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MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES
RUSHING TO GET IN LA PUENTE

LA PUENTE - With a new law regulating medical marijuana dispensaries set to take effect this week, potential owners are rushing to get in before it's too late.

If their applications are approved before Friday's deadline, the number of dispensaries in La Puente would nearly double, essentially rendering the city's new cap on them outdated.

"We could have more than six," said assistant city manager Greg Yamachika.

La Puente capped the number of dispensaries at six when it crafted the law in December because five applications had been approved and one was pending.

Since then, five more dispensaries applied for business licenses.

City officials insist that eleven dispensaries aren't likely because the application process can often be lengthy.

"I highly doubt we'll have eleven," said Mayor Louie Lujan. "We'll likely have at or below our limit."

Finding a location, securing a building lease and complying with other city building codes is a lot of work, Lujan said.

"If you're not legit from the get-go, a week or two won't help your cause," he said.

But Yamachika conceded that if a potential owner had all the proper plans and paperwork in order, approvals could be received nearly instantly.

With six dispensaries, La Puente allowed more medical marijuana businesses than any other city in the San Gabriel Valley.

The city proposed the regulations - it's the first attempt to rein in the dispensaries - after a rash of inquires late last year.

La Puente formerly had a dispensary moratorium in place, but the law lapsed without extension in September 2008. A proposal for an outright ban failed in August 2008 - opening the door for the dispensaries.

City officials couldn't say what is driving the recent spike in applications.

"I don't know," Lujan said. "I'm not sure what's going on in their minds."

Councilman Dan Holloway, who opposed allowing any medical marijuana dispensaries, said that opening the door for any dispensaries likely lead to the five new applications.

"They go to La Puente for no other reason than that they can," he said. "La Puente, a small family-oriented city, doesn't have a need for six dispensaries. My assumption is that their customers come from all over."

City officials couldn't specify if and when the pending applications would be approved.

Only one of the approved dispensaries - Trinity Wellness Group on Amar Road - is operating.

At least three of the approved dispensaries were closed down because of violations, city officials said.

The La Puente Collaborative on Hacienda Road, the city's first dispensary, was shut Photo Gallery Rush to open Marijuana dispensaries [With a new law regulating medical marijuana dispensaries set to take effect this week, potential owners are rushing to get in before it's too late.] down because of unapproved remodeling, officials said.

"The city has been harsh but they've been fair," said Scott Noelte, one of the four people who runs the Green Comfort Collective on Fairgrove Avenue.

Noelte's collective was shut down in mid-January after being open for two weeks, he said. They didn't have a handicap-accessible bathroom and needed it fixed before they could secure a certificate of occupancy, Noelte said.

Among the rules beginning Friday, dispensaries can only operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. And a security guard - who can be armed - must patrol the area surrounding the shop.

The dispensaries must also put bars all windows, install 24-hour security cameras and have separate waiting and dispensing areas.

On Tuesday, the city took another step to enacting more rules. The city's Planning Commission voted 4-0 to approve a proposed ordinance and recommended that dispensaries be 700 feet from schools, libraries and parks.

If approved by the City Council, all six approved dispensaries would be in violation and have a year to comply with the ordinance, said planning commissioner Gil Duarte.

The council will take up the proposal at its next meeting.

At Trinity Wellness, owner Jon Salman will be waiting to see what happen this week with the pending applications.

If they are approved before the cap goes into effect, he won't be happy.

He said he's done everything he can to comply with city regulations to stay open.

"What's unfair is that we went through so many hoops to get in and others now can jump in," he said.

The science of THC medicine

by Cheyenne Cary

Regardless of the smoldering controversy cannabis stirs up in Sacramento

City Hall, the state Capitol and Washington D.C., the global scientific

community has examined the drug with increasing interest recently. Local

patients and doctors can't say enough about the groundbreaking potential

of THC as a pharmaceutical.

There's a fairly large medical cannabis community in Sacramento, of

patients, caregivers and researchers. Some dispensaries work directly

with patients and doctors to bridge the gap between medical knowledge

and social support.

Sacramento resident Thomas Coy has worked with the Capitol Wellness

dispensary since it opened in 2004. He's a patient, an activist and a

28-year survivor of HIV/AIDS.

"Cannabis has helped me tremendously," he said. "I've been on medical

programs and trials since 1983."

Cannabis allows Coy to cope with and overcome many symptoms of the

virus. Smoking four joints a day helps prevent seizure, relieve nausea,

fight pneumonia and stimulate his appetite.

"If it wasn't for medical marijuana, I'd be dead," Coy said. "Doctors

say I'm a living miracle."

Despite a condition that many would find disabling, Coy keeps an active

lifestyle and leads Cap Wellness support groups. Last week, Coy's

HIV/AIDS group took a camping and whitewater rafting trip.

Coy counsels patients both socially and legally, and has worked for many

years with the patients' rights advocacy group Americans for Safe

Access. He has testified numerous times on behalf of federally-raided

patients and clubs.

"I get out there and I raise my voice," he said. "I say 'this is

medicine, hands off it.'"

Patients like Coy are a common sight at dispensaries and rallies,

fighting for their rights to medicate for AIDS, cancer, multiple

sclerosis, fibermyalgia, glaucoma... the list goes on.

Medical studies on cannabis took a long time to evolve, and Dr. Frank

Lucido was there to watch.

Frank Lucido has been a general family practice doctor for 30 years.

Since cannabis was legalized for medical use in 1996, he has been an

outspoken and highly regarded supporter of herbal medicine. He spoke

with The Sacramento Press to offer medical perspective on the drug.

"I started getting into it right away after it was legal," he said.

"Every doctor knows they have about 20 slam-dunk patients that could

benefit greatly from medical cannabis."

While Lucido was getting his M.D. in the '70s, doctors weren't learning

about cannabis, aside from its reportedly high potential for abuse.

"The dangers of cannabis we knew were overblown," he said. "All of us

saw people using cannabis in med school and still performing extremely

well."

Once California's medical cannabis legalization measure, Proposition

215, got on the ballot, Lucido's interest was piqued. He had heard

rumors that cannabis had some vague medical benefits and began checking

out studies on what exactly cannabis did.

"There's still a lot we don't know, but we do know there are at least 70

reactive cannabinoids as well as many CBDs," he said.

Cannabinoids are essentially the 'stuff' in cannabis that gets people

high. They're a family of chemicals that mimic a substance that the

human brain naturally produces, a cannabinoid known as anandamide. There

are receptors for anandamide throughout the body and brain. There's a

wide variety of cannabinoids in cannabis, but most are concentrated into

delta-9 tetrahydracannabinol, known colloqually as THC. More background

on THC can be found at 3dchem.com.

Generally speaking, the more THC, the more potent the cannabis, at least

for its relaxing properties. THC can be used as a sleep aid, pain

suppressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsant, appetite stimulant,

muscle relaxant and - perhaps most commonly known - as an

anti-depressant.

CBD is an acronym for cannabidiol, a family of substances in cannabis

that are a bit of unexplored territory. In ongoing research, CBDs have

been found to have anti-viral and even anti-tumor properties. Yes, this

means that cannabis may help to prevent cancer, according to recent UCLA

Studies

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729.html> ).

"It was announced about two or three years ago that cannabis didn't

increase the risk of cancer, and it was briefly stated that certain

doses might even be protective," Lucido said. Several other studies that

have successfully used cannabis to shrink tumors in mice have been

ignored despite their results, according to Lucido.

It's popular wisdom that it is impossible to overdose on cannabis, as

the estimated lethal dosage adds up to smoking 1,500 pounds in 15

minutes. Yet, as it turns out, even if you took in a lethal dose (with

Janis Joplin's lungs and Willie Nelson's stash), you'd still survive.

Interestingly, there aren't cannabinoid receptors in the medulla

oblongata, the part of your brain that controls breathing and other

vital functions.

"That means that someone who smokes a fatal dose may be very sleepy, but

they wouldn't die," Lucido said.

Although impossible to die from any dose of cannabis, smoking pot does

carry other side effects. There's one major one â•" the side effect

that isn't a side effect: Getting high. The psychoactive effect of

cannabis can be either a euphoria (pleasant) or a dysphoria

(unpleasant); some people enjoy it, others don't. If they turn to

cannabis for relief from serious illness, however, dysphoric patients

can get over their dislike and even become immune to the 'stoned'

effect, something many sources have noted.

Cannabis can also be a mild lung irritant, but that can be avoided by

eating a pot brownie or using a vaporizer.

Given the wide potential of cannabis' medical usage, it is still fairly

uncommon for doctors to make regular recommendations for patients to use

the drug.

"Most doctors are hesitant to recommend cannabis because of two

reasons," Lucido said. "Either they don't know about its medical

properties or they're afraid of the medical board and law enforcement. I

keep myself to a very high standard and I was still investigated by the

medical board."

Lucido, a private practice doctor, said that he screens his patients by

asking for corroborating evidence of their condition. He quizzes any

applicants under the age of 21 with two questions. First: "Are you

living at home?" Second: "Are you hiding it from your parents?" He said

this sifts out about 90 percent of young applicants.

While cannabis can have remarkable effects on the lives of people living

with terminal disease, those cases are fairly rare. More commonly,

patients seek treatment for mental tension and physical pain. A survey

of Lucido's 1,045 patients in 2008 found that 61% medicated for chronic

pain, 7% for anxiety, 6% for migraines, 4.4% for gastrointestinal

disorders (indigestion, nausea, anorexia), and 3.4% for depression. Many

other disorders take up the last 18%.

New studies consistently point out new uses for cannabis medication, as

the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research

(CMCR) continues to conduct research throughout the state on THC's

effects on everything from spinal cord injury to MS muscle disorders.

Interestingly, Lucido said he recently heard of another application for

the sensual herb: increasing the female libido. While licentious

cannabis-smoking females were key plot devices back in the 'Reefer

Madness' days, new findings have shown that cannabis' come-hither

effects can be used to stimulate a dormant libido.

Scientific exploration of cannabis' medical properties has yielded some

promising fruit. Now, with increased local and national attention,

research seems likely to keep on growing.

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/12293/The_science_of_THC_medicin\

8/20/2009

MEDFORD: A federal appeals court has ruled that simply carrying a weapon while growing marijuana is a crime in itself.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of a Medford-area man who argued that keeping a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol within reach while sleeping in a tent at a marijuana operation was not a separate crime.

Somkhit Thongsy was charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a felony after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a large marijuana farm in the remote Wolf Creek area of Southern Oregon in the spring of 2007.

The appeals court ruled Monday the evidence the pistol was part of the drug operation was overwhelming, and it was not used for hunting or kept in the tent by accident.

<http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090819/NEWS02/908199993>

8/19/2009

The Medical Marijuana Program Act’s authorization of cooperatives and collectives to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana did not amend the Compassionate Use Act but rather was a distinct statutory scheme intended to facilitate the transfer of medical marijuana to qualified medical marijuana patients under the CUA that the CUA did not specifically authorize or prohibit. Storefront dispensaries that qualify as cooperatives or collectives under the CUA and MMPA and are otherwise in compliance with those laws may operate legally, immune from prosecution. A storefront dispensary and its operators do not qualify as primary caregivers simply because a qualified medical marijuana patient has so designated them, and the provision of medical marijuana, even if done on a consistent basis, does not make one a primary caregiver; there must be evidence of an existing, established relationship, providing for housing, health or safety "independent of the administration of medical marijuana." Because a storefront dispensary that merely provides walk-in customers with medical marijuana does not possess the type of consistent relationship necessary to achieve primary caregiver status, trial court erred in finding such a dispensary was a legal primary caregiver under the CUA and MMPA. Absent any evidence that dispensary’s customers had any other relationship with dispensary or that customers were members of a cooperative or collective, and based on evidence that dispensary sold marijuana from outside sources, the large number of transactions, the price of the marijuana, and the cash-only nature of the business, police officer had reasonable grounds to believe dispensary was not operating as a nonprofit enterprise, and trial court erred in quashing search warrant. Trial court erred in concluding detective who authored the search warrant affidavit was not qualified to opine as to the legality of dispensary’s activities based on disagreement with detective’s conclusion that dispensary was not acting as a primary caregiver; detective’s erroneous conclusion that store front dispensaries could never operate legally did not render him incompetent to author the warrant since his conclusion was reasonable, given the uncertainties in the law concerning medical marijuana and the fact that, at that time, there was no California authority expressly authorizing such operations. Two defendants who were partial owners of dispensary had standing to challenge validity of search warrant.
     People v. Hochanadel - filed August 18, 2009, Fourth District, Div. One
     Cite as 2009 SOS 4979
     Full text http://www.metnews.com/sos.cgi?0809%2FD054743

5/6/2009
BAKERSFIELD DISPENSARY RAIDED BY DEA

Kern Sheriff’s deputies and agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency were searching a medical marijuana store in east Bakersfield Wednesday afternoon. The search warrant was being serviced at the Green Cross Compassionate Medical Marijuana Co-operative at 319 Bernard St. That’s near Bernard Street and Alta Vista Drive, between Memorial Hospital and
Bakersfield College. Calls to the sheriff’s department were not immediately returned. A spokesman from the DEA said that agency was there only to assist. The spokesman said the sheriff’s department was the lead agency in the case.

The use of marijuana for medical purposes is permitted under California law, but prohibited under federal law. President Barack Obama ordered the federal government to give precedence to local law and not raid the shops. Sheriff Donny Youngblood said his office will not interfere with the operation of non-profit medical co-operatives run by patients for patients. But, he said, dispensaries that sell marijuana for a profit should be expected to be treated like other drug dealers.

Link:
www.kget.com/news/local/story/BREAKING-NEWS-Bakersfield-pot-shop-raided/_IYEzpZNPEeXo7M6d6KDZg.cspx?rss=91On

from: http://www.modbee.com/local/story/691837.html

Wednesday, May. 06, 2009

Pot legalization worth studying, governor says

By Kevin Yamamura

DAVIS -- As California struggles to find cash, Gov. Schwarzenegger said Tuesday it's time to study whether to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use.

The Republican governor did not support legalization -- and the federal government still bans marijuana use -- but advocates hailed the fact that Schwarzenegger endorsed studying a once-taboo political subject.

Schwarzenegger was at a fire safety event in Davis when he answered a question about a recent Field Poll showing 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana to raise revenue for cash-strapped California. Voters in 1996 authorized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

"Well, I think it's not time for (legalization), but I think it's time for a debate," Schwarzenegger said.

"I think all of those ideas of creating extra revenues, I'm always for an open debate on it. And I think we ought to study very carefully what other countries are doing that have legalized marijuana and other drugs, what effect did it have on those countries?"

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has written legislation to allow the sale of marijuana to adults 21 years and older for recreational use. His Assembly Bill 390 would charge cannabis wholesalers initial and annual flat fees, while retailers would pay $50 per ounce to the state.

The proposal would ban cannabis near schools and prohibit smoking marijuana in public places.

Marijuana legalization would raise an estimated $1.34 billion annually in tax revenue, according to a February estimate by the Board of Equalization.

Ammiano has shelved the bill until next year because it remains controversial in the Capitol, according to his spokesman, Quintin Mecke.

Schwarzenegger said he would like to see results from Europe as part of a study.

The Austrian parliament last year authorized cultivation of medical marijuana. But Schwarzenegger talked with a police officer in his hometown of Graz and found the liberalization was not fully supported, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor.

"It could very well be that everyone is happy with that decision and then we could move to that," Schwarzenegger said. "If not, we shouldn't do it. But just because of raising revenues -- we have to be careful not to make mistakes at the same time."

Publication date: Sun, 26 Apr 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248

Author: Catherine Saillant

NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES NOT EXPECTED TO SPROUT QUICKLY

Cities and Counties That View Such Operations With Suspicion Aren't Likely to Suddenly Welcome Them, Despite the U.S. Justice Department's Decision Not to Go After Legal California Dispensaries.

If Jeff Clark has his way, medical marijuana patients will soon be able to buy pot from his collective in law-and-order Kern County, known more for growing almonds than cannabis.

Clark, 55, a disabled veteran, thinks the time is right.

After eight years of raids on storefront dispensaries under the Bush administration, Eric H. Holder Jr., the new U.S. attorney general, has made it clear that the Justice Department won't go after organizations operating under state laws in California and a dozen other states.

Kern County's Board of Supervisors and sheriff have agreed to lay off too, as long as pot sellers adhere to the state's guidelines. Last month, supervisors rescinded a de facto ban on pot dispensaries in place since 2007.

"I'm very optimistic," said Clark, who plans to open facilities near his home in Lake Isabella and in Bakersfield within the next few months. "This could be the turning point we've all been waiting for."

But local government and law enforcement officials say that a more lenient Drug Enforcement Administration is not likely to mean that new medical marijuana dispensaries will sprout like weeds. Kern County authorities say that, even with their more relaxed approach, they won't allow just anyone to open up shop.

"People think the DEA has opened the door to opening dispensaries anywhere and any time, and that's just not true," said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood. "I will do my job irrespective of what the DEA does or does not do."

Even medical marijuana advocates say cities and counties that view medical marijuana with suspicion aren't likely to suddenly welcome dispensaries. And they have plenty of tools to make life difficult for potential distributors.

Local Laws

More than 100 cities and seven counties have laws banning dispensaries, said Joe Elford, chief counsel with the Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group.

The validity of such bans is being litigated in appellate courts, he said. Still other cities and counties have limited the number of operators or put temporary bans on new dispensaries. Elford doesn't expect that to change soon.

"The DEA's new stance certainly sends a clear message to localities that they should not be policing federal law," Elford said. "But that remains to be seen."

Kent Johnston, 56, a retired Ventura County sheriff's deputy, got the cold shoulder last week from the Westlake Village City Council when he announced his intentions to open a medical marijuana dispensary. A city attorney informed him that the city adheres to the federal view that selling cannabis is illegal, Johnston said.

"I was not there to fight them. I was there to say this is going to happen because it's legal," said Johnston, who worked for 20 years in law enforcement.

"Wouldn't you rather have me, a retired deputy, running one legitimately than someone doing it under the wire and causing problems? But they treated me like I was foolish and trying to break the law."

Much of the tension has stemmed from the conflict between state and federal laws. Growing, selling and using medical marijuana is allowed under California law. But federal law makes cannabis illegal.

Court battles and follow-up legislation in the 13 years since voters approved Proposition 215 have reduced some of the confusion.

Last fall, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown issued guidelines to help patients, sellers and local law enforcement agencies determine what it takes to operate within the law.

The guidelines say sellers must organize as not-for-profit "collectives" or "cooperatives" to cultivate and distribute pot only to members.

Groups are required to keep detailed records, including copies of each member's state-issued ID card and a doctor's recommendation that marijuana will help relieve his or her medical symptoms.

They also are barred from signing up members on the spot after a quick medical interview, a guideline that has been widely ignored in more liberal areas, including Los Angeles and Oakland.

The state guidelines make it easier for police to enforce the law and make it less likely that collectives will be used as fronts for illegal drug sales, said John Irby, former deputy county counsel in Kern County.

"It's hard to be legal, and you do not make any money if you are legal," he said.

California's cities and counties fall into three categories: those that accept and even embrace medical marijuana, including Los Angeles and San Francisco; those that adamantly oppose it; and those in between.

Ventura County is in the middle. It doesn't encourage storefront dispensaries but hasn't banned them either.

Although no such storefronts exist in the county, marijuana patients can turn to discreet delivery services advertised in a local weekly publication.

Illegal Sales

Undersheriff Craig Husband said his deputies follow the state guidelines, but he acknowledged that the department suspects many operations are fronts for illegal sales.

"The attorney general provided clarity, but I don't think it was the answer law enforcement wanted to hear," Husband said. "There tends to be criminal activity involved around these facilities. You have others trying to burglarize or rob the facilities. There is a lot of diversion of product for profit."

At least 111 cities, including Anaheim, Pasadena and Torrance, ban medical pot sales altogether. Counties that ban sales are Amador, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Merced, Riverside, Stanislaus and Sutter, according to Americans for Safe Access.

Bigger cities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, have plenty of storefronts, some with smoking lounges and arrays of baked marijuana edibles.

Los Angeles County has more than 100 dispensaries and delivery services. The city of Los Angeles has so many that in 2007 the council put a moratorium on new shops while it drafted an ordinance, expected later this year, to regulate them.

Applications spiked last month after Holder's announcement of the new DEA policy, city officials said.

San Diego County has been among the regions most hostile to dispensaries.

When the state passed a bill in 2004 requiring counties to issue identification cards to qualified patients, San Diego County responded by filing a lawsuit. Its court battle arguing that the ID card program is preempted by federal drug laws has gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it awaits review, Elford said.

In the meantime, the San Diego County district attorney's office aggressively prosecutes suspected violations, said Steve Walker, a spokesman for the office. "We have prosecuted cases where essentially drug dealers have hidden behind these laws and run these storefronts," he said.

In August, a task force made up of DEA and local drug agents raided four San Diego marijuana dispensaries and arrested three people, seizing 20 pounds of pot and marijuana-laced edibles. Those cases are working their way through federal court.

Fewer Defendants

Elford predicted that there will be far fewer federal criminal defendants as the DEA's new stance is implemented. So-called DEA landlord letters, which threatened landlords with forfeiture of property if they rented to dispensaries, are also expected to stop, he said.

But the bigger question will be whether localities follow suit by prosecuting only violators of state law, advocates say.

"It's a little soon to tell whether there has been a significant change of heart by locals," said Kris Hermes, an Americans for Safe Access spokesman.

Johnston, the retired deputy, said he will continuing pushing Westlake Village to allow medical pot sales. But it will be a campaign of letters and public comments, he said, because he can't afford attorneys to make his case in court.

Clark, the marijuana advocate in Kern County, said he is ready to test the waters despite the risks. He was among advocates who regularly approached the Board of Supervisors in the last year to change its approach.

Patients who are legally entitled to use medical marijuana shouldn't have to travel to other counties to get it, he said.

"I'm going to follow the law as written," Clark said. "If I go to jail, then I guess our laws really don't hold up."

4/23/2009
An older study, but well worth the reading

FOR RELEASE
December 2, 2002

RAND STUDY CASTS DOUBT ON CLAIMS THAT MARIJUANA
ACTS AS "GATEWAY" TO THE USE OF COCAINE AND HEROIN

A new study by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center casts doubt on claims that marijuana acts as a "gateway" to the use of cocaine and heroin, challenging an assumption that has guided U.S. drug policies since the 1950s. However, the study does not argue that marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized.

The theory that the use of marijuana by young people causes some to graduate to harder drugs, often called the "gateway effect," has been used most recently to counter efforts to relax marijuana laws in several states. Earlier it was used to justify the imposition of tough penalties against the possession of even small amounts of marijuana.

Evidence supporting claims of marijuana's gateway effects has been found in many epidemiological studies of adolescent drug use. For instance, these studies found that marijuana users are up to 85 times more likely to use hard drugs than those who do not use marijuana, and few hard drug users do not use marijuana first.

"We've shown that the marijuana gateway effect is not the best explanation for the link between marijuana use and the use of harder drugs," said Andrew Morral, associate director of RAND's Public Safety and Justice unit and lead author of the study. "An alternative, simpler and more compelling explanation accounts for the pattern of drug use you see in this country, without resort to any gateway effects. While the gateway theory has enjoyed popular acceptance, scientists have always had their doubts. Our study shows that these doubts are justified."

The study demonstrates that associations between marijuana and hard drug use could be expected even if marijuana use has no gateway effect. Instead, the associations can result from known differences in the ages at which youths have opportunities to use marijuana and hard drugs, and known variations in individuals' willingness to try any drugs, researchers found.

The RAND study and a series of commentaries about the report are published in the December edition of the British journal Addiction, a peer-reviewed scientific publication.

"The people who are predisposed to use drugs and have the opportunity to use drugs are more likely than others to use both marijuana and harder drugs," Morral said. "Marijuana typically comes first because it is more available. Once we incorporated these facts into our mathematical model of adolescent drug use, we could explain all of the drug use associations that have been cited as evidence of marijuana's gateway effect."

"This is a very important study with broad implications for marijuana control policy," said Charles R. Schuster, a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and now director of the Addiction Research Institute at Wayne State University. "I can only hope that it will be read with objectivity and evaluated on its scientific merits, not reflexively rejected because it violates most policy makers' beliefs."

RAND researchers say it is unlikely that any study will be conducted that definitively settles the marijuana gateway debate. But the authors say their study should raise questions about the legitimacy of basing national drug policy decisions on the assumption that one of the harmful effects of marijuana use is the increased risk of using more dangerous drugs.

"If our model is right, it has significant policy implications," Morral said. "For example, it suggests that policies aimed at reducing or eliminating marijuana availability are unlikely to make any dent in the hard drug problem. When enforcement resources that could have been used against heroin and cocaine are instead used against marijuana, this could have the unintended effect of worsening heroin and cocaine use."

However, the study does not conclude that marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized. "Even without the effects of a marijuana gateway, relaxing marijuana prohibitions could affect the incidence of hard drug use by diminishing the stigma of drug use generally, thereby increasing adolescents' willingness to try hard drugs," Morral said. "Moreover, marijuana itself can be a serious problem for those who become dependent on it."

Other authors of the report are Daniel McCaffery and Susan Paddock of RAND's Drug Policy Research Center, a joint program of RAND's Public Safety and Justice Program and RAND Health.

RAND researchers tested the marijuana gateway theory by creating a mathematical model simulating adolescent drug use. Rates of marijuana and hard drug use in the model matched those observed in survey data collected from representative samples of youths from across the United States. Without assuming any gateway effect, the model produced patterns of drug use and abuse remarkably similar to what is experienced across the nation, showing that a marijuana gateway effect is not needed to explain the observed behavior.

The black market in marijuana in the United States is estimated at $10 billion per year, and more than 700,000 people are arrested on marijuana charges each year. Some states have passed laws easing penalties for marijuana use. Voters in several states rejected ballot propositions in November that would have approved similar changes.

A series of commentaries by other addiction researchers that accompany the RAND study discuss some of the implications of the research and whether there is any way to create a study to unequivocally answer the marijuana gateway question.

About the RAND Corporation

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world.

4/20/2009
HAPPY 420 TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

From NORML.ORG:

NORML Breaking News: California Assemblyman Introduces Legislation To Tax And Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol

Dear Friend,

Speaking at a landmark press conference today, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced comprehensive legislation to tax and regulate the commercial production and sale of cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol.

"With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes", Assemblyman Ammiano said. "California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana."

The proposal is the first marijuana legalization bill ever introduced in California.

"It's time for California taxpayers to stop wasting money trying to enforce marijuana prohibition, and to realize the tax benefits from a legal, regulated market instead," said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a sponsor of the bill.

As introduced, Ammiano's measure would allow for the licensed production and sale of cannabis to consumers age 21 and over. Licensed cultivators would pay an excise tax of $50 per ounce of cannabis. In addition, the proposal would impose a sales tax on commercial sales. (Ammiano's proposal would not affect the state's medical marijuana law, allowing patients and caregivers to grow their own medicine.)

If enacted, the measure would raise over $1 billion per year in state revenue, according to an economic analysis by California NORML, available online here: http://www.canorml.org/background/CA_legalization2.html

Ammiano's bill comes at a time of growing public support for legalizing marijuana. A recent Zogby poll reported that nearly six in ten west coast voters support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol. Faced with a $40 billion budget deficit, other public officials have joined in endorsing Ammiano's bill, including San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessy and Betty Yee, a member of the State Board of Equalization, which oversees collection of sales taxes.

Currently, tens of millions of dollars are paid annually in state and local taxes by licensed distributors of medical marijuana. However, these sales only represent a fraction of the overall statewide marijuana market. "The millions of dollars raised each on the sales of medicinal cannabis is only the tip of the iceberg," Gieringer said. "Kudos to Assemblyman Ammiano for proposing a path-breaking bill that would benefit our economy, safety and freedom by making marijuana a winning proposition for California."

Sincerely,
The NORML Team

February 7, 2009
Whiff of Change in US Medical Marijuana Policy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:07 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.

Tell that to the DEA.

In California this past week, agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles and seized 500 pounds of pot.

''It's a little bit surprising, because I think current DEA management didn't get the message,'' said Kleiman. ''The message is, this is no longer drug warrior time. We are not on a cultural crusade against pot-smoking.''

California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it is still against federal law.

Thirteen states have laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana. California is unique among them for the presence of dispensaries, businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Legal under California law, such dispensaries are still illegal under federal law.

''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.

So on Friday, DEA officials in Washington declined to comment at all on the subject.

As a presidential candidate, Obama repeatedly promised a change in federal drug policy in situations where state laws allow use of medical marijuana.

''I think the basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate,'' Obama told the Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore., in March.

A year earlier at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Obama said: ''I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users.''

At age 47, Obama is part of a generation that had plenty of exposure to pot.

In his memoir, ''Dreams from My Father,'' he described time spent as a youth struggling with questions about his race and identity, and turning to drugs -- including marijuana and cocaine -- to ''push questions of who I was out of my mind.''

The new president is unlikely to make any official change in policy before he has a new DEA chief and drug czar in place.

Yet experts believe it is already clear the Obama administration will change the strategy, if not the law, on medical marijuana.

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.

''I do expect him to appoint an administrator who takes marijuana less seriously than is traditional for the DEA, as I think most Americans do,'' said Heymann.

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.

''The DEA's not likely to want to confront a new president,'' said Heymann. ''It may simply be that they're behaving as they have traditionally, and they haven't anticipated the change Obama and his spokesman are signaling.''

--------

Associated Press writer Michael Blood in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/07/washington/AP-Obama-Medical-Marijuana.html

White House Responds to DEA Raids, Vows to End Policy

PRESS RELEASE
Americans for Safe Access
For Immediate Release: February 5, 2009

White House Responds to DEA Raids, Vows to End Policy

Washington, DC -- White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro reacted to new Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids at medical cannabis collectives in California, saying he expects President Obama to end that policy when a new DEA Administrator is seated. “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," Shapiro said.

The statement puts the Department of Justice and the DEA on notice of a change in federal policy, and indicates that continued raids may not be tolerated. "Americans for Safe Access acknowledges President Obama's continued pledge to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws," commented Caren Woodson, Director of Government Affairs. “We look forward to working with the President and his Administration to enact long-term policies that support safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research." Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the nation’s largest medical cannabis advocacy organization, sent policy recommendations aimed at harmonizing federal and state law and encouraging research to President Obama and Congress earlier this year.

Shapiro’s statement followed a groundswell of public opposition and critical media following a DEA raid in South Lake Tahoe on January 22 and four simultaneous raids in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday. ASA members and other medical cannabis advocates responded with thousands of phone calls to the White House and an Internet campaign on the President’s web site, Change.gov, asking the President to fulfill his repeated campaign pledges to not use federal resources to interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

Medical cannabis raids intensified under former President George W. Bush, with more than one hundred paramilitary style raids, new indictments, and letters threatening property owners who rent to medical cannabis facilities with prosecution and civil asset forfeiture. "More than 72 million people live in a state that has enacted laws that authorize the limited use and distribution of cannabis for therapeutic use," Woodson said. "The White House's comments have provided patients and their loved ones a sense of relief, and we hope the President and our Attorney General will keep this pledge in mind when considering appointments to the DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy."

For interviews with medical cannabis patients impacted by federal raids, defendants facing prosecution or sentencing, doctors, and researchers, contact Media Specialist Kris Hermes at (510) 681-6361 or Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson at (202) 857-5350.

Comments by Obama on ending medical marijuana raids: http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080323/NEWS/803230336

ASA medical marijuana recommendations for President Obama: http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org/PresidentialRecommendations

# # #

With over 30,000 active members in more than 40 states, Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is the largest national member-based organization of patients, medical professionals, scientists and concerned citizens promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research. ASA works to overcome political and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, grassroots actions, advocacy and services for patients and the caregivers.

From Allen St. Pierre - NORML National Committee
2/3/07

Los Angeles: DEA Raids 5 Medical Cannabis Collectives

DEA agents raided 5 Medical Cannabis Collectives in Los Angeles today. There are reports that DEA agents also raided a doctors office. I can confirm that DEA agents did break the door to the doctors office and entered the premises but have no confirmation if anything was removed. Waiting for the doctor to arrive back in town and inventory his office in the morning.
Raids began around 11 am and continued until around 1:30-2:00 pm.
Several collective operators have commented to me that DEA agents were extremely destructive in their searches today, security cameras were not only removed by DEA agents but were then literally smashed by the agents into many pieces. Pure violent destruction.
While agents removed computers and electronics from most of the collectives one operator reports that his computer hard drive was removed and smashed by DEA agents.
Just another day of smash and grab robberies and destruction by the DEA.
Here is a list of the collectives that were raided today:
Venice Alternative Healing, 421 Rose Ave, Venice
The Nile, 1501 Pacific, Venice
Marina Caregivers, 730 Washington Blvd. Marina Del Rey
Alternative Caregivers Discount Dispensary, 122 S Lincoln Blvd #204, Venice
Beach Center Collective, 310 Culver Blvd, Playa Del Rey

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-outthere30-2009jan30,0,2746953.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Civic activists in L.A. have growing appetite to curb medical marijuana clinics

When residents in the Eagle Rock area found nearly a dozen facilities in a 2-mile radius, they petitioned City Hall for a say in how the shops are approved.

By Scott Gold

January 30, 2009

The little clinic rests along a graceful curve of Eagle Rock Boulevard also occupied by a karate studio, a barber and a smattering of modest houses, one with a basketball hoop. The building, marked only by a metal placard that says "Cornerstone," is unremarkable, by design.

In the waiting room, patients sit on stylish lounge chairs, flipping through magazines. There are dark bamboo floors and walls painted in shades of blue, chosen to foster warmth and serenity.

Each patient is escorted to a back room. There, workers wait behind a steel, L-shaped bar. The air is full of Brazilian jazz and the pungent, sugary scent of the only medication dispensed here: marijuana, premium strains of it, dried into meaty buds, stacked up in tall mason jars and sold for $15 to $20 a gram.

Officials and neighborhood activists in this corner of Los Angeles were taken aback recently when they discovered that their community was home to nearly a dozen of these medical marijuana dispensaries, all within a 2-mile radius, mostly in Eagle Rock but also in Highland Park and Glassell Park.

The dispensaries, civic leaders say, appear to be legal operations -- not businesses, technically, but "collectives" of people who take marijuana to treat symptoms and side effects of arthritis, AIDS, anorexia, cancer and other ailments.

Those expressing concern say it is less about the facilities' legitimacy and more about local control -- whether a neighborhood has a voice in determining where dispensaries can open and, in particular, whether so many should be allowed in such a small area. They argue that in some cases, the clinics are subject to fewer restrictions than a new liquor store -- even a new drugstore or a yogurt shop.

But here at the Cornerstone Collective, few understand what the hoopla is about. Operators and clientsbelieve firmly that marijuana is vital to the healthcare needs of people who are in pain or have lost their appetites or cannot sleep. They argue that it is a belief that the California public generally embraces, along with the idea that law enforcement's long fight against marijuana has been misguided and wasteful.

It is still a messy debate, five years after a voter initiative and a state Senate bill legalized the possession and cultivation of marijuana for qualified patients. Local, state and federal laws are in conflict, the courts haven't been much help and Los Angeles' moratorium on new dispensaries will run out in the next few months.

At City Hall, officials are drafting, finally, a set of guidelines for the facilities. That effort is controversial. Some law enforcement officials believe that abuse is frequent at the clinics and that some clients don't require marijuana, while some City Council members are concerned that the proposed rules threaten the existence of legitimate dispensaries. But around here, both sides, anxious for direction and certainty, agree that guidelines -- even imperfect and incomplete -- cannot come fast enough.

In Eagle Rock, the debate over marijuana began at another unremarkable storefront, this one on Colorado Boulevard, a pillbox of a building with peeling cobalt paint. There used to be a comic shop here. Perhaps the contrast between that child-friendly business and what has been proposed for the site -- a dispensary whose owner has distributed hard-stock fliers promising "connoisseur quality" marijuana and a free gram on a client's first visit -- has not aided the would-be proprietor's chances.

Last May, a sign appeared on the building's facade heralding the arrival of a new business: Green Goddess Collective. It didn't take long for Eagle Rock's activists to figure out what kind of business the Goddess would be. That raised a question: Were there any others in the area?

"Someone said, 'I think there are two or three,' " said Bob Arranaga, an Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council member and chairman of its land use and planning committee. "Someone else said, 'Three or four.' " A quick investigation found 11.

"I was flabbergasted," said Brian Heckmann, Neighborhood Council treasurer, an attorney and area resident for 21 years. "I wasn't aware that there were any."

At that point, Arranaga acknowledged with a chuckle, it became an old-fashioned case of not-in-my-backyard. Not all, but many of those upset over the Goddess, including Arranaga, had voted for the 1996 ballot initiative that made the use of medicinal marijuana legal in California .

"That was a state vote," Arranaga said. "But here? In small communities like this? I don't think anybody really got what we were voting for."

The leaders are lobbying the city to deny the Goddess' "hardship" application, which is required for it to open because of the moratorium on new marijuana dispensaries. The Goddess was forced recently to abandon another location after a lease dispute; the facility's representatives say that should qualify as a "hardship"; civic leaders say it should not.

Daniel Stein, the proprietor of the Goddess and operator of several dispensaries in the past, could not be reached for comment. But Frank Paul Angelillo IV, a general contractor Stein hired to remodel the proposed Goddess location, fiercely defended his friend of 15 years. Stein, he said, is being persecuted for offering a legal public service, one that has made him very little money over the years.

"I'm really ticked off. It's like the few trying to tell the many what they want," Angelillo said. "It's not a terrible drug. This is a drug manufactured by Mother Nature."

But in documents sent to the City Council, civic activists have made clear that this is not about the drug. Many of the dispensaries, they point out, are not subject to the standards that other new businesses are, such as the requirement for public hearings. They have asked for that to change.

There are also few regulations regarding the facilities' placement, resulting in "clusters" of dispensaries here and in such places as North Hollywood and Van Nuys. They have asked the City Council to limit the facilities to one per 3-mile radius.

"No one is here to fight medical marijuana dispensaries," Arranaga said. "We just don't like the proliferation. And we feel we have no say in the matter."

Back at the Cornerstone, under the watchful eye of a security guard in a suit, director Michael Backes is behind the bar. Using a pair of chopsticks, he removes a thick bud from a jar labeled "Sunkyst" and holds it under a powerful magnifying glass for two clients.

In measured tones, he offers advice: Be careful when using marijuana in a recipe; cooking changes its character. No, holding one's breath before exhaling does not deliver a greater dose. "And if you want relief, just hit the sweet spot," he tells them. "Beyond that, you are burning very expensive incense."

Like most clinic operators, Backes keeps a low profile. He agreed to open his doors to help demystify the facilities in the public mind.

Backes is 55. Several years ago, he began suffering from debilitating migraines. He discovered that using pot -- "just a little" -- helped considerably.

He opened his dispensary in March 2007. Yes, his mother knows and trusts him to do the right thing, he said. His revenue is less than $1,000 a day, his profit margin in the low single digits. His stock is refrigerated and stored at 65% humidity. He carries between 200 and 300 active patients, each required to have a doctor's recommendation for marijuana as a treatment.

He is not open to the public and does not permit sampling on the premises -- "any more than CVS allows you to take a Percocet in the parking lot," he said. "I live in this neighborhood," Backes said. "I walk to work. I want this place to have zero negative impact."

A few minutes later, Ruben Rios walked out with a small canister of marijuana.

Rios, 35, a manufacturing engineer and father of two, has suffered from an eating disorder since he was a teenager; he uses marijuana as an appetite stimulant. Without it, he said, he would eat a banana in the morning and not be hungry until the next day -- and would be 30 pounds underweight. Today, after a year of marijuana use, the 5-foot-11 Rios is a healthy 163 pounds.

"People think of dealers standing on the corner and shoving things through your car window. It's not like that," he said. "Marijuana does good things. It really does."

scott.gold@latimes.com

1/27/07
The Los Angeles Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) delayed consideration of a draft ordinance that would regulate medical cannabis collectives today after hearing strong, and sometimes emotional, opposition from the public. The City Attorney posted a revised version of the controversial ordinance on the city’s web page last night, just hours before the committee was to hear testimony. The latest draft of the ordinance bans edible preparations and concentrates of cannabis outright, requires patients who join collectives or grow medicine to register with the City Clerk’s office, and requires that hundreds of existing collectives in the city close until they are in compliance with the proposed regulations.

Chairman Reyes will convene a first of its kind meeting of stakeholders at his office in one week to discuss the ordinance. Then, the City Attorney will have 30 days to return comments or a new draft ordinance to the committee.

ASA regards the ordinance as unworkable, because it is based on the faulty assumption that storefront facilities maintained by patients’ collectives are unlawful and can not be regulated. The City Attorney’s opinion is in direct conflict with California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s guidelines for medical cannabis published in August of 2008, which state, “It is the opinion of this Office that a properly organized and operated collective or cooperative that dispenses medical marijuana through a storefront may be lawful under California law.”

Dozens of cities and counties in California have already adopted regulations for storefront collectives and cooperatives, including Los Angeles County and the City of West Hollywood. Research and experience shows that sensible regulations reduce crime and complaints. Patients and advocates have rallied behind Los Angeles City Council Member Dennis Zine’s efforts to regulate the facilities.

The Los Angeles City Attorney has not kept pace with evolving medical cannabis law. More importantly, he does not wish to legitimize medical cannabis by regulating the facilities maintained by legal collectives. This represents a deep-seated opposition that is all too common among our elected officials. We can not let our optimism about likely progress in Washington, DC, lull us into a false sense of security on the local level. Medical cannabis opponents at the local level are still looking to roll back patients’ rights. We must stay vigilant to be sure they do not.

Join us at the next LA-ASA meeting at 1:00 PM on February 21 to find out how you can help fight for better regulations in Los Angeles. The meeting is at the Patient ID Center located at 470 S. San Vicente Blvd. in Los Angeles.

__________________
Don Duncan
California Director
Americans for Safe Access
http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Jan 27 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The War on Drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws, said President Barack Obama January 21, 2004. This quote comes from a video being passed via YouTube.com We need to rethink how we are doing the Drug War. Currently we are not doing a good job. Out of the wide group of candidates running for public office in California, one particular candidate - Craig X Rubin - stands out from the field because he claims legalizing marijuana will create jobs.

By all accounts this man should be behind bars as the government spent millions of dollars convicting and sentencing him to nearly five years in jail for marijuana possession and distribution, but he has yet to serve a day in our penitentiary system. Instead after losing his business, his employees, his house, his car and his pride the man of God is today running for mayor of Los Angeles.

When you hear the story of this pastor who opened a Temple on Hollywood Boulevard to minister to the lost and provide medical marijuana to the sick the question has to be, "What is going on with the Justice System?"

The Federal Department of Justice has been coming under fire for political reasons in recent years. Alberto Gonzales left his job among allegations that his department was hiring and firing U.S. attorneys not based on their qualifications, but based upon their political affiliations. Fox News' Geraldo Rivera is calling U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald's recent actions in the Blagojevich case shameful saying that he should not have arrested the Governor until he was prepared to bring charges.

Geraldo Rivera who interviewed the Governor of Illinois outside of the studios of the View seems to be sensitive the unfairness of our justice system saying, "This has the feel of a 'Kangaroo Court.' The court can make any rules they want. I think it is very unfair. I think he is getting screwed."

Geraldo is acting as a real man of the people on this one going against popular opinion to support and unpopular guy. "Blagojevich is getting a raw deal when it comes to justice, says Rubin, "Most people don't realize that a jury doesn't get to hear or see anything the judge doesn't allow in."

"I have a lot of respect for the law, but I will agree with Whoopie Goldberg in that I grew up in this country and had no idea how the system really works." Rubin was speaking of his own case where the judge decided that he was not allowed to mention the U.S. Constitution, medical marijuana, the First Amendment, quote from the Bible, or the California State Constitution.

Speaking about the Blagojevich case Geraldo Rivera complimented the Governor, "He is making a real point in letting people know how unfair the system is."

Geraldo also stopped Whoopie Goldberg outside the studio of the View and she stated, "I never heard the court can just make law up." Dumbfounded Goldberg continued, "I don't remember reading that when I was a kid. I always thought you could get a fair shake from the law. People have a lot to look at."

Rubin feels as if things are about to change under an Obama administration. On Fox's Business News David Asman recently announced marijuana was about to be legalized. MSNBC just did a special called, "Marijuana Inc." where they explained the simple economics of it, "It cost $400 to grow a pound worth $6,000 on the street."

Blagojevich arrested for "selling a Senate seat," is being impeached on charges having nothing to do with his arrest. He is being impeached for getting cheaper drugs for the elderly from Canada rather than buying them from U.S. drug companies. Jesse Ventura said when he was governor of Minnesota that the CIA acted illegally by operating domestically. Mike Ruppert former LAPD narcotics detective speaking to former CIA director Deutch on C-SPAN said, "The agency (CIA) has dealt drugs throughout this country for a long time."

Rubin stated, "If the Bush policies from the Drug War continue we'll be a nation of political prisoners."

YouTube video of LAPD confronting CIA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t3pl5Wxgyg

More information about Craig X Rubin for Mayor: www.Craigx4mayor.org.

All trademarks acknowledged.

Editorial note: all opinions are solely those of the above named individuals and do not reflect opinions of this website.

NEWS SOURCE: Craig X Rubin for Mayor

Send2Press® is the originating wire service for this story.

Valley task force arrests nine in marijuana 'grow house' raids

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

By Jim Guy / The Fresno Bee

A drug task force took nine people into custody, served 13 warrants and seized hundreds of marijuana plants Wednesday in raids focusing on marijuana "grow houses" in the Central Valley.

Those arrested were Fresnans Abram Ducas, 23; Dominac Ducas, 32; Reuben Garcia, 41; Ali Miller, 37; Robert Orndoff, 55; Anthony Osborn, 29; and Amber Osborn, 28. Also booked were Lino Munoz, 32, of Clovis and Marvin Puckett III, 32, of Madera County.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said more than 100 law enforcement officers from local, state and federal agencies targeted a network of marijuana cultivators in Fresno County, Clovis, Auberry and Madera County.

The raids grew out of the seizure of 200 plants from a home on the 6200 block of North Marks Avenue in November 2007, she said.

Along with 700 marijuana plants, officers on Wednesday also confiscated 65 pounds of processed marijuana, a pound of hashish and $20,000 in cash. Sheriff's deputies were joined by agents from the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Agency as part of the Central Valley Marijuana Investigation Team.

The marijuana was grown in rented homes converted into indoor farms, Mims said. The houses suffered extensive environmental damage, such as growth of mold, because growers sought to replicate the humid, tropical conditions in which marijuana plants thrive.

Mims said that those who operate grow houses threaten otherwise safe neighborhoods.

"They have large amounts of cash," she said. "Criminals know where they live and they are armed."

The reporter can be reached at jguy@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6339.

Ganja Guru Back in Spotlight

Updated 8:00 AM PST, Wed, Jan 14, 2009

Oakland marijuana author and activist Ed Rosenthal will be back before a federal appeals court in San Francisco today to challenge his conviction for growing marijuana.

Rosenthal, 64, was convicted in federal district court in San Francisco in 2007 of three counts of conspiring to grow marijuana and growing marijuana in an Oakland warehouse.

He was sentenced to one day already served in prison.

Rosenthal's appeal will be heard this morning by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is expected to issue a written ruling at a later date.

Rosenthal claims his trial was unfair because the jury was not allowed to hear evidence that he believed he had been deputized by the city of Oakland to carry out its medical marijuana program.

If Rosenthal wins a new trial, it would be his third. He was convicted in an earlier trial in 2003, but that conviction was overturned by the appeals court on grounds of juror misconduct.

Rosenthal's attorney, Michael Clough, said Tuesday that even though his client was sentenced to only one day in prison, he is appealing to clear his name and remove the designation that he is a convicted felon.

Clough said that Rosenthal doesn't fear that he is risking a longer sentence because both the appeals court and the trial judge have approved the one-day penalty.

Outside of court, Rosenthal has claimed he was growing starter plants for patients needing medical marijuana. But he was never permitted to make that argument in federal court because U.S. drug laws make no exception for state medical marijuana laws.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Ganja-Guru-Back-in-Spotlight.html
Keith Stroup, Esq.
NORML Legal Counsel
keith@norml.org
www.norml.org

Monday, September 22, 2008

Man sues Seal Beach police for taking medical marijuana

The 45-year-old says police took 40 to 50 plants and forced him to become an informant and move out of the city.

By JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER

The Orange County Register

SEAL BEACH– A former resident is suing the Police Department and the city for $1 million, alleging the police confiscated about 40 to 50 marijuana plants and coerced him to move and become a police informant, court records show.

Bruce Benedict, 43, said in his lawsuit that he is a patient and caregiver of medical marijuana, which allows him to grow and distribute the narcotic to patients with prescriptions under California law.

Benedict is suing in Orange County Superior Court for violation of civil and health and safety codes and breach of contract. He is seeking a trial by jury but a hearing date has not yet been set.

The city's attorney did not return phone calls about the case.

Benedict was prescribed medical marijuana six years ago because he suffers from Hepatitis C and has had kidney failure twice, he said.

He said he called the police in February because construction was being done on a red tagged apartment in his building.

When police arrived, Benedict said the officers "smelled marijuana coming from [the]apartment".

Officers Mike Henderson and David Barr of the Seal Beach Police Department entered his apartment and took photos of Benedict's marijuana plants, according to the lawsuit, filed Aug. 29.

Benedict said he also gave the officers his paperwork that permitted him to smoke and grow cannabis.

The lawsuit states that Henderson took the pictures to the District Attorney's office but the prosecutors denied pursuing charges against Benedict.

The officers returned to Benedict's apartment in June with Drug Enforcement Administration agents and confiscated Benedict's plants and arrested him, court records show.

DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen said the agency cannot comment on a pending lawsuit.

California law allows medical marijuana but federal law prohibits it, a contradiction many Orange County cities are struggling with.

State law says a person can have up to six mature marijuana plants but counties have the authority to change this rule.

The Orange County Sheriff's Department implements the six-plant criteria, said spokesman Damon Micalizzi said.

A doctor's recommendation can also override these guidelines, according to state law.

"The law clearly authorizes caregivers to provide cannabis to clients and to charge for their service for doing so," said Dale Gieringer of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It is intended to be loose."

Benedict said the officers also asked him to become an informant in various drug matters for the city and move from Seal Beach. Benedict complied with the requests, the lawsuit states.

"They asked me to work for them or face federal charges," he said.

Benedict was convicted twice in 1988 for possession of narcotics, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Benedict said he had small amounts of cocaine on him when pulled over by the police on two occasions.

"I am a person who learned the hard way," he said. "That was a long time ago."

Contact the writer: 714-445-6692 or jfletcher@ocregister.com

Ease Pot Restrictions, Lawmakers Urge

(July 30) - The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance.

Current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources, punish ill Americans whose doctors have prescribed the substance and unfairly affect African-Americans, said Frank, flanked by legislators and representatives from advocacy groups.

Should Marijuana Use Be Legal?

"The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business," Frank said on Capitol Hill. "I don't think it is the government's business to tell you how to spend your leisure time."

The Massachusetts Democrat and his supporters emphasized that only the use -- and not the abuse -- of marijuana would be decriminalized if the resolution resulted in legislation.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says people charged with simple possession are rarely incarcerated. The agency and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy have long opposed marijuana legalization, for medical purposes or otherwise.

Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance, meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical use, according to the drug control office.

"Smoked marijuana has not withstood the rigors of science -- it is not medicine and it is not safe," the DEA states on its Web site. "Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety. It will create dependency and treatment issues, and open the door to use of other drugs, impaired health, delinquent behavior, and drugged drivers."

Allen St. Pierre, spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, likened Frank's proposal -- co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas -- to current laws dealing with alcohol consumption. Alcohol use is permitted, and the government focuses its law enforcement efforts on those who abuse alcohol or drive under its influence, he said.

"We do not arrest and jail responsible alcohol drinkers," he said.

St. Pierre said there are tens of millions of marijuana smokers in the United States, including himself, and hundreds of thousands are arrested each year for medical or personal use.

There have been 20 million marijuana-related arrests since 1965, he said, and 11 million since 1990, and "every 38 seconds, a marijuana smoker is arrested."

Rob Kampia, director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said marijuana arrests outnumber arrests for "all violent crimes combined," meaning police are spending inordinate amounts of time chasing nonviolent criminals.

"Ending arrests is the key to marijuana policy reform," he said.

Reps. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, and Barbara Lee, D-California, said that in addition to targeting nonviolent offenders, U.S. marijuana laws unfairly target African-Americans.

Clay said he did not condone drug use but opposes using tax dollars to pursue what he feels is an arcane holdover from "a phony war on drugs that is filling up our prisons, especially with people of color."

Too many drug enforcement resources are being dedicated to incarcerating nonviolent drugs users, and not enough is being done to stop the trafficking of narcotics into the United States, he said.

Being arrested is not the American marijuana smoker's only concern, said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance Network. Those found guilty of marijuana use can lose their jobs, financial aid for college, their food stamp and welfare benefits, or their low-cost housing.

The U.S. stance on marijuana, Piper said, "is one of the most destructive criminal justice policies in America today."

Calling the U.S. policy "inhumane" and "immoral," Lee said she has many constituents who are harassed or arrested for using or cultivating marijuana for medical purposes. California allows medical marijuana use, but the federal government does not, she explained.

House Resolution 5843, titled the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, would express support for "a very small number of individuals" suffering from chronic pain or illness to smoke marijuana with impunity.

According to NORML, marijuana can be used to treat a range of illnesses, including glaucoma, asthma, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and seizures.

Frank, who is chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said that about a dozen states have approved some degree of medical marijuana use and that the federal government should stop devoting resources to arresting people who are complying with their states' laws.

In a shot at Republicans, Frank said it was strange that those who support limited government want to criminalize marijuana.

Asked whether the resolution's passage would change his personal behavior, Frank quipped, "I do obey every law I vote for" but quickly said he did not use marijuana, nor does he encourage it.

"I smoke cigars. I don't think other people should do that. If young people ask me, I would advise them not to do it," he said.

If HR 5843 were passed, the House would support marijuana smokers possessing up to 100 grams -- about 3½ ounces -- of cannabis without being arrested. It would also give its blessing to the "nonprofit transfer" of up to an ounce of marijuana.

The resolution would not address laws forbidding growing, importing or exporting marijuana, or selling it for profit. The resolution also would not speak to state laws regarding marijuana use.

Scott J

. Ferrell, Congressional Quarterly / Getty Images

Rep. Barney Frank. D-Mass., said he doesn't use marijuana himself, but he doesn't think the government should regulate Americans' leisure activities. "The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business," Frank told a Capitol Hill news conference.

3-Rep. Ron Paul David J. Phillip, AP

Frank's proposal, called the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, is co-sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. Paul recently dropped his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

4-Pro-medical marijuana protest, Jan. 22, 2007

David McNew, Getty Images

Frank said current laws targeting marijuana users place undue burdens on law enforcement resources. They also punish ill Americans who have been prescribed medical marijuana, he said. Here, demonstrators protest federal raids on Los Angeles-area marijuana dispensaries on Jan. 22, 2007.

MALIBU CITY COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY

The Malibu City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance regulating medical cannabis facilities in that city last night. The new ordinance requires that the two existing collectives there obtain a Conditional Use Permit and abide by certain land use and operational guidelines. Both collectives appear to meet the criteria specified in the ordinance already.

The unanimous vote is another victory in the grassroots campaign to improve local regulations surrounding medical cannabis facilities. The patients and operators at PCH Collective in Malibu are to be commended for their hard work in educating the City Staff and Council Members prior to the vote. They also did a great job of turning out well informed speakers to plead their case.

Feds storm 25 locations in Humboldt County drug raids

By Karen Wilkinson, John C. Osborn, and Diane M. Batley,
The Eureka Reporter
Published: Jun 25 2008

Federal agents raided about 25 Humboldt County locations linked to
one group’s alleged illegal drug operation in the early morning hours
Tuesday.
The raids, focused mainly in Southern Humboldt, also brought agents
to Arcata, where one house was reportedly raided. In Southern
Humboldt, residents woke up to tales of convoys of federal agents
driving through the southern part of the county, while residents
elsewhere heard the news through online media and radio reports.

Federal agents from a variety of law enforcement agencies, including
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency and
Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, joined in the large-scale drug bust
dubbed “Operation Southern Sweep.”

Federal agencies brought almost three times the number of agents —
about 450 — as the number of law enforcement officers in the county’s
seven incorporated cities and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office,
which total 158.

Officials rigged a base of operations at the River Lodge in Fortuna,
with several large trucks carrying communications equipment parked
outside.

FBI Special Agent Joseph M. Schadler said that agents will be in
Humboldt County over the next few days to finish raids on 23 discrete
locations and two large chunks of property.

Agents executed 27 federal warrants and two state warrants at these
locations, he said. Agents served four of the 29 warrants at two
large chunks of property.

The massive raids were a result of a two-year investigation by the
California Department of Justice’s Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement,
connecting one group’s large-scale commercial marijuana grow and
distribution operation, Schadler said.

“They are not Mexican drug traffickers,” he said. “They are homegrown.”

Agents are not targeting medical marijuana users or growers with 215
cards, Schadler said.

The goal of the raids is to collect evidence to support prosecutions,
he said, and no arrests are planned at this time.

One person was arrested Tuesday for assaulting an officer, but it’s
unknown whether that person will be charged, Schadler said.

Although officials wouldn’t comment on where specific raids occurred,
Southern Humboldt residents offered direction as to where federal
agents went.

Scott Bliss, a roaster with Signature Coffee Co. in Redway, saw a
line of vehicles — he guessed there were 90 — pass by the business in
the early morning hours. “It was amazing,” he said. The unmarked
vehicles had mostly uniformed people inside, Bliss said, whom he
first thought were going to help put out the nearby fires.

Some of the vehicles were towing all-terrain vehicles, three-wheelers
and portable toilets, Bliss said, and the convoy of vehicles lasted
about 15 minutes. “I’ve seen some convoys go by, but never anything
like that,” said Bliss, who has lived in the county since 1969.

According to residents in Redway and media accounts, tales of raids
in Whale Gulch, Whitethorn and Briceland emerged throughout the day.

A carpenter who commutes to the Whitethorn area for his job said his
was the first civilian vehicle to drive behind the federal convoy at
around 7 a.m.

“It was like 10 minutes’ worth of cars,” said the man, who wished to
remain anonymous due to the small size of the community he lives in.
“I personally have worked at sites where people are taking advantage
of 215s and I know they’re not doing it for medical — they’re doing
it for profit.”

Graham Fabian, a 22-year-old clerk at the Shop Smart grocery in
Redway, said customers relayed stories of federal agents knocking on
their doors and asking for identification.

“They’re doing their thing — if you’ve got nothing to hide there’s
nothing to be scared of,” he said.

Fabian, who grew up in Humboldt County, said he knew this day would
come.

“I knew it would happen eventually,” he said. “Once it gets enough
popularity, they come and enforce. You can ask anyone and they know
Humboldt is known for pot growing. (The feds) probably just do their
sweeps one drug at a time.”

South county residents also reported that federal agents conducted
raids in the Island Mountain and Harris area.

Krisy Chilingarian, a clerk at an Alderpoint store, said she heard
stories of Campaign against Marijuana Planting hauling several
baskets of plants from the mountain.

“I’ve been getting phone calls all day long,” she said.

She also said residents reported armed agents stopped people in the
Island Mountain area and searched cars, though officials did not
verify that.

Federal agents reportedly raided only one residence in northern
Humboldt County.

FBI agents raided a house at 1658 Virginia Way in Sunny Brae early
Tuesday morning.

Around 10 a.m., agents combed through the trunk of a gray car parked
in the driveway. The car had Oregon license plates.

Equipment including lamps, triangular containers and hoses was spread
across the yard.

It’s unknown whether any arrests were made by agents at that time.

“I have no idea how long (FBI agents) were there,” said former Arcata
Mayor and Councilmember Bob Ornelas, who lives across the street from
the raided house.

He stepped outside his door around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning and saw
eight agents around the house across the street, he said. “You could
see lots of flashing, lots of picture taking,” Ornelas said.

He said he prefers neighbors to unoccupied grow houses and the sound
of children over silence.

“The pattern is no one’s ever home,” he said regarding the raided house.

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Weed Vs Cancer:
What the Government Doesn't Want You to Know
Paul Armentato - NORML Legal Committee

Senator Ted Kennedy is putting forward a brave face following his recent surgery but the sad reality remains. Even with successful surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy treatment, gliomas -- a highly aggressive form of brain cancer that strikes approximately 10,000 Americans annually -- tragically claim the lives of 75 percent of its victims within two years and virtually all within five years.

But what if there was an alternative treatment for gliomas that could selectively target the cancer while leaving healthy cells intact? And what if federal bureaucrats were aware of this treatment, but deliberately withheld this information from the public?

Sadly, the questions posed above are not entirely hypothetical. Let me explain.

In 2007, I reviewed over 150 published preclinical and clinical studies assessing the therapeutic potential of marijuana and several of its active compounds, known as cannabinoids. I summarized these numerous studies in a book, now in its third edition, entitled Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids: A Review of the Scientific Literature. (NORML Foundation, 2008) One chapter in this book, which summarized the findings of more than 30 separate trials and literature reviews, was dedicated to the use of cannabinoids as potential anti-cancer agents, particularly in the treatment of gliomas.

Not familiar with this scientific research? Your government is.

In fact, the first experiment documenting pot's potent anti-cancer effects took place in 1974 at the Medical College of Virginia at the behest federal bureaucrats. The results of that study, reported in an Aug. 18, 1974, Washington Post newspaper feature, were that marijuana's primary psychoactive component, THC, "slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent."

Despite these favorable preliminary findings (eventually published the following year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute), U.S. government officials refused to authorize any follow-up research until conducting a similar -- though secret -- preclinical trial in the mid-1990s. That study, conducted by the U.S. National Toxicology Program to the tune of $2 million, concluded that mice and rats administered high doses of THC over long periods had greater protection against malignant tumors than untreated controls.

However, rather than publicize their findings, the U.S. government shelved the results, which only became public after a draft copy of its findings were leaked to the medical journal AIDS Treatment News, which in turn forwarded the story to the national media.

In the years since the completion of the National Toxicology trial, the U.S. government has yet to authorize a single additional study examining the drug's potential anti-cancer properties. (Federal permission is necessary in order to conduct clinical research on marijuana because of its illegal status as a schedule I controlled substance.)

Fortunately, in the past 10 years scientists overseas have generously picked up where U.S. researchers so abruptly left off, reporting that cannabinoids can halt the spread of numerous cancer cells -- including prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and brain cancer. (An excellent paper summarizing much of this research, "Cannabinoids for Cancer Treatment: Progress and Promise," appears in the January 2008 edition of the journal Cancer Research.) A 2006 patient trial published in the British Journal of Cancer even reported that the intracranial administration of THC was associated with reduced tumor cell proliferation in humans with advanced glioblastoma.

Writing earlier this year in the scientific journal Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, Italian researchers reiterated, "(C)annabinoids have displayed a great potency in reducing glioma tumor growth. (They) appear to be selective antitumoral agents as they kill glioma cells without affecting the viability of nontransformed counterparts." Not one mainstream media outlet reported their findings. Perhaps now they'll pay better attention.

What possible advancements in the treatment of cancer may have been achieved over the past 34 years had U.S. government officials chosen to advance -- rather than suppress -- clinical research into the anti that the families of Senator Kennedy and thousands of others must suffer while we do.