UC studies find promise in medical marijuana

By GottaLaff

But... but... it's a-- dun dun dun-n-n!-- gateway drug!

As an $8.7-million state research effort comes to an end, investigators report that cannabis can significantly relieve neuropathic pain and reduce muscle spasms in MS patients. More research is urged. [...]

Much of the research is still underway or under review, but five studies have been published in scientific journals. Four showed that cannabis can significantly relieve neuropathic pain and one found that vaporizers are an effective way to use marijuana. Another study, submitted for publication, found that marijuana can reduce muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis patients.

Dr. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist at UC San Diego who is the center's director, called the pain studies "pretty convincing" and urged the federal government to pay for additional clinical studies.

Something this promising deserves more attention.

City Council votes to shut down hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries

By GottaLaff

Because suffering through the pain of a catastrophic illness is preferable to the evils of Mary Jane ... Via an e-mail alert:

In a 9-3 vote, the Los Angeles City Council today gave its final approval to an ordinance that will shut down hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries and impose strict rules on the location and operation of the dispensaries that are allowed.

The ordinance, which the council first began discussing more than four and a half years ago, will cap the number of dispensaries at 70, but make an exception to allow all those that registered with the city in 2007 and have remained open. City officials believe that number is around 150.

More soon at: http://www.latimes.com

My neck of the woods can be so backward sometimes.

New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Medical Marijuana Bill

By GottaLaff

Little by little, progress... but I still can't figure out why the idea of medical marijuana is such a threat. Reefer madness sanity:

The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the first in the region and the 14th in the nation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

The measure, passed on the final day of the legislative session, would allow patients diagnosed with severe illnesses like cancer, AIDS, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana distributed through state-monitored dispensaries.

Of course, now all those dazed and confused hippie dippie patients will slide right into intravenous heroin use.

Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie, speaking at a press conference on Monday before the vote, reiterated his support for legalizing the medical use of marijuana as long as the final bill contained safeguards to ensure that it did not end up encouraging the recreational use of the drug.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Democrat from Princeton, said the New Jersey law would be the most restrictive in the nation because it would only permit doctors to prescribe it for a list of serious chronic illnesses. The legislation would also forbid patients from growing their own marijuana and using it in public, and it would regulate the drug under the strict conditions used to track the distribution of medically prescribed opiates like Oxycontin and morphine.

At least those with serious illnesses will now get some relief. This shouldn't be the exception, it should be the rule.

Cartoon of the Day

Click to enlarge, via.

Obama’s drug czar: Marijuana ‘has no medical benefit’

By GottaLaff

Tell it to the suffering patients who have been grateful for a little relief:

When President Barack Obama appointed former Seattle, Washington police chief Gil Kerlikowske to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy, activists supporting marijuana policy reform were cheered by the news, however briefly. [...]

Even though Kerlikowske’s former city is famously tolerant of marijuana — which is less harmful and less addictive than America’s most popular, legal intoxicant, alcohol — that did not stop America’s new drug czar from demeaning the president’s position on medicinal use, telling a crowd in Fresno, California on Wednesday that marijuana is “dangerous” and “has no medical benefit,” according to The Fresno Bee.

He has no medical training and did not qualify his statements with any opinions from medical professionals.

Kerlikowske was discussing “Operation SOS — or, “Save Our Sierra” — which has been underway in California for the last 11 days.

“More than 314,000 plants were uprooted in 70 gardens — numbers expected to rise as the enforcement action continues,” the paper reported. “Agents also seized $41,000 in cash, 26 firearms and three vehicles.”

When Kerlikowske was announced as Obama’s choice for drug czar, the organizers of Seattle’s famous annual Hempfest welcomed the move. [...]

The plant can provide significant relief to sufferers of many chronic and life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, AIDS, glaucoma, arthritis, muscular dystrophy and numerous others. [...]

It has also been shown to alleviate symptoms of less-threatening disorders such as uncontrollable anxiety, depression and insomnia, among others. [...]

Advocates of legalizing medical marijuana on the federal level also point to the fact that it is virtually impossible to die from overdosing on the substance; a stark contrast with other common pain relieving drugs such as aspirin, Ibuprofen and acetaminophen, which cause thousands of U.S. deaths every year according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. [...]

Kerlikowske’s 39-year-old son Jeff is in jail in Florida for parole violations stemming from marijuana-related charges. Kerlikowske said he has not spoken to or seen Jeff in over a decade.

VIDEO: A.G. Holder: No more medical marijuana raids

By GottaLaff

I posted about this previously. At that time, there were hints about this very welcome news wafting through the Internets. Now we have a definitive, undazed, unconfused statement:

In a little-noticed remark Wednesday, Obama Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries established under state laws but technically prohibited by the federal government.

The decision marks a shift from the Bush Administration, which was more draconian in its approach to hunting those who sought to dispense marijuana for medical purposes.

Speaking at a press conference on Feb 25 with DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, and reiterating a position made by the White House following DEA raids in California on February 4, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that ending federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries "is now American policy." The Attorney General's comments are the latest sign of a sea change in federal policy that prohibits the use of medical cannabis in the thirteen states that have enacted such laws.

Easing suffering: What a socialist, pinko commie, hippie, America-hating thing to do.

Potent Pot-ables for 100, Alex: "It is no longer federal policy to beat up on hippies"

By GottaLaff

President Obama is not in the least bit dazed and confused about this:

The White House won't say it explicitly. Neither will the Drug Enforcement Administration. Yet there is a whiff in the air that U.S. policy is about to change when it comes to medical marijuana.

The message is clear, said UCLA professor Mark Kleiman, a former Justice Department official and an expert on crime and drug policy.

"It is no longer federal policy to beat up on hippies," said Kleiman.

Thank goodness for that. To deprive the seriously ill of relief is cruel and amoral.

"Anyone possessing, distributing or cultivating marijuana for any reason is in violation of federal law," Sarah Pullen, a DEA spokeswoman in Los Angeles, said Thursday.

That may be the law, but it contradicts the medical marijuana position of the new president.

"The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," said White House spokesman Nick Shapiro, repeating past statements. [...]

Philip Heymann, a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration who is now a Harvard professor, said it's time for the agency to put more effort into fighting drugs more dangerous than marijuana. [...]

Heymann said he expects the Obama administration will eventually instruct the DEA to emphatically scale back raids on dispensaries, and conduct such raids only in instances where investigators believe a business is abusing the dispensary system as a cover for other criminal behavior.

So last week's raids in California may be the last of their kind.

Cool.