By Kirsten Stewart | The Salt Lake Tribune
 
The University of Utah’s top pediatric neurologist has come out in support of families seeking accessto a cannabis extract that has proven successful at stopping seizures.
“I would like to express my strong belief that [cannabidiol]-based oils (referred to here in Utah as Alepsia) should be available as soon as possible to Utah children with severe epilepsy. The substance is not psychoactíve or hallucinogenic, it contains less THC than do other materials that can be legally purchased in Utah, and it has absolutely no abuse potential,” declared U. pediatric neurology professor Francis Filloux in a Nov. 11 letter of support.
 
Full Article:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57118270-78/utah-marijuana-colorado-oil.html.csp

Vanessa Waltz

PHOTO: Sam Sabzehzar/Medical Marijuana 411:The Daily Dose
 
I met author Martin Lee during the New Jersey stop on his book tour for Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana – Medical, Recreational, and Scientific.
Lee, the co-founder and director of Project CBD, granted me a lively interview between a book signing event, an NPR interview, and a party in his honor – all within a 24-hour period during which Lee also fielded phone calls and emails from patients seeking high-CBD medical cannabis.
VANESSA WALTZ: How would you explain CBD to someone who knows nothing about cannabis?
MARTIN LEE: There are two dominant cannabinoids in cannabis: THC and CBD, tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. And CBD is the yin to THC’s yang.
THC is the “high-causer,” the main psychoactive component of the plant, and CBD is a therapeutic compound that can treat dozens of conditions.
THC and CBD work together, and they have a very interesting relationship: it’s synergistic and oppositional at the same time.
CBD amplifies THC’s pain-killing ability, so in that way, THC and CBD magnify each other.  And yet CBD can also neutralize the psychoactivity of THC, and it can take the “edge” off of THC, the stoniness that some patients find unpleasant.
 
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2013/11/12/interview-martin-lee-of-project-cbd/

The Huffington Post  |  By Matt Ferner

Dennis Peron, leader of the campaign for Proposition 215 and founder of the Cannabis Buyers Club, right, smokes a marijuana cigarette next to Jack Herer, of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1996, in San Francisco. (AP photo)
 
At a recent speech in Denver, Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann declared that we’ve hit “the tipping point” on marijuana policy.
With Colorado and Washington getting ready for the first ever legal, regulated, recreational marijuana retail market for adults in the U.S.; with a majority of Americans recently saying for the first time in U.S. history that marijuana usage should be made legal; with acoalition of conservative Mormon mothers fighting for safe access to medicinal cannabis for their children — it’s hard to to disagree with him.
Although much of this is recent history, it has been a long road to what very well may be the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in America. Here’s a look back at the major milestones that helped bring the United States to its “tipping point.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/marijuana-history_n_4175633.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

By Robin Wilkey
 
Portland, Maine, voters on Tuesday approved legalizing recreational marijuana for residents 21 and older. The measure, Question 1, passed with about 70 percent of the vote, making Portland the first East Coast city to legalize recreational pot.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/portland-maine-marijuana_n_4221919.html?ir=Politics

Sahra Kant

PHOTO: Jonathan Oakley
 
What’s worse than going to jail for cannabis?  Your children taken away by child protection services for it.  If you’re incarcerated, you receive a specific custodial sentence — which may be reduced for good behavior or perhaps even commuted — during which you are guaranteed visits with your family.  You can count down to your release, which is guaranteed to occur (at least eventually, although there are collateral consequences of a drug conviction and a criminal record afterwards).  If your children are removed as part of a child protective services (CPS) intervention, they are taken from your parental custody for an indeterminate amount of time, you may or may not get to see or even speak to them, they may fare badly and suffer in care, and they may be gone forever.  If Americans are not careful, the last vestiges of the war on drugs will be fought in our wombs and with our children.
 
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2013/11/05/child-protective-services-family-court-the-last-gasp-of-the-drug-war/
 

KOLR10 News

Martin A. Lee

 
For many years, the federal government has subsidized studies designed to prove the negative effects of marijuana, while blocking inquiry into its potential benefits. Ironically, the government’s steadfast search for harm has yielded remarkable scientific insights that explain why cannabis is such a versatile remedy and why it is the most sought-after illicit substance on the planet.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thenation.com/article/176910/marijuana-miracle-why-single-compound-cannabis-may-revolutionize-modern-medicine

Martin A. Lee

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
 
Just when the legalization struggle had reached its nadir, however, there emerged an improbable hero who championed cannabis as a multifaceted sustainable resource, an eco-friendly source of food, fiber, medicine and recreation. Jack Herer, a charismatic, barrel-chested Korean War veteran and former Goldwater Republican, was instrumental in catalyzing a renewed interest in the many forgotten industrial uses of hemp, a plant once prized by America’s founding fathers. In his influential underground bestseller The Emperor Wears No Clothes, Herer maintained that hemp—marijuana’s versatile, nonpsychoactive twin—possessed a near-limitless potential for replacing petrochemical and timber products and phasing out environmentally destructive industries. Herer’s boisterous marijuana evangelism widened the scope of the drug-policy reform movement and inspired a new generation of cannabis activists.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thenation.com/article/176912/let-thousand-flowers-bloom-populist-politics-cannabis-reform?page=0,1

By: Rebecca Schleicher, Primetime Reporter

 
Could pot ever be legal in Oklahoma? It’s a question one lawmaker has asked for nearly a decade.
Saturday dozens met at the State Capitol to get the ball rolling on possible medical marijuana legislation. Among them were parents Kelli and Jason Dodson.
“It’s the worst thing that could possibly happening your life, to have a child who receives a diagnosis that is basically a death sentence,” Kelli Dodson said, talking about her daughter Katie who has Dravet syndrome. Dravet is a rare form of epilepsy that could shorten her life.
And her body’s already rejected nearly 20 different medications.
“They’ve all had side effects of their own, some of them have increased her seizures,” said Jason.
That’s why the Dodson’s are calling for change. Asking Oklahoma lawmakers to allow CBN, or low dose marijuana used for medical purposes.
“It’s an uphill battle but it’s one that we have to begin,” said state Senator Connie Johnson (D – Oklahoma City).
 
Full Article and Video:
http://www.okcfox.com/story/23861782/parents-lawmaker-rally-for-medical-marijuana-at-state-capitol