Will Big Pharma Take Over The American Market For Medical Marijuana?
If the hundreds of uses for cannabis doesn’t plead the case for its legalization, the money made from its medical industry just might do it. The Washington Independent reports:
The American Independent has previously reported on the growing corporatization of the incipient medical marijuana industry at a time when medical marijuana dispensaries scrabble to hold on to their businesses in the face of a multi-pronged federal crackdown. But there are signs afoot that it just may become ever more corporate if a Big Pharma push to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to recognize a cannabis-derived drug is successful.
Last week, British prescription drug manufacturer GW Pharmaceuticals announced a licensing agreement with drug giant Novartis, maker of Ritalin and Excedrin, to begin selling GW’s drug Sativex in markets across Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Middle East. The medication is already available in Britain, where it’s produced and marketed by Bayer, and in Canada and…
Happy 4/20! Top 5 Marijuana Stories from Disinfo.com
4/20 is a day of fun, activism, and healing for millions of marijuana users throughout the world, so here are five of the dankest cannabis stories we have posted on Disinfo.com. To read all the pot-related stories in our news archive, go here. Does anyone know the origin of 420? If you’ve heard an urban legend about this most baked of numbers, please share…
Top Five Marijuana Stories:
1. Chronic Art: Making Amazing Mosaics From Roach Papers
2. Graham Hancock on Marijuana & Consciousness
3. Don’t Just Smoke a Joint on 4/20, Take Action Against Marijuana Prohibition
Inside Oaksterdam University: ‘Where Marijuana Gets You Higher Education’
Jason Motlagh writes in TIME:
On the second floor of the downtown campus, a motley group of students listens to a lecture titled “Palliative and Curative Relief Through a Safe and Effective Herbal Medicine.” Not the sexiest of topics on the face of it, but there’s a catch: this is Oaksterdam University, and the medicine being discussed is marijuana. At “America’s first cannabis college,” in Oakland, Calif., the sallow-faced hippy-skater types that one expects to find sit beside middle-aged professionals in business attire, united in their zeal for the pungent green leaf. No one dares speak out of turn, until instructor Paul Armentano, a marijuana-policy expert, cites a news report that U.S. antidrug authorities plan to legalize pot’s active ingredient exclusively for drug companies’ use. “More stinking profits for Big Business,” mumbles a young man wearing a baseball cap. His classmates groan in agreement.
More than 17,000 students have enrolled since Oaksterdam…
Medical Marijuana Is Now A $1.7 Billion Market
Medical Marijuana shop in Denver, Colorado. Photo: O'Dea (CC)
The medical marijuana market has had a significant growth this year. With seven states who have opened shop and five more states planned to approve medical marijuana outlets this year, cannabis could save many states’ economies. Medical News Today reports:
Medical marijuana is now a serious $1.7 billion dollar market, according to a new report released this week by an independent financial analysis firm that specializes in new and unique markets. Currently, 24.8 million people are eligible to receive a recommendation and purchase marijuana legally under state laws, and approximately 730,000 people actually do.
Ted Rose, editor of the new State of the Medical Marijuana Market 2011 report, comments:
“Medical marijuana markets are rapidly growing across the country and will reach $1.7 billion this year. We undertook this effort because we noticed a dearth of reliable market information about this politically charged business. Hundreds of businesses exist…
Study Finds Cannabis Use ‘Raises Psychosis Risk’?!?
I find the word “psychosis” to be rather nondescript. What “reality” do cannabis users lose and is psychosis necessarily negative when the modern condition of life is far from the natural conditions humans evolved to live in?
I believe marijuana leads to getting acquainted with the subconscious, which in turn leads to spiritual discovery.
However, this may cause one to ask questions and reexamine their beliefs and lifestyle, which admittedly can cause distress. This unease with the world and oneself is something one must work through to achieve happiness, as ignorance will not solve the problems at hand.
I find cannabis-induced “psychosis” to be misunderstood. While I believe that there are SOME who have had dangerous or extreme mental distress brought about by use of this substance, I think most of the paranoia surrounding the effects of THC result from users panicking upon finding themselves too far down the rabbit-hole of the subconscious.…
Dutch Government Pushes Tourist Ban In Cannabis Coffeeshops
If you’d like to experience Amsterdam’s famous coffee shops, I suggest booking your flight soon. From Reuters:
The Dutch government said on Wednesday it wanted to ban tourists from buying cannabis in “coffee shops,” where hash is on sale legally, as part of a national crackdown on drug use.
The government, which took office last month, has agreed to limit the sale of cannabis to Dutch residents to curb crime linked to its production and trading.
The Netherlands has one of Europe’s most liberal soft drug policies and its coffee shops are a popular tourist attraction, especially in Amsterdam and border cities near Belgium and Germany.
But some cities near the border with Belgium have clamped down on drug tourism, and the Dutch minister for security and justice confirmed Wednesday a wider crackdown after coalition parties agreed to push for a ban in September.
[Continues at Reuters]
Dutch Scratch n’ Sniff Anti-Cannabis Cards
Not sure what marijuana smells like? The Dutch authorities have delivered scratch and sniff cards to inform people of what the plant smells like, in hopes that a passerby may catch a whiff of an ‘illegal urban cannabis plantation.’ From BBC News:
About 30,000 Dutch households are to receive marijuana-scented scratch cards in an effort to uncover illegal urban cannabis plantations.
Authorities in Rotterdam and The Hague say they are distributing the cards to help people recognize what cannabis smells like.
The cards also include a number to call to report suspected marijuana-growing.
Dutch authorities turn a blind eye to citizens growing up to five marijuana plants for personal use.
“Citizens must be alerted to the dangers they face as a result of these plantations, and if they become aware of any suspect situations they must report them,” said the spokesman for government-appointed working group to combat cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands, Arnie Loos.
More at…
The Prince Of Pot Is Finally Going To Jail
Canadian cannabis advocate Marc Emery, profiled in the disinformation documentary Escape To Canada, has given up fighting against his extradition to the United States. Story from AFP:
Canada’s self-styled “Prince of Pot” rallied supporters on Monday before turning himself in to Canadian authorities to be extradited to the United States to face a five-year jail term.
Marc Emery, 52, is alleged by US prosecutors to have sold more than four million marijuana seeds through the mail via his website. About 75 percent of the seeds went to US customers.
His wife Jodie Emery told AFP her husband expected to be extradited within “days or a week” after exhausting all legal challenges and an appeal for clemency to Canada’s justice minister.
“It?s absolutely devastating to think that I might not see my husband for five years,” she said. “It?s a harsh reality.”
The couple are still holding out hope that Emery may be allowed to serve…
Legalize Pot? Get Mom Onboard
Pot usage amongst young and middle-aged moms isn’t new and it isn’t a fad. The legalization lobby is smart to target these ladies to help get out the vote. MSNBC reports:
Moms got tougher drunk-driving laws on the books and were directly responsible for passing and then repealing alcohol Prohibition. Now marijuana activists are trying to enlist the nation’s mothers in legalization efforts with a sales pitch that pot is safer than booze.
The nation’s largest marijuana legalization lobby recently started a women’s group. The Moms4Marijuana website draws thousands. And just in time for Mother’s Day, a pot legalization group in Denver has created a pink-carnation web card asking moms to support legalization.
These marijuana moms argue that pot is no worse than alcohol, that teens shouldn’t face jail time for experimenting with it and that marijuana can even help new mothers treat postpartum depression. “I know so many mothers who support this but…
Medical Marijuana Legal in Foggy Bottom, on Capitol Hill and all over Washington D.C.
Personally, I hope the smell stinks up the whole rotten town. This article from the Examiner gives more details:
Illustration: Oren neu dag (CC)
One of the biggest expenses the medical marijuana lobby has had to face is the cost getting US Congressmen and Senators out of town for a medical marijuana dispensary tour.
That expense was eliminated today with the unanimous passage of Initiative 59 by the Washington DC Council.
Currently, 14 states have effective medical marijuana laws and more than a dozen others are considering them. In November, South Dakotans will vote on a medical marijuana ballot initiative, and Arizona is expected to have one on the ballot as well. Eighty-one percent of Americans support medical marijuana laws, according to a January ABC News/Washington Post poll.
But getting federal legislation passed and changing DEA and FDA regulations has been up to the US Congress and the US Senate. For example, the AMA recommended last…
Don’t Just Smoke a Joint on 4/20, Take Action Against Marijuana Prohibition
From Alternet:
Stand up today with other Americans and get the word out there. This war will end; how soon depends, in part, on you.
April 20th (4/20) has long been associated with marijuana, both marijuana use and marijuana activism. Thousands of Americans will gather on that day at rallies in Boston, Boulder, New York, Santa Cruz, Seattle and other cities. For people who prefer to relax with a joint instead of a beer or martini it’s a time to celebrate. For those who don’t use marijuana it’s a time to stand up in support of their friends, family, and fellow citizens who face arrest for nothing more than what they put into their body. For the Drug Policy Alliance and the drug policy reform movement 4/20 represents something even bigger.
The movement to end marijuana prohibition is very broad, composed of people who love marijuana, people who hate marijuana, and people who…
Afghan Farmers Reap Cannabis Harvest Worth £61m
From the Independent:
Afghanistan, already the world’s top opium supplier, is now the world’s biggest producer of cannabis, according to United Nations drug experts.
There is large-scale cultivation of the drug in half of the country, resulting in 3,500 tons of hashish worth an estimated £61m annually, according to the first assessment of cannabis in Afghanistan by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. It warns that the threat from the drug needs to be dealt with to deny the Taliban the millions they make in protection taxes paid by farmers and drug smugglers.
The focus on opium has resulted in cannabis being overlooked, according to Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of UNODC. “A concentration of cultivation in the southern part of Afghanistan shows that the Taliban and those insurgents that control the southern parts of the country are not only funding themselves by trafficking opium but also by trafficking cannabis. It’s the same area.”
Medical Marijuana Bill Moves Through Maryland Senate In Landslide
From the Huffington Post:
The Maryland Senate voted on Saturday to allow patients access to medical marijuana at state-licensed dispensaries. The bill now moves to the state’s lower chamber.
The bill was approved overwhelmingly, with bipartisan support and without objections or discussion, by a 35-12 margin.
Maryland would join 14 other states in legalizing medical marijuana. The neighboring District of Columbia legalized it in a 1998 referendum that was only recently allowed by Congress to go into effect. The District’s city council is writing rules to establish the city’s medical marijuana policy.
Current Maryland law allows defendants charged with pot possession to cite a medical necessity defense. If a judge deems the drug to be beneficial, a maximum hundred dollar civil fine is imposed.
Lawmakers and advocates argued that the law unfairly forced patients to obtain marijuana in the black market. The new law would bring
[Read more at the Huffington Post]
…
The Push to Legalize Marijuana: It’s Real
For the past few months, I’ve been posting at least one story each week about the nationwide push to change cannabis laws. The following article does a good job of explaining how this movement goes much farther than previous efforts, and why it is worth reporting on. Am I just getting everyone’s hopes up? Is this a pipe dream, a THC laden pie in the sky? For me, it goes far beyond getting the legal right own something that is easy enough to find right now. It’s about the misery the legal system is causing millions of people each year. Will 2010 be the year America stops eating its young?
From The Atlantic:
You may have heard there’s a push to legalize marijuana in California. You may not have heard that it’s for real.
Voting ballots in California this November will contain an initiative to legalize, tax, and regulate the sale of marijuana to adults 21 and older, and while this may sound like something that has no chance, whatsoever, of ever becoming law, the thing is: it actually might.
Doctors Recommend Medical Marjiuana for Minors with ADHD in California
From NYDailyNews.com:
Hey, hyperactive kids, in California you can get stoned — legally. California doctors are now recommending marijuana to children diagnosed with attention hyperactivity disorder, Sphere reports.
Since 2004, California has given out more than 36,000 medical marijuana cards. The number of these cards going to children - it appears that all of the known cases are teenagers – is not known, as doctors are not required to report medical marijuana cases.
However, experts say medical marijuana cards going to minors are on the rise. Parents must accompany children under 18 requesting medical marijuana to this doctor’s appointment, the New York Times reports.
Even with this precaution, the fact that children can get medical marijuana is creating quite a controversy.
[Read more at NYDailyNews.com]
First U.S. Marijuana Cafe Opens in Portland
From Reuters:
The United States’ first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration’s move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it — as long as they are out of public view — despite a federal ban.
“This club represents personal freedom, finally, for our members,” said Madeline Martinez, Oregon’s executive director of NORML, a group pushing for marijuana legalization.
“Our plans go beyond serving food and marijuana,” said Martinez. “We hope to have classes, seminars, even a Cannabis Community College, based here to help people learn about growing and other uses for cannabis.”
The cafe — in a two-story building which formerly housed a speak-easy and adult erotic club Rumpspankers — is technically a private club, but is open to any…
Three More UK Drugs Advisers Resign
From BBC News:
Three more government advisers have resigned after the home secretary’s sacking of his chief drugs adviser Prof David Nutt, the BBC has learned.
Dr John Marsden, Dr Ian Ragan and Dr Simon Campbell have quit the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs after two others left earlier this month.
Members of the council had met Alan Johnson seeking reassurance that their independence would not be compromised.
Mr Johnson dismissed Prof Nutt for “crossing a line” into politics.
BBC home affairs editor Mark Easton said the absence of certain experts on the council meant it was “stymied” and effectively was now unable to operate under its current constitution.
[Read more at BBC News]
