The president's budget adds one word that allows DC to move ahead with legalization, the marijuana and medical marijuana bills keep coming, hemp is coming to Oregon (get your permits now!), opposition is mounting to public aid benefits drug testing in Wisconsin, and more. Let's get to it:
Obama Budget Leaves DC Free to Legalize. Tucked inside the president's just-released 2016 budget proposal is a subtle language change that would let DC legalize and regulate marijuana sales any way it sees fit. It does so by adding a single word. The Obama budget bars the use of any federal funds, while the congressional budget language bars the use of funds. By adding the word "federal," the Obama budget language leaves DC free to use its own funds to implement the legalization measure approved by voters in November.
Illinois Decriminalization Bill Filed. Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) has introduced a bill that would decriminalize the possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana, with violators paying a fine of no more than $100. The measure is House Bill 218.
Maryland Paraphernalia Decriminalization Bill Filed. Del. Curt Anderson (D-Baltimore) has filed legislation that would decriminalize the possession of marijuana paraphernalia. Maryland decriminalized pot -- but not paraphernalia -- last year, and this bill seeks to rectify that oversight. The bill is House Bill 105.
Wyoming Marijuana Study Bill No Longer Blocks Consideration of Other Pot Bills. The House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would study marijuana legalization in other states, but not before amending it to remove language that would have blocked consideration of other marijuana-related bills. The measure is House Bill 187.
Medical Marijuana
Federal Appeals Court Questions Attempt to Shut Down Oakland Dispensary. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today challenged federal prosecutors over their attempt to shut down Oakland's Harborside dispensary. The judges wanted to know why the effort was continuing given recent policy pronouncements from the Justice Department that it would not go after dispensaries where they are legal.
Federal Bill to Allow VA Docs to Recommend Medical Marijuana Filed. US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and 16 bipartisan cosponsors have introduced a bill that would allow Veterans Affairs (VA) physicians to discuss and recommend medical marijuana to their patients, a right enjoyed by physicians outside of the VA system. The Veterans Equal Access Act is not yet available on the congressional web site.
Illinois Issues Medical Marijuana Licenses. Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) Monday issued medical marijuana licenses and permits to qualifying growers and sellers. The move came after former Gov. Pat Quinn (D) failed to act on the permits before his term expired. See the full list of licenses and permits here.
Missouri Medical Marijuana Bill Filed. Rep. Dave Hinson (R-St. Clair) has filed a full-fledged medical marijuana bill. The bill would allow patients to possess up to 2.5 ounces and would require that the medicine be grown in the state. The measure is House Bill 800.
Virginia CBD Medical Marijuana Bill Moves. A bill that would allow epilepsy patients to use low-THC, high-CBD medical marijuana won a committee vote Monday. Senate Bill 1235 passed the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on an 11-2 vote.
Hemp
Oregon Now Accepting Industrial Hemp Applications. The state Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for licenses and permits for industrial hemp. Click here for license and permit applications.
Drug Testing
Wisconsin Governor's Public Aid Drug Testing Scheme Will Be Opposed By Dane County. Dane County (Madison) executive Joe Parisi (D) said Monday he might sue Gov. Scott Walker over his plans to drug test recipients of public aid benefits. "People who fall on hard times should not be treated like criminals; they should be treated like people who have fallen on hard times: with dignity and respect. Requiring someone who has just been laid off from their job to pee in a cup is not treating people in a dignified manner; it is degrading and insulting," Parisi said in a statement.
Wisconsin Governor's Public Aid Drug Testing Scheme Challenged by Coalition. A coalition of 15 groups are challenging Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to require applicants for and recipients of public assistance and unemployment insurance to pass drug tests. The groups all signed onto a letter criticizing the plan. The coalition includes advocates for Wisconsin's poor and women, members of the state's faith community, organized labor, and more.
International
Indonesia Set to Execute Eight More Drug Offenders, Including Seven Foreigners. A spokesman for the Indonesian attorney general's office said today that the country is preparing to execute eight drug smugglers, including citizens of Australia, Brazil, France, Ghana, Nigeria, and the Philippines. It executed six others just two weeks ago, despite international condemnation.
Cancer patients can't wait
I'm a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research. The evidence of the value of Marijuana as a life saving medicine is now so strong that the need to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 has become a moral imperative.
This weekend over 3,000 Americans died, in pain, of Cancer. Today, tomorrow, and every day after that, 1,500 more Americans will die, after suffering horribly, from it. Every single minute another American dies of Cancer. Every American Cancer patient deserves the right to have safe, legal, and economical access to Medical Marijuana. Every single one.
Americans who need Medical Marijuana shouldn't be used as "Political Footballs" Please call the Whitehouse comment line at (202) 456-1111 and ask that the President take immediate action to remove Marijuana from Schedule 1 so American Physicians in all 50 states can prescribe it. Go to petitions.whitehouse.gov -- there are two petitions you can sign electronically there, one to take Marijuana off of Schedule 1 -- https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-whole-cannabis-plant-schedule-1-medical-research-patient-access/vjzmSRS3 other to legalize it completely -- https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/full-legalization-marijuana-united-states-america/4J1C5skR
Oncologists have know it for more than a quarter of a Century that Marijuana is a "wonder drug" for helping Cancer patients.
The American Society of Clinical Oncologists wants Marijuana removed from Schedule 1. So does the American Medical Association, the professional society of all Physicians. A strong majority of Americans want Physicians in all 50 states to be able to prescribe Medical Marijuana. So do their Physicians., Cancer patients can't wait.
The need to immediately, completely, legalize Marijuana throughout the world is one of the most pressing moral issues of our time, because of its medical benefits and because of the damage prohibition causes to America and to the world.
Complete legalization is critical -- its vital that there aren't "strings" or "hoops" that Cancer patients and others who need Medical Marijuana are forced to jump through.
"Charlottes web" is NOT the solution. Cancer patients and people who suffer from chronic pain need THC, not just CBD. The "Berkeley study", where 96% of stage 4 Cancer patients who had a wide variety of Cancers achieved remission, used high dose Medical Marijuana oil, 72% THC, 28% CBD, 1 gram/day (oral) over a 90 day course of treatment. It was a small study, and not placebo controlled, but those kinds of results are clearly remarkable, have been widely reported on in the press, and demand the need for immediate large scale clinical trials.
More and more present and former members of law enforcement agree about the need to end prohibition, and have formed a rapidly expanding group of current and former undercover cops, FBI, DEA, prosecutors and Judges, from all over the world, called
LEAP -- Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
because they've seen the damage prohibition causes to America and the world.
See http://www.leap.cc/
I'm a Scientist. Not a politician, not a cop.
But as a Scientist with a strong interest in Cancer research, I feel even more strongly about the need to ensure that no Cancer patient is denied it, because I'm so impressed with its benefits for Cancer patients.
I urge everyone reading this to PLEASE call and email the Attorney General, the press, Congress and the President today.
Medical Marijuana helps with Alzheimer's, Autism, Cancer, seizures, PTSD and chronic pain, and has helped many Americans, including many veterans, stop using Alcohol, and hard drugs, both legal and illegal ones.
Every minute an American dies of Cancer.
Every 19 minutes an American dies of a prescription drug overdose.
Many vets become addicted to prescription opiates and die from them.
NOBODY has ever died from smoking too much pot.
Cancer patients are seeing remarkable results using high dose Medical Marijuana oil, in many cases achieving complete remission, even for stage 4 cancers -- there are many excellent articles on the web, and videos on youtube with patient's personal stories about their experiences with it -- and every Cancer patient that uses Marijuana to ease their suffering benefits greatly from doing so.
It is immoral to leave Marijuana illegal, for anyone, for even a second longer.
For Cancer patients, its a matter of life and death.
Cancer patients can't wait.
Medical Marijuana has an unmatched safety profile, and for people who suffer from so many diseases, of so many kinds, its a medical miracle -- and the scientific evidence behind it is rock solid.
For Cancer patients, Medical Marijuana encourages apoptosis and autophagy of Cancer cells, while leaving normal cells untouched, is anti-angigogenic, anti-proliferative, and is anti-angiogenic.
Its also synergistic with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, making both more effective.
For many Cancer patients its meant the difference between life and death.
For everyone else, its a far safer alternative to Alcohol, and infinitely safer than Cigarettes.
Either take them off the market too, or legalize Marijuana right now.
2016 is too far away, Its too long to wait. Every year we lose more Americans to Cancer than died in WWII.
Between now and the 2016 elections, roughly 1 MILLION Americans will die of Cancer.
And Its a horrible way to die.
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