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Latest Activity: May 03, 2016 at 12:42 PM
Sugar: Gateway Drug to Violence?
http://tinyurl.com/yacan9k
"Colorado roadway fatalities are down 25 percent this year from last year, and also down from the 13-year average, Washington Post reports, in another damning debunking of law enforcement officials ‘drugged driving’ epidemic."
"Legalizing Marijuana Should Be a Top National Security Objective: Terrorism and Border Instability Would Diminish"
Obesity, Americas greatest medical scourge. Obesity kills more people each year than all drugs legal and illegal combined. Court ordered Jenny Craig!!!
States with medical marijuana laws saw decreases in suicide rates, drops in drunken driving, fewer drunken driving fatalities, declines in heavy drinking, fewer painkiller overdoses, and lower teen usage rates.
"The Impact Of Smoking Marijuana Regularly On Your Lungs, According To Science"
"“Lifetime marijuana use up to 20 joint-years is not associated with adverse changes in spirometric (exhalation strength) measures of lung health,” the study, featured in the medical journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society, concluded...“The distinction the Emory University study makes is not new,” Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, told ThinkProgress. “It’s ripe with citations from Donald Tashkin who has spent more than 40 years trying to answer the question of what happens to people when they smoke tobacco and marijuana. This new study took things further; today these products aren’t being smoked [in a way] that the product is carbonized and there’s ash."
Study: Marijuana Users 50 Percent Less Likely To Suffer From Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and abdominal fat, which are linked to increased risk of heart disease and/or type 2 diabetes, among other serious health consequences.
Corrupt Michigan Cops Use Medical Marijuana Money To Buy I-Pads, Truck, Shirts
Legislation passed in 2013 (HB 5313) and signed into law in 2014 by Governor Snyder allowed money from the state’s Medical Marihuana Fund (the Fund) to be used by local units of law enforcement “for the operation and oversight of the Michigan medical marihuana program… operation and oversight grants are for education, communication and enforcement of the Michigan medical marihuana act…”
Instead they treated themselves to I-Pads, trucks, and t-shirts.
Ex-DEA agent on medical marijuana: some 'can't grip it until they've l i v e d it'
Pennsylvania bill legalizing medical marijuana has former DEA agent, State Rep. Mike Regan's (Republican) support.
Mexico’s Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Personal Marijuana Use
Ruling could pave way for legalization of recreational use.
Earl Blumenauer: DEA chief unfit after calling medical pot ‘a joke’
During morning remarks on the House floor, Mr. Blumenauer, Oregon Democrat, said the interim DEA chief’s attitude on medicinal marijuana is “indicative of a throwback ideology rooted in the failed war on drugs,” and he urged the Obama administration to consider a replacement.
“Rosenberg is clearly not the right fit for the DEA in this administration,” the congressman continued. “He’s an example of the inept, misinformed zealot who has mismanaged America’s failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”
Federal Court Tells The DEA To Stop Harassing Medical Marijuana Providers
In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." The ruling could have a broad impact on the DEA's ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward.
Seeing it as perhaps the final nail in the coffin of the DEA's years-long involvement with California's medical marijuana program, medical marijuana advocates are cheering the ruling. "It's great to see the judicial branch finally starting to hold the Justice Department accountable for its willful violation of Congress's intent to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws," said Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority.
Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project agreed. "This is a big win for medical marijuana patients and their providers," he wrote in a statement, "and a significant victory in our efforts to end the federal government’s war on marijuana. Federal raids of legitimate medical marijuana businesses aren’t just stupid and wasteful, but also illegal."
POTUS To SCOTUS; Leave CO MJ Alone
The Obama administration has advised the Supreme Court not to hear a lawsuit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma against Colorado's legalization of marijuana. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli has pointed out that Nebraska and Oklahoma failed to properly file in district court first and that taking the case "would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of this Court's jurisdiction".
11 Things Colorado Can Now Fund Thanks to Legal Marijuana
1. $40 million for school construction.
2. $2.5 million for marijuana education and prevention campaigns.
3. $2 million for bullying prevention school grants.
4. $2 million for drop-out prevention school grants.
5. $2 million for youth mentoring services.
6. $1 million for poison control centers.
7. $1 million for local government marijuana impact grants.
8. $500,000 for substance abuse screening, intervention, and referral.
9. $500,000 for substance abuse treatment.
10. $300,000 for Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs at the State Fair.
11. $200,000 for roadside impaired-driving enforcement training for peace officers
Because the state made way more than lawmakers had anticipated, there is an additional $8 million in marijuana revenue that has yet to be allocated.
Victory! Congress passes bills to prohibit DEA from interfering with medical marijuana and hemp research in those states that have legalized them. It also okays federal funding for needle exchange programs.
Thanks to language in the omnibus spending bill the DEA's hands are tied and all they can do is stand there, w a t c h, and fume.
***smiles***
Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Win Battle Against Federal Crackdown
Medical marijuana dispensaries scored a major win on Monday when a federal judge ruled that the Department of Justice cannot prosecute legal providers of medical cannabis.
"This is a big win for medical marijuana patients and their providers, and a significant victory in our efforts to end the federal government’s war on marijuana. Federal raids of legitimate medical marijuana businesses aren’t just stupid and wasteful, but also illegal," said Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for Marijuana Policy Project, in a statement.
"It's great to see the judicial branch finally starting to hold the Justice Department accountable for its willful violation of Congress's intent to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws,"said Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. "I hope the Obama administration takes this ruling to heart and makes sure DEA and federal prosecutors finally stop trying to stand between patients and their medicine."
U.S. Surgeon General: ‘Marijuana Can Be Helpful’
The nation’s top doctor says that marijuana has medical benefits for some patients.
In a Wednesday appearance on “CBS This Morning,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, surgeon general of the United States, said, “We have some preliminary data showing that for certain medical conditions and symptoms, that marijuana can be helpful.”
“I think that we have to use that data to drive policymaking,” he added.
Anti-Pot Group Blames 'Big Marijuana' for Nonexistent Increase in Adolescent Cannabis Consumption
Neither Colorado nor Washington has seen a statistically significant change in underage use since legalization.
A recent analysis of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows a small, statistically insignificant increase in cannabis consumption by Colorado teenagers between 2012-13, when marijuana possession by adults 21 and older became legal in that state, and 2013-14, when state-licensed merchants began selling marijuana to recreational consumers. The share of 12-to-17-year-olds reporting marijuana use in the previous month rose from 11.2 percent to 12.6 percent. (The state prevalence estimates combine two years of data to compensate for relatively small samples.) The anti-pot group SAM ("Smart Approaches to Marijuana") made the most of the new numbers:
Colorado now leads the country in past-month youth marijuana use, after legalizing marijuana in 2012. The state claims this dubious distinction after being in third place in the 2012-2013 report, and in fourth place in the 2011-2012 study.
By focusing on the change in Colorado's rank, SAM obscured the fact that neither of these changes was statistically significant, a point that SAM President Kevin Sabet further obfuscated by blaming "Big Tobacco" for a possibly nonexistent increase in underage use. "In Colorado especially," he said, "Big Marijuana has been allowed to run wild, and it appears that kids are paying the price more than in any other state in the country."
Vermont's Attorney General Bill Sorrell Predicts Legislature Will Legalize Marijuana In 2016
"Let me put it this way, I will be surprised if marijuana is not legalized in this next legislative session," he said. There are enough votes for legislation to pass in the Senate, he says, and outgoing Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he would sign a bill.
Most Colorado Voters Say Legal Marijuana Is A Good Thing
It's been almost two years since Colorado regulated recreational marijuana for sale, and according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on 11/20/2015 a majority of the state's voters support the decision and say its outcome has been good.
Support For Legalizing Marijuana Continues To Grow
According to the most recent Gallup poll (http://tinyurl.com/p675q7t) support for legalizing marijuana is at an all time high. The poll, released on 10/21/2015, shows 58% of Americans favor legalizing marijuana with increases in support in all age groups. With support averaging 56% since 2013 the trend is expected to continue unabated. Once considered political suicide many pols now call for the federal government to abstain from intervening with states efforts to legalize and regulate not only medical marijuana but recreational as well. A growing number even openly endorse outright legalization at the federal level.
Canada Officially Begins Move Toward Legalizing Marijuana
Canada’s new prime minister was only sworn in less than two weeks ago, but he has already directed his government to begin the process that will lead to the nationwide legalization of marijuana.
“I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes to d e l i v e r on your top priorities [including]a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana,” Prime Minster Justin Trudeau wrote to Jody Wilson-Raybould, the country’s new justice minister and attorney general.
New Study Proves That Marijuana Doesn't Lower IQ
New study using identical twins debunks seriously flawed Duke University study. Marijuana use not linked to declines in IQ.
The Real Reason Marijuana Is Illegal
Potential Marijuana Legalization in Arizona Threatens TASC Drug Treatment Firm's Funding
A Maricopa County nonprofit that makes much of its money off low-level marijuana offenders would take a big financial hit if Arizona voters legalize marijuana in November.
The Treatment Assessment Screening Center, better known as TASC, contracts with the county to provide six months of mandatory drug-treatment services for first- or second-time offenders who get busted for possession of illegal drugs. TASC participants, with exceptions for low-income offenders, pay their own way for the program
If Arizonans vote "yes" on the Colorado-style legalization measure expected to be on the ballot next year, it would have huge effect on TASC, the nonprofit's CEO, Doug Kramer, acknowledges. TASC would need to seek out other court-ordered funding sources "to counter the loss of operating revenue," Kramer says.
Dabs, The Latest Marijuana Trend Police And Media Are Needlessly Freaking Out About
A highly potent form of marijuana has made its way to the East Coast, and law enforcement and “advocates” are very worried. In fact, they’re so worried that they are making false and baseless claims about its dangers.
Petition calls to remove DNC chair over anti-marijuana statements
Democratic National Committee chairperson and Florida House Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been speaking out against marijuana legalization while simultaneously accepting substantial campaign contributions from the alcohol industry, as reported by The Intercept, and critics say she should be replaced as DNC chair due to her “cannabis hypocrisy.”
A Quebec Judge Slammed Canada’s 'Antiquated and Ridiculous’ Marijuana Laws
On Thursday, a Quebec judge called out Canada's "ridiculous" marijuana laws, noting that lawyers and others who work in the legal system are probably getting high themselves. Characterizing current marijuana laws as "obsolete," he added that there's little doubt that crown attorneys, defense lawyers, and judges are among the 50 percent of Canadians who use weed.
Homicides Down Since Beginning of Legal Cannabis Sales in Denver
In one of the most drastic examples of the potential benefits of legalized cannabisColorados-Recreational-Marijuana-Task-Force, Denver, Colorado has seen a sizable reduction in violent crimes – particularly homicides – since the beginning of legal recreational cannabis sales.
Maryland Senate Overrides Governor’s Anti-Marijuana Veto
The Maryland Senate dashed Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s efforts to prevent the decriminalization of marijuana Thursday.
The Democrat-controlled assembly mustered the three-fifths majority needed to override the Republican governor’s veto in a vote on the bill that would decriminalize the use of marijuana in public, as well as possession of cannabis paraphernalia like pipes and papers.
The bill’s advocates said it fixed an anomaly in the law, where marijuana use was decriminalized, but paraphernalia remained illegal. Sen. Robert A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat and sponsor of the bill, said the bill “is really a correction to what we did a couple years ago.”
Marijuana Reduces Alzheimers Symptoms, Scientists Say
A study has found that cannabis oil ingestion corresponded with decreased levels of aggression, irritability, apathy and delusions.
Legal Weed Having Little Effect On Teen Marijuana Use, Federal Data Shows
Federal data released this week found there was no change in monthly marijuana use in nearly every U.S. state compared to last year. The only significant changes were in Rhode Island, Ohio and Hawaii, where monthly marijuana use fell year over year.
The Mexican President Promises a Debate on Marijuana Legalization
By Gabriela Gorbea
November 10, 2015 | 4:05 pm
Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto has promised a major national debate to decide the country's position on marijuana legalization, the week after the country's supreme court granted four individuals the permission to cultivate and use the drug.
Peña Nieto instructed the country's interior ministry to organize the debate he said would include experts from multiple disciplines and will define Mexico's stance at next spring's United Nations global drug policy summit as well as the country's own specific policies on the issue.
While he laid out his own personal opposition to legalization — arguing that marijuana consumption leads to harder drugs — the president said he could be persuaded to change his mind.
"I am not the owner of the truth," Peña Nieto said. "I am open to listening to well-documented positions that are scientifically sustainable and could lead to a different position."..."from the human rights perspective you cannot stop anybody, specifically the four people in the case, from using their freedom to consume it if they want."
State Lawmakers To Congress: Butt Out Of Our Marijuana Laws
The National Conference of State Legislatures, the de facto bipartisan group of lawmakers, passed a resolution at its annual meeting Thursday calling on the federal government to amend the Controlled Substances Act to authorize state marijuana laws and on the administration to keep its nose out of state pot policies.
The resolution reaffirms that the federal government cannot use its power to force states, the laboratories of democracy, to criminalize marijuana or hemp, as “doing so would constitute unconstitutional commandeering.”
** Marijuana use and risk of prediabetes and diabetes by middle adulthood: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study
Conclusions/interpretation
"Marijuana use in young adulthood is associated with an increased risk of prediabetes by middle adulthood."
Arizona’s Reefer Mad Bill Montgomery Compares Marijuana Expo to Violent “Cartel Members”, Vietnam Vet as “Enemy”
Daily Marijuana Use Does Not Cause Changes In Brain Structure Or Development in Adolescents or Adults
From a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience
Abstract
Recent research has suggested that marijuana use is associated with volumetric and shape differences in subcortical structures, including the nucleus accumbens and amygdala, in a dose-dependent fashion. Replication of such results in well controlled studies is essential to clarify the effects of marijuana. To that end, this retrospective study examined brain morphology in a sample of adult daily marijuana users (n = 29) versus nonusers (n = 29) and a sample of adolescent daily users (n = 50) versus nonusers (n = 50). Groups were matched on a critical confounding variable, alcohol use, to a far greater degree than in previously published studies. We acquired high-resolution MRI scans, and investigated group differences in gray matter using voxel-based morphometry, surface-based morphometry, and shape analysis in structures suggested to be associated with marijuana use, as follows: the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus, and cerebellum. No statistically significant differences were found between daily users and nonusers on volume or shape in the regions of interest. Effect sizes suggest that the failure to find differences was not due to a lack of statistical power, but rather was due to the lack of even a modest effect. IN SUM, THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT, WHEN CONTROLLING FOR ALCOHOL USE, GENDER, AGE, AND OTHER VARIABLES, THERE IS NO ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MARIJUANA USE AND STANDARD VOLUMETRIC OR SHAPE MEASUREMENTS OF SUBCORTICAL STRUCTURES.
14 Years After Decriminalizing Heroin, Here’s What Portugal Looks Like
The total number of people using drugs in Portugal has actually fallen by more than a third since the country began focusing on treatment programs instead of punishment.
In 2001, critics worried that drug addiction rates would skyrocket, but not only have they come down, heroin addiction rates have been cut in half.
HIV infections, which are spread by shared needles, have also been cut in half, while the number of drug-related deaths has been cut by 75%.
Teenage girl dies after she stops taking medical marijuana and returns to home state to campaign for Connecticut MMJ legalization. WOULD STILL BE A L I V E IF PERMITTED TO CONTINUE TREATMENT WITH MMJ WHILE IN CONNECTICUT. Draconian drug laws kill 13yo girl! CONNECTICUT PROHIBITIONISTS DENY GIRL L I F E SAVING MEDICINE AND KILL HER!
Marijuana Reduces Cancer Risk And Kills Existing Tumors
According to multiple study findings published on Cancer.gov, “Cannabinoids appear to kill tumor cells but do not affect their nontransformed counterparts and may even protect them from cell death.”
Colorado Offers Look At Life After Legalization
The consensus among several top state officials — who emphasize that their job is to carry out the will of the voters rather than mull whether their constituents made the right choice — is that there have been no widely felt negative effects on the state since marijuana became legal, and a crop of retail stores, cultivation facilities, and manufacturers sprung up from Aurora to Telluride.
Legalization has ushered in thousands of new jobs in the burgeoning industry, brought $135 million into state coffers last year, and ended the prohibition of a widely used substance.
“There are a certain number of folks, like myself, who were pretty reticent about it to begin with,” said House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, a Democrat. But “the sky didn’t fall. Everything seems to be working pretty well.”
And Dr. Larry Wolk, the top medical official in Colorado’s public health department, said that since legalization no large troubling public health trends have cropped up yet.
Opponents of legalization point to a federal drug survey that estimates Colorado had the highest level of any state of 12- to 17-year-olds reporting marijuana use in the last 30 days for 2013-2014. But the change in Colorado’s youth use rate from 2012-2013 — before full legalization— to 2013-2014 — partly after — was not statistically significant. And federal statisticians say the findings are not sufficient to draw conclusions about changes in youth marijuana use patterns as a result of legalization.
Wolk, the top doctor at the state’s public health department, said Colorado marijuana use has always been high compared with the rest of the country.
“No pun intended,” he said, “we started high and stayed high — use hasn’t increased in a statistically significant way since legalization. Those that were using before are still using now, among youths and adults.”
VICTORY! SCOTUS Rejects MJ Suit Against Colorado
In a 6-2 decision the Supreme Court has thrown out a lawsuit brought against Colorado by Nebraska and Oklahoma. The suit claimed that legal marijuana in Colorado was causing "a direct and significant detrimental impact — namely the diversion of limited manpower and resources to arrest and process suspected and convicted felons involved in the increased illegal marijuana trafficking or transportation." Citing the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution and the illegality of marijuana at the federal level they wanted SCOTUS to overturn Colorado's marijuana law. Instead SCOTUS has refused to hear the case and told Nebraska and Oklahoma to beat feet.
***smiles***
FBI Anti-Marijuana Hiring Policy Problematic For Cyber Security Program
The FBI is struggling to tackle cyber crime lately and that’s partly because the agency is having a difficult time hiring new cyber security experts.
Beyond the often higher paying private sector firms competing for talent, the FBI’s own drug policy poses a problem for hiring new cyber security talent, as reported by VICE.
On Monday FBI Director James B. Comey said the agency may need to loosen its no-tolerance marijuana policy to hire new cyber security hackers, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Indeed, a substantial portion of the country’s top computer programmers and hackers enjoy marijuana, and most of them aren’t going to quit just to work for the FBI.
CDC Tells Doctors To Stop Testing Patients For Marijuana
As part of its plan to change the healthcare community’s cavalier attitude towards the distribution of dangerous prescription painkillers, the federal government has advised physicians across the United States to stop testing their patients for marijuana.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an updated set of guidelines for prescribing opioids to patients suffering from chronic pain. Buried inside the language of this attempt to put a leash on the prescription painkiller epidemic, the CDC urged doctors to modify their drug screening policies in an effort to prevent those testing positive for THC metabolites from being disqualified from treatment.
Although the agency wrote that it still believes urine testing is necessary to discover any “undisclosed use” of illicit substances, it specifically states that this rule no longer applies to THC.
Which Is Worse For You – Marijuana Smoke Or Tobacco Smoke?
According to a 2015 study conducted at Emory University in Atlanta, the inhalation of cannabis smoke, even over extended periods of time, is not associated with detrimental effects on pulmonary function, such as forced expiratory volume (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FCV). Assessing marijuana smoke exposure and lung health in a large representative sample of U.S. adults, age 18 to 59, they maintained, “The pattern of marijuana’s effects seems to be distinctly different when compared to that of tobacco use.” Subjects had inhaled the equivalent of one marijuana cigarette per day for 20 years, yet did not experience FEV1 decline or deleterious change in spirometric values of small airways disease.
Brookings Bombshell: America Needs High-Quality Marijuana Medications
John Hudak, a researcher with the nonpartisan Brookings Institution think tank, concluded in a March 22 study that the White House and Congress must act immediately to save American l i v e s by passing the CARERS act, a marijuana liberalization law that would lift barriers to medical marijuana research, protect doctors and patients, and ultimately re-schedule marijuana so that therapeutic formulations can be made available in all 50 states and territories.
Atascadero To Legalize Medical Marijuana Cultivation Once Again
City Council unanimously votes to allow medical marijuana cultivation
Top 6 Industries Fighting Legal Marijuana
When confronted by multibillion dollar organizations arguing that they are just looking out for your welfare by keeping marijuana illegal just follow the money trail, it will lead to the truth.
Study: Marijuana Associated With Decreased Migraine Frequency
Cannabis administration is associated with decreased migraine headache frequency, according to data published online ahead of print in the journal Pharmacotherapy.
Authors reported that 85 percent of subjects reported a decrease in migraine frequency.
“Migraine headache frequency decreased from 10.4 to 4.6 headache per month with the use of medical marijuana,” researchers concluded.
It should come as no surprise that the top six industries that are opposed to the legalization of marijuana are the ones with the most to lose. With billions of dollars at stake they have pulled out all of the stops in a bid to keep marijuana illegal and their profits safe.
Leading our list is Big Pharma who wants to push their patented chemical cocktails and highly addictive opioid painkillers. These purveyors of chemical dependence not only spend millions on direct marketing with tv ads and sales reps taking doctors to fancy restaurants and paying for expensive weekend retreats in an effort to get them to (over)prescribe their product, they give millions more in campaign contributions to prohibitionist politicians and organizations.
Coming in at second place is Big Alcohol. They definitely fear a legal marijuana market would cut into their profits. Alcohol is an addictive violence causing poison that kills its victims (usually) slowly, endangers the public, and destroys families. With marijuana being scientifically proven to be far less dangerous than alcohol they do indeed have something to fear, people substituting the former for the latter.
Third on the list is the Private Prison Industry which relies on draconian drug sentencing laws to fill their beds and coffers. Minimum sentencing laws are one of their biggest money makers.
Our fourth entry also depends on harsh drug laws and sentencing guidelines, Prison Guard Unions. Without the spectacularly failed War On (some) Drugs to help them lock up one fifth of the worlds prison population they would be out of work and forced to take their GED's and look for other, far less lucrative work.
Number five is also law enforcement, Police Unions. Without their drug related property forfeiture scams, where they don't even have to bring charges to legally steal everything you own, million of dollars would slip through their civil rights violating mitts.
And finally but not necessarily least in our number six position is Big Tobacco. The mere idea that tobacco executives lobby against marijuana is offensive beyond words. Tobacco undeniably causes cancer while marijuana has been shown to shrink cancer cells and provide relief for chemotherapy patients. They produce and sell a deadly toxic substance and then oppose the legalization of marijuana? They certainly aren't doing it to protect anyone's health, only to protect their obscene profits. What they're really worried about is a legal third vice competing with them. Also of concern is the fact that individuals tend to smoke more when drinking alcohol, something that may well diminish if people are given a choice between booze and marijuana.
When confronted by multibillion dollar organizations arguing that they are just looking out for your welfare by keeping marijuana illegal just follow the money trail, it will lead to the truth.
Legalized Marijuana Gaining Support In Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Supporters of legal marijuana hope to spur action on an issue they say has broad support in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Cannabis Coalition met Sunday night in Nashville to gear up for the upcoming legislative session.
The activist group said 76 percent of Tennesseans support medical marijuana.
They hope increased awareness will lead to voting on the issue.
The coalition said the positive news from states that have legalized marijuana could help raise awareness here in Tennessee.
“The data that’s coming out of Colorado is incredibly promising,” said Tennessee Cannabis Coalition founder Cecily Friday-Shamim.
“We’re seeing a reduction in vehicle fatalities, we’re seeing a reduction in violent crime, you know we’re seeing a lot of positive things coming out of legal states.”
This year, six states will vote on to legalize marijuana.
CBD In Marijuana 'Induces Rapid Antidepressant-Like Effects'
CBD’s fast-acting antidepressant effects in lab study hold promise for those struggling with depression.
The rapid onset of CBD’s antidepressant effects are of particular interest because at present, nearly all pharmaceutical antidepressants must be taken for weeks before patients feel any effects kick in.
Marijuana-Based Drug Found to Reduce Epileptic Seizures
An experimental drug derived from marijuana has succeeded in reducing epileptic seizures in its first major clinical trial, the product’s developer announced on Monday, a finding that could lend credence to the medical marijuana movement.
The developer, GW Pharmaceuticals, said the drug, Epidiolex, achieved the main goal of the trial, reducing convulsive seizures when compared with a placebo in patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. GW shares more than doubled on Monday.
The War On Drugs' Horribly Racist Origins Have Finally Been Revealed
A former adviser to President Richard Nixon said the war on drugs was invented to criminalize black people and suppress the radical left, according to an article published by Harper's.
Dan Baum, a Harper's contributor and former staff writer for the New Yorker, recalled a conversation he had in 1994 with former adviser to the president for domestic affairs John Ehrlichman, who served 18 months in federal prison for perjury charges stemming from the Watergate scandal.
Here's his damning admission to Baum, via Harper's:
At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. "You want to know what this was really all about?" he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did."
Medical Marijuana States Have Fewer Suicides
Researchers took a close look at state-level suicide data over a 17-year period, from 1990 to 2007, from the National Vital Statistics System’s mortality detail files. They analyzed data from the 12 states that had legalized medical marijuana during that time and compared it with states that continued to criminalize the drug. In states that had legalized marijuana for medical use, there was a 10.8 percent reduction in the suicide rate of men in their 20s and a 9.4 percent reduction in men in their 30s, the study found.
New Study Suggests Marijuana's Impact On Crash Risk Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
Pot prohibitionists frequently warn that legalization will flood the roads with dangerously stoned drivers, leading to a surge in traffic fatalities. So far there is not much evidence of such a surge in Colorado or Washington, where marijuana was legalized in 2012. A new study may help explain why: It looks like marijuana’s impact on traffic safety has been greatly exaggerated.
Reporters and anti-pot activists commonly warn that marijuana use doubles the risk of a car crash. Even if that were true, toking would pale in comparison to drinking as a road hazard, since research indicates that a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10% quintuples the risk of an accident. But according to an analysis that’s about to be published by the journal Addiction, the increase in crash risk associated with marijuana use is roughly 20% to 30%, as opposed to the widely cited estimate of 92%.
Drive To Legalize Marijuana In Maine Advances On Judge's Ruling
An effort to allow Maine residents to vote to legalize recreational marijuana use advanced on Friday when a judge overruled a state official's decision invalidating some of the signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot.
The ruling came a month after Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap's office disqualified almost half of the 99,229 voter signatures gathered by marijuana activists, leaving the initiative without enough certified supporters to land a spot on the ballot.
The Secretary of State's office said it had invalidated the petitions over concerns that the signatures of notaries public on various forms submitted did not match up with versions on file in official state records.
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol, a national group advocating for the referendum, appealed the state's decision last month, saying that officials had disenfranchised tens of thousands of Maine voters based on a "handwriting technicality."
Maine Business and Consumer Court Justice Michaela Murphy on Friday ruled the state used an "incorrect and improper standard" to invalidate the signatures.
Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace Against Anti-Marijuana Petition
Commissioner Pace released the following statement:
“I’m saddened that a vocal minority is willing to tear apart our community when the voters of Pueblo have already spoken loud and clear. The result will be the same…again… except the community will be divided unnecessarily for the next seven months.
The folks running the measure need to explain to the hundreds of people working in Pueblo’s cannabis, construction, and real estate industries how they will put food on the table if this measure is successful.
Finally, if this passes what do we say to Pueblo County high school students promised scholarships, to the Colorado State Fair, Colorado State University-Pueblo, North Mesa and South Mesa Elementary, Beulah School, Runyon Field, Rye Mountain Park, and many other programs anticipating funds approved by the voters this past November from the 1B excise tax measure?”
Congress Passes Three Amendments to Stop DEA from Undermining State Marijuana Laws
Important Victories Build on Last Night’s Votes to End DEA's Controversial Bulk Data Collection Program, Cut DEA's Budget
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Legislators passed three amendments today to prohibit the DEA and U.S. Department of Justice from undermining state marijuana laws, as part of the U.S. House of Representatives' consideration of the Fiscal Year 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill. A fourth amendment failed. The House also passed an amendment last night ending the DEA’s controversial bulk data collection program. It also passed three amendments cutting $23 million from the DEA’s budget, and shifted it to fighting child abuse, processing rape test kits, reducing the deficit, and paying for body cameras on police officers to reduce law enforcement abuses.
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