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I am continually amazed to see on my computer screen the new diseases for which Cannabis/Marijuana is beneficial. On December 12, 2011, I posted PTSD: Medicial Marijuana Clinical Studies Confirm Benefits on salem-news.com. On December 23, 2011 I posted Marijuana: Mechanism of Action: Action on the CB-1 Receptor, which is in the brain.

Appeal-Democrat, 24 Jan 2012 - A Live Oak resident is suing to stop a ban on growing medical marijuana in the city that he said would force him to make "cruel choices." James Maral is seeking an injunction in Sutter County Superior Court on to temporarily halt a ban on cultivating marijuana that the Live Oak City Council passed Dec. 21 and that took effect Friday. The suit seeking the injunction was filed Monday afternoon.

Langley Times, 24 Jan 2012 - Langley Marijuana Dispensary Owner Will Not Reopen Service Pending Trial The owner of the shuttered Medical Marijuana Dispensary in Langley has informed the courts that he will insist on a jury when his drug possession case goes to trial.

Miami Herald, 24 Jan 2012 - SAN FRANCISCO -- A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists. A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents- a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

Kentucky farmers may soon be able to plant the crop their forefathers grew: hemp.

Farmers throughout the state believe hemp will overtake tobacco as Kentucky's cash crop, creating a significant economic impact, especially after processing centers are built across the state.

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer is spearheading the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission pushing to bring the crop back via House Bill 286. If the bill is approved by the General Assembly, Comer will petition federal authorities for a permit for Kentucky to grow hemp.

"It's symbolic," Comer proclaimed. "But this will send a message to Washington that we're serious about this in Kentucky." "There's a void in many family farms," he said. "I believe that industrial hemp is a viable option for family farmers in Kentucky."

"University of Louisville did a study several years ago and said it would create 17,000 jobs immediately," according to Sen. Joe Pendleton, D-Hopkinsville.

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By Debi Brazzale, Colorado News Agency

Denver, Colo. — Planting fields of hemp to absorb toxins in contaminated soil is a concept worth looking at, said two rural lawmakers at the Capitol.

Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, and Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, D-Sterling, are having a bill drafted that would create a pilot program, funded by gifts, grants and donations, to research the crop’s potential.

Areas that may benefit, said McKinley, are Rocky Flats, once the site of a nuclear weapons plant, and the Cotter Corporation’s uranium mine near Golden, as well as numerous abandoned mining properties around the state.

The hemp plants, which have been shown to absorb toxins from soil, would also provide benefits to both farmers and consumers, said McKinley.

"It would be nice to clean up these contaminated areas," said McKinley. "Hemp can be a very beneficial crop providing food, fuel and fiber."

Sonnenberg says if the study proves right, the plant could address agricultural problems with contaminated soil, too.

"There are so many possibilities for industrial hemp that it only makes sense to create win-win situations for agriculture," said Sonnenberg.


Source: http://www.agjournalonline.com/news/x66783502/Hemp-study-pushed-by-lawma...

By Jonathan Bender, The Pitch

For the third time in three years, a medical marijuana bill sits before the Kansas Legislature. And for the first time in three years, the bill will actually be heard.

The Cannabis Care and Compassion Act, HB 2330, will be discussed tomorrow at an informational hearing of the Kansas House Committee on Health and Human Services. The measure, introduced by state Rep. Gail Finney (D-Wichita), would legalize and regulate the sale of medical marijuana in Kansas.

In 2010, a bill seeking to legalize medical marijuana failed to come to a vote. And last year's Kansas Cannabis Compassion and Care Act met the same fate.

If the bill passed, doctors would be able to issue patients with "debilitating medical conditions" and designated caregivers ID cards that they could use to purchase medical-grade marijuana at registered dispensaries known as compassion centers. The Department of Health and Environment would oversee the regulation and licensing. The bill, if passed, requires rapid implementation with a provision that calls for the rules governing the application process to kick in within 90 days of the effective date of the act.

Medical cannabis has been legalized in 15 states. Considering Kansas was the first state to ban K2 - a synthetic pot - back in 2010, it seems unlikely that it will be the 16th state to give patients a license to toke.

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Voters Could Decide Whether To Legalize Drug For Some Uses

By WLWT

CINCINNATI -- Backers of a ballot proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio have been cleared by the state attorney general to begin gathering the roughly 385,000 signatures needed to put it on the November ballot.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said Friday that he has certified the first 1,000 valid signatures, and cleared summary petition language on the proposed Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment as fair and truthful.

The amendment to Ohio's constitution would allow those with a debilitating medical condition to use, possess, produce and acquire marijuana and paraphernalia.

Qualifying conditions include cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and Crohn's disease.

It would authorize vendors to make and distribute the otherwise illegal drug and set up a state oversight commission.

The proposal also would protect patients from violations of privacy, confidentiality and government interference.

Read more: http://www.wlwt.com/politics/30263856/detail.html#ixzz1kK75do5a

By Betsy Z. Russell, The Spokesman-Review

BOISE - Medical marijuana legislation was introduced in the Idaho House, where Rep. Tom Trail, R-Moscow, introduced HB 370 as a personal bill.

He proposed similar legislation last year; it got an informational hearing from the House Health & Welfare Committee, but didn’t proceed. HB 370 would permit patients with debilitating medical conditions to be dispensed up to 2 ounces of marijuana every 28 days; they’d have to get it from state-authorized “alternative treatment centers.”

The bill says, "Compassion dictates that a distinction be made between medical and nonmedical uses of marijuana. Hence, the purpose of this chapter is to protect from arrest, prosecution, property forfeiture, and criminal or other penalties those patients who use marijuana to alleviate suffering from debilitating medical conditions, as well as their physicians, primary care givers and those who are authorized to produce marijuana for medical purposes." Under the measure, only patients who’d registered with the state and received a registration card could legally possess medical marijuana.

An Idaho group currently is gathering signatures for a proposed initiative to legalize medical marijuana; Trail said last year that other states’ experience has shown that legislation with strict controls is preferable to a voter initiative.

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Today, Colorado-based and national representatives of LEAP sent a stern letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh, pushing back against his recent threats to medical marijuana centers that operate legally under state and local law. The letter, signed by a 26-year veteran Denver cop and a former Lafayette judge, says Walsh's actions are "a disservice to the state of Colorado..."

Wichita Eagle, 23 Jan 2012 - TOPEKA - Dani, a 21-year-old from Wichita, suffers with depression, anxiety and stomach problems. Marijuana helps her calm down, focus on important aspects of her life, and keep food down. She said it costs her about $20 every two weeks and is more effective than some of the prescription medications that she can't afford to maintain on a waitress' wage.

McCook Daily Gazette, 23 Jan 2012 - LINCOLN, Nebraska -- Two separate petitions with roots in Southwest Nebraska seek to place legalization of marijuana on the Nebraska ballot. The first, a petition circulated by Frank Shoemaker of Holbrook, seeks to add Proposition XIX to the Nebraska Constitution which would legalize marijuana for private, noncommercial use and cause the state to set aside any previous marijunana convictions.

The Press Democrat, 23 Jan 2012 - A Healdsburg home-invasion robbery victim can get restitution for his stolen marijuana if he was growing it in accordance with local guidelines for medical cannabis. But just how much Michael Steffens' weed is worth is open to debate.

Daily Free Press, 23 Jan 2012 - The debate over medicinal marijuana and cannabis products has been hotly contested for years. According to a Jan. 23 article on TIME's website, America has legalized medical use of marijuana in sixteen states, including the District of Columbia, and can be found in many products already on the market. Presently, a British company is now seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a spray that incorporates raw marijuana into its formula to ease cancer pain. GW Pharma, the company developing the spray, hopes to secure FDA approval by 2013. If the medicine is approved, it would represent a significant shift in perception of the drug's medicinal properties. Medical marijuana products have been on the market for some time, but a medicine utilizing the plant itself will call into question how important its raw health properties are to patients in severe pain. The drug has already been approved in New Zealand, Canada, and several European countries in hopes that its introduction will underline the distinction, which sets medical use apart.

Studies have already shown the benefits of marijuana for those suffering from PTSD, but can our government agencies be convinced?

By Martin Mulcahey, The Atlantic

Researchers are one bureaucratic hurdle away from gaining approval for the first clinical examination on the benefits of marijuana for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), working under the auspices of the University of Arizona College of Medicine, are preparing a three-month study of combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plan is on hold until the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Public Health Service (part of the Department of Health and Human Services) agrees to sell researchers the marijuana needed for research -- or until the marijuana can be legally imported. Social and political intrigue surrounding this research is far reaching, attracting opposing factions who must cede biases for the greater good and well-being of servicemen and servicewomen.

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By Bill Laitner, Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

They wore suits and ties and said they hope to raise $1,000 apiece from 1,000 people -- $1 million dollars -- while gathering 322,609 signatures by July 9 as the first step toward legalizing marijuana in Michigan.

At a news conference Friday at Roberts Riverwalk Hotel & Residence in Detroit, a dozen members of the Committee for a Safer Michigan announced the kickoff of their effort to put their legalization question on Michigan's November ballot.

"The time has come to end prohibition of cannabis in Michigan," said lawyer Tom Lavigne of Grosse Pointe Park, coauthor of the ballot language.

The group said it expects legalization to create jobs in a new industry, allow law enforcement to focus on violent crimes, develop a new source of tax revenue for the state and take the business aspects of marijuana away from organized crime. Committee members said polls show Americans increasingly favor easing laws against marijuana, although drug-abuse prevention groups steadfastly oppose it.

"We say no to legalizing marijuana," said Judy Rubin, executive director of the Tri-Community Coalition, a group that works to end youth substance abuse in Berkley, Huntington Woods and Oak Park.

"Do we really want more harmful substances for our youth? We're already doing a pretty poor job with alcohol," she said.

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Virgin boss will recommend decriminalising drug use when he appears before MPs' committee

By Alan Travis, guardian.co.uk
Photograph by Startraks/Rex Features

The Virgin group head, Sir Richard Branson, is to appear in person to argue the case for decriminalising drug use at the start of a Commons home affairs committee inquiry.

Branson is to give evidence to MPs next Tuesday alongside Ruth Dreifuss, the former president of Switzerland, who served with him on the Global Commission on Drugs Policy. The commission's report, published last year, declared that the war on drugs had failed and recommended introducing a regulated legal supply of cannabis and possibly other drugs.

MPs will also take evidence from the UK Drug Policy Commission, a thinktank headed by Dame Ruth Runciman. They are expected to visit South America, including Colombia, during the course of their inquiry.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, said he was looking forward to hearing from Branson and Dreifuss about the global commission's view that the war on drugs had failed and it was time to decriminalise drugs.

"Drugs can be a hugely controversial issue but we hope that this will be the start of a balanced, well-reasoned inquiry," said Vaz.


Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/19/drugs-inquiry-evidence-ri...

Cannabis Common Sense 619
The show that tells truth about marijuana & the politics behind its prohibition. Live call in show http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cannabis-common-sense , Friday's, 8-9PM Pacific Time, 503-288-4448 From: willappel Views: 56 4 ratings Time: 58:12 More in Education

Detroit Free Press, 21 Jan 2012 - They wore suits and ties and said they hope to raise $1,000 apiece from 1,000 people -- $1 million dollars -- while gathering 322,609 signatures by July 9 as the first step toward legalizing marijuana in Michigan. At a news conference Friday at Roberts Riverwalk Hotel & Residence in Detroit, a dozen members of the Committee for a Safer Michigan announced the kickoff of their effort to put their legalization question on Michigan's November ballot.

The Macomb Daily, 20 Jan 2012 - Attorney and marijuana advocate Matthew Abel stood inside a hotel located on the Detroit River and reflected back to the 1920s when rum runners would smuggle booze into the U.S. from Canada during Prohibition. He and a group calling themselves the Committee for a Safer Michigan are trying to end another prohibition -- this time against marijuana.