A press release mailed out by the Marijuana Policy Project is saying that Barney Frank and Ron Paul are to introduce a new bill to fully legalize marijuana.

From that email:

Other co-sponsors include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal. The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.

Rep. Frank’s legislation would end state/federal conflicts over marijuana policy, reprioritize federal resources, and provide more room for states to do what is best for their own citizens.

Can’t wait to see what develops out of this. LEGALIZE! The time is right.

read more: Barney Frank and Ron Paul Legislation to Fully Legalize Marijuana

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)

As someone who is plagued by Migraine and the nausea surrounding them, I cannot help but get upset at this type of story.

Here is a musician, who instead of using a safe and effective medication to control nausea, was injected with a drug and had to have her arm amputated because of it.

How long will patients continue to suffer at the hands of the drug companies who want to not use natural substances to combat nausea?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Vermont musician who lost her arm because of a botched drug injection is squaring off against a drug maker and the Bush administration in one of the most closely watched business cases of the Supreme Court’s term.

At issue is whether the federal government can limit lawsuits by consumers like Diana Levine who have been harmed by prescription medications.

The justices are hearing arguments in Levine’s case Monday, shortly after the court announces whether it will accept other cases for argument sometime next year.

The issue of limiting lawsuits arises in the heart-rending story of Levine, a guitarist and pianist who lost her right arm after an injection of the anti-nausea drug Phenergan, made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

A Vermont jury awarded Levine $6.7 million, agreeing that Wyeth should have been clearer in its warning label about the risks of improperly administering the drug.

Wyeth and the administration, however, are asking the court to rule that drug makers may not make changes to labels without the approval of the Food and Drug Administration and that people cannot sue under state law for harm caused by an FDA-approved drug.

In recent years, the administration and business groups have aggressively pushed limits on lawsuits through the doctrine of pre-emption — asserting the primacy of federal regulation over rules that might differ from state to state.

Obviously, if you notice, the article does not even discusss the topic I am reaching into. Instead the article talks only of limiting her capacity to actually sue the doctor who did this to her!

Imagine if you went to the doctor for a shot, and then had to have your arm cut off after it, would you want to sue them?

Well, President Bush and the hospitals, not only want you to stay away from safe medical marijuana, they want to inject you with toxic chemicals and when your body reacts to it, they don’t want you to be able to sue for compensation.

This is a terrible policy towards sick people, and until more people open their eyes it will continue.

Educate yourself about medical cannabis and how the drug makers are keeping it out of your reach.

Well, I don’t think any of us in America expected this housing foreclosure mess, and financial crisis that is upon us. Needlesstosay, we are putting off the move to California at this time, but I will surely post about it in the future. However, since the election is coming, I guess it is my duty to address the clear question about the two candidates who are running for the President of the United States in November. Which one supports medical marijuana? Which one wants to lock up people for smoking cannabis?

Clearly, I do not need to go into John McCain‘s thoughts on the subject to make it known, he is against anything to do with ‘medical marijuana.” He does not believe it has medicinal qualities, nor does he support its decriminalization, nor the legalization, for that matter. This man supports throwing people in jail, for the crime of possession, or even smoking a marijuana joint. Really, we need to do away with this mentality and get to the real issues facing America.

Barack Obama, on the other hand. Has a clear, and long record, of supporting medical marijuana. He has also voted to stop the raids on medical marijuana patients. This is all good news, and should come into play, come election day, if you are a supporter of medical marijuana.

Barack, gets it! He understands, some patients, need safe access to marijuana, or cannabis, for medicinal use.

We encourage all voters to think for themselves, but if you support medical marijuana, the choice is abundantly clear. Vote Obama!

In the past Senator Barack Obama has promised to end the federal raids on state medical marijuana patients, as well as their caregivers. He has voted against amendments to undermine state laws regarding cannabis as medicine.

It’s time for this country to go green, and by green I don’t mean energy, although that’d be nice too. Let’s knock some sense into congress and finally get meaningful legislation regarding medicinal marijuana in the next four years!

On June 2, 2007 Obama said this about raids: “I don’t think that should be a top priority of us, raiding people who are using … medical marijuana. With all the things we’ve got to worry about, and our Justice Department should be doing, that probably shouldn’t be a high priority.”

While the economy is certainly on everyone’s mind, we need to vote in someone who fill move forward with a new plan regarding rescheduling cannabis and helping change marijuana laws in this country. Go Obama!

It is important that the patient’s side of the story be presented and not just the drug war media distortions.

SEATTLE _ Martin Martinez says the small, private collective and outreach group he runs from a storefront are legal, a place for medical-marijuana patients to get help growing the medicine they need to manage their pain.

One of the earliest advocates for what became a voter-approved state medical-marijuana law 10 years ago, Martinez says he hasn’t handed out pot, nor grown any in his cramped office.

But Tuesday afternoon, Seattle police, armed with a search warrant, carted away marijuana and hundreds of private patient files, and tore down a wall in search of a marijuana patch that didn’t exist.

King County prosecutors say the raid was justified. Martinez’s neighbors have been complaining about a pervasive smell of pot, they said, so authorities need to figure out whether Martinez has been breaking the law.

But the episode has Martinez frustrated and his attorney furious. They accuse the police and prosecutors of being overzealous and refusing to honor the law that is supposed to let sick people use pot in peace. At a minimum, Martinez says, the authorities should let the whole thing blow over _ and return his stuff.

I’ve posted about this already, but feel there should be a little more emphasis put on some of the facts, and at least present more quotes from the victim and his attorney.

“We’re trying desperately to be legal, to stay alive and not have these conflicts,” Martinez said. “Science and law have to come to terms, because the doctors are recommending cannabis and the police have got to get on the same page.”

Martinez, 48, suffered severe neurological damage in a motorcycle accident in 1986. He later became one of the first people in King County to use medical necessity as a defense against prosecution for using marijuana.

In 1998, he helped promote the medical-marijuana initiative that voters approved overwhelmingly. It allows people with certain serious ailments to use marijuana if authorized by a physician.

For the past four years or so, he has operated Lifevine _ a private collective of patients who work together to grow their own medical marijuana _ and Cascadia NORML, a public-outreach organization that provides ID cards to medical-marijuana patients so they can show police that they have a legal right. He said the groups used three different locations in the U District on Northeast 55th Street and never had any problems.

I would like to thank Martinez for his effort.

“I’m just hopping mad,” said Douglas Hiatt, Martinez’s attorney, who arrived at the office during the search and called a deputy prosecutor to try to talk her out of executing the warrant. “It’s stupid and was totally preventable.”

Hiatt said Martinez is “super responsible” and makes sure he follows the letter of the law.

“I’d like for them to give him his stuff back and compensate him for anything they broke,” Hiatt said. “If they decide to go forward with this (and file charges), we’re going to have a real fight.”

Most of the time patients are not breaking any law when they have their doors kicked in, property seized, and harrassed in this manner.

But Mark Larson, the chief criminal deputy for the King County Prosecutor’s Office, said an investigation is warranted to determine whether Martinez was operating within the bounds of the state law.

“We’re certainly aware people have a right to use medical marijuana,” Larson said. “But that doesn’t include dispensing, and it doesn’t include possessing unlimited quantities.”

It has already been stated he was in fact not dispensing marijuana at the facilities, nor did he have “unlimited quantities.” He was within state law. At least the chief criminal deputy acknowledges awareness of “the right to use medical marijuana.”

State laws don’t specify legal amounts or ways medical marijuana can be dispensed to others, he said. The state Legislature last year ordered the Health Department to establish maximum amounts each patient may possess, but the department’s proposals are still being debated.

“We’d love to have these issues clarified so that people who need it get it, and people who operate outside the rules risk prosecution,” Larson said.

So again, how was he breaking laws if state law does not specify his allowance? This is exactly why I have recently begun discussing how much a patient should be allowed to grow. I have personally found that 71 ounces for 2 months is barely enough if you use it in the cooked form, which many prefer because of negative side effects of smoking.

Having 12 ounces of marijuana may last the guy 3-4 weeks depending on how often he uses?

The business owner who complained about the smell said she didn’t know until after Tuesday’s bust that Martinez’s office was being used by medical-marijuana patients.

She said she suspected someone was growing pot in the three-story building, which houses a mix of businesses and apartments.

Isn’t that convenient…

“I’m really sorry. We didn’t want to bother anyone,” he said. “We’re a very private group, which is why it doesn’t say ‘medical marijuana’ on the door.

“We’ve tried to keep to ourselves.” said Martinez

No doubt brother, keep up the good work and stand strong.

Never relent.

The Seattle police who illegally seized files recently have returned the files, but refused to return the patient’s medicine, which is within the legal amount he can possess. Again, he is a legal patient, who can legally carry medical marijuana. These cops should not be able to take his medicine away, which helps him cope with daily pain from motorcycle accident.

Seattle police returned hundreds of patient files and a computer hard drive to Martin Martinez Thursday evening, two days after they raided his University District storefront where he runs a collective and outreach group for medical-marijuana patients.

Prosecutors have told Martinez he won’t face any charges and the investigation is now closed.

“Nothing is going to happen. It’s done,” said Douglas Hiatt, Martinez’s lawyer, who went to the Seattle Police Department Thursday to pick up the files and other belongings.

But police have so far refused to return about 12 ounces of marijuana and two bongs seized during Tuesday’s bust, Hiatt said.

According to Hiatt, a police-department attorney has promised that the drugs and water pipes won’t be destroyed until Hiatt can raise the issue with King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg or take the matter to court.

Let me get this straight, a citizen who is breaking no laws, can have their doors kicked in, have their medicine taken away illegally, computers seized, and then they are the ones who have to fight it in court? This police department should brace itelf for the lawsuit about to come its way. The items should never have been seized in the first place, considering no crime was committed, no one has been charged with a crime, and there is no evidence of any crime taking place. To demand sick and dying patients “take the matter to court” is another way of hurting patients while trying to continue to further the Drug War Policy in the minds of law enforcement and much of the public despite the fact medical marijuana has been voted on, approved, and legalized.

“It’s really the principle — if you have the legal right to have something, the police shouldn’t be able to take it away from you and not give it back,” Hiatt said.

We must fight to stop this abuse of patients by our law enforcement. The police are here to protect and serve us, not abuse us.

Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for Satterberg, confirmed the files’ return and that Martinez would not face criminal charges but referred questions about the seized marijuana to Seattle police, who couldn’t be reached Thursday.

The Police Department couldn’t be reached for comment? They at least confirm no charges will be filed. So again, why seize property and medicine?

Officers (paid for with tax dollars) come in destroy property, steal things and we have to sit back and take it?

But the statement also acknowledges that Martinez, who suffered severe neurological damage in a motorcycle accident in 1986, “is authorized to possess marijuana for medical purposes,” and that the amount of pot seized by police was arguably within the 60-day supply limit the state medical-marijuana law provides.

Seattle police searched Martinez’s office on Northeast 50th Street after neighbors complained of a strong odor of pot in the building. After obtaining a search warrant, they carted off the pot and the files, which included detailed medical histories and medical-marijuana prescriptions. They also broke down part of a wall in search of marijuana plants. They didn’t find any.

Lawsuit time. He is legal under state law, protected under state law. These cops break down walls, take what they want and never have to answer to anyone even though no crime was committed or reported. This is again, based on a cops nose being used to initiate the arrest, harassment, and prosecution of sick and dying patients.

Looks like the police are not protecting and serving in Seattle.

Seattle police seized files on nearly 600 medical marijuana patients when officers searched the headquarters of a patient support group, activists said Wednesday.

The search occurred Tuesday after a nearby police bicycle officer reported the smell of marijuana. Martin Martinez, who runs the Lifevine cooperative as well as Cascadia NORML, the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said no one was arrested but officers seized about 12 ounces of marijuana in addition to the patient files and a computer.

Another case of a cop using his nose to initiate arrests of completely innocent people. If no one was arrested, why did they seize property?

There were no marijuana plants growing there, Martinez said. He is a longtime advocate of legalizing the medical use of marijuana, following a severe motorcycle crash that left him with nerve damage in 1986. Three other patients authorized to use pot under Washington’s medical marijuana law were also present when officers arrived at the office, which does not dispense marijuana, he said.

Again, these patients are authorized for medical marijuana and are breaking no laws.

Cascadia NORML has been issuing identity cards to medical marijuana patients, but before doing so, it requires the patients to provide their medical authorizations for verification. That’s why the patient files were in the office, Martinez said. The cards are not issued pursuant to the state’s medical marijuana law, but are designed to help identify the patient as legitimate if confronted by police.

Some of the nearly 600 patients are now dead, and some others are no longer actively using marijuana, he said.

This fact cannot be overlooked, many of the patient files they illegally seized are in fact for patients who have died. What do they need this for? This is a good program helping sick and dying people, why are the police seizing computer files on these patients? Do cops kick in the doors of dentists and steal their computers and go through their confidential patient file history? This is illegal, to do so under the guise of “eradicating marijuana” is misleading and malicious.

The police “have a heck of a lot of patient records I don’t think they should have,” said Douglas Hiatt, a Seattle attorney who specializes in medical marijuana cases. “For one thing, those records are protected under federal privacy laws. If you’re a medical marijuana patient, you don’t want the police to know who you are or where you live, and this is why – because you don’t get treated very well.”

Nice, a lawyer speaking the truth about how patients are treated, and the fact these records should remain private. Again, not to mention the fact these patients were not breaking any state laws. No plants were being grown there.

Under Washington’s medical marijuana law, doctors can authorize patients to have as much as a 60-day supply of marijuana to treat symptoms of AIDS, cancer and other debilitating or chronic conditions. The law doesn’t define what a 60-day supply is, but the state Health Department proposed this month that it be defined as 24 ounces of usable pot, along with six mature plants and 18 immature plants. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

According to Hiatt, the seized documents included patient authorizations, full medical histories, and the names of doctors who authorized the marijuana use.

This is why it is important to learn how California & New York are trying to put an end to this practice – Hault To Prosecuting Patients – by denying tax dollars be used for prosecuting patients and doing this type of illegal activity. Again, they did not arrest anyone because there were no laws being broken, this should not be tolerated or accepted in our society.

These are sick and dying people suffering daily pain, just trying to live a better life – have these police no compassion? Why should tax dollars go to pay cops to arrest the very people that laws were enacted to allow medical marijuana use?

Alison Chinn Holcomb, who follows marijuana issues for the Washington state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said there doesn’t appear to be any evidence that the group was providing or growing marijuana, and no information that has been revealed thus far would seem to justify seizing the patient files.

“These are very sick people with very serious conditions, and we’re sure none of them want the nature of those conditions made available to the public or to anyone who doesn’t have a valid need for it,” she said.

Many patients are dying, and to have them being treated this way is a mockery of what America is supposed to stand for.

This is not freedom. When a people vote for laws, and the cops themselves fight against those laws – who can win? They are the ones with the guns, the patients have doctor bills, not weapons.

More and more politicians, whether it be Senators or Representatives, are changing their mind after meeting with patients who live with daily pain. Many politicians are caught up in the “drug war” mind-frame and have never sat down with patients and really examined the issue from a compassion point of view. As time moves on though, we see compassion and understanding regarding medical marijuana and those who need it daily.

Rep. Jerry McNerney is now willing to vote for an amendment he’d opposed last year that would bar the federal government from spending money to arrest or prosecute medical-marijuana patients in the states — including California — where medical marijuana is legal.

“In the past year, the congressman has met several patients with debilitating illnesses that use doctor-prescribed medical marijuana,” McNerney spokesman Andy Stone said Friday. “Hearing their stories, he feels that he cannot in good conscience deny doctor-prescribed treatment to a person that experiences excruciating pain on a daily basis.”

Asked whether this means McNerney, D-Pleasanton, will vote for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment when it’s brought forward again in the next few weeks, Stone replied, “That’s a fair assumption.”

This is a sign of compassion and we applaud McNerney for taking this stance on this highly controversial topic. Once you get past the propaganda and cops vs drug dealers rhetoric, you will find medical cannabis is a very simple and easily discussed topic, that clearly has pros and cons – but when someone’s daily pain is in question, you have to be willing to look past your own prejudices and consider others. Again, a round of applause for Rep. Jerry McNerney.

“The support for medical marijuana and for the idea that states ought to be able to make these decisions for themselves … has grown every year” since 2004, Bernath said Friday. “So it’s very encouraging that Congressman McNerney has decided to support patients in his area, but I wouldn’t say it’s surprising.”

Public support as well as congress support seems to be growing and we hope it continues. Many people think the Civil War was fought over slavery, but it was actually “state rights” and there are Republicans as well as Democrats and Libertarians who regard state rights as Holy. This debate regarding state rights strikes at the heart of how laws are formed in this country. States have the right to make their own laws, despite Federal Law – it has been that way for a very long time.

A series of judicial defeats — including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in a case brought by Oakland activist Angel Raich — has had medical-marijuana advocates pinning most of their hopes on Congress. The bipartisan amendment to the Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations bill has been introduced in each year since 2003, and takes its name from sponsors Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach. The amendment was defeated in 2007 on a 165-262 vote; it got 163 votes in 2006, 161 votes in 2005, 148 in 2004 and 152 in 2003.

Half of the House’s freshmen Democrats, including McNerney, opposed it last year. But with polls showing Democratic strength in this November’s House elections, it’s possible some now feel they have a bit more cover if they choose to displease a few conservative constituents this year.

Encourage and support those who vote for this.

McNerney last year had issued a statement saying his vote against the amendment was based on his conversations with law enforcement officials about the effect of drug use on his district’s communities, particularly in San Joaquin County. “We are facing a drug crisis with meth and other drug use on the rise. Until we get a handle on the crippling drug use in our society, I cannot support the relaxation of current drug policy,” he said at that time.

Glad to see McNerney has changed his position and has willfully came over to the compassion side of this debate instead of remaining on the side of the irrational. Medical marijuana is gaining support in the government and in the public.

Keep the topic on the minds of our leaders, and never stop pushing for legal and safe access to cannabis in America.

In a symbolic move of East united with West – Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., hope to amend a Justice Department spending bill to forbid use of any money for prosecuting patients using marijuana in states with medical marijuana laws protecting patients. Stopping the use of funds for prosecutions is the best way to stop this abuse of the system.

At least as long as President Bush is in charge, the federal government is unlikely to advance medicine’s use of marijuana. Absent common sense leadership in the White House, Congress should force the Justice Department to abandon prosecutions of possession for medically prescribed marijuana in states that allow the compassionate use of the drug.

Bipartisan sponsors will try to win House approval for a measure to guarantee no such abusive prosecutions in this state and the others with medical marijuana laws. Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., hope to amend a Justice Department spending bill to forbid use of any money for prosecuting patients using marijuana in those states.

As authors of a guest op-ed Tuesday noted, some members of the Washington congressional delegation previously have opposed the measure. A year ago, Reps. Norm Dicks, Doc Hastings, Rick Larsen, Dave Reichert, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Adam Smith rejected this assurance to people sick enough to receive marijuana prescriptions. To their credit, Reps. Brian Baird, Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott opposed the wasteful use of federal funds.

In this state, where a people’s initiative has offered compassion for a decade, the minimum expectation should be for every member of the congressional delegation to support the measure. While we wait for more science and less politics on medical marijuana, no patient should fear prosecution.

There is no need to waste millions of dollars prosecution patients who have been told by a doctor they should use marijuana for their pain or suffering. Push forward with this, you have the support of the people.

I think 71 ounces for a two month supply is the perfect amount that should be allowed for those who need medical marijuana. Using the cannabis in its “cooked” form is the best way – safe, and works perfect for nausea when its hard to keep food down in the first place. A good snack made from your favorite medicine aids many patients day in and day out. So in Seattle we are glad to see this amount being brought up – you can easily use this amount when cooking your medicine.

SEATTLE — Many using medical marijuana said the Health Department’s current amount of how much can be possessed legally is too little.

Currently, patients can possess 24 ounces in a 60-day period to relieve pain or nausea, but some users say the rule is too restrictive.

“The 24 ounces is low for the most sick in our society. Those that are eating Cannabis for cancer remission, for example, or for the pain associated with it,” said medical marijuana user Muraco Kyashna-Tocha.

Patients said 71 ounces is how much someone who is in severe pain would have to eat to get as much active ingredients from the plants as they would from a prescription substitute called Marinol.

The state said the final rules won’t be set on medical marijuana until after a public hearing on August 25.

Any medical marijuana patient who uses their medicine daily and throughout the day can easily consume this same amount – it need not be limited to those in “severe pain” – however it is agreed that this is a good amount to allow patients to possess. Many patients choose to use cannabis in its cooked form and stay away from smoking pipes, bongs, or even the doctor recommended vaporizers, especially cancer victims or those suffering from nausea who would like to eat something. There have been numerous reports regarding how effective marijuana brownies are with giving cancer patients not only an appetite, but the desire to lead a more joyful daily existence.

These patients need not just our support, but compassion and our fight should always be for those who need to use this plant daily as medicine. Whether smoking it through a bong, using a vaporizer, or eating “pot brownies” one can easily use 1/2 to 1 ounce of marijuana in a day so this amount of 71 ounces for a two month supply is a perfect place to start on negotiating patient marijuana allowance.