Activism

The debate over medical marijuana is nothing new, but it has been picking up momentum lately, as more states move towards legalized control over the system. If you want to learn more about the medical ethics, benefits and uses of marijuana, as well as the research and court cases surrounding legalization, check out these 30 blogs.

Legal and News

Get state news, national regulation concern, and other news about the legal and business side of medical marijuana.

1. NORML Blog: The campaign to reform marijuana laws is tracked and promoted on this blog. Recommended posts: "I Gots Mine: Dispensary Owners Against Marijuana Legalization" and "California’s Prop 19: A Word-for-Word Analysis."

Stop the Drug War, Before They Kick In Your Door

By Paul Stanford, Executive Director of THCF for Hemp News

My speech at the 2010 Seattle Hempfest is my effort to highlight the historical, scientific and philosophical importance of hemp and cannabis. I honor cannabis reform activists that have passed on, such as Jack Herer and Dr. Tod Mikuriya; those arrested for cannabis, such as cannabis minister Roger Christie of Hawaii, Marc Emery of Canada, and Eddy Lepp of California; and those sentenced to death for cannabis in Malaysia.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News

Gatewood is currently campaigning for Kentucky's 2011 gubernatorial race; Please support him any way you can as he will end the "Synthetic Subversion" in his state.

Learn more about his efforts: http://www.gatewood.com

Footage: Seattle Hempfest
August 21, 2010

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJjpJlCZ7mc

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town & Special to Hemp News

If you've never been to Seattle Hempfest, the world's largest "protestival" based around marijuana, you really owe it to yourself. While it's hard to describe the vibe of being in a crowd of a couple hundred thousand like-minded people, those who have been there keep coming back again and again.

Hempfest, going strong since 1991, is one of the best and almost certainly the biggest marijuana rally in the world. This year's edition hits Seattle on Saturday, August 21 and Sunday, August 22, and is dedicated to the memory of legendary hemp activist Jack Herer, whom the movement lost this year.

Free admission, good music, friendly people, and a beautiful setting have always been among the reasons to attend -- and Myrtle Edwards Park on the lovely Seattle waterfront is guaranteed to be smelling really good once the party kicks in.

"The Seattle Hempfest is incredibly inspirational," said Paul Stanford of this year's primary sponsors The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF).

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF) is proud to be the main sponsor of the Seattle Hempfest because our mission is to educate the general community about the benefits of the cannabis plant to our society. Hempfest 2010 will be held on August 21st and 22nd, and takes place every year at Myrtle Edwards Park expanding in recent years to include the adjacent parks. Hempfest offers five stages of entertainment, a Hemposium question and answer forum, and hundreds of vendor booths, sure to please a myriad of musical, informational, and entrepreneurial tastes.

The time to act in support of hemp is now, so please reach out and create awareness in your community. The Berlin Wall fell quickly, and together we can end this unjust war on the cannabis plant in the same manner, but we need to unite in solidarity. Vivian McPeak, the event's director declares, "No political or human rights movement in America has made it this far without eventually winning. It's just a matter of time."

Wes Woods II, Staff Writer

Thomas Place, 55, of Rialto, wants more research conducted on the ingestion of marijuana to assist AIDS patients and has helped create an AIDS patient medical marijuana group to further the cause.

"I just want to help other people," Place said, after showing off his concoction of marijuana tincture, a concoction that he says has helped him overcome renal failure. "I've seen people in different clinics struggling."

Place's group, the Inland Empire HIV/AIDS Medical Marijuana Patient Support Group, meets at 7:30 p.m. Mondays in Riverside.

The support group, which is also open to caregivers and family members, has had open discussions on using marijuana for treating AIDS-related symptoms for about a month.

Meetings are for dispensing information such as using marijuana, methods of injection, legal ramifications and sources for obtaining it.

Members, who maintain they are not drug addicts, said AIDS medicines often bring with them side effects that marijuana does not have.

Place said he and group facilitator Lanny Swerdlow would not be allowed to promote using marijuana if the meetings were help in a public-owned facility, which is why the meetings take place at the THCF Medical Clinic & Patient Center.

By John Hoeffel, LA Now

The 200,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers, Western States Council, on Wednesday announced its support for Proposition 19, the initiative to legalize marijuana in California.

“The Western States Council is endorsing Proposition 19 based upon our previous support of the medical cannabis initiative, 1996’s Proposition 215,” George Landers, the council's executive director, said in a statement. “We view Proposition 19 as an enhanced version of the previous proposition, that creates taxable revenue and produces jobs in agriculture, health care, retail and possibly textile. We further believe that the proposition will deprive narcotics traffickers of a significant source of criminal revenue.”

Ron Lind, international president of the union, and Dan Rush of its Local 5 also spoke out in favor of Proposition 19.

“The marriage of the cannabis-hemp industry and UFCW is a natural one,” said Rush. “We are an agriculture, food-processing and retail union, as is this industry.”

The council is the political arm of UFCW in several Western states. It comprises the UFCW local unions in the states it covers.


Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/union-endorses-initiative-...

By Paul Stanford, Chief Petitioner, OCTA 2012

Oregonians for the Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) will soon begin gathering the initial 1000 registered Oregon voters' signatures needed to sponsor the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 petition. After gathering these required first signatures, the Office of the Secretary of State will certify a ballot title with the Attorney General, proposing a statutory initiative for the General Election of November 1, 2012.

OCTA 2012 will set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in adult-only stores for two new state committees that will promote Oregon industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber and food.

It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions of dollars into the state general fund, as well as drug treatment and education.

By Craig M. Burridge, Times Union

Albany, N.Y. -- The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York has become the latest professional health organization to endorse the medical marijuana bill under consideration in Albany.

As medical professionals who believe in palliative care, responsible oversight, and -- most important -- relieving the suffering of ill patients whenever possible, we strongly support this legislation.

It will establish a controlled and orderly system, based on established medical practice, for providing seriously ill patients with access to a medicine that has been demonstrated to relieve intractable pain and suffering.

Since 1996, 14 other states and Washington, D.C., have passed laws to allow doctors to recommend marijuana to qualified patients suffering from ailments such as AIDS, cancer and multiple sclerosis. New York's bill is designed to include the best practices from those states, while at the same time learning from their mistakes.

Compared to other state laws, New York's bill would create a much stricter patient eligibility criteria, and more tightly regulate where the drug can be purchased.

A primary reason why pharmacists support this bill is the active oversight role it grants to the Department of Health. Patients would not be able to grow their own medicine, but rather gain access through a network of licensed pharmacies and nonprofit dispensaries approved and regulated by the Department of Health.

Former Talk Show Host, U.S. Marine and MS Patient Urges Albany Lawmakers to Act Without Delay

By Salem-News, salem-news.com

(ALBANY, N.Y. ) - At a press conference in Albany on Tuesday, former talk show host, U.S. Navy officer and New York City resident Montel Williams urged New York Governor David Paterson and members of the Legislature to act quickly in order to pass New York’s medical marijuana bill.

The New York bill would create one of the best-regulated systems in the country for providing seriously ill patients with safe and effective access to medical marijuana. Mr. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis, and uses medical marijuana to help ease the effects of his condition.

“New York needs to act now to make marijuana legally available for medical use. Every day that we delay is another day of needless suffering for patients like me all across the state,” Williams said.

“Thousands of New Yorkers suffer from serious medical conditions that could benefit from the medical use of marijuana,” said Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, Chair of the Assembly Health Committee and sponsor of the Assembly medical marijuana bill. “If the patient and the doctor agree that the most effective medicine is marijuana, the government should not stand in the way. It is cruel to turn suffering patients into criminals when they are following what their doctor recommends.”

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town

Joseph Casias said on Tuesday that it was unfair of WalMart to fire him for legally using marijuana to treat his cancer pain.

With the backing of state and national branches of the American Civil Liberties Union and his attorney, Daniel Grow, Casias said he filed a lawsuit Tuesday morning in Calhoun County Circuit Court against WalMart Stores Inc for wrongful termination last November, reports the Battle Creek Enquirer.

The 30-year-old Battle Creek, Mich, cancer patient had undergone a routine drug screening after hurting his knee on the job last year. The test showed that Casias had marijuana in his system and he was fired, even though he is registered as a legal medical marijuana patient in Michigan.

Joseph Casias: "They threw me away after all I did"
"I really cared and I wanted to become something there," Casias told Toke of the Town. "I gave them everything. Anything they asked me to do, I did. More than they asked me to do."

"I tried my best; I gave all I could to them and they always talked about 'family.' And they threw me away after all I did," Joseph told us.

"For some people, working at WalMart is just a job, but for me, it was a way of life," Casias said. "I came to WalMart for a better opportunity for my family and I worked hard and proved myself. I just want the opportunity to continue my work."

"I feel like I'm being treated like a felon," he said.

By Michael Bachara, Larry L.K. Kirk and Nick Scranton, Hemp News Staff

On Saturday, June 26, organizers from across the state celebrated the 1st Annual Tacoma Hempfest at Wright Park.

The weather was perfect for a day out as thousands converged and brought attention to the cannabis plant, as well as highlighting the injustice done to Canadian citizen Marc Emery who many feel is wrongly incarcerated in the United States for selling seeds.

"Free Marc Emery" was the chant that could be heard throughout the day in opposition to his incarceration.

Musical acts and keynote speakers such Seattle Hempfest core member Vivian McPeak also inspired the crowd with moving dedications to fallen warrior Jack Herer, by declaring, "Every generation that comes along, it becomes necessary for somebody to step forward who can articulate a message of freedom and hope and show us a pathway away from tyranny to liberty. For this generation that was Jack Herer." He went on by stating, "Jack literally gave his life to the cannabis movement; he refused to stop!"

By D. Paul Stanford, CRRH/THCF

I'm turning 50 on June 26!

This year I'm donating to a good cause: Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH)

This is why I'm donating my birthday

I don't need any presents...why not use my birthday to do something good for the world?

This is my cause

Oregon’s ailing economy needs a boost. How about hemp?

BY JAMES PITKIN | jpitkin at wweek dot com

Rick Rutherford is struggling to make ends meet.

The 43-year-old lives in Northeast Portland but makes most of his income—up to $10,000 in a good year—from his share of farming wheat on 150 acres his family owns near The Dalles.

“You get by,” says Rutherford, who has a coonhound named Rooster and a shepherd-Doberman mix named Ava, but no kids.

He’s convinced he could work his way out of this recession if it weren’t for the federal government. Specifically, the Drug Enforcement Administration.

How come? Rutherford wants to raise hemp, a plant with a PR problem.

Rutherford and other Oregon farmers are blocked by one enduring, illogical and infuriating complication: The plant’s unshakable connection with marijuana, a cousin in the cannabis family that—unlike hemp—contains enough THC to get you high.

Hemp has no effect as a drug. But it does have exceptional properties as a food, fuel, building material and textile. It’s also ultra-sustainable, growing quickly in almost any climate, with little water and no pesticides.

The state of Oregon wants to let Rutherford grow it. So do Montana, Kentucky, Texas and 13 other states. Even Kevin Mannix, the law-and-order ballot-measure behemoth behind Oregon’s Measure 11, says the feds should reconsider.

“I’ve seen enough to know there are serious questions to be answered,” Mannix says.

By DAVID CAMP, THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

I'm sitting in a chill wind on the corner as people stream by on their way to or from the Bellingham Farmer's Market and it's threatening rain. I observe and am open to conversation but few stop to sign my petition. The rejection is starting to get to me and I gain a new-found respect for the young traveler making his way across an indifferent America.

I have had better luck in friendlier environments, like near the Food Co-op, or outside Uisce on St. Patrick's day. I have collected better than 400 signatures personally, and met a lot of very nice people.

And overwhelmingly the people I speak with agree with and support Initiative 1068, which removes all civil and criminal penalties in Washington state civil and criminal for adult cultivation, possession, use, transport, and sale of "marijuana" - as hemp (English) and cannabis sativa (Latin scientific name) is referred to in the prohibition statutes.

This prohibition of a plant - this attempted obliteration of a crop that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew and that clothed the Revolutionary Army, and provided the paper upon which the Declaration of Independence was drafted - is long overdue to end.

Prohibition didn't work for alcohol, which is actually toxic and addictive. Prohibition creates organized crime, turns the police into racketeers, and diminishes respect for the government. Prohibition is an experiment that has failed dismally.

By Sensible Colorado Staff

Attention Veterans, those who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and supporters:

As you may remember during the recent debate over HB-1284, an amendment was introduced that would have added Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the list of qualifying conditions under Colorado’s medical marijuana law. Despite the mountain of scientific evidence, and the very moving testimony of over fifty veterans at the Board of Health meeting last July, the state’s Chief Medical Officer, Ned Calonge, campaigned very aggressively against this amendment resulting in the House Judiciary Committee rejecting it by a vote of 6-5.

In response to this irresponsible disregard for our veterans’ well being, Sensible Colorado and allies have drafted a petition that will soon be submitted to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to include PTSD as a qualifying condition under the state’s medical marijuana program.

We are seeking veterans to assist with this effort, so, if you are a veteran who supports this issue, please contact Dan at dan@sensiblecolorado.org.

We need your help in the fight to protect safe access to medicine. Please consider donating to support this important work.


Source: http://sensiblecolorado.org/help-veterans-access-medical-marijuana-in-co...

ND governmental leaders get the brush-off from the U.S. Justice Department

By SUE ROESLER, Farm & Ranch Guide

North Dakota government leaders and producers aren't giving up on growing industrial hemp.

Another appeal of a lawsuit decision regarding the right of farmers with state licenses to grow industrial hemp without worrying about the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) arresting them was filed last week.

Two North Dakota farmers, State Rep. David Monson and Wayne Hauge, appealed a 2007 industrial hemp lawsuit decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia Circuit last week.

While North Dakota producers can purchase state licenses to grow industrial hemp, the DEA continues to ignore their requests for a federal registration - even after a district court judge called the agency out on it.

In 2007, U.S. District Judge Dan Hovland said he had to dismiss the farmers' lawsuit against the DEA because of federal law that lumped industrial hemp together with marijuana under the controlled substances act.

However, he chided the DEA for not responding to the farmers' and other agencies' requests.

At that time, Hovland said “there is no realistic prospect the plaintiffs (Monson and Hauge) will ever be issued a license by the DEA to grow industrial hemp.”

He called the DEA's action an “unreasonable delay.”

By Ted Smith, Cannabis Culture

On March 28, 2010, the Vancouver Island Hempology 101 Club hosted its 1st Annual Cannabis Convention, at which I had the honor of being the final speaker. Though I have hosted 11 similar conventions at the University of Victoria, this was the first time I scheduled speaking time for myself.

The crowd was an interesting combination of seasoned activists, students eager to act upon what they have learned, and medical users still new to the idea that the best way to maintain their health is to break the law. Therefore, I tried to focus upon strategies people can take to address various problems cannabis activists face and opportunities that some may not have considered.

Since my speech was not written down, those wishing to hear word-for-word what I said can easily watch the YouTube video, along with the rest of the convention. My intent in presenting this article is to cover the 10 points I raised in ways that compliment my original presentation.

In 1998, Washington became one of the first states to recognize marijuana as a legitimate form of medicine. Since then, many more states have followed suit, and recent polls show that a majority of voters in the country see marijuana as having legitimate medical purposes.

By The Spectator Editorial Board

However,the medical marijuana system is frequently abused. First started by legalization activists as an intermediate step, medical marijuana isn’t a medicine at all for some people, but merely a doctor-validated excuse to get high. When “doctors” use The Stranger to advertise their willingness to write marijuana prescriptions for a fee, you know something isn’t right.

The Spectator supports I-1068, the proposed initiative to legalize marijuana sale, possession and growing for adults in Washington. It’s already been decriminalized in Seattle and made the lowest police priority, so it makes sense to just drop the bureaucracy surrounding the substance and allow adults to use it with regulations similar to alcohol.

While the bill is still gathering signatures, this is an important issue that deserves attention on the ballot in November. Not only will it allow marijuana users to safely grow their own or buy it without going through risky third parties, it will also allow farmers to cultivate hemp, an extremely versatile, renewable fiber created from the marijuana plant. Hemp can be used to create rope, clothes, food and more.

Ballot measure would let the state license dispensaries for the drug

By Stacey Barchenger and Peter Wong, Statesman Journal

Advocates of medical marijuana on Thursday submitted 110,000 signatures, more than the amount required, for a ballot measure to allow state-licensed pot dispensaries in Oregon.

The proposed measure would not change the medical conditions under the law for which medical marijuana may be used.

If such a measure ever becomes law, Oregon would join California and a few other states that allow dispensaries. But supporters of the measure argue that reported problems with dispensaries in California are precisely what the Oregon measure is trying to avoid. And one marijuana reform-minded group says it will remain neutral on the issue.

"We support dispensary programs," said Mike Meno of the national Marijuana Policy Project. "For many patients, they are the best way to get safe access to their medicine."

The Marijuana Policy Project lobbies at the state and federal levels for medical marijuana to be taxed and regulated like alcohol.

California's law allowed for dispensaries but left regulation to local jurisdictions, Meno said.

"Especially in states where we're pushing for new medical marijuana laws, they get a bad rap from stories they hear out of California; that there's more dispensaries there than Starbucks," Meno said. A state-regulated program could avoid a flood of dispensaries, he said.

All hands on deck!

Do you consider yourself a member of the reality-based community? Do you value science-based policy? Do you think we need more liberty, not less? Do you object to needlessly enriching organized crime, putting otherwise law-abiding citizens in cages and wasting law enforcement resources on ‘crimes’ associated with ingestion of a plant that has never actually killed anyone?

If so, we need your help.

The movement to reform our marijuana laws is gaining steam, in spite of our timid elected leader’s continued attempts to water down new medical marijuana bills around the nation and to weaken existing laws.

Americans of goodwill in several states are either attempting to get re-legalization measures on the ballot this year or have already succeeded in getting such measures on the ballot. Passing these measures will be proverbial shots heard around the world and will force our government and elected leaders who have buried their heads in the sand to finally deal with this issue.

Things about hemp that were not taught to Jack in school, he tried to teach others. He was a steward of the plant and devoted his life to the support of cannabis as he believed it was the greatest gift the world has ever known.

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

Hemp for Victory was a 1942 documentary produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to encourage farmers to grow outlawed industrial hemp for the war effort as a way to stabilize America during World War II.

As the War on Drugs proceeded onward, the United States Department of Agriculture Library and the Library of Congress stated no such movie was made by the USDA or any branch of the U.S. government. His creditability threatened, Jack Herer made it his mission to uncover the truth about Hemp for Victory. He knew it was a USDA creation and not simply folklore.

"We are looking for at least 3,000 people to show up and flex their rights. Anything less than that is unacceptable." Scott Gordon, Oregon NORML

By Anna Diaz, Oregon NORML/Hemp News

Portland, Oregon - Saturday, May 1, 2010 marks the eleventh annual Global Cannabis March in Portland , Oregon . This year's march and rally runs from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Participants will gather in Pioneer Courthouse Square to march at high noon through downtown Portland, accompanied by a police escort. Cures-Not-Wars and Urbage Designs join Oregon NORML as sponsors of this event.

Scott Gordon, Vending and Hemp Director for Oregon NORML reports, "This year's performers and speakers are all from the Portland area as part of our efforts to provide a more environmentally and economically responsible event."

Winner of the "Open 4 Snoop Dogg" contest, Bad Habitat, is just one of the bands set to perform. Madeline Martinez, Executive Director of Oregon NORML and founder of the Cannabis Café and Russ Belville, national NORML Outreach Coordinator and podcast host along with Delia Lopez, congressional candidate are just a few of the speakers who will fill out the day. Vendors and nonprofit groups will provide goods and services that support the hemp and cannabis community. Voter registration and educational information will be available to the public.