The Weekly Weed

Medical Marijuana Advocates Sue Los Angeles

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

By Tony Barboza
Source: Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles, CA — Medical marijuana advocates upped the ante in the legal battle over Los Angeles’ pot dispensaries by suing the city Tuesday, saying the recently adopted ordinance is so restrictive it will cause even law-abiding businesses to shut down.Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s main medical marijuana advocacy nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit along with the Venice Beach Care Center and Pure Life Alternative Wellness Center, two dispensaries that have operated in Los Angeles since 2006 — before the city’s moratorium on dispensaries took effect.

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Source : Cannabis News

Existing Laws on Pot Must Be Enforced

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

By Carmen Trutanich
Source: Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles, CA — In response to civil lawsuits filed against shops illegally selling and distributing marijuana in Los Angeles, the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access recently claimed that the City Attorney’s Office was misreading California law and should dismiss these actions. I respectfully disagree. These lawsuits are based upon the plain language, spirit and intention of these public health and safety laws. More importantly, these actions do not prevent or interfere in any way with a patient’s right to obtain medical marijuana from lawful collectives or other means allowed under existing law.

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Source : Cannabis News

Medical Pot Bill Debated

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

By Gene Davis, DDN Staff Writer
Source: Denver Daily News

Colorado — A state bill that would place more limits on Colorado’s sprouting medical marijuana industry got its first hearing at the state Capitol yesterday.House Bill 1284 would give local municipalities the right to ban dispensaries from operating within city limits and require all medical marijuana grown and sold to be linked to a dispensary. Because of the large number of people who testified on the bill, a decision on whether to pass or kill the measure was postponed.

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Source : Cannabis News

Marijuana: A Prescription for Trouble

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

Iowa — The supporters of �the compassionate use of marijuana� for the sick and dying have numerous stories of cancer stricken family members that received some benefit from using marijuana. Those stories tug at your heart leaving you with the idea that if it makes them more comfortable before they die, then what is the harm in letting them smoke marijuana?

The harm comes when legislators allow patients to grow their own marijuana and grow for other patients. Several states have lost control of their medical marijuana programs, and I want to share their problems with the citizens of Iowa before we make the same mistake.

First, we must accept that marijuana is the most sought after illegal drug in the United States. It is a multi-billion dollar illegal industry.

The compassionate use of a marijuana program is intended for people suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other debilitating diseases. However, there is a catchall in the legislation that usually states, �Or any other condition where a doctor believes marijuana would benefit the patient.� This means anyone that wants to smoke marijuana can and will with the right doctor�s recommendation. In a study in San Diego, Calif., only 2 percent of the medical marijuana patients actually had cancer, AIDS or glaucoma.

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Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Author: Chris Endress
Published: March 6, 2010
Copyright: 2010 Quad-City Times
Contact: opinions@qctimes.com
Website: http://www.qctimes.com
URL: http://drugsense.org/url/dFDMMgpe

CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives
http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtm

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Medical Marijuana News Cannabidiol Stops The Spread Of Breast Cancer

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute Final Report (2008)

We discovered that cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic compound from the plant Cannabis sativa, can inhibit the process of breast cancer cells that allow them to grow and spread (metastasis). CBD can also inhibit breast cancer metastasis in a mouse model. The research carried out in our CBCRP proposal demonstrated that CBD is a novel inhibitor of a gene whose activity is intimately linked to the aggressiveness of human breast cancers; this gene has been termed Id-1. Notably, our findings also indicated that Id-1 was a key gene whose expression needed to be reduced in order for CBD to inhibit aggressive breast cancer. One of the most significant high risk components of the initial application was to determine if CBD had appreciable efficacy against breast cancer in vivo (i.e., animal models). This high risk component was not pursued, since an independent group showed CBD was able to inhibit metastasis of MDA-MB231 cells to the lung of nude mice. Building of the previous findings, we made small structural changes to CBD that are expected to produce drugs that are much more active than CBD at inhibiting Id-1 and corresponding aggressive breast cancers. CBD has a low toxicity profile. An anticancer agent with a low toxicity profile that can both inhibit cancer cell growth and metastasis would be extremely valuable clinically. Understanding the mechanisms behind the anticancer activity of CBD may also lead to the discovery of new biological targets for the development of diagnostic tools and additional therapies for the treatment of cancer. In this project we found portions of the CBD structure essential to its biological activity for breast cancer cell growth inhibition. We are in the process of filing a patent on these discoveries. In addition, we studies the moleculr mechanisms that underlie CBD activity, and found that sustained upregulation of Erk (extracellular signal-regulated kinases, a type of protein kinase intracellular signaling molecules) is key to the ability of CBD to regulate the metastasis-specific inhibition of the Id-1 transcription factor.

Antioxidant activity has been reported to be a general property of the phenolic components of marijuana. Unlike Δ9-THC, cannabidiol can be administered at relatively high doses without undesired toxic or psychological effects.1 Cannabidiol at a concentration of 10 µM was neuroprotective against both excitatory neurotransmitter (glutamate) and oxidant (hydroperoxide) induced neurotoxicity.

Watch video on youtube : Medical Marijuana Stops Spread of Breast Cancer – NBC NEWS

Source : 420 Magazine

Will Legal Marijuana Be Growning At Warren County Farms?

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

New Jersey – Warren County is well known for its still-strong agricultural hertiage, where everything from corn and milk to turkeys and alpacas are grown/raised on local farms. Will we see the day where marijunana for medicinal purposes is added to ths list?

In the most recent weekly e-newsleter from the New Jersey Farm Bureau, the organization includes information that attempts to answer this question.

According to the newsletter: “New Jersey’s approval of the medicinal use of the drug marijuana has created some curiosity about its potential as a new crop. The news media has seized on this also, calling farmers to ask their opinion of this prospect. The reality of the situation, however, is that state authorities will be very restrictive in accessing this material. The Department of Health and Human Services will administer the program, employing only six ‘dispensaries’ statewide.”

NewsHawk: Ganjarden: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: NJ.com
Contact: NJ.com
Copyright: 2010 New Jersey On-Line LLC.
Website: Will legal marijuana be growning at Warren County farms?

__________________
Source : 420 Magazine News Team
Creating Cannabis Awareness Since 1993
http://www.420Magazine.com

The hemp plant is botanically quite advanced; some plants are male, some are female, and some are androgynous. Most species in the plant kingdom are merely androngynous.
– United States Dispensatory, 1851

Pot Growers Hire PR Firm to Develop Marijuana Marketing Plan

Mar 8, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

Los Angeles, CA – “The times, they are a changin’, again,” remarked Henry “Pops” Champion to a group of medical marijuana clinic owners and pot growers who all agree that it is time to finally pull out all the stops in getting marijuana prohibition lifted in California, and eventually, nationwide. Pops has been a lifelong smoker and proponent of legalized marijuana.

“Way back in 1996, Proposition 215 was passed allowing anyone with a doctor’s note to cultivate and use medical marijuana in California for a number of ailments, and in our efforts to assist those folks by offering quality grown and processed medical marijuana–not that street dope–we’ve been harassed like common criminals, and it’s time we spoke up for ourselves,” Pops continued.

“Some folks say we want to make California the Netherlands of the United States. That’s simply not true. We don’t want to be another Netherlands. Hell, man, we can’t even speak Dutch,” said Champion, to thunderous applause.

Yuri Lehigh then took the stage. “Man, all our lives we’ve tried to tell people that pot is a lot less harmful than booze and pharmaceuticals, but would the Feds listen? No. Now, after years of abusing alcohol and pills in place of marijuana, only because we could obtain them legally, we find our health dwindling and, ironically, one of the best natural substances for our ailments, from tired eyes to over-worked livers is pot. When are they going to wake up and smell the bud, man?”

“I mean, have you seen the ads on television for some of those ‘legal’ prescription drugs they’re trying to push on us, man? Clear up your allergies, but at the same time, be careful cause you’re gonna get dizzy and pass out and have bad stomach cramps and diarrhea and what not, man, but yeah, like you sure will breathe better. That is like total bullshit, man,” said Lehigh.

He continued, “and booze and beer commercials, what the fu*k is that, man? Have a few beers at a game, drink yourself silly on some Spiced Rum or Kaluha at a friend’s house, but hey, don’t drive. How the hell do you think they’re gonna get home, man? Sure, like anyone is gonna drink responsibly. The whole thing’s a ruse, man. We all know pot is way safer and we have to find a way to get that point across.”

Read more . . .

NewsHawk: Ganjarden: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: GlossyNews.com
Author: P. Beckert
Contact: GlossyNews.com
Copyright: 2010 GlossyNews.com
Website: Pot Growers Hire PR Firm to Develop Marijuana Marketing Plan

__________________

Source : 420 Magazine News Team
Creating Cannabis Awareness Since 1993

http://www.420Magazine.com

The hemp plant is botanically quite advanced; some plants are male, some are female, and some are androgynous. Most species in the plant kingdom are merely androngynous.
– United States Dispensatory, 1851