Cannabis News

[CarolKing]

As Legalization Spreads, Is More Marijuana Being Sent Through the Mail?
By
Joe Klare
-
Mar 11, 2017


Getty
One of the claims that those who oppose marijuana law reform make is that legalization will lead to an increase of things like marijuana being sent through the mail. The theory goes that people in legal states will run the risk and sell-ship marijuana to customers in states where cannabis is not legal. And there is no doubt that some people do just that.

So the questions become: 1) Is more marijuana being sent through the mail? 2) If so, is it such a problem that it should slow down the pace of legalization?

The answer to the second question is quite simple: even if more marijuana being sent through the mail is a problem, the solution is more legalization, which will lower prices and make it less profitable for the marijuana to be sold and shipped in the first place.

The first question is trickier, but some data is available. While the data is obviously affected by many factors, including better detection methods on the part of authorities, the numbers we do have show us that while the number of intercepted packages containing marijuana is on the rise again after 2 years of decline, the total amount of marijuana sent through the mail continues to decline.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of marijuana packages intercepted increased by over 18%; but since 2012 the average weight of marijuana in an intercepted package has dropped from 5 and a half pounds to just under 4 pounds. And in the end, marijuana – no matter where it is sold – is sold by weight.

So it doesn’t look like more marijuana is being sold through the mail as legalization laws spread across the country. That may change in the coming years, but as I pointed out above, it doesn’t matter. If marijuana is legal in your state, why wouldn’t you just buy some there instead of paying more to have it shipped from somewhere else? The more states that have legalization, the less people there will be who want to buy cannabis through the mail.

And when marijuana is legal nationwide, marijuana in the mail will cease to be an issue.

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

As Legalization Spreads, Is More Marijuana Being Sent Through the Mail?
By
Joe Klare
-
Mar 11, 2017


Getty
One of the claims that those who oppose marijuana law reform make is that legalization will lead to an increase of things like marijuana being sent through the mail. The theory goes that people in legal states will run the risk and sell-ship marijuana to customers in states where cannabis is not legal. And there is no doubt that some people do just that.

So the questions become: 1) Is more marijuana being sent through the mail? 2) If so, is it such a problem that it should slow down the pace of legalization?

The answer to the second question is quite simple: even if more marijuana being sent through the mail is a problem, the solution is more legalization, which will lower prices and make it less profitable for the marijuana to be sold and shipped in the first place.

The first question is trickier, but some data is available. While the data is obviously affected by many factors, including better detection methods on the part of authorities, the numbers we do have show us that while the number of intercepted packages containing marijuana is on the rise again after 2 years of decline, the total amount of marijuana sent through the mail continues to decline.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of marijuana packages intercepted increased by over 18%; but since 2012 the average weight of marijuana in an intercepted package has dropped from 5 and a half pounds to just under 4 pounds. And in the end, marijuana – no matter where it is sold – is sold by weight.

So it doesn’t look like more marijuana is being sold through the mail as legalization laws spread across the country. That may change in the coming years, but as I pointed out above, it doesn’t matter. If marijuana is legal in your state, why wouldn’t you just buy some there instead of paying more to have it shipped from somewhere else? The more states that have legalization, the less people there will be who want to buy cannabis through the mail.

And when marijuana is legal nationwide, marijuana in the mail will cease to be an issue.

From what I have read, only medical marijuana is legal in Canada right now, yet they seem to have no issue with it being sent through the Canadian postal system. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you are a Canadian medical patient, you can can have marijuana sent to your mailbox legally through their postal system from a Canadian dispensary. I wish we had this.

 

[Baron23]

As Legalization Spreads, Is More Marijuana Being Sent Through the Mail?
By
Joe Klare
-
Mar 11, 2017


Getty
One of the claims that those who oppose marijuana law reform make is that legalization will lead to an increase of things like marijuana being sent through the mail. The theory goes that people in legal states will run the risk and sell-ship marijuana to customers in states where cannabis is not legal. And there is no doubt that some people do just that.

So the questions become: 1) Is more marijuana being sent through the mail? 2) If so, is it such a problem that it should slow down the pace of legalization?

The answer to the second question is quite simple: even if more marijuana being sent through the mail is a problem, the solution is more legalization, which will lower prices and make it less profitable for the marijuana to be sold and shipped in the first place.

The first question is trickier, but some data is available. While the data is obviously affected by many factors, including better detection methods on the part of authorities, the numbers we do have show us that while the number of intercepted packages containing marijuana is on the rise again after 2 years of decline, the total amount of marijuana sent through the mail continues to decline.

From 2015 to 2016, the number of marijuana packages intercepted increased by over 18%; but since 2012 the average weight of marijuana in an intercepted package has dropped from 5 and a half pounds to just under 4 pounds. And in the end, marijuana – no matter where it is sold – is sold by weight.

So it doesn’t look like more marijuana is being sold through the mail as legalization laws spread across the country. That may change in the coming years, but as I pointed out above, it doesn’t matter. If marijuana is legal in your state, why wouldn’t you just buy some there instead of paying more to have it shipped from somewhere else? The more states that have legalization, the less people there will be who want to buy cannabis through the mail.

And when marijuana is legal nationwide, marijuana in the mail will cease to be an issue.

Thanks Carol. These people will stretch for any justification for maintaining the prohibition.

Google "dry counties in the USA" and you will be surprised at the amount of places where alcohol sales is illegal. I don't hear anyone worry about people shipping in Four Roses to dry counties in TN, right?

Its all mendacity at its worst

 

[Squiby]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you are a Canadian medical patient, you can can have marijuana sent to your mailbox legally through their postal system

Yes, that is so.

Canada Post is a communications distribution company. Their mandate is not to monitor parcel contents, if they did the delivery speed would be hopelessly delayed. They only investigate contents when they are suspected of containing hazardous goods.

Canada Post has proudly stated that they strive to be the #1 marijuana distribution company in Canada.

 

[Baron23]

Government marijuana looks nothing like the real stuff. See for yourself.

By Christopher Ingraham and Tauhid Chappell March 13 at 2:07 PM

This is three grams of medical marijuana purchased at a local dispensary in Washington. (Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post)
Take a look at the photo above. That's what most marijuana consumers picture when they think “marijuana” — chunks of pungent green plant material coated in sticky, crystallized THC-rich resin.

But if you're a researcher looking to work with marijuana — to say, investigate how it impairs people, or how it could help people suffering from certain ailments — you don't have access to the weed that everyone else is using. Since the late 1960s the federal government has mandated that all marijuana used in research has to come through the federal government.

To investigate the real-world effects of marijuana, however, researchers need a product that looks and feels like the real thing. And they're increasingly frustrated with government weed that is something else entirely.

Don't take their word for it. The photo below shows a sample of federal marijuana distributed to Sue Sisley, a researcher who just embarked on a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to test the efficacy of medical marijuana for military veterans suffering from PTSD.

Nida-supplied marijuana, as received by Sue Sisley. (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies)
Here they are side by side:

Photos via Oliver Contreras/Washington Post (left) and MAPS (right)
A quick glance confirms it looks nothing like the commercial marijuana depicted above. While the real stuff is chunky and dark green, the government weed is stringy and light in color. It appears to be full of stems, which most consumers don't smoke. “It doesn’t resemble cannabis. It doesn’t smell like cannabis,” Sisley told PBS NewsHour last week. (cont)

 

[Baron23]

Florida’s Physicians Seeking More Info on MMJ

Hundreds of physicians are gathering in Florida to explore the physiology of the endocannabinoid system, to learn how medical marijuana can be used for pain relief and the treatment Alzheimer’s disease and how to deal professionally with the state’s many medical cannabis patients.

This forward-thinking undertaking is going on as lawmakers, one of whom recently released a series of regulations that banned smoking, edibles and vaping, are trying to decide how to regulate MMJ after 72 percent of the state’s population voted to legalize it last November.

Now it’s time to educate the doctors. Enter Florida-based Canna Holdings.

“Our goal for this symposium is to create an environment where physicians can get answers to their questions from experts who have been researching and treating patients with medical marijuana,” Gregg Weiss, founder of Canna Holdings, told HIGH TIMES.

To serve Florida’s projected 500,000 MMJ patients, Weiss noted, physicians, medical workers and lawyers need information.

“The education of physicians is key to the successful rollout of the medical marijuana program here in Florida,” he said. “If doctors aren’t on board and educated, it won’t take off at all.”

There are currently some 600 physicians registered with Florida’s Office of Compassionate Use.

Experts at the symposium will present scientific studies on how cannabinoids can benefit debilitating conditions such as pain and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. (CONT)

 

[C No Ego]

Thanks Carol. These people will stretch for any justification for maintaining the prohibition.

Google "dry counties in the USA" and you will be surprised at the amount of places where alcohol sales is illegal. I don't hear anyone worry about people shipping in Four Roses to dry counties in TN, right?

Its all mendacity at its worst

it should be law that the cannabis has to be " turned to alcohol"... to make that illegal, LOL.. other wise it is a plant! alcohol= alcohol and, plant= cannabis.. potatoes, they make alcohol but not illegal etc...

Nice! that stuff in th pic looks like swag! the vets are going to be using that stuff for target practice! then turn it to mulch to grow better stuff.. good God

 

[seaofgreens]

lol Florida.... pure evil genius!

You can use cannabis... just not by smoking it, eating it or vaporizing it.

So I guess it's all about the suppository high then, yeah? Wonder if they will come in different flavors?

 

[howie105]

We as a nation like black and white hats, simple to follow positions that keep us from floundering around in the political, moral and practical grey areas where most of the rubber really hits the road. This overly simplified approach to governing means we often get policy driven by dogma and not practicality. As an extra we also get a badly fragmented populaces that blames the other side whenever something fails. Same as it always was....

 

[turk]

...I think the intensity has picked up a bit...

 

[Baron23]

Legalization Catches Eye of Connecticut Legislature

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s continuing fiscal woes, coupled with a new law that fully takes effect next year in neighboring Massachusetts, have prompted state lawmakers to take their most serious look yet at possibly legalizing the recreational use of marijuana for adults.

Several bills with bipartisan support that sanction the retail sale and cultivation of cannabis are currently progressing through the General Assembly. The first bill drew dozens of supporters last week at a Public Health Committee hearing, many lauding the legislation as a way to regulate an illegal industry and potentially deliver millions of dollars for the state’s coffers.

“Why should we continue to give business opportunities to violent criminals who don’t pay taxes and follow no regulations,” asked Democratic Rep. Robyn Porter at the hearing.

Yet, despite the apparent growing enthusiasm and the fact Connecticut already legalized the medical use of marijuana, it’s questionable whether any of the recreational-use bills will ultimately survive this session. Some politicians, including Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, contend Connecticut should first wait and see what happens to its neighbors to the north.

In Massachusetts, it’s now legal to possess, use and grow small amounts of cannabis. However, the drug can’t be purchased legally yet because retail shops aren’t expected to open until mid-2018. (cont)

Anchorage Sales Topped $400K in January

City officials in Anchorage, AK, reported that the city’s four cannabis dispensaries sold around $440,000 to local consumers in January. That generated $22,000 in sales tax for Anchorage. January marked the first full month of city cannabis tax collection.

The total city tax revenue wasn’t that much more than it was in December, when the first shop, Arctic Herbery, opened its doors on Dec. 15. Two other stores opened in the following days. (cont)

 

[Baron23]

Good science on marijuana is so hard to find
The relationship of marijuana use to public health is one of the most confounding topics in science. As soon as one study is published making a claim about the safety of the drug, another is often published warning of the exact opposite.

Take, for instance, the link between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease. Last week, a study was released detailing a review of outpatient hospital data, including more than 20 million health records and 316,000 people who reported using marijuana. The study found that using the drug was associated with 26 percent increased risk of stroke and a 10 percent increased risk of developing heart failure — independent of other health factors such as tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. While the study hasn’t yet been peer reviewed (it will be presented this weekend at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting), it’s attractive given the massive amount of data.

The problem is that its conclusion directly contradicts a number of other large, recent studies looking at the same question. One longitudinal study published last month looking at more than 5,000 subjects over a period of more than two decades found no association between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease. Another longitudinal study from Sweden published last month reviewing more than 50,000 men found similar results.

These are by no means the only studies on this topic. You can spend a whole day reading through the literature on this question and still not find a clear answer. (cont)



New York’s Medical Marijuana Businesses Are Failing

New York has had active medical marijuana since January 2016, but the financial returns remain sparse. With only 14,000 patients prescribed medical cannabis in New York, the Empire State’s five fully integrated cannabis entities are struggling financially.

Those five companies — which grow and sell their own cannabis products at their own dispensaries — have reportedly not even come close to making a return on their substantial investments. While there’s certainly supply in New York, the demand simply isn’t there for a state with nearly 20 million people yet only 14,000 patients.

Vireo Health’s president, Ari Hoffnung, bluntly told The Buffalo News that his company’s four locations are struggling to make ends meet:

“Our company is not close to break even yet. And based on my understanding, no one has made a dime here in New York…Twenty percent of us have already failed.”

The flailing industry has already forced one licensee with financial troubles to sell its business and license to a Californian entity. Because starting a marijuana business comes with lots of inherent overhead costs like electricity, water, real estate, legal fees and employees, the entrance point is high and the risk is equally high.

From the start, each of New York’s five licensed businesses invested $210,000 in application and registration fees just to receive licenses. Add the immense overhead costs of running multiple grow and dispensary facilities, and each of these businesses has well over seven figures invested and perhaps as much as $30 million dollars, according to a MarketWatch report.

When asked by The Buffalo News whether or not his company is in the green, general counsel of PharmaCannabnis, Jeremy Unruh, shared his competitors’ sentiment,

“No, we’re not. If by profit you mean are we making more each month than we spend? No.”

According to an “industry insider,” the supply outweighs the demand to the extent that each company could cease operations today and have enough supply to last the state eight months. Hofnung stated that Vireo or any of the other companies alone could supply the entire state’s medical marijuana economy.

The issue is twofold, as Senator Diane Savino stated, “There are two things the program is lacking: physicians and patients.”

The state only has 900 licensed physicians and nurse practitioners issuing medical marijuana. The state’s 14,000 patients would balloon to 200,000 patients if opened up to more conditions like PTSD and chronic pain.

Currently, New York’s qualifying conditions are limited to ALS, Cancer, Epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, Huntington’s Disease, Inflammatory bowel disease, Parkinson’s Disease, MS, Neuropathies and Spinal cord damage. Moreover, New York’s medical marijuana patients are prohibited from smoking cannabis; they can vaporize, eat edibles and use tinctures.

Nonetheless, the program’s shortcomings are not slowing down the state’s program. The Cuomo administration will dole out five more grow-and-distribution licenses to five of the original 43 companies that applied for a medical marijuana license.

Those additional licenses will add to the excess in supply with failing to address the issue of demand.

New York’s medical marijuana landscape might currently look bleak, but the state’s program will evolve and the Empire State will eventually become a beacon for medical marijuana. The question remains: when that day comes will any of the five companies struggling to make end’s meet be around to see it happen?

 

[CarolKing]

Often these studies are folks that are smoking cannabis vs using a vaporizer or edibles to receive their meds.

 

[C No Ego]

^ Oh, New York's canna oil monopoly isn't working? wonder why?

 

[howie105]

Where I live if someone needs marijuana for medical use its much easier and cheaper to stay out of the state system. That system has failed and worse yet there is no effective action going on to fix it. Watch the reports and administrative statements, too much of it is about revenue an way too little about meeting the needs of patients.

 

[turk]

....that's the American model....lip service and empty words to the poor and sick...while the real bosses/controllers focus on their ONLY real concern ...profits.

 

[cybrguy]

Where I live if someone needs marijuana for medical use its much easier and cheaper to stay out of the state system. That system has failed and worse yet there is no effective action going on to fix it. Watch the reports and administrative statements, too much of it is about revenue an way too little about meeting the needs of patients of patients.

Sadly I think that is still true in several legal medical states. If I could qualify for medical here, which I can not, I likely wouldn't bother. There would be no benefit in cost and little in availability. It would only help to manage risk, and I have done OK with that for the last 40 or more years. Not perfect, but OK...

 

[Baron23]

^ Oh, New York's canna oil monopoly isn't working? wonder why?

Yeah, no shit.

 

[Baron23]

Denver Mayor: Marijuana Legalization Has Been Good
Like most leaders of big cities in states where voters did not go for Donald Trump, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has a lot to lose.

Denver’s population is one-third Latino, with as possibly as many as 130,000 undocumented immigrants in the greater Denver metro area. Following ICE raids in other metro areas in February, fears of mass immigration raids are so palpable that Hancock has had to spend time reassuring residents that even though Denver is not a sanctuary city, immigrants and their families can go about their lives feeling safe (even as Hancock himself admits he has no idea what Trump and his gang of documented ideologues plan to do, even as they telegraph their xenophobic intentions).

Hancock is also mayor of America’s current capital for legal adult-use marijuana. Cannabis rescued Denver’s real-estate sector, cannabis is keeping cities in the Denver area solvent, cannabis is keeping people employed and also competitive in a tightening housing market.

So Hancock has more to lose than most—including the marijuana sector he once opposed that he’s come to embrace, if as timidly as possible, and only when it would be political suicide to do otherwise.

Legalization “certainly has been beneficial” to Denver and the surrounding areas, Hancock told local Next 9News in a recent interview. (Which: duh.)

And, if Trump and his people are smart about it, they won’t crack down on legalized cannabis in Colorado or anywhere else, but let the states do as they please—while using Denver as a national model for how to do things right.

“Quite frankly, [Denver] is a model for the rest of the world,” Hancock said during a wide-ranging interview in which he opined on Trump, immigration, controversial education Secretary Betsy DeVos (who Hancock thinks deserves a chance to “settle in” before judgment is cast) and his local cannabis sector, which he views now as a selling point.

“I’m proud of the state of Colorado,” he told 9News. “I’m proud of the industry, quite frankly, who have done a good job of partnering.”

Keep in mind this is part of a near-total turnaround for Hancock, who opposed Amendment 64 back in 2012 and predicted—wrongly—that legal marijuana would kill Colorado tourism and that becoming known as a national epicenter for legal weed would be a bad thing for Denver.

Since Hancock was colossally wrong on that point and is now talking about a business that recorded $1.3 billion in sales last year, supports tens of thousands of jobs and brings in his city more than $30 million in sales tax revenue every year, it would have been a shock if he said anything else. (cont)


Australia Biotech Company Scores the ‘King of Cannabis’

StemCell United recently announced that it had appointed someone many of us know as the “King of Cannabis,” Nevil Schoenmakers, to be its strategic advisor on medical marijuana.

This week’s announcement by the Australia-based biotech company, which focuses on traditional Chinese plant extracts, drove its stock up a breezy 3,800 percent.

The combination of cash and cannabis does it again.

StemCell United (SCU) decided to get involved in medical cannabis, chose the right man for the job and they’re cashing in already.

A report from Grand View Research that projected the global market for medical weed products would reach $55.8 billion by 2025 might have had something to do with SCU’s entrepreneurial decision.

According to the ABN Newswire, Jamie Khoo of SCU, said: “SCU’s ability to attract experts the stature of Mr. Schoenmakers demonstrates tremendous confidence in our prospects in this market.”

So, who is Nevil Schoenmakers?

Nevil’s work in breeding and improving the genetics of plants made him a legend in the 1980s, as his potent and hardy varieties became the basis for most of the strains widely used around the world today.

Nevil, who started growing cannabis in 1978, founded one of the world’s largest seed distribution businesses, the Seed Bank of Holland, through which he mailed seeds to American customers and other global markets.

Nevil is credited with creating many of the most popular award winning strains such as Silver Pearl, Northern Lights #5 x Haze and his greatest achievement, according to HIGH TIMES’ Senior Cultivation Editor Danny Danko, Nevil’s Haze. (cont)


Group Urges MA Lawmakers to Hold off on Cannabis Law Changes
BOSTON (AP) — The group behind a ballot initiative that legalized recreational cannabis in Massachusetts is now urging state legislators to keep the new law intact.


The appeal from Yes on 4 came one week before the Legislature’s marijuana policy committee was scheduled to open public hearings on possible revisions to the law, which allows adults to possess an ounce or less of marijuana and grow up to a dozen cannabis plants in their homes.

Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the group, accused policymakers of creating a “false narrative” around the notion that the voter-approved measure, as currently written, is flawed.

“The new law requires no legislative fixes,” he said. (cont)

 

[Baron23]

14 of the biggest questions researchers have about marijuana

Marijuana is now more accessible — legally — than it has been since it was first banned in the "Reefer Madness" era of the 1930s, but that doesn't mean researchers think we fully understand the plant or how its use affects people.

Far from it.

We know enough to say that marijuana has some legitimate medical uses and to say that in many ways, it's less likely to harm users than substances like alcohol or opioids, but researchers still have a long list of questions.

Government regulations make the plant extremely difficult to study, which is one of the main reasons there are still so many things to learn about marijuana.

Business Insider recently spoke to several prominent researchers to see what they think the most important questions are — and what's being done to answer them.

Here's what they hope to find out. (cont)

Federal Agency Stops Asking If Medical Marijuana Is Real

Earlier this month, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) updated its web page on medical marijuana. The change is subtle, but significant.

For several years, NIDA’s primer on medical cannabis started with a fundamental question: “Is marijuana medicine?” before diving into the ensuing discussion. The conclusion one could draw, without reading a word further, was that nobody was really sure one way or the other; the question was an open one.

Since then, a majority of states across the country have gone ahead and answered with a resounding “Yes.”

This was before the National Academy of Sciences published its landmark review in January, in which it found “conclusive” evidence of cannabis’s efficacy as a medicine for certain medical conditions—with some very suggestive evidence, unproven for lack of research, for its value in other ailments.

Whether it was red states like Arkansas and North Dakota embracing cannabis or a massive gang of scientists too large to ignore, NIDA has stopped asking the question—at least on its official web resource.

Instead of asking “Is Marijuana Medicine?,” as it has since the last revision in July 2015, the official DrugFacts page on cannabis, updated in March 2017, now leads with the declaration “Marijuana as Medicine.” (cont)

 

[Baron23]

Home Grows in Colorado Receive a New 16-Plant Limit

The Colorado House voted 55-10 in favor of House Bill 1220, a bill that seeks to eradicate the state’s black market. The bill strives to subdue drug trafficking in Colorado and reduce the state’s current 99-plant limit for medical marijuana patients with extended plant counts.

To quiet the black market, Colorado’s home-growers and medical marijuana caregivers will now be allowed to grow up to 16 plants per home. Should these growers wish to grow over 16 plants, they must live in “areas zoned for large-scale, commercial grows.”

House Majority Leader KC Becker, the bill’s sponsor, told The Cannabist that,

“I can think of no quicker way to jeopardize Colorado’s billion dollar industry than to allow our state to become a significant source of marijuana in other states where it isn’t legal.”

Citing concerns with federal enforcement on recreational marijuana, the bill’s proponents believe these efforts will prevent any federal intervention.

Thus, in a related effort to subdue the state’s illegal cannabis market, House Bill 1221 also passed a House vote; this bill would give the state a grant of $6 million per year to aid local police officers in tightening the clamps on non-compliant grow houses.

Meanwhile, medical marijuana patients throughout Colorado have reportedly been vocally protesting this law with the belief that this new law will raise the price of their medicine.

House Bill 1220 was introduced on March 2 and approved by a House committee on March 6. The bill now heads to a Senate vote and then the governor’s desk before becoming law.

 

[C No Ego]

14 of the biggest questions researchers have about marijuana

Marijuana is now more accessible — legally — than it has been since it was first banned in the "Reefer Madness" era of the 1930s, but that doesn't mean researchers think we fully understand the plant or how its use affects people.

Far from it.

We know enough to say that marijuana has some legitimate medical uses and to say that in many ways, it's less likely to harm users than substances like alcohol or opioids, but researchers still have a long list of questions.

Government regulations make the plant extremely difficult to study, which is one of the main reasons there are still so many things to learn about marijuana.

Business Insider recently spoke to several prominent researchers to see what they think the most important questions are — and what's being done to answer them.

Here's what they hope to find out. (cont)

Federal Agency Stops Asking If Medical Marijuana Is Real

Earlier this month, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) updated its web page on medical marijuana. The change is subtle, but significant.

For several years, NIDA’s primer on medical cannabis started with a fundamental question: “Is marijuana medicine?” before diving into the ensuing discussion. The conclusion one could draw, without reading a word further, was that nobody was really sure one way or the other; the question was an open one.

Since then, a majority of states across the country have gone ahead and answered with a resounding “Yes.”

This was before the National Academy of Sciences published its landmark review in January, in which it found “conclusive” evidence of cannabis’s efficacy as a medicine for certain medical conditions—with some very suggestive evidence, unproven for lack of research, for its value in other ailments.

Whether it was red states like Arkansas and North Dakota embracing cannabis or a massive gang of scientists too large to ignore, NIDA has stopped asking the question—at least on its official web resource.

Instead of asking “Is Marijuana Medicine?,” as it has since the last revision in July 2015, the official DrugFacts page on cannabis, updated in March 2017, now leads with the declaration “Marijuana as Medicine.” (cont)

this part explains it all! ( "The practical use and legalization of these things is happening faster than the science can keep up." ) Ahhh science

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

This is a very sad story, but an example of how prohibition leads to violence.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amph...ces-over-100-worth-of-pot-then-lied-about-it/

 

[Baron23]

Massachusetts opens hearings on recreational marijuana regulation

The Legislature has already has moved to postpone the opening of retail pot shops in the state until mid-2018 at the earliest


By Bob Salsberg, The Associated Press

BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers are vowing to respect the will of the voters, but aren’t ruling out changes to the state’s recreational marijuana law.

A special legislative committee that’s considering revisions to the law opens hearings at the Statehouse on Monday.


Among those expected to testify are members of “Yes on 4,” the group that led the ballot initiative that made Massachusetts one of eight states where recreational marijuana use by adults is now legal. The group is demanding that lawmakers leave the measure alone and give it time to work.

State treasurer Deb Goldberg, whose office will oversee regulation of marijuana sales, also is scheduled to appear before the panel.

The Legislature already has moved to postpone the opening of retail pot shops in the state until mid-2018 at the earliest.

MA residents....go to these hearings and kick your politicians collective asses for resisting the democratically established will of the people of that state with respect to MJ.

These assholes think MA citizens are fracking idiots and that they can get way with 'just small common sense' changes and saying things like "just a reasonable delay" when we all know that they are just dragging their feet in opposition to the will of the people.

I actually agree with the WoPo's new slogan of "Democracy dies in Darkness" so get to these hearing and make it known to your representatives that the light has been shined on their recalcitrant behavior and that it will NOT be tolerated.

Throw those fucking bums out!

Thousands of Colorado medical marijuana patients caught in registry backlog
Patients are waiting up to two months: The Medical Marijuana Registry has been inundated with inquiries as state switches to online application system


Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Registry is in the thick of a six- to eight-week backlog for mailed applications for medical cannabis cards, affecting thousands of patients.

As of Thursday, the office was processing applications received by mail on Jan. 31, 2017. More than 6,000 pieces of mail remain in the hopper – including the 4,178 pieces of mail that arrived in February.

As the state switches over to an online application system, what amounts to a heavy workload for the registry’s limited processing crew is causing frustration among some within the state’s medical marijuana community.

“They can’t seem to get their act together in renewing people’s statuses,” said Rob Cagen, 70, of Fort Collins, whose medical marijuana card expired this week. “It seems crazy.” (cont)

 

[Baron23]

Marijuana raids are more deadly than the drug itself

Since 2010, At least 20 SWAT raids involving suspected marijuana dealers have turned deadly, according to data compiled by the New York Times.

The list of fatalities includes small-time dealers and people who sold the occasional joint to a friend, as well as people suspected of dealing in more serious drugs like crack or meth, but who were found to be in possession of only marijuana after the fact. It also includes four police officers who were killed during the raids, intentionally or otherwise.

The deadly raids are a reminder that an activity that's legal and celebrated in some states -- selling weed -- can get you killed in others.

The dead include:

• 29-year-old Jason Westcott of Tampa, who was shot and killed by police who stormed his home and observed him with a firearm. Westcott never fired his gun. The police uncovered a total of .2 grams of marijuana at Westcott's residence, not enough to fill a typical joint.
• Trevon Cole of Las Vegas, who was targeted for a raid after undercover officers purchased 1.8 ounces of the drug from him. Cole was unarmed, and was shot and killed by an officer as he was trying to flush marijuana down a toilet. His family eventually received a $1.7 million settlement from police.
• Levonia Riggins, also of Tampa, who became the subject of a raid after undercover agents purchased marijuana from him on three occasions. Riggins was in bed at the time of the raid. He didn't respond to officers' demands, and when the officers moved toward him Riggins made a quick movement. He was shot and killed. The raid turned out no firearms and a small amount of marijuana.

Marijuana itself is not a deadly substance. "No death from overdose of marijuana has been reported," according to the DEA. But the deadly raids on suspected marijuana dealers underscore how drug enforcement can become a greater threat to life and safety than drug use itself. (cont)