Cannabis News

[nosmoking]

I've heard the laws in D.C. are a little different from other states that have legalized.
In D.C. you can grow your own medicine (not sure if there's a limit on number of plants allowed) and smoke almost anywhere excluding federal grounds. So far, so good right? Now here's the but. You can't sell. You have to give away your buds. You can give up to an ounce to one person.

So you can grow, smoke, but not sell. Would this be acceptable if your state had this exact law? Or would you want full legalization, no if's, ands or buts?

To me, in my humble opinion, it would be very acceptable. What are your thoughts?

It is completely unacceptable. The law change did nothing except make things cheaper and easier for the black market to thrive since that is all there is here. Dispensaries in DC only cater to medical and I think they are rare.

The DC law allows possession of up to 2 ounces and trade of up to one ounce so that's great for the personal user, but what about the person who goes in for a bargain trade deal for them and their neighbors/friends? Their now at risk of breaking the law. And what about the person I get from, why should I have to worry he/she may be picked up.

The law sucks to say the least and it leaves me, a professional, a father, a successful contributor to our society with no access to a reliable source and puts me in a legal obstacle course. And I feel that I represent most of the people in this region that are users as I know many Dad's, coworkers and community friends that are in my boat. We deserve better!


Here are excerpts taken from the NORML website below explaining the DC law:

*Initiative 71, which took effect on 2/26/15, permits adults 21 years of age or older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana in one's primary residence without penalty. Transfer without payment (but not sell) up to one ounce of marijuana to another person 21 years of age or older is also permitted.

*Initiative 71, which took effect on 2/26/15, permits adults 21 years of age or older to cultivate no more than six plants (with three or fewer mature at any one time) in one's primary residence without penalty. Provided that all persons residing within a single house or single rental unit may not grow more than twelve cannabis plants, with six or fewer being mature, flowering plants.

 

[macbill]

The DEA has formally approved first-ever medical marijuana trial for vets suffering from PTSD

The non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) announced yesterday that they received a little more than $2 million in grant money from the state of Colorado in order to conduct the first clinical trial of “whole plant marijuana” in the treatment of PTSD. One of the more important notes about this clinical trial is that both the FDA and the DEA have signed off on it.

 

[grokit]

The DEA has formally approved first-ever medical marijuana trial for vets suffering from PTSD

The non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) announced yesterday that they received a little more than $2 million in grant money from the state of Colorado in order to conduct the first clinical trial of “whole plant marijuana” in the treatment of PTSD. One of the more important notes about this clinical trial is that both the FDA and the DEA have signed off on it.

This is going to be huge. I hope that professor from university of arizona that was going to perform this research in the first place is involved in this colorado project, I think I read that she was a while ago.

 

[macbill]

Marijuana Advocates Want to Establish a Standard Unit of Highness

In the last few years, marijuana advocates have made impressive strides. As of this week, 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized medicinal marijuana, and more cities and states are moving toward legalizing or decriminalizing it. However, as advocates and regulators grapple with weed’s changing legal status, there’s a big question on many people’s minds: how large should a standard dose of weed be?

 

[cybrguy]

I have no interest, space or the necessary knowledge to grow decent cannabis. Allowing me to grow is not a solution. I need to be able to get it from a reliable source that DOES know what they are doing. There MUST be a commercial component to the legal Cannabis biz...

............................................................
He grew some plants for his own medical consumption. Total with sticks and branches was 2.8 pounds.
Because of previous felony conviction 20 years earlier, automatically got life in prison BUT
Supreme Court passes on this/ says that is OK ................. WTF is going on here in US?????

Unfortunately, as this guy was incarcerated under state law, I don't think Obama can do anything to get him released. If he were convicted under federal statutes Obama could pardon him. That is just insane to get life for non violent crime...

Maybe because his previous felony is what amplified the sentence? Dunno.

 

[Adobewan]

I have no interest, space or the necessary knowledge to grow decent cannabis. Allowing me to grow is not a solution. I need to be able to get it from a reliable source that DOES know what they are doing. There MUST be a commercial component to the legal Cannabis biz...

You don't have to grow but we need to keep growing out of the hands of a select, exclusive few.
It makes me sick knowing there are rich prohibitionists who are waiting to swoop in and buy into the industry.
And, home growing must be legal if youre going to continue to get the quality your local artisan farmers provide.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Washington DC isn't interested in making money off the taxes at this time. That's the whole reason that the lawmakers in my state went along with legal weed but attached a lot of laws to it regarding cultivation and the sales of cannabis and its products derived from cannabis.

We also have the referendum process here so the citizens voted for cannabis to be legal knowing that the state would benefit from the taxes.

The regular person can't grow cannabis but it's legal in WA state.

S. O. P. - if anyone is going to make money off this stuff, it's going to be people with the most money already.

Without an unassailable personal-grow provision, it's just the usual favoritism / cronyism - which is bullshit: Billie Holliday says "them that has will get, them that ain't will lose". God bless the child who's got his (her) own....

 

[CarolKing]

I was happy with the medical cannabis we had in the state of WA since 1998. The state voted for legal cannabis. Medical cannabis was told it would not affect them. Well they turned around and screwed the medical cannabis in my state and attached huge taxes.

All the medical growers will need to stop unless they are part of a small group. I think it's no more than 4 to a group grow for medical with 6 plants per person. Only so much cannabis like three ounces at one time a medical patient can have. Its all going to be heavily monitored.

I'm not sure if the clinic where I get my medical cannabis card will continue to operate. The new law stipulates we are suppose to go to our family doctors to get out medical cannabis card. Last time I talked to my family doctor he was skeptical about cannabis for medical use. My medical card expires next month I will go in one last time to get my medical cannabis card since the new law doesn't start until July.

I'm not sure how the state would know if it's my family doctor or not? They can't look into my medical records. If a doctor gets more than 30 patients in one month for medical cannabis the doc is suppose to let the state know.

There is a lot of unknowns right now with the new medical cannabis laws for WA. Many medical patients are apprehensive about even signing up for a medical card. Those folks that know how to grow will probably do that. Black market may do well. Time will tell, it depends on prices and quality. Medical patients are used to a very nice selection of cannabis for many years. The prices have been at around $10 a gram.

If there's not enough supply of state cannabis the price will go up. I might need to go to Oregon for a shopping trip. Non state customers for cannabis can only get 1/4 ounce per purchase. I would need to make the trip worthwhile. I might need to go to several stores. I wonder if the state keeps track of how much visitors buy using computer tracking receipts.

All of the changes with the new medical cannabis laws have stressed out the med cannabis patients.

Maybe I've repeated a lot of this before. If I have I'm sorry. It helps to vent.

 

[Gunky]

I have no interest, space or the necessary knowledge to grow decent cannabis. Allowing me to grow is not a solution. I need to be able to get it from a reliable source that DOES know what they are doing. There MUST be a commercial component to the legal Cannabis biz...

You know you might be surprised. You can grow quite a decent little crop under six 4' T-5 fluorescent tubes, they only draw about 324 watts and all you need is a space about 2.5' x 5'. Growlab makes a nice little tent about that size which will hold up a light on ratchets and discreetly surround the growing area with 6' walls that are black nylon on the outside and reflective foil inside. It's easy to grow - just get one of the books, such as Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook - and a ton of fun to watch the fast-growing plants develop. So many people are doing it nowadays that the equipment is getting cheaper and better. Modern strains can produce a nice crop for you in 3 months time. If odor is a problem during bloom you can use a fan (black) and charcoal filter (white cylinder) like this shown hanging from the top of the inside of a grow tent:

After you harvest, you take the leaves and trim and make ice-water hash (aka bubble hash) - all you need is a cheap set of filter bags, water, ice, and a couple plastic buckets. Nothing quite like the taste of a little pure, home-made, freshly dried bubble. Mmm mm.

 

[kellya86]

I only use 1.2m x 0.8m x 2.4m space and 700 watts of power to produce 10-12 Oz every few months....does me nicely....
Is discreet in the house, extract into chimney breast to eliminate odours...

Free, high quality cannabis as it should be.... no glass coated, uncured, mass produced shite for me...

I know cultivation talk is banned here, but I wish everyone would just do it, it's easy, it's the solution for us here in the UK I think, I don't want cannabis shops everywhere, I just want the right to grow enough for me without fear of being punished..

 

[Gunky]

Growing is fantastic and I think people really should look into it. It's very cost effective and you get pretty much all you can vape. Having said that I am still dreaming of the day we can legally import Nepalese temple ball hash. Some day, eh?

 

[ClearBlueLou]

I have no interest, space or the necessary knowledge to grow decent cannabis. Allowing me to grow is not a solution. I need to be able to get it from a reliable source that DOES know what they are doing. There MUST be a commercial component to the legal Cannabis biz...

Indeed there must! The issue as I see is that if the 'market' tips from felony-illegal to commercially profitable, "it's just going to be "venture cannabists" who care about providing highly quality and variety to the public at reasonable cost and profit: those who profited from the illegality (not thee criminal side but the (supposedly) legit side) well spend big to corner the market for the purpose of extracting max bucks for lowest-common-denominator quality. This would in effect turn it from an instrument of legal punishment into a means of commercial punishment.

The ONLY bulwark against that is to allow and preserve the right of citizens to grow a freaking plant at their own expense...consider the difference between grocery-store tomatoes expensive pink sawdust-balls and home-grown tomatoes....

Even those who DO grow may well appreciate being able to stop at the store on the way home to grab a quarter or gram or whatever. NOBODY ('round here, anyway) is trying to prevent the development of legal commerce in weed.

You don't have to grow but we need to keep growing out of the hands of a select, exclusive few.
It makes me sick knowing there are rich prohibitionists who are waiting to swoop in and buy into the industry.
And, home growing must be legal if youre going to continue to get the quality your local artisan farmers provide.

Adobewan sees clearly.

You know you might be surprised. You can grow quite a decent little crop under six 4' T-5 fluorescent tubes, they only draw about 324 watts and all you need is a space about 2.5' x 5'.

True, but if the man has no interest in it (he may have a 'black' thumb, for all we know), that's his call.

Me, OTOH, I have been dreaming about growing since the days when people were selling chamomile flowers, or a rich blend of pekoe tea and cigarette tobacco to schoolkids & would-be stoners...tried doing a closet grow, once, but it was a small closet, practically no light, & long before all the now-standard grow science: I got a beautiful little bonsai plant completely without bud - but I'm glad I did it.

As recently as 1999, I was living in CO, visiting my first-ever indoor-grow store, and trying to figure out how to pull it off. Since then no opportunity, followed by bad neighbors, followed by no financing.

Would I trade my current situation in order to join the grow-march? In a hot second!

 

[kellya86]

Cannabis is amazing, and iv always loved it, but once it's free and readily available, it really comes into its own....

Cannabis shouldn't be stressful, worrying about obtaining or funding it is not on....

I wish I could grow vaporizers....

 

[cybrguy]

True, but if the man has no interest in it (he may have a 'black' thumb, for all we know), that's his call.

That's me. I'm great with animals, they can see my aura. But I can kill an African Violet or a Coleus (maybe the easiest plants to grow) in a matter of days. I'm just skilled that way...

(I have had a Chia pet last a week... )

You don't have to grow but we need to keep growing out of the hands of a select, exclusive few.

This is hugely important. Ohio had a ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment that would have legalized cannabis in really convenient ways in their state, but it empowered just a tiny handful of growers to have a complete monopoly on growing there. Fortunately the rest of the prospective industry in Ohio was aggressive about getting that info out and how bad it would eventually end up for the users, and prevented that initiative from passing. Thank goodness people recognized that the program was a sham. It could easily have gone the other way out of pure lust to get access.

I am completely in favor of users being able to grow even tho I have no personal interest in doing so.

Mod note: posts merged

 

[Adobewan]

This is hugely important. Ohio had a ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment that would have legalized cannabis in really convenient ways in their state, but it empowered just a tiny handful of growers to have a complete monopoly on growing there. Fortunately the rest of the prospective industry in Ohio was aggressive about getting that info out and how bad it would eventually end up for the users, and prevented that initiative from passing. Thank goodness people recognized that the program was a sham. It could easily have gone the other way out of pure lust to get access.

I am completely in favor of users being able to grow even tho I have no personal interest in doing so.

So true, Ohio was a victory. So grateful for their diligence and open eyes. Every state needs to take a lesson from them before, as you put it, lust for access blinds.

 

[little maggie]

I was happy with the medical cannabis we had in the state of WA since 1998. The state voted for legal cannabis. Medical cannabis was told it would not affect them. Well they turned around and screwed the medical cannabis in my state and attached huge taxes.

All the medical growers will need to stop unless they are part of a small group. I think it's no more than 4 to a group grow for medical with 6 plants per person. Only so much cannabis like three ounces at one time a medical patient can have. Its all going to be heavily monitored.

I'm not sure if the clinic where I get my medical cannabis card will continue to operate. The new law stipulates we are suppose to go to our family doctors to get out medical cannabis card. Last time I talked to my family doctor he was skeptical about cannabis for medical use. My medical card expires next month I will go in one last time to get my medical cannabis card since the new law doesn't start until July.

I'm not sure how the state would know if it's my family doctor or not? They can't look into my medical records. If a doctor gets more than 30 patients in one month for medical cannabis the doc is suppose to let the state know.

There is a lot of unknowns right now with the new medical cannabis laws for WA. Many medical patients are apprehensive about even signing up for a medical card. Those folks that know how to grow will probably do that. Black market may do well. Time will tell, it depends on prices and quality. Medical patients are used to a very nice selection of cannabis for many years. The prices have been at around $10 a gram.

If there's not enough supply of state cannabis the price will go up. I might need to go to Oregon for a shopping trip. Non state customers for cannabis can only get 1/4 ounce per purchase. I would need to make the trip worthwhile. I might need to go to several stores. I wonder if the state keeps track of how much visitors buy using computer tracking receipts.

All of the changes with the new medical cannabis laws have stressed out the med cannabis patients.

Maybe I've repeated a lot of this before. If I have I'm sorry. It helps to vent.

I'm confused about the limitations you're describing for those on medical cards. I have friends driving to Washington to get oil which is not available without a medical card in Oregon. Are medical patients being treated the same as rec users?
And can Washington citizens get a medical card in Oregon?

 

[CarolKing]

Washington citizens can't get a medical card in Oregon. Cannabis is legal here. The laws for medical cannabis is changing. Medical patients will need to buy at the rec stores. Their dispensaries and farmers will no longer exist.

I've been buying my cannabis at a organic medical farmers market on Saturdays. The prices range from $5 - $10 a gram. The shake is available for $50 an ounce and it's all organic. I like the shake for oils. Some ounces are $150 and its top shelf. I have a large variety and am able to talk with the farmers. I like the intimate setting that I've been used to.

The amounts that a medical patient can have has gone down. The amounts a patient can grow has gone down, I don't grow.

It's going to be different and I think folks are afraid of change because it doesn't seem like a good change to most of us.

I'm not sure exactly what it will look like for the medical consumers. I've had low prices and variety plus quality. I've heard folks complain about the recreational cannabis. I haven't been in a state regulated store yet and probably won't until I have to.

Just recently the state had to recall cannabis.

I'm not sure with the patients being forced to buy at the state stores if there will be enough cannabis to go around. Not enough supply equals high prices and low quality in my opinion.

Edit
The state regulations and taxes makes it difficult for everyone. I'm hoping with citizen support we can make some changes further down the line. I want the state to benefit from the tax money but the lawmakers are being too greedy. Our taxes are higher than OR and CO.

 

[little maggie]

Oregon is supposed to be changing too. But right now the medical dispensaries have all opened to recreation users. They only sell flowers to rec users and they charge a bit more. The OLCC is supposed to be taking over marijuana sales later this year which is going to be a major change that is not going to be good.

 

[howie105]

Play with the state game pay the state price, or like the man said follow the money it usually points the way to the future.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Money points the way to the future?

 

[howie105]

Hey CBL. A bit too indirect, I might have been buzzed. Let me try again, new MJ marketing models will have their own price floors and ceiling, until those are established all one can really easily do is watch price trends across a fragmented, chaotic, national and international market to see where the final legalized market prices will actually be. So we follow the money into the unknown.

 

[Gunky]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/25/opinion/rethinking-the-global-war-on-drugs.html

At the urging of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia, world leaders met at the United Nations in a special session last week to discuss saner ways to fight the drug trade. They did not get very far toward a shift in approach. Nonetheless, there was a consensus that investing in health care, addiction treatment and alternatives to incarceration would do more to end the drug trade than relying primarily on prohibition and criminalization.

“A war that has been fought for more than 40 years has not been won,” President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia said in an interview. “When you do something for 40 years and it doesn’t work, you need to change it.”

Mr. Santos and the presidents of Mexico and Guatemala argue that the war on drugs, which has been largely directed under terms set by the United States, has had devastating effects on their countries, which are hubs of the cocaine, marijuana and heroin trade. “When two elephants fight, the grass always suffers the most,” President Jimmy Morales of Guatemala said, referring to the drug cartels and American law enforcement agencies.

Since 2014, the three governments and like-minded allies have sought to lay the groundwork for changes to the current approach, which is grounded in three international drug accords adopted between the early 1960s and 1988. Those treaties, which required that signatories outlaw the trade and possession of controlled substances — including marijuana — were conceived at a time when international leaders saw law enforcement as the most effective way to curb drug production and consumption.

Unfortunately, several countries with considerable diplomatic clout, including China and Russia, maintain that criminalization should remain the cornerstone of the fight against drugs.

The Obama administration supported the meeting, and has been relatively receptive to new ideas from neighboring countries. “We are seeing tremendous advances in our understanding of drug dependency and our ability to address substance use disorders as a public health — rather than a strictly criminal justice — challenge,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.
But the United States will need to play a much stronger role in shaping new policies. It is in the untenable position of violating the existing treaties — now that four states have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana — while arguing that they remain a viable framework.

Other countries are charting their own paths. The Canadian government, for instance, recently announced that it will introduce a bill next spring to decriminalize the sale of marijuana. Mexican leaders announced during the meeting that their country intends to legalize medical marijuana and loosen restrictions on the amount of drugs people can possess for personal use.

These new policies could render the existing drug treaties obsolete. Clearly, those accords need to be updated, heeding the experiences and lessons learned by the nations that have paid the highest price in the drug war.

 

[CarolKing]

CRIME & DRUGS

Marijuana Researchers Are Tired of Working With the US Government's Shitty Weed

• By Sydney Lupkin April 20, 2016 | 4:00 am

This story is part of a partnership between MedPage Today and VICE News.

It used to be normal to find Navy veteran Shane O'Neil sitting in his basement, snorting Adderall and washing down opioids with alcohol to deal with post traumatic stress disorder and other injuries sustained in the line of duty. And it was legal because he got the drugs from the VA hospital.

Okay, maybe snorting wasn't on the prescription pad. But the former "full-blown pill addict" says the only illegal substance he put in his body was the one that saved his life: Marijuana.

"I had a friend take a shotgun out of my mouth in 2014," said O'Neil, 36, referring to the time before he replaced his pills with cannabis. "And now it's like I have a new life, literally. We take our kids to karate, out to dinner. I'm home, not out until 3am chasing drugs, drinking, and hiding from people."

Medical marijuana isn't legal where O'Neil lives with his wife and their four children in Ohio, and even if it was, PTSD is not a qualifying condition to get medical cannabis in most states.

Colorado, for example, rejected PTSD as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana because there wasn't enough research to support it. Dr. Margaret Gedde, a Colorado doctor who's treated more than 2,000 medical marijuana patients a year since 2009, said this a problem even though anyone in her state can can get recreational marijuana. Recreational marijuana is taxed more heavily than medical marijuana, and the staff at recreational marijuana retailers aren't as knowledgeable about cannabis for medical conditions, she said.

Dr. Sue Sisley, formerly of the University of Arizona, has been trying to get her cannabis for PTSD trial off the ground for years, but she says the main problem is that researchers like her can only legally get cannabis from one source: The University of Mississippi, which is under contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to grow cannabis for studies. But Sisley says the university hasn't been able to grow the strains she's requested, and she thinks the "monopoly" has to end.

"It's really the final hurdle that continues to impede cannabis research in this country," Sisley said.


I liked that under the picture CRIME and DRUGS.
CK

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Hey CBL. A bit too indirect, I might have been buzzed. Let me try again, new MJ marketing models will have their own price floors and ceiling, until those are established all one can really easily do is watch price trends across a fragmented, chaotic, national and international market to see where the final legalized market prices will actually be. So we follow the money into the unknown.

maybe my beef is that I'm NOT buzzed...(out of medicine is no way to go thru life)

Guess 'follow the money' means something else to me (it leads to the bad guys); markets will stabilize on their own IF bad actors are prevented manipulating the factors in their control to control the field and the rules of the game; markets DO NOT police themselves without turf wars, elimination, and both economic and social disruption.

Typically, 'black' (unregulated/forbidden) markets earn their unsavory reps because of self-protective actions by ruthless players. Variety, availability and price determined by pressures brought mutually to bear, & either stimulated or throttled by demand and/or interference. In legal markets, it's supposed to be different due to standardization, regulation and participant protection, buyers and sellers and providers.

(The problem of corruption arises when when bad actors seek to wist or bend outcomes covertly, as history teaches us many, many times over: if we imagine that corruption is not fully engaged in this current BS, then we have a GREAT imagination).

Siezed up: I'll just sit here and rust until some oil comes my way....

 

[CarolKing]

Whether or not your state gets medical cannabis or legal for all, its the state lawmakers who will ultimately be making the rules for the citizens of that particular state.

With anything else it's supply and demand. If the supply is low it will be more expensive and less quality. If the supply is high then price will be lower and quality higher.

The state will want to generate money from cannabis like in taxes. That's fine as long as they don't get too greedy. If that's the case folks will choose the black market.

The people in your state need to be vigilant and lobby your legislature as to what kinds of laws you want to have. Get groups together. NORMAL has a chapter in your state. They help to change medical and legal cannabis laws in the U.S. It might be Canada and Europe too, I don't know. I will have to look that up.
NORMAL stands for:
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

Edit
I checked, it didn't look like they have chapters in Europe and Canada.