Reschedule Cannabis

Congress, the FDA, and the DEA are responsible for keeping medicine out of the hands of dying people, while allowing the FDA to let pharmacy companies and the drug companies to sell whatever drugs they want! Even when people die from them! Because we all know, money controls the FDA not the facts.

When there is a big gap between the views of ordinary Americans on a public issue and the voting record of their elected representatives in Congress on that issue, something is wrong. In the national debate over the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the people and their representatives in Congress seem to be living on different planets. In New York, however, the gap has been closed, or nearly so.

Poll after poll show Americans, by a huge majority, want their doctors, not lawmakers, to decide whether or not marijuana should be used as a medicine. Today, however, federal laws prohibit physicians from prescribing marijuana for pain relief even where state and local laws say it is OK to do so. This has not always been the case.

“For most of American history, growing and using marijuana was legal under both federal law and the laws of individual states,” according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, an arm of the U.S. Congress. The report goes to say: “From 1850 to the early 1940s, cannabis was included in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia as a recognized medicinal. (But) its decline in medicine was hastened by the development of aspirin, morphine, and other opium-derived drugs, all of which helped to replace marijuana in the treatment of pain.”

Keep in mind, even though marijuana has been prescribed for close to 100 years and is a recognized medicinal, the FDA continues to lie about medical marijuana. Claiming it has no medical value.

Freedom means nothing in America when congress and the FDA, and the DEA keep medicine out of the hands of people dying from painful illness.

In 1999 a Gallup poll asked: “Suppose that on election day this year, you could vote on key issues as well as candidates. Please tell me, would you vote for or against making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering?” Response: 73 percent of the American people said they would vote for making marijuana legally available under those conditions.

In both 2003 and 2005, Gallup polls asked: “Would you favor or oppose making marijuana legally available for doctors to prescribe in order to reduce pain and suffering?” In 2003, 75 percent and in 2005, 78 percent of the people said they would favor giving doctors the legal right to decide when marijuana should be prescribed to ease suffering.

Apparently, members of Congress don’t read the polls these days, nor do they care much about state laws. In 12 states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — laws already give doctors the power to decide whether or not to use marijuana to treat patients in pain.

In the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4, 2005, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), introduced H.R. 2087, a bill “to provide for the medical use of marijuana in accordance with the laws of the various states,” and to prohibit the federal government from stopping “an individual from obtaining and using marijuana from a prescription or recommendation by a physician for medical use.” On May 13, the bill was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, where it is stuck.

When will congress really represent The People?

Since a federal bill allowing states to regulate the medical use of marijuana can’t make it to the House floor for an up or down vote, an alternative strategy is to attach a medical marijuana amendment to a spending bill that will reach the House floor. On June 15, 2005, Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY) did just that and offered Amendment 272 to H.R. 2862. The amendment would have prohibited federal agencies from preventing the implementation of state laws that authorize the use of medical marijuana. The amendment was rejected on a 264 to 161 vote.

In other words, while 78 percent of the American people favor letting doctors (and states) decide this issue, only 38 percent of the House members favored a law supporting that policy. Nationally, that’s a whopping 40 percent medical marijuana gap separating what the American people want and what their hard-of-hearing elected representatives deliver.

We need to vote these two-faced flip-flopping liars out of office and put in people who believe in personal liberty over the DEA and FDA lies about medical marijuana.

American democracy calls on lawmakers to be responsive to the common sense wisdom of ordinary citizens. Instead, some members of Congress from New York and elsewhere are standing in the way of existing state laws and the majority of Americans who want their physicians, not politicians, to decide if marijuana should be used to ease suffering in sick patients.

If these officials don’t improve their hearing, voters might consider replacing them this coming November with people who have better listening skills.

Vote these liars out of office.

(republishing this article due to copyright infringement)

Republicans dont think a man should be able to smoke marijuana in the privacy of their own home without having their door kicked in, but they are scared shitless now thinking about having THEIR Congressional doors kicked in by FBI targeting them for their corruption!

House and Senate leaders challenged the constitutionality of an FBI raid on a lawmaker’s office, saying it broke a 219-year precedent and raised concerns about the separation of power between the administration and Congress.

“The actions of the Justice Department in seeking and executing this warrant raise important constitutional issues,’’ House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement last night. “I expect to seek a means to restore the delicate balance of power among the branches of government that the founders intended.’’

Frist and co are only voicing opposition to raids because they are afraid of having THEIR office searched!

I think, finally Congress understands what its like to be American now. Welcome to the club, congress. You want to kick in doors in the name of the “War on Drugs” well you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

The separation of powers argument seems to be pretty weak to me: The actual scope of Congressional immunity under the speech and debate clause is quite narrow (narrower, oddly, than the judicially-created immunities enjoyed by judges and prosecutors) and certainly doesn’t include immunity from search in a bribery case.

At any rate, members of Congress who are offended by an unannounced late-night raid on an office might profitably be asked what they think about late-night unannounced raids on private homes, which happen all the time as part of the Congressionally-mandated War on Drugs.

These same people want to stop CANCER PATIENTS from using medical marijuana and have mandated a “kick in door” policy against terminal people, to Congress I say you reap what you sow.

(republishing this article due to copyright infringement)

Our founding fathers grew hemp, so why are we arresting people for growing hemp today?

There is major difference between hemp and marijuana, for one, hemp does NOT GET YOU HIGH. Marijuana does. So here you can clearly see citizens being hassled for simply growing a non-intoxicating plant.

A Winsted man arrested for growing marijuana may avoid jail time if he agrees to remove bright green images of marijuana plants he spray-painted on his home.
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Christopher Seekins — who lives on High Street — accepted a plea agreement Thursday in Litchfield Superior Court. He’d receive three years probation on a felony charge of growing marijuana.

Seekins was arrested in October when police discovered about 100 plants in his house. He said they were hemp and part of a research project.

After his arrest, Seekins painted images of the distinctive green leaf on his Victorian-style house, each accompanied by the word hemp. Town officials say they received several complaints because Seekins’ home is visible from Winsted’s main thoroughfare.

Notice how they retreat and try to get this citizen to remove images he painted on his home in protest because they have no case. Part of the agreement is to remove images of hemp plant painted on his house? I wonder why…. because the message it sends is the truth!

There is nothing wrong or illegal about HEMP PLANTS. Marijuana is illegal but hemp does not even produce THC which is what gets you high. Our founding father grew hemp for clothes, and much more. Not only did our founding fathers grow hemp and marijuana, George Washington wrote about growing females (which get you high) and Thomas Jefferson was known to have illegally imported hemp seeds from China into America.

So next time you think it’s a crime to sneak in seeds to this country, realize even Thomas Jefferson did it. Would anyone arrest Thomas Jefferson for sneaking in hemp or marijuana seeds to this country?

When will America wake up and realize not only is the war on drugs hurting this country, but you cannot arrest people for growing “hemp.”

We need 100 more guys like this every month to make a stand and maybe, just maybe we could wake up this country.

(republishing this article due to copyright infringement)

It has come to my attention that articles I have written in the past for various sites have been stolen and published under someone elses name!!

I take a lot of time writing and researching my articles and it is digusting that someone would take my work and copy it to their web site as if they wrote it!

I am going to republish my work here under my name as was intended.

The publications I did the writing for seems to have dropped out of existence but I still retain full copyright for the articles as I never sold them, the work was mine and I let cannabis related sites feature my articles.

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!

How come in one state a man is locked in prison, has his car taken away, his house taken away and loses his job because he is placed in prison for marijuana, while in another state men and women openly smoke marijuana in the street without fear of prosecution? How is this America? How is this fair to patients trying to relieve their symptoms using a safe and natural and most effective medicine for their ailment?? Answer that!

OAKLAND, California (CNN) — Richard Lee greets students, shopkeepers and tourists as he rolls his wheelchair down Broadway at the speed of a brisk jog, hailing them with, “Hi. How ya doin’?”

In this nine-block district of Oakland, California, called Oaksterdam, Lee is a celebrity.

Oaksterdam is Lee’s brainchild, a small pocket of urban renewal built on a thriving trade in medical marijuana. The district’s name comes from a marriage of Oakland and Amsterdam, a city in the Netherlands renowned for its easy attitude toward sex and drugs.

Lee is the founder of Oaksterdam University, which he describes as a trade school that specializes in all things marijuana: how to grow it, how to market it, how to consume it. The school, which has a curriculum, classes and teachers, claims 3,500 graduates.

Lee also owns a medical marijuana dispensary, a coffee house, a large indoor marijuana plantation, and a museum/store devoted to the cause of legalizing marijuana.

Marijuana is safer than alcohol, and they sell alcohol across the street from schools and churches and on all commercial streets that have liquor stores. Think of how many stores in your area sell alcohol, which is not even a drug, its a toxin!

“I really see this as following the history of alcohol. The way prohibition was repealed there,” Lee says, adding that he believes he is close to achieving his mission.

Lee is organizing a petition drive to place a marijuana legalization measure on the ballot in 2010, and he thinks the measure stands a good chance of being approved by voters.

It is far past time for Americans to stand up to the government regarding this incendieary topic. It is TIME TO LEGALIZE marijuana in the United States.

A recent California Field Poll showed that more than half the people in the state, where marijuana for medical use was approved more than a decade ago, would approve of decriminalizing pot.

The state’s faltering economy is one reason why. If legalized, marijuana could become California’s No. 1 cash crop. It could bring in an estimated $1 billion a year in state taxes.

Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano is spearheading a cannabis legalization bill in the California Assembly. He believes the state’s need to increase tax revenues will work in his bill’s favor.

“I think it’s a seductive part of the equation,” he says.

Ammiano says there are a number of ways legalized pot could be marketed, “It could be a Walgreens, it could be a hospital, a medical marijuana facility, whatever could be convenient. Adequate enforcement of the rules. Nobody under 21. No driving under the influence.”

Even California’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says legalizing marijuana deserves serious consideration.

“I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana,” Schwarzenegger says.

But Ammiano says selling a legalized marijuana bill to his fellow legislators remains a delicate matter.

Delicate matter yes, but should it be allowed to those who do not feel pain everyday to decide? Should people who think “pot is bad” be able to dictate whether it has medicinal qualities or not? Fact is, marijuana has been a medicine for thousands of years, and for anyone to state otherwise is insane.

Nonviolent medical marijuana users are being arrested and thrown in jail, costing states and cities millions and millions of dollars, while drunks walk the streets free and able to get their alcohol on every street in America. Not only is this unjust, it says something about the compassion of American’s towards the ill in this land.

There are 24-hour bars, and 24 hour liquor stores in this country, but somehow police and politicians feel threatened about a medical facility that forces patients to produce a doctor’s recommendation for a medicine that helps them? Absurd! Patients must pay to see a doctor, pay to have the state issued medical marijuana card before getting access to their medicine… however, underage teens need look no further than next to the milk in the fridge to get ahold of dad’s beer.

Children drink alcohol taken from liquor cabinets and fridges every single day in America. Marijuana is much more regulated and in states like California, teen marijuana use has DECLINED since medical marijuana has become so popular and less of it is being sold illegally on the street considering so many patients have now become legal, law abiding pot smokers. Unlike liquor stores that sell alcohol to underage kids every day in America, medical marijuana dispensaries are ran like pharmacies and have security guards and one does not get their medicine until ID and doctor recommendation, or state issued card is shown!

See through their smoke screen, yes, it is time to legalize. Not tomorrow, TODAY!

I applaud the folks in New Hampshire for their efforts, however, by not allowing patients or caregivers to grow their own medicine you are essentially stripping patients and caregivers of their right to possess and grow a natural plant that can yield organic and safe medicine. Again, I applaud the effort but this provision will ruin the entire bill in my opinion.

The New Hampshire Legislature has passed legislation that would allow chronically ill patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription.

Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat, said he would study the bill before deciding whether to sign or veto it. He has raised concerns about preventing marijuana cultivation and distribution. The bill would prohibit users or caregivers from growing the plant, which would be dispensed in licensed “compassion centers.”

Patients on the medical marijuana program should in fact be allowed to grow their own, not be overcharged and taxed on medicine! Sure, dispensaries are needed for some, but the fact is, dispensaries are not cheap and in fact are quite costly. Patients who can grow their own, and caregivers who plan on growing for sick people, should be allowed to grow this plant.

How long until they use this as a way of stopping patients from getting medicine? What do I mean? Even in California, counties are fighting to keep dispensaries open, many people do not want dispensaries in their city. These politicians will just place these “compassion centers” out of reach for most and not allow them in most cities and districts! Forcing patients to continue buying marijuana on the street, you have to open your eyes.

Allow patients to grow, allow caregivers to grow.

You cannot expect the few “compassionate centers” the state will allow to handle the entire state’s patients, you must allow patients to grow their own, if not, you are denying many safe access to medicine. How many will open? Will folks from across the state have to drive miles and miles to get medicine from an overpriced dispensary taxing their medicine? Sick people should be allowed to either grow their own if they can, or have a compassionate caregiver provide their medicine, not be overly taxed and charged for a plant that anyone can grow!

If the law is enacted, the Granite State will become the 14th state allowing medical marijuana and the fourth state to license dispensaries.

Already in California we see counties trying to eliminate dispensares, and in some cases are being successful, despite Proposition 215 being a state law politicians will always use their districts to exert influence among constituents, especially when it comes to opening marijuana dispensaries in their cities.

By not allow patients and caregivers to grow cannabis for medicine, you keep the state in full control and force patients to pay extraordinary amounts for something that can grow in any backyard in America! FOR FREE!!! Don’t let them take away your rights to a plant that was founded in your birth and arrival on this Earth. No man can take away our medicine, no one who walks on legs can stop us from using this wonderful plant to achieve a better life.

New Hampshire license plate motto is “live free or die” well, not if you plan on growing your own medicine, this state wants to make as much money as they can off of the sick and dying. If you cannot even grow your own marijuana plant there, you are hardly a free people. You are not even compassionate enough to allow sick people to grow their own cannabis to use as medicine, far from free.