conducted since then and we will have to follow up on this to see if the raids actually cease or not. Something tells me they will not, considering the word on the ground in California seems to be there are activist Sheriffs and Politicians continuously trying to stop medical marijuana although it is within state law to grow and consume medical marijuana.

By the government’s count, 14 states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Some medicinal marijuana advocates say Maryland shouldn’t be included in that group, because the law there allows only reduced penalties for medicinal marijuana usage.

California stands out among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries - businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services.

Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said last week that he wants to close dispensaries that sell marijuana for profit. Cooley’s plan is the latest salvo in a prolonged conflict in California over whether medicinal marijuana is truly having its intended effect or is being abused by the larger population.

Until recently, raids on clinics typically led to federal prosecutions, but Cooley’s remarks and similar ones from Attorney General Jerry Brown signal a new approach to clear the confusion left by Proposition 215, the 1996 state ballot measure that allowed sick people with referrals from doctors and an identification card to smoke marijuana.

Advocates say marijuana is effective in treating chronic pain and nausea, among other ailments.

Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.

Bottom line is the fight continues and we shall not relent. Stand up for your rights and take your medicine daily!

As usual looks like the fight continues in California.

A Superior Court judge concluded today that Los Angeles’ moratorium on new medical marijuana dispensaries is invalid and granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the ban sought by a dispensary that had sued the city.

Judge James C. Chalfant determined that the city failed to follow state law when it extended its initial moratorium. “The city cannot rely on an expired ordinance,” he said.

Green Oasis and a number of other medical marijuana collectives sued the city last month, challenging its efforts to control the dispensaries. The lawsuit argued that the City Council violated state law when it extended the ban until mid-March and that it is unconstitutionally vague.

Although the injunction applies only to Green Oasis, the judge’s ruling calls into question the city’s power to enforce the moratorium against hundreds of dispensaries that have opened in the last two years. The ruling could inspire other dispensaries to join the lawsuit or file similar actions.

Despite the moratorium, the city has seen explosive growth in the number of dispensaries. Under the ban, the city allowed 186 outlets to remain open. Many more – the exact number is unknown – are operating in neighborhoods across the city, and more continue to open.

In its answer to the lawsuit, the city argued that the moratorium is not subject to the conditions and limitations of state law because it is not an ordinance dealing with zoning, but with public safety. Zoning ordinances cannot be extended beyond 24 months. The city adopted the first of two moratoriums on Aug. 1, 2007.

The judge rejected that argument.

The city also argued that a decision to issue an injunction would cause “grave irreparable harm.” “This lawsuit is not just about one ‘bad apple.’ It is about illegally dealing marijuana,” the city’s answer said. “Hundreds of unlawful marijuana stores have cropped up throughout the City and will likely attempt to bootstrap their illegal operation on the outcome of this action.”

Jeri Burge, an assistant city attorney, told the judge this morning that granting the injunction would “reward illegal conduct.”

“You’re going to open the floodgates,” she said.

Robert A. Kahn, an attorney for Green Oasis, argued that the dispensary did nothing wrong, noting that, under state law, the moratorium expired 45 days after it was first enacted. “The did not believe they were violating the law,” he said.

The L.A. City Council has struggled for more than two years to write a permanent ordinance to replace the temporary ban.

Dan Lutz, a co-owner of Green Oasis and president of the collective association, filed the lawsuit after the council voted to shut down his dispensary, which opened in May.

Lutz, like hundreds of other dispensary owners in Los Angeles, had filed a request with the council for an exemption from the moratorium so he could operate, but opened without permission. The council failed to act on these requests until June, an oversight that prevented city officials from taking legal steps to close the dispensaries.

Keep up the good work Cali!

What the people want is marijuana, and that is what we shall have!