CANNABIS CORNER TRANSCRIPTS: March 17, 2015
Hosted by Debby Moore AKA Hemp Lady on http://www.BaconRock.com Tuesday
8:00 PM CST
Debby Moore is CEO & Director of Research for Hemp Industries of
Kansas
xxx
Program Sponsors:
Healthy, beautiful skin food: Les Balm - Restoring &
Repairing Tissue Cells on Micro-cellar level. Available online at:
http://www.lesbalm.com questions lesbalmchic@gmail.com
Green Art Rocks - Available at: http://www.Green
Art Rocks.com
Art Studio located at Karma Konnections Boutique 1123 E. Douglas,
Wichita, Kansas (Gorilla on roof of building to the east of KK Boutique.)
Karma Konnections also sells Les Balm in .05 oz Trial Twist Tube, 2 oz
Jar or Tin, & 2.65 oz. Twist Tube.
xxx
Fire It Up Kansas Annual 420 party Topeka April 18, 19, 2015
More information on the Fire It Up Kansas Facebook Fan Page.
xxx
Global Million Man Marijuana March May 2, 2015 Riverside Park
11:30 to 1:30 Bring your own sign & Smile. Exact location is
on bridges between Keeper of the Plains & Tennis Courts.
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Mon, 09 Mar 2015
Source: Queensland Times, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2015 APN News & Media Ltd
Contact: letters@qt.com.au
Website: http://www.qt.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4953
Author: Brian Bennion
Page: 20
DRUG SCOURGE BECOMING ALL TOO FAMILIAR
WE ARE increasingly being confronted with the scourge of drugs on
society.
The tragedy of talented actors and musicians that overdose generates
a
feeling of sad loss and shock as we look at a person who has achieved
more success than most can imagine and are loved and we contemplate
the waste of life.
The scandal of football heroes allegedly at the centre of a drugs
syndicate leaves us with a feeling of betrayal as we as a society
hoist these people up as mentors for our children.
Bali Nine drug smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan facing the
death penalty in Indonesia has generated much sympathy as we have seen
two people who have obviously gone through some rehabilitation and
turned their lives around while serving their time in jail.
But when a mother puts her own child's life at risk by allowing a
drug-dazed housemate to drive her home, the feeling turns to anger.
According to a 2010 National Drug Survey, about one in six
Queenslanders had used illicit drugs in the 12 months leading up to
the survey of almost 27,000 Australians. The Queensland figure
outstripped the national average of 14.7% and was the third highest
behind the Northern Territory with 21.3% and WA with 18.6%.
Cannabis was the most commonly used illicit drug in Queensland ahead
of ecstasy, methamphetamines, cocaine and hallucinogens.
- Brian Bennion
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Matt
xxx
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Source: National Post (Canada)
Author: Jesse Kline
THE UN VS. 'SPECIAL K'
Ketamine is a vital anesthetic in the Third World. But now China wants
it banned for everyone because of its own recreational drug users
At the same time America was repealing its disastrous experiment with
alcohol prohibition, U.S. states were passing laws restricting the growth
and sale of marijuana. It's little wonder that many of the problems experienced
during prohibition - the growth of organized crime, mass flouting of the
law, the incarceration of otherwise-law-abiding, non-violent offenders,
higher-potency substances, etc. - are now associated with the War on Drugs.
In the 1970s, the federal government stepped in and classified cannabis
as a Schedule I substance - a category for drugs such as heroin that have
no medical benefit and a "high potential for abuse." For decades, this
classification prevented researchers from studying the plant's medicinal
qualities and states from allowing doctors to
prescribe it to patients.
Even now, the states that have legalized medical or recreational marijuana
have done so in violation of federal law. But the fact that 23 states and
the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and numerous
others have legalized or decriminalized the substance, shows a growing
willingness on the part of the American public to experiment with alternatives
to the drug war.
But at the same time many American states and various countries
around the world are liberalizing their drug laws, the United Nations is
still prosecuting former U.S. president Richard Nixon's War on Drugs. As
Tom Blackwell reported in Monday's National Post, the UN Commission on
Narcotic Drugs will meet in Vienna on Friday to discuss whether to list
ketamine as a Schedule IV substance under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic
Substances.
Known as "Special K" on the street, ketamine is one of the most
widely used anesthetics in the developing world, due to the fact that it
is inexpensive, relatively safe, easy to get and, unlike anesthetic gases,
doesn't require special equipment to administer. Although the World Health
Organization (WHO) says that ketamine "use in the general population
appear to be very low," it has become a relatively popular party drug in
China and Hong Kong. And it is China that is pushing the UN to classify
the drug as a controlled substance.
The unintended, but easily foreseeable, consequence of such a
move would be to make it harder for developing countries to gain access
to the drug. "If the proposal passes, it will be a catastrophe for access
to ketamine and safe surgery in developing countries," wrote Jason
W. Nickerson and Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa in the journal
The Lancet. "Access to controlled drugs in low-income countries is deplorably
poor; the Commission should not repeat its mistakes by restricting access
to yet another essential medicine."
Indeed, the UN previously listed morphine as a controlled substance,
which has meant that a majority of the world's population no longer has
access to a medical-grade painkiller. According to a 2012 WHO report, "If
ketamine is placed under international control, it can be assumed that
its availability and accessibility will fall into the
same level of other controlled medications, which would result [in
a] huge public crisis."
China is hoping that because ketamine is hard to synthesize
and therefore the black-market product is generally diverted from hospitals
and veterinary clinics - making it more difficult to obtain for legitimate
purposes will help keep it out of the hands of criminals. But China does
not need to corral the UN in order to control the substance within its
borders. Indeed, it is illegal to use ketamine for recreational purposes
here in Canada. We apparently don't
need the UN in order to control it, either.
Unfortunately, the Canadian government has remained mum on this
issue, telling the Post that Health Canada is "taking into consideration
the implications for developing countries where ketamine is an essential
anesthetic." Given that we're talking about a policy that will have a real
negative impact on health care in the developing world, it should be a
no-brainer for the Canadian government to stand firmly against this move.
And while this is a clear case of the UN trying to put up bureaucratic
impediments to countries that import drugs for medical purposes, which
will hurt people not involved in the recreational drug trade, it has become
abundantly clear that the drug-control regime we currently have causes
more harm than good. Yet one of the major stumbling blocks to countries
engaging in policy experiments to try to find a better way to deal with
the harms caused by illicit drug use is the arcane drug-control regime
run by the United Nations.
In a recent paper, for example, the UN's International Narcotics Control
Board (INCB) criticized the Supreme Court of Canada for "permitting a 'drug
injection room' to continue to operate in Vancouver." In a perfect world,
I would prefer if Vancouver's Insite clinic wasn't publicly funded, but
it is a novel attempt to reduce the harms caused by drugs without resorting
to traditional law enforcement methods. And it has seen favourable results:
A 2011 study found that overdose deaths in the Downtown Eastside fell by
35% since the clinic opened, compared to a 9% drop in the city as a whole.
It is also true that the highest court in the land ruled that
not granting the clinic an exemption to operate under the Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act would be a Charter violation - and the constitution
must supersede any UN mandate. Indeed, the UN drug-control treaties specifically
say that compliance is subject to "constitutional limitations," but that
has not stopped the INCB from lashing out recently at Colorado and Washington
state for approving marijuana legalization through ballot measures
and even the Netherlands, which has taken a liberal approach to cannabis
use since 1976.
Fortunately, the INCB has no real ability to do anything, beyond
spouting over-hyped rhetoric. But it raises the question: Why are we letting
a dysfunctional and ineffective body like the UN dictate drug-control policies
to sovereign countries?
xxx In the same way that anti-marijuana laws were adopted on
a state-by-state basis, we are now seeing the opposite occur in the United
States. It is a fundamental recognition that the War on Drugs has been
an abysmal failure and needs to end. If international drug-control treaties
are hampering such efforts and going so far as to prevent doctors living
in the Third World from gaining access to medicines needed to perform lifesaving
surgeries, then it is high time we took drug policy out of the hands of
the United Nations.
xxx
March 10, 2015 London Free Press
SMELL OF POT PROVOKES JITTERY FLASHBACKS FOR PARTY POOPER
Q I am in a predicament. I have a good new friend who is having
a birthday party he wants me to attend. The problem is that he has informed
me that the party will be "alcohol and 420 friendly." I don't have issues
with the alcohol, and I live in Washington state, where recreational-marijuana
is legal, so that is not the issue either.
My problem is that I have PTSD caused by an abusive stepfather
who was a marijuana addict. The very smell of pot smoke sends me into flashbacks
and gives me jitters. Should I attend this party and do my best to hold
it together? If not, how can I tell my friend why I am not coming, without
him feeling I am judging him? - NERVOUS IN WASHINGTON
If you have PTSD, you should not risk your health to attend a
social gathering. Smells have a very powerful effect on our minds and memories,
and marijuana has a distinctive smell.
Your choices are to tell the truth or to tell a social lie, which
might contain a version of the truth. An example might be, "I'd love to
go but I'm extremely allergic to pot smoke and I can't be around it. I'm
bummed to miss your party and I hope you have a great time."
Because this issue is likely to come up in the future, you should
definitely mention that you can't be around pot smoke. Marijuana comes
in many nonsmokable forms, and you may find that you can tolerate being
around people who choose to use it, as long as it is not smoked.
Check in with a therapist to discuss strategies to cope with
this particular trigger; given the state-by-state tumbling down of marijuana
restrictions, you will definitely be confronted with its smell, and you
should prepare yourself as well as you can.
xxx
Newshawk: Herb Couch
Pubdate: Tue, 10 Mar 2015
Source: London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 The London Free Press
Contact: http://www.lfpress.com/letters
Website: http://www.lfpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author: Amy Dickinson
Column: Ask Amy
Page: C6
SMELL OF POT PROVOKES JITTERY FLASHBACKS FOR PARTY POOPER
Q I am in a predicament. I have a good new friend who is having a
birthday party he wants me to attend. The problem is that he has
informed me that the party will be "alcohol and 420 friendly." I
don't have issues with the alcohol, and I live in Washington state,
where recreational-marijuana is legal, so that is not the issue either.
My problem is that I have PTSD caused by an abusive stepfather who
was a marijuana addict. The very smell of pot smoke sends me into
flashbacks and gives me jitters. Should I attend this party and do
my
best to hold it together? If not, how can I tell my friend why I am
not coming, without him feeling I am judging him? - NERVOUS IN WASHINGTON
If you have PTSD, you should not risk your health to attend a social
gathering. Smells have a very powerful effect on our minds and
memories, and marijuana has a distinctive smell.
Your choices are to tell the truth or to tell a social lie, which
might contain a version of the truth. An example might be, "I'd love
to go but I'm extremely allergic to pot smoke and I can't be around
it. I'm bummed to miss your party and I hope you have a great time."
Because this issue is likely to come up in the future, you should
definitely mention that you can't be around pot smoke. Marijuana
comes in many nonsmokable forms, and you may find that you can
tolerate being around people who choose to use it, as long as it is
not smoked.
Check in with a therapist to discuss strategies to cope with this
particular trigger; given the state-by-state tumbling down of
marijuana restrictions, you will definitely be confronted with its
smell, and you should prepare yourself as well as you can.
---
Q About six years ago, I made a personal cookbook for my daughter for
Christmas. It took me two months and I had a great time. The recipes
are from family or were just ones we both liked. At the time, she was
40 years old. I know she threw the book away. It wasn't in her
kitchen and I asked her about it. She couldn't give me a real answer.
I took it personally, even though I know that's useless. Included was
a recipe for something her stepfather used to make (and she used to
love). I asked her recently if he ever hurt her and she said no. I
put a personal note on many recipes, saying when I cooked it, who was
there, tips about cooking, etc. She's seeing a counsellor
occasionally (something I'm paying for) but wrote me the other day
that she hadn't been going because she wasn't dating anyone, and I
guess therefore had no problems. What's going on? It really hurt and
I guess this is indicative of a greater issue. - HUNGRY MOM
You should not be paying for your daughter's therapy. Therapy is very
valuable, but your daughter won't value this experience unless she
pays for it herself.
I agree that your gift is very thoughtful and your daughter's
response is unkind. But you seem like a mom who wants to push a
particular agenda - and even if it's a sweet, savoury and delicious
agenda, it's the pushing your daughter responds to. In her way, she
is pushing back. Take the money you are spending on her counselling
and put it toward your own.
---
Q I felt sorry for "Upset Son," who was mourning his mother and
didn't want his father's current wife to be called "Grandma" by the
kids. He should ask them to call her Grandma - followed by her first
name. He can tell the kids about their "Grandma Mary," who is gone
now, but still alive in his memory. - BEEN THERE
Many readers made this suggestion. Thank you all.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: The GCW
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2015 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.ottawasun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n147/a05.html
Note: Parenthetical remark by editor
Author: Stan White
BIBLE LIKES POT
Ian Fraser is mistaken thinking medicinal cannabis (marijuana) is a
crock (Going To Pot Here? Mar. 9, 2015). Cannabis has been documented
medically for over 5,000 years still without one single death. In
Colorado, where it's legal both medically and recreationally, people
continue using it for medical reasons. Historically there are so many
medical issues treated with cannabis that it's undeniable. Further,
another reason to allow sick people to use cannabis that doesn't get
mentioned is because it is biblically correct since God created all
the seed bearing plants saying they're all good on literally the very
first page of the Bible. Many people know of cannabis as the tree of
life and the very last page of the Bible indicates the leaves of the
tree of life and they are for the healing of the nations. Christ
Jesus risked jail in order to heal the sick.
However, I agree with Fraser, cannabis should be completely
re-legalized to keep things honest.
Stan White
Via E-mail
(You've opened up a pot of worms)
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 Source: Kathmandu Post, The (Nepal)
Author: Pratap Bista
OPIUM, POT FARMING GOES UNCHECKED IN REMOTE VILLAGES
Opium farming and trafficking have flourished in remote villages of
Makawanpur district in recent times following the inability of concerned
authorities to come up with effective measures to prevent local farmers
from indulging in cultivation of such illegal crops.
The local authorities have been unable to check illegal cultivation
of opium and marijuana in the remote villages despite frequent police campaigns
to destroy these illegal crops. The failure is largely attributed to the
inability of security personnel to reach the remote parts of the district
to destroy marijuana and opium plantation and
arrest those involved in its production and trafficking.
The local farmers are mostly cultivating opium in the remote
parts of Baksirang in Bharta-2, a place where security personnel have been
unable to reach as it is surrounded by thick forest.
"Our farm produce don't have access to the market because this
village is not connected to any road. Therefore, we are compelled to grow
marijuana and opium as cash crops, as traffickers come to us to buy them
and we don't have to go anywhere," said a farmer involved in illegal cultivation
of opium and marijuana in Bharta.
Farmers in this remote village, which doesn't even have a police
post, have been involved in marijuana farming for the past two years.
"Drug smugglers even encourage local farmers to be involved in
opium farming to earn more income," said a teacher at a local school Bharta.
While some reports say smugglers even fund these farms.
With the money they have made through illegal cultivation of
marijuana and opium, some people in Bharta have even bought houses in towns
like Manahari and Hetauda.
District Agricultural Development Office, including other social organisations,
have been regularly providing agricultural trainings including seeds to
local farmers for cultivating green vegetables and fruits. But the local
farmers are still not attracted towards production of vegetables and fruits
knowing that they will not find the market for their produce due to lack
of roadway connecting their village to towns like Manahari and Hetauda.
Chet Bahadur Thokar, a local teacher said locals will become
interested in cultivating vegetables and fruits if Bharta could be connected
to Manahari by a roadway.
xxx
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 Source: New Zealand Herald (New
Zealand) Author: Nicolas Jones
MEDICAL CANNABIS PROBED
Dunne Underwhelmed by Officials' Evidence but Drug Foundation
Fears Advice Outdated.
An investigation into the use of cannabis for medical purposes
has been carried out by the Ministry of Health.
Growing numbers of jurisdictions allow cannabis for medical use
and the Government has come under pressure to re-examine its use here.
Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, who oversaw New Zealand's
innovative regulations on so-called legal highs, asked officials to look
into the issue.
"My office receives regular correspondence seeking legislative
change . cannabis, I am told, is apparently the panacea for a plethora
of ailments, some of which, sadly, are painfully debilitating," Mr Dunne
said.
"For those suffering from such ailments I have enormous sympathy
... the evidence [supplied by officials], however, has been underwhelming."
Mr Dunne made his comments in a speech to the United Nations
Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which draws together the world's top drugs
policy diplomats.
The meeting was held in Vienna, Austria, and Mr Dunne was unavailable
for comment because of time differences.
The Ministry of Health could not provide further information
yesterday.
However, NZ Drug Foundation director Ross Bell, who attended
the meeting, said he feared advice provided to Mr Dunne was outdated. "There
are lots of countries that have quite well-established medical cannabis
regimes, they have experience with this and they have seen some benefit."
Mr Bell said comprehensive research had been done on the issue.
However, the drug foundation has concluded that cannabis has
therapeutic benefits for conditions such as multiple sclerosis and some
cancers.
"We should be looking at delivering that benefit through proper
medical products ... it's not smokable cannabis."
Mr Dunne also spoke about how "compassion, innovation and proportion"
should be front of mind in the development of drug policy.
"We, as a global community, must continue to move away from rigid
law and order responses, and apply a health lens when dealing with those
adversely affected by drug use," Mr Dunne told the gathering.
That message was bold, Mr Bell said, and clearly aligned New
Zealand with countries moving beyond a "war on drugs" punitive approach.
However, he was concerned at the dismissal of cannabis for medical
use. Mr Bell was told of the ministry's investigation in a meeting with
Mr Dunne in late January.
Sativex mouth spray is the only form of medicinal cannabis currently
available, but is not funded by Pharmac and costs about $1300 a month.
[sidebar]
Colorado move better outcome for child Jessika Guest moved from Whangarei
to Colorado so that her daughter Jade, 7, could use medical marijuana.
Jade's diagnoses include hypotonia (a state of low muscle tone) and
epilepsy, which used to cause up to 40 seizures a day.
In Colorado, she has been on skin patches containing cannabinoids and
tetrahydrocannabinolic acid - a non-activated THC which means the cannabis
does not have high-inducing properties.
Mrs Guest said her daughter's seizures have since decreased in
frequency by 90 per cent.
"I would ask, just where are health officials getting their information?
"In Colorado compassion is flourishing because people with all
different kinds of ailments are finding relief with medicinal cannabis."
xxx
www.mapinc.org/media/163
FUELLING CRIME
Regarding Dr. Jesse Lipnick's Feb. 21 column, not only is a U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration crackdown on prescription narcotics causing
pain patients to suffer, but it's leading to an increase in heroin use.
At a time when Mexican drug cartels are losing business due to state marijuana
legalization, our federal government is making up the difference by compelling
prescription opioid addicts to turn to illicit heroin. This entails increased
risk to the user and general public.
A heroin user accustomed to low-quality heroin who unknowingly
uses pure heroin will overdose. The standard tough-on-drugs response to
overdose deaths is a threat to public safety. Attempts to limit drug supply
while demand remains constant increase the profitability of drug trafficking.
For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate
addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug
war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.
Robert Sharpe, Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugwarfacts.org
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015
Source: Independent (UK)
Copyright: 2015 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact: letters@independent.co.uk
Website: http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n141/a04.html
CANNABIS SHOWN TO SAVE LIVES
Further to Janet Street-Porter's column on pain-killer abuse (7
March), new research published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association shows that US states with open medical marijuana access
have a 25 per cent lower opioid overdose death rate than cannabis
prohibition states.
The protective effect grows stronger with time. States with
established cannabis access showed a 33 per cent reduction in deaths.
This finding has huge implications.
The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long
before the JAMA research. Legal cannabis access is correlated with
a
reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The cannabis plant is
incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the
same claim, much less alcohol or painkillers.
The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner
of drug war abuses. Legal cannabis has the potential to save
thousands of lives.
Robert Sharpe Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington,
DC
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015
Source: East Bay Express (CA)
Copyright: 2015 East Bay Express
Contact: http://posting.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/SubmitLetter/Page
Website: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1131
Author: David Downs
BIG BUSINESS IS LURKING
California's marijuana industry must hang together and legalize pot
in 2016, experts warn, or large corporations will cut them out. Just
ask Ohio.
A group of ten businesses in Ohio is aiming to not only legalize
marijuana, but also corner the market on wholesale distribution of
it
- a disturbing turn of events with lessons for California reformers.
If California's warring factions of growers, dispensaries, and
activists can't stop fighting over the best way to legalize pot in
2016, they could be steam-rolled by Big Business interests working
hand-in-hand with government to create pot oligopolies like those
that already exist in Northeastern medical cannabis states, and soon,
potentially, in Ohio.
Last week, a group called ResponsibleOhio said it had raised $36
million to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November
to end the war on weed in Ohio. The amendment would legalize pot for
adults 21 and older, and would allow medical marijuana patients to
buy weed at cost. Members of the group also want to amend the Ohio
constitution so that only they could grow commercial medical cannabis.
In an online video, Alan Mooney, a Columbus-area investor, recently
pitched investors on the business opportunities that he said are
"beyond your imagination. ... Let's hop on this tsunami of money and
ride the top of that wave to some enrichment for us."
"Damn," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy
Alliance in February in San Francisco during remarks on the topic.
"This thing sticks in my craw. Ten business interests are going to
dominate this thing?"
Drug Policy Alliance hopes to raise $15 million to $20 million to
help legalize cannabis in California in 2016. But Nadelmann wondered,
"How much longer do we all as activists have a chance to actually
influence the shape of this thing?
"What we've unleashed now is for-profit interests, big business
interests, with no connection to this movement that are lining up to
see what they are going to do about [marijuana reform]," he continued.
Nadelmann said that a group in Michigan is already looking to
replicate the Ohio structure: oligopoly, or a state of limited
competition in which a few entities control the entire market.
While the idea of preventing pot oligopolies resonates with core
activists and the existing medical weed industry in California, the
issue generally doesn't strike a chord with mainstream business or
the government, said Troy Dayton, co-founder of The Arcview Group
marijuana investor network in Oakland.
"People in government? They're going to want the oligopoly, too,"
added Nadelmann. "From their perspective, the fewer number of
providers, growers, and distributors, the more big, above-ground,
legally regulated interests you have, the easier it is to regulate.
It becomes a much easier regulatory challenge."
Experts also say the general public doesn't care about protecting
some hippie, backwoods grower's job after legalization. "The swing
voter in the middle, they don't care about the interests of people
who've been producing marijuana in the gray market," said Nadelmann.
"You know what swing voters care about - that Latino soccer mom in
her forties? Social control. They define legalization as 'control.'
They see prohibition as 'out of control' and sometimes they see
medical marijuana as out of control.'"
As for the patients, "When you're choosing between jail and
[heavy-handed] regulation, regulation looks great," said Dayton. "And
[many] advocates are fine with it too. They're goal is to get people
out of prisons, and to change the law and get something through."
"It poses a dilemma," said Nadelmann. "We're confronting issues that
we did not anticipate when we first embarked on this journey two
decades ago and before."
Nadelmann also issued a dire warning to activist-entrepreneurs in San
Francisco gathered at the International Cannabis Business Conference
last month. "The real money to win marijuana legalization is going
to
come from vested interests who want to monopolize the wholesale side
of it," he said.
But so far this year, the legalization process has been chaotic: At
least four pro-legalization groups have said they will file an
initiative for 2016. "It's better we lock in the best possible, most
persuasive initiative right now," he said. "If the initiative is not
responsible, and not good, all of a sudden oligopoly interests come
in. They can win. They can beat what we just won."
Nadelmann pointed to Oregon in 2014, describing how the legalization
effort nearly failed because of behind-the-scenes conflicts within
the local industry. "A lot of people in the [Oregon] industry did not
put money up and were not putting in money because they wanted
preferences, which I don't think we should be doing as an
organization that fights for human rights and good public policy."
"I share [Ethan's] concern," Dayton added. "If we can fire up the
engines of capitalism, prohibition doesn't stand a chance. The
challenge is sometimes that can go too far and Ohio is a great
example of that."
ResponsibleOhio has until July 1 to collect more than 305,591 valid
signatures to put the issue on the November ballot.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 05 Mar 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact: letters@northcoastjournal.com
Website: http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth
HERBS AND BEES
The fight for Arcata's 4/20 festival is heating up. For years,
beleaguered travelers, excitable college kids and local enthusiasts
would ascend the ferny trails to celebrate weed in all its glory at
the city-owned public park nestled between the redwoods.
But for the last couple of years, police officers, under city
direction, have stifled the event, blocking roads and paths to the
park with trimmed tree limbs, and dosing the grassy lawns with
malodorous fertilizer, according to reports.
After last year's totally bunk non-festival, local civil rights
activists and attorneys got peeved. In October, attorney Peter
Martin, representing marijuana activist Greg Allen, filed a federal
complaint against Arcata, Police Chief Tom Chapman and then-City
Manager Randy Mendosa for violating the First Amendment.
In the complaint, Martin wrote that Mendosa and Chapman had been
concocting a plan since late 2009 to close the park to 4/20 revelers,
singled out would-be-partiers and turned potential visitors away, all
flying in the face of the right to peacefully assemble on public property.
This week, HumRights Director Jeffrey Schwartz (who's married to
Journal columnist Marcy Burstiner) announced that his organization
has been in negotiations with the city to reserve the park space for
April 20, 2015.
"Shortly after submitting the request [in June, 2014], an Arcata
Recreation Division staff member informed HumRights that the Arcata
Police Department had directed city employees not to allow
reservations at the park on that day," Schwartz wrote in a press release.
In September, Schwartz contacted an APD lieutenant, who told him that
the department has a standing reservation on April 20 every year.
"The lieutenant stated that the department uses the picnic area,
stage and building as a staging area and command post for public
safety operations on that date. The lieutenant said the department
would be happy to discuss sharing the picnic area with HumRights."
But those negotiations dried up, apparently, when Martin filed suit
in October. HumRights urged the city to reverse the permit denial at
a council meeting last month.
"We want to stress that this is a not a marijuana issue," Outreach
Director Kaci Poor [who has freelanced for the Journal in the past]
said at the meeting. "This is an issue of prior restraint. This is
an
issue of freedom of assembly and freedom of speech."
In the year's most bizarre pot-related true crime story, a Brooklyn
cherry magnate took his own life with an ankle-holstered pistol in
a
locked bathroom as authorities discovered a massive marijuana farm
underneath his factory.
Years prior, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office received a tip
that Arthur Mondella, who ran a successful maraschino-cherry factory
in the Red Hook District of the borough, was also growing marijuana
on the site. But investigations didn't turn up enough evidence to
secure a search warrant - Mondella didn't have apparent ties to
organized crime, the water and electricity usage weren't beyond
expected for the factory's operations, thermal cameras revealed no
telling glow, and the building's plan showed it had no basement,
where the tipster had placed the grow.
Beekeepers in the region, meanwhile, began to notice a red hue to the
honey they collected. Through some community investigation, a
beekeeper's association pinpointed Mondella's factory, and, by an
account in the Daily Beast, Mondella and the association began to
seek a solution.
But the red bees gave the district attorney's office an opportunity
to peek into the factory after six years of hand-wringing.
Investigators coaxed city environmental agents to search for illegal
dumping, all the while keeping an eye out for signs of marijuana.
Nothing. But on a return visit last week, DA investigators tagged
along and found a secret door behind steel shelves that led
downstairs to a 2,500-square-foot farm (the biggest ever discovered
in New York City, according to reports), 100 pounds of pot, 60
varieties of seeds and $125,000 in cash.
Mondella, 57, shot himself as investigators searched the factory. His
suicide has baffled many, including investigators, according to
reports. Mondella was apparently well-liked, and cared for his
employees and his family; his maraschino business was successful;
and, in a nation of rapidly reforming marijuana laws, it seems at
least remotely possible that Mondella could have escaped the crazy
sentencings of yesteryear.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2015
Source: SF Weekly (CA)
Column: ChemTales
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
Contact: http://www.sfweekly.com/feedback/EmailAnEmployee?department=letters
Website: http://www.sfweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/812
Author: Chris Roberts
SF Hasn't Waited for Science to Declare War Against E-Cigarettes and
Vaporizers.
NO VAPE ZONE
The way people smoke is changing. More accurately, "smoking" is
disappearing entirely as e-cigarettes and vaping steadily take over
for both tobacco and marijuana users. And of course, a San Francisco
firm is "at the front" of this culture disruption, as The New Yorker
wrote last year.
With a combination of distinctive design and idiot-proof ease of use,
the Pax - sleek, dark, handheld, and identifiable by a signature "X"
of LED lights - has become the iPhone of vaporizers. At $250, Alabama
Street-headquartered Ploom has managed to sell "well over a
half-million" units, company founder James Monsees told me as we sat
in a smokeless conference room that smelled faintly of wintergreen
pipe tobacco. This is enough success to justify a follow-up model
(the "Pax 2," announced earlier this week) as well as a rebranding
of
the company (from Ploom to PAX, after its signature product).
Other companies are playing catch-up on a playing field that's about
to get stricter. Alarmed by vapes' appeal to adolescents and by a
near total lack of regulations, a growing number of public health
advocates and politicians are pushing for tough rules on vapes and
e-cigarettes. And of course, San Francisco is leading the way on
restrictions, too.
Ads that juxtapose a young black man puffing on a vape with a
cigaratte-smoking Marlboro Man accompanying the declaration that
e-cigarettes are "harmful, like cigarettes" - a message paid for by
the city's Department of Public Health - started appearing on Muni
vehicles and in BART stations earlier this year. Momentum for this
crusade started last year, when the city's Board of Supervisors
passed laws that regulate e-cigarettes the same way tobacco is regulated.
This means anywhere in San Francisco that a cigarette is not allowed,
e-cigs or vapes are also not allowed. The entire state could soon
follow suit: Last month, state Sen. Mark Leno introduced a bill that
would do the same on the state level and add e-cigarettes and vapes
to California's definition of "tobacco products." San Francisco's
other representatives in Sacramento, Assemblymen David Chiu and Phil
Ting, have signed on as co-sponsors.
This is all happening with typical Twitter-age speed, which means
regulations are preceding the research.
It's hard to make informed decisions without appropriate data, and
there is almost no data on exactly what health hazards e-cigarettes
and vaporizers pose. "[C]onsumers currently don't know" if they're
good or bad, according to the Food and Drug Administration. "Only a
few studies have directly investigated the health effects of exposure
to e-cigarette aerosol," researchers from UCSF wrote in a 2013 report
prepared for the World Health Organization. But despite this stated
ignorance, this same report is being used as the factual basis for
lawmakers to regulate e-cigarettes just like cigarettes. Based mostly
on possible appeal to adolescents, the California Department of
Public Health went even further, declaring e-cigarettes "a public
health threat" in a January report.
Science may eventually catch up to policy. By then, the e-cigarette
and vape regulations - which have the full endorsement of the
antismoking establishment (the American Lung Association and American
Heart Association are co-sposnors) as well as the state's influential
law enforcement lobby - will likely be in effect.
Marijuana users also have a stake in this fight, according to
California NORML executive director Dale Gieringer. In a formal
opposition letter to Leno, Gieringer notes that the expanded
definition of a "tobacco product" - "an electronic device that
delivers nicotine or other substances to the person" - absolutely
includes any vaporizer used to consume cannabis, like the Pax. Thus,
a bill that bans e-cigarette and vaporizer use in a host of places,
including "many private rental units and all places of employment,"
means banning cannabis vaping there, too.
Leno's office contends that the bill doesn't touch medical marijuana
use at all since current state law already bans cannabis smoking
where tobacco smoking is prohibited. Further, enforcement of this
law, if passed, is likely to be complaint-driven, meaning that
nothing will happen unless someone makes a fuss. But that's not
Gierigner's main beef.
"This sends the message that e-cigarettes are just as dangerous as
smoking. It makes no distinction between vaporizer users and
cigarette users," he said. "It says that vaporizers and e-cigarette
users have to be in smoking areas - which is ridiculous. Most of
these people don't want to be in smoking areas - they don't want to
be smoking! That's why they're vaporizing."
There's plenty of precedent in state law for two different, but
similar things to be regulated identically. Think automobiles and
bicycles. These devices serve similar purposes in vastly different
ways, all under identical statutes of the California Vehicle Code.
But what's really driving the push to regulate e-cigarettes ahead of
the research may not be science or health, but money. Treating
e-cigarettes like tobacco means e-cigarettes can be taxed like
tobacco. The state currently levies a tax rate of almost 30 percent
on tobacco. That's big money, but big money that's slowly getting
smaller: Revenue from the state's tobacco tax dipped to $900 million
last year from $1.2 billion in 2000, a trend that's destined to
continue as tobacco smoking is further marginalized. Adding a
fast-growing industry to the definition of tobacco means saving that
revenue stream - which would be disbursed to many of the same labor,
public health, and law enforcement groups behind Leno's legislation.
There's probably something unhealthy about e-cigarettes. There's
something unhealthy about almost everything we do. Surely nobody can
say with a straight face that puffing a Pax is identical to lunging
a
Marlboro. But that's exactly what lawmakers are saying, with San
Francisco at the front.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Stephen Green
WATER FOR WEED
"Tap California innovators to improve on water policy" (Insight,
March 8) offered insightful suggestions for improving management of
California water. Among the suggestions was reducing
"drought-susceptible crops, like almonds." California almonds use
nearly 9 percent of the state agricultural water supply, or about 3.5
million acre-feet. Marijuana cultivation also accounts for
significant water use, with 60 million gallons per day at peak
growing season, or double the daily amount consumed by San Francisco.
And much of the water going to pot farms is diverted illegally.
Last summer, 24 California streams went dry, and some rivers were
reduced to a succession of ponds. In Mendocino County, pot growers
were stealing water from fire hydrants in the middle of the night.
What are state regulators doing to stop the illegal diversion of
water for pot farms? Next to nothing.
Stephen Green, Fair Oaks, Sacramento County
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 04 Mar 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/xodur308
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca
Unlicensed Marijuana Grows
CITY PROPOSES 36-PLANT LIMIT
The Change Would Affect Large Operations.
The city of Denver is proposing changes that would limit unlicensed,
nonresidential marijuana cultivations to 36 plants.
The officials behind the proposed change, which chiefly would affect
oversized collective grows and caregivers with a large number of
plants, hope the amendment would make for safer conditions, clearer
law enforcement options and fewer opportunities for untracked
marijuana to escape into the black or gray markets.
The City Council's Safety and Well-being Committee unanimously
approved the proposal Tuesday, but members including Robin Kniech and
Albus Brooks voiced worry that the rules don't go far enough. The
unlicensed, nonresidential grows exist in the cracks of Colorado's
marijuana legalization amendments, and they suggested exploring a new
kind of licensing for those that are allowed by state regulations.
"The majority of these nonlicensed grows have significant problems
around unsafe conditions," said Ashley Kilroy, the city's executive
director of marijuana policy, before the meeting.
Some of the city's safety concerns in these unlicensed grows: fire
exits bolted shut and windows covered with steel sheets; unregulated
chemicals and pesticides; the presence of mold; fire hazards such as
plastic trash bags draped across grow lights; employees living on
site; weapons mounted on walls.
The proposed regulations require full council approval. The earliest
it could take a final vote on the issue is March 23.
"We need an explicit prohibition and bright line rule limiting plants
to 36," Kilroy said. "We also have significant concerns about large
amounts of untracked, nonlicensed marijuana and the opportunity for
crime and diversion."
The proposed plant limit would not affect licensed grows or the
12-plant limit already in place for residences. Caregivers still
could grow 36 plants, enough for their five patients and themselves,
the city says.
"Caregivers are prohibited by law now to grow collectively," Kilroy
said. "Amendment 64 is silent on collective growing, so again, we
need a bright line to provide clarity to our residents and to law
enforcement and safety officials."
Jon Murray contributed to this story.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2015
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Column: Weed Between the Lines
Copyright: 2015 Boulder Weekly
Contact: letters@boulderweekly.com
Website: http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Leland Rucker
BUZZED BUNNIES: THE LAST SPURTS OF 'REEFER MADNESS'
Like everyone else, the headlines were hard to miss. "DEA Warns of
Stoned Rabbits if Utah Passes Medical Marijuana" was over a story in
The Washington Post. A search for "cannabis bunnies Utah" yielded
page after page of rewrites of that same tale with variant headlines
about small mammals in THC ecstasy.
Buzzed bunnies? Washington Post? WTF?
I decided to access the actual testimony, which came from special DEA
agent Matt Fairbanks on Feb. 26 before the Utah Senate Judiciary, Law
Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee in room 250 of
the state capitol in Salt Lake City.
Fairbanks is one of five officers and health officials who testified
that day against S.B. 259 Medical Cannabis Amendments, a bill
introduced to modify provisions in a law passed last year that lets
"certified" individuals suffering from intractable epileptic
disorders use CBD oil to treat seizures.
While the bill made it legal to possess CBD oil, the process of
licensing was expensive and onerous. Since there was no provision to
get CBD products in the state, people needed to go (where else?) to
Colorado for the strain, known as "Charlotte's Web," and bring it
across the state line, which was illegal, too. The new bill would
change some of the original rules, including allowing licensed
growers/manufacturers to provide CBD oil for those individuals.
Opposing the bill, special agent Fairbanks first produced a chart
that indicated that usage among young adults is rising in states
where medical marijuana has been allowed and cited medical
associations that are on the record against medical marijuana. He
told the committee that he listened to the testimony of people who
use medical marijuana and he understands their pain.
"I deal in facts. I deal in science," he said. "I want the science
studied, looked at and specifically gone over."
So far, so good.
At this point we find out that special agent Fairbanks is a "special"
agent because he is a member of the marijuana eradication unit, which
he tells the committee has spent "millions of dollars and thousands
of man-hours" to exterminate almost 100,000 illegal plants in Utah's
outdoor spaces in the last two years.
OK. He said that illegal grow operations use pesticides and harmful
chemicals and can cause erosion and deforestation. I can't argue with
that.
"I spend time up on those mountains protecting our environment," he said.
But then he heads directly into the ditch.
"The deforestation has left marijuana grows with rabbits that have
developed a taste for the marijuana, where one of them refused to
leave us. We took all the marijuana around him, but his natural
instincts to run were somehow gone."
That's it. This man of science told a state legislative committee
that he witnessed a rabbit that wouldn't leave an area when ordered
by environmentalist DEA agents and concluded it was because the bunny
was hitting the edibles a little too hard.
"We don't know how to protect our backcountry," he said.
What Fairbanks said is certainly fodder for idiotic news of the day,
but the implications aren't as funny. Those millions of dollars that
Fairbanks and his merry band of DEA environmentalists spent to
confiscate pot plants haven't stopped Utah citizens from using
cannabis, but it does give his squad a number (150,000 plants) to
pump up his pride and justify his efforts and expenditures.
This is how the drug war and those who fight it feed upon themselves.
Fairbanks or the other law officials never consider the obvious: that
if marijuana were regulated, there wouldn't be a need for the illegal
grows on national forest lands. Or the even more obvious: that none
of the pot being grown there has anything to do with medical
patients. Those grows are for Utah citizens who use cannabis despite
the restrictions, and it has been going on long before the Utah
medical law was passed last year.
We make light of this kind of reefer madness, and rightly so. But
since the demonization of marijuana began after alcohol prohibition
ended, society has deemed that alcohol, an extremely dangerous drug,
is the only acceptable way to get "high." That's ridiculous, of
course. People will always find ways to change their consciousness,
and polls continue to indicate that more and more Americans don't
support the idea of millions of their tax dollars going to DEA agents
who spend their time keeping the nation safe from national forest pot
grows.
In the end, cooler heads prevailed. The committee wasn't notably
persuaded by Fairbank's arguments about out-of-control fauna.
The bill passed 4-2 and is waiting to be introduced on the Utah Senate floor.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado
cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http://news.kgnu.org/weed
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 08 Mar 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/bTj9pA8r
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Gina Tron, Special to The Washington Post
Note: Gina Tron is a freelance reporter and author of the memoir "You're
Fine."
EMPLOYERS SHOULD STOP POT SCREENINGS
Legal barriers to marijuana are falling all over the United States.
Pot, tried by nearly half of all Americans at some point in their
lives, is already legal in some form in 23 states, and four states
allow recreational use. Last month, two House bills were filed that
could end the federal prohibition of marijuana, including one which
would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act's schedules
and regulate it similarly to alcohol.
And pot is now legal in the District of Columbia.
Now there's one thing that needs to disappear along with the
prohibition of marijuana: employee drug testing.
Privacy arguments aside - should employers really be in the business
of demanding body fluids from their workers? - this testing is
expensive and does not effectively screen for good employees.
In fact, it probably doesn't effectively screen for drug users.
Yet companies continue to drug test potential employees, even in
states where medical marijuana is legal.
Even back in 1999, when pot legalization was nothing more than a pipe
dream, an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) study concluded that
drug tests were overly expensive and a poor indicator of workplace
performance because they don't test for impairments. Drug tests
search for drug metabolites, which are by-products excreted from the
body after a drug has been ingested.
This means tests might catch a person who used an illicit substance
in the recent past but probably not a person who is under the
influence during the taking of the test; it takes a few hours for
drug metabolites to appear in urine.
Tests are arguably more likely to catch occasional users than drug abusers.
As the ACLU concluded, "If drug-related impairment on the job is an
employer's primary concern, drug testing is both an over-inclusive
and an under-inclusive strategy." The study also said that the most
common "illicit drug users" were occasional marijuana users.
And most illegal drugs are less impairing than alcohol, which is not
tested for by employers, as the National Academy of Science has
noted. If anything, the academy concluded from lab studies, moderate
doses of stimulants and cocaine had "slight performance-enhancing
effects." The use of certain drugs may not even have a correlation
with poor work performance. Companies with drug testing actually have
lower productivity over ones that don't, according to a 1998 study
by
Le Moyne College researchers.
Even if an employer wanted to keep drug testing employees for
substances other than marijuana, they are unlikely to catch them. Pot
stays in the body the longest of any classified drug and can show up
in urine tests weeks or months after its used. Cocaine can pass
through the system in as little as one to three days, and meth can
leave the body in one to five days, though this varies slightly
depending on age and usage.
If a worker binged on cocaine or meth and took a drug test a few days
later, he or she might pass more easily than somebody who smoked a
joint a few weeks ago.
Medical marijuana use among workers further illustrates how futile
drug testing can be. People who are prescribed marijuana for a
disability or injury can still be fired or denied employment if they
test positive for THC, even in states where medical marijuana is
legal. This often is the case with national companies that apply the
same regulations in all the states in which they operate.
In 2010, Dish Network fired customer service representative Brandon
Coats after he tested positive for THC. Coats is a quadriplegic
living in Colorado who uses medical marijuana.
Dish Network's "zero-tolerance" drug policy doesn't recognize medical
marijuana, even though Colorado's constitution has allowed the use
of
cannabis with written medical consent since 2000.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015
Source: Colorado Springs Independent (CO)
Column: CannaBiz
Copyright: 2015 Colorado Springs Independent
Contact: letters@csindy.com
Website: http://www.csindy.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1536
Author: Bryce Crawford
FASHION AND EDIBLES MEAN HYPE FOR HEMP AND MORE
Fruity and radical
Since the Indy first wrote about Blackberry Maverick in April of last
year, the Colorado Springs clothing label has expanded sales into
Denver, been featured in Los Angeles fashion magazines, and set up
an
office on East Platte Avenue.
All of which takes us to the brand's upcoming Spring/Summer
collection - themed around "stormy sweets," referencing "the
dualities inside of us" - which you can catch at Hype for Hemp, a
trunk show at 8 p.m., Friday, March 20, hosted by Studio A64 (332 E.
Colorado Ave., studioa64.com). Entry is $5, with dresses from $75 to
$95.
Blackberry describes its approach to design as "Tak[ing] the Retro
Woman to the Edge," which includes clothing made from a hemp blend,
says founder and designer Leslie Robertson via web chat. "It is an
amazing fabric and we have found there is a lot of buzz around this
choice," she says. "We are doing this event as a beta test, to see
what the actual interest is and are planning to do our second
production run utilizing all fabrics that are hemp, bamboo, recycled
poly and organic cotton."
Attendees can essentially expect a rocking dress-up party, with
digital and Polaroid photographers and marijuana edibles from Sarah
Giron.
"We will outfit the area to be a woman's dream closet," Robertson
says. "We will have rolling racks ... and steamer trunks full of
accessories and shoes from our sponsor, Irregular Choice. The plan
is
to create an environment that will allow women to play dress up and
let out [their] inner child. They will also have the opportunity to
. participate in a fashion show alongside actual models."
Sheriffs confused about law
Another marijuana lawsuit has found its way to the desk of new
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman, and this time it's
(mostly) homegrown. Six Colorado sheriffs, as well as counterparts
in
Kansas and Nebraska, are suing Gov. John Hickenlooper in U.S.
District Court in an attempt to kill Amendment 64 because the
plaintiffs say it conflicts with federal law.
"When these Colorado Sheriffs encounter marijuana while performing
their duties ..." reads the suit, available at tiny.cc/pm38ux, "each
is placed in the position of having to choose between violating his
oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and violating his oath to uphold
the Colorado Constitution."
University of Denver law professor Sam Kamin tells the Denver Post
that nothing requires county sheriffs to enforce federal law.
"Of the four [recent lawsuits], this is the one with the least
merit," the paper quoted Kamin as saying. "They have targeted not
just the [marijuana store] regulation piece but they're also
essentially saying Colorado can't legalize marijuana. No one has ever
gone that far."
The Gazette reports that new El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder was
not asked to join the suit.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/YXReUReY
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Elizabeth Hernandez
RECORD HARVEST FROM POT SALES
Colorado's recreational marijuana excise tax revenues hit $2.35
million in January, 12 times the amount reported after recreational
marijuana was legalized last year. Colorado pot businesses sold a
record amount of marijuana in January, resulting in an excise tax of
nearly $2.35 million designated for public schools, state officials
said Wednesday. Based on the Colorado Department of Revenue data,
around $36.4 million of recreational marijuana was sold this January,
compared with about $14.69 million sold the same month last year.
"This is really what we expected and hope to see: a shift in the
underground market to a regulated market," said legalization advocate
Mason Tvert. "It's clearly generating significant revenue for the state."
Tvert said that because most pot shops didn't start opening until
later in 2014, looking at sales numbers from this year to last might
not be the best comparison. From here on out, he said he expects the
amount of revenue to continue to grow, fluctuating with the ebb and
flow of tourists.
Euflora, a recreational dispensary, opened on Denver's 16th Street
Mall in April.
Another Euflora location opened in Aurora in October, and a second
Aurora store is opening next month.
In contrast to the statewide data, Euflora owner Jamie Perino said
January was one of the 16th Street Mall location's slowest months for
sales but one of the Aurora store's best. She chalks the difference
up to tourism.
"On any given day in our 16th Street Mall store, we get about 80
percent of tourist customers," Perino said. "In Aurora, it's about
80
percent repeat customers."
The numbers, reported by the Colorado Department of Revenue, show
that January's school-designated pot excise tax is more than 10 times
the amount in January 2014, when the state first collected the tax
on
wholesale marijuana transfers.
From December to January, the school tax sum jumped up about 21
percent, from about $1.97 million to nearly $2.35 million. In January
2014, the state collected $195,318 in taxes allotted for school
construction capital.
In 2014, Colorado collected about $44 million in revenue from
voter-approved special marijuana taxes - below the $70 million that
had been expected.
"Tax revenue is really a bonus," Tvert said. "The real benefit of
these laws is that it's taking marijuana sales out of the underground
market and ensuring the product is controlled."
In January 2014, medical marijuana sales were higher than in January
2015, with sales decreasing from about $32.21 million to around $28
million this year.
Last year - the first year of legal recreational pot sales - Colorado
pot businesses sold nearly $700 million of marijuana. That amounted
to $385.9 million for medical marijuana and $313.2 million for
recreational cannabis.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Tue, 10 Mar 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/Ezk8xL2I
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
Website: http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: David Migoya
SEN. BENNET URGES FED TO MOVE ON POT BANK CASE
Marijuana Credit Union's Application for Federal Account Stalled for Months
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has hopped into the fray over whether a
newly formed pot-only credit union should receive a Federal Reserve
System bank account critical to its operation.
In a carefully worded letter last week to Federal Reserve board chair
Janet Yellen and Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank
in Kansas City, Bennet urged them to move ahead with Fourth Corner
Credit Union's 4-month-old application for a master account.
"I understand the need for the Federal Reserve to ascertain the
potential risks that the credit union may pose and the steps needed
to mitigate such risk," Bennet wrote. "I also appreciate the
independent review that you must undertake before issuing a master
account."
Requesting the Fed work with Fourth Corner in any areas it thinks
merit additional attention, the letter stops short of demanding a
decision in a process that, according to the master account
application, ordinarily takes five-to-seven business days.
"It is my hope that (the Fed) will work directly with the credit
union to the extent it has not satisfied the necessary terms and
conditions to open a master account," Bennet wrote.
The Federal Reserve does not comment about banking operations or
applications that are in process. The long delay has been frustrating
for Fourth Corner's organizers, particularly since months went into
creating a business plan that dealt with any number of federal
questions about dealing with risk.
"We've assembled all these people who for a year have worked on this
150-page manual vetted by all the professionals, for the proper model
of handling all the rules and guidance the government has said was
required," said Mark Mason, an attorney who has been working to
launch the credit union. "We've done it."
Fourth Corner was formed to cater specifically to the marijuana
industry, valued at $3 billion nationwide, which has had difficulty
obtaining banking services and keeping accounts once they are open.
Although Fourth Corner has a Colorado charter to operate, it cannot
formally open its doors until it has the master account, which in
part hinges on deposit insurance by the National Credit Union
Administration, which is also pending.
Mason said it's possible the delay is merely the Fed being very
cautious before allowing the marijuana trade access to the nation's
banking system. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
"I think they're trying to be careful with it rather than just
tabling it and waiting for it to go away," Mason said. "This movement
won't go away."
It's even unclear where the application sits, although it was filed
with the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve, which handles Colorado.
Some Fed watchers said the decision to allow a marijuana-only
financial institution access to the nation's money system is too big
for a branch to make, and that it would likely come from the Fed's
seven-member board in Washington, D.C.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2015
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2015 The Commercial Appeal
Contact: http://web.commercialappeal.com/newgo/forms/letters.htm
Website: http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Evan Halper, Tribune Washington Bureau
DEA KEEPS BROKER ROLLING IN MARIJUANA
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The interior of Irvin Rosenfeld's Toyota 4Runner
reeks of marijuana. A tin stuffed with hundreds of joints lies in the
trunk, and a bag full of them is stored in the door pocket.
On a recent weekday, the 62-year-old stockbroker stopped at a red
light and took a drag. His exhale filled the cabin with smoke. It was
his fourth joint that day. It wasn't yet lunchtime.
"This car has 80,000 miles on it," Rosenfeld announced between puffs,
stray ash landing softly on the battered towel he drapes over his
pleated brown trousers and red tie. "I haven't gotten into one accident."
Rosenfeld would smoke five or six more joints by day's end. In
between, he would trade tens of thousands of dollars in stocks. Some
days, the broker moves millions around, pausing occasionally to steal
drags of marijuana from the smokeless vapor pen that tides him over
indoors.
Clients have given their blessing to his 10-joint-a-day habit.
So has the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The federal agency at the forefront of the war on drugs is normally
unyielding in its view that marijuana has no valid medical use. But
it not only gives permission to Rosenfeld to light up any place
cigarettes are allowed, but it also acts as his dealer.
Rosenfeld gets that special treatment because he has a rare bone
disorder that gives him a lot of pain. He is one of only two people
in the nation still actively involved in a federal program that
supplies marijuana free to patients suffering from certain diseases.
The government harvests infrequently and Rosenfeld's current stash
came out of the ground six years ago. Not exactly prime bud. But good
enough that in three decades he has consumed about 216 pounds -
hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth - to ease his pain.
"I am getting my money's worth out of my taxes, that's for sure," he
said. "I am one of the few people in this country who never complains
about paying them."
The program started in 1976 when Robert Randall of Florida convinced
a court that pot was essential to treating his glaucoma. Rather than
open the door to patients growing their own marijuana, drug officials
chose to supply it to Randall.
Rosenfeld was the next to secure the same deal, and 11 more patients
would trickle in, including the other patient the government still
supplies, Elvy Musikka, an Oregonian with glaucoma. A doctor
authorized by the government to treat Rosenfeld with marijuana writes
his prescriptions and gives him regular check-ups.
The pot comes from a farm in Mississippi run by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, which periodically sends the weed by FedEx
to Rosenfeld's pharmacy.
The marijuana is rolled tightly into joints that are freeze-dried and
packed 300 to a container. The joints come with 14 pages of
instructions on how to properly rehydrate them - most of which
Rosenfeld ignores. Instead, he unrolls them, moistens their contents
in plastic bags lined with wet paper towels and later rolls them back
into joints.
The 10-page federal protocol Rosenfeld carries with him designates
that he may smoke marijuana with impunity. It says he can drive so
long as he is not intoxicated.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
xxx
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact: opinion@abqjournal.com
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
HEMP FARMING BILL PASSES HURDLE
A Senate bill that would allow farmers in the state to grow
industrial hemp for research only has sailed through its first New
Mexico House panel.
The Agriculture, Water and Wildlife Committee Wednesday unanimously
approved and moved Albuquerque Democrat Sen. Cisco McSorley's
proposed legislation to the Judiciary Committee.
McSorley's proposal would allow the New Mexico Department of
Agriculture to set up regulations and fees for the processing of hemp
for research and development, not for sale.
Hemp has a negligible content of THC, the psychoactive compound that
gives marijuana users a high. Many products made from hemp, such as
oils and clothing, are legal.
The federal government currently allows growing hemp for research. A
bill pending in Congress, if passed, would approve cultivation for
commercial production as well.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
XXX
Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2015
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/jT1rVk6n
Copyright: 2015 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Eric Hartley
WATER, POWER NEEDS CHALLENGE POT GROWERS
Forum Addresses Resource-Heavy Indoor Cultivation
Early last year, the broker for a 100,000-square-foot warehouse near
Las Vegas called the power company to find out how much juice the
building would need.
Longtime NV Energy executive Arnold Lopez went out to meet a group on
the site and asked what kind of business they planned.
After some hesitation, they told him: medical marijuana cultivation.
Lopez asked questions and started doing some quick math. And, as
State law prohibits outdoor cultivation he recalled, "All of a sudden
I came up with numbers I'd never seen before."
That single marijuana-growing operation, he estimated, could require
5 megawatts of capacity - enough to power 1,000 homes. That's about
5
percent of the capacity of an entire substation.
As Nevada's medical marijuana industry gets off the ground, it's
confronting a problem that has gotten little public attention:
Growing the plants indoors takes massive amounts of power and water.
People in the industry talked about those challenges and possible
solutions Tuesday morning at a forum sponsored by the U.S. Green
Building Council's Nevada chapter.
Lopez told a crowd of several dozen that marijuana cultivation
facilities might use more power per square foot than anything else
ever built in Southern Nevada. That will require substation upgrades
and could strain the power distribution system, depending on when and
where growers open.
"This industry really needs a lot of help as far as sustainability,"
said moderator John Laub, president of the Las Vegas Medical
Marijuana Association.
People in the industry are starting to talk about ways to control
energy use, Laub said, but have been more focused on getting the doors
open.
Consultant John Perry talked about the effectiveness and energy usage
of various kinds of lighting, including high-pressure sodium, metal
halide and LED.
"Sunlight is the best," he said in response to a question. "No
artificial light is going to compare to sunlight."
Nevada has plenty of sunshine. But growers can't use greenhouses for
marijuana - for security reasons. State regulations bar plants being
visible from outside a cultivation facility.
Lori Glauser, a sustainability consultant to marijuana growers,
explained what she sees as the absurd results of that rule: As the
hot Nevada sun beats down in the summer, growers will have to block
out that natural light and feed marijuana plants with artificial
lights, which consume energy.
Then, because all those lights put off heat, they'll have to use even
more energy cooling the buildings.
Cultivation facilities are "kind of like little factories," said Rick
Van Diepen, chapter president of the Green Building Council.
A 10,000-square-foot grow house with 400 plants could use 1.5 million
to 2.5 million kilowatt hours of energy and 144,000 gallons of water
a year, Perry said.
So companies are rushing to supply the new industry with products
they say will make cultivation more energy-efficient.
Many growers are interested in solar energy, though they're waiting
to see exactly when the marijuana industry will be ready to start,
said Louise Helton, co-owner of Las Vegas-based 1 Sun Solar Electric.
Because of delays in state regulations, including those governing
pesticide use, dispensaries and growers have not yet opened. It's
unclear when they will, though the state has said it should be soon.
At Tuesday's event, officials with Nano Evaporative Technologies
showed off an $8,000 cooling and air purification unit, which they
said recycles water and vents heat to the outside, greatly reducing
power and water usage. Company CEO Alyson Sheradin said she's already
working with one grower.
Using special skylights could cut energy usage 20 percent to 30
percent, Perry said. But even after every possible efficiency
measure, growing hundreds of marijuana plants indoors will still
require a lot of power.
"Even if your entire roof was covered with solar panels, it still
wouldn't be sufficient," Perry said.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom