Ease the pain, Mary Jane
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Stick to the pipe, medical marijuana users: that’s the message from Canadian researchers who found that smoking even relatively low doses of cannabis can help reduce chronic pain, ease sleep and reduce anxiety.
The findings were published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Sosurce : Los Angeles Times
Tags: marijuana bust
Medical Marijuana not allowed on CMU’s campus; legal disputes mounting throughout Michigan
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Marijuana is prohibited on Central Michigan University’s campus, despites the state’s legalization of the substance for medical purposes.
CMU must abide by federal law, which states the substance, whether medicinal or recreational, is illegal to use or possess.
“Federal law supersedes state law,” said Joan Schmidt, associate director of Residence Life. “No marijuana is allowed on campus.”
Campus Police Chief Bill Yeagley said the university policy forbids possession, storage and use of medical marijuana.
But he said Residence Life is willing to work with students who need marijuana for medical purposes.
“If (students) live on campus, they’re not going to say, ‘We’re kicking you out,’” Yeagley said. “If you have an issue, you need to move off campus and it’s a legit reason to move off campus.”
Tags: legalize marijuana, marijuana, marijuana for medical use, marijuana laws, marijuana legalization, medicinal marijuana
What are Seattle’s marijuana laws?
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Q: What’s Seattle’s marijuana policy?
A: This question has been asked several times in different forms. On Wednesday, Mayor Mike McGinn released this Q and A about Seattle and marijuana laws:
1. Is enforcing simple possession of marijuana really SPD’s lowest priority?
Yes. In the first four months of this year about 6,500 incident reports were filed with the City Attorney’s Office. In only six of those incidents was marijuana the reason for the contact. Only .09% of incident reports during this time period cite marijuana as the primary reason for a contact.
2. Do police officers ever stop someone solely because of marijuana?
Yes, but very rarely. Although it may appear that marijuana was the “sole charge” in a lot of incident reports, it often looks that way because the reason for the stop was either a traffic citation (which isn’t a criminal charge), or to execute a warrant. If someone is arrested because of an outstanding warrant, the offense for which the warrant was issued isn’t a new violation, so review of the City Attorney’s records would cause one to conclude (incorrectly) that marijuana was the only criminal violation at issue.
Tags: cannabis, marijuana, marijuana laws, marijuana legalization
First Medical Marijuana Commercial Airs in California
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Headache? Try CannaCare.
Earlier this week, a television commercial advertising medicinal marijuana was aired in California – the first ever broadcast in the U.S. The ad was shown over Fox affiliate KTXL in Sacramento, and has swirled up a nice little cloud of controversy from community members who worry about the commercial’s effect on children. The ad itself features a series of testimonials from customers, all A-typical of our drug culture stereotypes: A pretty young woman claims she was diagnosed with a bone disease, while a middle-aged woman says she was hit by a drunk driver.
Tags: legalize marijuana, marijuana for medical use, marijuana legalization, Medical Marijuana, medicinal marijuana
Sheriff Baca says state’s medical marijuana program has been hijacked by criminals, citing triple slaying
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that the recent triple murder in West Hollywood during an illegal sale of medical marijuana is another example of how the industry has been taken over in part by enterprising criminals.
“The medicinal marijuana program that voters authorized years ago has been hijacked by underground drug dealing criminals who are resorting to violence in order to control their piece of the action,” Baca said.
He said the criminal element has flooded the business because of the outrageous profits to be made. “There are predators armed and seeking easy dollars in sales of marijuana,” Baca said.
Baca said his detectives have found marijuana collectives buying from cartel sources and selling to people in large amounts. In the triple slaying case, two of the dead men did business with at least four dispensaries.
Tags: marijuana bust, marijuana dispensaries, Marijuana Growers
Judge allows medical marijuana defendants’ use
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
A district judge in Ferndale said Thursday that he would allow state-approved medical marijuana defendants to keep using the drug while out on bond — a sharp contrast to a Waterford judge’s statement Tuesday that deemed marijuana use by defendants in a parallel case to
be a bond violation.
The contrast in treatment for those arrested in metro Detroit’s first major medical marijuana raids showed the breadth of interpretations for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Wayne State University law school professor Bob Sedler said.
After Thursday’s brief hearings for 10 defendants, Ferndale District Judge Joseph Longo told the Free Press that any who were state-approved patients could use marijuana while awaiting trial. The defendants are to appear at a hearing Sept. 20.
Tags: marijuana, marijuana for medical use, Medical Marijuana, medicinal marijuana
Marijuana may not be the gateway drug some think it is, study finds
Sep 3, 2010 Online Issue
Marijuana is thought by some to be a gateway drug among young people who eventually go on to try stronger substances. But that may be the exception rather than the rule, a new study finds.
Researchers from the University of New Hampshire looked at data from a random group of 1,286 children, teens and young adults who were in Miami-Dade public schools in the 1990s. Among the study participants, 26% were African American, 44% were Hispanic, and 30% were non-Hispanic white.
They were asked about their substance use and about exposure to major events and traumas that occurred before age 13. Some questions included, “Did you ever fail a grade at school?”, “Did your parents ever divorce/separate?” and “Were you regularly emotionally abused by one of your caretakers?”
Education played a role in use of other substances–those more likely to have used marijuana as teens and other drugs as young adults didn’t graduate from high school or go to college. Employment factored in as well, since those who smoked pot as teens and were out of work after high school were more apt to use other drugs.
